Yuri Anime: Miyuki-chan in Wonderland

December 7th, 2007

Today’s review was brought to you by Katie, who lent me this DVD as a case for something else she was giving me.

It’s been 7 years since I watched Fushigi no Kuni no Miyuki-chan and Kagami no Kuni no Miyuki-chan, released collectively in the US as Miyuki-chan in Wonderland. I still remember when and where I first saw it, and the look of triumph in the person’s eyes who was showing it to me as if they had discovered a great well-spring of Yuri. My reaction was more along the lines of “gosh, what annoying music.” I remember it well. ^_^

Miyuki-chan in Wonderland is a two-part reimaging of Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories by all-female studio CLAMP, starring the happless Miyuki-chan, a schoolgirl far less capable and quite a bit older than Alice. To be fair, Miyuki-chan is not just facing strange creatures loosely based on Cambridge professors of Carroll’s acquaintance, she’s facing sexual harrassment by the all-female anthropomorphic cast of apparent nymphomaniacs that inhabit this Wonderland and Looking Glass world.

The “Yuri” is the above sexual harrassment. Miyuki is more interested in getting home that in the attractive, well-built, adult semi-humans who want to play with her, so the humor is of the “kyaaaahhhh!” variety. Sure, the Mad Hatter *seems* to be gay, but it’s sort of a moot point, really. And it’s a one-trick pony. Practically every meeting involves a sexually suggestive component, flavored with some panty shots. I got tired of it quickly. Many people find it to be brilliant. Your mileage may vary.

The voice cast deserves a mention – it’s fairly all-star, especially the first vignette, the one in Wonderland. There’s some pretty level up names there for what is mostly a soft porn drabble of an anime. :-)

While CLAMP is extremely famous for stunning art, Miyuki-chan the anime, did not do much to expand their reputation. The artbook is significantly less ragged. And it doesn’t have that annoying soundtrack. If you like CLAMP for the art, stick with the book. If you like the idea of all of Caroll’s creatures animated as buxom scantily-clad women sexually harassing a girl, with famous voices, you’ll love the anime. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – 5
Characters – 5
Music – 2
Yuri – 5
Service – 8

Overall – 5

Lewis Carroll’s works are the third most-quoted body of literary work in the world, following the Bible and Shakespeare. CLAMP’s contribution to the canon is memorable, without actually being good.

3 Responses

  1. Neo_Hrtgdv says:

    Oh! I have the book and I really think its better than the anime, giving into my LF side I have to say we get to see more Fanservice in the book, thought its not the auditive kind,
    Editorial Vid sells it in Mexico, so its of the few works we can get here, the quality of it isn’t the best, I hope I could send you one Erica so you can compare it with the manga editorials in the US and Japan, I really think it falls short, but that’s my personal opinion.

  2. JazzCat says:

    The anime is indeed pretty bad. The music is lousy too and the worst part is that it just doesn’t stop. It is Yuri though, even though the interaction is mainly limited to the grab-blush-squeal variety. I keep getting the feeling that they could have just made it into something worthwhile. What were CLAMP thinking anyway?

  3. Anonymous says:

    I had to watch it after reading about it here (When people say something is bad, I am immediately interested.)

    For me, this fell into the terrible-but-good category. It was just plain funny. And you have to appreciate Miyuki’s ‘Sei Satou’ hairstyle.

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