Archive for the Kaleido Star Category


Yuri Anime: Kaleido Star, Volume 1 (English)

April 30th, 2008

Today’s review is brought to you by the word “Ganbaru.” Commonly translated in anime or manga as “do your best” or in the form “gambarimasu” usually with an energetic “Let’s go!” it means nothing of the sort. It means to persevere against unreasonable odds, to bear up under unbearable pressure. It means to persist, to hold out – to keep on going no matter what.

And when one watches Kaleido Star, one is treated to a tale about a young woman who isn’t just succeeding, she isn’t just working hard to get stronger, no, in this anime, we watch Naegino Sora overcoming riduculous, demented odds, absurd pressure and insane demands to live her dream. Kaleido Star is the very essence of “ganbaru.” With lots of pretty colors and impossible shinyness.

If you are interested in the evolution of my opinion about this series, feel free to click on the Kaleido Star category on the right sidebar. Originally, I wasn’t wowed, then as the characters (and Yuri) grew, my affection for the series did as well. But, I find myself often torn between tears of outrage and frustration and being moved by joy when I watch Sora and her friends. This series makes me so angry I want to scream, and then a second later, I’m sobbing over a beautiful visual effect. Drives me crazy – and I bloody well can’t watch it when anyone else is around.

In Volume 1, Naegino Sora, a Japanese girl with skills in acrobatics, arrives at Cape Mery to join the Kaleido Stage, a very Cirque de Soleil-type show. Through the most annoying possible set of circumstances, she’s late to the audition, and has to jump through any number of hoops (no pun intended) to get even a modicum of respect.

ADV. I know it’s too late but Cape “Mery,” not “Mary. It’s visible in signs and we can read. “Owner” not “Boss” – they are saying “owner” and we are not deaf. And “Carlos.” Where on earth are you getting “Kalos” from? Every other character has a normal name – Sora, Layla, Sarah, Ken. You couldn’t figure out Carlos? … I’m available for consultation if you need help with this kind of thing.

I tried watching this volume with a different perspective than usual. From Layla’s point of view, it *is* unreasonable to show up late and expect to be given a chance. And it *does* seem suspicious that Sora’s given an opportunity to get on stage when no one else who showed up on time was – so the girls talking behind her back right in front of her makes sense. Sora’s not being bullied, and all people do do that kind of snarking. Nonetheless, when she’s given a week to learn a technique that probably took Layla *months* to master, you can’t help but grit your teeth in annoyance.

But, as I said, this show is about bearing up under unbearable pressure. Sora’s dedication and determination quickly make allies of two of the snarky girls, Anna and Mia.

Which segues nicely into the Yuri. In Volume 1 – Anna and Mia for the win. I had forgotten how boyish Anna is, and how Mia is always looking at her with big heart eyes, and how plain *together* they are. What was I thinking the first time I watched it? Yuri goggles on low, they are still so a couple.

At the moment, Layla barely acknowledges Sora’s existence, but this will change and I will be there to watch it – again. ^_^

But. Truly. What makes this anime worth watching is the utter crazy beauty and brilliance of the tricks on the Kaleido Stage. Sure, most of them are physically impossible – because I don’t care *how* high you jump on a trampoline or swing on a trapeze, people do not hang in midair, suspended, for five seconds.  It doesn’t matter – that’s why this series works so well as an anime, because they can do impossible things and make them seem possible. And that, in a nutshell, is what Kaleido Star is about. Honestly, the person who is designing the tricks is a genius.

Today’s review was made possible by Ted the Awesome. So, while both the picture and the title above are linked to the first DVD volume, I actually received this disk as part of the thinpak box set. As a result, I would like to include Ted’s own words about why to chose the thinpak over individual volumes, because he says it so well.

1. Price! Volume One is listed at $29.98(!) and the following volumes are at the $26.99 range. When I checked out the complete set dubbed “The Amazing Collection”, it was priced at $44.99. That’s cheaper then two volumes of the show!!!!!!

2. Availability! I looked at your list and saw Volume Two was not available. I tried earlier in your list history to get you an item in the same circumstances, but it wouldn’t allow me to send you an item that an individual was selling. So it was either Volume One and Three or the complete series.

3. Space! Thin Packs are my absolute favorite cases for DVDs and I’m shocked and horrified that they haven’t become a standard. Some would say that the side banner is harder to see, but I have no problems with it what so ever. Some will say that they don’t hold inserts, but they can! And since you collect quite a lot of these DVDs, why not take advantage?

4. Complete! Did I mention that it’s complete so you don’t have to wait for every volume to come in?

Of course, for every advantage this set has, there are also a slew of disadvantages. Most of them are all ADV’s fault…

1. Covers – The Cover artwork will certainly be fewer due to packaging spaces and probably a lot less cool looking.

2. Extras – ADV had a good idea (at the time) to have those who collected the volumes of an anime series to keep the extra content while those who wanted the complete series sets just got the series and no extras at all. I still have incredibly mixed feelings about this, because some of the bonus features in Excel Saga are absolutely outstanding and educational that the complete series sets totally lacks! I don’t want to give this series to my friends without those extras!

3. Support – With the savings in price, there also goes a lot of support for the show. It’s probably tough for a studio to charge a lot less for the complete series for the price of less then two volumes combined. I just hope this support is enough, because I want to support the things we like!

That pretty much covers everything I might have had to say about it anyway. lol Thanks Ted, for both the support and the review!

Ratings:

Art – 8, with occasional lapses to 5
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 4

Overall – 8

Although it is just a teeny thing, I find it really, I don’t know – charming, I guess – that Mia is Dutch and her emails are in something that looks Dutch enough to me (although I imagine that the folks I know from the Netherlands probably cringe and die when they see them. ^_^) But still, an attempt was made.





Yuri Anime: Kaleido Star Good dayo! Gooood!

October 20th, 2006

They are few, brief and far between, but those moments of Sora x Layla love in Kaleido Star make watching this often indifferent, frequently irritating anime worthwhile.

This OVA…well, frankly I have no idea who this OVA was targeted to or what they were thinking when they made it. It’s done entirely in CG, with super-deformed art that makes all the characters look like DDR icons or something. It’s 2 parts disturbing to 1 part cute. (On second thought, what “they” were thinking was probably “How can we do a KS brand extension without spending too much money?”)

In any case, this OVA is split into three parts. The first is a “cooking lesson” by May with students Layla and Sora. The second part is Ken being a nebbish as he tries to learn the Diablo from Rosa and the third is an absolutely excruciating gag as Marion and Jonathan the Seal attemtpt to teach Sora to speak seal.

Only the first of these is of interest to Yuri fans.

To be more precise, only the first of these was of interest to *this* Yuri fan.

There are several cute moments as May teaches enthusiastic Sora and pampered Layla how to cook a particularly spicy tofu dish. I actually took a screencap of the lava-like end product, because it was a particularly amusing bit of animation.

But much more importantly, Sora and Layla have a brief moment of Yuri wooja-wooja which, if May hadn’t interrupted it…

Anyway, the OVA as a whole was okay, but the first segment was amusing. Not the logical sequel to the magnificent Legend of Phoenix: Layla Hamilton Monogatari OVA, but if you’re already a fan of the series, its not the worst waste of your time. Not like, say, episodes 27-40 were.

One thing I did very much like, the OP is the original theme from the first season of the TV series, sung by the voice actresses as their characters. And, although they have pretty much no lines in the OVA itself, that included Anna and Mia.

Ratings:

Art – CG/SD. Meh. 4
Characters – 6
Story – 6/4/2 for each section respectively
Yuri – for one brief flash, 7.
Service – surprisingly for this series, no Fool, and no noticeable service. 1, on principal.

Overall – The first segment 6, the second a 4, and the third a 2, for an average of 4.





Yuri Anime: Kaleido Star Legend of Phoenix

February 10th, 2006

I mentioned Kaleido Star: Legend of Phoenix (aka Layla Hamilton Monogatari) on my Top Ten Yuri Anime of 2005. And despite the fact that it’s just an OVA for the longer series, it definitely deserved a spot in the top ten.

One of my problems with the TV series for Kaleido Star was that the growth and challenge plot was mostly confined to Sora. And I saw Carlos’ nonverbal tactics as being enraging and abusive. But really, when I stood back from the series, and thought about it again, I was really very wrong. Yes, the male characters are still fairly loathsome for most of the series (of course Sora wins them all over to her ideas, but…).

…I can’t explain it exactly, but it felt like I was watching a show that might be aired on the “Violence Against Women Network”, aka Lifetime. You know – one hour and forty-five minutes of outrageous physical and emotional violence against women, follwed by fifteen minutes of inadequate legal retribution.) But I digress.

But, because of a post on Gin Sweater, I realize that I have been horribly misinterpreting the entire series. I felt enlightened after reading that post. And now I know why Kaleido Star: Legend of Phoenix was the episode I was waiting for. This series is a classic challenge myth; Hercules’ Labors translated to a fanciful acrobatic circus venue.

Yes, Sora has to endure pain and suffering on both emotional and physical levels, but no pain, no gain, as the masochistic say. The thing is – it’s not just Sora who has to change and grow and what I was seeing, but not noticing, is how *much* we see the surrounding characters change and grow into themselves, as well. In fact, this show shares many of the qualities that I enjoy about Stellvia, but I was unable to see it. Now I do.

Legend of Phoenix is an OVA filled entirely with Layla Hamilton having the same revelation. How nice is that? ;-)

Layla and Sora are about to launch different interpretations of the same show “Legend of Phoenix” on opposite coasts. Layla wants to find her Phoenix in a way unique to her, but also to the audience. In a desperate attempt to be reborn, she runs off on a solo bicycle trip to upstate New York. Meanwhile, Sora is also attempting to find her own Phoenix, but when she learns of Layla’s disappearance she, Ken and May run off to New York to find Layla.

Layla’s trip hooked me on a few points. For one thing, as I mentioned in my end-of-year review, her trip takes her to Rt. 17 in New York – a road upon which I had many surreal experiences myself. So it hit the “nostalgia” button solidly for me there. And Layla, for all that she’s trying to find herself, spends her entire time alone obsessing about Sora. Until she, and we, come to realize just how MUCH Sora has been a muse to her, Sora fills her thoughts. And once she accepts that, she is reborn.

Could I have asked for a better OVA than one filled with Layla thinking about Sora and her importance in her life? Nope.

During the end credits, we get to see the two different Phoenixes – really lovely, as all the Kaleido staging consistently is throughout series and OVAs.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Music – 7
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Yuri – 6
Service – 4, some obligatory Fool perviness and, for this series, subtle fanservice

Overall – 8

This was, as I said, the Kaleido Star I’d been waiting for all along. I’ll take a dozen of the same, please!  ^_^





Yuri Anime: Kaleido Star "New Wings Extra Stage"

November 15th, 2005

I have a total love-hate relationship with Kaleido Star. I hate about 90% of it, but the other 10% I honestly adore.

I had begun watching the original animation when it came out on TV, but quickly began to loathe it. Anyway, I did a few reviews of the first series back in January 2004. Once when I said there wasn’t any yuri, really…and the next entry when I slapped myself silly for saying that.

I found the men oddly horrible. Like there was a coded message that girls need to lose them all if they want to be happy. Maybe it wasn’t so coded, I don’t know. All I know is that Carlos and Yuri and that goopy-eyed Ken made we want to spit. And I am *so* not a man-hating kind of gal. I hate people based on their individual idiocies, never on the basis of sex, color, creed, etc. However, I don’t like circuses much, and cannot abide Cirque du Soleil, so this series wasn’t really my cup of tea, but…

…gods, were the relationships between the women dynamic! Sora and Layla were electric together, and Mia and Anna made a cute couple – even Sora and Rosetta had vibe which didn’t bug me too much.

I never even bothered writing up the second season, because I felt that it committed all the same exact sins over again – same horrible male characters, the same unecessary emotional torture…and not nearly enough tricks, which were the best bit of the show.

The thing that made the first season bearable, and in the end wonderful, was the energy between Sora and Layla. Animated as it was, it was breathtaking. The tricks they did were absurd, sublime and brought tears to my eyes. So I skipped the middle of each season, watched the last half dozen episodes and forgot I hated the series.

Some while went by before I could bring myself to watch the OVA New Wings Extra Stage. I went back and watched the last episode of the second season, to get back into the swing of things, and found myself with a handful of tissues pressed against my face, as the Sora’s Tenshi no Waza started. I had forgotten how beautiful it was. A great big kiss to whoever came up with the idea. I wish you’d do a real circus.

So, I *finally* checked out what is referred to as Episode 52. And it was actually not bad at all….

Rosetta is pegged by the Fool of the Stage to be the next star. True to her belief in a stage without conflict, Sora encourages Rosetta to step up as the Princess, while she herself steps back to play the Prince. Leon, another one of the vile male characters, pulls the stick out of his butt to be the fool who will win the princess. But the real Fool and Rosetta are confronted with a memory – this might be their real story! Okay, whatever. It’s only an OVA, we really don’t go anywhere with this.

The predictable Yuri does show up – this time in the couple of May and Rosetta. I’d forgotten that it was May who forced Rosetta to take part in Swan Lake – and now she’s the caretaker whose pushing Rosetta to become a star. It’s kind of sweet in a weird way.

What was totally different in this OVA was the unsubtlety of the fanservice. Of course the original two season had fanservice – but it was all done with at least some subtlety. Not so the OVA. In this we watch crotches and breasts for about 1/3 of the screen time. It was a little startling, since the series is targeted (at least in the US) to a younger female audience. I guess they know they won’t be bring this episode over here. Or not…I don’t know and really don’t care. :-)

The animation on all Kaleido Star episodes are pretty good – this one has maybe slightly better than usual animation. And the music is much the same as any other j-popish OP/EP theme. “Tattoo Kiss” is a nice enough song.

A new Kaleido Star OVA is in production, btw – this one is called Layla Hamilton Monogatari, so I’m already stoked. Layla was my favorite character. But I bet we end up following a young Layla, when I’d much prefer the older sexy one, myself.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Music – 6

Overall – 7

If you are a huge Kaleido Star fan, its a must-see. Otherwise, its a fun, fanservicey, colorful killer of time. :-)





Four Quick Anime Yuri Updates

February 1st, 2004

Mezzo:
I’ve been seeing some noise on the Japanese Yuri sites about this anime that follows the OVA Mezzo Forte. At episode 4 I can’t say I’ve seen it, but there’s still the possibility of Yuri. Mikura is certainly admired strongly by Asami, the girl she rescues in the first episode, but I think any real anything will come from the rival she hasn’t yet met and will next episode. Cute girls with guns. Possible Yuri. Keep your eyes peeled.

 

 

Tokyo Underground:
I can only assume that the Yuri mentioned in this series exists in the manga, ’cause it sure ain’t in the anime. The second episode for this series was the single most predictable thing I’ve ever watched, ever. Chelsea Rorec is cool…but if she’s in love with Ruri-sama, then she hides it well. It reads more like a “devoted servant to her master” kind of relationship than anything else.

 

 

Kaleido Star
What a challenge, watching a raw episode of anime…with no sound. But I just did it. Very intruiging…what were they talking about? Who can tell!

I was watching the most recent episode of this series because its silly and kind of fun, not because it has any great merit. I was also thinkng that, now that Layla’s not performing, there’s not a whole lot o’ yuri…since the second 13 episodes was more about her and Sora than anything.

Well, at the climax of Ep. 43, there is a sweet romantic scene between Mr. Policeman and his girlfriend, Kate. It’s cute, and goofy and anyone who’s ever been in love will be smiling, just because. Ken, the boy who’se gaga over Sora turns and looks at her longingly as she watches Police-san and Kate, but more importantly, behind Sora are Anna and Mia, staring into each other’s eyes and smiling. Awwwww…. we’ve always known they’re a pair, we just don’t get to see it often, so that was kinda nice.

It’s not that Anna and Mia are hidden as a couple, it’s just that they aren’t really major characters. We’ve seen ’em sleeping together, and now this, but we’re never going, I’m sorry to say, see them kiss or probably even touch…it’s just not that kind of show. Nonetheless, it was one more Anna/Mia moment to add to the yuri pile.

Avenger:
I guess some people probably thought that the relationship between Layla and Nei was yuri-ish, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say two things here: 1) The Russians will win gold in Olympic figure skating and; 2) What Layla and Nei had was really a mother/daughter thing, not a love affair. Of course, we’ll never *really* know about Layla and Nei, since Bee Train once again didn’t really explain anything of importance by the time Avenger ended. How Nei and Layla met, why Layla cared, what will happen afterwards, how they will all avoid death as the moon crashes into Mars…nah, we’ll never know about any of that. Check back in a few weeks, though, to find out about the figure skating results.