Archive for the Bee Train Category


Yuri Anime: Madlax, Volume 2

July 5th, 2005

It has been pointed out to me in the notes below that this review was full of hot air. I stand corrected – the translation in the one case I illustrated was fine. ;-))

I am so irritated about this volume of Madlax, I’m not really even sure where to begin.

So to begin, I’ll touch on the good things. First and foremost, this volume is fun, with a capital “fu”. I mean, how many other places can you watch a gentle maid go totally postal on some entitled wannabe frat boy?  I particularly enjoy it when Elenore snaps the kid’s wrist, because he hurt Margaret’s wrist. And when Vanessa says, “How vicious,” she really doesn’t sound all that disapproving. ^_^

Other good things – the liner notes include highly amusing fan art drawn by some of the staff, complete with in-jokes that have to be explained. I really enjoyed these.

And that about covers it. The plot is dense, the bad guy is a joke, but those haven’t changed from my first viewing of the series. And the rest of the episodes are actually very interesting, as we finally start to draw a connection between Margaret, the book and Madlax.

(Remind me to engage in a light rant about the book next review…^_^)

The really stand-out not-good thing on this volume is the seriously awful translation. The first volume was pretty good, but again, its like they switched midstream and stopped actually listening to what was being said, and instead started guessing at something sort-of close to the meaning.

I can’t remember all the things that annoyed the living daylights out of me, but there were several. COME ON,  anime distributor companies! We are notstupid. We are not children. JUST TRANSLATE WHAT THEY SAY. Not something “close enough” to it. And leave the \expletive deleted\ honorifics alone, already! Stop the dubtitling.

It’s absolutely infuriating to pay money for something that is not done properly. It may be cheaper for you to dubtitle, but it stinks for those of us who want to watch the Japanese. Thanks for treating us like second-class citizens, when we are your fan base.

No ratings, I’m in a bad mood.





Yuri Anime: Noir, Volume 2

June 27th, 2005

I spent some time this weekend rewatching anime that I own, but haven’t yet reviewed here. It was edifying, let me tell you. There were some things that were great and some less so. I decided to start the week off with a reasonably strong entry. ^_^

Noir Volume 2, *feels* like a second volume. The art is significantly less good than the first volume, the plot sort of drops off a bit in favor of character development (sort of) and the use of repeated footage begins to grate. But otherwise it’s excellent. ^_^

On the positive side, the characters do become more than just ciphers. Despite myself, I was feeling a little for Mirielle and Kirika as they faced what, for them, were major life crises – Kirika’s lack of knowledge about herself and Mirielle’s past trauma coming back to haunt her.

We also get a glimpse of Mirielle in bed in the nude, which has carried Yuri fans for some time, as there is only one bed in the room. It would take a strong woman, so we rationalize, to sleep in the nude with someone with whom you are not sleeping. ;-) In fact, I think it’s a bit early for them, but hey, yuri goggles go a long way to building character development. ^_^

Geographically, we go from New York City to (the wildly improbable deep woods and high mountain passes) of New Jersey to sunny Sicily. For this alone, the “Intoccabile” arc is worth it. But this arc is worth watching, in general. I think Intoccabile would have made a much worthier opponent than Chloe and it was a damn shame we used her up so soon.

This volume also gives the viewer glimpses into a Kirika who is exactly as she appears – a young woman, apt to fall for a cute kitty or a good sob story. I liked that. It gives her more depth than most people assume she has. And Mirielle gets a chance to gently gloat about her superior knowledge of Russian literature. ^_^

So, yes, the second volume has problems – notably the art and repeated footage issue (and the no-wound thing, which plagues the whole production), but as far as giving the characters some three-dimensionality, this volume is fairly crucial – and actually not a bad watch.

Ratings:
Art – 5
Music – 7 (Salva Nos playing as they run through NJ’s bamboo forest is, to me, priceless)
Character – 8
Story – 7

Overall 7

Not as strong as the beginning, or the end, but a must for fanfic writers. ^_^





Madlax, Volume 1

June 6th, 2005

I’m not sure if Madlax is better than I remembered it to be, but it is definitely damn good. In this series, I think Bee Train might well have hit their peak – animation, story, music, etc, all work together to make a really enjoyable whole.

I reviewed the early part of the series about a year ago in June 2004, so I won’t repeat the basic plot stuff since, obviously, that has not changed. ;-)

So let’s talk packaging. Like Noir, the packaging is minimal. No posters, no pencil boards, just a disk and some liner notes. The notes are interesting, but not Azumanga Daioh-level stellar. 4 episodes on the disk. I know it’s standard, but you know my rant – it shouldn’t be. 6 episodes on a disk *should* be standard, or why have we switched at all from VHS?

The music has a definitely similarity to that of Noir, without being a complete copycat. I did notice, this time around, that “The Book” (or individual pages from The Book) has a plinky, irrirtating theme, much as The Watch did. The book also comes with a pretentious quasi-militaristic, vaguely Teutonic male choir, which means that even if you’re only half paying attention, you’ll look up when it comes on-screen. :-)

I’m always fascinated by the phenomenon of watching an anime I enjoyed with that 20/20 hindsight that comes from knowing what will happen. It frees one to notice many more details – in this case I was able to appreciate just how really flaky Margaret is. lol

For the yuri fan, there is instant rapport between Elenore and Vanessa, who seem to be sharing some kind of obvious secret as they trade snarky comments. And Rimelda gives off gaydar vibes like crazy…but maybe that’s just me.

The whole war thing actually makes more sense this time around – I think we get alot of Madlax’s point of view in the beginning just to establish that pretty much everyone knows this war is meaningless – except for the guys fighting it. Hey, *that* sounds familiar…. I also like Madlax’s sensuality in the middle of everything. The first time watching it seemed frivolous – this time it feels somehow necessary.

The biggest downside to this series hasn’t really yet been established: Bee Train has a nasty tendency to severely overuse repeated footage, like some kind of animated nervous tic. In the case of Volume 1, we have yet to really see the repeated scenes, but we will, we will…established by Episode 4, they just keep coming back again and again and again, until we want to scream. Or maybe that’s just me.

Other than that – the violence is appropriate, people bleed (an issue I had with Noir) from their wounds and the only serious handwave is Madlax’s mad assasinatin’ skillz. Which is *the* handwave, really, so we’ll let it go. She can fight in a cocktail dress if she wants, so there.

Ratings:

Art – 8 (I think BT really hits a high here. It’s the best they’ve done so far.)
Characters – 8 (Intriguing rather than interesting)
Story – 7
Yuri – 4 with a hint of more to come
Music – 9

Overall – a strong 8. If you liked Noir, you’ll probably like Madlax. Get it at the Yuricon Shop and support yuri!





Yuri Anime: Noir, DVD Volume 1

May 16th, 2005

A blast from the past! But, you see, I never originally reviewed Noir. Isn’t that odd? I did talk about it a little in my initial overview of Bee Train series for my review of Madlax, but I have never talked about this series in detail. It gives me a good excuse to rewatch the series. ^_^

Let’s start with the bad.

There is so much repeated footage in the early episodes that it’s a wonder anyone gets past episode four. After watching the first volume again, I hated that damn watch and its musical theme all over again, something that time and distance had dulled.

The animation is surprisingly weak in places, especially in regards to the characters’ faces, which is all the more obvious when laid against really detailed and cool backgrounds.

Lastly, there is the small issue of entry and exit wounds…they do not exist. Guns make *holes*. People do not bleed by osmosis. We are watching an anime about assasins. We should REALLY have wounds. And while it’s a small issue, it just hits absurd proportions later on in the series, when Kirika and Mirielle are gunning down dozens at a time. Blood yes, but only behind bodies and with no wounds. Come ON, Bee Train, get some balls!

I will admit that they partially addressed the issue in Madlax.

That’s about it for the bad, now for the good.

Oh my god is the music orgasmic! I bought all three soundtracks to this anime, something never before heard of. With the exception of the watch’s theme, (and only because it’s just overused,) every track in this show rocks. Canta Per Me and Salva Nos are indescribably sexy as background music to the various “running around with guns and shooting people” scenes.

It’s about women who use guns. Like Gunsmith Cats, no matter how absurd the storyline, we’ll put up with it, because, well, it’s got sexy woman with gun and we like. ^_^

The various settings are fun. I think Bee Train do a really nice job of moving the story around the world – in this first volume we start in Japan, move to Paris and briefly slaughter some people in a tropical climate. I really like the mobility of the story. Especially as it will take them, eventually, to the woods of New Jersey.

The occult coolness. Could anything be cooler than two female assassins traveling around the world, killing with dispassionate skill? Yes! They could be investigating a Medieval occult conspiracy! Da Vinci Code step aside – Soldats has you beat flat.

Oh, and erm…gee they seem kinda Yuri don’t they? ^_^

Okay, in Volume 1, there is already a definite vibe between our two lovely leads. And there does seem to only be one bed doesn’t there? And gee, Mirielle seems a sensual, passionate sort, and she’s only a few years older than Kirika…

And anyway, geez, who *else* could they sleep with? It’s not like they’d be meeting lots of nice people to hang out with, or be able to buy sex, since it would be too risky. Bottom line is, it’s obvious, right off. And Bee Train tells us that if we want to see it there, it is, so I say it is. There, that’s settled. ^_^

Ratings:
Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 9
Yuri – 6

Overall – 8

Not for the cute, fluffy crowd, but a definite Yuri fan fave.





Yuri Anime: Madlax

June 29th, 2004

madlaxAs promised, today I’m discussing the rather promising new Bee Train anime, Madlax. Now, bear in mind that a) Bee Train doesn’t have really overt screaming Yuri scenes; b)Bee Train also doesn’t bother tying up all the loose ends in their plots, so alot of what’s going on will never be resolved and; c) that this is a seriously biased overview from a person who has watched way too much anime recently… ;-)

“Madlax” is the name of a young woman, bodyguard and assassin by profession, tragic heroine by role. She lives and works in Gazth-Sonika, a war-torn banana republic in an undisclosed part of the world. It is established early on that, while she is very competent at her job, you probably wouldn’t want to invite her to dinner, since, like Jessica Fletcher, someone is likely to die when she’s around.

Meanwhile, in beautiful, vaguely European, Nafreces, where everyone is affluent and happy, rich girl Margaret Burton is introduced and established to be eternally spacey – perhaps as a result of a trauma she experienced as a small child…perhaps as a result of hallucinogenics in the drinking water, perhaps as a silly plot complication – the one thing we can be sure of is that we will probably never find out.

Protecting Margaret is Eleanor, a hyper-competent and unremittingly weird maid/bodyguard, who is by far and away, the most fascinating character to date. She is involved with…

Vanessa Renee, Margaret’s next-door neighbor who was like an older sister to a young Margaret, but is now no more than a vague memory to the spacey one.

When Vanessa invites herself, quite literally, into Margaret’s life, Eleanor finds her amusing and after a while, it becomes clear to those of us who watch anime with “Yuri goggles” that Vanessa and Eleanor are more than just having dinner with each other. The repartee’ becomes, at times, almost risque’ between them, while Margaret is totally oblivious.

We do learn that there is *alot* more to both Eleanor and Vanessa as they save Margaret from being ravished by a tiresome boy-type character. Most maids aren’t *that* good at hand-to-hand combat. And few of them are likely to be that vicious, either.

Meanwhile, back in the plot, Margaret locates a weird book which has mystic writing, which will in some way involve the token man (who works as an agent for *every* organization in the story), a tribal hot chick whose knowledge will probably not further the plot much, but will create more bath scenes and allow for yet *another* character to be looking for Margaret. (Now that I think about it, the youngish girl who is part of the tribal deal is probably going to involved with Margaret one way or another…)

This all may or may not have something to do with the illegal activities of the company Vanessa works for (and I’m betting Margaret owns, or something…) and a mafia-like organization, Enfan, that has a leader with the silliest and least fear-inspiring name ever…Friday Monday. I kid you not. He sounds like a bad guy from Pokemon, for pity’s sake.

Vanessa has gotten herself transferred to Gazth-Sonika, where Madlax has the nigh on impossible job of protecting her from herself and random assassination attempts. Vanessa’s yuri rating kicks up a notch or two when she invites Madlax to share a bed with her and in screencaps for the episode from last week, she embraces Madlax in a decidedly huggy way. Now all the Eleanor/Vanessa fans are crying, “Poor Eleanor!” Not that I think that Eleanor would mind, much. Madlax has also decided that Vanessa is a Princess and she, Madlax, is her Prince, and we, the audience, all looked for the spinning roses.

Lastly, there is Rimelda, another hyper-competent female sharpshooter, who works for the military and has a total obsession with Madlax, as well as Hisakawa Aya’s sexy “grown-up” voice. Yay!

So, the story is only at halfway and there are many, many plot elements to be sorted out – what the mystic book and Enfan have in common, what it all has to do with Margaret’s disappearance as a child, whether Vanessa goes home to Eleanor, and many, many other things that will never be resolved.

In the yuri goggles, Madlax/Rimelda, Vanessa/Madlax, Vanessa/Eleanor all look pretty yummy and will doubtless provide much fodder for horrible fanfiction and fan art. I can’t wait and I’m sure you feel the same way. :-)

Is Madlax worth watching? Depends – if you like tight stories, then avoid it like the plague. But as always with Bee Train work, the music is compelling, the action is fun (once we moved past the battle dress in the first episode,) and the yuri is pretty strong. Lots of chicks with guns. Lots of chicks in general.

Ratings:

Plot – hahahaha
Characters – 8, for Eleanor alone
Art – 7. It waffles from being excellent to being “eh”
Yuri – 8, maybe 9
Music – 9

Overall – 8

It’s a fun watch so far. Not “Read or Dream” quality, but darn fun.