Archive for the Ikeda Takashi Category


Yuri Manga: Sasamekikoto, Volume 6 (ささめきこと)

March 29th, 2010

When you’ve got a logjam, there’s only two ways to break it up. Either something has to crack under pressure, or some external stimulus has to be applied to clear the congestion. In either case, I expected a “terrible crisis” to happen in this volume.

In Sasamekikoto, Volume 6 (ささめきこと) *both* things happen. And I was wrong – there is no “terrible crisis.” Well, there is, but it’s not that terrible, really.

I don’t want to spoil too much, because this was a very good volume, but let me say this: The one consistently weak thing about this story has been Ushio’s cluelessness. Well, that’s been taken care of now.

And now, I am even more interested to see where the series goes from here.

I loved that the crazy birthday party meme from the Drama CD was reused for this volume in a way that left one not feeling wrung out and irritated.

I foresee a ridiculously grin-making climax, but not at least for another volume, maybe two. Kind of weird for a series that became so thickly wrapped in angst, but also kind of a relief.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 9
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Damn this series, now I’m singing Jinsei ha Party all over again. Gah.





Yuri Drama CD: Sasamekikoto ~ The Longest Day of Sumika

February 22nd, 2010

The Birthday Gambit. We all know it as one of the most tedious plot complications possible in anime and manga. Whether it devolves into the “What, it’s your birthday?” series of painful lies that end up in a surprise party or the “Invite everyone, even my enemies” style party in which chaos consumes the plot, anyone that has read or watched more than a few anime or manga series will be familiar with the mortification that consumes us as we watch yet another agonizing birthday celebration. What could possibly be worse?

Well…it could be rendered into a musical number about your hopeless one-sided love for your best friend, sung by everyone else in your life.

And this, my friends, is the plot of Sasamekikoto~ The Longest Day of Sumika.

So, it’s Sumi’s birthday and all she really wants is for Ushio to come over and spend some time with her. Ushio, ever insensitive to Sumi’s feelings, begins to obsess over getting Sumi the perfect gift. Of course, the perfect gift would have been for her to come over, but no, that’s not likely, is it?

Sumika ends up inviting Kyori, Miyako and Tomoe, and Kyori ends up inviting Akemi-chan and of course there’s Nori and Sumika’s brothers and father. Everyone arrives for the party, including Sumika’s homeroom teacher except – you guessed it – Ushio.

At which point the Drama CD becomes an overproduced and slightly snarky musical number that I’m singing in my head even now. Whatever you might expect from this…don’t. This is a brutal commentary on what other people think Sumika’s life ought to be like and it doesn’t make her happy. In the original track, which is the longest on the CD, Sumika resists being dragged into the musical number as long as she can.

When Ushio does eventually show up, very late, she accompanied by her sempai, because you see she wanted to get Sumika something perfect, but ruined the dress she was making so took the train out to the beach and forgot her cellphone and purse and couldn’t get back and…here’s a really pretty shell for your birthday.

Oh, Sumi, please forget Ushio. Please. She’s a clod. Be slightly hurt and grow up and find someone wonderful, okay? Thanks.

In any case, this CD is perfectly in keeping with the anime, in that it’s unfocused, mostly in Sumika’s head and silly. You could do worse for a Drama CD.

Ratings:

Story – 7-WTF
Characters – 7
Yuri – 3
Loser Fan – 1

Overall – 7

Really, the song is incredibly sticky. Someone needs to make a AMV to it.





Yuri Anime: Sasamekikoto (English)

October 23rd, 2009

What an amazing year. Not only have we had a ton of Yuri in anime in general, we had the delightful and lovely Aoi Hana and now…unbelievably, in English, for free, legally streamed to our computers, the Yuri comedy-drama Sasamekikoto. It’s like a dream state. ^_^

In short, Sasamekikoto, the “thing that is whispered,” is a story about Murasame Sumika who is in love with her best friend, Kazama Ushio. It’s a hopeless love because, despite the fact that Ushio loudly proclaims that she likes girls, she only likes cute, petite girls. Tall, athletic, hypercompetent Sumi just isn’t cute and frilly, the way Ushio likes them. May I just editorialize for a moment and say Ushio’s an *idiot.* Sumi is perfect.

The first few episodes start off on a dour note, with Sumika pining away for an oblivious Ushio, who appears to fall for a new girl each week. The first few episodes follow the manga pretty closely, so I don’t expect too much change as the story goes on.

Sasamekikoto is surprisingly richly animated, well voiced by a mostly-new cast and is an interesting take on a variety of Yuri tropes. Best friend, one-sided love, cross-dressing, and more to come. (For all full breakdown of all the tropes, check out my review of Volume 2 of the manga.) Although the story is decidedly melodramatic, it has pretty steep ups and downs of comedy and drama to manage, which it does pretty well.

The only real negative I can muster for Sasamekikoto is that I suddenly realized – I don’t like Ushio. Yet. Sumi beating the crap out of the bag in karate made me realize that I really *like* Sumi and want to slap Ushio. It’s a sign of a good story that I’m feeling anything at all about any of the characters, so bravo for the anime producers.

And bravo for Crunchyroll, who continue to invest in Yuri! They’ve told me that they have a genuine interest in building up the Yaoi and Yuri audiences, and I’m very excited to see that they are putting their money where their mouth is. Now we, the Yuri-viewing audience, needs to do the same.

I know, I know, the licensing doesn’t cover huge swatches of the planet. Trust me – if they could get those covered, they would. But for those of us in the US and Oceania – here it is, Yuri. For Free. In English. One hour after it airs in Japan. Support this please, because the better their numbers are – the more they will get. It’s really *that* simple.

For the price of a sandwich a month, you get good Yuri like Sasamekikoto and Aoi Hana and really stupid Yuri like Koihime Musou and not Yuri, but really, like it needs to be any more weird than it is, like Book of Bantorra. (What? You’re not watching it? Oh, you should be…it’s absolutely dreadful. Laughably, hilariously so. And Paku Romi as Hamutz Meseta. There are no other reasons needed to watch this.)

Watch Sasamekikoto and collect the whole set of Yuri Tropes!

Ratings:

Art – 8, with a few obvious cost-saving measures
Story – 7
Characters – 7, but they will get better
Yuri – 8
Service – 2

Overall – 7.5

Teenaged girls with wildly roller-coastering emotions? Ridiculous.

Joshibu ahoy!

I like Tomoe and Miyako best, if anyone cares.





Yuri Manga: Sasamekikoto, Volume 5 (ささめきこと)

October 6th, 2009

In Volume 4, we left Ushio and Sumika not actually saying anything important to one another. Now, in Volume 5 of Sasamekikoto (ささめきこと), the walls between them are not getting any easier to get past.

In fact, it’s safe to say that this entire volume follows two young women who have something *incredibly* important to say to one another, who both find a myriad of ways to not say anything at all.

They smile at one another, and pretend that there’s nothing wrong, but they both hate it. They hate what it’s doing to them. Even more – they hate what it is doing to the other. They can *see* that the other one is suffering, but they are completely paralyzed and unable to say anything that needs to be said. They each hate the fake smiles and brave face the other wears. Most importantly, they each blame themselves for the other’s unhappiness.

Most fans will find this volume frustrating, but it serves two distinct purposes. The first, and most reality-based, is that it indicates that the series is in for a longer haul. No longer is this the goofy love-comedy of two girls in love but who can’t figure it out. Now it is a longer series, full of do-ra-ma, about two girls who are in love but can’t figure it out. Since we’ve made it to 5 volumes, I’d expect at least a few more tear-soaked volumes before it all gets settled.

The second purpose is that the story has, in effect, to be rewritten. The first three volumes were silly. They set up a bunch of untenable Yuri tropes that, one at a time, have been set aside for the more realistic, more dramatic “real” story line. In this volume “Akemi”s modeling career comes to an end, and all the characters but a few – including the actual lesbian couple, who can see the problem easily enough – seem to shift back slightly to allow room for the full-on misery of Ushio and Sumi simply not talking about what’s on their mind.

In the middle of throngs of people, even standing right next to one another, Ushio and Sumi are lonely. Right now they are struggling to find who they themselves are and if they can do that, then they might be able to find one another. Or, well, that’s what I’d do if I were writing this manga.

This series is becoming better on the one side, because it’s dealing with the real gap between knowing what you want and being able to accept that that is what you want, in a world that does not approve of such things. On the other, it’s really annoying because I hate mopey characters. ^_^;

However, I’m more than willing to give Ushio and Sumi some time to get over themselves. I eagerly look forward to the next volume in which I think a *terrible crisis* will rear it’s ugly head. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 8

More volumes means more teenaged moping.





Sasamekikoto Anime on Crunchyroll

October 6th, 2009

I’m pleased to report that Crunchyroll has obtained the license (limited to US and Oceania this time… don’t blame them, blame stupid country licensing issues) to Yuri anime Sasamekikoto. Here’s hoping that the anime captures the book’s zaniness without losing the solid emotional story in the back and vice versa, that it doesn’t wallow without the comedy to temper it.

In honor of the news, I’ll review Volume 5 later today. :-)

I just love their press release that says this series is “one of the most famed yuri manga of all time in Japan.” LOL I’m thinking not so much, really. But, yay for Yuri fans anyway. :-)

So, what do you think is the “most famed Yuri manga of all time”?