Archive for the Artists Category


Yuri Drama CD: El Cazador de la Bruja, Volume 2

February 28th, 2008

My goodness,the El Cazador Drama CD, Volume 2 is a cute Drama CD. Set somewhere just past halfway into the series, after Ellis has started to realize that Nadie is more than a friend, but well before Nadie clues in, this Christmas story finds our two adventurers on the run with Santa Claus.

Not *the* Santa Claus, of course. In this case, the story begins with Nadie telling Ellis that she remembers a Christmas in New York City. Ellis presses her for details, which Nadie is loathe to share. When she – reluctantly – begins the story, it goes something like this. “Santa Claus was running away.”

At which Santa Claus comes running out of a store and into their car, importuning them to floor it. After some banter, they take off. Nadie is amazed at the irony when Clive, the Santa in question, turns out to be the *same* Santa as that in her New York story.

The opening credits are an opportunity for Ellis to keep changing the title of the story, inserting “New York” in every version, until Nadie puts a stop to it.

Eventually Ellis learns the New York story, and why Clive is (still) on the run. There’s gunfights and poignant moments, and Ellis using her newfound powers, and LA being a freak, and Ricardo being whipped by Lilio into dressing as Santa (red poncho) and walking around with a llama with a red nose. And each scene narrated dryly, as usual, by Jody “Blue Eyes” Hayward.

In the end, Clive was wearing a red shirt for a good reason, and Ellis and Nadie are forced to confront Clive’s mother, now a nun, with the gift he had made for her. Ellis’ innate honesty and goodness force Clive’s mother to forgive her son and they move on, having once again changed the world one person at a time.

The story is a little thin, but there were a few excellent scenes and one very un-excellent scene. ^_^

The best scene, IMHO, is Blue Eyes asking one of her henchwomen to stay for a drink, since it’s Christmas Eve and all. She begins interrogating the woman – likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc. None, comes the answer. Blue Eyes makes fun of the woman a little, but when the questions are turned on her and she doesn’t have any better answers, the henchwoman notes that they are the same. Scene fades out. My imagination doesn’t. ^_^

The most horriblest scene involves LA singing the Amigos tacos song. Try imagining it. That’s not nearly half as bad as it actually was. 0_0

And the funniest scene comes right at the very end in a 12-second track, when Ricardo, Liliio, and the llama, drive by Nadie and Ellis. ^_^

The bonus track was very long, with quite a lot of conversation from the main cast. Miyano Mamoru, LA’s actor, is quick to point out that LA is not, in fact, a pervert or hentai – his feelings are genuine love for Ellis. I agree, but it doesn’t make him any less horrible.

Hisakawa Aya is bemoaning the fact that Rosenberg’s voice actor, Miyake Kenta, isn’t with them this time and wouldn’t you know it – he walks in at that very moment! “Uso!” Hisakwa says, and a conversation that has nothing at all to do with us listeners erupts. ^_^

No physical extras, but the cover art is just about exactly as cute as the story inside.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 3
Service  – 4

Overall – 7

While not as love-love as the first El Cazador DCD, the second is still fun.





Yuri Manga: GIRL FRIENDS, Volume 1

February 8th, 2008

Among the many items I picked up in Japan last month was the first volume of Girlfriends, the newest manga series by Morinaga Milk.

Girlfriends runs in Comic High, a “shoujo” magazine for men. The stories in Comic High are shoujo-esque, girly romances and the like, but the intended audience is adult men. These are guys who read shoujo, but feel embarrassed picking up Margaret or Ribon, etc., in the store. I can’t help but feel that this is pretty much a perfect audience for Morinaga’s blend of blushy-cheeked sweetness, service and Yuri.

If you have read Kuchibiru Tameiki no Sakurairo by Morinaga, it might seem difficult to *not* make comparisons between the two volumes. In one sense, this story seems to be a few steps backwards from the story in Kuchibiru. And the character designs are very similar. (Similar, in fact, to all of Morinaga’s Yuri couples.) However, the characters here are different enough that you can read Girlfriends without making too many mental comparisons.

Mariko is a quiet, introverted girl. One day, quite out of the blue, it seems to Mariko, Akiko speaks to her in class. Akiko (called “Ah-ko” by her friends) is very extroverted. She rapidly draws Mariko (now called Mari-chin) into her circle. The two quickly become best friends.

The early chapters each focus around a very typically girly sort of topic. Hair. Clothes. Makeup. As the conversations and circumstances center around these things, we’re watching Mari balancing an undefined need to please Ah-ko, and a struggle to shed her introverted isolation and find herself. But don’t get me wrong – the story is about the hair, the clothes and the makeup. Mari’s struggle is happening in the margins of the story.

What isn’t happening in the margins is Mari’s infatuation with Ah-ko. That’s pretty much front and center. When she and Ah-ko change classes, Mari’s taken aback by the rapidity and familiarity of Ah-ko’s overtures to their new classmates. But Mari comes up from behind and makes new friends too, alongside her best friend.

Until a “go-kon,” a group date, where Mari simply cannot handle the thought of watching Ah-ko being super friendly to a bunch of guys, which precipitates a crisis. Ah-ko picks up on the signal pretty quick and she and Mari bail. They go back to Ah-ko’s place where they have a few drinks, since they didn’t get to drink at the go-kon. Ah-ko has no tolerance for alcohol, so she falls asleep and Mari, who can’t stop looking at Ah-ko, leans over and kisses her.

The volume ends with Mari being shocked/mortified/titillated at her behavior.

So far, the story is that of a crush in progress. Ah-ko, being the kind of extrovert she is, and with the kind of devil-may-care friends she has, is just the kind of person to practice kissing with her best friend, or have a breast-size competition with no deeper meaning in it. (Not that she does in this volume – it’s just the kind of thing she might do.) It is Mari who is so serious and who over-thinks things. It’s also Mari who is quite gay. Ah-ko *might* be, but Mari? Definitely. She just doesn’t know it yet. With apologies for paraphrasing an over-paraphrased line, “I have seen Girlfriends, and they are us.” If you take my meaning. ^_^

Girlfriends also has a fair dollop of service, mostly in the form of playing dress-up. This *is* a manga for guys, and generally shoujo manga has a a fair bit of that kind of thing anyway. Japanese women seem to have no qualms about enjoying other women’s bodies – as a point of comparison and as something nice to look at. Can’t really argue with that. (Although I personally prefer clothing to underwear for visual appeal.) The only really extra servicey bits are one of Ah-ko’s friends who seems to shuck her top at any excuse, or for no reason at all.

Without spoiling anything, I think it’s safe to say that the point of this manga is the journey not the destination, so expect a lot more delaying tactics as the story goes on. Will Mari and Ah-ko actually get together? No way to know as of yet. Guess we’ll just have to keep reading.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 6
Service – 5

Overall – 6

I have a 5-minute attention span for conversations about hair, clothes and make-up. After that, I’m done. If your tolerance for such things are higher, you’ll probably want to add a point or two to the Overall score. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Rakuen no Jouken

January 29th, 2008

What happens when an lesbian mangaka draws Yuri manga for a female audience? Why, we have a winner, that’s what!

Morishima Akiko draws whimsically realistic, slightly angsty and decidedly delightful stories of love between women. Rakuen no Jouken is a collection of her stories from Yuri Hime magazine. This collection does not include her Yuri life illustrated column, just her manga.

Rakuen begins with the mini series about OL Sarina and her “friend with benefits,” freelance writer Sumika, as Sumi drops by unexpectedly. They immediately pick up where they left off, but Sarina realizes that she kind of likes having Sumi around. She asks Sumi to live with her, but you can’t cage a free bird, so Sumi returns the favor by asking Sarina to come with her on her next assignment to Malta.

This is followed by a story in which Sumi is unhappy because she has always loved Sarina, but knows that Sarina is more interested in getting a boyfriend. When Sarina breaks up with her current beau, she’s there to comfort her, but the relationship turns much more serious.

The next story picks up with them in Malta, enjoying living together, house and cat-sitting. Sarina angsts slightly over their relationship, because it seems like she’s getting more serious about Sumi than she expected. Since she forgets to use her inside voice, Sumi is able to hear it all and it’s too late to put the cat back in the bag so to speak. Sarina’s fallen in love with Sumi, too. Surrounded by light, love and cats, they look forward to a very happy future together.

The next two stories deal with a really cute couple, Keiko, a 30-year old art teacher and Emi, her 20-year old student. Emi asks Keiko out, and since she doesn’t have a boyfriend and Emi’s kinda cute, Keiko says yes. But Emi isn’t just cute – she’s young, perky, sparkly, bright-eyed, luminescent with life and youth and immediately, Keiko finds herself suffering a crisis. How could this prime example of youth and energy want her old, flabby aged body? (30 is old…. Yes, in 10000 BCE, 30 was old. Welcome to the 21st century, Japanese women! If you’re old at 30 – what do you do for the next 50 years? Sit around and moulder? Crichey.) Anyway, Keiko’s crisis is resolved when she realizes that her real problem is that she’s been in love with this girl since day one. This is followed by a night-over date, which is sadly on a very bad day for Emi. You know – *that* kind of bad day. Emi is full of wide-eyeness, so Keiko can barely take no for an answer. ^_^ I hope we get more of them – the age joke is exhausting, but I like them anyway.

Lalaa is a cosplay-wearing 29-year old loli and her 25-year old lover Shinobu is a editor and flute player. They’ve known each other – and pretty much been together – for 12 years, since they were young. The story revolves around Shinobu’s emotional breakdown in the rain, and Lalaa-sempai’s deep understanding and caring for Shinobu.

“Momo no aji” is a short story about a girl’s confession to an upperclassman and a response that involves a peach-flavored lolipop.

And the final story is a that of Sakura-hime and her guardian tree spirit Fubuki. The story is no less bittersweet than the original that ran in the magazine. A sort of classic melancholy, fitting for the historical setting.

Morishima is not afraid of service – she gleefully has her characters in various states of undress, costumes, and partial nudity for your viewing pleasure. But her art is so sweet and round and soft, and her characters so feminine, that it never feels like “service.” The sex tends to be on the snuggly side, with a blessed lack of gouting bodily fluids. Her humor tends to make me snort, rather than laugh, if you take my meaning. And her work is cute, cute, cute, all the way down.

If you’re looking for non-schoolgirl Yuri stories, especially ones that reflect actual women’s daily experiences, Rakuen no Jouken is just about perfect. (Even if there aren’t any lesbians in it.  ^_^)

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – variable, averaging out at about 8
Characters – an almost universally likeable 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 4

Overall – 9

Of all the Yuri Hime collections, this is one of the very best so far. I look forward to seeing it in English one day. ^_^





Yuri Drama CD: El Cazador de La Bruja

January 17th, 2008

Had a *brilliant* time at the signing last night, I’ll post pics and comments this weekend. In the mean time, a review of an actual anime-related thing! Can you believe it?

It’s not too often I can call a Drama CD just about perfect. Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to: Madrigal Halloween is pretty much the only one I’d give that title to so far. But El Cazador de la Bruja: El Bosque del Eco must certainly share the title. It has everything an El Cazador fan could possibly want. Ellis teasing Nadie slightly inappropriately, Nadie saying, “Yuigon attara, dozo” in that way she does, with the smile obvious in her tone, Ellis brightly saying “Yes sir!” when she gets her own way, Ricardo saving the day, Lilio not speaking until she does and then creeping us all out, Blue Eyes sardonically narrating, and sharing a moment or two with one of her unnamed henchchicks. Unfortunately, Rosenberg pretending to be a decent guy to Melissa, who is desperately trying to trust him. And, of course…LA being a freakazoid.

And magic, and violence and miracles and action and great music.

Perfect.

For fans of the series, this was an episode that fits in the final third of the series – after Ellis has realized that she’s in love with Nadie, but not vice versa yet.

The story begins with our heroines arriving at a town with no money, and no prospects – there’s not even an Amigos Tacos in the place. A pervy old guy approaches them with a request to pose for inappropriate pictures, which is negotiated down a bit, until they are sidetracked by finding an emerald necklace. Oh, the pervy old dude says – that belongs to the Professor, it’s part of a treasure from the mythical Ringing Forest. So off Ellis and Nadie go to return the necklace and make the world right.

Only, they encounter the Professor’s wife dying from a gunshot wound, and who gives them a casket. They try to return all of this to the Professor who turns out to be a fake, in it for the money – and his partner, the pervy old guy. Nadie and Ellis fall for the oldest trick in the book and are drugged. Ricardo wakes them up, then watches hopelessly as they drive off to get their revenge – well, they don’t actually say that, but let’s be real.

LA delays the creepy guys, Ricardo saves their lives, LA eventually kills them anyway and in the end, Ellis and Nadie learn that the casket actually holds a skeleton, the spirit of which possesses Lilio and says that it has come home, followed by the manifestation of the El Bosque del Eco, the Ringing Forest. And all is well again. In the epilogue, Ellis tries to get Nadie into a daring bathing suit, if not for the pictures, then just to enjoy her in same. (She obfuscated a situation a bit earlier in the story, too, in order to undress Nadie – when confronted about it, all Ellis would say was that Nadie was sexy that way.)

In the beginning and middle of the story, Rosenberg lies beautifully to Melissa a bit, too.

This DCD comes with the extra of a postcard of the cover art of Nadie and Ellis looking happily at one another. And the cast and crew credits come in English and Japanese, something I thought was kinda cool.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 5
Service – 6

Overall – 8

Unless I’m hallucinating, Jody “Blue Eyes” Hayward’s henchchicks never get any voice credit – or, indeed, names. Anyone know who they are and why that is?





The Last Uniform, Volume 2 (English)

January 7th, 2008

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is jet-lagged. Today’s review, which was sponsored by Daniel P., is going to be short.

The Last Uniform Volume 2, is a continuation of the love polygons that were set up in Volume 1. With pretty much no change from the first volume, Ai and Fuuko and Beniko and Tsumugi all court one another semi-secretly; their emotions are visible, but their intentions remain hidden. In an ironic twist, because of the various conflicts and complications, they become closer as friends, as roommates and as people – but not as lovers. Until the end.

It is, of all things, a boy that prompts the final conflict and the first “outing.” A guy, Arita, finds Fuuko’s student ID and brings it to her. They become friendly. Fuuko isn’t really looking at this from any deep perspective. He’s nice, she enjoys his company. Ai, on the other had, begins to boil over with a nice case of jealousy. When Arita asks a slightly overwhelmed Fuuko out, she says yes. Ai-chan appears – she’s overheard the whole thing. She confronts Fuuko about going out with Arita, and confesses that *she* is in love with Fuuko. Then she runs away. End of book. What will become of them? Will their love affair topple the whole precarious domino setup-up of love relationships at the school? We can only wait and see.

In other stories, Tsumugi is still the subject of akogare from Anzu’s direction and Asagi remains a pervert who pretty much ignores the girl at her elbow, while macking on an uninterested Beniko.

Once again, the translation is solid – the text is pretty basic, though, so Seven Seas don’t really get to show their mad skills here. For some reason, the tones in this volume reproduced strangely, so all the blacks and dark tones look spotty. Not the worst thing, but it made everything a bit hard to see. Since Hakamada Mera’s art is neither detailed nor deep there’s no real loss, except for the feeling that your glasses need to be cleaned.

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – 5
Characters – 7
Yuri – 7
Service – 3 (nude modeling, bathing and, of course, school uniforms)

Overall – 6

I’ll never really like The Last Uniform. But I don’t hate it, either. I just wish the characters were appealing to me in any way at all. And there’s only so much “overheating because the girl I like is close to me” that I can take before it gets wearing. Tsumugi exhausts me.