Archive for the Artists Category


Kekkou Kamen Anime, Manga and Live-Action

April 8th, 2004

My face is masked, but I bare my body for justice!

Kekkou Kamen, misspelled as Kekko Kamen for the anime release, is one more utterly bizarre story brought to you from the warped mind of Go Nagai, the creative genius behind Cutey Honey, Devilman, Mazinger G, Devilman Lady and more. But of all these, Kekkou Kamen wins on several levels – it’s the least plausible (and that’s saying something, if you’ve ever seen or read any of the others!), has the most naked women and is just the most utterly, indescribably *strange* anime and manga I’ve ever encountered. I absolutely love it.

The story takes place at Toenail of Satan’s Sparta Academy, an incredibly strict private high school, where physical and emotional torture are use to motivate the student body to excel. “Toenail of Satan” is the Principal’s actual name, btw. We follow the travails of hapless student Takahashi Mayumi, whose inferior grades and hot body make her a prime target of all the “punshiment specialist”s hijinks. To protect Mayumi, and the other students, a mysterious naked woman has appeared on the scene – she bares her body for justice, she says, but keeps her face covered because she’s embarrassed.

Kekkou Kamen-oneesama, as Mayumi calls her, always comes in the nick of time and uses her Spread Legs Attack to defeat the foe. The foe usually being some drooling pervert of a teacher who is just on the edge of sexually abusing Mayumi or one of the other female stdents. (The boy students appear to be only beaten, not sexually abused.)

And yet, (she says, knowing that after the prevous paragraphs everyone’s lips are curling in disgust,) despite all this, Kekkou Kamen is really incredibly funny. Mostly because it’s so amazingly awful and offensive that to take offense is impossible.

The anime is actually laugh-out-loud hysterical right from the beginning, when the first punishment specialist is “Gestaopoko” a S&M Nazi-themed dom with a whip and questionable fashion sense. Kekkou Kamen defeats her by remembering something she heard – that S&M Queens *really* want to be whipped themselves…. There is tons and tons of Yuri implication and overt Yuriness in the anime, which makes it worth buying. There’s also a terrific moment when the characters blast the fourth wall to hell by telling us that there’ll be more anime if this volume sells well. ^_^ It didn’t and there wasn’t.

The manga is a little more horrible and abusive, but so eyebrow-raisingly weird, that again, its hard to be offended. In the manga, we finally learn who Kekkou Kamen really is…and there is no way you’d ever be able to get it from the anime, so don’t bother…she doesn’t even show up as a character in the anime. Basically, by the end of the manga, every girl in the school is naked and masked and all are claiming to be Kekkou Kamen, but eventually, when she does show up, she does manage to save the day *and* Mayumi, once again. Yuri-wise there’s mostly akogare-type adoration and hero worship on Mayumi’s part, but I don’t really get any strong Yuri sense from that. There’s one totally butchy teacher, with a cross-dressing (and passing) younger sister, but again, the lesbo vibes are low-level at best. A shame too…I think this manga *needs* at least one openly lesbian character. If Go Nagai ever re-does the KK manga for the new century, I hope he adds one. ^_^

That takes us to the original Live-Action movies, of which there are three. These live-action movies were all unremittingly low-budget and poorly acted, with awkward scripts and BAD staging. So, of course, I adore them. The first movie is pretty close the the basic plot of the manga and the guy who plays Toenail of Satan is magnificently bad in the role. He’s perfect. The woman who plays Kekkou Kamen was some JAV star and pin-up, so her playing naked was fine. Her acting is …adequate, but really, who cares? The end of the movie is hysterically bad, and there is some Yuri subtext.

The second movie is the strongest in Yuri…there’s even a little actual girl/girl (not too much, don’t get your hopes up) thing going on, but with lots of subtext and one cool, butchy teacher. The same acting/script/low-budget thing applies to all three movies, so don’t think that they got better as time got on, either. ^_^

The third movie is actually kind of sad and funny, with lots of Go Nagai in-jokes, as Toenail of Satan’s family shows up to visit. Most of them are spoofs of other Go Nagai characters. And Kekkou Kamen falls in love, sadly with a guy, but whatever. There’s a funny scene at an amusement park, as KK tries to eat ice cream through her mask, and the ending, during and after the credits is absolutely insanely funny, as the girls of the school persuade a beaten and defeated Toenail of Satan to come back to the school and start playing soccer with him. As they run down the train platform, T of S’s last act is to plummet off the platform, then reappear, abashed, then he and the girls all share a good laugh. The End. No, really.

And, now, at last, there is a new KK Live-Action movie release to the theaters, which premiered this past week in Tokyo! The trailer makes it look hopelessly artless and fun, even if it has no obvious Yuri.

Ah…the trailer reminded me – I have to mention the *song.* The song that you hear in the trailer, and as the theme to the anime (sung by Kekkou Kamen’s voice actress Shinohara Emi, aka the voice of Sailor Jupiter/Kino Makoto in Sailor Moon, and Rosa Chinensis/Youko in Maria-sama ga Miteru) is amazingly funny. And in the manga, *Kekkou Kamen* herself sings the song as she fights, which makes it just that much better. I’m so very glad that they kept it for this movie, because it’s wonderful and camp and just about defines this whole series in a nutshell.

So, there you have it – Yuri in the anime, a little in two of the movies and not really any in the manga. Enjoy, but probably not. ^_^





Chinese Translation of Yamaji Ebine’s Love My Life

March 14th, 2004

Love My Life News Item!

Here’s a great news item sent in by alert reader Zuan Yi. Apparently there is a Chinese translation of Love My Life. I’m sure there are plenty of yuri fans who read Chinese, but not Japanese, so this is your big chance to snag a copy of this wonderful manga. This faithful Okazu reader even sent us the link to Yesasia.com where it’s available for a very reasonable $8.99 USD.

So, thank you very much, Zuan Yi, for the link! Every little piece of info that helps Yuri fans worldwide is a good thing. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Love My Life

March 11th, 2004

The Perfect Yuri Manga

Although I’ve already reviewed some titles by this author, I’ve been saving this particular title for a special occasion.

Love My Life – Yamaji Ebine

Why do I call this the “perfect Yuri manga?” because it is written by an out lesbian, about a young lesbian, for an audience of women. By my standards, that makes it about as 100% yuri as possible.

Love My Life is the story of Ichiko, a college student who lives with her father, a translator. Ichiko’s mother passed away when she was very young, but she and her father have always been very close.

The story starts as she tells her father what every father fears to hear – that she has a lover. Her father’s reaction is cool, and when she follows the information up with the fact that her lover is another woman, after an initial moment of surprise, Dad is fine. In fact, he has something *he* wants to share with Ichiko, and he’s glad to be able to at last tell her that he’s gay…and so was her mother. They met, became friends, and although they weren’t interested in each other as lovers, did conceive Ichiko together. And, although they raised Ichiko as husband and wife, they took outside lovers for themselves. But mostly they loved each other and her very much.

As the story progresses, Ichiko introduces her father to her lover, Eri, and meets her father’s younger lover. She talks over her confusion about the revelation that her mother and father were gay with Eri, but it’s not until she meets her mother’s former lover that she pretty much decides it doesn’t make any real difference.

This story has no high drama – the concerns of Ichiko and her friends are small, personal and intimate. There’s a relaxed pace about this book that makes the reader feel happy and comfortable in Ichiko’s world, with no real need for melodrama or angst. Which doesn’t mean nothing happens.

We’re drawn in as Ichiko deals with her parents’ secret, a small crisis with and separation from Eri, and a gay friend. Take’s, search for a boyfriend. There’s no suicide attempts here, but there is a sense of personal involvement in a life that feels much more *real* than most manga.

Like other Yamaji Ebine manga, Love My Life relies on minimalist art, a background of jazz music and good literature, and characters that live in a real world, rather than a staged one. And while there are some intimate scenes between Eri and Ichiko, the story is hardly drawn simply to frame lesbian sex. It’s just part of Ichiko’s life…just as it is part of anyone’s life, in reality.

Ultimately though, the strongest point of Love My Life is reflected in the title – Ichiko, and by extension we, the readers, do indeed love her life. Every time I read this manga, I finish it with a smile on my face – in fact, thinking about the ending as I type now, I’m smiling. It’s just that nice.





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.





Yuri Anime/Manga: Revolutionary Girl Utena

January 30th, 2004


Things I’m Not Going to Write About
Part 4

Shoujo Kaukumei Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena

Created by Ikuhara Kunihiko and Be-Papas, this surreal series is really four slightly different stories, each of which explores a different facet of the characters.

– The manga is the most straightforwardly “magical girl” entity. The only yuri in it is Anthy and Utena’s ambiguous, but intense relationship.

– For the TV series, this was upped a notch, with the addition of sexuality as a whole as a separate subplot. The TV series explores yuri, yaoi, intergenerational, incestuous and yes, even straight, sexuality, casting few judgements about any of it. In addition, Juri is added to the yuri mix, giving yuri fans yet another uber-cool competent character to admire.

– The movie manga is a step sideways, drawing back to the initial Anthy/Utena relatonship, but nodding to proto-yuri novelist Yoshiya Nobuko, and evoking a more intimate feel, since the story is really about the two girls – and their personal quest.

– The Utena movie is a step in the opposite direction, opening the world up to a kind of meta-surreality. Again, it’s all about Anthy and Utena, but for once, the subtext is made overt in the infamous, but really very cool, lesbian street luge scene.

Artistically, Utena takes a little getting used to, with its constant nods backwards to early Yuri pioneers Yoshiya Nobuko and Ikeda Riyoko.

(The Marimite anime is doing the same thing to Utena, with eyecatch visuals and music that are strongly reminiscent of the Utena eyecatches, not to mention the striking detail of the birdcage-shaped greenhouse.)

The television series also spins all the conventions of “magical girl” anime out of proportion, forcing the viewer to create their own meanings for the symbols that inhabit Ohtori.. But for all that, it definitely holds the current #2 place as poster-child Yurii.

The movie is a whole ‘nother thing altogether. Hyper-real, with both art and story completely out of proportion to any other genre or style, it reads as, either a bizarre acid trip, or to us literature majors, a simple allegory. (Here’s the literal sentence people seem to completely fail to understand: “Utena is the vehicle by which Anthy escapes Ohtori.” Got it *now*?)

Amazingly, there are people who have seen the movie and *still* don’t think that Anthy and Utena are a couple! LOL Don’t you wonder what they saw?

Ratings:

Yuri – 9
Art – 8
Story – 8
Music – 9
Characters – 10
Overall – 9