Archive for the Artists Category


Angelic Layer Manga, Volume 2 (English)

April 22nd, 2013

layer2I’ve uncovered a trend in my reading. For most of the manga I’ve read, that have an associated anime, I prefer the anime. If you asked me if I’m a manga reader or an anime watcher, I’d tell you I read way more manga than I watch anime. And that’s true. But for the small subset of anime that is also manga, scanning my shelves, I realize I much prefer the anime.

This certainly holds true for Angelic Layer. The reason I reviewed Volume 1, I said, would be revealed in Volume 2. Only, it isn’t. Huh?

Volume 2 follows Misaki as she defeats stronger and more skilled opponents with pluck and determination and the willingness to have Hikaru beaten badly. But hey, she wins, so rawr! And at last she meets the plot complication of the creepy woman who has been stalking her throughout – who, to no one’s surprise turns out to be her mother. The book comes to an end with a jump for joy at how wonderful life is. Nothing bad about it, if not inspired. The art is rather more thick lines and obscure motion than later CLAMP and the tropes are laid on heavily, so three pages are spent on obsessing about Misaki’s underwear and Kotaro’s obvious (but unexpressed) feelings. At the same time. So yeah, a tad ham-handed.

Ultimately the reasons I was left feeling a bit disappointed with the manga came down to two things. In the anime, Misaki’s mother is confined to a wheelchair and is, therefore, painfully embarrassed to be seen by her daughter. In 1999, this was a plot complication that made some sense. Japan was not at all handicap-accessible. Now I’d rank their subway as a million times better than, say, New York or London. (I can’t for the life of me figure out what wheelchair users do in London. There were no ramps, no escalators, no elevators in most of the stations I was in last December.) It was already a little tired, but manga is always behind on social trends. So, fine. In the manga, Mom is just painfully embarrassed around people she loves. Eye-rollingly dumb, but there we go.

The thing that really irked me was that the one relationship I was looking forward to was completely and utterly missing from the manga – and it surprised the heck out of me, as CLAMP is usually all over a little Yuri-service. I’m sure you all understood that “Lady Sai”‘s fangirls were all screaming “Sai-sama!” in the original.  In the anime and some of the incidental art I have seen, (at least one image of which I believe is a CLAMP original) pairs her and Kaede.  I had never read the Tokyopop edition of the manga and just presumed it would be in the story. Bummer. Sorry.

Ratings:

Art  – 7 Not CLAMP’s best work, not their worst
Story – 7 Same, except when the foreshadowing stick is being applied too heavily
Characters – Another thing the anime did was give secondary characters more time. This manga might have benefited from that, as well
Yuri – Screw it, I’m counting Sai and Kaede anyway, and there’s still Tamayo’s shrill, but empty statements. So ugh, 5
Service – 7 Three pages of underwear obsession had me reaching for a knife…

Overall – 7

If this series could be bowlderized properly, and all the incredibly tedious bits taken out, I’d give it to a child I like.  As it is, it’s better than X, but not as good as Card Captor Sakura on the CLAMP-o-meter. ^_^

Many, many thanks to Okazu Superhero Amanda M for sponsporing today’s review!!





Penguindrum Anime Collection 2, Disk 3 (English)

April 10th, 2013

pd2As Mawaru Penguindrum, draws to a close, the nagging sensation that every person in the story is somehow living in a completely different timeline is confirmed. Like a retinal afterimage, each of them appear to exist in the others’ realties – and at least two exist in most of them. Himari and Momoka do not appear to have existed in the same reality at all. Something Sanetoshi thinks he understands, but ultimately doesn’t understand even a little bit.

So, the end comes and we learn two things – the handwave of shifting realities was the plot, and we all have a Penguindrum we need to find. (Mine, like that of so many of the characters’ in the show, is buried in Ikebukuro.)

At times, brutal, unpleasant, harsh – overall, absolutely beautiful. Just like life.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters -9
Yuri – 0
Service – 2

Overall – 9

I am a total sucker for non-linear anime that ends, but has intentional gigantic holes in the story.

Many thanks once again to Okazu Superhero Eric P. for sponsoring today’s review!





Yuri Manga: Gakuen Polizi (学園ポリーチェ)

April 4th, 2013

Gakuen Polizi (学園ポリーチェ) is Morinaga Milk’s newest series…and I think I like it. A lot. The more I think about it, the more I’m pretty sure she’s using her magic powers for good.

Aoba has always wanted to be an ally of Justice and now, as she tranfsers into Hanagaki Girl’s School, she has her chance – she is an official unofficial School Policewoman in training. She’s going to bring justice to this unruly school! Unfortunately for her, the school’s denizens are rather nice young girls and not prone to getting into trouble, but that’s not going to stop Aoba from making a difference.

When a classmate recruits her to investigate the school’s seven mysteries, the girls discover someone lurking in the library – is it a criminal?!? – Aoba pounces, only to discover a classmate, quiet, unobtrusive Midori. To Aoba’s shock she learns that Midori is also assigned to this school as police. Midori admits her father, Chief of Police, has buried her here in this quiet, peaceful school.

Undeterred, Aoba drags Midori into a multitude of small disagreements and personal issues. Midori, who also draws manga, cannot understand Aoba’s enthsiasm and insists she wants to be left alone.  When a dog attacks Midori, Aoba shouts at the animal, insisting Midori is her “Important Partner!” Since no one is supposed to know they are police, the school paper presumes that means they are “Yuri.”

After all this silliness is laid out, somewhat surprisingly, a real story begins. The girls catch a groper on the morning train and in an emotional episode, track down a guy that was stalking a classmate’s sister. In this chapter we are plainly told that the police basically didn’t give a crap about the girl and let the guy off with a fine, but the sister is still terrified of leaving the house. Which is just about when I thought…holy crow, I think I know what Morinaga-sensei is doing here….

Remember that this series is running in Comic High, so the audience is pretty typical otaku guys. The kind of guys who might think staring a a girl’s chest is a compliment or who think girls wearing skirts is an implicit permission for them to take upskirt pictures. (You know, pretty much any guy who doesn’t hold himself to a standard of not being an animal.)

These crimes are real crimes that happen to real girls and women every day. And, every day, the police are not helpful – and often extremely dismissive – of these kinds of complaints. As I read the chapter about the stalker, I remembered a number of news stories from Japan, in which the police have actually been perfectly horrible to the women who came to them for help. Here’s what I think. I think  Morinaga-sensei is doing political and social commentary, in a moe Yuri manga, without shaming, blaming or pointing fingers. The more I read this volume, the more convinced I was that she’s using her magic powers for good. I approve.

The art is exactly what one expects from Morinaga-sensei, with slightly more serious faces than usual. Aoba is a happy, energetic, extrovert type and Midori – who has a former partner and a backstory that will, I’m sure make up the bulk of Volume 2 – is quiet, serious and introverted. Because there was actual story in Volume 1, rather than the more usual character development, we have yet to see Aoba’s backstory, but you know – that’s okay by me.

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Volume 1 is an intriguing open to a new student police saga, wholly unlike Sukeban Deka or YajiKita Gakuen Douchuuki. There might no be drug lords in Aoba’s future, but the bullies,  the mean girls, the nasty teachers and all the other rotten, horrible people that make high school life such a chore, should watch out – this school’s protected by the police.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – hints, teases and misunderstandings. “Important partner” and Midori’s backstory
Service – Not as much as you might expect, but still – 3

Overall – 8

The synopsis says this is a Yuri love comedy. I’m willing to wait. ^_^

Oh, btw. The title should be “Gakuen Police” but the Japanese transliterates to gakuen polichi and I chose “polizi” over “polici” for no reason at all, except I thought it looked more stylish.





Penguindrum Anime Collection 2, Disk 2 (English)

March 31st, 2013

pd2Realities converge, merge and resplit on the second disk of the second Penguindrum collection. Now that we know (symbolically, at least) what Yuri and Tabuki had in common and what their goal was, the arc climaxes in an actual climax and we think…what else is there? Well….

We’ve assumed one single truth from the beginning of the series. When everything around that truth is fracturing, shattering like glass, we have assumed that Himari, Shoma and Kanba are, at the very least siblings who love each other very much.

Here in the depths of the second half of the series we have been given a whole new set of symbols, a whole new mythology and our one basic truth is called into question. What does the Child Broiler mean, why are all the children in this series broken, abandoned? What does “family” even mean? And what if that one truth we had to hold on to…isn’t true at all?

We think we know what the Penguindrum is and what it does. Or do we? The mystery is electrifying.

Speaking of Sanetoshi-sensei’s verbal tic, I thought it might be fun to discuss the word “Sa.” ^_^”Sa” is not a word, it’s an expression, like “hmm” or “um”. It has no meaning itself, but is use to express ambiguity. “How you doin’ today?” “Sa….”  Sentai  is mostly translating it as “beats me” – which is not bad at all when the teen characters us it, especially Shoma and Kanba. When Sanetoshi, the embodiment of ambiguous, impenetrable adult, says “Sa…” it makes me laugh when they have him say “beats me.” Not that I think it’s wrong, I just think it’s funny. ^_^

As we make our way through this second half, we’re getting closer to the truth. Or, are we?

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters -8
Yuri – 0
Service – 2

Overall – 8

Again, my thanks to Okazu Superhero Eric P. for sponsoring today’s review!





Penguindrum Anime Collection 2, Disk 1 (English)

March 26th, 2013

pd2In the first half of Penguindrum, we learned that each of the characters appeared to be existing in a wholly different reality from the characters around them. On the first disk of the second half of Penguindrum, we learn why.

Himari’s health takes a turn for the worse, but that is set on the back burner, as bizarrely beautiful and immediately untrustworthy Sanetoshi-sensei inserts himself into the story, confirming our belief that there are separate, but intertwined, realities colliding here.

Shoma and Ringo confess their realities to one another, only to find that they are the same reality, which makes everything worse. Ringo get caught up in Yuri’s reality. Yuri, while living up to her name, turns out to be a broken and unhappy person, twisted by parental abuse and grief. Yuri’s backstory is absolutely agonizing and horrific to watch. The repeated concept of abusive father who smokes a pipe is starting to worry me, frankly.

But slowly, these realities all start to coalesce around one person and it feels like it all might make sense. Did Momoka change reality? That would explain a lot.  That almost makes sense until Masako and Mario’s story pops up. They have their own reality, but is any of it related to anything else? And what is Dr. Sanetoshi’s part in all this?

The most maddening thing about watching an anime by Ikuhara in full throttle is the unshakable feeling that, even when it’s all over, and all the pieces have been played, you may never really understand anything at all.

Collection 2 is going to have a lot more screaming, a lot more adults being horrible to children and more not-quite-matching realities.

Sentai’s translation and technicals are both not noticeable, which is exactly what one wants out of them. Rather than thinking about word choices, I find myself  scanning the visuals for more meaningless symbology like the cats, the arrows, cars, towers, (what does Michaelaneglo’s David as a tower mean, really?) apples and, of course penguins. Does any of it have any meaning at all, or does it just look good? Maybe we’ll find out. Maybe not.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8, but super grim, with a side order of misery
Characters -7  Shoma and Ringo become more real, while everyone else becomes a pulp fiction version of themselves
Yuri – 8 It’s all yucky, but it’s there
Service – 5

Overall – 8 A hard watch, a tense watch, but a compelling watch.

Many thanks once again to Okazu Superhero Eric P. for sponsoring today’s review!