Archive for the English Anime Category


Yuri Anime: Sakura Trick End of Season Review (English) Guest Review by Jennifer L.

May 14th, 2014

sakura trickOnce again it is Guest Review Wednesday and I am so excited to be able to welcome Jennifer L. back to Okazu to give us a final end of season review about Sakura Trick with a decidedly different take on this popular Yuri anime (that can still be streamed at Crunchyroll and Hulu with some regional restrictions.) Take it away Jennifer!

I am delighted to be invited back to Okazu to do a post-season review of Sakura Trick. Jocilyn did a good job of introducing it at the beginning of the season, but now, the twelve-episode run is concluded, and I asked Erica if I could say a few things about it.

Sakura Trick is an open and unabashed Yuri anime. It is all about girls, and their relationships with each other. And yet, I understand completely why Erica declined to watch it. Like Vividred Operation, though to a lesser extent, it suffers from “perverted camera operator” syndrome. There are many almost-upskirts, fig-leafed only by the girls’ own calves. And
there’s a great deal of bouncing boobage under school uniforms.

But… I love this series, anyway. It’s set in the first year of High School, though in many ways, it feels like it should be about junior high school, a time when girls start to become aware of our bodies, and of the desires of the body. When we want that special person to kiss us. And in this category, showing the awakening of love and physical desire, the show excels, while still remaining essentially innocent.

The show centers around Haruka and her best friend, Yu. On their first day of middle school, they cement their status as best friends by kissing in a deserted classroom. At first, it seems that Haruka is the driving force of the kissing hijinks, but as the school year goes on, and episodes roll by, Yu makes it clear that she is in no way being taken advantage of. She’s a partner in the business, and she wants the kisses, and Haruka, as much as Haruka wants her… and that this is more than just a pairing of best friends.

The hijinks, and the plans for the future that the two girls make, are absolutely on the level of junior high school girls. There’s silly “how can I get her to kiss me?” games, and “really, I just want to  make with the kisses all the time” games. There are “if you do this for me, I’ll reward you with a kiss!” games. I was not fortunate enough to have that first love experience until college, but all of the games that Yu and Haruka play together ring true to me. The insecurities that they face about their meaning to each other rings true to me as well.

Throughout the entire series, the only aspect of Haruka and Yu’s story that didn’t ring true to me was Yu’s instant acceptance of the idea that she and Haruka were going to get married… and even that is only a mild botheration, and the situation is only an exaggeration of the kind of plans that girls make when we’re young, and in love, and believe that we’re going to be with that special person forever.

And as for the bouncing boobage… well, I remember that from High School, as well. My body suddenly started changing, and for a couple of years, I, too, was constantly noticing the bodies of other young women; I was obsessed with boobies. From that standpoint, I can almost forgive the perverted camera operator.

Art – 5 Nothing outstanding, but better than Dragon Ball Z.
Characters – 8 Each of the girls in the series was someone I wished had been in my Junior High classes.
Story – 6 Stirred up memories for me of my awakening as a romantic being.
Yuri – 10 These are girls in love; it’s made clear that it’s love, not just lust, and that it’s not a passing phase.
Service – 8 A lamentable aspect that will keep many people from watching this fun series.

Overall – 8… 8.5. I loved the story, I loved the characters, I loved the way it made me remember my own first love.

Jennifer Linsky is a nurse in the American South. More of her writing, including fiction and occasional thoughts on real life, can be found at her sporadically updated blog.

Erica here: Fantastic perspective Jennifer! This is pretty much why I can read the manga, but not watch the anime. I’m not a oogling sort, but the innocent first love is nice and with the manga I can cut the time and attention spent on service to a bare minimum, while enjoying the parts of the story that work for me. Thank you again for a great post. 





Yuri Anime: First Look at Riddle Story of a Devil Anime (English) Guest Review by Eric P.

April 30th, 2014

akumaWelcome to another Guest Review Wednesday here on Okazu. Returning to our community is Guest Reviewer Eric P., with a first look at Riddle Story of a Devil, streaming on Funimation.com for North America and Crunchyoll.com for other countries. Yay!

From Yun Kouga, the creator of Loveless, we get what has been overtly categorized as a Yuri Action series, Riddle Story of a Devil.

The story is set at Myojo Academy, an otherwise ordinary girls’ private boarding school, except for one specific classroom called the Black Class. Only on the surface do the students in said classroom appear to be normal and cordial, but beneath their masks is a group of professional calculating assassins in training, with the exception of one. Their mission is to figure out which student that is, and whoever is the one that kills her will have any personal wish granted, and whoever fails their turn will be “expelled”.

The assassin trainee we focus on, Tokaku Azuma, is as cold and distant as they come, and defiant in going with the flow of the classroom’s friendly façade. She figures it out almost right away that the target is Haru Ichinose who, out of everyone, does not have the smell of a killer, not to mention that she couldn’t betray a more innocently sunny nature (as a side-note, I can’t help but think of Nagisa from Strawberry Panic whenever I see her). As fate would have it, they are roommates, and later on Tokaku finds out about the grisly cuts that are all over Haru’s body. Not only that, but Haru is very much aware that her life is targeted for termination by the other students, even though she attempted to befriend those very people. It rightfully shocks Tokaku that Haru can maintain a cheery personality, even after shedding some light on a horrific past where Haru’s family was murdered because of her (the only explanation given so far is that  her family is part of a clan). Yet she makes it her firm belief and mission that she will graduate from this school alive for her family and live normally. Slowly but surely, Tokaku is drawn to Haru, her personal walls break down, and she sets her own new mission—to protect Haru from the other assassins.

Upon watching the first episode, my primary single thought was, “This is definitely way better than Sakura Trick.” For that reason alone I felt the need to check out the second episode before having an official first impression. As of these first two episodes, it’s definitely your basic anime series meant to be fun entertainment. All in all, it could be what one would mostly ask for from a Yuri Action series, one of which seems to be off to a promising start. The Action part of it has not quite started yet, but that is bound to change by the 3rd episode. Moving at almost the same pace is the Yuri part of it. Unlike most Yuri series, the two lead protagonists are not blatantly lovey-dovey from the get-go. Instead the story chooses to nurture their relationship more gradually, although viewers can still make out the first stages of their nascent bond as they balance out each other’s polar opposite characters.

That is just one of a handful of little things making for interesting hooks to the story. There must be more to Haru’s past than she’s revealed to Tokaku, more to find out how she can be able to emotionally survive through life the way she does, even if there is the chance she is just forcing herself and it may well partly be an act. There is still something behind Tokaku’s past about a temple she was taken to visit by her mom, something that helps abstain Tokaku from being a full cold-blooded killer even though she had chosen the life of an assassin. And the enigmatic Kaiba, Tokaku’s master who had enrolled her in the classroom, is clearly manipulating his trainee in a game bound to be sadistic with his own ulterior motives. I am genuinely curious in finding out what lays ahead in Tokaku and Haru’s journey together, and so far my only real nitpick is Haru annoyingly referring to herself in the third person.

Overall (thus far)-A cautiously optimistic 7

Thank you Eric! I’ve caught up on the first 3 episodes and I too am cautiously optimistic for several reasons. The story has much stronger writing than I expected, even from Kouga-sensei. Here’s hoping it has a strong ending!




Blood C The Last Dark Anime (English)

April 7th, 2014

blood-c-the-last-darkBlood C The Last Dark was an absolutely gorgeous waste of time. ^_^

I never reviewed the TV Blood C for two reasons: 1) There wasn’t really any Yuri, not even if you squinted and 2) I couldn’t see past the murderous rage I felt when the series ended without an ending (having also had not much of a beginning and only a bit of a middle towards the end), a coy “Tee-hee, come see the end in the movie, tee hee!” My deep feelings of “Fuck you, I don’t care how the series ends, because duh, Saya will win and move on…alone in the dark, as she has with every other iteration of the series” kept me from caring.  But enough time has passed and I found myself watching the Funimation release.

If you have not watched the TV series, the movie was different enough (and expository enough) to follow without prior knowledge. In fact, the movie was stand-alone enough to pretty much render all but two things from the TV series meaningless. Hey, nothing like wasting my time for a few months. No biggie.

The movie begins after Saya has recovered her memories and is hunting the bad guy from the series, Fumito, while killing giant people-eating bugs. The number of people eaten in the movie was surprisingly small, since the TV series made a real point of making us watch the gore.

Saya is befriended by a raggle-taggle band of conspiracy theorists who are “hackers” (and one actually is shown using a mouse, but then she is also shown using a keyboard with her feet, so it cancels out.) They meow-meow-mewow to meow-meow the meow-meow, because really who cares? All we’re tuning in for is Saya.

Saya, who power ups when she has to protect a girl. This particular girl is named Mana and is sweet and cute and wants to be Saya’s friend and is lonely since her father was killed and we’re sososo glad that Saya holds her hand. It’d be nice if she could visit Mana from time to time, but of course she won’t.

In the end, Saya wins and moves on…alone in the dark, as she has with every other iteration of the series.

Ratings:

Art – 9 The background art was gorgeous, but faces occasionally Picasso’ed out. Guess we only had time and budget for foreground or background – and streets, buildings and signs are easier.

Story – 3 Shutupshutupshut!! Stop talking!! This could have been 2 final episodes of the anime with no loss at all.

Characters – Scooby and the Gang – 8, Bad guys – 2 Ohgawdpleasestoptalkingyouaresoboring

Yuri – They touched hands! In a tense, emotional moment. 2

Service – 9 Bath scene for no reason at all, except to see to Saya and Mana’s nipples.

Overall – 5 It was really beautifully drawn…and an absolute waste of time and money, plotwise. Nana Mizuki was fantastic as Saya in the TV series, but this part was so grim and cool, it was kind of a waste of her talents.

I’m ready for the next iteration now.





Kill La Kill Anime (English)

March 30th, 2014

klkcr By Popular Demand! And because I want to! Welcome to the Okazu review of, streaming right this second for free, legally (with regional restrictions) on Crunchyroll…Kill La Kill.

I’m going to say this plainly and simply, right up front – it is going to be very, very hard to topple this anime from my #1 of the year spot. It was just fantastic in every way. This is why I watch anime, in the same way that reading Mori Natsuko’s books is why I learned to read Japanese. It was outrageous, it was offensive and I loved it.

The plot is very much the driving force of the anime, so I’ll keep the synopsis short. Matoi Ryuko arrives at Honnouji Academy seeking revenge for the death of her father. What she finds is a plot so complex that the lives of all humanity is at stake.

Because this anime really is just that fabulous, and I don’t want to ruin one single second of the “wtf was THAT!?!???? Hahahahaha!!!!!” that you will experience, I refuse to spoil the story. Which of course means you’ll have no idea why I liked it so much. So without spoiling the actual plot, I’ll try to explain what made this anime so good.

Ratings:

Story: The plot is insane and absurd…and wonderful. The writing has a kind of internal consistency and plausibility that I long for in my own writing. Having created a world, the writers take that world to the absolute limits…and it works.  10 out of 10

Character: These may well be the greatest characters every created. Full stop. And I cannot tell you why until every last one of you has seen the anime. 10 out of 10

Art: Every once in a while, as you’re watching Kill La Kill, the art style switches, not to “funny SD” or “hyperbolic action” but to a specific period or genre and suddenly you realize that that scene was an homage to something you recognize. The speech patterns also change from time to time to fit that homage as well. This is basically the most fun I’ve had actually watching an anime in a long time. 10 out of 10

Service: By the gods, does this series have service. I don’t hate service. I hate coy or creepy service. Grow the fuck up and look at the girl’s tits. Stare at the guy’s ass, don’t be a creep about it. Don’t titter or giggle. This series doesn’t creep, titter or giggle. It’s over the top and downright hilarious with the service. Naked girls, sure, naked guys too, by the end everyone’s naked…and it totally works. It’s actually part of the plot! And funny! And sort of honorable, and yet funny.  1000 out of 10

And, of course….

Yuri: There is Yuri. There’s actually quite a bit of it. Creepy, incesty Yuri, Fan-pairing Yuri, slightly less creepy incesty Yuri, rival Yuri, friend Yuri and in the end, there’s actually a potential couple. A good one. Not a creepy one. 10 out of 10

Overall – 10

This anime is a 10, full stop, one of the two amazing anime I’m watching this season (Hozuki no Reitestsu is the other) and a very strong contender for #1 of 2014. Kudos to the translation team. You did a bang-up job.

Quick contest – Who’s the best character? There’s only one right answer. Winner gets something cool. Answer in the comments. Don’t know? Go watch it and see!





Dear Brother, Set 3 Campaign is on!

March 4th, 2014

Dear BrotherToday Animesols announced the opening of the crowdfunding campaign for the third and final set of Riyoko Ikeda’s classic shoujo series Dear Brother. The second set was fully funded in a weekend in conjunction with a matching donation, this time we’ll have to do it ourselves.

It’s already a good year for LGBTQ comics and anime fans and it’s only February! ^_^