Archive for the English Anime Category


Lycoris Recoil, Streaming on Crunchyroll

August 15th, 2022

In a near future, the world is peaceful because, in part, of an elite group of teenaged girls who are trained in the art of defense and assassination. Called Lycoris, they are highly skilled, obsessively competitive and dangerous.

When Takina comes close to putting one of her Lycoris peers in danger, she’s shunted away from the headquarters to a branch office/cafe. Here she meets an infamous Lycoris, Chisato, who only uses non-lethal bullets. Despite the obscurity of their office, and the absurdity of their situation, Chisato and Takina are drawn into a series of terrorist attacks that could shake the foundation of their peaceful world. This is Lycoris Recoil, Streaming on Crunchyroll

Okay, that’s the basic setup. And, I have to be honest…it’s really stupid for a reason I will get to in a second. I wouldn’t have watched it at all, except I saw someone on Twitter describe it as “John Wick with cute girls” and after redefining in my head it as “John Wick with moe blob-faced girls for imagination-impaired adult men” I started to watch it. I really like it, despite a list of flaws longer than the cast and staff. ^_^

So if I like it, why do I call it stupid?  Let’s start with the idea of 16 year-olds being better at assassination than anyone else. For one. Then you take the two absolute best agents you’ve ever had…and exile them. For reasons.This is SO fishy that it reminds me of why Magical Girls have to be so young. No one with an ounce of emotional maturity could possible not see that some shit is up. I’m not sure I would have been that naive at 16, even.  On top of this, we have a series of character types, not characters. Including an absurdly young-looking hacker, thank you Serial Experiments Lain for giving us that forever. And let’s not forget drunken adult lady. Our one bright light is the office head, who is black, gay, smart and a decent guy, who just happens to have an obviously tragic backstory and was an assassin and all sort of other bad things. Also, a bunch of reveals that are super obvious. 

And a gloaty bad guy. I fucking hate gloaty bad guys. Get your thing done right, then gloat. UGH.

Despite these flaws, I’m really enjoying the heck out of Lycoris Recoil, because really, it’s John Wick with moe-faced girls and that is Perfectly Okay. ^_^

The Yuri is very much by implication. Since Lycoris (pronounced licorice with a soft ‘c’, not ‘sh’) work in pairs, and rely on each other in life and death situations, we’ve got a totally Spartan dynamic between couples. Chisato is, apparently flakey and maybe not super insightful, but she’s cheerful and absurdly good at what she does, while Takina is brooding and dark, making them the traditional Yuri trope pair, only make them assassins. In a recent episode, Chisato went for a femme fatale look and Takina took the butch route and we all nodded in approval. (Of course most of the art seems to be more obsessed with Takina’s head briefly hitting Chisato’s butt, thus a Beavis and Butthead rating. )

Specific episodes are underwear-level humor, with a very unfortunate tendency by the translators to rely on utterly outdated and lazy translation choices. Insisting on using “panties” for underwear, and saying an admired character “swings that way” when discussing that he is gay. I commented on Twitter that translators don’t have to do that – they are not obliged to make characters sound like 80 year old homophobes. They can and should make better choices in 2022. We can’t tell the writers to stop pandering, but we can expect the translators to grow the fuck up.

And still, I am very much enjoying this story. Watching two children beat the crap out of supposedly professional hitmen is amusing.  I’m good with amusing crap.

Ratings:

Art – Pretty bad, honestly, but whatever
Story – Cute girls shoot guns, men drop like flies
Characters – Surely Chisato will both help Takina find meaning in life and redeeem herself then convince Takina to reject the things she thought she wanted, probably by fake-dying.
Service – Heh heh, Takina’s head touched Chisato’s butt
Yuri – Takina’s head touched Chisato’s butt/ Butch x femme dynamic / Sisters-in-arms/ Two girls on the screen together

Overall – A fun 7

This ain’t no Birdie Wing, and fandom has even odds on Chisato fake-dying by the end of the season, but if you like mindless violence perpetrated by anatomically inaccurate teens, this may be your jam.





The Executioner and Her Way of Life Anime, Guest Review by Megan

July 7th, 2022

Once again, I am extremely pleased to welcome Megan back for a Guest Review here on Okazu. This summer has been magnificently busy and I’m thrilled to welcome Megan back to have her thoughts on this anime!

The rise of isekai has been unstoppable over the past decade or so, and it’s no surprise we’ve seen isekai media branch out into different genres and demographics: from mature ‘slow-life’ stories, to BL and Otome. As regular readers of Okazu will know, as part of this trend we’ve been seeing some excellent Yuri isekai. Mato Sato’s light novel series, The Executioner and Her Way of Life, marks the milestone of the first Yuri isekai to receive an anime adaptation. 

Executioner begins with our titular character, Menou, being assigned the task of taking out a reincarnated Japanese girl, Akari. In this world, all ‘otherworlders’ are marked for death, thanks to the destructive powers they will develop if left unattended. Akari’s power presents a unique problem though: She has the ability to wind back time, meaning the usual tricks of the trade can’t finish her off. With an unassuming Akari in tow, Menou sets off on a journey to find a method capable of carrying out the execution – that is, if her growing feelings for the other girl don’t get in the way first. 

The plot is an interesting mix of some elements that feel familiar to many isekai anime, and others that subvert isekai expectations. There’s a medieval setting, there’s a magic system, and there’s Japanese people reincarnated into this world along with powerful skills. Even the detail of Japanese influence on this world’s culture, from architecture to language, has parallels in popular isekai like Re:Zero. The twist to the isekai formula here is that the Japanese transfers’ powers soon turn destructive: indeed, this anime’s world is something of a post-apocalyptic one, picking up the remnants of a once advanced civilisation destroyed a millennia previously by the four otherworlder “Human Errors”. Finding out the truth behind these Errors (just the names are evocative: the Sword of Salt; the Mechanical Society) turns into a major reason to keep watching. 

An isekai needs to nail more than the background lore in the transition to anime though, and Executioner offers a mostly engaging mix of fun scenes with the characters, action, and the occasional flash of horror. On the last point, this anime adaptation irons out some of the tonal inconsistencies the novel’s earlier volumes struggled with. The anime’s generally lighter tone, with the dark and horrific scenes presented as more of a contrast (at least until the B-movie turn of the final arc), also help make this series more accessible to a wider audience, which I think is, in this case, a beneficial move. 

As for the Yuri in this Yuri isekai, our main couple is Menou and Akari. From the start, their relationship has a couple of hooks. First, the girls are a classic case of “opposites attract”: Menou, closed-off and traumatised beyond her years, and Akari, bubbly but more than a little airheaded. Second, the entire structure of the narrative is a constant reminder of the tragic fate – of executioner and victim – we want the girls to somehow escape. Before long, a certain reveal suggests there may be more to Akari and her past than we think. There’s a good amount of screentime devoted to building up the girls’ bond, and while by the end of the anime Menou has barely taken a first step towards figuring out what Akari means to her, overall it’s easy to get invested in the girls over the course of the show. 

This anime may be a case of the side couple stealing the show from the main, since we also have Momo and Ashuna. Momo starts the show as Menou’s junior and sidekick, and honestly my initial impressions of her and her creepy clingyness with Menou were not good. That being said, the story soon makes the fantastic decision to split Momo from Menou and instead pair her with the violence-loving AWOL princess Ashuna. Every scene of their love-hate relationship is a blast to watch, and if anything I was left wanting to see even more of them (or with Akari and Momo pairing up like happens later in the novel). 

Another relationship that defines Executioner, though in this case for all the wrong reasons, is that between orphan Menou and her mentor in the execution profession, Flare. Personally, there’s something about the story of Flare taking this little girl and putting her on a path to becoming the same sort of monster she is that I find strikes a frighteningly real note. The anime’s OP also smartly suggests that Flare may be the truest villain of Menou’s story. The mysteries set up around Flare do reflect a weakness any 1-cour light novel adaptation like this almost inevitably struggles with: there’s a lot of intriguing questions, but only hints at answers by the time episode 12 ends. Still, this isn’t something I can hold against the show too much, especially since both the source novel and manga adaptation are available in English for anyone wanting to continue the story. 

Before Executioner’s anime aired, my expectations were tempered by the fact JC Staff were handling the animation. Seasoned anime viewers may know them from a string of disappointing adaptations, from One Punch Man’s season 2 to the recent and underwhelming Rose King. All this makes me happy to report that JC Staff did a solid job this time round, despite the typical decline in quality in the last few episodes . The characters are expressive, the magic is flashy, and the action scenes are suitably fluid. One point I have to particularly praise the anime staff for is significantly reducing the fanservice compared to the novel’s frequently questionable art. There’s still the occasional bath scene, but at least the framing usually avoids leering over the girls’ bodies more than the source text strictly requires. 

Executioner might not win over viewers put off altogether by isekai, but with its combo of likable Yuri romance and some smart twists on the usual tropes, it has potential to appeal to fans tired of the usual formula. It represents a confident step in a new direction for both the Yuri and isekai genres – one with room for improvement, but a step in the right direction all the same. 

 

Ratings: 

Story – 7, does just enough to stand out from the usual isekai anime
Characters – 8, it’s a lot of fun watching the characters’ personalities bounce off each other
Art – 7, nothing exceptional but attractive with good action
Yuri – 6, plenty of potential 
Service – 4, pleasantly turned down from the novel art 

Overall – a high 7 

PS –  in case you’re wondering about the anime’s seemingly unrelated alternate English title “Virgin Road”, I’d guess it’s an awkward case of Japanese to English translation from one possible abbreviation of the the series’ Japanese title 処刑少女の生きる道. Thankfully the official English novel and manga releases, as well as HiDive’s stream of the anime, have restored a better translation. 

Thank you for reading another of my reviews! I’m currently on break from my Twitter, but I might be returning soon-ish. In the meantime as always I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts.

Erica here: Thank you so much Megan! To sum up my own thoughts, I think this anime was far better than the source LNs deserve, which was…unexpected. 

The official Japanese title is 『処刑少女の生きる道』(しょけいしょうじょのバージンロード),  Shoukei Shoujo no Virgin Road, so not a misreading. Ikiru michi is just supposed to be read “virgin road.” FWIW, “virgin road” is what Japanese versions of western-style weddings call the wedding aisle, so perhaps it’s meant as a comment on the “purity” of these pure priestesses. Or, maybe, it’s one more messy thing shoved in by a writer who care very little about keeping the story tidy. ^_^

Thank you again for your thoughts and we’ll look forward to your next review!





Birdie Wing -Golf Girls Story-, Season 1

June 29th, 2022

From the gritty world of urban decay and underground mafia golf to the well-manicured lawns of elite golf clubs in the shadow of Mt. Fuji, Birdie Wing -Golf Girls Story-, Season 1, has exactly none of the things you might expect if I mentioned I was watching a “golf anime.”

Birdie Wing has given us a sports anime that is very similar to the isekai of I’m in Love With The Villainess. In sports anime, there will be sweat and tears and hard work and competition and characters striving to reach their goal – this is a genre with rules. Instead, in between Gundam references and throwbacks to Yuri anime of the 00s, we have a a sports anime that gleefully flaunts the rules of the genre. Where ILTV took isekai and squeezed it until it told a story about social justice, Birdie Wing is doing the opposite. Sure, there is sweat and training, but there are no tears here.

In most sports anime, the arrogant and competent athlete is our rival…someone to try and beat, and having beaten, befriend. Not here. In Birdie Wing only the strong survive. Everyone on the screen is confidently arrogant about their skill, and competent enough to back it up: With the most arrogant being Eve and Aoi, whose supreme confidence in their skills turn errors into comedic moments, instead of tragic ones. There is nowhere for them to go but up, like the symbolically rising arc of their shots off tee.

Our team is, in actuality, a comedy troupe composed of two odd couples, a hefty splash of eau de Yuri and a soupçon of old school shoujo series wrapped in the sponsored gear of a sports anime…and an audience of adult Japanese men who are being wooed to play in beautiful, exclusive, undoubtedly outrageously expensive links. Last night, while playing around, I found the Raiou Girls’ School golf team clubhouse in the real world, a clear indication that you and I are not the intended audience of this anime, but merely lucky bystanders.


Season 2 of this delightful romp was announced before Episode 13 premiered on Crunchyroll. Visit the BW official site for spoilers and implications.

Will Aoi, Eve, Ichina and Amane being able to, I dunno, take down the evil, sexy mafia lady and fulfill Coach Gundam-injoke’s dream before he coughs up blood and dies? Probably not, honestly. But I am here for it, no matter.

Which brings me to the Yuri. Is this Yuri? The series has not been at all shy about implying that Eve and Aoi are sisters. In fact, it’s gone out of it’s way to beat us over the head with the idea. Eve is using kisses to coerce Aoi, in an absurdly cute and screencappable way, and Ichina has kindly noticed the Yuri score rising, but whether our ball is headed into the rough or toward the fairway we don’t yet know. (Yes, here at the end, I finally allowed myself a stupid golf metaphor.)

Sceencap by Hyperart Marcus-san

When I initially reviewed Birdie Wing, I asked for a smidge of Yuri…and totally got that and more. I called it “overtly subtextual” in my first review. Now it’s a bit more complicated. Eve is using her natural charm to seduce a willing Aoi, and it’s right there in the open. But will it be passionate platonic sisters or passionate platonic partners in golf or… passionate platonic something else that they’ll shoehorn in? And will we even care?

The good news is that we will get the end of this story, which has me absolutely ecstatic. But…will we get the end we want? Probably not, but we’ve been talking about this series a lot on the Okazu Discord and we think the series has a twist or two up it’s sleeve for us yet.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Great scenery porn and animated drives
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – 4 There is some service, but they’re keeping the creep low-key and tolerable
Yuri – What the heck, I’m going for it ……10

Overall – 10

In my recent video on Yuri Studio, Sports in Yuri Anime & Manga, I said that this anime was very close to being the greatest Yuri sports anime of all time. Here at the end of Season 1, Birdie Wing is even closer to being the greatest Yuri sports anime of all time….and I’m not even sure it needs more Yuri to hit that mark. ^_^

What a great anime this is. I can’t wait to rewatch it!





Monologue Woven For You Volume 2, Guest Review by Matt Marcus

June 22nd, 2022

Welcome to Guest Review Wednesday here on Okazu – we’re thrilled to have Matt Marcus back with terrific critique. Please give Matt your attention and offer him some kind words in the comments!

The role of Reviewer will be played tonight by Matt Marcus. He is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, such as the anime watchalong podcast Boku No Stop, which is currently covering the yuri anime Flip Flappers.

Ah, the theater: a sanctuary where we can escape our everyday life in order to live many others, filled with mirthful joys or aching tragedies. In Monologue Woven For You, Volume 1, two star-crossed lovers, Haruka and Nao, connected over their love for the stage. But, while they have had a very smooth Act 1 of their courtship, each carries a secret that they fear would break them apart should they let it out.

Monologue Woven For You, Volume 2 pushes towards rising action, albeit in fits and starts. The story only has a single source of conflict with both Haruka and Nao going through similar arcs in separate chapters: they brood about whether they should admit their secret, the other partner notices their down mood, and instead of talking about it they just brush it under the rug and snuggle for a bit. Sure, there are lower-stakes obstacles, such as Haruka’s insecurity about taking the initiative in physical affection, or Nao’s worry about Haruka’s unawareness of others’ attraction to her. But all of that is fluffy filler akin to cotton candy: sweet, but unsubstantial (however please still visit our concession stands during the intermission).

What is ultimately frustrating is that even at the end of this volume, we still have no further insight into the incident that drove Haruka to quit acting. When Haruka reaffirms her love of the theater in Volume 1 and changes her dream to supporting Nao’s acting career, it seems we are meant to feel the same relief that Haruka does. However, without knowing any more detail on what caused her to quit, we cannot say whether this turn is a wizened healing of an old emotional wound or simply casting aside a denial of self that was given undue import by the intensity of teenage emotions. When Haruka turns down an opportunity to return to acting, I believe we are supposed to trust her judgment, but I don’t feel it. When it comes to rising out of the ashes of a dashed dream, Aquatope on White Sand this is not.

The weakest part of this volume is the introduction of a new character, Rei–a sullen 2nd-year high school student who, in an incredulous twist, is intimately familiar with Haruka’s acting past despite the four year age gap between them (this city must really love their high school theater). She’s also the love interest of Nao’s friend Yuki, which is troubling to say the least.

Now, the first thing that made this series stand out is that it is in full color. It’s refreshing to see, however I would rather that more attention had been paid to the page layouts. There is a visual density to each page in both panel and word balloon count, yet often there is a poor sense of motion from one panel to the next. On the fashion side, the outfit designs are very plain, such as a hoodie and jeans or a dress over a t-shirt. Practical? Yep. Realistic for college students? Sure. Boring to look at? Absolutely. One of the benefits of a college setting over high school is having more opportunities to use fashion as a means of characterization or storytelling, and the designs here pale in comparison to other works in similar settings (see: How Do We Relationship). The real rub with the art is that if this manga were in black and white, there would be very little to visually latch on to.

So, should you line up to buy tickets to this show? As long as you don’t expect Shakespeare, there is some entertainment to be had. Maybe don’t spring for the box seats.

Ratings:

Art – 7 The full color is nice, but the panel compositions and sense of motion leave a bit to be desired
Story – 6 Domestic fluff aside, the only point of conflict in the story is starting to wear thin
Characters – 5 Cute, but one-note
Service – 2 Sex happens off panel, though there is a little canoodling
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 1 The girls are clearly dating but that’s about it

Overall – 7 At best would be cast as an understudy

Erica here: Well said. Thanks so much for offering us your perspective of this series.





The Executioner and Her Way of Life Anime

April 29th, 2022

We’ve been following the Executioner and Her Way of Life Light Novels here on Okazu. (Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3) They are not bad, with a few features that make them worth continuing to read, despite the grotesquery that is sprinkled liberally throughout. Among these are the world-building, especially the magic, and a few of the characters.

And now we have an anime for the series. How does The Executioner and Her Way of Life anime hold up to the LNs?  I think they improve upon them. But let’s start from the beginning.

Menou is an “executioner,” a priestess tasked with eliminating “Lost Ones,” people who enter her world from Japan. She is assigned to kill Lost One Akari, who appears to wield the Pure Concept of Time, and thus cannot be killed. Menou is bringing her to the capital for the leader of the Faust, her religious order. Menou is assisted by her junior, Momo, who is passionately and possessively in love with Menou.

So let’s dig into the anime – what is working and what isn’t?

The animation is very decent. More so that I felt the story deserved, frankly. The art in the LNS is well beyond weak and the world itself is described so poorly that I imagined it all a washed shade of sepia, as I read. The bright colors and thriving town was a pleasant surprise. The train design in the anime was a nice fantasy Deco that lifted the whole of the world quite considerably. I was imagining medieval construction in dull one-note tones, not fantasy steampunk. I’m glad to be wrong. The art in the LNs is really bad, Part 2:  Bodies are strangely proportioned flesh bags in clothes that are sacks with no structural integrity. Here the animators seem to have grokked the concept of bras, which do not exist in the LNS.

Menou herself is intriguing, rather than likable; her relationship to Akari has been hinted at in a half dozen ways, including the spoileriest possible way in the opening sequence. Momo, while still annoying in the anime is surprisingly more tolerable and when she ends up fighting the Knight Mage Princess Asuna, become wholly tolerable. I like Asuna, and frankly, think she’s good for Momo. I approve of Asuna x Momo shipping. ^_^

I miss the expositions about the magic, but the lack of lectures makes the whole thing feel more natural, less tacked on. And I do like that Priestesses connect with their magic through the scriptures.

The plot is zippy, as it has to be, with somewhat greater focus on the action scenes than the guro, which is, IMO, a win for watchers.

What isn’t working? Sadly, with the faster pacing and decent animation, the plot has become less able to hold up it’s side of the bargain. By Episode 4 if you can’t guess what is going on in the main plot, you’re not paying attention. And the cool subplot that revealed itself in Volume 4 of the LNs is shoved pretty far up our nose here. The end result is that I don’t *want* to take time to develop the initial plot. I’d kind of like it out of the way, so we can get on with things. I’m a little skeptical of jaded executioners who can’t see the giant obvious thing right in front of them.

Ratings:

Art – 8, with flashes of 9
Story – 6 A tad weak, but not bad
Characters – 7
Service – Yes, of course, because women’s bodies are a mystery
Yuri – Hrm, Momo’s obsession with Menou isn’t as interesting as the rest of the possibilities

Overall – 7

Is this worth watching? I think so. The guro is toned way the heck down (at least by Ep. 4, that may be subject to change, I have yet to watch Ep. 5), the plot zips along, the scenery is pleasant,.  If you don’t want to read the first volume (or two, not sure how far the anime will go) this is not a bad place to begin and decide if the LNs are for you. If you think you like it, then you can pick up after the anime and let the plot run ahead.

The Executioner and Her Way of Life is streaming on HIDIVE.