Archive for the English Anime Category


Magic Knight Rayearth Anime Second Season, Disk 1 (English)

February 23rd, 2012

Hikaru, Umi and Fuu have put their past adventures behind them and are struggling to move on. Of them, the one that struggles the most is Hikaru, who is deeply concerned about the well-being of the inhabitants of Cefiro now that those adventures have left them without a Pillar for support.

When the three are suddenly called back to Cefiro, they realize that the Pillar, Princess Emeraude, was the only thing protecting that country from invasion. And, indeed, it seems that there are other countries on their way to invade right now! Thus begins the complete collection of Magic Knight Rayearth, Second Season.

Of course, Hikaru, Umi and Fuu once again don the armor of the Magic Knights in order to protect the land they love. To their shock, they learn that the Princess left a younger brother and that High Priest Zagato had a brother. The reveal of the Prince’s identity radically changes the story of one of them.

But I’m going to be honest here. I don’t care about any of these people. I was watching for one and only one character. Eagle. There will never be another reason for me to watch this series, fun as it is. There was a nice bonus of a character brought back for this second series, but I won’t spoil. (Neither should you. Comments with spoilers won’t be published.)

Technically, the remastering didn’t really look as good on this series as it did on the first. Any comments on it are moot, however, as Media Blasters is, for all intents and purposes, gone. Nonetheless, the remastering is really quite wonderful. The packaging is a little perplexing – two multi-disc packages that make up the entirety of the season, that come in a box. I have no idea why they changed their packaging so often, but I sincerely don’t think I have a single series MB put out that is packaged the same as any other series that MB put out.

Disk One of this collection gives us a hint of what is to come – there is some serious discussion of the Ma-Shin, the giant mecha that are the three girls’ ultimate forms. What secrets and mutating armor we will see, and whether Lantis and Eagle are the couple I expect them to be, is yet to be known.

FWIW:

Art – 7
Story – 7 but really, this was all expository.
Characters – 8
Yuri -0
LoserFanBoy – 1

Overall – 7

Just to continue to be honest, I don’t really “watch” this season, so much as listen to it. ^_^





Koihime Musou ~ Otome Tairan Anime, Disk 2 (English)

February 11th, 2012

It’s always disconcerting when something like Koihime Musou actually stops staring at girls tits and tells some bits of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in an almost sensible way.

It’s also kind of wasted, as no one is watching Koihime Musou ~ Otome Tairan for a retelling of the Romance anyway.

Luckily for Yuri fans, Volume 2 starts off with one of the least sucky episodes overall, in which Koukin and Sonsaku have a spat, and Kogai locks them in a warehouse to make up…and so they do, in time-honored fashion. This episode also contains the only genuinely amusing line of the series, in which Shuri mentions that she needs the Kotou pill (for an utterly idiotic subplot) and she knew it was a Son family treasure – to which the reply is something like, “Nah, it’s not a treasure, so we have no idea where it is. It’s in there somewhere.”

After a few more episodes related to cat ears and boobs, the story suddenly notices that it’s fairly deep in towards the end of the story and, so, with a few weird turns and about a million handwaves, the allianced generals defeat Ukitsu, who wasn’t really nearly that important in the original (except he may have haunted Sonken after his death, but that’s probably apocryphal.)

Anyway, Disk 2 is why I remembered this series sucking less than the rest of the series. I’m glad I didn’t entirely make that up in my head. Phew.

Ratings:

Art – Colorful
Story – Schizophrenic
Characters – Breasts DO NOT DO THAT
Yuri -There is some
Service – Infinity

Overall – Once I scour the cat ears and boob stuff from my brain, I will only remember that it was the least sucky Koihime Musou series. And I will be happy with that.





Mouretsu Space Pirates Anime (English)

February 9th, 2012

Mouretsu, in Japanese means violent or vengeful, so of course when it was being translated, the word “Bodacious” immediately comes to mind.

That was sarcasm. It’s a terrible choice for translation. Insulting, even. I know I’m not the only one who hates the translation, official or not.

Despite the egregious service of the title, Bodacious Space Pirates is a great story. As a combination moe bildungsroman and a classic space opera, it really works.

Marika, our protagonist is, for once, not an average girl by any means. Cheerful and competent, she has friends and a job and is instantly likable. We’re not too surprised when we learn that she’s the daughter of a famous pirate and a potential heir to her father’s captaincy.

When a Nadesico beauty with a dour personality transfers into her school, we know instantly that the two of them belong together. When Chiaki makes her big reveal in Episode 5, we get to add in “beloved rival” to the set-up for chemistry between them.

What really sold me on the series was the whole of Episode 5. High school girls in space may not sound like the most riveting story ever, but Mouretsu Space Pirates beats the hell out of Stratos 4, even without the lesbian space virus. The cast is likable, their jokes believable and there is relatively little service. The strategies and tactics employed by the crew of the Odette were clever, and quite sophisticated for an anime series.

There may not be wopping loads of Yuri, yet, or even at all, but if you like a series with a good set-up and some out-of-the-box thinking and a dollop of space adventure, give Bodacious Space Pirates a try – avaiable legally and for free on Crunchyroll, for those countries that are allowed access.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Very reminiscent of Mai Otome
Story – 9 So far…great
Characters – 8 They aren’t quite checklist-types, and a few are extraordinary, even in the first handful of episodes.
Yuri – 1 but only in our imaginations as of yet
Service – 4 because we can’t *possibly* have a series about girls without seeing them in the bath or in their underwear

Overall – 8

I’m hoping for a good story. But some rival/friend Yuri would be nice too. ^_^





Koihime Musou ~ Otome Tairan Anime, Disk 1 (English)

February 3rd, 2012

For the first few minutes, all the way through the opening of Koihime Musou ~ Otome Tairan, you almost think it’s going to be a pretty good story, with the characters actually getting a chance to be strong without being rendered into a pile of service but, almost immediately that stops. From that point on, any actual cool is tempered by tons of skanky (and frequently incredibly stupid) service.

NOT like I was expecting anything else. I find it hard to believe that there are actual people out there who thought the first episode where Ryuubi eats spoiled bamboo shoots and everyone in her group (including the woman who has actually given birth) thinks she’s pregnant is…funny? Really? Really?!? I weep at the thought.

Sometimes, stuck in the middle of this lame-ass series, there’s something worth watching. And for once, some Yuri that doesn’t make one roll one’s eyes.

On Disk One, we get the (relatively speaking) entertaining story of what happens when Ryoumo gets glasses and gets to be Sonken’s “strategist” (so, that’s what you kids call it these days) as Koukin is Sonsaku’s “strategist.”

Then Gien “falls in love with Ryuubi” for like 15 seconds.

Ratings:

Seriously, what do you expect from me here? 3, 4, does it matter, ultimately?

In the end, it still sucked pretty hard, but in comparison, it’s the Shakespeare of the Koihime Musou series.





Revolutionary Girl Utena Anime Box Set – Volume 2, Disk 3 (English)

January 12th, 2012

Revolutionary Girl Utena, Volume 2, Disk 3 provides a whole lot of food for thought, doesn’t it?

So, first of all, let look at the final of the puppet duelists for the Black Rose, Nanami’s henchchick, Keiko. Like Wakaba, Keiko’s story hurts. It hurts, because she’s not one of the beautiful people and not one of the chosen. She’s a real person, with big gaping flaws, but we can’t quite hate her, or dismiss her, as we might Tsuwabuki, precisely because, like Wakaba, her dreams are so mundane. Anyone might wish for a moment alone with their idol. It’s a dream that is dull as dirt. As a result, when Nanami is horrible to Keiko, we feel it. When Yuuko and Aiko are horrible to her, it’s especially unforgivable.

And, at last, we reach the core of the Black Rose story, and the illusions with which Mikage has wrapped himself. The story, however one looks at it, is at best, creepy and self-serving. At worst, it’s possible the single most depressing illusion in the entirety of the series. There was a young, sickly boy, Mamiya and his sister Tokiko and Mikage became obsessed with their memory…but it’s not Mikage at the center of the manipulation, we learn incontrovertibly. It’s not just Akio, as we might have suspected. For whatever reason  – and at this point I’m inclined to think that Anthy’s line about lying to one’s self for love is the first honest thing she’s said in this series – Anthy is involved. In the first arc, we thought to ourselves, “She is merely being used.” But when Akio tells us that Anthy does not exists at the school, we have to wonder how much of everything is her doing. Akio has social engineering skills and he apparently wields the power, but then, we have to ask ourselves now…what is Anthy?

At the end of the arc, we get a completely different kind of clip episode, highlighting Nanami’s duplicity and ego. It’s very hard to like her at the end of this arc. It’s important to remember, yet again, that Nanami is about 13. She may pretend to be grownup, but…it’s clear now and will become even clearer later, that she’s basically clueless about people. This will also become very, very important towards the end.

Here at the end of the Black Rose Arc, we’re no closer to understanding any of what’s going on, or are we? We know several things; Akio is manipulating the situation, even as far as Utena and Anthy’s relationship. We know that he has all but abandoned the Student Council, except as tools, and we know that whatever is going on, Anthy is the center of it, in one way or another.

And we know, although she truly does not yet understand this, that Utena is the only sword that can cut through this Gordian knot.

The third and final arc is on our plate and I find myself tense about watching it. In fact, I’ve been kind of avoiding it for the last few years.

In the extras Ikuhara gives us some answers as to why there is an apparent strain of lesbianism in the series. His answer is cogent – for him, making Utena and Anthy “lesbians” is a visual symbol of otherness. But that only explains some of what’s going on, really, the stories of incest and male homosexuality that are either hinted at, or explicitly stated. I’ve said for years that Utena is a series that is exactly like any other high school, on steroids, and in this case the sexuality is stand-in for all the many things that make us different. For once I think Ikuhara did a good job of answering really crappy fanboy question. Dudes, there were *way* more than just lesbians in the series.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 10
Character – 9
Yuri – 3
Service – 3

Overall – 9