Archive for the English Anime Category


Yuri Anime: Vampire Princess Miyu, Volume 5 (English)

October 3rd, 2008

Finally, what you’ve all been waiting for. A creepy doll and lesbian episode!

Volume 5 of Vampire Princess Miyu starts off with the surprising implication that Reiha was once human and that her dislike for Miyu is more than just whim. The first few episodes explore the uncomfortable tension between human and Shinma, and drop hints about the grim relationship between Reiha and Miyu.

Midway through the volume we hit the episode that launched a thousand creepy lesbian doll stories. Well, okay, maybe not a thousand, but it certainly launched one of mine, Nina. In this episode we meet expert doll-maker Kimihara Kasumi, whose dolls appear to be alive. This woman makes boy dolls of such beauty that she has becomes obsessed with one, fancying that they are lovers. (Not entirely impossible if you take a moment to think about it.)

The gallery owner, who has a thing for Kasumi but has a thing for the money she brings in more, hires a caretaker for her, a young woman by the name of Fujiwara Yuki. Kasumi begins to suspect Yuki of trying to steal her lover, and ultimately finds Yuki expressing her love to the doll. In a fit of jealousy, Kasumi destroys the doll only to find that it actually has been inhabited by a Shinma. Miyu destroys the Shinma, and Yuki consoles Kasumi in her decidely not doll-like embrace.

The next glimpse of Kasumi and Yuki is at new doll-designer Fujiwara Yuki’s show – in which all the dolls are now beautiful girls. Miyu’s classmates whisper the scandalous information that Yuki and Kasumi are lovers, it’s said – and we can see that they are. They are touching, after all.

The girls express shock and disbelief, and Miyu mutters about the unhealthy illusion that this human has now bought into – that horrible illusion they call love. And the episode ends with us supposed to be thinking how awful and unhappy they will be in this hateful situation, with dolls that are clearly raring to be possessed.

Only, Yuki and Kasumi look really happy in each other’s arms. There’s nothing in their expressions or body language that can really be mapped to “this is bad.” So we, the Yuri audience, have to think that Miyu is not condemning lesbian love particularly, but love generally as a miserable affectation of humanity. Well, okay then. ^_^

The rest of the volume goes back to the usual formula of Miyu kicking Shinma butt, sometimes with the help of, and sometimes despite, Reiha’s presence.

For the typical Miyu episode, which usually ends ambiguously at best and miserably most of the time, the creepy doll and lesbian episode actually comes off as practically cheerful. I can’t think of another episode off the top of my head where the characters end up with more of a healthy non-Shinma infested relationship than they started with.

Art – 8
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Irony – 7
Yuri – 6
Service – 2

Overall – 7

It was with immense satisfaction that I rewatched this volume. It was sufficiently disturbing, pleasantly lesbian, mostly creepy and surprisingly happy all at once. Everything one could ever want from Vampire Princess Miyu.





Otoboku Anime, Volume 1 (English)

September 29th, 2008

Otoboku, originally known as Otome ha oneesama(boku) ni koishiteru, is the story of a boy, Mizuho, who ends up attending a girls private school at the behest of his grandfather’s will. Although the will does not stipulate it, Mizuho will cross-dress and attempt to pass as a girl. Of course, not only does he pass, he becomes the idol of the school for his exceptional beauty and athleticism.

Media Blasters licensed it as a Yuri anime. There is a case for it being Yuri in the same way I My Me Strawberry Egg is Yuri. The girls who fall for Mizuho believe he is a girl (except where they know he is not.)

While it may be considered a Yuri anime in that sense, I have never reviewed it here for many reasons. Media Blasters asked me to watch and review it now, so I am. Only because I love you, Chet.

Fans who enjoy harem series, male cross-dressing, Newhalf and/or gender-bending and bishoujo games will enjoy this series very much. It is based on a bishoujo game, and has all the qualities that appeal to those audiences.

If you have watched Otoboku and enjoyed it, or are interested in any of the above kinds of anime, you’ll be pleased to know that Media Blasters did a nice job on the technical side.

And, if you have watched and enjoyed this series, or plan on watching and enjoying it, I strongly recommend you do not read the rest of this review…

***

…because the rest of this review will be a discussion of some of the things I hated about Otoboku.

The Uniforms. The uniforms are demure (except when they are not) tight-waisted, puffy-sleeved pale bluish white for summer, dark blue for winter, with a bib of a different white to set off the chest that somehow miraculously clings to the contour of even the smallest girl’s chest, without providing any actual support, so there’s plenty of jiggling going on. Since the uniforms are designed to draw the eye inexorably to this area…there had better be *something* to keep your attention.

The Premise. Mizuho’s grandfather’s will stipulated that he had to attend the school – nowhere did it say that he had to pass – or even dress – as a girl. Why they didn’t just give him a room somewhere and explain the situation? Because then we wouldn’t have had the “funny” situation of a guy cross-dressing in a girls’ dorm!

The Guy in a Dress (is a better woman than thou.) Otoboku is not a trans story. It has the same relationship to transgender issues as it does to lesbianism…which is to say, not much, unless you’re really desperate for a reflection of something sort of similar in anime. It is a harem story. Mizuho is not a crossdresser, nor is he, like Kashimashi‘s Hazumu, a woman in a man’s body – Mizuho is a man who, through the use of a thin plot driver, is “forced” to wear girl’s clothes. This is, at best, Newhalf fantasy, where he is a perfect (i.e., straight/normal) man *and* a perfect woman, at the same time. There is an actual belief among many men that the perfect woman really is a man. RuPaul was so perfect a woman, he became a women’s makeup spokesperson. And likewise, Mizuho, after the application of makeup is suddenly transformed, not into a pancake covered guy, but into a magnificent specimen of femininity. He’s more beautiful than the real women…and by simply being male, he is of course a better athlete than anyone in the school. (God, how I wished the star forward of the school’s basketball team would have stepped up and stuffed Mizuho into that basket…) Don’t get me started on the antiquated, rigid and utterly absurd issue of gender roles. Girls don’t run, girl’s don’t drop their bags as they rush to the toilet… Gah.

Fake Breasts. Mizuho’s breasts are fake. Not real. And yet, somehow not only are they warm, and feel just like the real thing, they magically have *nerves* so when he’s being groped by dormmates, he is all squirmy and turned on. No. Nonononono. No. NO.

Girls Dorms. Girls dorms are not full of negligees and pillow fights. They just aren’t.

This isn’t everything I hated about the anime, just the main things. I was watching it on my iPod on the train and about 2/3 of the way through the first episode, I started to cry. I was half laughing, but mostly sobbing as I said out loud – “I can’t do it. I can’t watch any more of this.”

But I did watch more. I watched this whole volume. The one thing I enjoyed was the eyecatch where Mizuho needs a shave. Other than that, it was scrunchy-face-making torture.

Chet, man, I love you. But I will not watch more of this anime. Ever.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 3
Characters – 4
Yuri – 1
Service – 7

Overall – 3

My sincere and heartfelt sympathy to the translator for this volume. It must have been like stabbing yourself in the eyes with a fork, Midori. I owe you a hug for your pain when I see you at MangaNEXT.





Yuri Anime: Maria Watches Us, Volume 4 (English)

September 28th, 2008

If you were among the many that ran out the first second you heard that Maria Watches Us was available in box set, it’s likely that you did so more for this one volume than for the rest of the series. Because saying you like Sei is, as we all know, like saying the sky is blue. :-) (Which, by the way, was part of one of the questions I sent in to Konno Oyuki-sensei last month when Right Stuff opened that form for us. I thought she ought to know that we say that.)

And here we are, arrived at *last* at the zOMG! official release of “Forest of Briars” (as Right Stuf translated it) in the US. Surely I am not the only person who thought that we would never, ever see that.

In the winter of her 17th year, Sei suffered a parting that was very painful, she relates to us in the opening.

Yumi overhears classmates talking about Rosa Gigantea, and then rumors of a book begin to filter though the school. A book, she later reads and finds to be about two students at Lillian who attempted suicide to be together. Yumi finds out that Sei’s past includes some kind of situation that makes it a likelihood that she is the author of the book!

Sei’s honesty is pretty stark, and she admits to having been in a situation that’s pretty similar to the one in the book. Neither Yumi nor Yoshino seem particularly surprised to learn that Sei fell in love with another student. Yoshino’s biggest concern is that Sei might have been hurt, so she decides to find out who wrote the book, only to learn that it was a memory of a distant past and nothing, except by coincidence, to do with Sei.

It’s hard to imagine, having seen only the teasing, openly grope-y Satou Sei, that there was a time when she was withdrawn from everyone and cold. And that the reason she changed was not, as one might expect, because she had fallen in love. In fact, it was quite the opposite – her heart had been broken, forcing her to lean on other people and see how many people genuinely cared about her. In “White Petals,” we watch Sei meet, fall in love with, be rejected by, reconcile with and lose Kubo Shiori. A lot of the novel had to be cut out for the anime, which really is a shame, because it’s an excellent novel. (Including at least a *little* recognition of the issue of lesbian identity.) But what is left is still a very moving story…and the source of 90% of Youko x Sei slash, as well. lol

The last two episodes are the Valentine’s Day date episodes, in which Yumi losing sight of Sachiko for a moment is turned into a laughably absurd cliffhanger and which also had a great scene truncated, so all we get of Yumi listening to Sachiko changing in the jeans shop is a little clothing noise and Yumi blushing – but it’s enough. ^_^

Shizuka and Shimako continue to confuse fans, because both are so difficult to read. But, watching their date now, with all those novels between this episode and me, I find them an utterly fascinating pair. There’s a line towards the end of their date that characterizes them perfectly. If Rosa Gigantea hadn’t existed, then we might have been soeur, Shizuka says. But she does exist, Shimako says. And so, Shizuka concludes, taking Shimako’s hand, we are both happy. It’s a great line.

Yoshino has her moment of satori about why stalking is bad and ends up having an armful of crying Chisato, then turns around and gets mad at Rei for not being more considerate of the girl’s feelings and getting an apologetic embrace from Rei in return.

And so, with the addition of the Don’t Tell Maria-sama extras, we come to the end of the first season of Maria Watches Over Us.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 8
Service – 0

Marimite Fan – 100

Overall – 10

Now I have to go and watch it all over again in a marathon. And memorize the novels. Perhaps start camping outside a Japanese bookstore in anticipation of Before Graduation which is due out next month. (I’d add “stalk Konno Oyuki-sensei” but I learned my lesson from Yoshino. ^_^)





My Zhime (My Otome) Anime, Volume 6 (English)

September 24th, 2008

It is entirely thanks to the kindness and generosity of Eric P that I am able to bring you today’s review, so everyone say “Thanks, Eric!”

Volume 6 of My Otome does something completely unheard of in the
Mai series to date…it begins to *answer* some of the questions asked in the earlier episodes.

Who is the true Queen of Windbloom?

What is the Harmonium’s power?

What really happened to Mai?

And more of your favorite hits in this volume of…

There’s a lot going on in Volume 6. The story is moving rapidly towards a climax that feels, at this point, as if it might *actually* climax, unlike other Mai series we could name.

The action comes fast and furious. Arika and Mashiro, having found themselves a haven, are ripped untimely from it and deposited safely in the bosom of the legendary
Black Valley, where they encounter a bunch of ridiculous legends which are all true.

Nina becomes the possessor of the Harmonium’s power through a gambit that I actually thought was incredibly clever and deserves the writers a pat on the kepi.

The Valkyrie squad is deployed. Tomoe jumps at the opportunity to crush people
she thinks are beneath her like a bug, which is to say, everyone. Chie plays it more cautiously, and finds herself in a lose-lose situation. But we trust that she’ll come out on the right side of it because, after all, she has 1000x lesbian power. The forces of evil seem to have the upper hand, but the forces of good are beginning to set their playbook up in the background. Meister we don’t care
about die, while ones we do care about seem to be hanging in there, biding their time.

Yuri comes mostly in the form of Tomoe’s fixation on Shizuru. And her…interests. We also briefly get a glimpse of Chie reunited with a presumed-dead Aoi. She was only mostly dead, apparently.

But Yuri isn’t the point here. The point is war. That’s what we’re gearing up for and that’s what we have to be ready to deal with next volume. We’re ready, I say.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 6

Overall – 8

And let us not forget the hallucenogenic effects of Maki-maki-ing.

 





Yuri Anime: Simoun, Volume 5 (English)

September 19th, 2008

Sometimes, the worst part of a choice is the time before the decision is made. The doubts, the waffling, the feeling of “what if?”

In Simoun Volume 5, all the choices are made, the cards are dealt and the fate of not only the Sibylla of Chor Tempest, but all the people whose lives touched theirs, is decided.

I don’t think I breathed once while watching this volume.

There are many people who did not enjoy Simoun. It was non-linear. There were giant holes in the construct of the world in which the Sibylla lived (although if you like your worlds tidy, I can’t *imagine* that there’s too much anime that suits you. Maddening inconsistency is about the only constant.) We never really learn the answers to a lot of our questions.

Honestly, I can’t imagine caring a damn about any of that. This series has beautiful art (with the exception of Nevril’s sex-doll mouth,) amazing characters, fantastic music, a terrific plot. And…above all…it made me realize exactly what I think makes a good story.

To me, a *good* story travels a considerable distance in character development from the moment we meet the character to the moment we last see him or her. If the characters grow, change, respond to circumstances and learn from their experiences and choices – that is a good story. If the character starts the story and ends it roughly the same, I might enjoy it, but I won’t consider it *good.*

So, Strawberry Panic (anime), for instance, isn’t *good* by my standard; Nagisa and Shizuma do change a little bit from the beginning of the series to the end, but not a lot. Neviril and Aeru travel astronomical units by comparison. They pretty much reverse roles completely from the beginning of the anime to the end.

Yun, who comes to Chor Tempest seeking absolution for not dying with her previous Chor finds her absolution in saving one woman. And the rest of the Sibylla face what they thought they wanted, and found out what was really important to them after all.

If Simoun was too hard to follow or just annoying to you, I won’t try and convince you to watch it. But there is *no* doubt in my mind, that this will be the best Yuri Anime once again this year for me. (With at least two Yuri couples and as many as four if you have no pride. ^_^)

The Director comments were particularly interesting this time. The director says that, at the beginning of the volume, when Aeru confronts Neviril about her feelings, he (the director) had ceased to think of them as two girls. Also the Animation Director commented that she felt that Yun was in love with Onashia, which I completely agree with. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 2

Overall – 9

Technical – 9

Couldn’t ask for better.