Archive for the English Anime Category


Yuri Anime: Ikkitousen DVD Volume 3

March 24th, 2005

Gods help me, I *really* enjoyed Ikkitousen Vol. 3. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I’m seriously thinking about going home and rewatching it again. Today.

In a nutshell, this volume of the anime version of Wani Comics’ offensively fanservicey, trashy, faux-historical/martial arts epic, details the transformations of Housen Ryofu from psychotic lackey into honorable uber-warrior and Shimei Ryomou from psychotic loner into super-vassal. And despite myself, I really enjoyed the hell out of it.

Ryofu wakes up with the realization that she is dying, and decides to go out with a bang. She’s determined to take Toutaku out before she goes – a fine goal, in my opinion. She heads off to a mountain hot spring to train with *the* master and gain an undefeatable technique and the strength to go with it. Before she leaves, she explains to Chinkyuu why she has to do this, and Chinkyuu responds by explaining why she will stay with Ryofu until the very end. In a single volume, Ryofu goes from being a superficial baddie, to a surprisingly deep heroine.

In the meantime, Goei has brought Hakufu and Koukin (who remains the most annoying character in the series) to the same hot spring, in order to train. Well – they are there to train, she’s there to “take the water” as they say in Jane Austen. Hakufu almost immediately runs into Ryomou who has been drawn there for reasons that remain obscure and convenient.

At the hot spring Ryomou has an epiphany. Well, one epiphany and the beginning of a second. Firstly, she meets and is wowed by Goei, whose casual sensuality simply blows her away enough to remove the stick from her ass for a second.

Then, when she and Hakufu meet Ryofu on a mountain path, Ryomou realizes that her true fate is, was and always will be to serve Hakufu and protect her. In a single defiant gesture, she stands before Ryofu to protect Hakufu with her life. Ryofu laughs, says she doesn’t have the time and runs off.

In the meantime, Chinkyuu makes a bad decision which ends up getting her raped and tortured at the command of Toutaku’s lackey, Kaku Bunwa. Bunwa is one of those second-in-commands that you enjoy watching being taken down, because she thinks she’s so clever, but she ain’t. I’m sure you know the type. When Bunwa tells Ryofu about Chinkyuu, Ryofu goes off to save her lover/vassal in a stunningly impressive display of coolness and ki. Ryofu notches up several ranks of wow as she blows the life out of Bunwa’s enforcers without hardly moving. Waaaahhhhh….coooollll…. I just love a woman who can blow a man’s heart out of his chest.

Ryomou, having determined to serve Hakufu to the death, runs off to see “her” again. Not Hakufu…Goei. Bing Bing! We got a winner here! Ryomou discovers Goei falling to her knees in the street, as she has just met the Fighter that, historically, killed Hakufu. Goei begs Ryomou to protect her daughter and, Ryomou, in her second epiphany, swears to make sure that Goei is never sad. From vassal of the daughter, to serving the mother in one smooth move. Yay Ryomou!

Some other stuff happens – we learn why Toutaku always has bandages on his body, but you know…who cares? And we’re supposed to care about the dragon that is awakening within Hakufu, too. But we don’t, do we? Because *we’re* watching the Yuri-fest going on in the background. ^_^ In any case, Koukin will do all our worrying for us, so we’re free to watch the cool chicks.

The Yuri goggles are getting dusty on the shelf while we watch this volume, I can tell you. The Yuri is so blatant, starting with Ryofu’s waking up naked next to Chinkyuu right down to Ryomou vowing to keep Goei from ever being sad.

Yes, there’s fanservice, but I simply tune it out now. And for once, there’s actual nipples instead of that wretched convention of clothes that have exploded but conveniently hang down *just* to cover the nipples and groin, which I find absolutely tedious. In some ways, the fanservice was *less* stupid because it was more overt. At least it was more honest and less coy.

One final rave about this particular volume – the pencil board did not actually suck! Can you believe it? On the one side is Ukitsu (the Fighter who is supposed to destroy Hakufu) looking seductive and sweet as opposed to kick-ass, which I always find to be a disservice. But! On the other side is *my* favorite character, Goei. Yes, Hakufu’s mother. ^_^ What can I say? I adore her. Anyway, there she is mostly dressed, while her kimono falls sexily around her. She looks just as sensual and aware as she does in the actual show – no frontal lobotomy here. So this pencil board wins. I may actually use it, instead of locking it away with the ROD The TV boards in the “please don’t think I like these” collection.

I’ll be honest, Ikkitousen is not a *good* anime. But given this series’ general suckiness, this DVD is a good volume. (And, for the record, the anime is significantly superior to the manga, which you’ll notice I have not reviewed. Be patient.)

The Yuri rating for Ikkitousen, Vol. 3 is an easy 9. All the other ratings remain as before.





Yuri Anime: Stellvia of the Universe, DVD Vol. 3 (English)

March 15th, 2005

Volume 3 of Stellvia of the Universe marks the end of the first arc – and was suprisingly more interesting than I remembered the first time around.

One of my complaints has always been that Shima, our heroine, follows that weird “idiot savant” pattern so common in female-lead shounen anime. You know, she’s a failure at a thing the first time she tries it, but after a “Gamabare!” or two from whomever is her emotional prop, she masters it immediately.

Well, upon rewatch, I find that I was mistaken. In fact, Shima spends an enormous amount of time in Vol. 3 practicing her skills, which result in her improving. Perfectly sensible, and how on earth did I miss that the first time around? Not only that, but the lesson is pounded home when Rinna points out that the only reason she herself is so good is that she had no friends, so practiced pretty much all day every day since she was a child.

Leila-sensei even comments that Shima’s seemingly irrational emotional ups and downs make sense – after all, she’s very young, and it stands to reason that she’ll vaccillate between being hyper-energetic and completely self-conscious and unsure of herself. Heck, I do that now, and I’m hardly young any more… lol

So, okay, okay, I was wrong! Sheesh…

So, where does that leave me? Rewatching this series has forced to me turn my dislike on Kouta, Shima’s soon-to-be love interest. I will never like him, on principle. ^_^ But I will grudgingly admit that, at the end of this volume, he becomes an interesting red herring/plot complication.

On the yuri side, we get only a little of the dynamic between Yayoi and Ayaka in this series, as we’re all focused on the resolution of the Second Wave. 20/20 hindsight leads me to believe that Yayoi was attempting to find some closure before Ayaka leaves on the mission, but chickens out at the last second. (Which makes for a nice place to write a fanfic, I think.) I have completely moved over to the Arisa is in love with Shima camp, but even Arisa can see that it’s hopeless, so it stays at low-level crushiness, for which I think Arisa deserves snaps.

Again, the absolute *best* thing about this series is that all the characters act their ages, and the dialogue *sounds* their ages, too. I really feel like these characters are exactly what they appear – something I rarely get from an anime. (Can anyone say Haruka and Michiru? I mean, really – they were suppose to be *16* when we first meet them. LOL)

I won’t whine about the bare packaging and scant episode count again…you’ve heard it before. I’m just getting into the DVD when it’s over. But other than that, I honestly think I’m enjoying this series *more* this time around than I did the first time.

Once again, if you like space opera, good characterization, a catchy, yet unsingable opening theme and a lovely Yuri relationship, Stellvia is still a good watch.





Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 Anime

February 16th, 2005

So, about 15 years after a generation of bottom-feeding otaku who wear t-shirts a size or three too small grew up on fantasizing about big-hair Priss and her sexy Pat Benatar-like tunes, a whole new iteration of the Knights Saber was thrown at us…and thank god for that!I just had to do this, and make you all face the horribleness of the old-school hair. ^_^ I defy anyone who says the OVA’s music was better, too. But more on that later.

In this TV series version, Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040, all of the Knights Sabers have significantly less 80’s hair and some of them have even have real jobs. Sylia still lounges around alot in slinky clothes, but Nene is no longer 12 and Linna has shed her idiotic non-job as an aerobics instructor. Priss is still a bad-ass angsty loner rock star, but this time she sings actual rock! Whee!

(The album of Akira Sudou as Priss for this anime was the very first anime music I ever bought and I don’t regret it, even now. I think Akira Sudou rocks. ROCKS. Every damn song on the album kicks butt. For the music alone, this anime beats the old OVA flat.)

In the beginning of the TV series, there’s a definite Linna x Priss vibe, but it really can’t go anywhere. Leon, who has been significantly de-Chelsea-ed for the 2040 series, and Priss, end up together. I’d like to be pissed off, but it actually makes more sense than Priss and Linna…I mean really. Linna does grow a pair from watching Priss, so there’s something to be said for grown-up akogare/admiration/desire.

I could, if I cared, see this Sylia with Priss more than the old one – there’s something blatantly sensual about new Sylia, but of course, she’s completely cracked and I wouldn’t wish her on an enemy.

Which leaves us with Nene and Sylia’s “cute” little brother, Mackey. He’s so “cute” as he accidentally sees the girls in various states of undress 182,298 times. Ha. Ha. Adorable.

There were a couple of things (other than the hair and music) that are significantly better than the original OVA. There were more men who were not bad guys or boomers, for one thing. And pretty much every character was openly dysfunctional, which fits the dystopian setting and tone of the story. The exception to this is Linna, who basically serves as the protagonist, so we can see it all through her eyes, from a relatively “normal” perspective. It makes everything in the Knights Sabers’ cyberpunk world look that much darker and skewed…something that really worked for me.

Downsides to 2040? The utterly dreadful non-ending. I wanted to slap the writers for creating yet another self-fulfilling prophecy which did nothing and went nowhere. And the bad guy, who had had 15 years to get a clue, was worse than ever. I just don’t see the appeal in world domination. I mean, think of the paperwork!

Despite the lower yuri level and the lame-ass ending, 2040 was good – if only for the hair and music. Probably only for the hair and music. It’s an interesting study in what 15 years does to audience expectations, anway.

While you’re digging out the old OVAs…get a hold of this series, too, and listen to some decent music for a change. ^_^





Yuri Anime: Bubblegum Crisis/Bugglegum Crash

February 15th, 2005

Funny how I never seemed to get around to this series….

Way back, in the dawn of time, I was writing anime reviews for a newsletter that no longer exists, called Metro Druid News (It’s now transmogrified into News From the Other Grove, for which I no longer write, but it’s still pretty fun.) I was writing, specifically, reviews of anime with pagan/magical/spiritual content. So, of course, the companies kept sending me shounen action stories with guns. I suppose it made sense to someone. More likely, it was all they had.

In the middle of the piles of samurai and scifi, was a series called Bubblegum Crisis. I had *heard* of BGC – one could hardly avoid it since, along with Dirty Pair and Project A-ko, it was one of the earliest anime to make it to western shores. This is one of those anime series the old-timers talk about when they talk about huddling over Nth generation videos with mimeographed copies of hand-typed translations, well before fansubs existed. (My personal experience with this was 9th generation copy of a volume of raw Sailor Moon.)

BGC, for the three of you who have never heard of it, is a cyberpunk action story, about four women battling corporate corruption and mutating androids. A very Akira-period anime without the nuclear fallout feel. There was the inevitable yuri implications between the four female leads: Motorcycle-riding, tough, dark, angsty Priss; loli computer genius Nene; bland Lina and; slick, sexy rich-girl Sylia. For the women, there was an effeminate gay cop who flirts valiantly with straight male lead Leon. Even as I think back to my first watching of BGC,I can remember just how *much* this series had something for everybody. And, of course, a lot of mutating androids, guns and explosions. Not surprisingly, it’s still a fan favorite after all this time.

But, even as I watched and suffered through the soundtrack, (a comment for which I *know* I will recieve hate mail) I thought, well, you know Priss is butchy as hell…but ‘m just not seeing the Sylia x Priss thing everyone else is seeing. I tried, I really did! ^_^

But then Episode 5 rolled around and Sylvie – a motorcycle-ridin’ sexaroid with a noir storyline shows up and I simply took the yuri goggles off, because there was plenty to be seen without ’em. This was my first experience with rampant shounen yuri implication, so it sidelined me a bit.

Here’s a piece of obscure trivia – Priss was voted best overall anime lesbian in the first Yuricon Poll, which ran back in 2000. It caused a huge Usenet stink, because a bunch of people were offended that she was even considered to be a lesbian. I say, if it wears leather like a duck, and rides a motorcycle like a duck and hangs out with sexy lesbian sexaroids like a duck….

Don’t get me wrong – there is no happy ending here, but it’s still a pretty damn good story. Just enough dark and grim to give it atmosphere, lots of action, the requisite sexy chicks (at least, what passed for sexy anime chicks in the 1980s…bad hair alert!) and poor Priss’s excruciating Pat Benatar-like music, which were pretty much the perfect beat for walking on a treadmill. The old VHS tapes I had also included music videos made from clips of the arcs and the songs Priss sung in them…whether this was a “bonus” will directly depend on whether you *liked* the music or not. ^_^

If you haven’t watched BGC – especially if you’re a relatively recent Yuri fan – I strongly recommend that you do. It’s good to know where we’ve been to see where we’re going – and how far we have yet to go….





Yuri Anime: Seraphim Call, Part 1(English)

February 10th, 2005

An angel with long blonde hair in a pale blue spaghetti strap dress, clasps her hands as if in prayer, while her wings fill the cover space.Remember what I said a few days ago about quality? Well, upon rewatching Seraphim Call, I came to the conclusion that, quality it ain’t.

Let’s start with the packaging, since that’s what one sees first. Media Blasters has always been, IMHO, a bit behind the curve on aesthetics, but I can’t fault them too much. While this OVA doesn’t have cool extras or liner notes or *anything* other than that ever-present market research card, it *does* have all 12 episodes on 2 DVDs, for a reasonable cost.  This DVD is Japanese language audio only, with English subtitles…no dub available. This doesn’t bother me, of course, but it may be an issue with others.

Additionally, the type MB uses for their subtitles is the same exact one they have been using since the dawn of time and it looks…dated. Little yellow words that pop up in stark declarative or interrogative sentences with no other forms of punctuation than period or question mark. It’s really disturbing after a while, because even though the voices are normal, there’s a sense of droning monotony, because of the subtitles. (And yes, I am perfectly aware that I’m over-sensitive to such things. But I calls ’em as I see ’em.)

I sat down to watch the first disc with only a vague memory of the individual vignettes, having intially watched them quite a few years ago now. The basic premise is 11 entirely unrelated girls and women will be brought together for *something* to happen. The first 11 epsiodes are background stories on each of the 11 girls, and episode 12 is supposed to tie everything together. I remembered only that about 1/4 of the cast was gay. ^_^

I did not know then, but do know now, that the original character designer is Aoi Nanase (creator of Angel Dust) which explains several things, like the gayness and the odd hair. I’m not sure if there’s a manga for this series, but if there is, I’d like to read it, to see if the story ever goes anywhere. (Perhaps one of my loyal readers can assist with this? Have you heard of or seen a manga version?)

So, with vague memories and a mild fever, I began re-watching Seraphim Call.

The first episode was a slow-paced story about Yukina, a super-genius mechanical engineer with a phobia of men. I had, for some reason, remembered each episode being quite short, but I was wrong – maybe it was wishful thinking, because this epsiode *draaaagggggged.*

Episode two I skipped. It’s a repulsive little loli stalker perv thing that I have no interest in ever seeing again. Once was scarring enough.

By this time I was reclaiming old memories and quite clearly knew what was coming.

Episode three is the tale of Chinami, a girl with a dream to be a dessert chef and divorced parents. Slow, again, but actually kind of the most realistic story of the bunch.

Episode four is, IMHO, the best of the first disc. Using a non-linear narrative, we learn about Hatsumi, a boyish, athletic girl who agrees (after much resistance) to model nude for a painting. It’s not Yuri, at all, but there’s a gender and self identity issue, which is also quite realistic for a high school girl. Although I wish *someone* had told Hatsumi that she looked adorable in shorts and tie…

Episodes five and six are a combo story, which gives the individual perspectives of a pair of creepy incestuous lesbian twin sisters as they reject all else but each other. I remember being strongly disturbed by these episodes the first time I watched the series, but you know, after watching again yesterday, I can only say that I quite prefer them together. It lowers the possibility that anyone else will get involved in their dysfunctional worldviews. These two episodes are full of unresolved virtual reality escapades, which leaves you with no clue whether the girls are back in reality – or were ever there to begin with. After I finished watching, I was disturbed all over again, but this time not by Shion and Sakura, but by myself thinking that, actually, these two episodes were kind of sweet and touching in a really weird way.

Clearly anime is sucking my soul away, one episode at a time.

My last two thoughts, as I watched Shion and Sakura kiss for the second time, were these:

1) I can pretty much guarantee that I would never in a million years fall in love with someone who looked exactly like me, and;

2) How on *earth* did this anime get rated 7 and up???? Did the person who rated it not watch episodes 2,5 and 6?

In any case, while this anime really is Yuri-riffic, its not…erm…good. However, I hold out more hope for Disc 2, where we get some Yuri that isn’t creepy. ^_^