Archive for the English Anime Category


5 Seconds Before A Witch Falls in Love, Guest Review by Luce

March 9th, 2022

Welcome to another Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu. We welcome back Luce who is taking a look at a collected volume of stories by Zeniko Sumiya that ran in Comic Yuri Hime. Take it away, Luce!

5 Seconds Before a Witch Falls in Love actually has three stories in it, although you wouldn’t know from the outset. The first and third are linked  in that they follow the same characters in stories set about a month apart: The ‘Untouchable Sorceress’ Meg, and the witch hunter Lilith. They fight frequently, although Meg has always managed to one-up Lilith, so never getting caught. When Meg turns Lilith into a cat and someone makes off with her, things change. A bit. In the second story, from Lilith’s point of view, a month afterwards, she is convinced that Meg has cursed her with a love spell. Why else would she be feeling so het up!

The third story is sandwiched between them, and isn’t at all related. In this, Kamiari Kanna is an otherwise normal school girl, who can see supernatural beings, and offers to help them. After finding the demon Belphegor wounded and the angel Samael apparently collapsed and offering to help them, they both fell madly in love with her and follow her around near constantly. A transfer student seems a bit suspicious though, and a supernatural entity is on the loose…

This book is a one shot and totally contained, which I do like. I’m not so fond of tsunderes, which Meg and Lilith emulate somewhat, but they were different enough that I could kind of get behind them. Being so short helped – you don’t actually have to endure the swathes of denial prior to the depicted story. I’m pretty happy about that. Meg was pretty fun, everyone calls her an old hag which pisses her off, and while she’s implied to be extremely talented with magic, she generally uses her magic to play ridiculous pranks on the townspeople. That said, when she does get serious, she goes all in. I personally would have liked Lilith to have a bit more… pizzazz(?) about her? She is cute, though. What I liked most was the ‘warlock pharmacist/drugstore owner’ Hachi. Well equipped with an armoury of snappy comebacks, he was great, and seemed to know more than he actually stated.

I’ll single out something that pleasantly surprised me – Meg apologises for kissing Lilith without her consent (to turn her back from being a cat). Seeing as consent is rarely even mentioned or asked for in manga, I greatly appreciate this. Meg also gives Lilith the opportunity to leave, by which she means to allow her to leave the situation altogether. I like this, and these small details made it far more enjoyable.

I think I enjoyed the second story a bit more though, which is funny because the only advertisement it gets on the cover is the three main characters on the back. The blurb doesn’t even mention a third story at all! The idea of a kind-hearted girl helping all sorts of supernatural spirits isn’t new, but Samael and Belphegor being obsessed by her was made infinitely better by a.) Kanna saying things how she meant and b.) them not getting too handsy about it. They fight over her, but it’s never serious. It’s clear that she is very dear to them, but they never force their affections on her – Bel is upset because the transfer student hugs Kanna… Because she wanted to. Kanna hugs her. It’s actually really cute.

Story: Meg and Lilith 5, Kanna’s story 7
Art: 7
Yuri: 8
Service: 3?
Overall: 7

Erica here: Thank you Luce! I’ll be sure to pay attention to that third story when I have a chance to read this collection. ^_^





Sailor Moon S Kaguyahime no Koibito is a Christmas Movie

December 26th, 2021

As the rest of the world deliberates whether Home Alone or Die Hard counts as a Christmas movie, I have always felt myself above such things. ^_^ But then, translator Jocelyne Allen pointed out that Sailor Moon S Movie is in actual fact a Christmas movie and I could not argue. When she reminded me that this week the Sailor Moon Musical Kaguya-hime no Koibito was available for streaming on Japan 2.5. Stage Play World, my wife and I put together an impromptu double play of a story neither of us much like. ^_^

Firstly, Sailor Moon S The Movie is streaming in dub for free on YouTube right now for US folks. We never bought the new Viz release, so I dragged out our old Pioneer (!) DVD.  You can rent it on Amazon Prime or buy it for only about $5 more on Amazon, which gives you a sense of how popular it is.

The basic plot of the movie is that Luna and Artemis are on the skids. Luna, feeling sick, is found by a handsome man who is himself ill. He nurses her back to health. She learns that he is a Oozora Kakeru, a researcher who is obsessed with a comet that is approaching earth, which he has named “Kaguya-hime” after the moon being from the Taketori Monogatari. Kakeru’s lover is Himeko, a woman chosen for a space mission to study the comet. There is a little tension between them as Kakeru had also wanted to be an astronaut. Luna falls in love with Kakeru, but can do nothing when he falls ill.

As Christmas approaches, so does the comet, and with it Snow Princess Kaguya is revealed to be an alien who wants to take over the earth, naturally. The Senshi fight, are defeated and band together to defeat the enemy. Usagi grants Luna’s wish to become human for one night. She takes Kakeru to space and kisses him. She returns to Earth, and Artemis.

When the Sailor S Movie came out originally I watched it for the then-precious moments with the Outer Senshi. It was originally released in Japan in 1994, my three-disk “uncut” movie box set is from 2001, so possibly older than some of you reading this. Having Haruka and Michiru on screen sharing tea or shopping together was a big deal still.

If you still need proof that this is a Christmas movie, check in at about 21 minutes in:

 

Note the incongruous use of L’Chaim when Tuxedo Kamen throws a top at a snow dancer. This is wildly inappropriate – he should have said “Chag Sameach.” ^_^

Immediately after this, we fired up the Sailor Moon Musical Kaguya-hime no Koibito, starring Nogizaka46 members.

It was…not bad? Also terrible, but in the exact way I love. ^_^ To begin with here is the opening song, which was shaky but solidified up. Mercury was the weakest singer throughout, but the rest of the cast was good to great.

 

The bad stuff was more than one song about how much girls need guys, and until they have them are permanently unfulfilled. And Tuxedo Kamen’s final solo, about which my wife said, “This is unnecessary.” A shame too, because Riku Sorahane had a great voice. From the moment she stepped on stage we could see that she had been trained as a Takarisienne. It was in every motion she made.

Other strange bits were the Luna ballets and Himeko making a comment about being pregnant, which would definitely have kept her out of space. Also the final thanks felt like there was stuff that was supposed to have been said, and instead we have “thank you very much” shouted a us an excessive number of times, even for one of these musicals.

Speaking of excessive, they say “Starry Heavens” 8 times.

So…the good bits. Overall pretty good music. Snow Kaguya had a operatic voice that worked well. The Outers were all great. I can’t embed this, but here is a clip of the Outer Senshi actresses watching the show digest. At 1:30 they watch the bit where they arrive on stage: https://youtu.be/KBHlvUVcDnw?t=90. ^_^

The very best bit, in my opinion was when the Senshi “transform” they each have some dance moves that were adapted from their henshin sequence. I though this extremely clever.

The second best thing was that Haruka and Michiru are glued at the hip throughout the whole performance – even to the point of a small perfomative hug as they leave the stage the first time and holding hands as they leave the second time. It’s more than we ever got in the animated movie and it was overt enough that I wondered idly, if we’ll ever see them stage kiss in an official property.

Overall, it wasn’t as Christmasy as the animated movie, but it was fun. Again, I can’t embed it, but here is the show digest video, so you can get an idea of the spectacle.

Next year as everyone is waggling their Scrooged at you, don’t forget – Sailor Moon S Movie is also a Christmas movie. ^_^





The Aquatope on White Sand, 2nd Cour

December 19th, 2021

If you have not yet read it (or need a refresher,) please consider taking a look at Megan’s terrific review of the first cour of this series.

After a tumultuous and emotional first half, The Aquatope on White Sand (streaming on Crunchyroll) has returned. Kukuru and Fuuka’s story continues in ways that surprise and delight and, in its final moments, gave us the absolute rightest ending for this story.

As the second cour opens up, the folks from Gama Gama have taken positions at Tingala Aquarium, a new, shiny and vastly better-resourced aquarium than Gama Gama ever was. Tingala, (which means ‘galaxy’ in Okinawan,) is built to present an immersive experience of the oceans, rather than “creature in small tanks.” It does not escape me that this is a brilliant metaphor for Kukuru and Fuuka’s experiences. They had been in a very small tank and are now being immersed into a much wider world, in preparation for entry into the ocean of life.

The story begins with a summation of the growing pains the Gama Gama team as a whole are having. Tingala staff is a well-oiled machine and they all have to learn to work within the new system in a way they had not really prepared (had not been prepared) for. But Fuuka is first to find her new place. Having decided for herself that is what she wants to do…she does it.  Which leaves Kukuru.

Kukuru expects to take care of the sealife as she had, but instead is assigned to marketing under a very unpleasant director.

Let me digress here. As an adult, I place the blame for Kukuru’s unhappiness through much of this cour on the heads of the two aquarium directors of Gama Gama and Tingala – both of whom had plenty of time to explain what they were thinking about Kukuru’s future. There was literally no need at all for Kukuru to doubt herself, her skills, her creativity or her life choices, when “I’m putting you in marketing so you can learn about other aspects of running a large/new/progressive aquarium, to build on your knowledge of taking care of the creatures here.” would have sufficed. I am very angry at these two old men who made her suffer needlessly because, probably, that was the way they learned. It’s a stupid way.

A large chunk of thise cour is watching Kukuru struggle under that apparently petty rule of a man who has strong opinions and is completely incapable of managing a team that needs managing. He’s not wrong, his ideas are good, but the petty tyrant method of management is bullshit. He almost breaks Kukukru…why? So we spend a lot of time watching Kukuru ground down. Fuuka jumps in to help solve a number of problems all at once, buy creating a girls’ day out for various team members who need help breaking through their funks.

The girls day episode also solves the one real conflict Fuuka herself is confronted with, thus proving my point above – talking with people helps resolve issues. The way in which Chiyu is set up as an antagonist, so that we are forced to feel exactly what Fuuka feels when she learns the whole story, was a masterstroke of story telling.

Kukuru’s struggle is not lessened as time goes on. I wondered about this as I watched the anime. It’s a bit like randori in martial arts – conflict keeps coming at you, and you just have to keep figuring out how to not go down. But randori is for practice and not meant to be real. The resolution of Kukuru’s randori comes in the form of opportunity for her to change her circumstances.

And that opportunity will change everything for not just Kukuru, but also Fuuka and others at Tingala. Once again, our two protagonists are asked to look at their choices and imagine a future for themselves. Only this time, their choices are vastly different. If the theme of the first cour was endings, then the theme here has got to understood as beginnings.

The animation by PA Works was breathtaking. With a bigger aquarium, and more scenery shots than before, the animation team just animated their hearts out. It never felt unreal, but the scenes often felt slightly realer than real, which is its own unreality.

Lastly, let’s talk about Fuuka and Kukuru. I know a lot of reviewers said they felt Yuri vibes about their relationship. As Megan pointed out, the first cour somewhat heavy-handed this intoa “sister” relationship in. My interpretation is that nether and both of these are correct. These two strangers, brought together by chance, become friends. Shared experience and trial bring them closer together while we watch. The sister thing might seem awkward, but. We don’t really have a way to ask “I’d like to be something more to you than a friend,” really, without it sounding like being asked to become lovers. This series has Fuuka and Kukukru developing a deep relationship and we just don’t have a word in English for it beyond family. I have many friends I love deeply and, yes, consider family. So, sisters, yes.

When we turn to the second cour, they again act as each other’s strength at least once. But they are still so much in a process of becoming who they are, I’m actually uncomfortable labeling their affection and love as romantic. It doesn’t feel like it is to me…but, it feels like it maybe, could become, one day. As an iteration of a platonic love, I find Fuuka and Kukuru’s relationship relatable and inspiring. I’d love to see a lot more of that. We need more complexity in women’s relationships shown in media. Women’s relationships are not limited to a handful of roles. The ending of the series gives us two people who might be that for one another and equally may not, and either way works for me. 

One last comment, for a wholesome and “healing” (iyashikei) anime, I cried a lot through this series, because it was so often extremely beautifully written, as well as animated. One point off for that, because I really hate crying. ^_^

Ratings:

Story – 9
Art – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – This has got to be up to personal interpretation. Where Megan saw 6, I saw 0 with a “possible” in the future.
Service – 1 On principle, mostly

Overall – 9

A wonderful anime from beginning to end and very worth watching. I hope it inspires some folks to care about the world’s oceans.





The Aquatope on White Sand, 1st Cour, Guest Review by Megan

October 27th, 2021

Welcome to our record-breaking 7th guest review in 2 months! This is made possible entirely through the support of our Okazu Patrons and the energy and talent of our guest reviewers! I’m absolutely delighted to bring you so many guest reviews and hope that, if you enjoy these, you’ll become an Ozazu Patron and help us continue to pay our writers industry standard rates for their efforts!

Today we’re bringing back Megan with a thoughtful and lovely look at one of this years prettiest anime, The Aquatope on White Sand, streaming now on Crunchyroll. (I asked to cover the second cour myself, so we’ll be back early next year season to talk about the rest of it. ^_^) In the mean time, please welcome Megan back! The mic is yours, Megan.

The Summer 2021 anime season saw the debut of not one, but two Yuri anime from fan favourite studios. Season 2 of Dragon Maid drew most of the attention, but the original 2-cour series from PA Works studio, The Aquatope on White Sand, also quickly drew a Yuri audience.  

Aquatope begins with a young woman, Fuuka, leaving her idol job in Tokyo after she gave an opportunity up for another member of the group. Her dream is over, but on a whim she takes a flight to Okinawa where she meets Kukuru, the acting director of Gama Gama aquarium. With only weeks to go before the planned closure of the aquarium, Fuuka decides to support Kukuru with her dream of keeping Gama Gama open. 

The entire cast is likeable, but the bulk of development goes to our leads, Fuuka and Kukuru. Fuuka is kind, almost to a fault; both with her idol and aquarium jobs, she prioritises others’ dreams above her own. Her arc sees her grow in confidence and learn to pursue her own dream again. Kukuru was the bigger surprise of the two leads. From the promo material and first episode I didn’t expect her to be quite as serious and focused on her work as the aquarium’s director as she turned out to be. The dynamic between the girls also works out differently than you might expect at first: in the early episodes Kukuru is the one giving emotional support to Fuuka as she faces up to her mother in episode 5, but in the second half of this first cour Fuuka emerges as the more mature of the pair. 

While the show’s first half doesn’t definitively commit to a friendship or romance reading for Fuuka and Kukuru’s relationship (the show’s awkward attempt in episode 9 to advance a “big sister” interpretation for Fuuka is one of the writings’ rare missteps), either way there is a lot to offer here for Yuri viewers. Aquatope depicts the pair’s emotional intimacy beautifully, with both their emotional and physical closeness growing as they support each other with running the aquarium and overcoming their own issues. Wherever the second half of the show takes them, here’s hoping they have a future together. 

The other main character of Aquatope could be said to be the aquarium itself. When the first episode aired and included a magical realist scene of Fuuka getting swept up in an underwater vision, I was sceptical since the show seemed otherwise well-grounded, but the magical element ended up working in the show’s favour. The pairing of an aquarium with these ineffable magical visions makes thematic sense; even now, so much of the sea is still a mystery to us. In several episodes we also meet characters who have visions at the aquarium that help them move on from turning points in their lives. Along with the stories of the supporting cast, this helps build a connection to Gama Gama as a place that feels worth saving. 

The aquarium feels like a believable location thanks to the fantastic animation effort from PA Works. Where Aquatope might lack in impressive “sakuga” sequences, it makes up for with a consistent high quality both in the character and background art throughout these first 12 episodes. The fish are mostly rendered in CGI, but it looks acceptable, and closeups and the penguins are animated in 2D. Particular praise should be given to the background art team, Gama Gama and surroundings were so well-rendered they came off as real places. 

Spoiler warning: Please skip past the section starred off below, if you prefer to remain spoiler-free.

 

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For a “iyashikei” (healing) anime, Aquatope often struck a serious, even melancholic note from the early episodes. The closing episodes of this first cour paid off these hints, and secured my recommendation of the show for mature anime viewers who find it increasingly hard to relate to the teen-centered themes of most anime. The first cour of Aquatope is about the experience that, perhaps as much as any other, defines becoming an adult: giving up your dream. 

It testifies to the show’s strong writing, no matter how much we as the viewer might wish for a different outcome, the closure of Gama Gama feels like a logical conclusion to everything that came before. We’d seen how unsuccessful Kukuru’s initiatives to draw visitors to the aquarium had been, and episode 10 introduces a new, much larger and more centrally located aquarium opening up that renders Gama Gama aquarium irrelevant. In truth, the writing had been on the wall since the start, and Kukuru locking herself up in the aquarium as a typhoon beats down her attempts to fortify the building is an effective visual for both Kukuru and perhaps the viewer’s denial of the reality of the imminent closure. 

The finality of episode 12 is surprising for a two-cour show. Many people I know watching week-by-week thought it actually was the final episode and were surprised to find out it was only the halfway point. For viewers who usually like their anime on the shorter side, the first cour presents a satisfying and complete story on its own, without the meandering some other two-cour anime can fall prey to, with almost every episode developing the leads and their relationship, or the aquarium setting itself in important ways. This pacing helps Aquatope to feel, in my experience, more consistently engaging than some other similar anime, including PA Works’ prior series about working women such as Sakura Quest. 

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Aquatope presents a moving and mature story of pursuing and giving up dreams, and of the leads’ growing emotional intimacy. The show is shaping up to be a new favourite for slice of life and Yuri viewers, and I can highly recommend giving this overlooked anime a try. 

 

Ratings: 

 

Story – 9, a well-written and smartly paced story of giving up your dream, and what comes next Characters – 8, everyone is likeable and the leads get some good development 

Art – 9, a consistently beautiful effort by PA Works 

Yuri – 6, nothing explicitly romantic but the leads’ emotional intimacy is lovely 

Service – 1, a beach episode with the girls in swimwear, otherwise, no 

Overall – 9 

 

PS It took me a while to figure out what the word “Aquatope” means. I was reading vol 3 of (excellent and very queer-inclusive fantasy LN series) Reign of the Seven Spellblades, which used the word “Biotope”, a word similar to “habitat”. So “Aquatope”, I presume, means “aquatic habitat”. 

Thanks as always for reading my review! I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments ^_^ 

Erica here: Thank you so much, Megan! Your thoughts echo my own completely. It’s a beautiful anime with some strong values and lessons that are both gentle and inexorable. I’m looking forward to covering the second cour. It’s a bit selfish of me, but I wanna write about this lovely anime, too! ^_^





Blue Reflection Ray, Guest Review by Aurakin

October 20th, 2021

Very excited to welcome you back today to Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu! Today we welcome a new reviewr to our family. Aurakin will be taking us through the recent anime Blue Reflection Ray, based on the game, streaming now on Funimation. As you know, I love having guest reviews. It broadens the amount and kind of content we can have, provides different perspectives, and gives us a chance to support writers. If you enjoy Guest reviews and want to help us keep paying our writers industry standard rates, consider becoming an Okazu Patreon.

Welcome Aurakin – the floor is yours!

*Note: Blue Reflection Ray is based on the game Blue Reflection. Since I haven’t played it, I won’t be making any comparisons.*

Ruka Hanari struggles to make friends. She is scarred by an event in her past, and finds herself unable to reach out to others. Along comes her new roommate, Hiori Hirahara, a girl who seems able to do everything Ruka can’t. Hiori is friendly and easy-going, and Ruka finds herself drawn in. One day, as they are casually walking down the street, they get caught in a distorted reality, and Hiori senses a girl in danger. They encounter two magical girls engaged in a sword fight, with an unconscious girl being held hostage. As the victim is about to fall off a roof-top, Hiori leaps forward to help – and suddenly transforms. 

My first impression of the art style and animation was that it looked terribly cheap. The occasional 3D effects clashed with the overly sparse 2D line art and flat colors used in the rest of the show. While the studio might have suffered from the pandemic in some areas, the art style itself seems to be more of a stylistic choice rather than a lack of resources, considering what the original character designer, Mel Kishida, has worked on previously (22/7, So-Ra-No-Wo-To). 

Being a big fan of both magical girls and yuri, I was really curious about Blue Reflection Ray. It took about six episodes for it to get interesting, but once it did, I found it both charming and entertaining. The anime shone brightly whenever it delved deeper into the characters’ backstories and the bonds they were forming with each other. Watching their everyday interactions was sweet and heartwarming. The surface plot and magical intrigues seemed to pale in comparison – that has all been done so many times before, and Blue Reflection Ray didn’t add anything new or interesting to the mix.

It’s also worth noting that this anime deals with mental illness, self-harm and abuse – sometimes poorly. And with that, I have to briefly mention Masochist Uta, the single worst thing about the show. Uta lives for pain – whether it’s her own or causing it to others – and being the intensely rapey villain she is, often groping her victims or making sexualized threats, Uta alone was enough for me to strongly consider dropping this show on several occasions. Her character does get explored more in depth later in the series, but never enough to redeem her presence.

So, how about the yuri content? Surprisingly, it did not come from our two main characters. Beyond some teasing comments and visual baiting (Such as when the camera slowly pans upwards as if they’re going to kiss), the relationship between Ruka and Hiori is never defined as anything other than friendship. That said, the show does focus a lot on emotional bonds, platonic or otherwise, and I could possibly see a reading of them as an aro-ace couple.

The second cour was a pleasant surprise. We get introduced to a new pair of characters, who are undeniably queer. Their relationship, and their complicated feelings towards each other, end up being given a lot more space than I had expected from this series, with some of the gayest word exchanges I’ve ever heard in anime. Besides these two, we have several other characters who can easily be read as queer, and who played a huge part in me liking this anime. Also worth a mention, is that this is one of those shows where men do not seem to exist – they are neither mentioned nor shown.

All in all? I don’t regret watching Blue Reflection Ray, and found it enjoyable despite its flaws. Would I recommend it to anyone else? Perhaps not. It is very tropey – it just happens to have tropes that I’m personally fond of.

Ratings:

Art – 4 Not a fan of the art style. The animation looks cheap, and the 3D parts do not blend in well.
Story – 5 Average, nothing new or special about it. 
Characters – 7 Tropey but likable. Sweet interactions.
Yuri – 6 Thanks to a certain pair in the later half. (I’d say 3 at most for the first cour)
Service – 3 Less than your standard anime. Uta is responsible for most of it.

Overall – 6 Average but enjoyable.

Erica here again: Thanks so much for taking a look at this series for us! I started to watch it, but found the style (which I suspect is in line with the game, but felt very basic to me, like a really good high school animation project,) and the predictability of the storyline a little too thin on the ground for me. I am glad to hear that it gets better in the second cour, and maybe will just skip a bit. ^_^