It must be Wednesday, because we have a Guest Review! Even better, we have a brand new Guest Reviewer. I love when that happens. ^_^ Today we welcome Grisznak, who has kindly offered to review something I had never heard of, much less watched. So let’s settle in with some popcorn as Grisznak takes the stage. /applause/

Anyone here remember Freezing? Yes, this series from 2011 with lot of bloo… I mean boob… well, technically, with a lot of boobs and blood as well. Another generic danger to the humankind (this time an unknown monster called “Nova”) and some scanty clad girls with super powers – we’ve seen this lot of times, haven’t we? Usually, in such series we can find some Yuri hints. But was that a good reason to watch? Not this time, trust me. Freezing wasn’t bad a anime – it was a very bad anime. So, why even mention it here? Because it is getting a second season. And, surprisingly, Freezing Vibration (sic!) isn’t THAT bad. After all that what I can say after watching some episodes. Full opinion can be made when this series will be finished. But let’s take a look…

This time our bunch of superpowered girls (called “Pandoras”) arrive in the USA, where group of scientists work on a program that allows turn every girl into Pandora. This project is called “e-Pandora” and you can probably guess that there’s something fishy about it. But before we find what’s going on, some dresses will be torn, some boobs revealed and some blood will be spilled.

There are some major differences between the two seasons. Freezing focused on Satlizer el Brigett, blonde meganekko whose nickname was “Untouchable Queen”. With such a nickname it’s rather easy to predict that character will be touched lot of times.

And most of the series was about that – Pandoras were fighting against each other, girls were doing something that could be called “Strip Fighting” and everyone was waiting until Nova appears.

The second season shows Pandoras on duty – there’s little place for girly fights and arguments,  there is serious business going on.  We have two groups – Pandoras and E-Pandoras. They are different, but they’re meant to cooperate. Of course, it won’t be easy, because E-Pandoras not only have to compete with original Pandoras, but they need to survive deadly experiments their makers are performing on them.

Lot of fights, lot of drama, but what about Yuri? Those who were watching first season already know that each Pandora has her male sidekick called a “Limiter.” To cooperate at full power, they need to perform a “Baptism.” (It amazes me how the Japanese creators use Christian terminology for what is simply sex). Our Untouchable Queen had problems with that and still has, but her Limiter was really the protagonist of the first season. Now he’s in the shadows; he rarely appears and hasn’t much to do. The second season is about girls. And this is good, especially if you’re Yuri fan.

Almost since beginning of the story we can see tension between leaders of both groups – Elizabeth Mably and Amelia Evans. And, this is not the usual love-hate, but rather a much more complicated relationship between two strong women who holds responsibility for their people. Yes, Yuri fans could be happy, seeing Amelia in Elizabeth arms at the end of the fourth episode. Of course, we have lot of groping, boob touching and other fanservice moments in this anime as well. Boys are still there, but they’re merely tools, without much use in the plot.

I’m always curious if they make clothes from some kind of very frail materials in anime. Remember Ikkitousen or any other series like that? Right, those anime where you can perform a punch and the girl’s blouse is ripping apart, often with bra as well. Freezing has same problem –  in almost every battle, participants have to lose some of their clothes. Years ago I found this amusing, today I found it boing… I mean boring. Still, original Freezing had an annoying tendency to mix fanservice with gore. Freezing Vibration has lost some of gore. And it’s good.

With a plot (finally), less gore and some nicely done relationships between characters, this series looks watchable. Still, I’m not calling this anime good – it’s a deep valley between Freezing Vibration and lot of good series. But, if you like to see something action and fanservice-oriented and already watched Ikkitousen, check this out. Of course, you have to break through first season (or just read summary in the web), but some sacrifices always should be made.

Art – 7
Story – 5
Characters – 6
Yuri – 4
Service – 8
Overall –  6

Erica here: Funimation is streaming both Freezing and Freezing Vibration online for free (with regional restrictions) so you too can “enjoy” what sounds like it might be some kind of fun.  Thank you Grisznak for the highly amusing review. I’m almost tempted to watch it now…but I expect that will pass. ^_^

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Disk 1 of this series and at the time, I gave away a copy of the complete set, thanks to TRSI. The winner had to write a review of Disk 2. And so, with great pleasure and appreciation, I welcome brand new Guest Reviewer Matt W. to Okazu on this Guest Review Wednesday. ^_^

Hello there, I am Matt W.

Based on a 4-koma gag manga, like most school slice of life shows these days have as their basis. Hyakko is the adventures in the life of four high school girls (Ayumi, Suzume, Tatsuki and Torako) and a school with a bunch of rather eccentric students. It’s like a slightly wacky version of Azumanga Daioh.

Disc 2 is about all about introducing more side characters and developing the main girl quartet.

Episode 5: Torako gains a love interest/hopeless romantic Shishimaru. It also introduces the Photo Club: Koma-chan the girl in Torako’s class and her boss Yanagi who is a rather obsessive photographer and gains a rival/buddy in the punk girl Ushio as they spend a lively afternoon together.

Episode 6: Tatsuki is dealing with being left out one day but then surprise Torako, Ayumi and Suzume show up at her house one afternoon. We also get a look into her home life involving her absentee parents and therefore her need for a live-in house maid Toshiko.

Episode 7: We are introduced to Kitsune-san, a sly fellow (as his name suggests) who starts to hang out with the Photo Club. Later he is revealed to be Torako’s aniki (big brother); he’s also a skirt flipper which leads to a slight bump of fanservice certainly.

Episode 8: Proper introduction of the scary girl/Sadako lookalike Inori; easily shunned and avoided by her classmates; Torako tries to get Inori to open up and be friendly; ‘hair-ality’ ensues.

Focus goes towards other characters, so they grow and the show’s story can develop in interesting directions, exploring them beyond the school setting. Though most of the humor amounts to “School Shenanigans”, but since this is slice of life series that isn’t a bad thing. The plot seems a bit more grounded on this set of four episodes, but the characters and their interactions are still very zany and funny. There isn’t so much a story, but a string of interconnected vignettes again tying it back to its 4-koma origins. Nene Andou is the main draw for potential yuri still in this series, although her appearances are more sparse then in the first four episodes. Granted, one can discern some form of yuri subtext when wearing the ‘yuri googles’ to be sure. This disc also contains an extended preview (between episodes 6 and 7) made after the series aired on TV which is only mildly entertaining and yet superfluous at best. I also like how the episode portions are marked by which manga chapter they are based on, as if to say ‘hey remember this?’ to the part of the audience that read the manga. Of course, this doesn’t mean much as the manga has yet to be licensed much less released over in the USA.

Bits of Beethoven music used during the scenes of Shishimaru and Torako interacting which was comically effective I must say. In addition, Liner notes on the DVD are very nice addition as they help to explain some of the more esoteric details/references in the show.

Ratings:

Art-6
Story-4
Characters-6
Yuri-2
Service-6

Overall-6

Far from being a laugh out loud show, like Azumanga Daioh or Nichijou, Hyakko is certainly chuckle-worthy at the best of times.The thing to keep in mind about slice of life anime is that they are gimmick-based: for example, K-On! has music, Kiniro Mosaic has foreigner humor/cultural misunderstandings, etc. Hyakko‘s gimmick lies in pure eccentricity and the nice thing about it is that the show nearly revels in being eccentric and totally wacky without an ounce of shame or regret.

On a final note, I shall plug my own blog for anime reviews: http://eclecticdudesanimereviews.blogspot.com/ as well as an article I wrote for Animation Revelation, another anime/animation review website (a 3 Reasons article on Bodacious Space Pirates).

E: Thank you Matt, for your perspective! We’ll be getting a third opinion for Disk 3. ^_^

Welcome to another exciting Guest Review Wednesday! Today’s special treat is a review by Jennifer L. Once more I say this, with feeling, Okazu readers are the best. You make this blog better in a million ways. Thanks to Jenny and thank you all for reading. ^_^

Aniplex USA recently launched a new partnership with Hulu (subject to region limitations, of course), which has led to numerous new anime series being released through that streaming service. One of these is Vividred Operation, a magical girl / sentai anime with heavily-implied Yuri elements. The series centers around second year junior high school student Akane Isshiki, a papergirl with a flying bicycle, a little sister who acts as the adult in their family, and a mad scientist grandfather. In the first episode, we learn that the grandfather, Kenjiro Isshiki, developed a zero-point energy reactor known as the “Manifest Engine,” which now supplies 95% of the world’s energy needs.

All is not sunny, however, because seven years ago, the reactor (built on an artificial island off the coast of Tokyo which clearly owes design inspiration to Shimizu’s “green float” paper study) overloaded, killing Akane’s father, and seriously wounding her mother, who is still in the hospital throughout the series. The incident admitted an extradimensional alien force, the “Alone,” to the world. The powers that be, however, refused to believe in the Alone, and blamed Dr. Isshiki for the incident. Isshiki, we learn, has been preparing ever since then to fight the Alone when they inevitably return to try and destroy the Manifest Engine again… which they do in the first episode. How has he been preparing? By creating “pallet suits” keyed to his granddaughter Akane, which run on the “Vivid System” to make her (and eventually, her friends) into superheroines, of course!

There is plenty to dislike in this series. The characters are relatively two-dimensional, with the initial emotional problems they have quickly erased by the power of friendship. Fan-service abounds: virtually every shot in which we look past a character is a butt /crotch shot… many of them lined up so that we’re looking between a character’s thighs at whatever she’s looking at. There’s at least one Magical Girl transformation in each episode, which features lingerie-clad early-teen girls looking awfully happy to be getting suited up in their pallet suits. In addition, however, there’s a secondary transformation which occurs, in which two of the girls “dock,” combining into a single, more powerful version which has large, bare, bouncing breasts as she gets suited up.

There’s also a lot of “but never mind that,” going on. The alone came through seven years ago, but waited for our heroines to get old enough to fight them before they attacked? Well, never mind that. Dr. Isshiki is in disgrace and making no money, so his granddaughter has to work multiple part-time jobs to support the family, but somehow the mad genius has the money to create the pallet suits? Well, never mind that. Dr. Isshiki’s work on the pallet suits comes to fruition in an explosion which “somehow” transfers his conciousness into a stuffed animal? Well, never mind that. Dr. Isshiki, now in a stuffed-animal body, can somehow move, talk, and needs to eat and drink? Well, never mind that.

In spite of these drawbacks, I find myself very much enjoying the series. Interestingly, other than Dr. Isshiki himself, males essentially don’t exist within the series. They appear on screen from time to time, have a line or two, and then disappear, never to be seen again. This series is all about the Girl Power. The executive director of the Manifest Engine is a woman; her secretary / assistant is a woman. The Japanese Defense Forces pilot who becomes the heroine’s contact with the Establishment is a woman. And, of course, the heroines and the anti-hero are all junior high school girls.

There are strongly implied Yuri elements. When the Mad Doctor tells Akane and her best friend Aoi that they can / have to “dock” to become stronger to fight the Alone, and that the docking is accomplished with a kiss, Akane is puckered up and ready to go… with Aoi being initially hesitant, but then falling into the plan when Akane talks about how Aoi’s friendship makes her “tingly all over.” The two friends embrace in their underwear, and become one.
There is some interesting word play going on with the character names. Akane means “madder” in Japanese, and madder is a root used to create red dye. Aoi, her best friend, has blue eyes and blue hair, and Aoi of course means “blue.” The third girl to get a pallet suit, Wakaba, has a name meaning “young leaf,” and as you might guess, is the green member of the team. Fourth comes Himawari, “sunflower,” who becomes the yellow heroine. Each of these girls in turn “docks” with Akane to become an older, more powerful version of herself to defeat an Alone. Later in the series, Wakaba and Himawari develop a secondary intense relationship between themselves as well.

The series hits all the tropes of the Magical Girl series, almost as if checking them off on a list. I can’t decide if it’s deconstruction, pastiche, or just laziness on the part of the creators, but if you like that kind of thing, this is just the kind of thing you like.

Art – 7
Story – 3
Characters – 3
Yuri – 3
Service – 9

Overall – 5

Bottom line on this series: I’m enjoying watching it, but if Final Fantasy XIV wasn’t constantly overloaded to the point I can’t log on, I probably wouldn’t have watched the whole thing.

Jennifer Linsky is a nurse in North Carolina. More of her writing can be found on Jenny’s Blog Thing of Doom.

E here: Fantastic review, Jenny! Thank so much. To your point about it seeming like they used a checklist…you’re not imagining it. There are a number of fandoms that really, actually do checklist. (If the tsundere character isn’t twin-tails and a rehead, the series is no good. Or if the series doesn’t have a dashing blond, a brooding dark-haired guy and shota character, it’s no good.) They do it so they hit most of the main fetishes of the intended audience, of course.

One last note: the series is also streaming on Crunchyroll, and will be ad-free if you have an account.. Thank you again!