Archive for the Guest Review Category


Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 1st Blu-Ray (English) Guest Review by Richard B.

December 8th, 2010

 Today is Wednesday and you know what that means – a special guest review treat! Richard B. has been a commenter here several times and, as I will not get to see this BD until the new year, I thought I’d let him give us his two Canadian cents before I have a go at it. Take it away, Miwa!

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 1st is a retelling of the events of the first Nanoha TV series. While this may not seem like a good thing, it does pay to remember that back in 2004 the first Nanoha TV season was a scattered mess. As a spinoff from the Triangle Hearts adult game series the first few episodes were nothing more than a bad Card Captor Sakura clone. With a few unsavoury elements left over from its source material.

It wasn’t until later on in the series when Fate was introduced, that the things became interesting. She was a dark, mysterious magical girl with a troubled past, fighting our main character. So the first thing fandom did was pair them together as a couple. Add in the fact the battles in the final few episodes were done in more of a shounen giant robot style (complete with giant beam attacks) and the series took a complete 180-degree turn.

With all that and seeing how the later series were more popular and sold better in Japan, you could see why the makers wanted to redo the original material. And, for the most part, Nanoha the Movie is a superior retelling of the 1st chapter in the Nanoha universe.

The movie creators know what the fans in the series want – action and Nanoha/Fate. Luckily we get both fairly quickly into the movie. Fate is introduced much sooner in this version, and set up as the central conflict of the movie (with the Jewel seeds relegated to being a plot McGuffin). The movie handles the two becoming friends through fighting better than the TV series, both with better action scenes and better introspection. The pacing is tighter than original season, which dragged on at the beginning until pace picked up in the last 4 episodes.

The action is more like the later episode of the series, and here is where the movie shows off its big animation budget. The final battle between Fate and Nanoha in particular is well done and I had a big smile on my face while watching it.

There are some new original scenes, including some nice bits showing Fate’s past and training. But the character most benefiting from the new material is Precia, whose motivations are  given more detail as is the accident she had her in past. It fleshes her out greatly and makes for a much better character over all.

Most of the more unsavoury stuff from the original is gone, too. Except for the transformation scenes which were pretty ick. Thankfully, they only appear once for each of the leads.

The Blu-Ray version of the movie comes with an English subtitle track that is fairly well done. Except for a few nits (Arf is called Alf and the TSAB is called the DAB) it’s well written and easy to understand. The subtitle font is middle of the road, readable but I would have rather had either a bigger black outline or a non-white font color. The picture and sound quality is amazing though, as colors stand out and the animation quality never dips for the battle scenes, showing what BluRay can do for animation.

Nanoha the Movie fixes a lot of the problems I had with the first season, keeps the elements I liked and adds even more of what I wanted. It reminded me why Nanoha/Fate became the first Yuri couple I really liked. I hope we see the same budget and care given to StrikerS when it gets a movie. Highly recommended to Nanoha fans.

Art – 8
Story – 7 (Better than the TV but still the weaker of the 3 series)
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7 (Alot more than the first TV series)
Service – 8 –

Overall – 8

I’m told that the 2nd movie has been greenlit (presumably because this movie is doing well in DVD/BD sales, so good!) Next up is As, where we’ll be treated to the reimagined Knights and Hayate. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it’s as good a reboot as this appears to be!





Yuri Manga: Lesbian II Mitsu no Heya, Guest Review by Bruce P

November 28th, 2010

I cannot tell you how happy I am today. We have a guest review! Not *just* a guest review, though – a guest review by one of my chief lackeys, Bruce! I won’t waste your time with too much of an intro, but I will say this – a review by Bruce is a rare and wonderful thing.

Lesbian II: Mitsu no Heya is hentai Yuri, make no mistake. But that being understood, this volume definitely has some good things going for it.

Senno Knife has been drawing manga for a long time. He has a very distinctive and peculiar artistic style – his characters are look-alike mannequins inhabiting a world of ornate architecture. The biggest influence on his style is clearly the Belgian surrealist painter Paul Delvaux. Delvaux was obsessed with mannequin-like nudes, nude ‘sapphic couples’ (as the art books put it), architecture, trains, skeletons, and hat pins, in scenes with accentuated perspective. All of these are found in Senno Knife stories (except, possibly, for the hat pins). Lesbian II leaves out the trains and skeletons as well. But Delvaux peers out from every page.

Lesbian I Shoujo Ai (2007) was Senno Knife’s first volume of nominally Yuri stories – though sadly it included a lot of unpleasant men performing ugly, abusive acts. Lesbian II Mitsu no Heya is without question a superior collection. The stories are about desire and love and contain no physical abuse, what a concept.

Michelle is a well-to-do art student who has artist’s block – she just cannot put anything on canvas while the lovely Kiki is modeling nude for the class. That night Michelle is tormented by desire for the woman, but the next day there is a new model. Michelle, complete with art pad, discovers Kiki in a church, living in straitened circumstances. With Kiki’s help, under the unblushing gaze of a statue of Maria-sama, Michelle loses her artist’s block. Kiki happily moves into the family mansion as Michelle’s maid and model-in-residence.

Sheri is attending maid school (well, they have to come from somewhere). Her fantasies involve sempai Misa, stockings, and little maid caps. To her embarrassment she is assigned to practice her servant skills on none other than her charming sempai. Washing Misa in the tub does nothing to calm Sheri’s jackhammer heart. That night she hears Misa and their instructor Mary making love, and can’t refrain from standing at the door watching. She is discovered – and cordially invited to join. Top student that she is, she realizes that maid practice will never be the same.

Maiko and Miho are at the pool, but phooey, it’s raining. On the theory you get wet anyway, and it’s fun to have the pool to themselves, they go ahead and dive in. Staring from below at the rain-speckled surface they discover a sensuous, ethereal world. The water is magical, and they have to take their bathing suits off to appreciate it fully. They come up for air and a lifetime of aqueous love, as continued in Part 2.

Part 2 – Maiko and Miho spend their summer vacation together, alone at a relative’s seaside house where they can make love in a variety of watery ways: in the surf, the bath, and outside in the middle of a typhoon. They also utilize a school piano; possibly there wasn’t a hose within reach (the story, from 1996, strikingly mirrors such series as Strawberry Panic!, and Cream Lemon Escalation, complete with a mansion on a bluff in a storm, so a school piano is almost expected). The storm goes away – so much for the drama – and the girls look forward to their future together as they make love in the back seat of auntie’s car.

Megumi longs desperately for sempai Emi, but Emi can think of nothing but the loss of her poor Pochi. All she has left to treasure is Pochi’s leash and collar. Can Megumi break through the sorrow and gain Emi’s affection? Yes! Though it involves occasionally being taken out for walkies, and we’ll leave this one right there.

The woman operating the elevator longs for the girl that rides up to the penthouse level every day to enjoy the pleasure of the rooftop garden. One evening the girl sees the woman observing her moment of enjoyment, and soon they make a habit of enjoying the garden together. The impersonal nature (they never ask each other’s name) makes this story seem a bit more hentai than the others.

Livonne is smitten with a lovely girl she sees being driven to school, and wistfully sketches her in a notebook. The lovely girl is given the desk beside her, which you just couldn’t see coming. Seeing the sketch, Marian asks Livonne to draw her nude. Quite untroubled by artist’s block, Livonne happily agrees. They find themselves drawn together in a passionate and joyful love that contrasts with the grotesque situation in Livonne’s family, where her mother takes in a succession of oafish ‘boarders.’ In the deep woods Marian introduces Livonne to the charms of witchcraft, and they bind themselves together in marriage. When their love is discovered by their parents, who get pretty exercised about it, they say screw this and bicycle off for the magic world together.

Ratings:

Art – 8 distinctive, sometimes awkward, often pleasant, occasionally quite lovely, and kudos for the Delvaux influence.

Story – 6 generally not so much stories as situations with simple and happy resolutions. ‘A Dog’s Life’ was pulling down mighty hard on this number.

Characters – 7 almost all good-hearted and just plain nice, though with a distressing tendency to be poleaxed by love at first sight.

Yuri – 24/7 and happy Yuri at that.

Service – 9 a point was taken away for those who might actually miss all those ugly abusive acts.

Overall – 7 without old Pochi in the mix it could have been higher.

I have to tell you, I real all the reviews I put on Okazu out loud to my wife, to check for obvious issues of coherence and typos (which I know only works in part, but it’s better than nothing.) The two of us were hysterical as I read this last night. Thanks Bruce, this was a fantastic review! Also, thanks to Bruce for obtaining a copy of this book for me, as well. You are, as always, my Hero.





Yuri Game (or not): Final Fantasy XIII Guest Review by Taz

July 7th, 2010

51D6yXi2hjLI’ve said this before, and you know it well if you are a regular reader but, for anyone who might discover this review through the magic of search, I don’t play games. It’s not that I am philosophically opposed to them – I don’t find them an entertaining way of spending my time. Not board games, card games, RPGs, Visual Novels or computer games. Games simply are not my cup of tea.

So, I am always thankful when someone who has played a game with Yuri content writes a guest post for us! In this case, I’d like to welcome Taz, who answers the question, “Is FFXIII Yuri, or not?”

This review, like pretty much every review on this site, contains spoilers.

Take it away Taz!

In brief summary, the plot of FFXIII is as follows: A band of heroes, some more likely than others, get branded with the “l’Cie” cursed seal that comes with a mission, called a Focus: to become the beast Ragnarok and destroy the world. Through positive thinking and sheer bullishness, they resist their mission and instead defeat the being who tried to make them tools of apocalypse.

A large portion of the game involves your characters discovering new abilities, burdens and challenges. At the end-of-chapter divisions you’re often rewarded with a cut scene flashback from the near two weeks preceding the beginning of the game. Both the chapters and the flashbacks go towards showing you just how much can go wrong in a fortnight. This is balanced with heartfelt speeches about not losing hope (and sometimes not losing Hope) and being true to themselves. The speeches are in turn balanced by some wonderfully badass fight scenes and the characters Lightning and Fang (yeah, the names in this game border on unfortunate) being generally awesome.

Fang was a good suspect for being lesbian from the first release of her character design. She had the anime version of tough-girl styling and was named Fang, for a start. Also, Square couldn’t be accused of subtle weapon design: Her double sided lance must have raised a few amused and appreciative eyebrows. When first mentioning Vanille, Fang refers to her as her ‘partner.’ Considering that they were given the same mission at the same time, it’s not such a telling remark. That one of her next comments is about being willing to tear apart both worlds for the other woman does sort of draw attention to the possessiveness of the title, however. When Vanille is in more peril than usual, Fang starts to invoke the nearly requisite Psychotic LesbianTM scene, but it’s not so bad since she can’t actually make herself go through with it.

Vanille is a lot less obvious contender. My first impression was that she’s the bubbly, happy, possibly dim archetype with a little of the feral child (a la Mikoto of Mai HiME). Her attitude and actions in the early part of the game take on some very different implications when you learn more of her story. Of course, she’s still a version of the bubbly, happy type, but she’s not nearly dim enough to misunderstand just how seriously not good things are.

Yuriwise, what the game doesn’t have are the markers that define “couple”– no kissing, no confession. Fang and Vanille do hug a number of times and exchange significant looks. They are also inclined to shout each others names in distress, and at least once (well, Fang does, Vanille is busy feeling guilty) in happiness when they’re reunited. At the end of the game, they do become one… literally become one beastly Ragnarok who doesn’t destroy the world, but wipes out the monsters that are rampaging around, and makes a crystal pillar between Pulse and Cocoon which……might have served more purpose than looking impressive. Inside said impressive pillar, the two have become crystal versions of their human forms, holding hands in a sort of yin-yang like pose. It makes an absolutely gorgeous screenshot but also tends to make you think, “But actually, that would really suck.”

Art – 10
One of the few things that people really agree on concerning Final Fantasy is that it’s pretty.

Characters – 8
This, people are not going to agree on. There are some tedious moments, but by the end I even liked Hope and Snow fairly well, and I really didn’t think I would. And, though not mentioned specifically before in this review, Sazh is fantastic.

Story – 7
The story is uneven. There are some wonderful parts and some distinctly not-wonderful parts. It could just be me who feels this way, but I think that epic plots need to stop having significant connection to God, for at least a decade, so that it actually has a little shock value again.

Yuri – 3
There’s quite enough fodder for fond hopes, but nothing leaves the realm of implication.

Service – 3
It’s a video game, which with their semi controllable characters could be the impetus behind most self insert fan fiction…. Maybe I’m going easy on it, but as I don’t remember any bouncing boob shots (remember Tifa?), I think they kept it comparatively classy. Of course, manly Snow did get the Eidolon that was actually two hot babes.

Overall – 8

Final Fantasy XIII is what it aims to be: a fun game. It would still be a fun game even if there weren’t highly slashable characters, but they are a huge bonus.

Thank you Taz for an excellent – and amusing – review. Sounds like they’re the next generation’s Xena and Gabrielle.

It’s a safe bet that the ambiguity is placed there on purpose, since ambiguity sells. I’m beginning to understand that, too – by forcing you, the viewer/player to make decisions about the characters, it means you *make decisions*. Once you’ve picked an opinion, you buy into that opinion, and so, work harder at reinforcing it. That means you have to buy into the game as a whole, or why would you care at all? The more ambiguous a situation, the more you have to care to make your decision make sense. So, in effect, the less the story tells you, the more you’ll defend your point of view about it. It’s an interesting bit of psychological manipulation, isn’t it? ^_^





Visual Novel: Aoi Shiro Guest Review by Mara

January 13th, 2010

It must be Wednesday, because we have a Guest Review! Today I welcome back Mara, who will once again be reviewing the Anime/Manga/Choose Your Adventure/PowerPoint hybrid known as a Visual Novel. Enjoy!

It is a sign of success when a visual novel makes the port from PC to console. This is because the game in question must have significant appeal when you remove the erotic content (none of the console makers allow it). But when a game makes the leap the other way, from console to PC, the reasons are less consistent. In the case of Aoi Shiro it was a couple of extra scenes and some more event CG in an already CG-heavy game.

Aoi Shiro is a game by Success who previously brought us the Yuri visual novel Akai Ito – both games are set in the same supernatural universe. The main character this time is the serious kendo team captain Osanai Syouko who is played with surprising flexibility by Noriko Hidaka.

The plot of Aoi Shiro follows Syouko as she heads to a summer training camp with her kendo team. Their location, a Buddhist shrine on the southern coast, invokes sad childhood memories for Syouko. The exact nature of these memories takes awhile to become clear as Syouko seems to be cursed with a memory that makes any act of deep recollection EPIC in a clumsy attempt to give these events additional gravitas.

Regardless of this, Aoi Shiro has a pretty decent plot for a visual novel that really hangs more on the ‘visual’ aspect than the ‘novel’ aspect. When the characters are voiced and have animated sprites that blink and are lip synched to the lines, it becomes clear where the money went.

Regardless, Aoi Shiro has plenty of fun scenes where we get to know most of the characters pretty well and come to like their eccentricities. The many eating sequences stand out as they set the rhythm for each day of the story and there are some truly inspired conversations, such as the finer points of Zen vegetarianism.

Sadly, three major heroines can not share in these scenes and so feel underdeveloped. For example, when we are solidly on Nami’s route and she gets her voice back and begins to develop a personality, Syouko’s sudden gushing crush on her is rather jarring. Indeed the characters rarely discuss their feelings for each other and the short time span of the story (only 4-5 days) means that the endings for each route feel ultimately unfulfilling and do not resolve any of the romantic possibilities.

Although the stories may be low on Yuri the heroines themselves are not, as each fills a specific Yuri archetype, and does so very well. The stand out star heroine, however, is easily Kohaku, the deliberately androgynous, efficient, prideful and damn cool oni that kills off mooks by flicking stones as though she was playing marbles.

Kohaku is played by Kei Mizusawa, who plays her with a nice aggressive tone, and has easily the most ‘Yuri route’. It is in this route that Syouko expresses most strongly reciprocated romantic feelings. A route where we can leave our Yuri goggles on a very low setting and still be satisfied.

While many routes feel very watered down or evasive towards the end Kohaku’s at least feels like a “And that’s how we met” story that couples might tell you at their wedding…if they fought oni for a living.

But, having only one route that has a solid Yuri feel to it is a tad disappointing for a game of this pedigree. Even then there is the ‘grand route’ that we must thus assume is cannon, as all the mysteries and problems are solved. In this route, however, Syouko is not pared up with anyone although it does progress down Nami’s route for a while it is clearly everyone’s story and, so, there is not any time for any romance as the plot about summoning a demonic storm god takes priority. But it is a bit depressing that after all those routes where Syouko ‘got the girl/sister/rival’; the route that is considered the ‘true ending’ has no really romantic scenes at all.

While it is depressing that a game that clearly markets itself and is considered a Yuri game has very little Yuri content Aoi Shiro is still a very good visual novel. The artwork is undeniably beautiful to look at and the story has wonderful characters that each make the best of their short time in the limelight. I cannot recommend this game enough.

Ratings:

Art – 10 (It’s like an inverse Umineko)
Story – 6 (Rushed at the conclusion)
Characters – 9 (Everyone will latch onto one or two heroines)
Yuri – 3 (But Kohaku gets a 7)
Service – 4 (There’s an onsen at the shrine, you don’t say?)
Loser fan girl – 4 (The antagonist and the worlds most awesome Buddhist monk)

Overall – 9

It is the game equivalent of fireworks. A few beautiful explosions that leave your jaw hanging open, you just wish that there was one more or that they lasted just a bit longer

Erica again: First of all, thank you Mara! This really interested me, as I have read all of the Aoi Shiro manga, and I’d say that it’s pretty equivalent. Too many characters left undeveloped, too many opportunities for relationships squandered and too little Yuri, after a lot of Yuri-ish set-up. So, once again, thank you for the review and another glimpse into a piece of the Yuri puzzle that I don’t cover.





Taisho Yakyuu Musume Manga, Volume 1 (大正野球娘) Guest Review by George R.

November 4th, 2009

TYMM1Once again it is my great pleasure to welcome back George R., with another timely review, so I can get a few chores done. :-) As it happens, thanks to another Okazu Superhero, Bruce P., I am currently reading this very volume, so I may have some comments at the bottom. In the meantime, George, the room is all yours….

Seeing Taisho Yakyuu Musume from this summer’s anime lineup prompted me to look at its appearance in other media. This show followed the now-common path of starting as a light novel series, then branching out to both manga and anime adaptations. I’ll talk about Volume 1 of the manga here, as I still need to get the novels. In this case, the manga adaptation is done by Shimpei Itoh, a well-established mangaka, though not one known for Yuri.

I think the manga works well on its own, though it is interesting to see how it differs from the anime. For instance, several girls end up playing different positions, which makes me wonder where the novels originally assigned them.

The art is unquestionably Shimpei Itoh’s style. This differs from the anime, but is just fine in its own right. In fact, the art and humor remind me of his 1999 manga, Shoujo Tantei (Girl Detective), which was also set in the Taisho era, but has no Yuri. I think Itoh-sensei’s girls are a bit less moe than those of the anime, or at least Koume and Noe are.

It also follows Itoh-sensei’s story-telling style including a healthy dose of physical comedy and over-the-top humor. Somehow I doubt the novels include Noe experimenting with small rockets for military use (unsuccessfully) or suggesting they make bats from aluminum (accompanied by an illustration of an aluminum-armored tank from the ’70s). Those just seem his style. A couple bath scenes give us a little humor and also a chance to see the characters modelling their birthday suits. I wonder why the Japanese seem to have a fascination with spring-based resistance training harnesses. I’ve seen these in multiple shows. These appear a couple times here, though only played for humor.

The first volume of the manga covers introducing the characters and assembling the team. Baseball doesn’t even come up until the second chapter where we get Akiko’s motivation and her request to form the team.

Koume is still the sweet girl who happily follows and supports her friends through their adventures. Her mother seems to have no problem with her and baseball, wishing her a fun time and even letting her wear a western school uniform.

Akiko is the same rich daughter who is chauffeured to school, so naturally she is called Ojou. Noe is more of a ringleader here, taking Akiko’s baseball idea and running with it. She is the only one, other than Anna-sensei, who starts knowing anything about baseball.

We are given a closer look at some of the supporting characters. Shizuka is possessive of her twin sister Tomoe, and they both seem equally athletically competent. Their dad is a well-known doll-maker, and some call the twins living dolls he made. Tomoe likes Koume’s friendliness and warmth and hopes that becoming friends will warm the heart under her (and maybe Shizuka’s) cool porcelain skin.

Tamaki and Yuki are childhood friends. Tama-chan takes care of all the cooking at home as her mother is busy being a newspaper reporter. This may be a bit anachronistic for Japan of this era, but I find it hard to argue with women having independent careers like she and Anna-sensei do. However, Tama-chan certainly wishes her mother was a bit more responsible at home, which may be the source of Tama-chan’s attitude. Yuki is her same responsible, caring self, supplying her
friends with advice and equipment among other things.

Saburo comes off well as Koume’s fiancee, even taking her out for a date to watch a practice baseball game. When he finds she knows little of the game, he happily explains it to her.

What Yuri is here requires goggles to see. Mine needed a higher setting for the manga than the anime. We are treated to displays of both akogare and shinyuu in the different relationships among the girls. Kome and Akiko vary between the two. Tama-chan and Yuki have the comfortable ease of shinyuu, whereas Tomoe’s feelings for Koume are definitely akogare, as are those of Tomoe’s fanclub.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 8
Yuri – 1
Service – 4

Overall – 6

In all, I found this an amusing manga. Though it never made me fall off the couch laughing, it did bring many a grin to my face. I will admit to preferring the anime. Perhaps because it seemed better at keeping the feel of the Taisho era: some of Itoh-sensei’s humor jars my mind out of the era. Or perhaps seeing the anime first left me naturally biased in its favor.

Erica here. The art style is distinctively Itoh’s and, as a result, everyone is a bit over the top. Akiko’s fiancée’s rant about women in the home was three pages long and done at high volume, as opposed to his quiet, old-fashioned confusion as to why on earth women would want more from the anime.

I disagree that baseball is not mentioned until the second chapter – and, oddly, it seems that you’re not alone in thinking this, George. In the first chapter, the baseball team is *already* formed, Koume’s mother asks her if it’s fun to play baseball, and she waxes rhapsodic about how much fun practice and games are. The rest of the story is a flashback to how the team was formed. I’m guessing that, since Itoh’s specialty is not sports manga, they skipped trying to show any of that. ^_^ So we can understand that Koume and the others are, in fact, *already* playing ball, even if we don’t see it. Which we don’t. ^_^;

The other thing I wanted to add was that the anime, surprisingly, added a great deal of dignity to the story. By pulling back from over-the-top antics and rants, the issue of feminism was handled really, shockingly, well. Considering the dehumanization of women into object d’fetish so often in anime, it was just that much better handled than I could have possibly expected. Where the anime was a comedy-drama, with an emphasis on “sports drama,” this manga is definitely “comedy.” Fun, at times funny, but firmly in the “wackiness ensues” side of comedy. It is Itoh, after all. ^_^

Well thank you, as always, George for a great review!