Archive for the Hentai Category


Yuri Light Novel: Escalation (From Cream Lemon)

November 4th, 2007

For today’s review, I would like to thank 828-san, who let me know that there was a novelization for the “Escalation” arc from the classic hentai series, Cream Lemon. (Here is a synopsis of “Escalation” and the other Yuri(ish) episodes of CL.)

(BTW, when I use quotes around the title, i.e., “Escalation,” I am referring to the anime or the story in general; when I put the title in italics, Escalation, I am referring to the novel. Just to be clear.)

In and of itself Escalation is not a particularly unique or worthy story, but when you consider that it is, in all likelihood, the direct ancestor of both Maria-sama ga Miteru and Strawberry Panic, it’s worthy of note. Plus, it wasn’t too bad, as porn goes. :-) The novel pretty much follows the story of the three “Escalation” anime episodes, with a bit more depth for each character (except for Midori. She gets one line of character development.)

Okay, so the story follows Komatsuzaka Rie, as she leaves her home where her tutor has broken her heart by sleeping with her mother, and transfers to St. Azaria Jogakuen, the typical private Catholic (aka Mission) school for rich girls. Instantly, she is captivated by the Student Council president and classic Japanese beauty, Hayakawa Naomi.

In the anime, the bit with Rie’s tutor is recounted in two still frames. In the novel, we get a bit more detail about Rie’s feelings for the college student who is her tutor, along with a gratuitous masturbation scene, just so you know it’s desire, and not just a crush. When she discovers her mother and tutor, of course we get more detail, but ultimately, it’s not her mother’s or tutor’s betrayal that bugs Rie…although it does…it’s her mother’s relationship with her father that just fills her with gall. She realizes that her father knows, and yet both parents act like there is nothing wrong. She can’t stand it, and feels that she MUST leave the house. And yes, the tutor’s behavior makes her swear off men.

When she arrives at St. Azaria, we learn a few things of significance, all of which were in the anime. Rie is an excellent student and a brilliant pianist. But the one thing I liked that was different – and pretty much the *only* difference between the novel and the anime, was that Rie is no shrinking violet. She sees Naomi up there addressing the class and her thought is something to the effect of “I want one of those for a lover.” And from that point on, she actively pursues Naomi. It’s a small change, but a cool one. In the anime, she’s passive, but amenable. In the novel, she knows what she wants and gets it. She wants Naomi. And she gets her.

As in the anime, we are introduced to weirdo Midori in class, where she “saves” Rie by answering a problem that Rie is too distracted by lustful thoughts of Naomi to solve. And, as in the anime, Rie’s first full night with Naomi includes Midori, some light bondage and a dildo. So romantic. ^_^; I have to mention this – in the scene where Rie is “assigned” to Naomi’s room and Mari, her temporary roommate, is sad that Rie is leaving now that they have become friends, Rie is out the door while Mari is still talking. It was absolutely hysterical.

The second episode of the anime covers a special invitation after a piano competition from Naomi, who has graduated. Rie is taken by Midori to the Hayakawa family summer home and immediately involved in a BDSM scenario that includes her ex-roommate Mari and Naomi’s boring little brother Akira, while Naomi’s father watches and uses Midori as a sex doll.

We also learn that Rie is now not only a successful pianist, but also the top student in the school and the incoming President of the Student Council.

I need to set that all up for you, because it’s the outcome of what I actually thought was the best scene in the book. Naomi goes to her father to ask for use of the summer home. Her father is a bit put out because, since Naomi’s mother died no one has used it. And here’s why – Naomi’s mother was a S&M ojou-sama who had orgies there, with young men to service her. Dad knew about these, but he loved Mom, so he didn’t try and stop her. Mom was deeply unhappy and drank herself to death. Dad did love her, but he loathed her too, and didn’t try and save her, so he avoided the summer house and had women of his own in their main house. Okay. So. Naomi says to him, I’m just like both you and Mother. Like Mother, I enjoy BDSM and multiple partner sex. Like you, I prefer young women. You two made me what I am. And so, I want the summer house for *my* kind of party. Not surprisingly, Dad nearly has a heart attack at all this frankness.

Naomi continues: Midori, who has a serious father complex, has the hots for you and wants you to be there. (There it was – all of Midori’s character development, right there) and I want you to bring Akira, because he’s a spineless nothing and we both can’t stand him. Maybe – although probably not – I can make a man out of him.

It’s probably not a good thing that I thought this was the best scene in the book. LOL No, seriously, I loved Naomi just laying it out on the line like that.

So the “party” proceeds as in the anime, with crashing thunder and lightning as a backdrop.

The end result of all of it is that Naomi leaves Japan and goes to Paris to find herself and leaves Rie to have her school life without complications. Mari, Midori and Rie become close friends. Mari keeps trying to throw herself at Rie but she, still obsessed by Naomi, doesn’t bite. Midori (who seems to favor sloppy seconds) is glad to pick up the slack. Although we don’t see them on screen, as it were, Mari and Midori become an item.

In the third section, Rie is now a third-year and is the object of desire of first-year Kurimoto Arisa. As Rie had with Naomi, Arisa now pursues Rie with vigor. Rie finds herself taking the lead, but they are interrupted by Mari who drives Arisa out of their room in a fit of jealousy. She admits that she’s been sleeping with Midori, but she really wants Rie. After they sleep together, Mari confesses that she’s leaving the next day for LA, because of her family situation. She leaves and Rie hopes to see her once again, but probably not.

Rie moves on to graduate, and is excited beyond belief to find an invitation from Naomi, who has returned to Japan, waiting for her. Rie goes to her home to find that her graduation present from Naomi is Arisa. Rie enjoys her present, then retires upstairs with Naomi, while Midori and Arisa continue. All of this is in the anime, as well. The only difference is that the evening ends with the four of the sleeping (well, snuggling and sleeping) in one bed, until dawn.

Before they make love, Naomi and Rie talk. Naomi confesses that she won’t be returning to Japan anymore. Being here – being around her father and brother – brings out bad things in her and she doesn’t want to be that person. She’ll be returning to Paris, where she is very happy. But that she looks forward to following Rie’s career as a pianist and one day, when they meet up again, she can introduce Rie to the people she knows as her lover.

As in the anime, Rie goes on to be a splendid Student Council President, with many fans, Arisa chief among them. When she graduates, she leaves behind a legacy for Arisa to continue. The anime ends there, but the novel goes on just a bit, so that we can see Arisa, now President, admired and desired by all the underclassmen, but also with a special pet, to whom she passes the legacy. It’s kind of dumb, but I liked that we got to see that this whole cycle continues as a tradition. I have no idea why I liked it – I just did. :)

The language of the novel is flowery. Literally. They play with each other’s “buds” and they blossom and bloom all over the place. The author is a woman (or at least uses a woman’s name) so the prose used for the sex is both sensitive and slightly purple…or should that be florid? Anyway, it tends towards girly melodrama instead of stark porninshness. I think it fit the story rather well.

The novel has both color and black and white pictures. These are very in the style of Cream Lemon and so, pretty awful art. ^_^

Now, in the beginning, I made the comment that this series is the direct ancestor of both Marimite and Strawberry Panic. That might seem an outrageous claim to make, although anyone who knew of “Escalation”s existence assumed it was an antecedent of Strawberry Panic, so I thought I’d mention a few similarities. Aside from the obvious lesbian relationships at a private school for rich girls. Because that didn’t originate with “Escalation,” it originated with Yoshiya Nobuko’s Yaneura no Nishojo. (As far as I know. There may be an earlier example and if you know of it, do tell me!)

Let me just pull out a few points to consider. None of these are definitive. Here are *some* of the reasons why.

In Escalation, we see a strong tradition of the upperclassman/lowerclassman relationship at Azaria that is passed down, which is very similar to both the soeur tradition of Lillian and the Etoile tradition of Astoria. But that is merely a pastiche of the larger, more common sempai/kouhai tradition in Japan. Hardly significant.

In Escalation, the first significant scene where Naomi shows interest in Rie is in the music room where Naomi comes in to watch Rie play, sits down next to her and makes her explode with desire. In Marimite, as Yumi avoids the other students because she is torn by her desire to become Sachiko’s soeur and her desire to not be forced to become her soeur, Yumi is sitting at the piano when Sachiko comes in and they play a duet, while Yumi’s heart pounds as Sachiko touches her. Likewise, in Strawberry Panic Shizuma and Nagisa share a tense attraction as they play a duet in the middle of the night at the piano.

The music room scene leads Naomi to take Rie on a tour of the school. In the chapel, she fiercely embraces a very willing Rie – and gets pretty far pretty quickly, until they are interrupted. Naomi decides at that point that she must make Rie hers. In Strawberry Panic the outcomes of the tour are different for anime/manga and novel, but in all cases Shizuma attempts to kiss Nagisa. In the library, not the church. But they do tour the church, while Shizuma seduces Nagisa. In the SP novel, it is during this end of the school tour where Shizuma determines that she will make Nagisa her partner for Etoile. In Marimite, it is *in* the church that Sei attempts to kiss Shiori and fails, receiving a slap for her efforts. But they do kiss, eventually, outside the church – and don’t think that Konno Oyuki did that accidentally.

Now it’s true that these are broad examples of what appear to be similar tropes and easily refuted. But I am confident enough in Oyuki’s writing to believe that she knows Escalation and I am 100% convinced that “Escalation” was being directly parodied by Strawberry Panic as much as any other of the dozens of Yuri series it clearly parodied.

Ratings:

Art – 4
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 10
Service – 10

Overall – 7

So…when I read Escalation I had to take my hat off in respect for an elder of the genre.

Plus, as I said, it was pretty good for porn. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Battle Binder Plus

June 21st, 2007

I was cleaning out my shelves and picking through my files for stuff to get rid of, when I came across a few olddddddd series I never reviewed. Before I make these series go away and clear off the space, I thought I’d take a look at these deservedly obscure titles. :-)

To my utter shock, as I surfed around the intertubes trying to find a picture (I never did and had to scan the cover in,) I learned that today’s objet d’review was actually translated by Antarctic Press. It looks like they published it way back in comic book (pamphlet-style) format and it’s probably flipped, as well. I have never read it – never even *seen* any of the issues until today, so can’t comment on how good. bad or indifferent it is. I found my untranslated copy at the home of all deservedly obscure manga, Book-Off.

Battle Binder Plus is a, uh, well, piece of crap. Unless you’re the person who writes descriptions for Radio Comix. Then it’s “Classic translated adult manga from Japanese artist Rulia 046! Space Cop Kalone (aka Charon) always gets her man- or woman as the case may be! Cover colors by ARNie, English adaptation by Elin Winkler. A real piece of manga history!”

I won’t tell you which one of us to believe. I’m not sure I *know* which one of us to believe. :-) But I sure as heck didn’t see the heroine boinking any guys, I’ll just say that.

The story, such as it is, begins with lesbian sex, moves on to gruesome violence, then flashes back and forth between lesbian sex and violence indiscriminately, with some hardsuit-style armor and light mutation for fun. There’s a plot. Of course there’s a plot. Does it matter? Would you really be combing used manga store shelves to get it for the PLOT? Please. We’re more honest than that here.

Is it worth reading? Sure. What the heck. Why not. It’s better than a User’s Manual or a filling out office paperwork. And Charon’s sort of fun as she leaps around destroying naked women, robots and naked women robots.

You know, I think I won’t get rid of this manga. It’s too stupid to lose. One day I’ll be staring at my shelves thinking, “what I’d really like to read is a story about a lesbian cop that has sex with, then crushes the head of, a predatory android.” This book will totally come in handy then.

Ratings:

Art – sort of old school big hair – 7
Story – beats me – 5
Characters – cool lesbian cop, duh – 8
Yuri – 9
Service – 8

On the one side, it really is trash. On the other, at least it’s not coy, or loli, or anything other than good, solid, honest adult female cop x android trash. Oh, and the author appears to be kind of famous-ish, too.





Front Innocent Anime

May 16th, 2007

If you didn’t know better, just from the screencaps you might be tempted to think that Front Innocent, also known as Another Lady Innocent, is a Yuri hentai anime. Well, I’m here to let you know better.

Front Innocent is, in fact, one of the most plotless “Plot, What Plot” type of hentai I’ve ever seen. ^_^; In fact, thinking back on it, I’m hard pressed to remember what sheer veil of a plot it wore, except that it was “rich girls wait at home for Onii-sama to make women of them” or something similar. It was like a Harlequin romance, with all attempts at mood, tone, dialogue and character development removed.

So, why am I reviewing this anime at all? For three reasons. 1) The art has the distinct touch of Urushihara Satoshi (so you know there’ll be lesbians *somewhere* in it), 2) it does have a Yuri scene and 3) It’s been on my to-review list for almost a year and I’m sick of looking at it. ^_^;

So, yes, the art was done by Urushihara Satoshi, so everyone’s skin is shiny and sleek and the faces look like all his other faces. The Yuri sex scene is so much his art that it’s unmistakable. More notably, the lesbian sex in this anime is *not* okazu, that is, it is not the appetizer before the main course…it is the dessert afterwards. Having had Onii-sama make a woman out of her, the main character is visited by her maid, who convinces her that she is the one person who will always love her. And then she goes about proving it in time-honored fashion. The main part of the scene is an extended session of tribadism, complete with Urushihara-esque pubic hair, with close-ups. All very exciting, I assure you.

There was something else I wanted to point out, too…oh, right, this was it. Have you ever considered the irony that there is so *little* Yuri hentai anime at all, when so many people still assume that Yuri=lesbian porn? No one, to my knowledge has ever made an anime that was, in its entirety, woman x woman (that is, no androids, futanari, okazu, other tedious plot complications) hentai anime. Most Yuri hentai is no more than one or three scenes in what is essentially a straight hentai anime – or has one of the aforementioned plot complications. I have to admit, if I had the money, I’d change that. The world is ready for straight (as it were) Yuri hentai, I think. Heaven knows *I* am. 

2012 update: Someone finally did…and it wasn’t that good. Shoujo Sect anime was laughable. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 0
Characters – 0
Yuri – 8
Service – 146

Overall – 4

Hardly stellar, but that’s not what we watch porn for. Nonetheless, not to my taste much, either. I had to fast forward through most of it, because I was having trouble staying awake.





Lesbian Novel: Himeyuri-tachi no Houkago

April 20th, 2007

This is me reading Himeyuri-tachi no Houkago:

^_^

o_o

o_O

O_O

I had absolutely no expectations of this book when I got it. Never read a single review, never even read the description. I bought it entirely based on the fact that Mori Natsuko is a famous lesbian author and I liked the title. ^_^ I was totally, completely unprepared for the kind of stories the book contains. It turned out to be a collection of “erotic fiction.” In other words, Himeyuri-tachi no Houkago was unremittingly filthy. It was also brilliant. This is *exactly* the kind of thing that makes spending all those hours learning to read Japanese worthwhile. ^_^

All the stories are short tales of emotional S&M and light B&D sometimes in a school setting, other times not. The way each story is constructed lets the reader know that the author is completely aware of how silly each premise is (and they get REALLY silly at times) and that she just doesn’t care, thanks. This is the kind of cheesy titillation that Strawberry Panic attempted, but came nowhere near the level of intelligence and artistry (and wtf-ness) that Mori-sensei attains here.

The first story was mostly a tale of emotional sadism in high school, but that was followed quickly by revenge against a school counselor who calls two girls’ relationship a “pseudo” love. Extra kudos to the protagonist, Miu, who pegs the teacher’s comment as a beard for her own gay leanings.

There’s the story that takes place in the future, when masturbation is an Olympic sport (I’m laughing as I type that, because the story is just…indescribably funny) and the hysterical story about the day when the aliens show up and demand to see a lesbian threesome in order to save the world. ^_^

My favorite story was the penultimate one in which an old-school sukeban gang girl type shows up at a rich girl’s school to challenge “the chief” – only to be tied up and tamed by the Student Council. Oh my god…so brilliant. I read this traveling home on the train – I hope my fellow passengers weren’t too freaked out by my fits of shrieking laughter. The last story is an homage to Mori’s horror roots, with a creepy sisters-by-marriage story with an unpleasantly ambiguous end.

And despite the absurd premises, this book was pretty hot. So bonus points for Mori, because that takes actual skill.

Ratings:

Story – 8 on average, with moments of 12
Characters – 8 on average
Yuri – 127
Service – 10

This book was so “stimulating” that I’ve already come up with two stories in homage to the sheer evil genius here. ^_^ I *must* read more by her…





Yuri Manga: Eve’s Apple/Eve no Ringo, Volume 5

May 17th, 2006

While I’m in the mood for trashy manga, let’s finish up this most delightful piece of dreck, Eve no Ringo, Eve’s Apple.

In case you’re new, or have forgotten the…erm, we’ll call it a plot for argument’s sake, here are a list of my reviews of earlier volumes:

Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3 and Volume 4.

Let me also remind you that you can purchase any of these 5 volumes through Amazon Japan, simply by clicking the pictures of the cover on each review. It’ll transport you directly to the correct page (as *almost* all of the pictures for these reviews do.)

The first chapter begins with a cheerful Kirika, enjoying a dinner with the evil editor and her friend Matsuda. As Kirika and editor natter on, Matsuda finds the distance between them and him growing exponentially. To assuage his ego, Matsuda visits senior manga artist Miyamae dressed as the editor. Miyamae and Matsuda have a little playtime, but ultimately it only makes Miyamae want the real thing. We get a glimpse of her true feelings.

As usual, the Mio chapter is annoying. While she screws one of the editors, she is *still* planning on defeating Kirika…whatever that means. It’s really exhausting, especially as her goody-two-shoes image is well beyond tarnished.

Evil editor makes a short visit to Kirika’s school festival. She returns the favor by arriving at his office late, just in time to see Miyamae collapse in his arms – and for him to call her by her given name, Mizuho. Kirika leaves unseen, with her heart completely broken. She has to face the fact that Miyamae and Mitsugu have had, and may still have, a relationship.

Matsuda angsts about Kirika, and Kirika angsts about her editor (it kind of makes sense that she’d fall in love with an apparently abusive, yet actually caring, guy, if you think about it.) Matsuda spends some time trying to cheer Kirika up, but she pretty much leaves him behind. When he goes to Miyamae’s, she turns him away with an apology, explaining that she really doesn’t want a fake Mitsugu anymore.

Two of the girls in school are having a torrid affair in the doctor’s office. When Kirika interrupts she finds the doctor and Yurika (now *there’s* a fanfic waiting to happen…) under the bed “studying” the couple. The two girls bail, Yurika and the doctor protest Kirika’s interruption. Yurika mentions casually that she knows a guy who does Adult Videos, would Kirika like to see? Sure!

So they go to the AV studio and the guy finds himself short of a dom. So, Kirika volunteers. Hey, how cool, she’s going to be an AV star! Yurika offers to be sub, and away they go. Since both of them know what they are doing, the director is mightily pleased – and so is Grant Oldman, erm, no, no, not really. It’s the S&M guy from an earlier volume. He likes Kirika’s style. So she’s great as a ojou-sama, but she falls asleep the next day at school and fails her test…

Kirika meets with the S&M guy, who tells her she has good dominatrix style. She’s pleased with herself as she visits the offices of her editor…who assigns her a good project. But, as she watches Mitsugu and Miyamae interact, their free way with each other, she gets more and more depressed. Kirika stands up and announces that she’s leaving manga. Miyamae follows her, but Kirika only becomes angrier and says that she’s leaving to become a professional S&M queen.

Matsuda is still drawing his happy, cutesy manga when Kirika comes to visit. She asks him to join her at her S&M studio. How could he refuse? He’s her best friend! So once again, Matsuda takes a beating for love. Her mentor coaches her on the most beautiful way to do this and in a sudden revelation, Kirika understands…she is now able to administer beautiful torture. Afterwards Matsuda asks if this is really what she wants and she says she’s pretty sure it is.

Yurika and Matsuda run into Kirika in a fetish shop and Yurika slaps Kirika for leaving them. Kirika goes home and draws a bit, remembering how much fun it was to be a mangaka. But then she remembers her editor, and she cools off.

It’s graduation time. Matsuda and Kirika are free! Yurika stops by to visit and they all go to a reception at the magazine’s office. Kirika has decided to return to manga after all – the evil editor bows and welcomes her formally (and politely as Kawai-sensei,) to their magazine, which moves her. Miyamae shows off the diamond on her left hand. Kirika jokes that she’s landed Mitusgu at last. They have a big toast to all the “new” manga artists, at which Kirika’s collar and chain around her neck become visible. Okay, so maybe not *quite* leaving the side job as S&M Queen behind. :-)

Back in high school, Mai, Kirika’s kouhai in the chado (tea) club is thoroughly befuddled as to what to do with all that…tea stuff. As her new underclassmen demand leadership (she tells Kirika) she decides to teach them what *she’s* learned. Kirika, naturally, tells her “How nice – go for it.” ^_^

Ratings:

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

It’s utterly without merit. But it really wasn’t *bad*! Like with every volume previously, it was kind of fun and (other than Matsuda’s issues) the sex is guilt and tedium-free. And actually good for a few laughs.