There are so *many* things that are awful about Ryuusei Sentai Musumet, I’m at a loss where to begin. ^_^

I had high hopes for this anime, I really did. The logo is very Charlie’s Angels and I hoped for something that was self-consciously kitschy and satirical. Unfortunately, what I ended up with was something that was just dull. Oh, it *tries* to be kitschy and satirical…but fall short, and ends up being the kind of thing that teen boys make Beavis and Butthead noises about, while entirely missing that *they* are the ones being made fun of.

Musumet starts with three color-coded girls: Kurenai (red), Aoi (blue) and Midori (green). They live in a lab/HQ/complex along with an older guy who was Kurenai’s father’s best friend, a repulsive midget child, a requisite flaky, yet super genius inventor megane girl and a competent and probably homicidally frustrated blonde second-in-command. A random male classmate (who appears to be in a completely *different* anime most of the time,) finishes the lineup. The supporting cast are, apparently, three sisters, one who is half American and speaks highly amusing Jinglish/Engrish, one who is half Chinese, who is too cute to be as offensive as the normal Chinese stereotypes are usually, and one who is, inexplicably, half Brazilian (?) and seems to function in an expository manner most of the time.

In every episode, thus far, a random handsome guy has turned into a very stupid Monster of the Day, and been defeated by one or more of the Musumet girls – usually by the girl that liked him. Utterly yawn-making.

The satire portion of this series has been limited to henshin scenes in which only the helmet transforms and a few gags – mostly predictable, a few midly amusing. The self-conscious quality is completely missing…even the fanservice lacks irony.

And irony is what this series so desperately needs. Instead of being a funny parody of the sentai genre, it reads like one more of a zillion lame-ass fanservicey shounen attempts at magical girl. I anticipate tentacles any day now, in the same way that I anticipate a cavity at my next dental check up.

There is NO Yuri here. The first three episodes were virtually dedicated to proving how heterosexual these three girls are. I was *so* hoping for a Kate Jackson-like character, who was if not gay, at least cool and competent and slightly butchy…but no.

I can’t imagine a plot ever developing, either. What would they do? Why would anyone care? And yet, there was the vaguest hint at the end of the fourth episode, that a plot is forthcoming. I shudder to think.

Ratings:

Story – 3
Characters – 4
Art – 3
Music – 8, because it’s appropriately cheeseball
Yuri – 0

Overall – a lame, limping 4.

It’s series like this one that make me wonder *who* exactly are being targeted? I mean, if *I* thought this series was great, I’d be worried about me. On the whole, if I want crap, I’ll stick with the likes of Lingerie Soldier Papillon Rose – now *that’s* quality. ^_^

I’ve been meaning to write this review for almost a year now…I guess it’s well past time to let you all in on one of my little Yuri secrets.

There is no way on earth any one person has time to find all the yuri manga and anime out there, even if you comb news sites, mailing lists, etc, 24/7. And I miss stuff from time to time, like anyone else. But to try and keep on top of titles of potential interest, I often trawl Japanese Yuri-related weblogs and fan sites.

Before Yuricon 2003, I used to hit about three weblogs on a regular basis, including one cleverly titled Yomiyuri Shimbun ( a pun on the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun,) quite a bit. Sadly, it went out of production. Now my first choice for yuri news and reviews is a web blog called Yuri Kokoro. Yuri Kokoro has been around since December 2003, and I read it almost daily, just to see what the author has found of interest to Yuri fans.

Last week, Yuri Kokoro ran a short review of Okazu, and apparently, I’ve been writing the oldest yuri web log in existence. Neat, huh? In return, I thought I’d be fair and review Yuri Kokoro.

Let me begin by stating the obvious – Yuri Kokoro is written in Japanese only.

The author, much like myself, purchases many items of interest, manga, anime, toys, magazines, etc, and reviews them based on his own criteria, pretty much the same as I do. ^_^ I tend to agree with the author quite often, so I try to keep an eye out for the things he’s liked.

On the Yuri Kokoro site, you can also find links to other yuri websites and blogs, which are useful for keeping up on new stuff coming out. On the whole, though, I find Yuri Kokoro the easiest to read, the most interesting and the easiest to comment on. (I have sent in comments a few times and the author always responds…something I appreciate.) All in all, I think Yuri Kokoro to be one of the most useful sites I’ve found.

If you can read any Japanese at all – even if you can’t, because there are several excellent translation programs online which will help you get the gist, I recommend a visit to Yuri Kokoro.

Sorry folks, I’m home sick. I’ll update when I get a chance. In the meantime, please feel free to read the archives and comment. Enjoy!

Along with yesterday’s winner, I picked up Love Yuri-gumi (gumi means gang, or group), another yuri anthology. What this anthology lacked in dickchicks and bodily fluids, it made up for in seriously ugly art.

This was kind of annoying, because on the whole, the stories are pretty straightforward – girl and girl have meaningless, empty sex, accompanied by meaningless, empty conversation. Okay, that’s not fair – the conversations may be riveting, but I’m never going to know, because the art is SO unattractive in nearly every story, that I can barely stand to look at the thing. Only one story was bearable art-wise, and it was a typical school-girl thing. There’s a few loli stories – one with girls so young and bug-eyed that they look like premies and another with kids that look like, oh, I don’t know, chubby Japanese dolls, I guess. But in general, even if the stories themselves were much less yucky than the Premium anthology, they were so *ugly* that I just didn’t want to look.

This anthology is, perhaps, the least good yuri anything I’ve encountered since Susaku Replay, which is so utterly repulsive and without merit that it stands in a class by itself.

Ratings: Art – 1. Story – who can tell? Characters – Horrible, simply horrible. Yuri – 10, but it’s just not worth it.

Despite the wonderful title, and the cover that says, “Even Women Want To Fall In Love With Each Other” Love Yuri-gumi is a big zero.