Archive for the Series Category


Coming Soon from Nozomi/RightStuf and Viki.com – Rose of Versailles

September 12th, 2012

Nozomi/RightStuf and Viki.com, the online streaming site that carries Riyoko Ikeda’s “Dear Brother”) have jointly announced the licensing of Ikeda’s classic tale of the French Revolution, Rose of Versailles.

RightStuf’s Coming Soon Page for RoV includes links to the trailer and a button to submit questions to Riyoko Ikeda, to be answered by the legendary artist herself.

Viki.com is premiering the opening episode at New York Comic-Com on October 13, followed by a Q&A session with Prof. Susan Napier. (I’ve already spoken with Prof. Napier and asked her a few questions written by myself, Katherine H. and Erin S. I’ll hope that she’ll have time to answer a few of them for us.)

What a decade the 2010’s are turning out to be, huh? ^_^





K-ON Anime, Season 2, Disk 2 (English)

August 31st, 2012

The second disk of the Season 2 of the  K-ON! anime, continues as it began, with wonderful moments of real life interspersed with absurd moments that only could happen in an anime…except when they actually happen in real life.

Houkago Tea Time enjoy their final high school school festival, play their final concert at school, pass their final final exams as high school students, take college exams and celebrate Valentine’s Day with their adoring underclassman, Asuza.

Time passes, as it does. I can barely remember my high school years, to be honest. Not all of what I can remember is good, but I find that my mind strays more to the moments that were good as I get older. Because K-ON! is about fondly recalling high school I will share a story with you from my high school years.

I’ve mentioned previously that I was in marching band and that I played clarinet. I was exceedingly mediocre, but when you’re playing that many hours every day…(band class, compulsory music lessons, marching band practice, football games, competition and individual practice) I was tolerable. My sempai in band was the woman who became my wife some years later.

One day we returned from an away football game to find that the band room entrance to the school was locked and that no one had the key. The band director went off to try and find someone to let us in and we stood there, bored, tired, ready to get out of our uniforms. To keep ourselves amused, we started to jam. One of our songs that year was a jazzed-up version of “My Favorite Things” – not a song that too many of us had any fondness for, but it did play well in the show. So we started to play that. The sun was getting low, it was getting dim out on the side of the school we were on, and we just…played.

For the first time it all meshed. The trumpets and the trombones got along, the soloist actually hit his notes, the drummers suddenly learned to count to 4. The woodwinds were in tune and on.

It was the best performance of that song we did all year.

If I never remember another thing about high school, I want to always remember that moment.

This disk of K-ON! made me remember that moment.

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 1
Service – 4

Overall – 8

Thanks to Okazu Superhero Eric P. for sponsoring this review…and for bringing that memory to mind. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Aoi Hana, Volume 7 (青い花)

August 29th, 2012

There is a girl, she is in love with another girl. The other girl loves her back. They love each other. The end.

It’s that simple, right? The story ends with “Happily Ever After” and we move on to the next story, and never think about the characters after that moment.

This is the essence of “Story A” – the girl and the girl ride off into the sunset and nothing bad ever happens to them.

However.

Humans are not like that, Love is not like that. Friendship is not like that. Life is not like that.

If you have ever fallen in love with someone you know what I’m saying. ^_^; “Love hurts” isn’t a joke, it’s a reality.

In Aoi Hana, Volume 7, love hurts. Even as these girls we’ve come to care about move into their final year of high school, right on the edge of being adults, they are facing some issues they have to deal with. These issues are things that, one way or the other, will bring them that much closer to maturity. Sex is part of this, but it’s just part. Communication is a larger, much more intangible and difficult to grasp, part.

Kyouko needs to find her way with her fiance’, Kou. Their relationship is complicated by their betrothal, their actual feelings for one another and, most impenetrably, Kyouko’s mother.

Mogi’s relationship with Shinobu takes a shocking turn. Will they be split apart by their own lack of confidence or will they find their way?

At the very beginning of the volume, Haru mentions that her sister and teacher have “gotten married” – although it was not a legally binding ceremony, it was meaningful for them…and she lets us know how her parents coped (or didn’t.) Same-sex marriage in manga. I want to hug Shimura-sensei and Morishima-sensei and any other mangaka who surfaces this issue in a manga.

Most important for us, there’s Akira and Fumi. Fumi is in love with Akira, but she is convinced that Akira does not feel the same way about her. Akira can see Fumi is in love with her – and she does not want to stand in the way of Fumi’s happiness, but she has no idea at all what would make *herself* happy.

Fumi thought she got what she wanted, but Akira’s lack of honesty is subtle poison. Fumi’s not as happy as Akira thought she should be after having given herself entirely to her dearest friend. Although physically they’ve been as close as possible, emotionally, they are more distant than ever before.

Many fans have wanted this relationship since the beginning. This volume is very likely to make those fans profoundly unhappy. I have never numbered myself among those who wanted Fumi and Akira as a couple. This relationship is a perfect example of what happens when you get what you want, but not what you need. IMHO, the best of all possible results is that they end the relationship quickly, with no regrets and as few tears as possible, then patch together what remains of their friendship before that too dissolves. This was not the path that leads to a happy ending, they need to return to the fork in the road and choose another.

Against a backdrop of writing, creating and performing the Three Musketeers for the drama competition, this series eschews conventions of manga for realism. Thank heavens.

Ratings:

Story – 10
Characters – 10
Art – 10
Lesbian Life – 10
Service – 3

Overall – 10

There is a girl, she loves another girl. That girl is not sure she loves her back. The end?





Light Novel: Maria-sama ga Miteru ~ Farewell Bouquet (マリア様がみてる フェアウェル ブーケ)

August 24th, 2012

The number one question in every fan’s mind as we read each successive Maria-sama ga Miteru novel is…is this the last one? This can’t go on forever, can it? Well, no, it can’t go on forever, as much as we might wish it could. But as for the first question, I have no answer. As with the last several of the books in the series, the ending is written so that if we never got another one, this would be a fine place to end the series. However…however… Maria-sama ga Miteru ~ Farewell Bouquet (マリア様がみてる フェアウェル ブーケ) ends at the end of July of Yumi’s third year at Lillian Jogakuen High School. I just cannot believe that Konno-sensei will just end it here. She could, definitely. But there’s the Sports Festival, and the Culture Festival and Christmas, and New Year’s…and Valentine’s Day (and the half-day date contest)…and the chance/need for the 2nd-years to find soeur and the elections…and then there’s graduation.  I cannot imagine that we won’t be given the opportunity to end our time with Yumi and her friends with great wopping tears at graduation. I will not believe it.

But.

We might, and I can’t promise we won’t. Japanese fans are asking the same question, mind you, and we won’t know until we see more chapters appear in Cobalt Shueisha. (Btw, according to the Cobalt website, the upcoming November issue, will include a Marimite section on the enclosed Drama CD.)

In the meantime, Konno-sensei is being mean and teasing us unmercifully, with novel titles like Hello Goodbye and Farewell Bouquet. I mean, really.

So the book begins with a teacher meeting up with a student on the school grounds and being taken to the Rose Mansion for some herb tea and a long chat. The teacher, Katori Maki-sensei, has been around for quite a few of the novels, and we’ve come to like her quite a bit.

The stories that fill the spaces between Maki-sensei’s time at the Rose Mansion are a pile of some really odd stories. In one, a student wants a teacher to be her onee-sama, and finds that she’s her big sister for real. In another a female art teacher is abruptly asked to make cookies by a male teacher who finds himself presented with cookies that look like, well, breasts.  My favorite story includes a radically intelligent way to teach history to bored teen girls – imagine the clans and houses as a bunch of boy bands! Seriously, I thought that was genius.

But the real story, although it takes up the least space, is the story of why Maki-sensei is taking a leave of absence from school. And, ultimately, it’s Yumi that arranges for an impromptu, beautiful and topical herb bouquet from the Yamayurikai to Maki-sensei. This ribbon story includes cameos from all our principles.

I want to make sure I mention this: Maki-sensei has a whole scene in which she absolutely assures herself (and us) that she will not be quitting teaching, that she will be returning. I’m very glad that she was made to make that point. I’m really tired of anime/manga/games/novels clinging to the outdated and tired quitting work after getting married or pregnant thing. This is as 20th century in Japan as much as it is in the US.)

And last, the final chapter is a lovely interlude with Sachiko and Yumi enjoying tea together and a gentle admonishment that this moment in time is to be enjoyed for itself.

Another delightful book. If it is the last – and it could be – it was wonderful. Time to have a cup of herb tea and think about the best moments we’ve shared with the lovely ladies of Lillian. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 9





K-ON Anime, Season 2, Disk 1 (English)

August 15th, 2012

Season 2 of the K-ON! anime is, well, pretty much exactly the same kind of thing as Season 1 was, so if Season 1 didn’t appeal to you, then probably this season isn’t going to either. ^_^

Season 2 has exactly the kind of thing *I* liked about Season 1, so for me, this is total win.

The two things I liked best on this disk have nothing whatsoever to do with Yuri or music. For me, what makes K-On! work is the interplay between the four leads. More than any other series, this one strikes me as one written by someone who actually knew something about real girls. (As say, compared with Yuru Yuri, which reads like a guess as to sort-of what girls are, maybe, like, when they hang out.)

There are two scenes that strongly affected me in this way. The first, when the four are sharing a room for their school trip and making each other giggle by saying stupid things. Yep, we did that. Heck we *still* do that. My Mom once yelled at me when staying over my house for the holidays that my wife and I needed to stop giggling, it was keeping her up.)

The second is a scene so meaningless, so…normal…that it took my breath away. When they are all shopping at the home goods store and Yui comes running over to exclaim “Screws!” then dances in hyperactive delight at all the shapes and sizes of screw…yep, we do that too. ^_^

The palpable lack of Yuri is a plus, as well. When Yui hangs on Mugi there is no fanservice, overt or implied. This is how it should be. This is in fact, how it is.

K-ON! s that most rare of creatures – a moe 4-koma gag story about girls hanging out that gets it exactly right.

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 1
Service – 4

Overall – 8

Once again it is my great pleasure to thank Okazu Superhero Eric P. for his sponsorship of today’s review!