Archive for the Series Category


Suite Precure Anime

July 21st, 2011

Suite Precure is the tragic story of Seiren, a singer. Betrayed by her homeland, Major Land, rejected as the Song Princess she is, she defects to Minor Land where, like so many defectors, she is forced to prove her loyalty over and over. Put in charge of incompetent and insubordinate subordinates, Seiren labors to resurrect a magical score so that she can at last sing as she was meant to… and who, of all people, must she contend with? Her own best friend and protégé, the very same creature for whom she was cast aside …Hummy.

Seiren is torn between her anger at being betrayed and cast aside, and her affection for the friend who was so important to her. Unfortunately for Seiren, the elite warriors of Major Land outgun her own Minor Land forces and her continued embarrassment at the hands of the Precure begins to eat at her.

Until, one day, Seiren snaps. She regrets her defection, she longs to repair her life and in a weak moment, becomes one of the elite Precure warriors herself. Now, full of loathing and self-doubt she wages war against herself, with no home to return to….

Well…okay, that’s not really what Suite PreCure is about, but it’s better than the real story, so I’m sticking to it.

Kanade and Hibiki, Cure Melody and Cure Rhythm, are best friends and have to be “in harmony” to transform, so the Japanese fans on Twitter are calling it Yuri. Seiren only transforms to save Hummy, so if you count Hummy as female and cats as eligible for Yuri, then there’s Yuri that way. And I’m counting Cure Muse because her costume screams Go Nagai designs.

I like Cure Beat best because 1) She is not wearing pink (which Toei pointed out that all girls like and so, *for the first time EVER* both main characters would have pink elements, how exciting!) and 2) Toyoguchi Megumi (Marimite‘s Sei) is voicing Seiren/Beat with everything she’s got, considering the character is a cat.  Purple Cures are always the coolest.

If you ignore all of this nonsense, Suite Precure is a completely predictable, music-themed magical girl cartoon for little kids.

Ratings:

Art – 7, it’s returned to type from the Heartcatch designs
Story – A little sillier than usual, I think – 5
Characters – 7
Yuri – 1
Series – 1

Overall – 7

I should also point out that the Fairy Tones, the cute little gem-like creatures that represent the notes of the scale, are excruciatingly cute and I adore them. That’s a major step up from previous Precure  cute, little mascots. Hummy can die a painful death, though.





Light Novel: R.O.D., Volume 7

July 19th, 2011

R.O.D. Volume 6 ended with Yomiko in a precarious position. Quite literally, in fact, as she had been captured and put in a giant birdcage in Dokusensha’s Headquarters.

So of course, it’s no surprise at all for Read or Die,Volume 7 to open with Yomiko in her apartment in Jimbochou, rolling around in a pile of books; specifically the series that she she has been reading steadily for four days.

Wait, what?

After about 10 pages of detailed explanation about the “Zoolander Saga,” the scifi series in which Yomiko has immersed herself, I suddenly thought, “Am I reading the right book?” For some reason I expected Volume 7 to pick up at the end of Volume 6. But, no. Volume 7 is a gaiden, a side-story, as we would call it, that has nothing at all to do with the main plot.

Volume 7 continues on its merry way with a convoluted and utterly unfunny scenario in which Yomiko bathes in a large barrel on the roof of her building and is likely seen in her birthday suit by a neighbor who has nothing else to do during business hours.

Thankfully this ends and we’re left with Nenene and Yomiko taking a walk to the most secret store in all of Jimboucho, and thence to a bookstore where, through complications of plot, they end up running the store for an afternoon.

It is Nenene who gets to be cool this volume, taking out a disruptive creepy dude in the store, and garnering applause from the bookstore patrons.

This is followed by a short coincidence that ties the book up neatly and is notable for including the October 1972 volume of Shounen Jump, the significance of which I don’t know, but I bet the author does.

The final pages cover the tragic story of Dokusensha’s paper user Ou-En and his doomed little sister, the death of their parents and how he ended up at Dokusensha.

And so, this volume comes to a close after having been alternatively cute and frustrating  for a little over 200 pages and still, somewhere, Yomiko sits on a perch in a cage in Dokusensha’s HQ, faced with the choice of marrying Faust or being killed by him.

As a  side story, it was cute, but I felt like it was a whole-carbohydrate meal and I was craving protein. IMHO, any volume of R.O.D. without Yomiko going all paper master and kicking ass, is not the greatest use of a volume of R.O.D.

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – Silly, but it had room to be awesome and just wasn’t – 5
Characters – Nenene – 7
Yuri – 2
Service – 7

Overall – 6

Next volume, we return to our original programming.





R.I.P. Wada Shinji

July 5th, 2011

We at Yuricon are very saddened to learn of the death of Wada Shinji, creator of Sukeban Deka, Crown  and many other series.

Dan Kanemitsu reported on Twitter that Wada-sensei’s death was confirmed by a number of sources. Dan mentions, and I agree, that Wada-sensei’s contributions toward female leads in manga is immeasurable.

As you know, if you are a regular reader here, Sukeban Deka is one of my favorite series, and one of the three classic girl-gang series I love so much. Wada’s genius will be missed.

To paraphrase the last page of the Sukeban Deka manga, “Goodbye Wada-sensei, forever.”





Mahou Shoujo Madoka ☆ Magika Anime (魔法少女まどか☆マギカ)

July 3rd, 2011

Any wish bound by logic can be twisted….

A few months ago, I wrote a preliminary discussion of Puella Magi Madoka Magica (魔法少女まどか☆マギカ) and I noted that, at the time, almost no one seemed to understand my point. ^_^ I’m going to try again, this time without being clever about it.

The reason for magical girls is very simple. Teenagers desperately want to be grown-ups – to have people rely on them and to be mature and reliable. Unfortunately for most teenagers, they have neither the critical decision-making skills nor the life experience to make mature decisions. Young adults often mistake the trappings of adulthood (drinking, driving, sex) for real maturity (the strength to say “no,” for instance.) Magical girls are needed, Kyuubey understands, because magical middle-aged women would look at him and say, “You know, I have no reason to believe that you’re telling me all or even part of the truth. It’s in your best interests to keep this cycle going by your own admission, so why on earth would I take your advice?”

Kyuubey, like all good Lucifers, speaks mostly truth, and in some cases, the exact truth. Innocents are too innocent to parse the one from the other, or what the significance of that truth really is to them.

Any wish bound by logic can be twisted….

Well, duh, then…right? The answer is obvious.

So, Madoka Magica was very interesting to me. I very much loved the art used in the witch’s realities, and very much didn’t like the design of the people. If this series had character designs as beautifully done as the witches art and the buildings, most of the fans who loved it wouldn’t have given it the time of day, but, oh how gorgeous it might have been!

The ending was…what was the ending? Was it the expected ambiguity or was it writers that don’t know how to write a or are uncomfortable with a happy ending? Was it, in fact, a happy ending?

Here’s what I think – I think “end of the world” scenarios, like “Good” and “Evil,” are too much for human brains to really grasp. We assign funky art to represent Evil, because it’s easier than really establishing a new normality. We make terrible things the purview of Evil, because we can’t grasp that the selfishness of self-preservation is really what creates terrible things that other people have to live with.

Any wish bound by logic can be twisted….

The answer to that is, obviously, that one has to make a wish not bound by logic. Madoka did that.

In the world of Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, it is established that this Good/Evil, Hope/Despair dichotomy runs the universe. Girls sacrifice themselves to stop this cycle, but only end up repeating it over and over. Until one girl wishes to stop the cycle before it ever begins. And you know…her wish comes true. But, it doesn’t stop the fact that the tension between Hope and Despair still powers the universe. So…did it work? Is Madoka a God, or is she still fairly limited in her ability to think outside the box?

What would you have wished? I know what I would have wished, but I’m not going to tell you. Wishes should be made in secret and not in front of Incubators. ^_^

And Yuri. Yes, Homura is clearly in love with her ideal of Madoka. An ideal, I can’t help but point out, who fails to live up to her expectations eternally. And yet she goes back again and again. Sounds like a lesbian to me. Madoka loves Homura like the Virgin Mary is supposed to love you.  An utterly unsatisfying situation to me, but I was never the target audience for this anime. The target audience for this anime are boys who think magical girls are a good idea.

Ratings:

Art – 5/9 for character designs and “witches” worlds respectively
Story – 8 It’s not standing ovation-worthy, but it’s good for a conversation
Characters – 7 pretty much types, rather than fully-fleshed out personalities, but in 12 episodes of angst, there’s not that much time to bother
Yuri – 5
Service – This series is, by default, created for otaku. For the amount of time we stare at the girl’s legs – the zettai ryouki, specifically – 10

Overall – 8

I had initially wanted to watch the final episodes on Walpurgisnacht (April 30,)  but life kept me from doing so. I’m almost glad I didn’t because, for an utter destruction of everything, this was a little disappointing, honestly.





Revolutionary Girl Utena Anime Box Set – Volume 1 Disk 3 (English)

June 25th, 2011

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Student Council Saga Limited Edition SetBy the time you reach the third disc of the Revolutionary Girl Utena Student Council box set, you’ve already developed your ideas about what you think is going on. My ideas and yours may not be the same, but they are all valid. The show is consciously constructed to allow all our ideas to be valid. Now we, as viewers, have to allow each other’s ideas to be valid, too.

I’m going to tell you some of the things I think are going on (bearing in mind that while I know what is going to happen, I wont be talking about that – just what is happening on this disc. What I would REALLY like is to hear what you think is going on in the story. What are your thoughts about The End of the World – no spoilers, remember, just based on this first arc! – or about Touga, or the duels, or Anthy, Utena, whatever.

Okay, so here I go.

The disk begins with Saionji doing something very stupid, and being expelled for it. I have this belief that, in some way, all the members of the Student Council, by becoming members of the Student Council, were essentially consenting to being manipulated by the End of the World.

Which is why I personally find it hardest to watch Nanami being screwed with. She did not give this consent. Miki is innocent, but not unbsubtle. Nanami is a child. She is driven by delusion and fear and has no place in the duels. That Touga offers her up to them was, in my opinion an unforgivable crime.

Up to this point, it would be natural to think that Touga is the master manipulator here. He seems, to Utena at least, to be in control. It’s only at the end of the arc that we and he see that he wasn’t in control at all.

The last two episodes were as amazing as I remembered them to be.

In episode 11, Utena find herself stripped of her confidence, her purpose, her very self by Touga, who uses his good looks, his masculinity and his position to turn her into a “normal” girl, who needs a prince to rescue her.

And most important IMHO, is that in response to losing the duel Utena says simply, “Please don’t take Anthy away from me.” She would give herself up…but not Anthy.

In episode 12, Wakaba slaps some sense into her, by making her realize that “normal” is not normal for Utena. Utena challenges Touga to a rematch to regain herself – the self that wants to be a Prince, not be rescued by one. She defeats Touga without help from Dios or an enchanted sword – she defeats him with nothing but her determination and will. To awesome music. To regain Anthy. NOT to regain the Rose Bride, but to get Anthy back.

Most importantly, at that moment, Anthy is *surprised.* That alone is worth watching the final episodes for.

When the episode (and the first arc) ended, I began spontaneously applauding. Again. As I have every time I have watched this series.

It’s gonna be a long, long, few weeks before the next set arrives!

Thanks again Nozomi/RightStuf for making it possible to watch this remastered version.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Character – 9
Yuri – 4
Service – 1

Overall – 9

The music video for “Revolution Rondo” blew my mind more than anything else in Utena ever has. It was filmed in New York City, which was just…entirely unexpected.

Here’s an interesting aside. On Twitter today I mentioned that what I would love to see is a ridiculously high budget live action version of the moment Utena draws the sword from Anthy. Just that scene. At which, a very good friend of mine from way back mentioned that there is a rumor of a pitch in Hollywood for an Utena movie…and that Variety is supposed to be doing an article about it next month. I guess we’ll see if that article ever happens…. Thanks for the heads up, Rob!

Now it is your turn – what are some of your thoughts on this arc?