Archive for the Series Category


Aria the Origination Anime + Arietta OVA (English)

June 6th, 2010

Aria The Origination Dvd Collection (Tv Season 3 With The Ova Arietta)It’s not often that the final season of a series is better than the first. In the case of Aria The Origination (Season 3 + Arietta OVA) this is undoubtedly the case.

The animation hits level of sublime, rivaling Venice itself for breathtaking light effects. The colors are deep, vibrant, practically alive in their own right, and the little details are so lovingly depicted that, in some cases, they actually surpass the original.

And while such loving detail is paid to every brick, stone and tree, the story itself moves away from lingering glances at Neo-Venezia’s beauty and looks – for the first and last time – firmly at the Undines who roam it.

Aria has always been a story about people – about their dreams and fears, their motivations and joys. It’s always been a story that revels in the absolutely smallest things it can find to have fun with – the anime equivalent of the taste of chocolate melting on your tongue, the smile of a beautiful woman, the sound of music across a deserted plaza.

In this final season, we get to focus a bit, not where the Undines are looking, but on the Undines themselves and their friendship and love for one another. Each mentor is cast an in entirely new light, as we learn just how *much* they care for their protégés. At the same time, we watch each of the trainees struggling with the transition from student to peer.

This is simply a beautiful series, animated and voiced with the abject love of every single member of the team. If you weren’t absolutely sure that every single person who worked on it is in love with it, after you are done watching the extras, you will have no doubts whatsoever. Aria was a group effort, by the mangaka, the voice actresses, the animators and musicians. And, also by the folks at Right Stuf, who cared enough about Aria to bring all of it to us with the care it deserved. With lithographs and toys and papercraft and every other thing they could throw at us.

There is no Yuri, of course, there never has been. We’ve made it up in our heads since the beginning and nothing anyone is going to say is going to stop us now. :-)

Aria has always been beautiful and relaxing and gentle. With this final volume, it becomes timeless, as well.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 0
Service – 1

Overall – 9

I do have one criticism, but don’t want to ruin the mood. Let’s just drop it for now. ^_^

Many, many, many thanks go Okazu Superhero Dan P, who sponsored today’s review!





Canaan Radio CD and Aoi Hana Sweet Blue Radio CD

May 29th, 2010

I’m still making my way through the last of the items I bought while in Tokyo. Not surprisingly, the Light Novels take the longest. And since I’m now working from home, I no longer have a commute during which to listen to my Drama CDs. (I know, I know, poor me….) Today I happened to be driving down the office, so I had a chance to listen to the Aoi Hana: Sweet Blue Radio CD. It has very little Yuri. I had listened to the first Canaan DJCD a while back, but as it also has only the vaguest hint of Yuri, I decided to not review it.

Well, while it’s true that both of them have very little Yuri, they both have something much more important in common – the content is primarily the voice actors and actresses screwing around and cracking themselves up. I figure that’s worth mentioning.

To start with, the Canaan Drama Cd was backwards. That is, although Maria and YunYun are on the cover, the content actually features Tanaka Rie (Liang Qi) and Ohkawa Toru (Cummings.) The two of them really don’t need us during this CD, because they are perfectly capable of amusing themselves without us. There were times during the conversations where they had themselves laughing so hard I couldn’t for the life of me understand a word.

They also both slip in and out of their roles freely so, when Ohkawa-san makes a bad joke, Qiang Li suddenly threatens him with punishment. I recall (it was a few months ago that I listened to it) that there were at least a few scenarios in which Tanaka-san, as Qiang Li, moaned with desire over Alphard. That was pretty much what Yuri there was.

Likewise, in Sweet Blue Radio, Gibu Yuuko (nicknamed “Gibuling”) and Takabe Ai (“Rabuling”) really didn’t need us so much. :-) The bulk of the radio CD was the two of them doing their best impressions of other kinds of voice jobs – AM and FM radio announcers, the person in a department store that calls for lost people, the women on all those ubiquitous food shows who ooh and ah over mundane items like the sandwich she gushes over. Of these scenarios, the one in which Takabe-san does her impression of an AM radio DJ actually made Gibu-san snort out loud. That was worth hearing.

Also amusing was the next to last track in which Okudaira Akira was a special guest and when she “leaves” the studio and “forgets’ her handkerchief, Gibu-san “runs after her” and “misses” guest Manjoume Fumi when she comes to visit the studio. It was idiotic, but they were having fun with it.

In this CD, there is a ‘memory’ of Fumi telling Akira that she likes her and Akira responding that she didn’t mind, no…she was happy about it. That’s about it. But it was a sweet moment.

Both CDs are more silly than special. If you love the series and/or the voice actors and actresses, its worth it for the giggling, the puns, the utter goofiness when people who get along screw around in front of the mic.

Ratings:

Canaan DJCD – 7

Sweet Blue Radio CD – 8





Maria-sama ga Miteru Light Novel: Watashi no Su

May 21st, 2010

Have you ever considered how difficult writing a story without conflict must be? I mean, think about it – no screaming matches, no tears, no throwing things, no hand of god tragic events…what is there to care about?

Would it even be possible to write a story in which everyone was just…nice?

Watashi no Su is that story.

Because the Yumi/Sachiko/Touko era of the novels is over, we now turn our eyes to other characters around Lillian. We are introduced to Momo, a first-year whom we ultimately learn is in Touko, Noriko and Kanako’s first-year Tsubaki class. One day, just as she’s leaving class, she passes out. Eiko-sensei, the school doctor has her escorted home by a second-year, Tamaki. Tamaki is instantly likable and a little goofy-whimsical, reminiscent of Sei. When asked what to call her, Tamaki suggests Tama-chan or Tama-Tama. Momo declines politely and sticks with Tamaki-sama. Tamaki suggests that Momo call her “onee-sama” but when Momo asks don’t they have to be soeur for that, Tamaki’s reply is, “well…why not do that then?”

That night Momo learns that her mother is marrying the younger man she’s been dating for a while. It’s a second marriage for Kaya, Momo’s father died while she was still young. Momoko likes Shuu-chan and is fine with that, and fine that they’ll be moving into his family house.

When they get to meet the family, it turns out that Shuu-chan’s grandfather also has a second marriage – a much younger woman named Tsubaki. And they have a daughter, Momo’s age. You see this coming, right? Yes, it’s Tamaki.

So, when Momo works out the relationships, Tamaki would be her step-great-aunt. Tamaki declines to be called this, so they stick with Tamaki-sama. :)

The rest of the story is just…stuff. Stories from both sides of the family, parties, who’s going to do the laundry when, the stuff I call “playing house.” There is no conflict, except in very small ways, when people share lives.

It’s really nice. Nice to have Momo and her family welcomed by Shuuto’s parents and grandparents, nice to have Shuuto and Momo get along. It’s just…nice. Every chapter is a pleasure to read and the final ‘crisis’ is obvious, small and…my god, it’s nice.

I went into this book wondering if Konno-sensei could make me fall in love again. I mean, let’s face it, Yumi and the gang were charming and lovable and it’s really hard to just set them aside. You keep wondering how they are. :-) Cleverly, Konno places this story in a time and place that the story has already covered, so you *know* where and how they are, which frees you to just enjoy Momo’s story. And by god, what a nice story it is.

Ratings:

Overall – Nice

The Oshaka-sama mo Miteru series is continuing as well. I find I also like Yuuki and his friends and am looking forward to bits that we don’t already know about from the previous novels. Basically, Konno-sensei can write characters that are really likable – which is, in itself, incredibly difficult to do.





K-On! Manga, Volume 1

May 20th, 2010

If it were up to me, every guy who wanted to write about women would be required to read/watch K-On!. I find the series to be utterly delightful in every way, and about as realistic a portrayal of a bunch of girls hanging out as I’ve ever seen. It’s not a “realistic” series but it’s got just the right mix of realism and fiction to make a great story.

The K-On! manga is a series of 4-koma strips and has all the usual strengths and weaknesses of the format. Volume 1 is a great example of the format actually working.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. For those of you not already familiar with the series, K-On! is about the “light music” club in a high school and the four (then five) girls who are make up the band. Ritsu is the drummer and the on-again-off-again-responsible President of the club. Yamato Nadesico beauty and bassist Mio is a fan favorite, because she’s the most shy and retiring, fans got to see her underwear and she writes funny song lyrics. (The last is not probably part of why most fans like her, but it’s why I do.) Lead guitar and lead character is the pleasantly loopy, idiot savant Yui. Tsumugi, the keyboardist, with her daikon eyebrows, is our passport to Yuri, and latecomer Asuza plays second guitar and second fiddle to Yui’s gags.

What makes K-On! work is the characters and the interaction between them. It’s natural, carefree, goofy. The characters are more than just one joke, maybe as many as three or four jokes per character – it allows for more combinations in the playbook. Above all, what I like best is how freely they share food and touch each other – something that, at least in my experience, is pretty natural for female friends. When Yui hangs over Mugi’s shoulders, it’s not “Yuri,” it’s what friendship looks like.

Nonetheless, Yuri there is, if only in Mugi’s mind. For it is Tsumugi, with her “Mugi-vision” fantasy scenarios that pairs the various girls in the band. Many fans see the obviousness of Mio and Ritsu as a couple, but Mugi doesn’t limit herself to imagining just them. :-) Fujieda Miyabi had a fan-work for this series at the last Comiket of basically nothing but Mugi imagining them all paired up. It was very silly, on top of the normal silliness of the series itself.

The anime was a big hit in Japan – and totally understandably so. It was and is delightful. The second season is running as we speak. The manga has already been licensed by Yen Press and I very much look forward to its release here. I hope that someone picks up the anime (if no one has yet done so,) because that’s a series I will glad throw my money at – I’ve been tempted to buy the Japanese DVDs already.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 10
Story – 9
Yuri – 3 for “Mugi-vision”
Service – 3 for the whole underwear thing, but other than that, it’s probably more like a 1

Overall – 9

This is the kind of series that just totally works in every direction. The characters, the art, the writing all work together a complete package of entertainment.





Yuri Manga: Gunsmith Cats Burst, Volume 5 (English)

May 17th, 2010

Gunsmith Cats: Burst Volume 5Last year, I was so very pleased to review the final volume of Gunsmith Cats Burst. Now, just a little bit over a year later, it’s my double pleasure to read and review the final volume of Gunsmith Cats Burst in English!

My belief that this was the end that GSC deserved has not changed. The story has a little bit of everything that made GSC a classic series – one that actually stood the test of a few decades of time. Guns, car chases, sexy women…none of this goes out of style.

For this English-language version, Dark Horse provides the kind of work we expect from them – great reproduction, good quality pages, solid translation.

So what is there to say about the English edition that I did not about the Japanese? This. Sean Gaffney asked me to talk about the drug Goldie is selling. It enhances people’s susceptibility to “persuasion.” It’s not a brainwashing drug, just one that makes it easy to convince people to see your point of view, especially when it fits their already preconceived beliefs.

Some of you may not know this but I work in the pharmaceutical industry and I thought I’d tell you that there is *already* a pill like this. In fact, I smiled through the entire book knowing *exactly* what Goldie is pushing. You know what it’s called? It’s called…a placebo. No, seriously. If I give you a pill and tell you that it’s going to make you relaxed (or tense or hot or full or whatever) chances are, your brain (which is no doubt a finely honed instrument, capable of great feats of imagination) will immediately set you to feeling just that way.

Don’t believe me? Let’s do a little experiment.

Imagine that you are outside in the cold. It’s cold and dry and you enter your home and are greeted with a blast of cinnamon-flavored warmth. Someone is baking in the kitchen. Perhaps it’s cinnamon bread or muffins. You walk into the kitchen where the air is redolent with the smell. You open the oven door and a puff of warm air hits you in the face, and the room is once again filled with the scent of cinnamon.

Now…notice that you are salivating. You are, more than usual just sitting here. (Except for those of you who HATE cinnamon, hah on me.) I know you are, because your mind was imagining eating delicious cinnamon bread and when you do that, you start to salivate.

So, the power to persuade? Give a person a pill or a shot and tell them that it’s going to help them be convinced of your point of view and most people will be *thrilled* to give up their responsibility and let you make the choice for them.

In any case, with May married and in the role of a new mommy, Misty assuaging her desire for Rally with Goldie and Roy moving out to the suburbs, it’s no real shock that Rally decides it’s time to move on.

And now, so can we. With no lingering regrets, the book finally closes on a series that was one of the first to really make an impact here on Western shores.

Farewell Gunsmith Cats – it was loads of fun.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 6
Service – 5

Overall – 9

Today’s review was sponsored by the kindness and generosity of new Okazu Hero Ariella M! Thank you and welcome to the team, Ariella – email me to receive your Okazu Hero badge for proud display on websites and social media profiles. ^_^