Archive for the Series Category


El Cazador Anime: Volume 4 (Polish/German)

May 6th, 2009

I’m very excited to once again offer a review from the Okazu Europe bureau. Everyone, please welcome back Winterbraid! Yayyy~!

El Cazador Volume 4 has episodes 15 through 18. Starting with the mandatory swimsuit (and in one case, no swimsuit) episode, followed by L.A. losing the last bits of sympathy we have for him, some random cosplay and buttock prodding by Nadie and Ellis, and – in my opinion – a rather Noir-like episode, closed with the trickster god part – which, on the second run, is probably one of my favourites. Otherwise, it seems that everyone stalks everyone, all with a generous spurt of fluff and cuddly on top – perfect after a tough week. ^-^

As far as the localization is concerned… well, I’m not really in the mood for nagging right now. ^-^ Fortunately, there is no more translating whole sentences as a single word, although some awkwardness (and a few blatant mistakes) awaits. Overall, I’d say that compared to the previous volume, the translation hasn’t gained enough of a soul to allow for creative criticism, but there is an improvement – or maybe it’s just that my tolerance is increasing. Apparently, there’s something
weird about the disc that prevented me from playing it on Linux… not that anyone cares. ^-^. Now that I think about it, the fonts could perhaps do with some tweaks, i.e. less jaggedness – oh well… anyway, every possible defect of this release is – for me at least – overshadowed by the postcards, which are quite cool this time. ^-^

By the way, I took a quick glimpse of the manga; and… uh… how should I put it… NO. ^-^;

Short, bittersweet and to the point. Thank you Winterbraid for another look at a series we cannot *wait* to get over here!





Ichigo Mashimaro Encore Anime

May 5th, 2009

Chika and her friends are back and even sillier things than ever before are happening in Ichigo Mashimaro Encore.

Much of what is animated in Encore is from the 6th volume of the manga. If you have read and enjoyed these chapters, you are likely to enjoy them again as animation.

If you don’t care that Miu’s antics can make demons in hell laugh, then you probably won’t care so much. And if you don’t care that Nobue is not their friend, but their gang boss, or that Miu and Chika’s friendship is almost alien in it’s intense weirdness, then, again, you probably don’t want to watch this anime.

But if you are a member of the Miu Fan Club, if you like the idea that Miu and Chika’s relationship surpasses words and has moved on to bizarre ASCII art, if you like the idea that Chika and Miu make a stellar comedy team then you too, will enjoy Encore.

Yuri is low, with one “are we lesbians” gag but despite that, yes, I still think the Miu is a EPL-in training. Call it a gaydar thing. :-)

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8, sometimes 9
Characters – 8
Yuri – 2
Service – 3

Overall – 8

If the world is a good place, someone will license the OVAs and this Encore series and put them out in a box set.





Maria-sama ga Miteru Special CD, Volume 1

May 1st, 2009

Such voyeuristic joy, such pure pleasure, such girly, giggly, sweets and flower-filled minutes pass as we once again enter the second-floor meeting room of the Bara no Yakata and spend time with the women who bring the Rosa Chinensis family to life as they discuss important things like who gets the chocolate, the strawberry or the pumpkin flavored sweet.

No seriously, that’s the kind of thing we listen to when Itou Miki (Sachiko,) Kugamiya Rie (Touko) and Ueda Kana (Yumi) get together to chat about everything an nothing for the Maria-sama ga Miteru Special CD, Volume 1.

They discuss the 4th season, and Touko’s character development. They discuss the novels (Kana is clearly the group authority on this, having clearly read them all) and about the New Year’s Eve event.

The drama portion of the CD is “Chocolate Portrait,” the story of how Shouko and Tsutako met. The entire story was dramatized – if anything was cut, I was completely unaware of it, it was so small and inconsequential. To say that this story is wonderful is really an understatement. IF there was any couple in the whole of Lillian that I could ever call a “couple” in the romantic sense, it would have to be Tsutako and Shouko. They fit together beautifully. Shouko is sweet, polite and a little bent, while Tsutako is just about the most social, functional and fun sociopath I’ve ever read. ^_^ Together they make a pair so awesome that they can’t be beat.

The last track on the CD is “Oshiete, Oneesama,” in which the same series of questions are asked of each guest – which character would you want for a sister, a daughter, a friend, (if you were male, of course) a bride, a soeur. Everyone wants Yumi for a friend, and Shimako for a daughter. ^_^ And mostly, although not all the time, whichever guest it is wants their character’s soeur for a soeur. Kugamiya Rie did not deviate too much from the norm.

Up until this CD, the DJCDs have been anywhere from 25-35 minutes. This “Special” CD is about an hour long – the “Chocolate Portrait” drama is a good 30 minutes plus, so it’s good entertainment value for your money.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

When I listened to the Winter Special DJCD, I said it was the best I’d listened to so far, Well, this one was better. ^_^





Aria the Natural, Part 1 Anime Boxset (English)

April 26th, 2009

I need to say this first, because I am sick and tired of getting nasty emails, comments and blogposts from people who have no grip on reality. I do NOT think that Aria is Yuri. Many other people who are not me do. I review Aria as Yuri because the *other* fans  insist on seeing all sorts of couples in the mostly all-female cast, since so often they talk to each other, or are in the same frame. They even touch once in a while, so clearly there’s sex involved, in the eyes of this group.

I *do* enjoy imagining a relationship between Alicia and Akira. That is the only Yuri I have ever seen in this series and I am completely honest about the fact that I have wholly made it up in my head, encouraged only by Raku-Gun and Crush doujinshi. So please, stfu about me ruining Aria for you because I had the nerve to call it a Yuri series. If me calling a series Yuri pisses you off, then its probably a bad idea to read this blog since it is a *Yuri* blog and covers many things that other people who are not you think of as Yuri.

Moving on….

Unless you have your Yuri goggles on very, very high, you’re not going to see much Yuri in Aria the Natural, Part 1 boxset. What you will find is a story about a young woman who finds joy in the smallest things of everyday life. And by moving so slowly that she has time to see and enjoy these things, she brings the people around her into her world full of wonder and beauty – whether they want to or not. I believe that that is, in part, the reason why so many of the fans of this series are otherwise absurdly cynical people, with nothing specific to be angry at, so they rail at me, or The Man, or whatever, without actually doing anything about anything. Akari’s “my pace” attitude and appreciation for everything – bugs, bread, hats, weather – forces us to slow down and at least take a look at what she’s looking at, even if we don’t appreciate it as much as she does.

As with the previous Aria boxset, Right Stuf does a nice job on reproduction and translation, managing to communicate Al’s old man puns and Akari’s wide-eyed perspective uniquely. And although I did not order the set from them directly, I’m told that the extras for direct pre-order are way fun – in this case, an Aria-shachou squeeze toy. (Thanks to Sean for ruining it forever reporting on it with this line, “Hollowed out, it’s the most amusing condom ever!”) Unlike the first season box set, the extras for these disk live on a separate disk of their own and are entirely worth watching, if you care about such things as staff and VA interviews, trailer videos and the like – which I enjoy, no matter how insipid the comments. An Episode Guide Booklet is included as a physical extra for the set, as well.

Nevertheless, there are some scenes that will be imagined as Yuri. Alice’s shadow-hopping episode was very popular with Alice x Athena ‘shippers, for one. In my opinion, the hottest romance in the series is Aika and Al. ^_^

Of course, the number one reason I watch Aria is not Yuri, real or imagined, it’s the scenery porn; the love in our eyes with which we gaze at the shadow in St. Mark’s Plaza, a meteor shower, a street vendor making dolls dance or the evening sun shining on Venetian glass. It’s this that makes Aria worth watching and rewatching. And if your love of the series is affected by anyone’s opinion then you’ve missed the entire point of wearing Akari-colored glasses.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 1
Service – 3

Overall – 8

Many many thanks to new Okazu Hero Tricolor Cavy for sponsoring today’s review! I have enjoyed not only the hours it has taken me to rewatch this anime, but also the renewed appreciation it gives me every time for the simple joys of my real life. Thank you.





Ichigo Mashimaro Manga, Volume 6

April 24th, 2009

Once more it is my genuine pleasure to welcome Sean Gaffney back as Guest Reviewer!

The sixth volume of Ichigo Mashimaro (苺ましまろ) is finally out in Japan (it’s been running since 2001, but is only up to Volume 6 due to the author’s frequent breaks and the sometimes short chapters). There’s no earth-shattering changes, except that if anything Nobue gets even less to do. As Chika has gotten more tsundere and taken over much of the beatings of Miu, Nobue has sadly faded into the background a bit.

In any case, we get 10 new chapters here, interspersed with ‘a day in the life’ interstitials. My favorites of the interstitials are a) Miu responding to her teacher’s request to solve a difficult fraction problem by getting out her giant protractor, and b) Miu’s amusing giant geek glasses she wears during chemistry, complete with spiral effect.

The girls battle a cockroach, have fun drawing on each other’s faces (in 2 separate chapters, one with a ‘third eye’ and the other with Japanese characters), and practice cooking (in a hilarious Miu and Chika 2-hander that barely has the others at all).

Some of this volume is also being animated in the Encore OAVs, such as Matsuri’s utter inability to help herself not be kidnapped. Oh yes, and Miu dies and goes to hell, in easily the best chapter in the entire volume. You can see it animated in the first Encore OAV. Note once more Chika’s inability to stop laughing when Miu does insane stupid things, even when she’s a demon of Hell.

The final chapter, where Miu complains that the only playing they do anymore is gaming, and that they should go outside and be more physical, was only in Dengeki Daioh last month. So don’t expect a new volume anytime soon. Still, it’s 160 pages of cuteness and Miu insanity, which is always worth your time.

Ratings:

Art – 7 (I do like the attention paid to the different outfits)
Story – 6 (loose collection of gags, really)
Characters: 7 (9 for Miu and Chika, 6 for Matsuri, 5 for Nobue).
Yuri – 3 (Not as much here as the last volume, though Miu and Chika are
so going to be a couple in a few years)
Service – 9 (It’s Barasui. What else needs to be said? It only loses a point for lacking catgirls.)

Overall – 7. A good, solid volume.

Oh yes, and Ana is in it too.

–SG