Archive for the Series Category


My-Hime Manga, Volume 4 (English) Guest Review, by Jason T.

April 20th, 2009

So I was bitching rather genially about My-Hime, Volume 4 on Facebook and Twitter and got an email in reply from writer/editor/manga expert and all-around fun guy Jason Thompson.

He agreed vehemently that this was a dreadful example of manga and went so far as to graciously allow me to use his description of this series from as yet unpublished, Manga: The Complete Guide materials. I therefore offer up to you as our latest guest reviewer, the pithy thoughts of Mr. Jason Thompson:

MY-HIME (Mai-HiME, “Dancing Girl/My Princess”) （舞-HiME) • Noboru Kimura (story), Sato Ken-etsu (art) • TokyoPop (2006-2008) • Akita Shoten (Weekly Shônen Champion, 2004-2005) • Shônen Sci-Fi Battle • 18+ (language, graphic violence, nudity, sexual situations)

Adaptation of the anime series. Yuuichi transfers to a special school where certain girls possess an awesome power: the ability to summon a “child,” a big mechanical monster, when in the presence of the right boy, called the “key.” Yuuichi turns out to be the “key” of not one but two hime girls, Mai and Natsuki, who bicker over him in endless superpowered catfights. Sloppily drawn and crammed with too many female characters to keep track of, My-Hime—hime is Japanese for “princess” but here stands for “Highly Advanced Materializing Equipment”—is a tedious manga adaptation of a cynical “high-concept” anime, mixing “harem” romantic comedies and battle manga about people who team up with mecha or monsters. Characters we don’t care about fight one another, make passes at Yuuichi and tear up the landscape, leading up to an incoherent climactic fight with the aliens from the “Princess Star” which is the origin of the himes. The books are padded out with interviews with the anime staff, one of whom tells the reader “Reading My-Hime isn’t enough, so go for the anime, the figures, and radio and become a My-Hime Ph.D!” The worst feature of the art is the slack-jawed inexpressive faces.

.5 (HALF A STAR! -_- )

Thank you Jason for stabbing taking a stab at this series. Your brevity should have been matched by the series itself. Despite the craptasticness of the manga, I would like to thank Okazu Hero Elaine B. for bravely wading in and sponsoring today’s review!





Yuri Manga: Sasamekikoto, Volume 4 (ささめきこと)

April 13th, 2009

Sasamekikoto (ささめきこと) Volume 4 is the story of a misunderstanding. In fact, it is the anatomy of a misunderstanding, built up from the bare bones of misapprehension, attached by ligaments and tendons of high-school drama, and filled in with the muscle of self-doubt, covered in the thin skin of self-awareness.

(I’m not sure if the above paragraph is accurate, but it is impressively disgusting, isn’t it? ^_^)

The days immediately following Ushio’s and Sumi’s confrontation in Volume 3 are awkward and increasingly painful for both of them. We learn that Ushio was seen to have kissed Sumi, but she vehemently denies this, claiming that Sumi is – obviously – a “normal” girl, as opposed to her own publicly, repeatedly, stated perversion.

Sumi is, of course, not “normal” at all, but beset by fear and indecision, she makes no attempt to breach the gap between her, Ushio and their true feelings for each other.

The book them takes a look back once again, continuing the story of Ushio’s arrival in middle school and the fallout after her proclamation that she likes cute girls. It comes as no surprise that the girls around her mock her, call her “Lez-ko” and are generally unkind. Sumi makes an awesome Prince, standing by Ushio, befriending her and eventually making it possible for Ushio to become part of the crowd once again.

It is on a class ski trip that Sumi is suddenly faced with the disturbing fact that her feelings for Ushio are not merely friendship.

Back in “real” time, Ushio and Sumi are >this< close to saying something, to touching, to breaking through the wall, but when the book comes to an end, nothing has been said or done. The volume begins more lightly, with a side story about the president of the Joshibu, Tomoe, who turns out to be from an extremely wealthy family. Her lover, Miyako, is seen as an affront to the family dignity as much because she is the daughter of the chauffeur as because they are both girls. But Tomoe doesn’t care – she lives openly and happily – the complete opposite to the veil of lies that have trapped both Ushio and Sumi. Volume 4 is more serious than the previous three, but that is not a bad thing. The overall impression I had is that we’re now allowed to take Ushio and Sumi a little more seriously, and the accept that this is not “just a phase” or a whim or a crush.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 4

Overall – 8

Will it turn out okay in the end? I don’t know, but I feel a few more plot complications coming on before we find out.





Yuri Manga: PreCure Splash Star: Chikuwaku Kiki Ippatsu!

April 6th, 2009

It’s been a long time since I first watched Sailor Moon and found my heart stolen away by fictitious, 2-dimensional magical girls. Over a decade, in fact. And in that time, I have become far more cynical about anime and manga. It’s impossible to not become cynical when you’re watching wave after wave of fetishism come and go and the same three plots used over and over. But. Every once in a while, I like to reexamine my “roots” if you will, and take a look once again at some mahou shoujo that is actually made for girls.

PreCure Splash Star: Chikuwaku Kiki Ippatsu! feels very much like a “movie” manga. It’s a single volume, self-contained story, with a superficial bad guy, a passel o’creatures and a simple plot. Rocket science it is not. :-) If you remember the Sailor Moon movies, the Card Captor Sakura movies, or pretty much any magical girl series movies, you know the drill.

Saki and Mai have a big date coming up. They are supposed to be meeting early but Saki, as usual, is running late. Mai wonders if her watch is broken, so she checks at a creepy clock shop. (All clock shops are creepy, really. All that ticking…) When Saki arrives, there’s no Mai, and in the way of such things, they fight about whose responsibility it is that they are now very late.

Out of sorts and out of synch with each other, they arrive very late to the big singing contest they’ve been practicing for. They are allowed in but, as they are in the process of – quite literally – falling on their faces, time stops. The bad guy whisks them into a world where a giant clock has ceased to function, throwing the inhabitants (mostly cute abstract shapes and creatures) into disarray. Our plucky victims who have come to get help are, in fact, the long and short hands of the clock. They are cleverly named Hour and Minutes. ^_^

Saki and Mai transform, but they are still peeved at each other, so their powers are insufficient. They are defeated and separated. Each wanders alone through Dali- and Escher-esque landscapes, worried about the other and rethinking their fight of earlier in the day. They also realize that their hearts have to be open or their powers will not be at maximum. With this revelation, they are reunited to their mutual delight, they defeat the bad guy, restore the clock and are returned to our world where, holding hands and in perfect synch, they sing their hearts out at the contest.

As I say – not rocket science. But there are some genuine positives in this manga. For one thing, Hour and Minutes are more likable than you’d expect. :-) The irritating little fluffballs that are Saki and Mai’s sidekicks are joined by more irritating little fluffballs, but as this is a manga I don’t have to actually *hear* them say “Floppy~!” and “Choppy~!” over and over.

And, most of all, this story is about how much Saki and Mai need each other – not just to be PreCure, but because they, well, *need* each other. They can handle anything, they say confidently, as long as they are together. Right after Mai swears to be together with Saki, forever. Oh, yes. Mai is totally besotted and Saki will be so very surprised the day she kisses her….ok, that’s just in my imagination. lol

Negatives – the utterly stock bad guy turning a raging horse demon thing. I blame Hottie Shinz for the images stuck in my head in reference to anthropomorphic horses. Anyway – that was kinda icky, but PreCure wins with the power of girl’s love, so yay! ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 1

Overall – 7

It is once again my sincere pleasure to thank Okazu Hero Komatsu-san for his sponsorship of today’s review and for this chance to once again remember that for magical girls, their love for each other always saves the day. ^_^





Yuri News This Week – April 4, 2009

April 4th, 2009

Before we start today’s News Report, I just want to thank a few people. The Yuricon site went down last week, due to the sudden disappearance of the server owner. In mere *moments* of my asking for a new temporary space, I had several responses. I was quite overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity. Thank you all.

I also want to thank the past and current owners of Shoujo-ai Archive who have been hosting the Yuricon.org site since 2002. We have now parted ways as far as our sites go, but in every way, I wish them (and they me) the very best of luck. They are very good people, for whom I have nothing but respect and good wishes.

The Yuricon site is, with luck, going to be getting a facelift this year. When it does, I’ll be looking for a new, permanent home. But in the meantime, I want to thank a few folks who are (and have been) tremndous Yuricon heroes.

Thanks to Nora for offering hosting space as a temporary haven, so we can stay up and running!

Thanks to Zyl, Marie, Bruce P and many more of you who have donated to Yuricon. Yuricon has always been a labor of love. Your support is very greatly appreciated.

And thanks to everyone who supports Okazu. I absolutely could not do it without you. You are all my Heroes!

***

And now, turning to today’s news….

It’s 2003 all over again. -_-;

Yuri Anime

Funimation has announced that they are picking up some of Toei’s titles, including one of my very favorite crappy anime ever, Air Master, Digimon Adventure 02 and Pretty Cure as well, for release here on the Funimation digital channel and also, hopefully, on DVD. If you were a Yuri fan about 5 years ago, you remember when Toei decided to enter the American anime DVD market, then proceeded to ignore everyone’s advice. Click the “Air Master” right-hand sidebar for the reviews of those misbegotten DVDs. I know it’s a piece of shit, but I adore Air Master and think that the OP is the single best anime theme ever. (I also am keeping my fingers crossed for Funi getting the third season of Digimon because that rocked the house. And my wife wants to mention that she *also* liked Air Master and, as we so rarely agree about anime, this is quite notable! lol)

The Queen’s Blade anime began this week, and I was amazed at how much more horrible it was than the manga. The manga is fetishy, low and crass. The anime is filth. Once again, Japanese otaku culture provides us with only the best in women’s crotch views. The Yuri is of the unrequited sister love variety, so I’ll see how far I get before giving in altogether.

senbei is pleased to report that the Season 4 DVDs for Marimite have “Maria-sama ni ha Naisho” extras, as did the previous three seasons.

***

Yuri Manga

Yen Plus has divulged that they have picked up the Azumanga Daioh manga and are going to do it right this time. Azumanga was one of ADVs first forays into manga and while their intentions were good, it was at the very cusp of the days when names were changed and “localization” meant pretending the characters weren’t Japanese at all. I had skimmed Volume 1 in the bookstore, and never even looked at the rest, although I have been repeatedly assured that the manga treatment got better, if not actually good. It’ll be great to see it done by Yen.

Yuri Monogatari 6 hits the shelves this week! Look at all the news here today and think about this – hideously gigantic breasts, women who walk into the room crotch first, schoolgirls, sisters in love. Is *this* really what you want from your Yuri? It is not what I want. YM6 is the only Yuri publication out there that protrays women in love with woman, actual stories of lesbian life and love. Fight back against the fetishism, the plain old…yuck…of it all and get YM6 today!

***

Snatches of Yuri

Okazu Superhero Dan P. cheerfully pointed out Ghost Talker’s Daydream 3 as a series with a “ill-fated” lesbian love triangle, and a plot that will make me cry. It appears to be an “sexy” version of TV’s Ghost Whisperer…or something. Sounds dreadful. We’ll see how it goes. lol

Several people have noted that the advent of Candy Boy has catapulted sister love back into the height of popularity. Bearing in mind that it also presents the least threat to men, because of course, a girl can love her sister forever, but she’ll still have to get married and have babies, because that is what one does – plus there’s always the chance that the guy reading this will get to do those hot bottle-blonde, siliconed twins, you know, as long as his credit card is good, making it an appealing fantasy space for “Yuri.” (Which is exactly why it does not appeal at all to me.) In honor of this trend, which I hope soon will move on and go about it’s business, the rest of today’s “Snatches” are Yuri-cest. Skip them if that kink does not appeal.

I will not be getting any of these, but if *you* are, please feel free to send us a review. I am actually ready, willing and able to post reviews of things I might not personally like – especially if you *do* like them. I am not looking for reviews of scanlations. Please only contact me if you are reviewing a manga you have purchased.

A series that I will likely not be trying, but hope one of you will is Chiisana Wakusei Chiisana Hanashi. It’s very love-love sisters. Fans of Kokoro Library will probably like it lots.

Eru Eru Sister is another series getting rave reviews from the Yuricest crowd.

And, another for the same crowd is Smile Sweet.

And another. Be- Twins. Because too much of a thing is never enough.

Again, if you read any of these, please feel free to review them for us. You do not have to “defend” your like of them – just provide an honest review. Email me for details on my preferred formats.

***

And there is your week in Yuri for April 4, 2003.





Maria Watches Over Us Anime: Season 3, Volume 1

April 2nd, 2009

The day my Season 3 Box Set of Maria Watches Over Us arrived I, like many of you, immediately opened box the looking for the third of the three phone straps. Once the Yellow Rose was safely attached to my phone, I was able to turn my attention to the DVDs themselves.

Volume 1 consists of “Vacation of the Lambs” and “Operation OK (Temp) For Short.”

Let me set the scene for you. “Rainy Blue” is over. Yumi has learned the truth of Sachiko’s distance from her, that she was in denial and grieving over her dying grandmother. Yumi has ceased her wide-eyed adoration of her Onee-sama as something perfect and “over there” and is starting to see her as a human being.

In this third season, Yumi’s begun to relate to Sachiko as an equal. The two of them are slowly rebuilding their relationship which had been strained to near-breaking. Yumi is beginning to assert herself, Sachiko is beginning to take herself less seriously, and to rely on Yumi more. It’s slow going for both of them.

In “Vacation” Sachiko invites Yumi to her summer house. It’s not the smoothest vacation ever. Yumi’s still bruised from “Rainy Blue,” and isn’t really sure of herself. She’s never really thought Sachiko’s life through – about the politics involved with her status, or the people around her. Sachiko has never really had a companion, she’s used to being the sole child in the company of adults. She’s also still a little idealistic about the nature of the soeur relationship and forgets, from time to time, that it comes with no magic powers of comprehension.

However. Yumi and Sachiko awkwardly get past all this and at the end of “Vacation” are indubitably closer that ever before. This story is the last one that will ever feature a low-self-esteem Yumi. This story is *the* turning point in the entire series. This story is the beginning of Yumi becoming Rosa Chinensis. “Vacation” is a beautiful story, with some lovely romantic moments.

“Operation OK” is the first time we really see the Yumi and Sachiko we’ve always wanted to see. Yumi is made responsible for the plan to acquaint Sachiko with their decidely male counterparts of Hanadera Academy. I found this particular story gut-bustingly funny, for any number of reasons. When Yumi caves and tells Sachiko what is planned, it is not weakness, as it appears to be, but Yumi’s unerring ability to manage Sachiko, that has finally borne fruit.

The scene where the Yamayurikai finally meets the Hanadera Student Council never fails to make me laugh out loud. The look on the Rosa’s faces as they gaze up…and up…at the Yakushiji twins, the memory of Noriko’s “ham” notation for Takada (left out of the anime, but it still makes me laugh when Takada flexes) and the Yumi/Yuuki comedy duo and Yoshino’s zinger.

This volume is quite possibly the most “important” in the series. If you are (and I am) watching this series to see how the characters mature and develop, then you really should take a second and just lovingly watch this volume. Take time to enjoy the details, the higher-quality art and the wonderfulness that is Fukuzawa Yumi.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 3
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Now, while I applaud Right Stuf in their efforts to fill my house with even more crap, this box set sadly fell very short of the good crap I got from the Collector’s edition from Japan for these two episodes. I wonder if it will ever *be* possible to throw $90 away just to get pressed leaf bookmarks, White Rose Family themed faux-leather book covers, Yumi’s hair ribbons, embossed paper coasters and limited edition postcards. I dream of that day.