Archive for the Series Category


Yuri News This Week – January 24, 2009

January 24th, 2009

Yuri Manga

Katherine wants you to know that Chapter 22 of Franken Fran has some old school horror Yuri for those of you who like that kind of thing. It was, IMHO very Black Jack meets Nightmare Before Christmas. Or maybe Ray. Interesting and worth a look, anyway.

Don’t forget to order your copy of Yuri Hime Wildrose 3, the newest anthology of softcore Yuri from Ichijinsha. It’s all nice and fine to read scans but remember, those don’t pay the bills. If you love Yuri, buy Yuri.

I’ve been asked by a number of people what the heck happened to some of the most recently released Yuri manga – Strawberry Shake Sweet 2, Hayate x Blade 9, Otome Kikan Greteland some others popped up on Amazon JP and just as quickly disappeared. It looks as if it was merely a case of popularity. All of them were relisted with a waiting period of 4-5 weeks, so clearly there were either distribution issues or they just plain sold out. I’m thinking it was the latter, personally.

Which leads me to today’s….

Snatches of Yuri

One of the other series to come and go quickly on Amazon JP is the Yuri-ful Gokujou. I haven’t the vaguest clue what it actually is about, except that it is ero and about the student council at a girls school – something that has never been done before. lol I’ll let you know more about it after I read it. It’s not back up for sale yet, but I expect to see it back soon – I’ll add a link then.

Panna Kiss is a moe Yuri manga about Nanako, who works at a bread shop and is at least marginally in love with her coworker. It looks to be all the same old-same old rehashed with plenty of maid outfit/bathing suit service, so if the most typical service-y tropes are your faves, this looks to be perfect.

Manatsu Labyrinth is about love among three girls in a girls school. Totally new territory, I know. ;-)

And lastly for today, we have Dorobo no Meijin, a Light Novel which appears to be written as a retrospective of a Yuri love in her youth by a woman who is now an adult.

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Yuri Anime

This anime season and the next look pretty thin on Yuri. We’ve got Marimite for a little while longer, at least.

And this week, the first episode of Ichigo Mashimaro Encore went live.

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We’ll wrap it up here for today, because I really need to go eat something.

See you next week for more Yuri News!





Yuri Anime: Strawberry Panic, Volume 5 (English)

January 15th, 2009

Strawberry Panic (ストロベリー・パニック!) Volume 5 reminds us that it is incredibly important to not write climactic moments of a series while drinking. In the sober light of day, that so-dramatic bout of selective amnesia seems a bit silly, and the thrilling tennis match between two popular contenders for the throne becomes an immensely mockable cross-fandom moment.

Volume 5 finds us on the doorstep of the climaxes of all of the many complications built up throughout the series. Nagisa and Shizuma are separated physically, their hearts still connected by love; Hikari and Amane so close to being together when an accident tears them apart…and all the other characters floating around affected by these four and unable to do much more than ameliorate their discomfort.

And the most important crisis, when Momomi and Kaname suffer an epic breakup. With slap.

The end of the volume is as melodramatically happy as the beginning is melodramatically tragic, and in the end, the girls all get their girls (with actual sex for the least likely couple,) except for Yaya, who sublimates her desire into torturing Tsubomi and Tamao who, like her namesake from Card Captor Sakura, will probably become a career alcoholic. ^_^

My sincere, sincere thanks to Media Blasters who really notched up their skills for this series and brought out the best possible version of this that we could have hoped – heck, brought it out at all, because what were the chances really, of this series being licensed? I hope that, if you think of yourself as a Yuri fan – and espcially if you say you love this series – you will buy it and let Media Blasters know that you will support their choice to bring Yuri series out on DVD.

Looking back at Strawberry Panic, I think that if I stick with Volume 3 and Volume 5, I’ll come close to finding a comfortable place for this series in my heart. I’ll never buy into the melodrama, but I can definitely enjoy the comedy. In conclusion, for what is likely to be the last post I ever write on this series, I stand by what I said originally said: SP is not a diamond in the rough, but let us call it an attractive riverstone, washed suprisingly clean and shiny by the many, many, MANY tons of water that has flowed downstream from clearer and cleaner sources. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – 10
Service – 6

Overall – 8

I’m left with two thoughts. One – Amane’s amnesia seemed to go on for much longer than two episodes. And, two, I am once again reminded that Percival the stuffed bear might well be the most intelligent creature on Astrea Hill.





Ichigo Mashimaro Drama CD, Volume 5

January 6th, 2009

What does it say about my grasp of Japanese that I understand *more* when the characters get weirder? In the fifth Ichigo Mashimaro (苺ましまろ) Drama CD (available from both Amazon.co.jp and Amazon.com), our characters spend a great deal of time being weird.

Early on Chika creates a kind of mental TV channel out of their sitting around playing make-believe on which shows are played out during the rest of the DCD. These range from Nobue’s creation of a drama to an epic samurai story, in which Ana plays the female samurai who protects a miserable Matsuri, to at least two bathhouse scenes that I can think of, to randomly abusing Matsuri, because she’s very easy to abuse.

Chika spends most of the CD wondering how the hell she got here, although she plays along just fine with whatever ridiculous scenario Miu or Nobue has concocted, Nobue alternately attempts to be kind of cool and pervs after Ana and sort of half abuses, half protects Matsuri and, of course, the ringmaster of 80% of the madness is Miu. Matsuri spends the entire CD whining with occasional bonus sniveling.

As I said in the opening line, the weirder it all got, the more I followed it. When they all sit around just goofing, the language was mostly beyond my ability to follow. When they suddenly decide to do a Taiga drama, oh, *then* I have no trouble following – and heaven help me, when they are in the bath it’s all plain as day. Time to stab myself in the ears.

Ratings:

Story – There was a story?
Characters – 8 for everyone, especially Ana who really stood up to Nobue as gang boss and Miu as Miu, 2 for Matsuri who was wayyyy more annoying that usual.
Yuri – 5
Service- let’s see, 4 for each bath scene, 4 for Nobue perving, and an extra 4 for anything I missed, for a total of 20

Overall – 8

Today’s review was sponsored by the always fabulous Ana M., and my sincere thanks to her and all the Okazu heros out there!





New Anime Season Winter 2009: Maria-sama ga Miteru Season 4

January 4th, 2009

What a terrific way to start off a new year, with a new season of Maria-sama ga Miteru (マリア様がみてる). We pick up the story almost exactly a year after it began, as the school festival approaches.

Suffice to say that the pace of the anime is much, much quicker than the novels – which worked fine for the first two TV series seasons and works perfectly well again for the fourth season. (I was informed in the past by a Japanese friend that the hyper fast pace was chosen deliberately to avoid the slow crawl of most shoujo anime.)

So, in this single episode, we cover the choice and casting of the Yamayurikai’s play for the school festival, Touko’s difficulties with the Drama Club *and* the beginnings of Kanako’s crisis and resolution (which appear to be the bulk of the next episode.) All done with a snappy pace, cheerful tone and a few small, inconsequential changes to lighten the feel of the story. A nice start to what is going to be a very fun season, I think.

But what’s got everyone talking, of course, is the opening and ending sequences. And rightfully so! Instead of the elegant and staid “Pastel Pure,” the new opening theme is a happy pop song. The animation sequence is whimsical in the extreme, as Yumi, Yoshino and Shimako quite literally run and dance their way through Lillian using a magic portal. They appear and disappear to invite their friends to meet them at the Rose Mansion. Of course, fans being fans, many fans will HATE this. Mostly because it’s different and different things are never as good as the things I remember, even if I didn’t like them at the time. lol I liked it – it was a different kind of service – a look into the fantasy characters portrayed in so many doujinshi. Yes, I think I would have preferred Pastel Pure, but I’ll take this for what it is. My wife commented drily, as Rei watched the three second-years skip their way through the dojo, “Oh look, they found the magic items the Rosas get.” ^_^ (Wait, she’s got a couple other good lines to come.)

Now we’ll turn our lascivious eyes to the end sequence. In case you are living under a rock, let me warn you that the Yuri isn’t terribly subtle among fans of Marimite. (Massive understatement) And the end sequence of the third season wasn’t all that subtle, either. This season throws subtle into the trash compactor and pulls out a load of steamy pictures for our enjoyment. Click on the pics to get larger versions.

Did you know that, in art, when women have no clothes on, they are referred to as being “nude” and when men have no clothes on, they are “naked”? It’s just a interesting piece of art terminology, I thought I’d share. Oh, and by the way, Yumi and Sachiko appear to be “nude.”

 

 

Absolutely my favorite picture of the bunch. I’ve said it before, Rei and Yoshino are my favorite couple. I just adore sexy pics of them. And sexy stories. And funny stories. And all the Rei x Yoshino doujinshi by Bonny Bonnie. Hell, I just really like them as a couple.

 

 

 

 

 

You may have noticed the hideously unsubtle spoilers in the opening and ending. Or you weren’t paying attention (like the person I saw comment that they hoped Youko would appear in the next episode, when she appears at least two times in the next episode preview.) Touko and Yumi are also “nude.” Not naked. ;-)

 

 

 

 

This shot was my favorite, because my second favorite couple among the Yamayurikai are Shimako x Noriko, until the wife took a look at it and said, “I think I see the blue crayon!” Ruined it for me forever. LOL

So this ending kind of answered the question I’ve had forever – what does Konno Oyuki think of all that Yuri-service between her pure and innocent characters? Remembering that Konno was the supervisor for this series and actually had the right to pass or reject concepts for this season, my wife said, “I’m Konno Oyuki, and I approved this Yuri.”

And there you have it. Final words on the first episode of what should be a spectacular season. (I can say that – I know what’s coming!)





My-HiME Manga, Volume 1 (English)

December 30th, 2008

In Volume 1 of My Hime, strange things are afoot at Fuka Academy. Monsters are appearing, girls with magical powers are fighting…and all of it seems to surround one boy, a transfer student by the name of Yuuichro Tate.

Tate is trying to redeem himself after a series of unavoidable choices caused tragedy to both him and the girl who admired him most. Instead of redemption, Tate finds himself in the middle of a storm, in which exceptional girls with exceptional powers want him to provide them with the means to fight.

Unlike the My HiME anime, this story is not about Mai, or Natsuki, or Mikoto. And unlike the anime, the service here has a nasty edge. Welcome to Champion Red and it’s special brand of woman-hating seinen manga. Despite the fact that you can expect to see woman depantsed, and deshirted with steady frequency, and the occasional rape thrown in for good measure, there are still some things to like about My Hime. The story is similar enough to the anime, that you can at least follow it,and there’s no Duke Nagi putting women in chains and beating them, for one thing. But that’s not what I was referring to. What I was referring to, of course, is…the Yuri service.

Shizuru remains a decidely Yuri character, with fangirls falling over themselves to be close to her. She also remains eyes only for Natsuki, so if that’s a key feature of the My/Mai franchise for you, then rest assured. The implied frottage between Mikoto and Mai is of questionable value to me, but I think that for this manga’s audience it’s spot on for appeal.

And despite the fact that this manga series is not about any of the many interesting characters in My HiME, instead focusing on the least interesting character in the known universe, it’s really quite all right for a trashy fantasy about trashy fantasy. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 2
Service – 7

Overall – 6

Speaking of fangirls, I am a huge fangirl for today’s sponsor, Okazu superhero Ana M! She is the absolute bomb! And btw, please notice the spiffy new “Hero Roll” on the right sidebar. Become an Okazu superhero by sponsoring a review and you too can be enshrined there for our permanent admiration.