Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Anime: Strawberry Panic, Volume 4 (English)

November 19th, 2008

Way back, I read a book whose entire plot revolved around the fact that the two main characters did not communicate with each other in any meaningful way. Take that same story and transport it to Astrea Hill and you’ve basically got the plot of Volume 4 of Strawberry Panic.

In this volume, Nagisa finally learns the whole story about Shizuma’s past. But instead of the truth freeing her, she decides that she can’t live up to the perfection of Shizuma’s lost partner. The truth, instead of bringing them together, drives an enormous wedge between them.

In the wake of the flashbacks and intense emotional loss, the only character other than Shizuma and Nagisa who gets a piece of the action is Miyuki – who has to face the loss of not one, but *two* objects of affection. Everyone else in the story is relegated to background noise while we watch the tension build between the main pair.

Nonetheless, this volume is plenty Yuriful. We learn that even if Shizuma didn’t *love* Kaori, her feelings at least included physical attraction. (I’m never going to stop thinking that making love outside is not, perhaps, the best choice for the terminally ill.) There’s Shizuma’s hurtful – but brutally truthful – kiss with Miyuki. And, of course, we get to enjoy the bathtub playtime of our resident EPLs, Kaname and Momomi.

But most of all, this volume is filled with fraughtness and tension as we wade through the high emotion and drama that makes up Shizuma’s backstory. We then watch Nagisa put herself, Shizuma, Tamao, Miyuki and her fan club through hell as she wallows knee-deep in some good, old-fashioned self-pity.

*This* is the volume that all the fans who consider this series to be a beautiful romance are thinking of. It has all the classic memes of a million gothic romances, but as the storm howls around Shizuma and Nagisa at the summer house, I prefer to think this series is the direct descendant of that fateful scene from Cream Lemon Escalation at Naomi’s summer house – at which Rie learns the even more shocking truth about her beloved Naomi. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 5

Overall – 8

Once again, my sincere thanks to that collective of Okazu superheroes, Media Blasters, for this volume and for being a fabulous bunch of people. And once again, I didn’t notice anything especially annoying with their adaptation, other than the continuing lack of “onee-sama” as an honorific. ^_^ It’s nice to be able to put a MB DVD in the player and know that neither the translation nor subtitles will subtract from the experience. Keep up the good work!





Yuri News This Week – November 15, 2008

November 15th, 2008

Away we go!

Yuri Anime

Mediaworks has announced a Strawberry Panic anime box set in Japan. It’s not out of the pale to think that we might see one for the English release as well one day.

Right Stuff has announced a slightly delayed release date for the second season box set of Maria Watches over Us. Now it’s slated to hit the streets on December 9, 2008. And they’ve given us an initial release date of February 24, 2009 for the third season, the OAV box set!

Katherine shares news about an upcoming anime called Queen’s Blade, which will include women fighting in bikini-like battle armor for the approval of the Queen. (I’m kind of loosely summarizing there, lol). In any case, she thinks we’ll find it relevant to our interests and there’s plenty of Yuri-service for those as who find that good enough. :-)

Winterbraid has weighed in to let folks know that the third volume of El Cazador de la Bruja hit the European market without fanfare – or indeed, without promotion of any kind. I want to take a moment to include some of Winterbraid’s review here, because no only do I sympathize, I think it’s worth reading:

Unfortunately, the release leaves much to be desired. The translation
goes down the toilet right from the start of this volume, and doesn`t
get much better towards the end; I have caught a typo in the polsub that
would for sure give any of my former language teachers a heart attack,
and the characters mostly use language you`d expect from a
half-illiterate person.

[nag]
I don’t get it; Polish is in my opinion one of the most beautiful and
poetry-friendly languages in the world (not that I know that many
languages, mind you ^-^;), yet most translators write as if they`d
stopped their education at elementary school level. (Although I remember
being able to write way better than that in the elementary school.) It
makes me recall a very wise sentence, which says that a person doing
translations doesn`t need to know the language of the original work
perfectly; however, they must excel at the language they are translating
into. Sadly, the majority of translations indicate that the reverse is
more often the case. :/
[/nag]

Gerdub doesn`t fail at life any less than it did previously;
unfortunately, I listened to quite a bit of it, `cause Mplayer went on
strike and VLC switched to gerdub by default on every new track. >_Maybe it`s just me, but even the postcards in this volume seem a bit
weird. The cover is Ellis and Nadie with cat ears, the inside is the bad
guys on one page and Lilio on the other, and the DVD label is E/N in
waitress uniforms;

LOL, we sympathize on those dub issues, Winterbraid!

Winterbraid also wants us to know that the Murder Princess OAV is available in a single box set in Europe. A bit pricey, we’re warned, but hey – it’s all in one.

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Yuri Manga

Silapa is proud to announce that the CoYuHi forums have launched their original Spanish-language Yuri Project manga. Good luck to them!

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Yuri Contests

Just as a reminder, Okazu is holding a special Hayate x Blade contest. Entries will be accepted until November 30, so entertain me and get a copy of HxB for yourself or for a library near you!

Johann writes in to let us know that not only is there a spiffy Maria Watches Over Us poster in this issue of OtakUSA magazine, but they are holding a contest as well! The current giveaway, Johann says, includes two Marimite S1 DVD box sets. Nice.

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Yuri Artbook

Johann also pointed out Flamboyant artbook by Ugestu Hakua, the artist for Burst Angel, (aka Bakuretsu Tenshi,) has been translated and released by DMP. He tells us that the first half of the book is all BA pictures, so if you ever wanted Meg, Jo, Amy and Sei-who–is-not-named-Beth in full color, here’s your chance! Great catch, Johann!

***

I think that’s everything for today. My continued thanks to the folks who write in with tidbits (or, perhaps I should use the British alternative for that?) and news items for us all! Please feel free to send any news you come across of Yuri interest and I’ll share it with everyone. :-)





Yuri News this Week – November 8, 2008

November 8th, 2008

Yuri Anime

Forgot to mention this previously, but the Lyrical Nahoha A’s season boxset pre-order is available for an early 2009 release.

A new ero-fan book has been annouced for the series Ikkitousen. LFs of both genders can marvel at the fact that the female characters of Ikkitousen have genitalia and secondary sexual characteristics, creatively (not realistically) rendered by people who have never actually seen a woman naked. Go fans.

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Live Action

Osama Tezuka’s MW is being made into a live-action movie. It’s clear from the trailer that the creepy remains intact, but whether the relationship between the two male leads will be kept is yet to be revealed (based on the movie description, they’ve taken out the fact that the priest and the kid are lovers.) The chances of getting even a cameo for the one stable, normal, and completely emotionally healthy character in the book – the lesbian newspaper editor – is unlikely, but we can hope. Because her insertion in the story as everything is going to hell was not at all capricious, and sends a powerful message.

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Snatches of Yuri

In the interest of mentioning novels none of us will ever read, Kanjou Kyouiku seems to be more of the same high school love stuff, taking place in a slightly fantasy school setting. In fact, the synopsis made it sound just like the movie Teresa and Isabel (which, if you have not watched, you should. It’s quite nice.) The love is real, but not “real,” I’m betting.

And speaking of fantasy schools, Youkai Gakuenki is about – you guessed it. Girls at a fantasy school. Looks way too moe for me, but the Yuri blog boys in Japan give it top ratings for Yuri. So…expect service. Looks like you’ll like it if you like the whole animal-eared girl thing.

Sugar ha Otoshigoro – instead of moe animal ears, you’re back in the huge breast fetish world. Although I’m prepared to bet that it’s all still schoolgirls. Oh look at that, it is.

***

Okay, that’s enough today. I’m schoolgirled out. When I get home tonight, I’ll have the newest issue of Gunjou so I can stop thinking about “pure” and “innocent” (blecch) love during school years and think about horribly broken, violent adults instead. Phew.





Yuri Manga: Maka-Maka, Volume 1 (English)

November 6th, 2008

I’ve said it before and I’m saying it more these days – “Yuri” stories can be defined as having lesbian content without lesbian identity. Maka-Maka, Volume 1 is pretty much a perfect example of this. There is undoubtedly lesbian content, but it is also made very *very* clear that these two women are not lesbian in any way. Nor are they bi. They are two straight women who happen to enjoy sex with one another. That’s it. Just, “friends with benefits.”

I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed the first volume of this, since it’s been four years since I first reviewed it in Japanese. Each chapter is a simple “Plot, what plot?” type fanfic. “Nene and Jun get naked,” “Nene and Jun feel each other up in the CD store,” “Nene and Jun have sex for some other reason that really doesn’t matter much.” There’s a little character development, and it becomes increasingly clear that the two actually, honestly do care for one another, as the book goes on. But…no, they aren’t a couple. In fact, they are both seeing guys who, we are told repeatedly, pretty much suck as lovers. (I will refrain from making a snarky remark here. Insert one that satisfies your own levels of paranoia about your abilities as a lover.)

The reproduction is stellar. Kitty Media, the adult imprint of Media Blasters, did a fantastic job of bringing this book over here. There’s honestly nothing to complain about. The dual cover, the fold out two-sided poster, the undercover gags, all remain intact. The translation feels right. Nene and June aren’t made to sound “Omg! Rad!” as some feared. They sound like women in college, who have different personalities and issues.

While I’m praising Kitty – and in the interest of disclaimers that might point to bias and or open corruption ^_^ – let me once again thank Frank, who not only shepherded this book so beautifully into English, he gave me the first copies of both volumes off the press. They really do look lovely. Nice job, everyone.

Ratings:
Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 9

Overall – 9

As a tale of two adult women who find comfort in each other’s company, and pleasure in sex with each other, Maka-Maka is a realistic, entertaining “adult” manga.

This would make a great gift for someone looking for something with adult content that isn’t squicky, loli or fetishy.





Aria Anime, Volume 1 (English)

November 4th, 2008

Welcome to the world of Aqua. As the Earth (now know as Manhome) becomes overrun with technology, and barran of life, humankind has spread out onto a terraformed Mars, transforming it into a preserve of culture and life from Earth’s past.

Venice is no longer, but Neo-Venezia stands ready, with beautiful girls taking the place of burly male gondoliers. For one journeyman gondoliera, life is a slow, gentle passage through days of wonder, beauty and friends.

This is the plot, such as it is, of Aria.

Nothing happens, as every reviewer ever has noticed, but it doesn’t happen so lightly, so gently and with such lovely scenery that it’s not like we feel the need to rush. A cup of coffee, maybe an almond pastry and a volume of Aria will do for the afternoon.

In Volume 1, we meet our protagonist Akari of Aria Company and watch as she befriends (in a totally non-Nanoha way) her peer and rival, Himeya’s heir Aika, their mentors, two of the most famed undine of Neo-Venezia, Alicia and Akira, and a young, genius apprentice, Alice. Along with this crowd we meet some of the other people in Akari’s neighborhood, the people she meets each day. And while I am being slightly silly likening this cast to the puppets of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood the feeling of gentle fantasy isn’t all that ridiculously different.

As with all their work, this English subtitled edition from Right Stuf is top notch. The video extra follows the crew around Venice as they tour the world they are recreating. I have never been to Venice, so it was nice to see that some of the more whimsical locations are, in fact, completely real. But this volume does not stay still in one place. We follow Akari as she learns about some of the history of the Aqua planet, and we see that although Venice maybe recreated here, it is not without its own stories of love and loss apart from those of the city that we’re familiar with.

Yuri in Volume 1 is largely in the form of Aika’s crush on Alicia, and my own completely-made-up-with-the-help-of-Yuri-goggles relationship between Akira and Alicia. Yes, I know it’s not real. I don’t care. lol I said it before and I’ll say it again, definitely worth watching. No mecha, no rape, no “Story A,” just nice.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – 3
Service – 1

Overall – 8

My deep, abiding thanks today goes out to Dan P. (We’ll call him “Super Dan” from now on) for sponsoring today’s and so many other day’s reviews. For your support, your kindness, your generosity and your emails that make me laugh, thank you Dan for being an Okazu superhero! To become an Okazu superhero just visit my Yuri Wishlist and purchase anything on it. You’ll gain instant recognition as a hero and the eternal appreciation of the Okazu audience.