Archive for the Series Category


This Week in Yuri – July 19, 2008

July 19th, 2008

This week, we once again start off with a retraction of a news item from last week. :-)

Yuri Anime

ADV says that Best Student Council DVDs are *not* on the discontinued list – and in fact, fans should keep their eye out for a thinpack, coming soon. Thanks for this news item goes out to Eric P., who is always vigilantly scanning the wide world of news for us. :-)

Right Stuf announced that the trailer for Aria is up on their Aria website.

Coming any day now are the first episode of the Shoujo Sect anime and the second episode of Mai HiME 0 ~ S.ifr, finally.

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Snatches of Yuri

The new Koihime Musou anime is full of service-y Yuri goodness. I’m told that it reads like a parody to people with a brain cell, so I have no doubt that when I finally get to watch it and say, “gee, it’s a parody” I’ll be called all *sorts* of names. ^_^

And over on the manga side of the equation, if Candy Boy is relevant to your interests, you’ll probably want to keep an eye out for L16 the touching story of two sisters – not twins this time – who love each other very, very, *very* much.

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Yuri Manga

Well, all the Yuri Hime books that were slated to hit the shelves yesterday have, and I’m already being asked about YH Wildrose 2 which I will review when I actually *get* it. ^_^

And speaking of reviews – while my Japanese is nowhere it needs to be for me to mirror Okazu in Japan, I have begun to do short mini-reviews on my mixi page. If you are Japanese, or know someone in Japan who would like to read these reviews, here is my mixi profile. I’m glad to give referrals to anyone, but unless you have a Japanese cell email address, they won’t allow you in now (ostensibly to “protect” mixi members, but it’s a measure that seems awfully xenophobic to many.) In any case, if you know someone in Japan looking for short one or two-line reviews on Yuri manga and novels, pass it along.

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Other Yuri News

In totally other news, Rica Takashima sent me this link to Sparkling Rain: And Other Fiction from Japan of Women Who Love Women. To quote from the advertising copy: “This collection features an historical perspective on lesbian literature and activism in Japan as well as erotic poetry, a movie screenplay, science fiction with a queer twist, classic love stories, humor and more.” I will definitely be getting it and let you know how it is. :-)

Just in case you missed this – we’re did an Okazu Reader’s Survey. It was ten short questions, very painless. So far only two result sets have differed from my expectations. The poll is now closed – I’ll report results whenever I have a chance. :-) Thanks to everyone who took it!

Oh – and not Yuri, but dammit, I don’t care. Seirei no Moribito will be on Cartoon Network, Media Blasters will be releasing the anime, and the novels are being published by Scholastic. (Yay!) I think Balsa is the absolute bomb – practically the definition of gar. So if you haven’t seen what was the *actual* Best Anime of 2007, do. This was an amazing anime. Everything about it – story, acting, characters, art, music, everything, was stellar. I can’t wait to buy it – and if MB screws up the subtitles with typos, I’ll personally see to it that they have permanent scars to remind them why to not do that.

Thanks to Anonymous for reminding me that today is International Femmeslash Day!. In honor of which I offer up to your reading pleasure any of the stories on my fiction and fanfic site, “Worldshaking” Fanfic. I actually have a brand new story to go up there shortly, but it won’t get posted for another day or so. :-)

And once again, I thank Komatsu-san for his insightful comments and thoughts regarding Shoujoai ni Bouken on his blog, Ultimo Spalpeen. (In Japanese.) His kind words make me very happy and his insights were very valuable to me. Thank you Komatsu-san! ^_^

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That seems to be it. I feel like there’s something I’m forgetting. Oh well. There’s always next week. :-) Thanks to everyone for reading – and special thanks to those of you who send me news items – you can email news of interest to anilesbocon at hotmail dot com – just type “Yuri News’ in the subject line. Thanks!





Yuri Anime: Simoun, Volume 4 (English)

July 15th, 2008

It’s not uncommon to run across this comment in anime forums in any language, referring to any anime – “It gets better in later episodes.” Whether it’s correct or not is entirely dependent upon whether you *like* whatever literary theme that particular anime is abusing, of course. lol

If you have been reading my reviews of Simoun here, you will know that I thought it was pretty breathtaking right out of the gate, but indeed, it also gets better in later episodes. I know that there are many fans of the series who consider Volume 4 to be the pinnacle of achievement.

However…I have a dilemma. In order to talk to you about this particular volume coherently, I will need to spoil it. I don’t want to do that, but there’s no way to get around it. I’ll do it as gently as I can.

In Volume 4, several major themes are coming together and landing directly on the heads of the priestesses of Chor Tempest:

One – their theocracy and the government based on it is weak, corrupt and foolish.

Secondly, the lies that government is seeking to hide might well have saved them all, if they had chosen to investigate rather than avoid it for fear of proving themselves wrong.

Thirdly, the ultimate sacrifice of one of the Tempest members not only is one of the most beautiful things about the series, but serves to highlight much of what is wrong with their society.

The result is that as a team, Chor Tempest slowly pulls together – not to fight the war for their country, but to survive – and transcend – it for themselves.

In the middle of everything going on, Aeru and Neviril start to bond in a natural and real way for the first time. It looks good on them.

And last, we see the result of an Emerald Rimaajon. Despite the fact that we are told what to expect – it’s still nothing we could *ever* have expected. lol

Oh, wait, no, this is last – if you haven’t yet started to think there’s a thing between Anubituf and Guragief, you will in this volume. :-)

Once again, I’m pleased to say that the Media Blasters team did a great job, so no technical issues marred my enjoyment of the volume. And the video extra, this time with the voice actresses for Roatreamon, Mamina and Yun was, by far and away, the most natural and enjoyable of the series to date. And thanks too, to the good folks at MB for this review copy of awesome.

A fabulous volume of a fabulous series.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 7 (a point off, because several of them are still wallowing in issues that we thought were, and should have been, previously resolved.)
Yuri – 4
Service – 5 (we spend an awful lot of time in the showers, don’t we?)

Overall – 8

I pretty much held my breath through this entire volume. It’s simply magnificent.





Drama CD: Hayate x Blade, Volume 3

July 11th, 2008

At last, we have another chance to wallow in the company of the competely dysfunctional students of Tenchi Academy, in Hayate x Blade Drama CD, Volume 3.

And wallow we do, as amusing dysfunctions are paraded past our bemused ears, in this collection of 6 unrelated, original stories that showcase a remarkably large cast.

In the first track, Ayana’s room is filled to breaking point when pretty much every character ever mentioned in the manga shows up and crowds in….including all 80 of Akira’s fan club, the A-team.

We follow Mizuchi and Sou on a shopping trip to town, so Mizuchi can shed her old lady image – an objective that seems to be working until someone calls them mother and child.

Jun visits Yuho for the usual touching moments, then – wait for it – the Amachi conglomerate’s helicopter comes to pick her up. Yes! Tenchi Gakuen *also* has a private helicopter! Isn’t that wonderful? Now I have three helicopters in my Yuri army air division! LOL In return for the visit, Yuho sends Jun inedible cookies to give to everyone. Listening to Ayana trying to bite into the cookies was funny enough to make me laugh out loud.

Momoko has a weakness and in track 4 we learn what it is – she really, really, really, hates bamboo shoots. Kiji hypnotizes her into pretending that they are shiitake mushrooms, which she loves, but of course there are unintended consequences. And Kiji and Moka are renewed in their mutal hatred…and the awesome otokoyaku slash affair that doujinshi artists love so much gets new fodder.

The last track spends time with the remaining white-uniformed council members as they end up torturing Kureha, because they can. ^_^

For the cast credits, the theme picked by Tatewaki is ditched in favor for the theme chosen by the fans – who would you pick for your shinyuu? It will comes as no surprise that many of the actresses picked the character that is their character’s shinyuu, but notably, several other actresses pick Akira – not just Sae’s seiyuu, Itou Shizuka (Rei, from Marimite, Nadie from El Cazador.)

Despite this, there is little Yuri in this volume, which is really okay, because all the couples are well-established in our heads now and it almost seems silly to beat the concept to death. Kiji and Momoka’s hate/love thing was clearly fanservice of Yuri proportions.

This drama CD was significantly longer than most of the others I have – closer to an hour, than the usual 45 minutes. And it was all original stories, which was extra nice. You know how I love having more time to spend with the characters. And for physical extras, the insert booklet has an original short manga by Hayashiya-sensei, special for this Drama CD.

The *only* downside to the whole thing is something that you simply can’t really get past – the cast is now so HUGE, that there’s not enough time to spend with everyone, and although pretty much every character makes an appearance, that’s about all they do – make an appearance. The vignettes worked well to counteract this, because they each followed 2-8 characters (except the first, which quite literally shoved everyone in) so we got to spend at least that much time with those characters, semi-exclusively. ^_^

Ratings:

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

Overall – 9

A great addition to what is the most unique and interesting manga series, (while of course actually being completely generic and derivative ^_^) currently running.

Oh, and I would definitely pick Ayana as my shinyuu – she’s competent, nasty *and* violent. She’s practically perfect. ^_^How about you?





My Zhime (My Otome) Anime, Volume 4 (English)

July 10th, 2008

Welcome to Volume 4 of My Otome, the straightest volume of this otherwise quite gay series. (Don’t worry, it gets gay again later.)

Before I forget (which I am often wont to do,) thanks go out to Eric P. for his kindness in sponsoring today’s review!

So, in Volume 4, we spend most of the volume following Arika, who is suffering from a nasty (and I mean that both ways) case of lovesick. In other scenes, the Federation begins to crack and several of the countries start to gear up for war. The worst possible thing occurs and two Meisters are ordered to fight.

Also in this volume we finally see that Tomoe has been the viper in the nest all along, as she sets Arika up to be attacked and throws Miya under the bus for it. We also get the first, brief, glimpse of her evil gayness, but it’s only a hint at the moment.

Speaking of gay, Shizuru leaves and we don’t get a tearful scene between her and Natsuki, just a quiet moment of regret which speaks volumes about the trust and intimacy between the two of them, but is just not gay enough to make us happy.

And, just as Mashiro is unveiling her new castle on graduation day at Garderobe, the entire story is turned on its head and war breaks out. Windbloom is invaded.

As usual, we’re really not paying attention to that plot stuff. We’re watching things like Nina’s obsession with hot sauce, Erstin’s snuggle deficiency, and Akane and Kazu’s deep abiding love for one another that practically brings their countries to the brink of conflict – off scene, because no one cares about their countries anyway. However, their story, with its fabulous Graduate-style climax continues in the most amusing extra to date, in which the two lovebirds are interruptus pre-coitus, to preserve both Kazu’s country and Akane’s Meister-dom. I couldn’t stop laughing when I noticed that the motel sign read:

Villa Motel

In Room Coffee
Cable-HQQ-Phone

*Someone’s* been driving the roads of America. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 7
Story – 8
Yuri – 1
Service – 4

Overall – 7

If, for some reason, you *are* following the plot, this is an excellent volume.





Yuri Anime: Kaleido Star, Volume 3 (English)

July 7th, 2008

Yuri fans hit paydirt with Volume 3 of Kaleido Star, in which Layla suddenly comes to the conclusion that Sora is her important partner. (Finally!) And we get to spend moments here and there noticing that Anna is acutally quite hunky and cool and that Mia is besotted, although more of that will come later. lol

We start the volume with a little time wallowing in Anna’s backstory, then we spend not nearly enough time as Layla and Sora bond over their “Amazingly Hot New Production” (the amusing title of the episode) – in which they star as pirates fighting in a storm, while the ship/swing bursts into flame below them. Seriously, if you do not want to see *that* you are clearly beyond help.

To cap off the volume, we get a painful episode where we learn that Carlos is in love with Sara, even though he treats her like crap (ah, beautiful Japanese-style heterosexual love.)

Nothing against the straights, but, I’m sticking with Sora and Layla fighting with swords on a swinging, burning pirate ship. Are you with me? Yar!

Rating:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 2
Service (oh yes, less Fool for a change, too) – 3

Overall – 8

This volume is one of those moments where you remember why you’re watching this stuff in the first place. ^_^ And it’s all due to the kindness and generosity of Ted the Awesome that I was once again able to wallow in the Yuri goodness that is Layla and Sora. Ted, you are indeed Awesome. ^_^