Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Manga: First Love Sisters, Volume 1 (English)

January 30th, 2008

Thanks and gratitude go out to Eric P. who sponsored today’s review!

My first encounter with the character and story that would eventually become First Love Sisters, was about 4 years ago, when Yuri Shimai magazine put out the first Koi Shimai Drama CD. At the time, a “Yuri Drama CD” was a pretty rare get and for that alone, I was happy to have it. The story of that first Drama CD – which predates the manga – was, as I put it, “melodramatic and predictable.” But don’t get me wrong – it’s not at all bad. As I mentioned in my review (and history of the series, which had a slightly cubist origin) of the Japanese edition, Hatsukoi Shimai Volume 1, the story is a tad tame, but was still better than a lot of junk out there. :-)

First Love Sisters Volume 1 is pretty much Marimite with the romance made slightly more explicit and characters who are not nearly as 3-dimensional. But you know – it’s still a sweet enough story for what it is. The winner of the series in every version is Chika, for coming right out and saying that she loves Haruna, forcing Haruna’s whole worldview to change. As Yumi clones go, Chika’s a pretty good one. ^_^

Which brings us to the Seven Seas edition of First Love Sisters. As always, they do a fabulous job on translation and adaptation. Little things please me, like Akiko’s usage of “onee-sama” at school and “onee-chan” at home, and the fact that the school’s nickname, Tsunojyo, isn’t lost. (Because, let’s face it, Tsunokamizaka Jyoshikou is a mouthful. ^_^)

Color pages are reproduced in color – always a nice touch. The color is a little anemic and there’s some moire patterns in the background, but it still looks nice. Comparatively to the original Japanese edition, the background tones reproduce a little roughly – in particular, Akiho’s hair looks a little weird. But if you aren’t comparing with Hatsukoi Shimai, then you won’t have to worry. It looks plenty good.

The story is still another “schoolgirls in love” story, but there’s no doubt about the intensity or sincerity of the emotion. And going forward into the next volume, we’ll see that chaste embraces are not the end-all-be-all of this relationship, which is a tremendous relief. (The future volumes of this manga make my fanfic for the series obsolete, but I don’t care at all. ^_^)

The final pages of the book include some 4-panel comics, that were originally under the dustcover, a preview of volume 2 (Touko-sensei!) and a nice little preview of the English-language edition of Voiceful, another Yuri Hime collection.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 8
Series – 0

Overall – 7

As the first of Seven Seas’ adaptations of a Yuri Hime collection for their Strawberry imprint, and with their continued quality in translation and reproduction, I definitely recommend First Love Sisters for folks looking for decent Yuri.





Gunsmith Cats Burst Manga, Volume 4

January 28th, 2008

I know I’ve said it before, but I adore evil, psychotic lesbians. Maybe because most real lesbians are so damn *bland* and want to “help” and for people to “be nice.” Makes me want to spit. Pah. No, give me a EPL with a weapon and no morals, and I’m a happy Erica.

So, when I saw the cover of Gunsmith Cats Burst Volume 4, I leapt (gracefully, of course) across the store shouting, “Wahoo! Goldie! Yippee!” or something equally as befitting my status as an adult.

In GSC 4, Rally is approached by Dennis – you remember Dennis, don’t you? Goldie’s devoted henchman? Dennis has a problem and he thinks that Rally may well be the only one to help him with it. If you recall, when Goldie died so tragically, so young, she had been injected with her own ridiculous drug. And of course, she didn’t *really* die. She and Dennis just plunged off a unfinished road into the water. But we didn’t ever see the bodies – so you know what means in manga-land. No bodies – no deaths. And even if you see the bodies, they probably still aren’t dead.

So Goldie is alive, but has no memory. And Dennis thinks that Rally, as the person who most captivated Goldie’s thoughts, the person she obsessed about, would be the one person who could stimulate those memories. And stimulate is exactly the right word. Anyone who read the original volume of GSC will remember that a huge chunk of Goldie’s time was taken up by turning Rally into an obedient sex slave.

Of course nothing is simple, and while Goldie is hosting Rally and Misty, another group of gun-bearing thugs attack. Lots of shooting and explosions and Misty running around pantsless and other important things happen.

Does Goldie get her memory back? What do you think? Those were some good memories…  ^_^

Goldie gets her freak back on, and Dennis continues to be devoted and…the end.

Yuri is mostly recovered memories, but there is one cute maid that Misty hits up (with positive results until a grenade sort of puts a buzzkill on that.) And of course both Goldie and Rally’s memories of those good times they had in the past. But, now that Goldie’s back in the saddle, I can hope that some day she’ll return to kidnap and drug Rally again. In the meantime, when Dark Horse gets this volume out in English, get it!

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 3 Good times, good times.
Service – 5

Overall – 8

Goldie’s back! Yay!!





Yuri Manga: Applause, Volume 4

January 27th, 2008

Applause is, you may remember, an old-school Yuri manga from the 90s. I have reviewed volumes 1, 2 and 3 previously, so to catch up the story, go back and scan those.

As Applause Volume 4 opens, “Modern Dancer,” the hit Broadway show starring Shelle and Shara, is a mega-hit. With every performance, they pour their heart and emotions out onto the stage, captivating audiences. But afterwards, their relationship is building to a crisis. Shara cannot stand the double life that Shelle wants. Isn’t enough, Shelle asks, to have our life together in our house on the beach, and be the professionals everyone expects on stage? NO, Shara emphatically says.

Georges appears to “congratulate” Shara with a kiss, but is slapped and sent packing.

At the shore house, Shara asks a question of her own of Shelle – why can’t you just be the Junaque I fell in love with? But Shelle yells at her to shut up – she hates “that woman” and in her mind, the person who was Junaque is dead.

And every night, Shara and Shelle work out their emotions through their dance.

While Shelle’s mother shows up, invited by Georges, to pressure her to marry him, Shara talks to John about his lover Chris’s illness, which is clearly AIDS. Georges tries to force Shelle to sleep with him. She goes completely passive and refuses to look at him. He stops himself before it becomes rape and leaves Shelle, telling her that any next move has to come from her.

Shelle and her mother have a knockdown, dragout fight about her future. As Shelle wrestles with a complete breakdown, Shara appears. They embrace each other desperately in front of Shelle’s mother, who is not pleased at all when she realizes the truth. Shara tells everyone to get out of her way, then leads Shelle out of the house. Their performance that night is spectacular.

Alfie tries to reach Shara, but she and Shelle are spending the night in the shore house. They wake to find the sun rising, and they express their love for one another as the sun greets them. Later that day, Georges goes looking for them – they can’t be found anywhere. Terrified, he heads out to the marina where he takes a speedboat out to look for them. Sure enough, he finds his sailboat adrift on the water and neither Shara nor Shelle to be found anywhere.

Georges accepts the Tony Award on behalf of Shelle, and (though obviously in pain) tells the audience that the show will go on. He flies back to Belgium immediately.

Alfie and Fred attend Chris’s funeral and wonder what happened to Shara.

Our last image is that of a rowboat, with unattributed conversation around it. Shelle says that she has been waiting for Shara since graduation. Shara says that it would be nice to buy a little house, wouldn’t it? And Shelle says that would be lovely.

The volume is completed with two stories of Junaque and Shara as students. The first is a fascinating little ghost story about a dead student who is haunting a teacher. The teacher, when she was a student was in love with the girl who them subsequently died. As background to that story, we see Junaque’s tempestuous family relationships. The second story is a very shoujo and fluffy piece about Shara’s early days with Junaque.

So…the main story ends in the most ambiguous possible way. If you prefer it to be a tragic love, then drowning seems the most likely option. However, nothing in Shara’s personality has ever lead me to believe that she would accept death as a viable alternative to life. While Junaque/Shelle’s life has been one of avoidance and denial, Shara’s has been of acceptance and striving. Also, several times she has suggested that they simply leave Manhattan – run away and start a new life together. It seems obvious to me that the sailboat was a red herring and the two escaped what had become an intolerable situation.

And I can’t help but wonder if the ending would have been different at all, should the story have been written ten years later. Personally, I think not.

Was this a *good* series – yes, it definitely was.

It was certainly melodramatic, and soapy, full of tears and angst and beat-you-over-the-head intensity, but that was the story. I did think Shelle’s hatred of her younger self was much of a muchness, but she was pretty far gone into nervous breakdown-land then, and probably hardly knew what she was saying. In any case it was not inconsistent with her self-absorbed personality.

Would I suggest it? If you like romance, melodrama, stories about performers, josei or shoujo work that steps above and beyond the crowd, yes. If you are a moe fan, prefer your heroines to look six rather than twenty, really prefer action to drama, or can’t stand endings that are not overtly happy (which leaves you with darn little anime or manga that will satisfy you, really,) then no.

But as an example of an excellently drawn, well-written and captivating old-school Yuri, then I do definitely recommend Applause.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

The art, especially, just got better and better as the volumes went on. Both Shelle and Shara come from a world of art that has just about completely disappeared these days, where characters looked their age and more ethereally beautiful than possible. It’s obvious that the current trend of youthifying and simplifying anime and manga art makes it easier to draw and easier to crank out, but I so much prefer this.





Burst Angel Anime, Volume 4 (English)

January 23rd, 2008

Slowly, slowly, I am working my way down the piles of items to review. This item sort of fell to the bottom of that pile with all the new incoming. My apologies to today’s sponsor, Daniel, for the delay.

Burst Angel Volume 4 is pretty much where the series lost my attention the first time around. I was having difficulty holding my attention on it this viewing, as well. Time after time, I had to stop starting a second thing while the DVD was playing. The story just sort of loses focus. Perhaps because BA is really a 13-episode series wearing a 24-episode season? I dunno. I’ll leave that to the philosophers.

The volume starts off pretty strong, with the end of the Osaka arc, complete with tragedy, loyalty, heroism and pride in Osaka that just bursts out of the screen. Thinking about it, if the Osaka arc has been lengthened by another episode, and the entire series was just that arc, I think I would have liked it better. Well, okay, the Bible Black rip-off arc was pretty good too. But the rest of the episodes…meh.

Immediately after the big bang full of sound and fury signifying nothing, we move into a series of filler episodes. The first of these is the backstory when Jo met Meg. It’s a little lighter-handed than the expanded OAV version of the story, so Meg remains a lovable incompetent with bad fashion sense and large breasts that jiggle. Jo saves her.

This is followed by a simply hysterical episode where everyone wears terrifying bathing suits and there is a big monster with tentacles. Meg gets nabbed. Jo saves her.

In the final episode we are treated to heavy-handed Jo-ness. Jo’s past – hinted at in her and Meg’s backstory – is catching up with her. She ends up joining forces with a samurai-esque guy to fight an out-of-control robot. And to be really, really honest, I can’t remember a single thing about this episode.

So, while the anime is in one sense heading towards a climax, the tension that draws *me* into a series has been lost. Too much filler between one arc and the other, maybe? Too much something, or not enough.

Yuri from here on in can be summed up as “Jo seems to be fond of Meg.” (You remember that line? It was from the official Vandread description of Jura. “Jura seems to be fond of Barnette.”) We’ve established just about all the relationship we’re going to get between Meg and Jo, and the series has shifted focus away from them as partners to Jo alone. And while there will be thrills and spills and shoot-outs and giant robots from here on in, somehow…it’s less compelling than the action that was wrapped around utter stupidity. Not *every* action series needs to have a plot. Sometimes we’re okay just watching Jo kick ass. We might even be willing to be kidnapped to have her save us. ;-)

Ratings:

Art – 5
Characters – 6
Story – 5
Yuri – 1
Service – 7 (someone came up with those bathing suits…)

Overall – 5

Last volume I said I was surprised how much I remembered. This volume I’m not surprised to see how much I forgot.





Aria Manga, Volume 11

January 22nd, 2008

Today’s review is based on the thinnest possible excuse. When we actually get there, you’re going to be like, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” ^_^;

I picked up Aria, Volume 11 while in Tokyo, and along with it, a copy of the Aria the Natural Vocal Song Collection. If you are already a fan of the series, I recommend the Vocal Collection highly. It’s is a lovely way to be reminded of random scenes and moments, and especially fabulous bits of scenery, while somewhere not near a TV or computer screen. There’s nothing wrong with having Athena singing in your ear, let me tell you. ;-)

Every single scene in Volume 11 is an indication that the series is drawing to a close. This was obvious even in Volume 10 and, more recently, news that the series is ending was released officially. But really, if you’ve been paying attention, it comes as no surprise at all.

Our young undine-in-training, Aika, Akari and Alice are all thinking about the inevitable day when they will face their examinations for Prima rank. Aika, particularly, is stressing out over her comparative lack of exceptional skills. Alice is clearly superior to her sempai in boatcraft, and Akari has brilliant people skills. Aika can’t imagine that she brings anything to the mix. When she arrives back home at Hime-ya, she finds Akira in the middle of cleaning. Akira recognizes pre-exam jitters when she sees them, and tells the story of when she was suffering from the exact same crisis of identity Aika is now undergoing. Her story involved a plot complication I usually find tedious – that of one character being given a flower by another when they were both younger – but in this case alone, it actually works. Since Akira was training at Hime-ya, it stands to reason that she would run into lil’ Aika from time to time. This once, I will allow it. ^_^

There is a lovely chapter where we revisit the “Wedding of the Sea” ritual, with full-blown scenery porn, and what would make a spectacular poster of the three Fairies of the Water, should it ever be reproduced in color.

The end chapters follow Alice as she graduates from middle school. At last, we arrive at the incredibly thin slice of Yuri I mentioned! On her way out of the school gates for the last time, Alice is approached by a underclassman who has apparently always admired her, and is asked for the second button of her school blazer. Let me point out that this is a co-ed school, so perhaps it is unusual to ask that favor from a female upperclassman, perhaps it is not. (You know that one, right? You ask for the button as a memento from an upperclassman that you like. In a sense, it’s admitting that you had a crush.) But the girl does get all squeal-y and loved-dovey happy when she receives the button, so it’s at least a solid expression of crushiness. That’s pretty much it, but it was a sweet little moment.

To congratulate Alice on her graduation, Athena takes her on a picnic, but asks Alice to steer. We treated to more scenery porn and, if we’ve been paying any kind of attention at all, we recognize the places they visit.

I don’t want to spoil the end of the volume. Therefore, if you know what follows smile knowingly, but do *not* type it in the comments field. I am choosing to not spoil on purpose. If you do not know what happened and want to, feel free to buy the volume and find out (don’t forget the Vocal Collection, too) – it’s *totally* worth it! One of the finest moments in the whole series to date. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 2
Service – 3 (some Akari sleepwear and skin and the usual bishoujo stuff)

Overall – 8

Of course I’m sad that the series is coming to an end, but I’m also glad to see it doing so with such dignity and joy.