Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Manga: Hayate x Blade, Volume 7

September 10th, 2007

I know that when I call Hayate x Blade Volume 7 a “Yuri” manga, I’m stretching the boundaries a bit on the word. There is, as I have mentioned previously, one lesbian character (Jun, who behaves in that typically shounen series pervtastic way) and there’s a whopping load of relationships which lie just on the border between shinyuu and Yuri between the shinyuu. (That sentence contained a pun, but it failed utterly in English. Bah.)

Volume 7 deals primarily with the endlessly fascinating Mikado Akira – she of the 80-member “A-Team” fan club. (Akira is a popular character with fan artists as well, I have quite a few doujinshi that deal with Akira’s apparently cool, but actually fraught, relationship with Hitsugi. And of course her relationship with her shinyuu/ sister-in-arms, Sae.) In this volume, Akira and Sae challenge Hitsugi to a duel, but the council president denies them the request. Instead, she insists that they will fight two other members on the Council, Sid and Nancy, in an exhibition match.

Much of the volume delves into Sae and Akira’s relationship and how, as a child, having been rejected for being a girl, Akira decided that she would become a boy. Sae met her when they were very young, but in typical boy fashion, Akira doesn’t remember that at all. ^_^ The flashbacks are an interesting look into Akira’s history, but an even more interesting perspective on Sae’s relationship with Akira. Upon remembering little Akira’s vow to become a boy, high school Sae pokes Akira in her breast and laughs, saying, “You lied.”

Sid and Nancy are appropriately dysfunctional, as befits their names. Sid, who is a pathetic, yet amusing freak  insists that she is an anarchist punk (again appropriately,) but she’s really a wuss. Nancy manipulates her very easily – should I mention how appropriate that is, again? Sid also curses in English rendered in Katakana. It’s always so rewarding to spend ten minutes staring at a conglomeration of characters, only to realize that it’s something brilliant like, “Holy Shit” or “Goddamn Bitch!” ^_^ Because it takes me so long to read Sid’s tirades, they are just that much funnier to me when I realize how utterly banal she is. (There’s a scene in the middle of their fight when Sid basically accuses Akira, who wears studded belt, collar at the throat and multiple earrings, of being a Hot Topics punk, while she says how she is a REAL punk – Anarchy! Fuck! – which completely cracked me up.)

Because of the nature of their natures, we barely pay attention to Sae fighting Nancy. Even they are sort of half-hearted about their side of the match, knowing that it’s their butches partners who are the real show here.

Hayate offers Akira good luck in the form of two cat mascots for her and Sae’s swords…does that make an even dozen cats now? I think so. Maybe more. During the battle, the cat mascots turn out to be a huge clue. Because. In order to ensure that their idol Akira is the hero of the day, the A-team has helpfully sabotaged her partner Sae’s weapon. But because they are as dumb as a sack of doorknobs, they got it and wrong and…you guessed, it, it is Akira’s weapon that falls apart, just as Sid launches a powerful attack. It’s a case of the immovable object being attacked by an irresistible force as the book comes to an abrupt, if not unexpected, end.

Ratings:

Art – 8 (I think it’s getting a little better in fact, but I can’t tell you why until I review Volume 8)
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 4
Service – 3

Overall – 9

This is good stuff. For a drama it’s funny; for a comedy, it’s deep and thoughtful. The action is over the top and interesting. The personal relationships are still the main focus. Hayashiya Shizuru really has the chops. She’s got something for just about everyone in this series. And she has just about everything I like under the sun in it. Hayate x Blade is total, purest win. And once again, in case you missed the announcement, Seven Seas has licensed the series. The first volume is slated to ship in Q2 2008. I’ll look forward to reviewing it. ;-)





Yuri Anime: Aria OAV Arietta

September 4th, 2007

Even as I watched Arietta, the Aria OAV, I boggled at the sharp upswing in Alicia x Akari coupledom it provided. By the end, one can’t call it subtext at all.

As I am a diehard Alicia x Akira fan, I was less thrilled than some, I imagine.

Nonetheless.

The OAV begins as Akari dreams of herself as the Prima of Aria Company. She should be happy, but then she remembers that Alicia is gone and won’t be coming back. She wakes to find that Alicia is safely still there and she’s a lot more relieved than she expected. When Akari asks Alicia about when she became Prima, Alicia bares her soul to Akari just long enough to express how sad and lonely she was when Grandma left Aria Company.

We learn a little more about Alicia’s past, and get to spend some time with the three fairies of the water as young trainees, as they bond and plan for the future. My favorite scene of the anime, as Akira drags Alicia out on an obvious date, even if it ends up with the three of them together at the end. Young Athena was especially adorable, I thought. To recreate that moment of joy with Akari and bond a little closer with her trainee, Alicia leads the girl up to the tower above St. Mark’s Square to view the city at night. It’s an undeniably romantic scene – and Akari reacts as one might expect, charmed and attracted by her charming and attractive senior. When she expresses a wish that her time with this woman, her important person and the person she loves, will continue for some time, we’re all nodding. Of course.

Several times through this OAV, we get full-on “scenery porn” as Sean Gaffney puts it so accurately. The entire OAV has excellent animation, with a softer, more gentle focus that fits the general tone of the story perfectly.

Yuri aside, this is a lovely example of why I enjoy this anime. Every episode is a slow ride along the canals of Neo-Venezia, with no destination in mind. It really doesn’t matter whether we’ve been past this same square ten times, we’re just glad to see it again in this light, in this season, as opposed to some other. (I’m reading a book right now that basically says that that’s what Venice does to some people – just captivates them and makes them obsess, in a relaxed way, about the quality of the light and the view. So it all works for me.)

As for the Yuri, well, I’m happy for the Akari x Alica fans, but I’m sulking here in the corner for my own fave couple, thanks. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8 (I like when we get glimpses of the Primas as youth.)
Character – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Aria is still not Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, but it edged just a little closer during this OAV.





Ichigo Mashimaro Anime OVA 3

September 3rd, 2007

See, here’s the thing.

We all know that, in Ichigo Mashimaro. Miu has a crush on Nobue. It’s also obvious that it’ll never happen. (And not just ’cause Nobue is more interested in Ana and Matsuri. It just isn’t ever going to happen. Nobue and Miu are way too similar to work as a couple, even if everything else managed to work out.)

But recently, I have become convinced that – should everything else work out – Miu and Chika might, possibly work as a couple. But that really has nothing at all to do with Ichigo Mashmaro OVA 3. I just thought I’d mention it.

It’s spring. It’s an extended holiday and Chika really, really wants to go somewhere or do something special. Despite her protests, Nobue has just the thing – a free trip to a B&B in Izu. She’s not willing to help Chika or Miu, but when Ana and Matsuri say that they would go, off they go.

Of course, it’s not that easy. They get lost, they arrive, they take a bath, Nobue pervs, they forget ingredients with which to make dinner, they pillow fight and they stave off Miu’s particular brand of insanity throughout. The above picture takes place when, in the middle of the night, in a fight over Nobue’s favoritism towards Matsuri, Miu steals a kiss from Chika and attempts to take one from Ana to prove some kind of point to Nobue that no one really cares about.

In the end, the five girls have a nice holiday in Izu, and in a moment of unusual sensitivity, Nobue waxes nostalgic and a little poetic; which sends little sister Chika into hysterics, of course.

Then they get lost on the way home.

And we would watch this kind of nothing for hours if they let us.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 4 (bath, kissing….)

Overall – 8

Sean, you owe me a Miu x Chika story. I am fully prepared to follow you in the afterlife whining about it for all eternity if you do not finish it.





Yuri Anime: My Zhime (Mai Otome), Volume 1 (English

August 31st, 2007

How many fanfics have we seen where the main characters are transplanted to a different location, time or situation than the original source material? The Senshi at an agricultural college, the girls of Marimite visiting (or attending school in) some North American location that just *happens* to be the same place the author lives or attends. There are many series that do that kind of thing within the context of the actual series.

Star Trek:Next Generation used their omnipresent Holodeck to allow a sort of time and space travel (mostly so we could see that characters play dress up) and Xena:Warrior Princess had a few stories which fans called “Uber-Xena” stories, in which Gabrielle and Xena were portrayed as more modern, but equally as silly, characters. (Which led to a whole genre of “Uber-Xena” stories, many of which were better than the actual series. I wrote one Uber-Xena story myself, In the Hall of the Mountain Queen, a title which came to me in a very memorable dream.)

And so we find ourselves regarding the series, My Zhime, aka Mai Otome, in which the characters of Fuuka Academy from My HiME are now suddenly on a planet much like our earth, but more feudal. The HiME are now become Otome – the human nuclear arsenal of each country. The school at which young women are trained to become Otome candidates, Garderobe, is the center of the new conflict. And while all the characters from HiME are moved to the new time/place/location/ their roles, ages and, in some cases personalities, have been altered to fit the new storyline.

I had planned of holding off reviewing this series at all until I finished reviewing all of the My HiME DVDs, but last weekend I decided that I wanted to watch Volume 1. Then, as I watched it, I remembered all over again why I thought it was a vastly superior series to the original. Mostly because it starts off as stupid fun with a hint of plot, continues to be stupid fun with an actual plot, and ends as stupid fun and who cares about the plot, which short side trips to wallow into meaningless angst. The difference is that, IMHO, HiME primarily wallowed in angst with pretensions of having a Serious Plot ™, when in reality, it was all meaningless angst and plot was a self-fulfilling prophecy with reset.

My Zhime, Volume 1, starts off with the arrival of a strange girl from out of the wastelands, at the sophisticated and cosmopolitan city of Windbloom. Yumemiya Arika is strange in the she is a stranger, and that she is clearly an uncultured bumpkin……and she’s just kind of strange, too. But in a good-hearted, honest bumpkiny kind of way. She’s convinced that her mother was, or maybe is, an Otome, so after her guardian dies, she’s come to Garderobe to find her mother. After she witnesses the coolness that is Meister Shizuru Violeta, the Graceful Amethyst, Arika decides to become an Otome, as well.

This plunges her directly into intrigue and politics on both the micro- and macro-cosmic levels, as the great rulers decide her fate and in school as the new student is assessed for her level of threat to the status quo. Because not everyone at Garderobe will become an Otome – only the most talented few. Arika’s immediate rival, Nina, can’t stand the girl, so of course they are assigned to be roommates, along with sweet, blonde, starlet-like Erstin. And this is when I remembered how much I liked this series.

As Arika runs around Garderobe trying to find the council and defend herself (and Chie gets her first lesbian cred powerup) she’s the butt (pun intentional) of many stupid physical, servicey gags. But as she runs around, and later, as she meets her new classmates, I found myself happy to see every familiar face, from Yukino and her pet Haruka, to Ers, or Irina. In fact, as Irina introduced herself I felt something almost nostalgic blossom within me.

This is your basic shounen heroine action series. There will be many battles of one kind or another; an outclassed, apparently idiot savant heroine who will battle her way to the top; magical/mecha creatures; did I mention battles?; conspiracies, politics, intrigue on the grand scale and bullying, teasing and misunderstanding on the small scale; and service.

Yuri in Volume 1 is limited to a single knowing look shot at Natsuki by Shizuru, as she teases Arika in a decidedly sexual way, and Chie’s instant high reading on the Yuri-ometer. Yuri in Zhime is a popular fetish, so we’ll be seeing more as the story progresses.

Art – 8
Characters – 8
Story – 7
Music – 7
Yuri – 3
Service – 6

Overall – 7

All the characters I like are older, cooler and gayer. Is it any wonder I like this series better? ^_^





Yuri Manga: Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl, Volume 5

August 22nd, 2007

Feeling crappy today, so decided to review something “feel-good.” Looked at my pile of things to review and realized that with only two exceptions it was all feel-good. Kinda creepy, huh? ^_^

Today’s post will contain *massive* spoilers. I frequently have spoilers, but because there is a scene after the climax of this series that I want to discuss, I have to give away the ending. If you do not want to know how this series ends, do not read past the bit that ends “Massive Spoilers Follow”. If you read past that bit, you will be spoiled for the end.

Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl, Volume 5 begins after Hazumu’s fateful rainy-day kiss with Yasuna. Soaked and cold, they bathe together. This fills Hazumu with guilt so she runs over to Tomari’s house to rinse and repeat, because she’s so torn between her two lovers that she feels obliged to balance the service.

Having said her good-byes, Hazumu pretty much spends the book wandering aimlessly between places and people, constantly aware that her life force is running out. To make matters worse, both Yasuna and Tomari tell her that they love her outright.

The school festival approaches and with it, Hazumu’s final hour. The day is spent in near misses and lost last chances to see Tomari and Yasuna. Night falls and they both find Hazumu on the roof, ready to say good bye.

***Massive Spoilers Follow***

Before Hazumu can say anything, the fence behind her breaks and she falls off the school roof to her death. Only…as she falls, a hand grabs hers and we see two sets of legs falling.

Hazumu becomes aware that she is dead. Only…she’s not. She wakes up in the infirmary. She leaps out of bed to pull the curtain back on the next bed to see that it was Tomari who threw herself off the roof to save her. It was Tomari she had called out for and Tomari who she had wanted to see. And now it is Tomari that she tells, “I love you.”

Outside the room, Yasuna has overheard it all. She’s happy that Hazumu is alive, and happy for them, but cries against the wall while Ayuki holds her.

Here’s the bit that makes all this work for me – the Christmas Concert has arrived and Yasuna is the featured soloist. Hazumu and Tomari sit in the front row, hand in hand. And through her music, Yasuna wishes them well and commands them to never ever let each other go. Her blessing and her emotion carries over – Tomari and Hazumu get the message loud and clear.

On the way to a Christmas party after the concert, under the starry sky and a row of light-filled trees, Hazumu and Tomari kiss. At the party, everyone is happily rambunctious – “Kashimashiku”.

The End

Following the end of the main story are three omake stories – two creepy Ayuki stories (or, really, stories that explore how creepy Ayuki is) and one with the usual Tsukiko Namiko-sensei gags of self-pity and clumsiness.

The End, again.

So…I liked it. None of the over-the-top absurdities of the anime OAV ending. True, Hazumu did not entirely make the decision herself, but a decision was made, the girl does get the girl and it’s not a bad thing at all. Unless you really wanted Hazumu to get together with Yasuna. And you know, originally I did.

***End Massive Spoilers***

Unlike the anime, the manga handles the final decision with a class that, in general, the series lacked overall. lol Yasuna gets extra class points, as befits her character. Ayuki gets extra creepy as the story goes on which has incited me to create an equally creepy girlfriend for her. (If I was into media-crossovers, I’d surely pair her up with goth Abby from NCIS. But I don’t have that kind of time, energy or interest, thank heavens.)

Despite the service, the aliens, the gender switching, the harem plot, at the end of the series, we’re looking at two woman in love with one another. And that’s what I call Yuri.

I think the end justified the memes.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Character – 8
Story – 7
Yuri – 10
Service – 5

Overall – 8