Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Manga: Read or Dream, Volume 4 (English)

May 15th, 2007

Once again, I have the pleasure of thanking Ted for his sponsorship of today’s review! Yay Ted!

What is there to say about Read or Dream, Volume 4 that hasn’t been said already? I mean that literally, since I reviewed the story in some detail two years ago. ^_^

Here are links to the first and second parts of the Japanese edition review. (There are many spoilers, since I was reviewing the Japanese-language edition for people who I expected did not know the language.)

As with all the other English-language volumes of Read or Dream, Volume 4 is translated well enough that you get the humor, the irony, the adventure and the latent sexual tension. There’s nothing to complain about (except the lack of honorifics.) If anything, this volume reads the most smoothly of all of them. It’s reproduced exactly the same as the others, with no color pages, and the story that originally ran on the cover under the dust jacket translated in pages at the end of the book.

So, really, there’s nothing to be said about Volume 4 that hasn’t already been said…except this. When mail comes and Anita receives a copy of Hisami’s book, Maggie also receives a letter…from overseas. And blushes mightily, when Michelle assumes it’s a love letter. Since it is clearly from Faye, from way back in Volume 1, we can smile and think, why yes, yes it is.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Character – 8
Yuri – 7

Overall – 8

The big downside is *still* no Nenene. I want a new series with grumpy, grown-up Nenene and her biggest fan, Yomiko, traveling post ROD The TV. Waaah. (OK, OK, I admit it…I wrote it already in a fanfic.





Yuri Manga: Aria, Volume 10

May 9th, 2007

The days pass pleasantly in Neo-Venezia. There’s always a lot to learn for Akari and the other gondoliers-in-training. In Aria, Volume 10, we get a little taste of past and present with, perhaps, a glimpse into the future; the whole volume feels as if we’re being led by the hand around the city along with Akari, Alice and Aika.

Alice gets a lot of screen time this volume. It allows us to see the more vulnerable, childish side of her – the chapter where Athena makes her Epiphany wish come true was very lovely. We learn a little more about Alicia, when Alice asks her why she never scolds or punishes Akari. And we get to see Akari develop her skills by working as a ferry gondolier, which makes me think that this series is moving a little further towards Akari’s eventual graduation to Prima status.

But as nice as all those chapters are, the one that wins is the first chapter of the volume, in which Athena and Akira stop by Aria Company to give Alicia a birthday present. Alicia, who was expected back shortly, calls to say that the is unavoidably delayed by an important job. Athena says she must return to her company, but Akira, who was really looking forward to the three of them getting together, stays. She tells Akari about the days when they three of them spent all their time together as trainees. Now that they are the “three fairies” they have so little free time and she had really hoped to get together today. Akari, in a characteristic move, asks Akira to accompany her for some practice – and they can, you know, look for Alicia as they tool around.

The day is ending and they decide to return to Aria Company, when they run into Athena. As she greets them, Akari cries out and points – there, miraculously, is Alicia looking very much like something out of a fairytale. And the next panels make the whole volume worth reading. No one, no one, no one, can tell me that the look on Akira’s face doesn’t say it all. She has that “stricken by a sudden vision of the person I love” look. Ah-HAH! we all cry happily. Knew it all along, we chortle. Three friends, sure, but Akira’s feelings for Alicia are more than friendship.

The next panel, drawn from below the water line, would make a brilliant poster. Akira wings the present across the rio and into Alicia’s surprised hands. And, so, all three friends are together for the present giving, after all. Metadashi, metadashi. Great chapter.

The only downside? The already repulsive Aria-shachou has now begun wearing “cute” hats with other animals on them. If you think this kind of thing is cute, you absolutely NEED to visit this site. Me, I side with the cats there, who are looking hate at their owners and plotting to suffocate them in their sleep. Poor little bastards.

Aside from this volume’s subtle fragrance of lilies, it’s mostly more of the same pleasant time spent with pleasant people pleasantly. It’d kill me in real life, but for the time it takes to read a volume of manga, it’s perfect. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9 (I seriously think it’s getting more and more lovely)
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Now I know that the author sees the same thing between Akira and Alicia I do – and it makes me happy. ^_^





Yuri Anime: Simoun

May 8th, 2007

Only about 6 months after the anime actually ended, I am *finally* getting around to doing an end-of-season review for the series that won my “Best Yuri of 2006” award, Simoun. Don’t want to rush these things, y’know.

I liked nearly everything about Simoun: the characters, the plot, the art, the music (oh god, so good…,) the ending, the epilogue. There was in fact, only one thing I did not like. The character designs…in particular, Neviriru’s design. It really distressed me. Other than that, there was just about nothing I did not like.

In particular I thought episodes 23-end were breathtaking, stunning, and wow. Yun’s choice was really powerful, and the way the story is tied up – loose ends and all – was to me completely satisfactory. In fact, IMHO, the loose ends are what made the anime work.

Let’s talk Yuri for a moment. There *is* a legitimate case for saying that there is no Yuri, as the Sibylla are meant to be understood to *not* be women, but to be maidens, as a kind of pre-pubescent state, despite their age and figure. Nonetheless, for the two girl x girl couples at the end (or three depending on how you see the one pair) I’m calling it Yuri. Because the choices were not made regardless of gender. These choices were made to some degree because of their gender. Being Sibylla made their love possible. And damn, it’s hard to explain what I mean unless you’ve seen the series. lol And I really don’t want to spoil too much. ^_^ Here’s just a small spoiler – Three Yuri, one Yaoi and one Straight couple at final count. lol (And almost everyone likes the boys best.) I liked them all.

But I wonder if it’s not just a series about love in general. Prayer in this series is inextricably linked to love, and love to the intent behind all their actions. In the end, that’s what I think Parietta’s final message is about.

“We were here – and we loved one another…and you.”

Ratings:

Art – other than the chara designs – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 6

Overall – 9

I know that I cannot be the only one to have noticed that Neviruru and Aeru did not work as a pair until they switched seme/uke roles, can I? ^_^





Yuri Anime News: Simoun Licensed

May 7th, 2007

My secret, insider, Deep Throat informant tells me that Yuri anime Simoun has been licensed by our good friends at Media Blasters. No street date yet, but I’m doing my damndest to get a Yuricon 07 exclusive. :-)

Tune in for more news as it becomes available!





My HiME Anime, Volume 3

May 4th, 2007

Thanks awfully to Ted for his sponsorship of today’s review! As always, it is greatly appreciated!

So there I was, all ready to wallow in what I felt was a well-deserved bout of Schadenfreude, so I popped Mai HiME, Volume 3 into the player. Well, pfft on me, because this volume was primarily fluff with an emphasis on comedy. Oh, sure, there was a little bit of plot and character development…and the kernel of what will later become a bigger crisis of conscience for Mikoto. But mostly it’s just stupid. ^_^;

The first episode is a a suspect “everyone is at the beach” episode. Mai is lifeguarding as one of her many jobs, when every single other character in the series just happens to drop by. This episode is notable for Shizuru’s harem who compete to put lotion on “Shizuru-oneesama.” Natsuki becomes the butt (pun intended) of yet another joke for basically no reason except that no one slaps writers when they add stuff like that in. We really need to retrain them a bit.

This was followed by an Iron Chef parody with more than its fair share of “girl trips and knocks cake over” gags. In fact, I think the episode used up every anime ever’s share of that particular joke. For ever. The only genuinely funny thing about the episode were the cakes at the end. They were just…funny. The “funny” Orphen eating the cakes…not so much. The punchline is that it is Mai’s birthday. The surprise party waiting for her at the end of the day keeps the episode from having to end wallowly and maudlin.

The last two episodes revolve around several things: there appears to be a vampire attacking girls on campus, (or perhaps a pervert – in any case, the girls are found stripped, with holes in their neck) and Miyu’s relationship with Alyssa (is it bad of my to like her better as a bird?) Haruka mobilizes the student council to try to catch the vampire and the HiMe mobilize themselves to fight the Orphen it clearly is. Natuski helpfully gives us incomplete information about the “1st District” which is also involved, and the “1st District” folks helpfully ramble on about a new Golden Age that will, of course, require a massive downsizing effort in the number of people on the planet. This never makes any sense to me anyway, but when Miyu tells us that the Searss Foundation already runs the planet, my thought was, “well what the hell do they want then – they’ve already got the world.” I’m sure the Golden Age will be ever so much better/different than what we have now. @_@

The volume climaxes with a big throwdown between Miyu, whose name is really a silly acronym that rivals HiME for “huh?” points and Mikoto, Natsuki and Mai. This is what, episode 12? And there’s 26 in the series. So…you can guess that it’s a draw.

Notable in this last episode is Yukino’s discussion of “like” with a fairly clueless Mikoto. Yukino realizes that her “like” of Haruka is in fact the kind *we* like, while Mikoto will now begin to obsess about her own understanding of “like” for the rest of the series.

Oh, and we get another HiME. She might have been more of a surprise, except that she was getting an awful lot of screentime all of a sudden.

The DVD extras were marginally interesting. They are basically, as Serge describes most ero-games, “Powerpoint” presentations. And the voiceovers frequently have nothing to do with the underwear or bathing suit shots on the screen. But Youko-sensei’s verbalization of our opinions of Midori (she’s cracked, but kind of fun) and Yukino’s discussion of what Haruka means to her were very decent.

Ratings:

Art – 5
Character – 7
Story – 6
Yuri – 3
Service – 6

Overall – 7

I know it’s not fair, but the more I watch of Mai HiME, the more I really like Mai Otome. Yukariko is so much better as a teacher than a nun.