Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Manga: Cutie Honey a GoGo

April 9th, 2007

You really come to understand how inherently unfair the universe is when you learn that the impossibly dull, full of retread passive female sex object plot “complications” Cutey Honey Seed is on Volume 6, and the incredibly excellent, full of powerful females, and lots of yummy Yuri subtext Cutey Honey a GoGo failed to go past Volume 1 (update: This series was finally completed in 2007 in a Cutey Honey a-Gogo, Perfect Volume.) This is especially heinous considering the history of Honey, who was pretty much the first magical heroine who was completely self-sufficient and didn’t need a man to support her.

This particular iteration of the Cutie Honey Mythos comes from 2004, the same year that brought us the most awesome anime Re Cutie Honey AND the live action Cutie Honey movie, both of which were really great. (The movie, btw, is slated to be released here in the US this month. Here’s a link to it on Amazon.)

Well, Cutie Honey aGogo can easily be seen as the manga version of those fine anime and live action stories. While Na-chan’s character design is nothing like Ichikawa Mikako or the look-alike used in the anime, this is the Na-chan *I* would have created, had they asked me. (insert happy, yet slightly evil, laughter here.) In fact, the art was done by Itou Shinpei, the creator of Hyperdolls. I approve 100%.

In this version of the tale Aki Natsuko is a squad leader for the public safety bureau and her subordinates live in fear of her. Her butchy suit-wearing, chain smoking, gun wielding, impatient with everyone around her personality keeps all the guys working for her, in their place. She has her own personal butt boy, Todoroki, who lights her ciggies, gets her coffee, files her reports and is completely incapable of keep up with her on any level.

I think she’s perfect. ^_^

The story begins, as it does in so many of the other Cutie Honey adaptations, as evil Sister Jill and her Panther Claw gang have invaded the city. It is only the timely appearance of Cutie Honey that saves the city from total destruction. (Lots of blood and violence, as usual for a Honey story.) Of all the police and safety officers at the scene, the only one who has the balls to really involve herself is, of course, Aki Natsuko. Machine gun in hand, she throws herself into the mêlée.

When Butterfly Claw has been defeated, Na-chan takes it upon herself to arrest Honey for disturbing the peace. Honey likes this “reckless O-ne-i-san,” as she calls Natsuko. Like Sham-pu’s “Onee-nii-san” in Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl, this form of address recognizes the “two-heart” quality Na-chan has. (In fact, she is later seen in a dress, and seems as comfortable in that as in the suit. But no less muscular and confident. I really like this Na-chan.)

The second time the Panther Claw attacks, Na-chan is all over it. She’s also right there with the handcuffs for Honey, who cheerfully…a little too cheerfully…goes along with her. There’s a great panel as Honey gives Na-chan a very knowing look as the handcuffs lock into place.

After she’s released for the second time, Honey (in disguise) brings Na-chan back to her father’s lab, and all the basics are explained – Honey is an android, the i-system, Sister Jill, etc, etc. Prof. Kisaragi asks Na-chan to befriend Honey and help her become more human. When Na-chan arrives home that night – there’s Honey, who wants to help wash her back in the tub. ^_^ Resigned, Na-chan can only comment on the size of Honey’s breasts. Of course. Because I’d think the same thing, if a *transforming android* was in my bathroom…

…

The end of the volume is the inevitable loss of Honey’s father, and her reliance on Na-chan for comfort and support as she sobs in grief and eat lots of gyuudon. Na-chan, not so good at the softer emotions, is maybe not as kind as she could be but she does her best as the book ends, promising to continue the story in the next volume – which it never did. This is *me* sobbing with grief. I have no doubt at all that this would have been the Yuriest version of the bunch. It was set up perfectly for it. Honey definitely had some interest in Na-chan, and my god, Na-chan is so gay, there is simply no way she would have been able to stop herself. When I write the inevitable fanfic, it will be *this* version I will be working with, you can be sure.

/mutter/Stupid dorky otaku who like sex dolls better than women with balls. You suck. It’s *your* fault that stupid Cutey Honey Seed is doing better than Cutie Honey a GoGo did. I blame each and every one of you personally./mutter/

Ratings:

Art – 7 (I did tell you it was Itou Shinpei? I like his art)
Story – 7 – the same story as always
Characters – 9 (Honey and Na-chan 4tW!)
Yuri – 4 with lots of potential
Service – 7 – please, this is Honey, we’re talking about. Hell, this is Nagai Go we’re talking about.

Dear Mr. Nagai – Please, oh please, make more Cutie Honey a Gogo!





Yuri Drama CD: Kannazuki no Miko: Kimi no Mau Butai

April 5th, 2007

Are you sitting down? I hope so, because I’m going to say something that might shock you. Kannazuki no Miko Drama CD: Kimi no Mau Butai is…good, maybe even excellent. Seriously, it is. In fact, I can’t actually think of anything about this Drama CD that was bad, and parts of it are laugh out loud funny.

Since this DCD is actually made up of several interconnecting plots. I’ll do my best to summarize here:

It all begins with a bizarre gag with Souma and his brother Tsubasa, where they appear to be fighting but are actually playing baseball. Or maybe it’s the other way around. In any case – this gag with varying alternates on the gag part is repeated endlessly throughout the CD. Keep this in the back of your mind. It’ll be back.

It is school festival time. Both Souma and Chikane are starring in an original play as Prince and Princess. They are, of course, princely and princessly and everyone is squealing with delight as they swear their love, etc, etc. Himeko is also moved, even from her place as the person who cleans up backstage.

One night, after a meal (full of shitake mushrooms, thanks to Otoha’s loving care) Chikane asks Himeko to help her practice her lines. At first Himeko plays the prince, but Chikane asks her to play the princess, her role, so she can get a feel for Ohgami’s role. Himeko assents, and Chikane gets to swear eternal love to Himeko via her lines. There are several very amusing interruptions (complete with romantic violins screeching to a halt) by Otoha as Chikane attempts to get into the part. Himeko is freaked out by her reaction to Chikane’s embrace and muses out loud that it’s as if she’s in love with Chikane. Which freaks Chikane out.

Later, as the festival approaches, Souma asks Himeko if she’d help him practice his lines. Same scene, minus Otoha’s interruptions, but this time the tension is broken when Chikane appears and interrupts them at the crucial scene.

The play is a great success, but Chikane blows off her hordes of admirers to accompany Himeko around the festival grounds – to their great annoyance.

At this point, we get scattered scenes to let us know that the Orochi are all here at the festival and wreaking havoc wherever they go, some of which are rather amusing. In fact, throughout this CD, we get little vignettes which give us a pretty good idea of how and why these particular people became Orochi and what their major malfunctions are. Like the opening gag, put this concept on a back burner, but don’t lose it.

Chikane presents Himeko with a volume of manga by her favorite mangaka, and my third favorite Orochi, Reiko-sensei. Chikane has things to do, so she leaves Himeko on line for an autograph. During the signing, Reiko is really rude in response to Himeko’s fangirlishness, which puts Himeko in a sad mood. This is followed up by a cruel scene in which her former roommate, Mako-chan’s, sempai on the track team lays into her. Mako-chan pulls sempai away, but doesn’t have a word to say to Himeko. It is this moment that the Orochi choose to attack.

The Orochi who is a pop idol wannabe, Korona, calls this her ultimate performance. Korona throws herself at Souma, trying to seduce him to the dark side of the force and a little Orochi-doushi. Himeko’s screams breaks the spell and he rejects her forcibly, which pisses her off. Reiko-sensei who had her buttons pushed earlier joins in and of course, the rest of the Orochi jump on the chance.

Chikane runs away with Himeko, leaving Souma to fend for himself. Which he does, but pfft, who cares, Chikane got the girl – again.

After the carnage is over and the destruction is being cleared away, we get a framework of Reiko-sensei working on her next manga chapter. Chikane, in a separate but related scene, asks Himeko what she likes so much about Reiko-sensei’s manga. Himeko tries to explain but fails, until she tells Chikane all about the scene in which Asuka, the heroine, confesses her love for the princess. Chikane is all of a sudden much more interested in the manga, who’d have thunk it? Himeko acts out the part of Asuka’s confession of love to her dear friend. After she’s done, she asks why Chikane has that expression on her face and Chikane, in a moment of incredible genius says that she was thinking about something else and didn’t hear Himeko – could she go over that all again. Guileless Himeko complies happily, so excited that Chikane is interested in her manga now. ^_^ The framework ends with a bizarre scene of Reiko being extra super-duper rude to her editor. I really have to listen to this bit again, because I know there was important stuff I missed.

The final track is pure genius. Sister Miyako is holding confession for your sins. Each one of the “confessions” is funnier than the last and with each one, Sister Miyako loses patience sooner with the confessor and punches them out. The best one, by far, is when Himeko comes in to “confess”. Her hemming and hawing makes Miyako more and more impatient. When Himeko digresses into a long discussion of what Chikane is wearing, Miyako finally punches her out with a curt “Shut up already.” It’s hysterical, trust me. This track is where we really get a detailed glimpse of the Orochi and their issues. The whole track is really unique and interesting for that alone…but Sister Miyako whacking everyone just cracks me up.

After the end of this final track, we get a two minute long silence, and one last repeat of that weird gag with Tsubasa and Souma. Souma’s confused screams end the Drama CD.

Okay, so can anyone guess why I don’t dislike this CD? It’s not that it doesn’t have angst. It’s that it doesn’t have inexplicable behaviors. Everyone’s behavior and choices are entirely consistent with the personalities given to us in the anime. (And it is based on the anime, not the manga, for what it’s worth.) Internal consistency=win. The fact that my three favorite Orochi (Sister Miyako, Korona and Reiko, in that order) and Chikane and Himeko Yuri-service all get big spotlights helps, too.

The fact that it’s damn funny is icing on the cake. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – not entirely applicable, but I like what’s on the cover and in the booklet – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 3

Overall – 8

If only the anime or manga had been more like this.





Yuri Anime: Loveless, Volume 2

April 4th, 2007

I know, I know, I reviewed Volume 3 of this ages ago, and it’s practically ancient at this point. But I’m making a concerted effort to get through my too-tall “pile of anime I need to watch” and review everything.

First and foremost, today’s review is once again due to the kindness and generosity of the guys at Media Blasters. They gave me this about 7 months ago and I’m just getting to it…good lord.

Secondly, watching Loveless, Volume 2 today was a good reminder that stories make more sense if you watch them in *order*. ^_^

I originally reviewed the Yuri arc of Loveless at the end of 2005, but even then I hadn’t really watched any of the story previous to when Yamato and Kouya appeared. This time, I sat down and watched the episodes – I even paid attention and everything. ;-) And yes, I feel like I have a stronger grasp on the story now. I also can say that this volume is way stronger than Volume 3, Yamato and Kouya aside.

This volume includes a lot of angsting by the hero Ritsuka, a lot of masochistic enduring by his partner-although-they-won’t-admit-it-yet, Soubi, and some darn solid advice by Ritsuka’s therapist. Who lied about her age, IMHO. ^_^ But for our purposes, this volume also has the appearance of the second Zero pair – high school girls, and lovers, Yamato and Kouya.

When they appear, they instantly have a backstory, which is kind of interesting. We don’t get the backstory in this volume, but it’s very obvious that it is there. Unlike, say, the first Zero pair, who remain two-dimensional to the end. Kouya and Yamato also manifest actual intelligence as compared with the twits in the first Zero pair. So right off the bat, they come off looking like a formidable couple. We learn a bunch more in the next two episodes, but they are in Volume 3, so read that review for related gushing praise.

The one thing I wanted to note about this volume was entirely unrelated to anything Yuri at all. After he and Soubi defeat an earlier pair, Kin and Gin (Gold and Silver, for those that like stuff like that,) Ritsuka receives a “strange memo” that somehow relates to his brother’s death – the event that was the catalyst for everything in the series. I had to laugh, because I recognized what that “strange memo” was immediately as a result of my job. I don’t know what age the audience for Loveless is (I thought the magazine it ran in, Comic Rex was for adults, but I have no idea, really) but I guess the average manga/anime fan isn’t going to recognize a….well, I won’t spoil it. It’s not very exciting anyway. Beats me how it could help Ritsuka. I could look it up, if it were real. ^_^

One last note – I was amazed at the excellence of the voice acting cast. This anime got star treatment. And it shows. I’m almost tempted to take a look at the manga and find out what happens now.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Character – 8
Music – 5
Yuri – 8
Loser FanGirl – 20

Overall – 7

Either I’m in a significantly better mood today than when I reviewed Volume 3, or the quality drops off massively for the next volume. I have no clue which it is.





Live-action: Sukeban Deka Movie 1

April 2nd, 2007

Today’s review (and the letter “H”) is brought to you by the most magnificent munificence of Chet at Media Blasters, one of the greatest guys *ever.* And not just ’cause he gives me wacky movies…he’s just really great. ^_^

You may remember that back in February, I was pleased as punch to review the most recent Sukeban Deka live action movie. For today’s review, I will be backtracking some years in order to review the very first Sukeban Deka movie. About 20 years or so.

There was a TV series based on the manga Sukeban Deka which starred Saito Yuki as tough chick Asamiya Saki who was blackmailed by the police into functioning as an undercover agent for them. (Here is the review of the manga for that whole story.) After the first TV series ended, the name Asamiya Saki became a pseudonym that was given to two other girls in order to enable them to fight for justice, etc, etc.

This movie takes place after the second “Saki,” whose real name is Youko, has retired from the life of a sukeban deka, a delinquent cop. I am feeling mightily overworked this evening, so instead of telling you anything about the plot, I am going to throw you at the pretty darn comprehensive Sukeban Deka encyclopedia website. Here is a detailed synopsis for the first movie. As you can see from the picture at the top of the page, there’s a whole herd of sukeban deka by the time this movie got made. ^_^

There’s a couple of things to enjoy about this movie, other than the random violence and super psycho-with-a-fake-hand bad guy. One – every red shirt character dies in Saki’s arms, which I start finding pretty funny after then third or so death in a 80 minute movie. Second – the reunited sukeban group planning their strategy over dinner was a masterpiece. As Yukino serves up the dinner she has cooked from behind her frilly apron, she calmly discussed taking out guards at the island they are going to invade. It’s freakishly cute. If you turn off the sound, the girls all look like they are planning to get their hair done, but they are actually cheerfully discussing blowing the place up. ^_^ The super powered up yo-yo Saki gets from her handler that would destroy her arm if she used it too much was pretty awesome, as well. ;-)

I wouldn’t be reviewing it on Okazu, though, if there wasn’t at least *some* Yuri interest. At the beginning of the movie, Saki II has retired to a normal life of frilly pink sweaters and studying for the college examination. When she falls headlong into the mystery of evil Headmaster Hattori’s sadistic paramilitary island school, she immediately gathers up her comrades to face the conflict. One of them, Yukino, has left a message with Youko that she’s leaving Japan to go overseas. There’s a definite, immediate, tension there, as Youko contemplates her and Yukino’s choices. When Yukino does join them, the tension does not go away. There is a fraught scene between the two of them after the aforementioned dinner scene. If it had been a straight couple in a western movie, there is no doubt in my mind that a kiss would have been attempted, although it would have been aborted by Okyo’s appearance as, indeed, Yukino’s and Youko’s heavily charged moment was.

So, not Yuri sexxors or anything, but for an old school girl-gang live action movie…yeah.

The disk comes with an actual extra – the “making of” the movie, which was kind of cool. You get to see how insipid the actresses actually are and how silly the stunts and scenes are before they are all cut up and reattached. Defintely worth watching. For the price of the disk, you get plenty of entertainment.

Ratings:

Cinematography – Better than you think at first – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – hard to judge, let’s call it – 4

Overall – 7

Think Enter the Dragon with a lower budget and schoolgirls and you’re not far off.^_^





Yuri Anime: Ninja Nonsense, Volume 1

April 1st, 2007

First off, today’s review is brought to you by Sergio Aviles, who sent me this as part of my holiday beg-a-thon. (And, once again, should *you* desire to sponsor a review, feel free to pick something from my Amazon Wishlist. It will be greatly appreciated and you will be thanked!)

It’s standard operating wackiness (S.O.W.) in Ninja Nonsense, Volume 1. As I commented in my original review of Ninin ga Shinobuden, the entire plot of this series can be summed up as “wackiness ensues.”

It all begins when high school student Shiranui Kaede is sitting around not studying for her finale exam when female ninja-in-training Shinobu enters her room, and her life. Shinobu is on a quest for schoolgirls’ underwear in order to pass her ninja exam. And that’s about the way the whole series goes. ^_^ Something normal (flower viewing) is complicated by something silly (monsoon) and then something inexplicable happens (crocodile eats Onsokomaru.)

The whole series is a parody of just about everything you can imagine, from the expected ninja tropes to pervy otaku behavior. Shinobu’s master, Onsokomaru, is a yellow sphere with major “Id” control issues, and her partners in training are a pleasant pack of pathetic ninjas who are all called Sasuke, for ease of identification.

Despite the constant threat of severe pervification, there’s really only a little bit of nudity, butt jokes and related potty humor in the series. Onsokomaru and the ninjas are representative of a 15-year old’s worldview. So the humor is crude. Very.

In the Yuri department we have Shinobu, who early on develops a raging crush on Kaede. In her own incompetent way she pursues Kaede – on the one hand, it won’t come to much, on the other, she gets further than most boys do in non-hentai anime, so…take your pick. ^_^ This is typical one-sided “comedy” yuri.

What makes this series worth watching is how darn silly it is. I was re-watching this volume with the above-mentioned Serge and his lovely wife, and we were all giggling like crazy. It’s S.O.W. but it’s *funny* S.O.W. With some Yuri, too.

Ratings:

Art – 7, but irrelevant, as it’s a goofball series
Story – 7 – ditto
Characters – 7
Yuri – 6
Service – 6

Overall – 7

As a ninja story, it fails utterly. As a series to take your brain off-line with, fine and dandy.