Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Manga: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Volume 6

November 16th, 2006

Maria-sama ga Miteru, Volume 6, Valentine’s Gift, Last Part, is simply chock-full of Yuri love-love, as it covers the second half of the Valentine’s Day arc. This includes all three of the half day dates with the bouton, and the creepy, yet pity-worthy Sachiko stalker, Mafuyu’s, story. The manga much more closely follows the novels which means, thankfully, no stupid fake cliffhanger as Yumi loses sight of Sachiko for a millisecond, and much more lovey-dovey ends to all the dates.

The manga begin with a replay of the “Surprise Chocolate” scene from the end of the first half of the arc, at the end of which Yumi and Sachiko agree to go on a half day date. Having agreed to that, Yumi is now completely at loose ends on where to go and what to do. Once that’s settled, we turn to the trials and tribulations of ace cameraman Tsutako and newspaper club president Minako, as they try to snag a good story and photo.

Yumi and Sachiko have a painfully cute date. We get to watch them wooja-wooja at each other as Sachiko talks about not ever fitting in, and enjoy Yumi raging at how unfair it is that Onee-sama is richer, taller, skinnier and more beautiful than she is. Most enjoyably, we can watch Yumi overheat at the thought of Sachiko undressing on the other side of that changing room curtain. ^_^ Yumi hangs on Sachiko romantically as Yoshino shouts “go go!” from behind, as she did in the novel. (Big grin from me on that.)

Next up, we follow Yoshino, as she stalks Rei and Chisato on their date. I am rapidly coming to find Yoshino so adorable that I’m in danger of exploding when she pouts. ^_^ When Chisato pays her a visit and admits that she’s insanely jealous of Yoshino and acknowledges that Rei called her “Yoshino” 5 times, Yoshino really shows how decent a person she is.

Shimako’s date begins at the end of Valentine’s Day, as she and Sei walk out of Lillian together, and Sei thanks her for the cake. Shimako is unaccountably shy about it; Sei takes her hand. Shizuka, at the beginning of the date seems a little cool and far off, but when she gazes at Shimako intimately and says she wants to get to know more about her, Shimako, and this reader’s, heart pounds just a bit. ^_^ Their date is, of all of them, I think the most interesting. But that could be because I find Shizuka a fascinating character. The day ends as Shimako breaks down, for the last time, in Sei’s arms and we get to see her be “big sister like.” Because of the way the characters were portrayed in the anime, this relationship is the hardest to get a bead on, but looking back now, its easy to see that of all the soeur relationships we see in the Rose Mansion, Sei and Shimako are very much like real sisters.

The last story covers Mafuyu, the girl who has admired Sachiko since kindergarten and follows her as she hides the red card for the Valentine’s Day treasure hunt. Mafuyu is much less a creepy stalker in the manga than she is in the anime and WAY less creepy than in the novel, where she was downright creepy. ^_^ The whole story reads more like a tragic love from afar than anything else.

I just started reading the 17th novel of the series last night, so stepping this far back to the 6th novel was well…novel. Watching how unsure Yumi is “back then,” knowing how much more confident she is “now,” is interesting. And kind of charming. Yoshino is da bomb, and Shimako remains the most mysterious character – and a fitting companion for both Sei and Shizuka, in this volume.

Of the Maria-sama ga Miteru manga volumes, this one has most closely followed the novels. And, as a result, I’ve liked it best. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6 (Everyone is drawn cute in a downward aged way and I honestly don’t like Sachiko’s character design at all)
Story – 8
Character – 8
Yuri – 5
Service – 1

Overall – 7





Yuri Drama CD: Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to "Madrigal Halloween"

November 15th, 2006

I had the weirdest sensation upon opening this Drama CD. Staring down at the cover I suddenly thought, “What am I doing? I can’t understand Japanese!”  (o_O) Thankfully, the moment passed and I had no particular trouble understanding this story. ^_^

Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to: “Madrigal Halloween” is a double dose of adorable Yuri goodness from Fujieda Miyabi, creator of Iono-sama Fanatics, Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan and, obviously, Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to.

Because this story has a complex history, let me give you enough detail to get by:

Letty is an European witch (the Majyo of the title) who inadvertently rescues Tsumugi (the Miko of the title) from imprisonment at a mountain shrine.

In their journeys, they visit a tea shop known as the Ame-iro Kouchakan, where they meet the owner Seriho, her assistant Sarasa (who has an enormous crush on Seriho) and two regular customers Haru and Hinoko who seem awfully chummy.

This Drama CD follows the events of the first MikoMajyo Drama CD (the one that came in the deluxe manga set), and the Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan extra comic that came with Yuri Hime 5, in which they do a special menu and performance for Tanabata. This last sentence is relevant, I promise.

(Why is is that, with Yuri Hime-related stories, I’m always running around gathering pieces to put the stories together??? This is as bad as the fractured history of what is now Hatsukoi Shimai!)

The Drama CD begins, not with Letty or Tsumugi, but with Seriho introducing the story in her breathy, little girl voice.

The season is autumn and Halloween is right around the corner. Seriho wants to do a Halloween Special, like they did for Tanabata. (See, I told you it was relevant!) Sarasa suggests that they do a performance and special menu again. Sarasa and she share a moment of extreme breathless adorable closeness, which got *so* breathy I was hard put to understand the words. ^_^

Letty and Tsumugi arrive with the news that they have just moved into this particular neighborhood. Seriho notes that it’s so wonderful that they’re living together in love-love bliss – I think just to make Letty sputter her objections…not to the sentiment itself, but to the way it was put, you know.

Seriho brings up Halloween.  Letty says she doesn’t know anything about it because they don’t celebrate it in her country.  Apparently Fujieda Miyabi does not know that European witches are likely to be pretty well-informed on Halloween. Luckily, Sarasa knows all about it and explains the basics: it’s a holiday associated with monsters and kids in costumes walk around begging for candy. She frightens Seriho with her enthusiastic “Trick or Treat!” and explanation thereof.

The Miko and Witch are asked if they want to help for the Halloween special. Letty passes, but because Tsumugi wants to, she acquiesces. Letty fears, rightfully, that she’ll be a clutz. Thanks fully, Tsumugi is a natural at carrying a tray with glasses. Phew.

Later that day, when they arrive home, Letty apologizes for being such a stick-in-the-mud, but she was, embarrassingly enough, afraid of being uncool in Tsumugi’s eyes. Tsumugi reaffirms for the upmteenth time that Letty will always be cool – and cute – to her. They embrace, Letty takes the stick out of her ass, we smile.

Hinoko and Haru decide that they should all wear costumes for the big day. Tsumugi shows up in her Miko’s clothing, which prompts a way-personal exchange between Tsumugi and Letty, which Hinoko interrupts by sticking wolf ears on Tsumgi. Tsumugi’s cuteness (coupled with her hyper-adorable “growrr! designed to fail utterly at being scary) makes Letty bail before she explodes in public. When Seriho, who is dressing up as a wolfman puts on the ears and growls even more adorably, Sarasa runs after Letty. (Now there’s an image – the two of them outside dunking their heads in a fountain or something, trying to cool off…! ^_^) Haru says she’ll be Frankenstein, Hinoko wants to be a jack-o-lantern. Letty will, of course, be a witch. (When Haru later compliments her on her costume, Letty thinks that it’s just her everyday wear….)

While handing out flyers, Letty runs into shrine guardian Isuzu who is INCENSED that Tsumugi-sama is being put to work. Letty assures her that it was Tsumugi’s choice. Isuzu says that Kinu-sama, the mountain god Tsumugi used to serve, has been whining for three months solid about wanting to go back to the tea shop. She grudgingly agrees to come by tomorrow.

The next day is Halloween – we’re all ready to go. Flyers have been distributed, Haru has advertised the event on her website, Hinoko has invited everyone who would listen only…

…a typhoon is coming.

Seriho insists that they be ready to go anyway, even though it’s supposed to be record-breaking rain and winds.

The next day as Isuzu and Kinu walk to the shop in a torrential downpour, Isuzu asks why, as a god, Kinu-sama doesn’t just stop the storm. Kinu says that there’s an agreement between gods that means she can’t interfere in matters not covered under her bailiwick.

BUT, Letty has no compunction about such things. After an emotional scene with a worried Tsumugi, she says that this is “her work” and flies off into the storm to clear it up and save Halloween.

Which, accompanied by cool sound effects and nice heroic background music, she does. The end is a pun – she turns the rain (ame) into candy (ame)  – and, now that I think about it, it’s a triple pun, since the cafe is “ame-iro”, amber – so Haru and Hinoko find themselves pelted with chocolate-covered marshmallows. ^_^

Tsumugi and Letty have, for them, a romantic reunion. Seriho suddenly thanks Letty – not knowing that it was indeed she who saved the day. When asked why she thanked her, Seriho comments that Letty’s cape makes her look like a black teruterubouzu. (A little ghostie charm that supposedly brings good weather.)

Seriho once again makes Sarasa speechless, Letty and Tsumugi continue to be rabu-rabu and Hinoko asks, coyly, if Haru loves her. When Haru blows a gasket, she says she’s only kidding – and she probably is.  ^_^

Isuzu and mountain god Kinu-sama arrive, all dolled up and ready to help out at the cafe for the day. To Letty’s intense distress, Seriho puts the wolf ears on her (Letty.) “Now say “growr,” says Seriho, just before Letty screams.

Sarasa ties the story up with some affectionate discussion of this happy little cafe and the wonderful friendship and love inside it. The end. ^_^

The final track is a quickie by the voice actresses with intros and brief discussions of how much fun it was to make this CD.

The one extra with this CD is a short comic in the credits booklet, by creator Fujieda Miyabi-sensei.

Like most Fujieda stories, the Yuri here is of the cute, snuggly variety. But Sarasa overheating in front of Seriho, and Letty and Tsumugi’s obvious affection is sweet and…well, sweet. :-) Ame-iro, indeed.

Ratings:

Characters – 8
Story – 7
Music/Foley – 7
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 8

I’ve had this CD a week and already listened to it twice. ^_^

2013 Note: Without question, this is the one Drama CD I have listened to the most often of all of them I own. It never fails to make my smile. ^_^





Yuri Drama CD: Strawberry Panic, Lyric 1 "Miator Volume"

November 3rd, 2006

I know that you too, daily wrestle with concerns like “whose purple underwear is this!?!” Therefore, I also know that you too, will find the story in Strawberry Panic Drama CD: Lyric 1, “Miator Hen” absolutely riveting. :-)

The Drama CDs for Strawberry Panic each focus on the characters from one of the three schools. The first DCD, “Lyric 1” deals with the girls of Miator, the second will focus on Spica and the third, Lu Lim. While the story for this CD is original, i.e., not from either manga or anime, it has no actual plot. An official fanfic, if you will. If you were going to build a timeline, this would be taking place somewhere during the first half of the anime.

The story opens with Nagisa and Shizuma in the greenhouse. Shizuma embraces Nagisa from behind, and, as rain begins to pour down, attempts to kiss Nagisa. When Miyuki interrupts, Nagisa breaks free and runs into the rain.

In the meantime, back in their room, Tamao is fretting while Chiyo-chan functions like a real maid – sort of there, spoken to, but not heard. When Nagisa comes back soaked to the skin Tamao forcibly undresses her and shoves her into the shower to warm up. Tamao, during this scene, is made to sound so extremely perverted that it’s either really scary, or really impressive. I’m still not entirely sure which.

This sets up the one major crisis of the story – the case of the strange underwear. Tamao offers to do Nagisa’s washing, which Nagisa refuses. They both go off to the laundry room. Somehow or other, Nagisa ends up bringing back someone else’s underwear. These are scandalously colorful (as oppsed to the white with little-girl patterns kind Nagisa wears…) apparently, which overwhelms Tamao with the need to find their owner. They watch for a bit, but after some exciting possibilities, they are shooed away by Miyuki. When we return to the room, we get a careful catalog of Nagisa’s real underwear. No gratutious service here, no way.

During all this time, Chiyo-chan is having paroxysms of ecstasy and doubt over the return of Nagisa’s handkerchief. It has become her important treasure. I’ll skip to the end of this excitement – Nagisa gives it to her.

The third plot driver is the titilating rumor that Shizuma, the Etoile of the school, skinny dips in the pool every night. Nagisa repeatedly fantasizes about seeing her, even joining her.

One day, quite randomly, Shizuma rides up on a horse (cue cameo by Amane) and takes Nagisa off to the ocean. Chikaru, who clearly has no schoolwork at all, decides to follow since, after all, they will BOTH probably swim naked. Woo-hoo! Everyone, except Amane decides to tag along.

Nagisa and Shizuma share a romantic moment, until a hullabaloo from behind the rocks alerts them to the presence of the others (i.e., Tamao, Chiyo, Yaya, Hikari, although what *she’s* doing there, I have no idea, Chikaru and her whole harem.) Shizuma admits that she swims naked. Not. And Yaya decides to take a swim in her underwear. She pulls off her clothes and SHOCK! She’s the one with the scandalously not infantile underwear! Yaya points out that white underwear is prohibited at Spica and starts to undress Hikari to prove it.

With the sound of all the others frolicking in the surf – assumably in their underwear – Nagisa and Shizuma have more asexually romantic time.

The next to last track is cast comments, all of which are short. Some are downright hysterical. Tamao’s voice actress, Shimizu Ai (Hatsuki in Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, Mikoto in Mai Hime/Otome) comments, quite acerbically, that she had to talk alot about underwear, didn’t she? Amane’s seiyuu, Kaida Yuko, (Minako from Marimite, Ryomou from Ikkiitousen) hopes that she’ll have more lines in the “Spica Volume” and Kagome’s seiyuu, Fukui Yukari, comments, finally, that Percival (Kagome’s teddybear) is interested in underwear. This last made me laugh out loud.

The final track is a preview of the “St. Spica Ben” the second volume of this Drama CD series. It includes such drama-filled excitement as “Yaya sexually harrasses Hikari in the shower” and “Kaname and Momomi bathe together.”

While I don’t think this DCD will win awards for plot, character or…well, anything…it wasn’t anything as awful as the Mai Otome Drama CD – and it wasn’t openly ripping off memes from other, better series, except in the most general way.

Ratings:

Story – 3
Characters – 3 (If you didn’t already know them, you’d have no idea who was who or why.)
Yuri – 7
Service – 9

Overall – 5

If this were an episode of the anime, people would trash it, but forget they hated it by the end. ^_^ Be that as it may, this, and many other Yuri Drama CDs are available from Amazon Japan through the Yuricon Shop!





Yuri Anime: Kaleido Star Good dayo! Gooood!

October 20th, 2006

They are few, brief and far between, but those moments of Sora x Layla love in Kaleido Star make watching this often indifferent, frequently irritating anime worthwhile.

This OVA…well, frankly I have no idea who this OVA was targeted to or what they were thinking when they made it. It’s done entirely in CG, with super-deformed art that makes all the characters look like DDR icons or something. It’s 2 parts disturbing to 1 part cute. (On second thought, what “they” were thinking was probably “How can we do a KS brand extension without spending too much money?”)

In any case, this OVA is split into three parts. The first is a “cooking lesson” by May with students Layla and Sora. The second part is Ken being a nebbish as he tries to learn the Diablo from Rosa and the third is an absolutely excruciating gag as Marion and Jonathan the Seal attemtpt to teach Sora to speak seal.

Only the first of these is of interest to Yuri fans.

To be more precise, only the first of these was of interest to *this* Yuri fan.

There are several cute moments as May teaches enthusiastic Sora and pampered Layla how to cook a particularly spicy tofu dish. I actually took a screencap of the lava-like end product, because it was a particularly amusing bit of animation.

But much more importantly, Sora and Layla have a brief moment of Yuri wooja-wooja which, if May hadn’t interrupted it…

Anyway, the OVA as a whole was okay, but the first segment was amusing. Not the logical sequel to the magnificent Legend of Phoenix: Layla Hamilton Monogatari OVA, but if you’re already a fan of the series, its not the worst waste of your time. Not like, say, episodes 27-40 were.

One thing I did very much like, the OP is the original theme from the first season of the TV series, sung by the voice actresses as their characters. And, although they have pretty much no lines in the OVA itself, that included Anna and Mia.

Ratings:

Art – CG/SD. Meh. 4
Characters – 6
Story – 6/4/2 for each section respectively
Yuri – for one brief flash, 7.
Service – surprisingly for this series, no Fool, and no noticeable service. 1, on principal.

Overall – The first segment 6, the second a 4, and the third a 2, for an average of 4.





Yuri Manga: Aria , Volume 9

October 12th, 2006

Aria is one of those series that, despite logic and the evidence of our eyes, there’s a general sense of “Yuri” about it. Of course the fact that the main characters are all women helps, and the fact that Yuri fans often wear finely honed Yuri goggles set on high adds something to the mix. The inability of the average fan to see two or more women together and not assume a lesbian pile-up pretty much guarantees this series is a fixture on Yuri lists…even when there’s no actual “proof.” (By which I mean Alicia never reaches over and say, kisses Akira, much as I’d like to see that.)

Nevertheless, I, like so many other loser fans, read this series as totally Yuri. ^_^ Volume 9 kicks that teeny little niggling sense of Yuri-ness into what, for this series, is high gear.

For readers unfamiliar with Aria, the story follows three gondoliers-in-training on a terraformed Mars, now known as Aqua, in a recreated New Venice. (Unlike the real Venice in which only men can become gondoliers, in this Neo Venezia, the large majority are women.) Aria follows, in particular, Mizunashi Akari who is an immigrant from Earth, as she trains to become a skilled “undine.” If you dig around here on Okazu, you’ll turn up reviews of both seasons of the Aria anime, and several reviews of earlier volumes of the manga.

Volume 9 has had several chapters turned into anime for the second series, Aria the Natural. They are as cute, delightful, fun, etc, etc, as the manga, only I always prefer the manga. Why is that, I wonder?

Because the chapters in Volume 9 are one-shot stories, not part of a continuous narrative, I’ll focus on the two that are more Yuri.

The second chapter features popular couple Alice and her doofy sempai Athena (Pronounced Ah-teh-na). Alice, who is still in middle school and therefore quite young to be a undine-in-training, is walking home from school in a manner popular with children throughout history- she’s keeping to shadows only. ^_^  She almost blows it, only to be saved timely from falling out of the safety of a shadow by Athena-sempai. Alice reacts with her natural cute tsundere grumpiness, but when faced with an extremely long stretch of sun, gives in and uses Athena’s shadow to continue the game. This brings their faces very close. Alice reacts to this, and Athena’s affirmation that she is Alice’s ally with embarrassment.

Now, this may not seem like much, but the desperate Alice x Athena fans will point to this scene and with shrill voice say, “See? See?” Others, less obsessed with the need to pair them up will simply shrug and say “cute.” You decide which it is for yourself.

More interesting to me was the revelation that Akira *does* have an inner butch, something we Yuri fans (particularly those of us who are butches) knew right off. In the very next chapter we (and Akari) learn that Akira, Alicia, Al, Akatsuki and Woody have known each other since childhood. In the course of a flashback that shows us that none of them have changed much at all since then, we get to see little Akira in shorts, boy’s shirt and the obligatory sideways baseball cap, accompanied by uber-femme Alicia. Encouraged by Alicia, Akira out-boys the boys, but is a gracious victor. Do they look like a typical little kid babydyke couple? Yes, yes they do. And we know that Akira’s still a favorite with the ladies, so apparently, you can’t take the butch out of the girl, no matter how long she grows her hair.

While we’re dealing with sempai/kouhai relationships, there’s also a really nice chapter where Aika has to deal with the fact that someone in their company is trash-talking about Akira. As one of the three most popular and famous undine, Akira explains, it’s something that she just has to deal with. But it was awfully sweet of Aika to get so upset – and a nice view of Aika and Akari’s relationship when they aren’t banging heads.

Also notable, although not at all Yuri, we learn how Alicia met the cat that became Aria-shachou and how she joined Aria.

As is usual in Aria, the stories are slice-of-life moments, no earth-shattering drama, but quiet sweet moments to be savored slowly and in a relaxed manner…much like the espresso on San Marco plaza. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Character – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Despite the fact that Alicia will never lean over and kiss Akira, Aria remains a genuine pleasure. ^_^