Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Manga: Blue, (English)

June 1st, 2006

I have previously reviewed the manga Blue, by Kiriko Nananan and the live action movie based on it. But now the Blue manga is available in English translation and so, deserves a second look… (Note: As of 2015, this is available only from third-party sellers.)

…actually, no it doesn’t. (-_-) Upon re-reading my earlier review, I find that nothing has changed from my original reading of the manga itself. Which does bring me to this point – this translation, and the edition as a whole is remarkably good. Especially as the translation into English seems to have been done by a French company.  All I can say is that from the quality of the paper and the reproduction of the art, to the translation itself, this may well be the *best* translated version of a manga I’ve ever seen.

Ratings:

Art – 6 Very, very stark
Characters – 6
Story – 6
Yuri – 8
Service – 0

Overall – 6

As a Yuri manga, this is a typical bittersweet first love-type story; as a English language edition of a Japanese manga, it’s simply excellent. As I said originally – if you’re trying to put together a decent collection of Yuri manga, you’ll want to have Blue too.





Yuri Anime: Madlax, Volume 6

May 30th, 2006

So much happens in Madlax, Volume 6 that I’m not sure where to start. So, as usual, I’ll start with the absurd. ^_^

Imagine if you will, two women running through a hot war zone. One is a hardened warrior, her skills bolstered by magic, the other…a maid. We can tell, because she wears the  ubiquitous ruffled apron over a dark dress. Now, I know Eleanor is a dedicated servant, attached by more than just duty to her mistress Margaret, but come *on*! Give the girl a pair of boots and pants at least – her legs are going to be a mess out there in the jungle.

The other absurdity in this series remains the same – Friday Monday is such a nerdbanger, I can barely credit his getting this far at all, except by dumb luck. And then there’s his exhaustingly over-used dream of a “pure” humanity , driven by hatred. Oh yes, that would be different, because? Has he LOOKED at the world recently? Enfant is wasting their energy – they could have let this particular civil war die, because sure as there’s tomatoes in my salad, another would have popped up. And Rimelda becomes horribly boring, but don’t worry, she’ll be back, better, than ever

Now, for the good side – we get actual, semi-contextual info on what went on 12 years ago! Yay! Of course, it’s not entirely correct, but at least we have a clue – a bunch more clues, in fact. What happened to Vanessa Rene’s family that has driven her to look for information? Who, exactly, is Callosur Dawn and what was his role 12 years ago? What actually *happened* that night? We have most – but not all – of it now.

Good – Madlax accepts what she is, and as a result gets a power up.

Good – we lose a friend and it’s permanent and powerful. If you don’t want spoilers for this, DON’T look at the “Extras” menu until after you’ve watched the volume.

Good – Margaret losing it. Finally, she has a personality. Even if it’s an evil, stupid one.

Good – We know know the reasoning behind the obsessive reptition of the red shoes, the “it’s going to rain,” the doll…but not pasta.

Good – Naharu actually *does* something. Yay her.

In general, a complex and fascinating volume, and a bit maddening, as we still need a few more pieces to figure out what the flying %^$! is going on. ^_^ Nice job for the penultimate volume. Thumbs up from me on that.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Music – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 3

Overall – 8

It’s getting better and better, but I want to know what the deal is with pasta. (And if you know, don’t tell me – I mean within the context of the anime, duh.)





Yuri Anime: Stellvia, Volume 7

May 29th, 2006

Even though Stellvia, Volume 7 doesn’t actually have any specific Yuri scenes (despite Ayaka and Yayoi prominently displayed on the cover), I’m still classifiying as a Yuri anime, both because the series has strong Yuri content – and because Ayaka, having found herself once again, uses what she’s learned to assist Kouta and Shima, in a way that still let’s you see where her actual interest lies.

This volume strikes a really nice balance between the plot, the characters and the larger body of humanity behind our immediate vision. For once we’re given something to hold on to regarding the threat of the “Cosmic Fracture.” It’s not just a vague thing with BEM (Bug-Eyed Monsters for those of you too young to have read any old school sci-fi) attackers. Destruction is actually imminent and the time-line is short, like a good space opera ought to be. The tension builds between different military and governmental factions – differences that will come to affect the people on earth, as well.

And meanwhile, our heroes are still just children. They are learning to figure out who they are, and where they want to go (or need to go) to be the people they have to be; both for the current crisis and for the future. In the middle of all this is Ayaka, who suddenly arises to the position that she never felt comfortable in before – guide, mentor, sempai. She repeatedly tells Kouta, Shima and us that she’s not “good with things between guys and girls”, well duh, darlin’. But it’s equally as obvious that having found her own center and rebuilding her relationship with Yayoi has given her greater understanding of human relationships as a whole.

The vibe between Kouta and Shima in this volume really rings true. Kouta is still clueless and Shima is still irrational and, as the others point out repeatedly, that’s pretty much the way it is between men and women. Jojo and Akira get a little extra screen time so we can see how they are doing – they seem to be doing pretty well, despite occasional setbacks. And the commander and the doctor are still kind of cute – there’s a certain awkwardness about their courtship that makes one feel that some things never really change.

Rinna becomes a lynchpin character for a little while, as we get a glimpse of the larger politics behind the formation of a last ditch effort by humanity to survive. As much as I find whiny little sister types annoying in anime, I wasn’t bothered at all by her in this volume. Perhaps the soothing influence of being with her parents again…another thing that reads pretty real to me.

Overall, as I said in the beginning, there’s a very solid balance in this volume of story, character and peripherals. If you haven’t enjoyed Stellvia up to this point, there’s nothing here that’s going to make you like it – but if you like it, you might begin to love it. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7 the noses are back, whee!
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Music – 7
Yuri – 1
Service – 2

Overall – a strong 7

It’s easy to appreciate this volume knowing that we’re heading into the final stretch. But even on its own, it’s easy to enjoy this volume for all the classic signs of the “battle is nigh” in the grand tradition of Seven Samurai and all its Western, War and Sci-Fi relatives.





Shameless Plugs

May 25th, 2006

My brain is offline tonight.

If you are interested in reading something Marimite-flavored, feel free to wander over to my website “Worldshaking” Fanfic where I’ve uploaded a new Maria-sama ga Miteru fanfiction for this month. The new story is suitable for readers of legal majority in their home country/state/region/town only, but there are plenty of stories there for all ages.

In the meantime, let me also remind you that if you enjoy my writing, a great way to say thank you is to buy a copy of Shoujoai ni Bouken, Volume 1. It’s available on Amazon and on the Yuricon Shop. All proceeds go directly to making more yuri events, books and reviews.

And thank you for your support!





Cutey Honey Seed Manga, Volume 1

May 19th, 2006

Ah, the perfect thing, to end trash week – Cutey Honey Seed. There are so many things wrong with this series I’m not sure where to begin.

Okay, so, let’s play “let’s pretend.” Let’s pretend that Cutey Honey is nothing more than a wildly successful franchise of anime, manga, live action movies, games and related goods. You know, the kind of things that appeal to lonely otaku… ;-)

Cutey Honey Seed is like the bastard child of every horrible impotent dorky boy – oversexed beautiful babe manga ever. We meet Yuuta, a typical example of otaku-dom. He’s got a beautiful girl living next door, Midori, who is really nice and *obviously* likes him, but hey, he’s too nerdy to actually ask her out or anything. So when an alien crashes nearby and he’s saddled with an even more beautiful girl, he’s paralytic with incompetence. He gives the alien the name Kisaragi Honey, just like his favorite media heroine.

Honey is an alien, therefore naive, innocent and impressionable in every way, except that she gets the “flaunting your body parts” part right. As circumstances require, she develops “super powers” just like the “real” Cutey Honey’s, in order to save herself, Yuuta and his loved ones. After she watches most of Yuuta’s Cutey Honey collection, she ends the volume by transforming as Honey does to please Yuuta – even going so far as to shout “Honey Flash!”.

For his part, Yuuta spends the entire volume being as tiresome as possible, trying to hide Honey’s existence and when that fails, just bald-facedly lie about her, while juggling sexual fantasies about Midori with sexually suggestive situations with Honey that he doesn’t follow up on. For her part, Midori, who stumbles upon Honey almost immediately, thereafter follows up by coming in on Yuuta and Honey in a remarkable number of suggestive positions without once being suspicious or irritated. How nice for Yuuta that the two women in his life are physically sexy without having a single brain cell between the two of them. To the kind of person who shares their evening with blow-up sex toys, these two must look like the perfect mate. Let us not forget the over-sexed teacher, Midori’s hostess mother, and Yuuta’s little sister. Yuuta is surrounded by a whole world of female stereotypes, none of which he will ever go to bed with. How exhausting.

Oh, and the cute actress that plays Cutie Honey in the movies that Yuuta likes is somehow drawn into the story, as well.

This series is written by Go Nagai, but not drawn by him and it looks it. The art is slick, typically harem-shounen-dorky boy with beautiful, frontal lobe-less babe. Nothing like Nagai’s disturbing and surreal take on the human form. In this first volume we’re not given any Panther Claw-type baddies – the emergencies Honey handles range from a pack of tedious guys trying to pick her up for a little light gang rape to Midori’s mom setting the house on fire by falling asleep with a cigarette lit. We can only *pray* for the intrusion of the Panther Claw. No Na-chan. Boo hoo.

Ratings:

Art – 6 It looks like every mediocre harem series ever.
Story – 4 A vaguely interesting meta-twist on on the Honey story
Characters – 1 Seriously, if you think these are good characters, you and I will never, ever be able to be friends
Yuri – 0
Service – 9
Overall – 3

Unless future volumes leap into my lap with a “YURI!” sticker on them, you won’t be seeing any more reviews of this series here.