Archive for the Series Category


Maria-sama ga Miteru Manga, Volume 4

July 11th, 2005


I love getting my Maria-sama ga Miteru manga fix from Margaret magazine twice a month, but there’s definitely something extra special about getting a whole volume with a complete story in your hands. The down side is, you don’t always get the splash page art (especially if the series has alot of color splashes) but you get wonderful goofy filler pictures where all the magazine blahblah went. :-)

This week I got my paws on the manga of Maria-sama ga Miteru: Rosa Canina. And even though the story only ended a month ago in serialized form, it was amazing how much more I can catch when I read it as one whole continuous story. I guess I’m just not all that good at remembering who’s what where from month to month. LOL

I have actually discussed most of the differences between the novel/manga/anime and Drama CD in my notes from the 4th novel, so I’ll try not to repeat myself too much. Let me just draw your attention to a few things: 1) The manga inserts some internal Shimako dialogue that doesn’t exists anywhere else and which heavily foreshadows her Cherry Blossoms arc; 2) I am steadfast in my belief that Shizuka is coming on to Sei in a big way after the school elections.

Included in this volume is the New Year’s arc, which is marginally more accurate to the novel than the anime, but still changes alot of things. And sadly…we don’t get to see Sei flirting with the miko who was handing out the fortunes. I think that would have been worth a panel, at least. Because the New Year story (Nagakiyono) ran in Margaret before the Student Council election arc (Rosa Canina), that’s the order they appear in the volume, the reverse of the novel. This is a truncated version, since the hatsumode (first shrine visit of the year) scene was done as a short by Hibiki Reine for Cobalt Shueisha Magazine, the magazine where Marimite is serialized.

The only down side to the New Year story in the manga is that we *still* don’t get much of Sayoko, Sachiko’s mother – and she was so *cute*! I think we were ripped. We should demand more Sayoko. (In fact, fans must have done so, because in the one-shot short “Library Book”, which was included in the 19th novel, In Library, we get a bit more of Sayoko as a student at Lillian. And its a REALLY cute story, full of truly obnoxious groan-inducing puns. LOL I did a really crappy, rough translation of the one-shot for the folks on the Yuricon Mailing List. The translation is in the group Files – if you join you can read it and have a good laugh at my expense. :-))

Let’s see, what else is notable…well, the incidental filler art this time is on the theme of “sports”. Sei is given a surprisingly sexy beach volleyball figure. In fact, thinking about it – she’s always drawn really sexy in these incidental art pieces…. Actually, thinking about it – I’m always surprised when any of them look sexy in these pieces. I guess I’m so used to seeing the girls in those awful school uniforms that it’s a system shock to see their figures. LOL And to be honest, the first-years look cute, not sexy. Eriko in racing leathers is quite nice, but Youko’s baseball catcher’s outfit made my wife say, “What is she? A turtle?” LOL

Probably my favorite picture in the whole book is at the end, where Sachiko is feeding Yumi. It’s impossibly adorable. lol

The other thing of note is how the art is changing slightly to reflect the characters as drawn in the anime more. At this point the anime is long over and the manga is on-going, so the artist probably has a little less pressure to conform.

Ratings:
Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 8
Yuri – 9

As always, another enjoyable entry in the Marimite body of work. It’ll be going up on the Yuricon Shop in the next few days!





Yuri Anime: Madlax, Volume 2

July 5th, 2005

It has been pointed out to me in the notes below that this review was full of hot air. I stand corrected – the translation in the one case I illustrated was fine. ;-))

I am so irritated about this volume of Madlax, I’m not really even sure where to begin.

So to begin, I’ll touch on the good things. First and foremost, this volume is fun, with a capital “fu”. I mean, how many other places can you watch a gentle maid go totally postal on some entitled wannabe frat boy?  I particularly enjoy it when Elenore snaps the kid’s wrist, because he hurt Margaret’s wrist. And when Vanessa says, “How vicious,” she really doesn’t sound all that disapproving. ^_^

Other good things – the liner notes include highly amusing fan art drawn by some of the staff, complete with in-jokes that have to be explained. I really enjoyed these.

And that about covers it. The plot is dense, the bad guy is a joke, but those haven’t changed from my first viewing of the series. And the rest of the episodes are actually very interesting, as we finally start to draw a connection between Margaret, the book and Madlax.

(Remind me to engage in a light rant about the book next review…^_^)

The really stand-out not-good thing on this volume is the seriously awful translation. The first volume was pretty good, but again, its like they switched midstream and stopped actually listening to what was being said, and instead started guessing at something sort-of close to the meaning.

I can’t remember all the things that annoyed the living daylights out of me, but there were several. COME ON,  anime distributor companies! We are notstupid. We are not children. JUST TRANSLATE WHAT THEY SAY. Not something “close enough” to it. And leave the \expletive deleted\ honorifics alone, already! Stop the dubtitling.

It’s absolutely infuriating to pay money for something that is not done properly. It may be cheaper for you to dubtitle, but it stinks for those of us who want to watch the Japanese. Thanks for treating us like second-class citizens, when we are your fan base.

No ratings, I’m in a bad mood.





Yuri Anime: Air Master, Volume 1

June 30th, 2005

I managed to get a copy of Volume 1 of Air Master at last. This series has become a “comfort” series for me – I stick it on the TV when there’s nothing else on and I don’t want to have to pay *too* much attention. But, then I end up watching it anyway and not doing whatever it was that I was slacking off doing in the first place.

I won’t beat the plot, character of yuri components of this volume to death – I have repeatedly ranted about how wonderful this anime is in several of my previous posts: From the first recommendation back in August 2003 to Feb. 26, 2004, May 21, 2005, and May 23, 2005. And that doesn’t include all the rants about the manga, either.

So, yeah, I like this anime – a lot.

And I’ve already discussed the problems with the DVD release, some of which have been addressed in the second half of the thrid volume.

What did shock me about this first volume was how utterly, horribly *BAD* the translation was. Again, I felt like I was watching a bootlegged copy. Whole sentences were completely, totally, changed from what the characters were saying, as if the translators kept assuming what they “really” meant was….I imagine that this was a dubtitle issue, but even so, there were entire sentences that were just plain *wrong.*

Oddly, the language in the first volume subtitles is much ruder than in the second, and in that way, fits the story better.

But I’ll admit, if I had bought this volume first, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have bought 2 or 3. So I’m a little glad I bought them first.

Story-wise, Volume 1 is not particularly strong, either – again, by going backwards I can see how much more three-dimensional the characters are only a few episodes later.

I think it really sucks that this release was so bad – there are plenty of folks that might enjoy Air Master, but who, if not already turned off by the ugly art, will just give up in frustration with the unbelievably poor quality of this DVD.

What makes even this volume worth watching is, of course, the characters and the fighting.

And Sakiyama Kaori.

Ratings:
Art – 5
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 6
Technical Details – 3

Despite the crappiness of this particular Volume, I recommend the series. If you’re going to buy it from Amazon, look for a used copy or a cheaper copy on the Amazon marketplace. This way you won’t feel quite so ripped. Also – do not be afraid to write the distributor and express your dissatisfaction – if you don’t tell them, they can’t know.





Transistor Ni Venus, Volume 3

June 29th, 2005


Once again, my thanks to Touko_no_doriru-san, for giving me this volume of Transistor ni Venus, so I can share this fine manga with everyone. :-)

In Volume 3, we find April Enus starting off on another harrowing – yet somehow not really stressful or even moderately tense – adventure that involves her and another attractive female removing most of their clothes. LOL Enus is escorting a bag filled with some top secret materials on a plane when a botched theft not only leaves Enus and the thief handcuffed together, but stranded on a desert island. In the end they kiss and make up. :-)

The next story focuses on Winslow, Enus’ sentient cat, as he heads out on assignment – for the next few months, he is going into deep cover as…a cat. He pretends to be a stray to be picked up by a family who has something he needs to retrieve. While he lets them take care of him, we see Enus off on a variety of exciting and dangerous adventures. Winslow gets regular meals and is petted while Enus is bombed, shot at, crashes, etc. Of course, Winslow gets the goods and returns to HQ a hero.

The rest of the book takes place at the private all-girls school where “Miss April” has a position as teacher. The school is pleased as punch that the students sem to be doing *much* better at their studies, so they don’t inquire too deeply at Enus’ methods. In fact, she rewards the students with kisses for their academic excellence.

We are introduced to two creepy incestuous twin girls who are in love with their teacher – and who see Miss April as a rival. As Gyauza-sensei isn’t really interested in Enus or the twins, it’s kind of a pointless rivalry, but when Miss April fights off the girls in a fencing match, she claims a kiss as her reward anyway. :-) (Enus is most certainly interested in Gyauza…even if the feeling isn’t entirely returned.)

Eventually we learn that Enus is at the school to find a girl with important marks upon her back – we get a variety of bath, swimsuit and nude posing for art class scenes in order to do provide us the opportunity to “subtely” check the girls’ backs. Mixed in to this high-octane plot is a variety of kisses, from pecks for the young to “adult kisses” for the of-age.

Eventually, Enus accomplishes her objective and learns that the twins are actually years older than they look (and act!) and they all end up in bed together. The end.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 6
Character – 8
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8

If this weren’t so funny and sweet a comic – it’d be pretty trashy, huh? But it never *feels* trashy. It’s all in good fun and it always puts a smile on my face to read a volume of Transistor ni Venus.





ROD The TV, Volume 6

June 28th, 2005

ROD The TV Volume 6 was a tough watch for me – the story is amazingly good, but it will, all too soon, draw to an end. So I actually put off watching this volume for several weeks after purchasing it. I know its a little infantile of me – after all, I can watch it as often as I want. But, still….

There are so many more positives than negatives with this volume, let’s start off with the good. First and foremost – the story, the plot, the dialogue, the characters are all “Wow.” This volume is an edge-of-your-seat type of anime. Not only do we get to see how everyone handles a crisis (with some serious surprises) but we get to see how a really decent set of writers bring a complex plot to fruition. Joker’s plan is no less insane than the I-jin’s in the ROD OVA, but the writers have handled it so much better that the “whoa, fuck” far outweighs the “for pity’s sake.”

In terms of characters in this volume, Nenene wins, hands down. If you didn’t love her before, in this volume she downright shines. More mature and aware, if somewhat less supernaturally powered than her companions, she is the physical embodiment of the adage “the pen is mightier than the sword.” (And it should not be lost on you, dear reader, that now that Yomiko is back in her life, Nenene is writing like a madwoman.)

But really, there’s no bad or weak characterization in Volume 6. Everyone really peaks as a character. And Nancy has some serious shiny moments which are totally kick-ass…even if they don’t really make sense in terms of the history we’ve given her. I mean, brain tissue doesn’t spontaneously regenerate when its been removed, does it? LOL Nonetheless, watching her kick into Miss Deep mode is another great “Whoah!” moment.

Animation-wise, this volume has had some obvious post-TV touchups done. It’s especially obvious in the hair. As with the previous volumes, it helps, so no complaints from me. I just wish the original art had been tighter.

Oh, and the question you all have is, I’m sure – what about the pencil board? Well, it’s not horrible! Whee! On the one side, the usual three paper sisters and Nenene (carrying her own book) and on the other – Wendy looking rather sexy, if we ignore that her body shape really says “feed me several steaks”. The usual double-sided cover (the inside significantly better than the outside) and liner notes.

Now for the not-so-positive. Three episodes. Please. This and the next volume should have been combined for one 6-ep disk and you bloody well know it, Geneon. And the incredibly lame gag of the American President peeing in his pants is done. Move on. It was only moderately amusing the first time, it seems slighhtly stupider every time thereafter and this time it was just boring. Let’s be real – if the guy had a problem, he’d wear diapers.

But to be fair, that’s about it for the less than positive. And the writing rocks in every other way, so we can afford to be magnanimous.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 9
Character – 9
Music – 8
Yuri – 6

Overall – 9, because the story and characters are both developing together, which makes this show a total win.

Let me please remind you that if you want to support yuri anime, please don’t bittorent this, or any other licensed series – buy it, rent it, borrow it, share it, but don’t steal it.

Oh – and thanks to everyone who let me know they liked the new format!