Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Manga: ROD – Read or Dream, Manga Volume 3

December 8th, 2004

Goofy, sexy, weird and fun, all in turn. Who’s your Paper Master, baby?

Read or Dream, Volume 3 continues with something for everyone (except, perhaps obsesseive Yomiko and/or Nenene fans….)

The inside cover has a fun surprise. Instead of the usual two-sided color poster, we get a color picture on the front of the three sisters and on the back, three book covers drawn by the artist for this manga. What makes these book covers interesting is that the author is Nishizono Haruhi.

I’ll wait while you try to remember who that is. (The sound you hear is my foot tapping)

I’ll give you a clue. The first title is Hatsukoi Hajimatta, in English – First Love Has Begun.

I’ll give you a second clue. In the TV series, the presence that fills the empty spaces is Yomiko. In the manga series, it’s Nenene whose presence hovers in the background, just beyond reach….

If you really can’t remember, look at the end of this review…* ^_^

Onto the actual stories:

The first chapter hits weird, fun and sexy at the same time – Maggie visits a strange bookstore and is given a book called, (loosely) “The 24 Faces of Maggie Mui.” (You all know the famous story, “The Three Faces of Eve,**” right? I don’t have to explain Dissociative Identity Disorder, do I?) Anyway, Michelle and Anita come home to find Maggie in a maid outfit, which then switches to a gang member’s gakuran, then a Vampire S&M ensemble and ending with a goofy fairy tale prince get-up. The story is silly and strictly a vehicle for the fanservice. It all ends with Michelle being given a book called “The 7600 Faces of Michelle Chan.” And we all laugh and shudder, since Michelle is already pretty schizoid. ^_^

The next chapter begins (as at least one story each volume does!) with the three sisters having had no income for some time. Michelle and Maggie fantasize about running a high-class restaurant, but for books instead of food. Instead, the three of them end up doing a comedy routine. Oooooookkkkaaaayy. Goofy and weird.

In the third story, they are all doing really well and, as a result of so much work, are eating regularly. Michelle has therefore gained a lot of weight. Ahahahah, we laugh as she tries and fails miserably to lose the extra pounds. Goofy and I guess someone will think its fun.

The volume gets a little more interesting and weird beginning with the next chapter, in which Anita gets a fever. She has a dream which ties into her memory from ROD The TV of the church in which she met Maggie and Michelle for the first time. (The subsequent refutal of this memory by Joker is ignored, or perhaps is merely irrelevant…) She wakes to find that Maggie has returned to be with her, and she discovers that not only is she *not* alone in the world, she has her sisters, but also that friends have sent get-well gifts and cards…including one from Lilth and Orion, from Vol.2. Although Anita has not told her sisters about Lilith, this is about to change. Echoes of the TV series start to build more and more with each chapter.

The next story is another Anita dream which is weird, goofy and fun. The inevitable cross-over to Alice in Wonderland, with a hefty dose of Wizard of Oz (Tin Man and Scarecrow played, respectively, by Maggie and Michelle) and Journey to the West (The Monkey King, Sun Wu Kung, part played by Chi-Hon, the boy Anita has befriended in previous volumes) ends with the Queen of Hearts being played by Hisa-chan!

Now, let’s back up…in this continuity, Anita has never *met* Hisa-chan. Even stranger, when, at the end of the dream, Anita wakes up and we see the pile of novels that the dream referenced, one of them is Anne of Green Gables. You may remember from ROD The TV that that novel is the one that Anita and Hisami read together and bonded over, identifying themselves with Anne and Diana. But, in this continuity they have never met, so, why would that book be there, and why would Hisa-chan appear as the Queen? Well, it gets more confusing in the next and final, several-part story, which is fun, sexy, weird and goofy all at once. ^_^

Hold onto your hat, it’s going to be a bumpy manga.**

The three sisters are contacted by a publishing company. They are asked to be the bodyguards to a Japanese writer who is coming over to do a book signing in Hong Kong. The author has received threatening letters and the publishing company is concerned with her well-being. The Three Paper Sisters Detective Agency takes on the job and heads to the airport to meet the author.

Sound familiar? Hmmm….gee, this is exactly the same way ROD The TV began, isn’t it? You think you know what’s coming, right? Well, hah on you.

The three sisters are greeted by a snazzy young blonde, who turns out to be the author’s manager. The author steps forward and she is…Hishiishi Hisami, 13, from Japan. Hisa-chan promptly throws up all over Anita, and thus a friendship is born. ^_^

At the book signing, the culprit shows and lo and behold! it’s Hisa-chan’s manager! Only it’s not, it’s Lilith in disguise and this time she doesn’t want a book – she wants the author! (It is during this section that we can be convinced that the lovely Lilith has a full-blown loli fetish, by the way.) She and her pet panther Orion take on the Paper Sisters. Anita has, of course, already encountered Lilith, so she isn’t tricked by the thief-turned-kidnapper’s wily ways. In the middle of the battle Anita has a revelation – she may loathe books herself, but she resolves to be the protector of authors who bring joy to so many *other* people. Of course, she rescues Hisa-chan and they become instant best friends. Is there implication of more? There’s  plenty of room for believing that in this series that seems to be very Yuri-friendly.

In the end, the publishing company and Hisa-chan are so pleased with the sisters’ performance, that they are asked to come to Japan to do more bodyguard work. Michelle turns to us and tells us that their Japan arc is beginning and we should make sure to come back for the next chapter…! Well, duh. *Now* I’m hooked.

Where before it was mostly fluff, the story has actually evolved to a parallel universe to the ROD The TV and now I wanna know where it will go!

Ratings:
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Art – 8
Yuri – 4

Overall – 8

If the manga series is crafted *half* as well as the TV series, it’ll be great. If not, it’s goofy fun, weird, sometimes sexy fluff with some Yuri implication and space for plenty o’fanfic. ^_^

* – Nishizono Haruhi is the older sister of Anita and Hisa’s classmate, and the author that debuted after Nenene, that we meet several times in the TV series. Remember?

** – I wonder if it means anything that I have *two* Betty Davis references in this review….





Yuri Manga: ROD – Read or Dream, Manga Volume 2

December 7th, 2004

Welcome to another unique, unresolvable timeline brought to you by the ROD team!

Once upon a time, there was a manga called Read or Die, aka ROD. It told the story of clumsy, slightly psychotic, paper master Yomiko Readman. In the manga, Yomiko encountered young prodigy and author, Sumiregawa Nenene. The manga told of their adventures, and gave us glimpses into Yomiko’s other existence as an agent for the British Library, where she was known as “The Paper.”

At the same time, there was (and still is) a separate continuity, contained in the ROD novels, about Yomiko, Nancy Makihara – aka Miss Deep, Yomiko’s predecessor Donny, occasionally Nenene, and a host of other characters. (I have looked at several of these novels, and to be honest, they look about as wretched as the original ROD manga.)

Then came ROD the anime. This three-episode OVA was a third continuity, one with Miss Deep, and a completely different Yomiko – who was now utterly competent and not very clumsy at all. The OVA detailed Yomiko’s adventures as “The Paper” and included none of the character baggage she had picked up in the manga or novels. No Nenene, no Donny, no emotional attachments, until Nancy shows up and steal her heart.

Then came ROD The TV anime, which somehow mangaed to pull all of the above into a pretty amazingly tight whole, AND introduce the Three Paper Sisters Detective Agency members, Michelle, Maggie and Anita.

Well, don’t get too comfortable with this unified theory of ROD because the Read or Dream manga, which is the story of the three sisters, exists in yet *another* continuity. Trust me – there’s no WAY they’re gonna be able to integrate this timeline. You just have to take it as it comes.

In the Read or Dream manga, as opposed to the Read or Die manga, we are entertained with the amusing antics of the three paper sisters, as they bumble their way through various adventures and jobs, being barely competent until that crucial last moment when they go all cool and paper master-y on us. To avoid repetition, you can re-read my review of Volume 1 here.

Volume 2 of Read or Dream is amusing, but not deep. Maggie and Michelle go overseas, leaving Anita home alone. Anita takes a job – against her sisters’ advice, of course, and heads out to assist a young woman with locating a family treasure. Lo and behold! the woman is not who or what she appeared to be. In fact, she is Lilith, an infamous book thief. To “thank” Anita for helping her locate and obtain the book, she kisses Anita and heads out. (Lilith will later prove that this is a genuine loli fetish, as you will see when I review the next volume.)

In a second story, Anita heads out to recover the book from Lilith. She tracks the woman down to her apartment. Anita learns that Lilith has a companion in crime – a black panther named Orion. Anita manages to get the book back, but not before a fight and, in the end, Lilith and Orion are last seen leaping out of the window to escape.

In the rest of the chapters, we re-encounter a young boy, Chi-Hon, who befriended the sisters in the first volume. Chi-Hon and Anita spend the night on a line, waiting to get books signed by a famous author. As you can imagine, Anita is thrilled.

Later, that same author. Yun-Fa, hires the three sisters to track down an author that used to inspire him, but who has not published lately. This story was quite good, actually. We learn that the older author is actually a woman, who stopped writing about the time the Yun-Fa debuted. It’s a goopy story, but quite sweet.

Volume 2, like Volume 1, comes with a two-sided color mini-poster inside. Three sisters fanservice on one side, cool and business like on the other. This seems to be par for the series.

There’s less overt Yuri in Volume 2 than in Vol. 1, but there’s Lilith, who will be back, with her “thing” for girls.

Ratings:

Story – 8
Characters – 8
Art – 8
Yuri – 5

Overall – 8

This manga takes place in Hong Kong, and focuses completely on Maggie, Michelle and Anita. No Nenene, no Yomiko and no sign of either. This series has its own timeline, and own continuity. Characters from earlier volumes will keep returning – and some suprise characters make an appearance in future volumes – but not in the way that you would expect. Approach the Read or Dream manga as if it is a completely separate series (which it is,) and you’ll be fine!





Yuri Anime: ROD The TV, DVD Volume 3

December 2nd, 2004

ROD The TV continues to amaze and thrill. If you haven’t yet seen this series, you *really* should.

First, the whining:

Note the fanservice-a-riffic picture above. How embarrassing is it that there are people who will find this to be sexy? Worse yet, the special pencil board in this volume has the least sexy picture that I have ever seen of Nenene. I swear, a picture of her snorting potato chips and picking her nose would have been sexier. Like the cover picture, the thought that there are people out there who find this pencil board a turn-on just makes me cringe. Nenene is so cool, could we have not found a less uncomfortable pose for her?

Also, in this volume, the formerly excellent translation appears to go away to be replaced by somewhat more slapdash work. I have this bizarre belief that it *is* possible to translate what was said, and how it was said, in some reasonable facsimile, rather than just glossing over everything to get the general meaning. I DO expect more from professional translators than I do from fans. This volume was lame, Geneon. Really. (Thanks J, for catching that is was Geneon, not ADV, who deserves the blame this time.)

Lastly, I found it to be the height of tacky that Geneon ended this volume at episode 12. For one thing, the season ended on a *brilliant* cliffhanger at episode 13. (In fact, it was at this point that I regularly began to scream while watching this series. Seriously. I’d be sitting on the sofa and then I’d be running around the house screaming. “Oh my god! Aaaahhh!” and the wife would know I was watching ROD.) They certainly could have put *one* more episode on this DVD. Episode 12 makes a decent enough cliffhanger, but 13 would have been so much better! And, more importantly, this means that the last 2 DVDs in this series will probabaly have 3 episodes each, which I think is just crap.

Let me digress for a second, to indulge in this week’s rant. It has come to my attention that DVDs in Japan will, on occasion only have 2 episodes per volume, and cost about the same as we’re paying, so in that way, we’re getting a better deal. In fact this is the case for Maria-sama ga Miteru,but…it still makes me cranky to know that this series is being released on 7 DVDs, when 6 would have simply worked better. (4 volumes of 4 each and 2 volumes of 5.) Then the last volume of each season would have had five episodes, and Vol.3 would have ended on episode 13…the actual *end* of that season. Duh, hello? Am I the only one thinking this way? I swear to you all that, should *ever* begin distroing DVDs, I will use common sense in designing them. I promise.

Okay…that’s it for the whining. Now, the praise:

On the other side of the equation, this volume has some of the best episodes in the first season. The writers’ skills really shine in these four episodes, as we continue the pattern of shoujo/shounen/ alternating stories. I never once felt manipulated, even when I was getting all misty during the obligatory Christmas episode. I mean really – could there be anything more saccharine? And yet, I found myself sniffing happily…much like Nenene herself. ^_^

In terms of Yuri, the series pretty much peaks in Episode 11 when Anita and Hisami have a tearful and emotionally wrought parting. It’s incredibly well done and you can easily make a case for this being something that they will both look back on as their first love, even if they aren’t quite old enough to see it themselves. Certainly they do love each other, but you could just as easily say that it isn’t, you know, *that* kind of love. But I’m a Yuri fan, so screw that. It’s love. ^_^ Clearly the writers thought so too – the body language in this episode is very evocative.

Ratings:
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Art – 7 (still inconsistent)
Music – 9
Yuri – 8

Overall – 9

I would never recommend ROD The TV as a gateway anime – there’s too much going on for the average newbie to follow, but for older fans, and veterans of many, many crappy series, this is a refreshingly well-crafted story.





Yuri Anime: Azumanga Daioh, Volume 5

November 30th, 2004

More wacky fun, Yuri longing and Sakaki and Kagura looking incredibly cool. Plus a toy surprise!

Today’s review will be a quicky – the story in Volume 5 of Azumanga Daioh is pretty much the same kind of hijinks as in the first four volumes. Osaka is loopy, Chiyo-chan is adorable, Tomo’s a moron, Yomi’s pathetic, Sakaki’s cool, etc, etc.

Notably on this DVD is the fateful trip to Okinawa, in which Osaka gets to make a gazillion mostly untranslatable puns, and Sakaki befriends a mountain cat, thus breaking her curse and violating all sorts of wildlife laws all at the same time.

Much more importantly, in their final sports festival, we (along with a still-besotted Kaorin,) get to enjoy both Kagura and Sakaki in an outfit known as gakuran. The gakuran is really just a traditional boy’s school uniform, but it’s often shown as a longer jacket and with baggy pants, like a zoot suit – a look favored by gangs in manga and anime and assumably, in real life. The gakuran is often accompanied by sarashi, bandages wrapped around the chest for both guys and girls, although of the top of my head I don’t know why. In this case, the Red Racoon Dogs (the team name chosen by our intrepid athletes) wear sports bras. Amusingly  If you care, I’ve found an old black & white photo of a guy in the old style gakuran with long jacket and baggy pants.

Anyway, this volume is the usual four episodes, good liner notes with explanations of the puns (which are very necessary, let me tell you!) and a cloisonne pin of, as I predicted, the Otou-san cat. Whee. Now I have two cat pins I don’t want. Why can’t we get Sakaki pins, for pity’s sake!?!

But don’t let me get you down. In reality, this volume is another excellent entry into this always excellent and very funny series.

Ratings:
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Art – 8
Music – 7
Yuri – 4

Overall – 8

Really, is it too much to ask to get a pin, or doll or something of Sakaki in the gakuran? They made a gashapon of Kagura in the darn thing!

Oh, but look what I found while searching for one. This must have made by taking Kagura’s gashapon body and adding Sakaki’s head because I’ve never seen anything for sale like it. Now, why didn’t *I* think of that? ^_^

P.S. – Gashapon are little dolls, like 4″ or so, that come in pieces, usually from vending machines for a couple hundred yen each. You stick ’em together and they really look good. “The word is derived from the sound made by the machine when you operate it to win your prize (Gasha-Gasha).”





Live Action: Cutie Honey Movie

November 8th, 2004

All hail Go Nagai!

Everything about the previews for the Cutie Honey movie, had me squirming with embarrassment. It looked like it was going to be a travesty of immense proportion, much along the lines of the Kekkou Kamen live action (if you can really call them that…) movies.

Instead, I was amazed at the translation of the cheesy, yet charming, anime into an equally cheesy and perhaps even more charming live action movie. Right off the bat, the bad guys rocked. Their costumes were amazing, they actually acted the parts like they cared, and the special effects were exactly the right level of screamingly bad/amusingly good.

Satou Eriko was stellar as Honey. She was cute, she was enthusiastic and genki…she was an irritating bubble-head, and you couldn’t help but smile at her antics. And while the opening scenes had a fair amount of Eriko in underwear fanservice, that was basically it for the movie. As the plot progessed the fanservice sort of tails off into dress-up scenes, and then completely disappears. Refreshing and a bit puzzling, since in the beginning there’s so much energy, and by the end of the movie everyone looks ready to call it a day and go home.

The opening sequence was a *perfect* reproduction of the Cutey Honey Flash anime, while the rest of the movie has more in common with the new Re Cutie Honey anime that I reviewed last week. (Although, quite inexplicably Sister Jill has been turned into an ugly guy. In fact, the portrayal of Jill was significant in the lack of energy in the ending. Sister Jill wasn’t just draining the people of Townsville’s energy – she was sucking mine away too. But I digress.) Unlike the anime, we got to enjoy the wacky capers of the Panther Claw hench-dudes, who are always, erm, yeah.

Aki Natsuko was played to a tee by Ichikawa Mikako (who looks alot more like Na-chan than any real human should…). There was a bit too much Seiji – played with vim, vigor and the appropriate arrogance by Murakami Jun – especially at the end, where his exceptional competence annoyed the hell out of me.

The movie comes in at a lower yuri score than the anime, but still, the vibe between Na-chan and Honey was still recognizably there. If Seiji backed off for a second, I think you’d see some sparks flying. And in the end it was Na-chan and Honey who cry in each other’s arms, while Seiji just sort of looks out of place. So there, Seiji – nyah. ^_^

A few other nice touches – Go Nagai has a cameo as the driver of a car upon which Honey falls, butt first. He looks extra happy to be looking up at the view. ^_^; And the remix of the Cutey Honey theme by Koda Kumi absolutely *rocks.* Her voice is a little deeper and breathier than the anime versions. The video for the theme is refreshingly awful and I highly recommend everyone watch it until, you, like me, sing the damn theme for weeks on end, non-stop. Can you say “sticky”? I knew you could.

The movie did have some weak areas, especially the lackluster ending. I don’t know why, but Japanese live-action movies really suck the life out of bad guys. The live action Hana no Asuka-gumi movie had the same problem – Hibari was turned into the same kind of non-presence as Sister Jill in this movie. When the bad guy is supposed to be the motivation for the heroine’s actions, you’d *think* they’d give us an energetic and charismatic baddie…but instead, we tend to get colorless non-entities who barely even move their mouths. Drives me crazy. Especially when Sister Jill was so great in the anime. Oh well.

In every other way, however, this movie is a must-see for fans of yuri, classic anime, inutterable cheesiness or all of the above. It looked like everyone on the set was having a really, really good time making this movie, something that they communicated through their acting. It left me with a really good feeling about the whole thing.

Ratings:
Story – 8
Character – 9
Cinematography – 8
Costumes – 9
Music – 9
Yuri – 5

Overall – A really strong 8.

This was one of the most enjoyable movies I’ve seen all year, bar none. I can’t recommend it enough. If I had seen this in the theater I would have been shouting and cheering through the entire first half like a lunatic. ^_^