Archive for the Series Category


Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD: Ibara no Mori

October 19th, 2004

The fourth Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD set, Ibara no Mori! Whee!

This two-CD set covers the third novel of the series, Ibara no Mori/Shiroki Hanabira, which correspond to Episodes 10 and 11 of the first season of the anime – in other words, Sei’s lesbian angst arc.

I now have a complete Yamayurikai set of dolls on my desk at work. I feel better about that. ^_^ (Youko has a really strange look on her face, like she’s about to say something…Sei just looks smug, like she’s gotten away with something and you’ll find out later – to your chagrin.)

The first CD in the set is Ibara no Mori, aka Forest of Thorns. There’s a fair bit of conversation that was left out of the anime and Yoshino is WAY over the top a few times, but the manga is closer to the drama CD than the anime was. There’s STILL stuff missing from the manga, but nothing important. Nonetheless, the Drama CD makes a nice addition to the level of detail, as always. The voice performances are, as expected, very good, but…

The second CD is Shiroki Hanabira, which means White Petals. This is almost exclusively voiced by Toyoguchi Megumi, as Sei narrates the story of how she fell in love with, and lost, Shiori. To say that she does a superlative job is a wild understatement. I was simply breathless during some of the scenes. In fact, I think I can say that this Drama CD may well be the best voice acting I have ever heard *ever* in any medium.

Shinohara Emi was simply amazing as Youko – much better than she was in the anime, and the Former Rosa Gigantea was voiced by one of the most skilled seiyuu in the business, Takayama Minami. She was superb. Nakagawa Akiko was much better in this CD as Shiori than she was in the anime – I expect it’s because she has a bigger part, and we get to know her better. My jaw was hanging open all through the second CD of this set. It was simply brilliant. This was 10’s all the way around.

The *only* complaint I can even find to have on this set was the Foley. The sound engineering was simply awful, especially in the second CD. I don’t know if they were so enamored of the voice acting that they forgot to do it until the last second or what, but I have honestly never heard such bad Foley outside an incredibly low budget kung-fu flick.

Ratings:

Character – 10
Story – 10 (to be fair, teen angst doesn’t *usually* appeal to me, but done this well…)
Voice Acting – 10
Yuri – 10
Overall – 10

If you can understand even a little Japanese, you should get this CD set. This is *the* must-have Marimite item so far.





Yuri Anime: ROD The TV DVD Volume 2

October 12th, 2004

I have managed to watch, at last, ROD The TV, Volume 2.

Wow, is this series every bit as good, if not better, than I remembered it from the first time! It really is a must-see for anyone, except for, perhaps, those who only like shoujo.

First the technicals – the DVD comes with the reversible cover, which seems to be standard practice these days. This makes a nice mini-poster, which I saved. I purchased the box for this set, which I now regret for various reasons (some of which I detailed in my review of Volume 1.) As a result I am missing the first package insert which seems to have character and story comments. I’m always a fan of creative liner notes and commentary, so I’d like to see more of this. In addition, the DVD includes a two-sided pencilboard with obligatory sexy picture of, this time, Maggie, which appealed to me more than Michelle or, heaven help us, Anita. But that’s a personal taste issue. Now, if they have sexy pencilboard pictures of Nenene and Nancy – *then* I’ll be a happy girl. ^_^

There were four episodes on this disk, which seemed like too little, but that was mostly because the story is so damn good I’m always left wanting more. This volume almost exclusively focused on the three sisters, developing the characters quite a lot in a short space of time. Maggie turns out to be more competent than she first appears, Michelle smarter, and Anita more human. In retrospect, I can see many things that I missed the first time around, which just make the story more interesting – especially in regards to the sudden development of the sisters into more fully developed characters.

As always, the stories switch back and forth from “domestic” to “foreign”, each story focusing on a particular set of relationships, with Anita becoming more and more the main character. And most importantly, the tension is beginning to grow, as clues are handed out so subtly we don’t really know we’ve seen or heard one until after the fact.

The art is so variable on this series – I don’t want to say that animation is “bad”, because sometimes it is amazing…but the people often suffer while the backgrounds remained highly detailed.

In terms of yuri value, this volume is pretty high. On the comedic side, Nenene has chosen Maggie as her butt-girl, forcing her to cater to the cranky writer’s whims. On the drama side, we’re getting slow burning embers turning into flames between Anita and Hisa. An aborted confession gives us Hisa’s point of view, but for the moment, Anita’s feelings aren’t fully expressed. (Next volume will bring both out into the open, only to be parted. Boo hoo.)

Let me once more discuss translation here. The honorifics issue aside, this was one of the best translations I’ve ever seen on a US-release anime. This story is, by no means, easy to convey. It’s a fairly complex set-up, and the characters are deep, devious and contrived in turn. This translation is very good. The concepts being discussed are easy to follow. What is lost in the translation of names and honorifics is simply overridden by the terrific voice acting work of the seiyuu.

Ratings:

Story – 10
Characters – 9
Animation – 6-8, depending on the scene
Music – 8
Yuri – 8

Overall, a solid 9. This remains a must-have for Yuri fans, and anyone who likes a really well-constructed story.

And it’s only going to get better…. ;-)





Yuri Anime: Azumanga Daioh Vol. 4

October 1st, 2004

The short version: It’s a story about a bunch of loopy girls in school with a few loopy teachers. It’s funny as hell.

If you have heard of Azumanga Daioh but don’t know why Yuri fans should care, read my original review of the Yuri content first.

If you know about Azumanga Daioh and are just considering buying the US released DVDs, you might want to read my initial reviews of Azumanga Daioh Vols. 1,2, 3.

Which brings us, at last, to Volume 4. I picked this up in time to keep me company on the train back from a work-related conference in Washington, DC. It was the perfect anime to watch on the ride home, since it appears to be the funniest volume so far…or so I inferred from my continuing hysterics for well over an hour. In fact, I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.

To start, this is a 5-episode volume. I think that that should be the standard for a DVD, personally, with 6 from time to time as a bonus. Reversible cover seems to be the standard now – I approve. (Especially when one has gone and bought a box for the set – the reversible covers end up like little mini-posters that have some actual “keep and enjoy” value.)

Story-wise, Vol. 4 has alot to recommend it. It is, for one thing, insanely funny, and full of abundant cuteness provided by Chiyo-chan. On the down side, there’s a lot of Yomi-bashing, for some reason, which bothered me the first time around and isn’t any less irritating this time. I don’t really understand why fate keeps crapping on her, when Tomo is so wretched, but there you go, another mystery of life unsolved. But overall, this has been the best of all the volumes, with, perhaps (depending on who your favorite character is…) the very best yet to come.

The animation remains the same as the first volumes, of course. The DVD includes those amazingly detailed liner notes, but no toy surprise which was a bit of a bummer.

The sound quality kept fading in and out for me, but might have been any number of problems, including the earphones I was using, so I won’t hold that against the DVD itself.

And the translation is, at least, consistent. The honorific “-chan” is left as is, the others are ignored or translated according to some arcane alchemical formula which, assumably, is understood by the translators, (who feel that “Miss Yukari” can be an appropriate translation for “Yukari-chan”, “Yukari”, “Yukari-sensei” and “Sensei.” Do not ask me to explain – I do not know.)

So, I’m looking forward to the next DVD, as always, and have found that embarrassing one’s self by busting a gut in public is totally worth it when you are watching something as truly hysterical and wacky as Azumanga Daioh. ^_^

Ratings: Remain the same as previously. Overall 8, a must-have.

Oh, since *this* is the disk where Kaorin gets the rainbow jets and wedding bells (when she is recruited to do a 3-legged race with Sakaki-san,) maybe we’ll jump the Yuri rating to ‘8’ too. ^_^

Erratum: One of the liner notes in the first disk has a comment by a staffer that, after Chihiro’s first scene (she’s the classmate being helped by Chiyo-chan in the beginning,) she becomes background noise and kind of disappears into the story, never to be seen again, except maybe for one line. I am glad to report that he was wrong. I have been rooting for Chihiro since then, looking to see if she comes back and she does – repeatedly. She and Kaorin made the penguin costume Chiyo-chan wears, and she is also supposed to have been Kaorin’s 3-legged race partner. So, gambare Chihiro! Don’t disappear! ^_^





Stellvia Anime, Foundation 1 (English)

September 28th, 2004

I reviewed Stellvia almost a year ago. Well, now it has been released by Geneon, and so, I thought it deserved another look.

Geneon had a big-ass booth at Otakon this past year, and even sponsored a mini-concert by Angela, the singer for the opening and Ending themes for this anime. I hadn’t watched Stellvia since the very first time I saw it, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the music. It’s a strange OP, sort of yodel-y and it was appealing in an unusual way. When I watched the DVD, I found myself turning the volume way up on the opening credits.

So, Stellvia of the Universe, or Uchyuu no Stellvia, is, as I mentioned in my previous review, a space opera. Katase Shima has always wanted to see space “head on,” so she applies to “Foundation Stellvia,” a space station academy, to learn to become a pilot. The plot hasn’t changed much since my last review, so I’ll focus only on the actual DVD release.

Right off, I decided to purchase the plain DVD in a case version, eschewing the DVD in series box. I cannot imagine that whatever extras you get with the box is worth the $15 more in price. That’s practically a whole ‘nother DVD, for pity’s sake! And pencil boards go for around $3…, so…. You get 4 eps for your $20, which isn’t jump for joy great, but it’s not like I feel like I’m being taken to the cleaners, either.

The no-frills DVD is definitely that. You get nada with it. No liner notes, no anything. Just a notice of future release dates and a market research card. (Dear Geneon, Please license Maria-sama ga Miteru, I have lots of money to spend. Thanks so much. Love, Erica.). The cover of the DVD is the same as the Japanese version – a sort of lurid green with Shima-chan floating uncomfortably alone. The DVD itself is really lovely…the green sky theme repeated as a green DVD with cut-outs where the prismatic DVD is visible, like stars glowing in a green sky. Cle-ver…

The soundtrack was fubared on my DVD and I’m not really sure why. It would only play in monotrack on my TV, but worked fine on my computer. Other DVDs worked fine on the TV, so it had to be the disc. No clue what was going on there…and I didn’t lose much, just a few background noises.

The translation was, for the first episode, stunning. Absolutely fan-tastic. Shima-chan was appropriately translated as Shima-chan, the twice it was used. Honorifics in place, all’s well. And then the episode ended and aliens took over the translation for the next three episodes. Can we say, “wtf”?

Episodes 2-4 were dreadful. Translation was bland & colorless, and the honorifics were disappeared and carted off, never to be seen again – I cried when I realized that they were never coming back. I don’t know WHAT on earth happened to the translation, but clearly they need to find the folks who did the first episode and apologize for offending them and get them back on the job!

One last note – I had originally commented that the characters looked too young for my taste. I guess I had never noticed before, but the art looked about the same level as Digimon. The same faces and bodies on the characters, the same high-end CGI, but low-end character design…all very weird when put together.

I had also forgotten how GOOD the script was. For all my bitchin’, the story is still solid, the voice actors are still decent and Machida Ayaka, the hyper-competent, bitchy (and ultimately psycho lesbian, so you KNOW I like her) in the big 4 is voiced by Toyoguchi Megumi, who also voices Satou Sei in Maria-sama ga Miteru! (For the record, Kuzuhara Yayoi is voiced by Orikasa Fumiko.)

The DVD release is only a 6, but the story still gets an 8, for an overall 7.

This series is definitely worth a rent and, if you’re willing to wait for the payoff, a buy. I know I’ll look forward to the next volume, just because the story is really damn decent.





Maria-sama ga Miteru…JAV

September 25th, 2004

Since I was doing a round-up of all things Marimite this week, and since I’m going to be on the road for the next several days, I thought I’d end this week with a hoot and a holler. Or at least a big, juicy laugh.

One of the things floating around right now is a Japanese Adult Video (JAV) parody of Maria-sama ga Miteru called Maria-sama ga mite iru.

Right off the top, there are two versions of this parody. The “Main Angle” version is pretty straight forward. The scenes are directly taken from the first Marimite novel, with some changes for length, content and the fact that this is a cheeseball porn parody. The dialogue, as always with crappy low budget movies is awkward and slow and poorly paced. The characters are fine though, the main characters even look fit for the part and everything.

The “Multi Angle” version is so abstract that it kind of becomes artsy and girly feeling. Lingering shots of legs, shoulders, arms and feet (the cameraman has *such* a shoe fetish…) that in a lot of ways it was better than the Main Angle, at least for me. The Multi Angle is also out of context – there’s no dialogue scenes between the sex scenes, so in a way it was sort of sexier.

The sex is sex and not particularly interesting, in terms of review – type commentary. What *was* interesting was the way that the characters actually tried to play their characters straight, so the Sachiko character (referred to in conversation as “faux-Sachiko”) was particularly brilliant. She plays the character exactly as if she were a Sachiko who sexually desired Yumi. The faux-Yumi was equally well-chosen, if only for her embarrassed eye-lowering and face-hiding. Cute, yet wildly irritating after an hour. ^_^

Was it worth watching? Yeah, if you like that kind of thing. I was more interested in the parody aspect than the sex, but that was nice too.  Wait, let me be clear here…there were in fact four “sex” scenes. The first was a sloppy kiss fest which was kinda gross, unless you really like saliva. The second was a fantasy scene that was, IMHO, very hot. “Yuki’s” actress was clearly hired for her ability to fake an orgasm…. The third sex scene was sexy, but it looked really uncomfortable for the actresses, as they were on classroom chairs. And the last was, IMHO, too long and neither of them looked into it or convincing. (But I have heard differing opinions on all of these, so take it as my personal opinion and with the proverbial grain of salt.)

Ratings: You’ve *got* be kidding! ^_^