Archive for the Series Category


Sailor Moon Super Live Event Report

March 31st, 2019

Sailor Moon fandom is, without question, the most charming, delightful and adorable group of people on the planet. I mean that so sincerely. A more joyful, happier group of people I cannot even imagine.

Yesterday, it was my sincere pleasure to gather together with 2000 of the cutest people in the world, decked out in glorious finery as their favorite Senshi, or in Sailor Moon-inspired clothing, with ribbons and bows and handbags and t-shirts and back packs, all proclaiming their love of this lovable series to see Sailor Moon Super Live.

The performance is not quite a musical and not quite a play. It is more properly a pantomime of the key elements of the first Sailor Moon Arc, accompanied by singing, dancing and a host of really fun stage effects. The opening was worth every penny as the effects allowed integration of manga panels, and animated fore and backgrounds. We are able to enjoy rather sophisticated quick-takes on scenes like Mamoru and Usagi meeting, the gathering of the Senshi and the various battles.  The fight scenes, which combined effects, were especially fantastic when, for instance, black light effects turned Usagi’s classmates into monsters and stage elements, lighting and CGI effects combined for attacks and scenery. All of which made for a fun and dramatic stage. There were subtitles being shown but at one point, they had become rather silly, so when Kunzite was laughing evilly – about all he had for lines – I joked that I was surprised it wasn’t subtitled. ^_^ “Bwahahahah. Hahaha. Haha…” Random spoken lines are also displayed in the background as manga panels. Having seen this, I now understand why it’s called a “2.5D Musical” and I think it works.

The songs sung during the show are all original and, IMHO, mostly forgettable, except the song sung by the Senshi to encourage Sailor Moon, which was spot-on for their temperament and relationship to Usagi, and which was reprised during the concert portion of the show. The concert also included “La Soldier” and an extended version of “Moonlight Densetsu” to which we all sang along.

We had paid for the VIP seating, so when the show was over, we got high fives and hand shakes from the cast and a Super Live fan, along with the concert light stick and t-shirt we had bought before the show. The concert light stick could change colors and I giggled every time we all dutifully changed the color to match whomever was singing. We’re such nerds. ^_^

We spoke with folks about the amazing variety of goods and clothes and designs we saw. A lot of the stuff was fan-created, but without difficulty, we saw official Sailor Moon goods from Her Universe and Torrid/Hot Topics (I was wearing my old Inner Senshi HT shirt from the first time they carried Sailor Moon goods back in the 2000s, and people were recognizing it, which means we’ve all been doing this a long effing time. ^_^). And of course folks trotted out their Japanese brand goods – my wife carried her Sailor Moon x Gu collaboration purse, filled with Sailor Moon hand towel and gashopon Sailor Moon locket purses from Japan. Everyone was decked out in their Sailor Moon finest. 

Before and after the show, there was a flurry of photo activity. I took a few pictures of folks who were dressed up. One set of Haruka and Michiru were magnificently cosplaying as this cosplay magazine photoshoot. They looked so good we recognized them cosplaying as this cosplay. How amazing is that?

 

This group we encountered on the street outside the theater. I asked them if I could use this picture.

For some pictures of the cast and from the performance, check out this article on Theatermania. Unexpectedly, Forbes(!) also has an article on the show and short trailer, as well.

The only, only down side was that the music was so loud, it fuzzed out sometimes. This worked okay for the bad guys’ distortion music, but less so when it was meant to be melodic. I’d totally see this again, but bring earplugs to cut back on the noise. 

Ironically, the night before we had gone to see a bit of contemporary dance, Elizabeth, the dance, by Ann Carlson, which was also a kind of pantomime of female dance choreographers’ work, so as we sat through Sailor Moon Super Live, it felt kind of like it was the same – homage to a pop culture phenomenon as the dance troupe paid homage to high culture phenomenon.

Sailor Moon Super Live was a heck of a collage to celebrate of 25 years of a pop culture phenomenon.

 





No YNN Report Today

March 30th, 2019

No YNN report this week as I am at the theater, enjoying a wide variety of entertainment, from contemporary dance last night to Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Super Live today. Never let it be said that my interests are not varied. 

 

 

If you’re going to be there, let me know and let’s at least try and say hi. I’m in last row of the “high-five” seats, so if you come up to me to say hello, I promise I’ll give you a high five. (Warning: I am the worst high-fiver giver in the universe. Not kidding. I suck so bad at it, it’s embarrassing. ^_^;)

Event report to come!





Yuri Manga: Kase-san and Cherry Blossoms (English)

March 13th, 2019

Love after high school graduation. Surprisingly few Yuri manga address the idea of a same-sex relationship in the “outside world” after secondary education. There’s a good reason for this, honestly, as life rapidly becomes more complex once a person is on their own. One day, you’re picking out a set of plates for your own kitchen and the next, you’re searching for renter’s insurance and a job that still offers real vacation time. 

Of all the many thousands of reviews here on Okazu, a mere handful of Yuri manga have so much as explored that space between high school and adult life. Morinaga Milk’s GIRL FRIENDS literally took a look at it, then shied away from dealing with the reality of adulthood. 

All of which is why I absolutely love Kase-san and Cherry Blossoms by Takashima Hiromi, the fifth book of the Kase-san series, out now in English from Seven Seas. Yamada does not suddenly become a confident adult the moment she graduates, Kase-san is not suddenly less jealous than she was, Miwachi isn’t less of a haphazard mess. They are all who they were in high school….and then again, they aren’t. The thing I’ve liked best about this series from the beginning is the naturalness of it. I feel like we’re watching these people in real time (although, as Takashima-sensei notes in the Afterword, the series began in 2010 – that’s a long time to be in high school!)

Kase-san and Yamada, that is to say, Tomoka and Yui, sleep together and grin goofily at one another, as one does. They support one another and spend time together. It’s just lovely to see them maturing and becoming adults who are in love. 

As always, Jocelyne Allen’s translation is so good, I can hear Yui and Tomoka saying the lines. The reproduction is high quality. Once again, Seven Seas has provided us with an authentic, enjoyable manga reading experience.

Ratings:

Art – 8 So much improved over the early days
Character – 9
Story – 9
Yuri -10
Service – 6 Some gratuitous underwear shots

Overall – 9

It’s unlikely that we’ll see Yamada and Kase-san addressing homophobia, social or political issues; some other manga will have to go there. But that’s okay. That’s not what we read the Kase-san series for.

 





Yuri Anime: Bloom Into You, End of Season Review

January 28th, 2019

Bloom into You, streaming on HIDIVE, wrapped up and I wanted to to take a look back at it as an overall series and discuss what it did well. Because, I’ll admit, it did a number of things very well. 

To star with the weakest link, I do think we need to revisit the current trend of eyeball closeups in anime.  And live-action television and movies and every other visual media. I do not want to be that close to anyone except my wife. It is creepy. Please stop. And with the strangely animated eyes (eyes are hard, I know, but that is not how they look) I found it very distracting to have to view them so close, so often.  It was particularly vexing as the animation was otherwise quite pleasant. I really wish they’d just back up.

The story was a fair representation of the manga. It ended just before the play – I sincerely wish we had been able to see that because it is such an important moment, but the anime captured two of the other pivotal scenes and did an excellent job with them, so I accept the decision. (It would still make an awesome Blu-Ray extra.)

The thing the anime excelled at was bringing the characters to life. Voice actors gave the characters more depth where needed and less heaviness where it was not warranted. We were able to spend time with Maki and Sayaka, two side arcs that I found in and of themselves intriguing. And we herd the characters’ voiced in a way that really gave them more agency than I ever would have expected. Yuu is especially strong in this regard. 

Overall, I was deeply impressed by the anime; far more so than I would have expected. In fact, it was because of the anime I was able to “hear” Sayaka so clearly when I read the Light Novel about her.

Ratings:

Art – 6 The eyes were a genuine distraction
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 5 + 1 for Sayaka, so 6
Service – 1 on principle

Overall – 8

If you still haven’t taken a look, or you like or are on the fence about Bloom Into You, I hope you’ll watch the anime and let me know what you think in the comments!





Yuri Light Novel: Yagate Kimi ni Naru Saeki Sayaka ni Tsuite (やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について)

January 20th, 2019

Yagate Kimi ni Naru Saeki Sayaka ni Tsuite (やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について) has radically changed my opinion of this whole series. For the better. But it was a radical change. 

When we begin this book – presuming we have read the Yagate Kimi ni Naru / Bloom Into You manga or have seen the anime – we already know most of this story. Sayaka has told us most of what will happen. So none of it will come as much surprise. The narrative follows Saeki Sayaka from elementary school through high school. 

In the first section of the book, we learn about a girl she went to swimming lessons with who was – clearly, from our point of view, much less clearly from hers – infatuated with her. 

This is followed by a more detailed retelling of her first relationship with her sempai from choir, an upperclassman who asks her out and later breaks up with her after leaving for high school.

These two sections are marked by some brilliant tone of voice. I’ve said that I don’t much care for Iruma’s writing (I recently finished another novel by them and will not be reviewing it here, unless I get desperate,) but Nakatani-sensei’s touch in Sayaka’s voice and the illustrations by her makes me think she was intimately involved in this work. The Sayaka we know (and whose narrative voice we are familiar with) from the manga is captured perfectly in the exploration of human relationships by an interested, but mostly uninvolved, outsider….a tone that I am 10000% sure I will not be alone in recognizing as similar to my own internal thoughts as a young person.  Sayaka can see that someone else is interested in her; she is equally interested in and confounded by this. Her internal monologue seeks to make sense of the feelings she receives and those she does – and does not – feel in return. 

The volume ends when she enters a new high school and meets Nanami Touko and utterly, completely, falls for her. 

So, since we knew all this, how did it radically change my perception of the series? Let’s begin with the title. In Japanese the title is “Yagate Kimi ni Naru,” which I, as a typical American, translated from the first person – “In the end, I will become you.” The transliteration “Bloom Into You” is not much of a help, since again, as a westerner, I presumed a first person subject. 

I was wrong.  As I read this novel, I realized how wrong I was. The subject is not first person…it is second person. “In the end, you will become you(rself).” And with that realization, I saw what I had never seen before – there is only one plot in the manga, but that plot applies equally to every character. Every character is in the process of becoming themselves. In retrospect that seems kind of “duh” for this series, but when you realize how it all is being handled by Nakatani Nio-sensei, it suddenly becomes really rather extraordinary. We are of course watching these children become themselves, but holy shit we are watching an intentional narrative of these children becoming who they are and learning to verbalize and accept themselves and…wow. The same plot applies as much to Sayaka as it does for Touko and Yuu. And Maki. And Miyako. And everyone else.

I said from early on in the series, that I was giving Nakatani-sensei the benefit of the doubt. I have no doubts left; whatever happens from this point on, this novel has proved to me that she deserves my trust.

Ratings:

Art – 10 well, since the creator of the original did the illustrations, that stands to reason
Story – In and of itself, not riveting, but since Sayaka is the reason I follow the series…8
Character – 10
Service – 3 bathing suits and changing rooms
Yuri – Well, now…this is hard. I’m calling it a 5 because it’s so complictated

Overall – 9

I’m being asked if this will be licensed. A few years ago I would have rolled my eyes and said no way. Nothing happens, But, depending on how well Bloom Into You is doing for Seven Seas, they might want to consider it. These days, all I can say is “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” I will say that this was an easy read and much less plodding than Iruma’s original works I have read.