Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Drama CD: Iono The Fanatics, Ah, Michisuji ni Hikari ari 「ああ道筋に光あり」

October 1st, 2015

IsDCD2Just as Volume 1 of Iono The Fanatics Special Edition was packaged with a Drama CD, so was Volume 2, this time titled Iono The Fanatics, Ah, Michisuji ni Hikari ari 「ああ道筋に光あり」

The cast is the same as in the first CD, with three additional voices:

クラウソラス ：内山夕実 さん
Klausoraus : Uchiyama Yumi (Davi in Dokidoki! Precure)

ヤマ・ノヴェラ・ヴァランティアノズ : 高森奈津美
Yama Noveira Varantianos : Takamori Natsumi (Subaru from Houkago no Pleiades)

ここの・ミト・アルシュライン : 小倉唯
Kokono Mito Arceline : Ogura Yui (Sumika from Yuri Kuma Arashi)

The first 8 tracks are all very short, each establishing a fact, more than telling a story. Iono-sama returns home at last and Eto is suddenly face to face with the fact that her lover is truly a Queen…and she is overwhelmed.

We see Klausoraus as part of Iono-sama’s Special Police, under Argent’s command.

Argent and Yama are established as a couple, and I’m gonna say that I was surprised at how cute they were together. ^_^

Iono-sama, now home and settled in, asks Eto to have a child with her. Eto doesn’t take much time to say yes. This is followed by an introduction to Kokono-hime-sama, the star of the new manga chapters in Comic Yuri Hime. Another quick jump forward in time to the set up of the new manga chapters, as Kokono-hime asks to go to school in Japan and some of the staff volunteers to join her as protection.

Ratings:

Characters – 8
Story – 5
Yuri – 5
Service – 0

Overall – 5

While it was all very cute and breathless, it seemed like a long commercial for the new series, rather than a story on it’s own. You couldn’t hand this to anyone who was not already a Iono-sama fan and expect them to make heads or tails of it, the way you could with any of the Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan Drama CDs.





Sailor Moon Crystal to Get 3rd Season, Fans to Get Outer Senshi

September 28th, 2015

SMC3The news has come down from above….Sailor Moon Crystal is going to a third season!

ANN reports that the Death Busters arc was announced today, and will include the Outer Senshi. There is no announcement yet on the Sailor Moon Official page that voice actors or release dates have been chosen, but I’ll let you know as soon as we have word.

I know what you’re thinking…zOMG, Haruka and Michiru! And I want you to be very happy, of course. But let’s think a little about what this will mean to us. We know that Crystal is a literal animation of the manga, and the manga is a known quantity. So let’s think about it for a bit.

stylishAs I mentioned in my review of Strawberry Shake, what was once ground-breaking can wear a little unevenly over time. Haruka and Michiru are presented as a Takarazuka-esque couple. Haruka is passing as a man, but only as it suits her, she herself is not constrained by gender role. This is a little different from the original anime, in which she was consistently an otokoyaku, to the point where many consider her a cross-dresser. As I personally wear mostly men’s clothes, and do not think of myself that way, I of course do not think of her that way. ^_^ But it’s a valid perspective, as almost all perspectives are…except one. For years some American fans insisted that she was either a hermaphrodite or was originally a man, but reborn as a woman, because of the lines about her having the “heart of a man and a woman.” We here at Okazu know that this line was meant to recall Safire of Ribon no Kishi/Princess Knight. The manga Haruka dresses in a feminine manner as often as she does masculine. That will come as a surprise to some older fans, but I hope not many. In fact, some her outfits as an adult woman are quite stylish in a 1990s Japanese women’s magazine kind of way. ^_^

Haruka is going to kiss Usagi. This is a given. But she will not kiss Michiru. Vexing, maybe, but I believe they can remedy this with a single simple act.

In Volume 5 of the new edition, Haruka and Michiru speak urgently of the Talismans. In the anime, this conversation becomes the “I love your hands” moment, which is beloved by fans. In the manga, we get this instead:

hands

To make every Haruka x Michiru fan in the world happy, they need to do one thing. Before this scene cuts out, have them edge closer together, as if they are moving in for a kiss. They don’t have to actually kiss, just appear to moving towards one.

The upshot is, we’re going to get them more couple-y, more famous and cooler than in the anime, but we’re going to get less time in their heads, and less time building their relationship. Good and bad, as with all of Crystal.

In any case, let’s celebrate the 3rd season and I’m sure we’ll spend plenty of time raging and dying and crying and laughing over the news in days to come.





Sailor Moon, Season 1, Part 2, Disk 3 (English)

September 25th, 2015

SMS1P2We’re approaching the climactic ending of the first season with Sailor Moon, Season 1, Part 2, Disk 3. So, of course, you’d expect the story to get right into saving Mamoru/Endymion from Beryl’s clutches. I know I expected that, at least.

Instead, we take a quick side trip to give both Ami a boyfriend (a good choice, at the very least and one that will be completely forgotten after this season concludes) and Minako a sort-of boyfriend, but really an onee-sama, story. This is followed by an mostly pretty good onsen episode and a very silly tabloid episode that indicates to the viewers that Mamoru is not quite as brainwashed as the Dark Kingdom might want.

Which brings us to the final three episodes. Join me as I rewatch them for the first time in almost ten years.

The animation is better in many ways. The watercolor-wash backgrounds have more depth, and the figure art is more heavily outlined and finished than we’ve seen yet in the series.

Plot wise, we finally have all the holes filled in. The Senshi now remember their past lives. Kunzite does his level best to be a genuinely bad guy, but the more I think about it, the less it makes sense to me.

And as the Senshi hand their power over to Sailor Moon and you’re ready from her to be amazing, she’s still given dialogue that made the viewers in this room cringe.

Kunzite gets a decent death, with Zoisite’s name on his lips, rather than mooning (no pun intended) over Endymion. At least in the manga, Mamoru gets a vision of the boys after death. There is no connection in the anime between the generals and the Earth Prince. Lost opportunity, particularly when you think how many crappy filler episodes there were, we could have had one about the boys.

The pentultimate episode is subtitled “Death of the Senshi”, so no suspense here. You know what you’re in for. Lots of screaming and crying and death at the end of it. But no stress, no one stays dead.

In the meantime, we’re assured that the Senshi are all deeply committed to their path. Which is good, because we have another monster of the day before we deal with any of the actual bad guys!  And, one at a time, we lose the Senshi. We know why, of course. It’s because Usagi can’t be strong until she’s lost everything, but dammit, I really hate these bits. It’s annoying to watch Usagi whining and complaining when people are dying for her. Argh.

Of note, Sailor Moon can tell that Ami is dead. I’ve always felt that they ought to be able to feel each other’s transformations. Also interesting that they don’t die in the order they appeared, which seems to be standard for series like this. Rei cheerfully heading off to her death is horrible. Far worse than the manga. But it takes her death to give Usagi any strength. For the first time, but not the last.

Oh yes, now I remember why I loathe Mamoru. He’s a tool. Beryl, dump him and renaimate Jadeite. Seriously, he is twice the man Mamoru is. This whole series is a war of obsession with a complete tool. Ugh.

Usagi’s switch from “Mamo-chan” to “Mamoru-san” is jarring and distressing. It’s one of those rare flashes her parents (ironically, to us) comment on, where she seems suddenly much more mature and competent. And, again, it’s loss that strikes a spark in Usagi, and allows her to release her true power.

I’m a sucker for the use of the OP in a final battle scene.

I like Beryl, despite the fact that she’s a terrible evil queen. I found myself wondering this morning what she did while her generals were spawning their awful ideas for gathering energy.  Evil CEOs in the real world go on TV and do cringe-making interviews with TV “journalists,” but Beryl wasn’t even collecting energy for herself. My wife suggests that she spent her time plotting.

A miracle occurs, as Usagi loves everyone right back into life. And the season comes to a somewhat banal end.

The thing that occurs to me is that those brief flashes of maturity and strength are what I watch for. I know they’ll come and they have inordinate power to soothe me. But then, I think of people I know and it works pretty much the same way – it’s those moments, when everything aligns and all the energy is focused that makes it all worthwhile. In the end, maybe we’re all Senshi, trying to carve out lives while surrounded by forces beyond our control. Or maybe not, but I might just have occasion tonight to pick up one of my henshin stick pens and mention casually to the universe, “Planet Power, make up.” Maybe.

Ratings:

Art – 8 -Noticeably better this disk
Story – 8 Death of the Senshi
Characters – 8 Death of the Senshi
Yuri – 2 Because Minako
Service – 3 Some actual service, mild by today’s standards but enough to make this a massive popular series with the college crowd in pre-Internet days, when you had to sneak Dad’s Playboy.

Overall – 8

The preview for ‘R’ starts right off with much better art, which is interesting to me. It clearly had a bigger investment.  I’m not looking forward to Chibi-Usa, but I am looking forward to the dinosaur episode and Emeraude for reasons that make sense in my own mind.

And that, in the end is how we love Sailor Moon, for reasons that make sense in our own mind. We’ve built this structure of things we love and decorated it with Senshi goods, and call it Sailor Moon. A fascinating idea for study – loving the characters in a series that is massively influential, but not actually a masterpiece. I guess that’s most of anime, huh? ^_^

Many thanks to Viz Media for the review copy and thanks to everyone who made a decent release of the series possible!





Yuri Manga: Iono The Fanatics, Special Edition Volume 2 (新装版 いおの様ファナティクス 特装版 2)

September 21st, 2015

specialiono2-e1435708747225In Volume 1, we met Iono Mito Arceline, the charming Queen of a small western country, and her close attendants as she spends time in Japan looking for women with black hair to recruit as ladies-in-waiting. Iono-sama meets and woos a nice young woman by the name of Hachibe Eto to join her clan. Adventures, romance and comedy ensue.

In Iono The Fanatics, Special Edition Volume 2 (新装版 いおの様ファナティクス 特装版 2), the take begins with a quick visit to an old gag. Oue Ruiko (affectionately known as OL-chan) is once again made late by Iono-sama, but learns just who this weirdo is and, in a moment of honesty, explains why she cannot join Iono-sama – she wants a quiet, peaceful, average life. The Queen gives her her blessing and they part.

We return to the gathered staff and find that Argent is suffering a crisis after having lost to Klausoraus, forcing Iono-sama to fight the assassin herself. Iono-sama takes Arge out on a date and buys her some new clothes, allowing us a quick visit with characters from Fujieda-sensei’s independent Alice Quartet series.

Eto gets some insight on the workings of the Queendom, when she meets Aida’s lover Shinon and, in an extremely awkward moment, Shinon’s mother, the chief of all the sobame, Weisen Bellecoeur. It seems that the sobame back home, missing their Queen, have taken to forming factions and fighting. Iono-sama decides to go home. But, will Eto come with her? She asks this while seducing Eto, whose response is to give in, rather than to join in.

Then crisis erupts with the re-appearance of Klausoraus the assassin! Eto is kidnapped, forcing Iono-sama and the gang to rescue her, and the appearance of yet another besotted youngster, a Princess of the country next door to Iono-sama’s. Eto makes her decision as Iono-sama sweeps her off her feet, literally.

The epilogue of the book picks up 5 years later, when the gang returns to Japan. Old gags reappear and are just as silly, Flèche and Arata have a baby now, Argent and Princess Yama seem to be an item, and, as the book comes to an end, Iono-sama heads off to find more women. ^_^

It was both delightful and maddening to read this book. I find myself obsessed with the concept of the harem Queen. Is Iono-sama having 1000 ladies-in-waiting who are in love with her cute or irksome? Is her love worth fighting over? If this were a King would I be rolling my eyes?

I’m also (and I repeatedly state) obsessed with the names of the characters. Names are sort of Frenchish-ish, with some hint of German. So is Aida “Aida Bloomer,” or “Aida Bleumare”? I’m sort of leaning to the latter now, given the breakthrough I had with Weisen’s name.

And last, but in no way least, I’m surprisingly uncomfortable with Eto as uke. I mean, not as such, because it’s obvious the Queen is the aggressor, but because she’s so passive. Creepy, maguro-passive. A dead fish in bed. With a book so filled with competent, powerful woman, it seems weird that Iono-sama would be so charmed by a nothing like Eto. But, then maybe it’s because everyone else close to her is so strong, the Queen was looking for someone less forceful. But I can’t help but think that it’s not cool to see the “Japanese women are passive in bed” trope in a romance, not even (maybe not especially?) from a Japanese man. Overthinking things again, I know, but that’s what you pay me for. ^_^

Ultimately, this series aged a little better than Strawberry Shake, and was just as much fun to revisit. And I’m looking forward to new adventures and another new Drama CD (which at a glance appears to be at least a bit about Argent and Princess Yama. A good match, as Arge has no patience for Yama’s passive-aggressive ways. I will, of course, report back.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

As I said in my original review of the series in 2005: I recommend “Iono-sama Fanatics” highly for Yuri that makes you smile. For Yuri that is sexy without explicit sex, and funny and cute – this is an excellent example of the breed.

And so it is. ^_^





Rose of Versailles Manga, Volume 11 (ベルサイユのばら)

September 17th, 2015

RoV11When I was in Japan last, you may remember I had a chance to see the anniversary event for Margaret magazine. One of the best-known titles that has ever run in Margaret is Rose of Versailles (ベルサイユのばら) by Riyoko Ikeda.  Ikeda-sensei was asked to write something about her masterpiece for the event and, as she says in the author’s note in this volume, that’s when she had the idea of writing new stories to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the work., many years after the first ten volumes had been completed. This is the first volume of her new ideas.

My question, of course, is where does one go to write new stories about a series that ended with such finality? Before, after or in between the cracks? The answer, contained in the pages of Volume 11 of Berusaiyu no Bara, (ベルサイユのばら) is…all of the above. And it was sublime.

Each chapter follows a single character from the original story. We sometimes get a  glimpse of their early life, as in the chapters that focus on Andre or Girodel, or an episode post-revolution as we do get Fersen and Allan.

The chapters are broken up by “Fan Room” pages, in which Ikeda-sensei asnwers frequently asked questions about Oscar and the featured characters. As she did, so shall I, by reminding you of who everyone is.

It’s a fair bet you’ll remember Andre, the servant and eventually lover of the story’s hero, Oscar Francois de Jarjeye. Girodel is the young man she beat out for the position of the Captain of the Queen’s guards and who remained Oscar’s good friend right to the end. Allan was the sergeant of the French Guards, when Oscar took a demotion to fight with commoners. He opposed her at first, but eventually came around to admire Oscar…and to love her. Hans Axel von Fersen was a Swedish noble at the French Court who, you may remember, became Marie Antoinette’s lover and with whom Oscar fell in love.

In the course of the story we get cameos from Oscar’s father, Andre’s grandmother and Allan’s dead sister, corpse in situ, Rosalie and Bernard and others.

We also meet some characters less well-known in this volume. (We know they are less well-known, because they all are given a “who are they?” panel in the Fan Room.) Oscar’s niece Lulu, Marie Terese, Antoinette and Louis’ eldest child who escaped the guillotine, but was forcibly deported to (or perhaps negotiated for by) Austria and a childhood friend of Andre’s who has become the Duke Orleans’ mistress.

All the chapters were exactly what you expect from Rose of Versailles. Tons of melodrama and so many tears! People cried over Andre’s death, Oscar’s death, Antoinette’s death, the revolution, France…it was all a lot of fun. ^_^;

Of interest to us here on Okazu was this spread: We Love Oscar-samaOscarlove

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These pages detail all the people who were “in love” with Oscar. Andre, of course and Rosalie, of course, Allan, Louis Joseph (one of the Bourbon children)  and “Other Ladies of the Court.” This last can be seen in the bottom left, in a picture one can only describe as Oscar macking on the lady.^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – Did I mention the crying? 8
Characters – 9
Service – 1 on principle
Yuri – 2 ’cause of the spread

Overall – 8

I have to say, I really enjoyed this volume. Finished it, tears and all, with a huge grin. I had no idea that I’d be so glad to see these characters again! Now I’m dying to read Volume 12!

Who can tell me the name of Oscar’s sister? Answer in the comments. A prize may be forthcoming. (Don’t cheat and look it up, that’s no fun.)