Archive for the Series Category


Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Short Stories, Volume 1 (English)

August 13th, 2014

pgsmss1As Kodansha has wound down the last of the releases of the 15th anniversary volumes of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, I want to take a moment to discuss, at long last, the Sailor Moon Short Stories. These shorts were included with the original artbooks and with the Japanese collected volumes. They have never made it over here as a whole before, so this was new for Kodansha’s English-language release.

Some of the stories in the two short story volumes are known to fans through the Sailor Moon movies. Probably best known is  “Princess Kaguya’s Lover,” which became the basis for the Sailor Moon S movie, while one of the Chibi-Usa’s picture diary stories, “Beware of the Transfer Student” made it into the legendary SuperS Special, which I believe we are getting as part of the Viz release, at last. (I’ve worn my old VHS out watching that, because the Uranus and Neptune short on it is so very wonderful. ^_^) These are both in Volume 2 of the Short Stories.

Volume 1 has one story of especial interest for us at Okazu. In this volume each of the Inner Senshi faces a crisis about their lives. Some of these are very poignant, especially Rei’s story. (And again, Ami’s chapter, “Ami-chan’s First Love” was an animated special and is also quite wonderful.) Interestingly, Rei features in Minako’s crisis chapter and the story was the basis of many a Rei x Minako fanfic back in the day – and will no doubt be again, for the opening color artbook picture alone, if nothing else.

Minako find Rei’s perfection vexing, and who wouldn’t? So she asks the question that set a million fans a-tittering, ala Beevis and Butthead. But that *still* isn’t why we should care about this story. We should care, because when Rei is possessed by the genus loci, she starts to kiss all the other girls at school, including Minako…perhaps forseeing their reincarnations’ smoking hot romance in a live action drama, 15 years later. Or not. ^_^; It’s service, but fun. ^_^ Also fun is Sailor Venus’ reveling in the adoration and crushiness of the girls’ school students.
Ratings:

Art – 7 Standard PGSM art
Story – 6 Sloppy storytelling, but I don’t care because…
Characters – 9
Yuri – 2
Service – 2-ish

Overall – 8

So, while it’s confined to service and light akogare, Short Stories, Volume 1 has some Yuri.





All 70 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura on Crunchyroll

August 12th, 2014

ccs Tonight, at about 9PM EST US time, all 70 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura are going live on Crunchyroll.

This series has so much going for it – it’s a classic CLAMP creation (a number of the voice actresses from the original Sailor Moon anime went on to work on this (and most of the others snagged an appearance or two) and generlly has one of the most bent and colorful stories in 90s shoujo anime. It’s my favorite CLAMP work.

I know what I’m doing tonight. ^_^





Artbook: Higa Yukari’s Mahou Senki Lyrical Nanoha Force Collection (緋賀ゆかり 魔法戦記リリカルなのはForce画集)

August 6th, 2014

forceartbookThe most truly interesting thing about this book, Higa Yukari’s Mahou Senki Lyrical Nanoha Force Collection (緋賀ゆかり 魔法戦記リリカルなのはForce画集) is the paralyzing crisis of conscience it gave me. ^_^;

I’m in Japan in October 2013 and I see it on the shelf of Animate and I say “Ooh!” and reach for it. Then I pull my hand back, because I know the audience of the Nanoha franchise is not me and I’ve been reading Mahou Senki Lyrical Nanoha Force and I know what the art in Nyantype (the magazine in which Force runs) is like. This book is bound to be a disappointment, I know this.

And then we go to another bookstore and I see it on the shelf and I say “Ooh!” and reach for it. Then I pull my hand back, and I go through the whole conversation with myself again.

The fourth or fifth time I went through this charade my wife was giving me the old “Just BUY it already” but I’m shaking my head and explaining that I know the audience of the Nanoha franchise is not me and…

The last time I went through this process, I actually had the book in my hand and was on line to buy it, but talked myself out of it. I knew what would be in there…pictures that made me sad. Sigh. I put it back on the shelf and left Japan.  When I came home I put this artbook into my shopping cart on Amazon JP and there it has sat, for order after order after order, going  through the same monologue every time.

So, finally, I bought it. And, as expected, the audience of the Nanoha franchise is not me and it is all very Nyantype. Plenty of naked or nearly naked girls for thems as like that, and lots of group shots for the covers of Mahou Senki Lyrical Nanoha volumes.

In a nutshell, the big negative negative is that there just isn’t a great Fate/Nanoha shot in this book. There are a few side-by-sides and back-to-backs, some bath shots, but nothing that fills the gaping hole where one really fabulous Fate x Nanoha picture should live. (There’s been a few over the years, I don’t see why we shouldn’t get one from Force.)

On the positive side Higa Yukari’s art is **fantastic.** I mean, “wow, that’s an awesome picture” fantastic. Barrier jackets and weapons look better than they ever have before. The book is super thick, so if you like the group shots (and are interested in the specific composition of those pieces, and the devices, this has got a lot to look at. If you like drawings of fictitious naked girls, you’ll be well served, as well. Also some really service-y drawings of Toma, which struck me as more silly than sexy. The sexiest thing in this book is Raising Heart in her grazillion forms.

Ratings:

Overall – 7

I don’t regret it, but I stare at it wistfully, wishing it just had one really excellent NanoFate picture.





Sailor Moon Original Anime Preorder on TRSI

July 5th, 2014

782009243625RightStuf has pre-orders up for the original Sailor Moon anime. The prices are very decent.

The DVD set is just over $30. This comes with no physical extras, and video extras are Convention Featurettes (Short Version).

The Combo BD/DVD set is $57 and will come with a coin of Sailor Moon’s first henshin brooch, and her transformation phrase an 88-page, full-color premium booklet, all housed in a shimmering chipboard artbox. Special Features: Dub Recording Behind the Scenes, Art Galleries, Convention Featurettes (Extended Version).

While I think the coin is a bit meaningless (no coins in the series, so why a coin? Marketing folks at TRSI, we fans like to get stuff that’s related to the series if possible,) it still seems a good deal for a BD set and artbox.





Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Manga, Perfect Edition, Volume 7 (美少女戦士セーラームーン完全版)

July 4th, 2014

I have a complicated relationship with the Sailor Moon Super S arc. In one sense, it’s 90% about Chibi-Usa, and her struggle with not being as grown up as she desires to be (the plight of most humans until 35 or so when it switches to wishing they were younger than they are.) 5% of the story is the complete and total damseling of Mamoru and the last 5% is a fantasy about a decidedly adolescent ideal of the future. The Outer Senshi are most notable by their absence until the very end…and yet it is the Outer Senshi that are the catalysts for what passes for “growth” here in Volume 7 of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Perfect Edition (美少女戦士セーラームーン).

Each one of the Inner Senshi go through a crisis of confidence when they are unable to transform. In the middle of a fight against the Dead Moon Circus, each is visited by vision of Setsuna, Haruka or Michiru, reminding them of their skills, strength and responsibility. When their own will appears to them (as a kind of miniature self) they find their new power and transform.

When last of all, Minako is suffering from her crisis, we turn to the Outers’ new home life. It has been 6 months since they vowed to raise Hotaru as a family. Haruka and Michiru appear to the public to be a married couple, but in reality, they and Setsuna are equally involved in Hotaru’s parenting.

It’s been six months, but Hotaru looks 4 or 5 years old when we first see her, reciting W.B. Yeats’ The Second Coming (a poem that is often on my mind these days for these lines:

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.)

As Minako finally gets the boost she needs to take her rightful place as leader of the Senshi, Hotaru awakens as Sailor Saturn once again, and mobilizes the Outer Senshi to join the fight against Queen Neherenia’s Dead Moon Circus.

There’s a surprising depth to this volume, if one cares to parse it. The Lemures don’t just suck away energy this time, they contribute to a general lack of caring and we physically see Azabu-Juban getting dirtier and more run down as people become more selfish and angry.  The crises the Inners have begin with their inability to transform, and it might seem obvious that their older role models provide them with new confidence, but in each case it is from within themselves that they find the spark to power up.  This is a clear lesson  – mentors are great, but you have to find it in yourself to grow.

Even Chibi-Usa who originally resents Usagi for being what she desires to be, learns that she has to change from within to become that ideal.

My sympathy for  both the Amazon Trio and the Amazoness Quartet is higher reading the manga than watching the original anime, most probably due to the compressed time we spend with them.

I’ve always said I like Super S the least but, after this volume, maybe my opinion has softened on that. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 2 (Haruka and Michiru married. What a lovely thought.)
Service –2 On principle

Overall – 9

In advance, let me wish you all a happy International Sailor Moon Day tomorrow!

July2014