Archive for the Series Category


I’m In Love With the Villainess and ‘The Talk’

October 17th, 2023

Welcome back to Reality in Anime Week. ^_^

We’ve already discussed The Power of Hope ~ Precure in Full Bloom~‘s honest look at adult life. Today we turn once again back to I’m In Love With the Villainess, for an episode that many people hope will change anime for the better. (And some people threw tantrums about, but that’s a different conversation.)

In Episode 3, Misha turns to Rae and says, “Are you what they call ‘gay’?” In Japanese, the word used is douseiai (同性愛), homosexual. Rae then answers this with honesty. At which Lene mentions that gender isn’t really the issue and Rae explains that gender does matter for her. The English dub is radiant here, with a line about “love is love” is not wrong, but gender does matter for those people for whom it matters. Ironically, we had had this very conversation the night before on the Okazu Discord. ^_^

I’m going to take a second to digress here and say that the English dub for this series is absolutely outstanding and I recommend watching either or both. Hannah Alyea as Rae is brilliant and Lindsay Shepphard is incandescent as Claire.

I spent most of yesterday reading the comments for the sub and dub (which turn out to be different! Why, Crunchyroll?) and people were positively glowing with praise for the frankness of the conversation. A few people were moved, many were surprised (I guess they haven’t been reading my reviews. ^_^;). Some folks inevitably mentioned that this has never been done before in anime – that is not 100% true, but this scene definitely broke some walls and of course anime fandom memory doesn’t go very far back as new fans never know what they missed.) I want to assure people that these walls were broken with intention – this series is not done providing realistic commentary about both queer lives and social and financial inequality. This is a show that I expected to knock people’s socks off and so far it has not disappointed.

Given that King Records thinks this series Blu-ray will sell well enough that they already have opened pre-orders, I think this may be a real moment of changing tides in an industry that has regularly utilized queer content, without accepting the people whose stories it tells. Media companies in general are conservative, and otaku are often, weirdly, also very conservative.

In a year where Kadokawa (a company that regularly profits from fannish pairings of same-sex characters and manga that portrays queer stories) backtracked on the relationship between Suletta and Miorine …a relationship witnessed by viewers worldwide, no less… this is a story that Ichijinsha is giving room to be exactly as queer as it wants and needs to be.

That’s worth celebrating.





First Look at I’m In Love With The Villainess Anime

October 2nd, 2023

Today was the day we’ve been waiting for! I’m In Love With The Villainess anime has premiered on Crunchyroll. With an English dub, as well as the Japanese audio track.

As I said in a comment on the first episode, this is the Yuriest anime that has ever been made, since it is literally centered around the romantic relationship of two women right from the first moments. As those of us  who have read the novels know, it also becomes progressively queerer as it unfolds. We should find out next episode how much of that is retained. For these things alone, I would love this anime.

The narrative  – especially in these early scenes – are wholly character-driven, so it’s a pleasure to know that the voice cast really made it all work. I actually laughed out loud twice watching this first episode, even though I anticipated the gags. inori-sensei commented on her Pixiv Fanbox that at the live premier event in Japan, she was worried that people might not react to the jokes, but there was plenty of laughter. The funny bits were, genuinely, funny. I’m going to rewatch the episode later this week as a dub and see how the jokes land.

Serizawa Yuu as Rae and Nanami Karen as Claire have really dug deep on these characters and made them come to life. Of course the supporting cast is also terrific and it felt very comfortable to hear the three Princes, Pipi, Loretta and Misha all sound, well, like they sounded in my head, honestly.  Kenn’s Rod Bauer was so full of bonhomie, I kinda sympathized with Rae’s dislike of him. ^_^

The one real weak spot of this anime is the animation. I have a number of thoughts about that. First, let’s just acknowledge that there’s a good chance that it simply was given a limited budget. That happens and I would not hold it against them any more than usual. I’d rather the animators get more time and money every time, but no one asks me. That said, we can do some justification …and projection…without too many mental calisthenics.

To begin with, this story begins in the world of an otome game, so the animation might be reflective of that. Otome games are, like other sims, usually pretty flatly animated in a puppet show kind of way. The backgrounds here are often ignored for sound effects and other gimmicks, which are, yes, money savers, but also give this early phase a gag manga feel. It would be kind of cool if, as the story developed, so did the animation. I don’t think that’s going to happen, but I’d love to see it.

We can see a little bit of the initial arc of the story from the opening credits. At the very least we can see that the Commoner Movement arc will be included and, with the addition of Mizuki Nana to the cast as Manaria, it’s a good bet that it will go through the Scales of Love arc. That means we’re definitely getting into more serious territory before the season ends. And here, I am going to digress, but I will be back to conjecture further.

Today on Twitter, the official wataoshi account announced that Blu-Ray Box pre-orders are available at various Japanese anime outlets. (That link will take you direct to King Records to pre-order.) Different stores have different extras, as usual, and folks who pre-order will get a special copy of “Rae’s doujinshi” story that she wrote for Revolution, of course, written by inori.-sensei herself. The BD box is slated for a February 2024 release, so that’s an extremely early pre-order period. inori.-sensei commented on Twitter that expectations for success were very high so the BD Box was arranged even though the anime had not yet aired.

So, back to conjecture. I think that pre-orders for the box set may well be used to determine if a second season will bring it to the end of the Revolution arc. Sales for that could determine whether we ever see a Nur or DQ arc – highly unlikely, but not wholly impossible. Sure, the anime also may exist in part to bump up sales of the ongoing manga and the print volumes of the novel and I hope they do! There’s nothing wrong with that. Ichijinsha’s done a decent job extending the life of several series that way.

Definitely give the series a watch. It’s fun and goofy and deep and serious and very queer and we’ve never seen an anime like this before, really. As we discussed on the Okazu Discord as I typed, if you want to get someone into Yuri, this would be a good place to start! Like isekai? We have series for you! How about high fantasy?  We got you covered. Looking for LGBTQ+ anime – it’s here. Oh…you like Sci-fi….well, sit down and let me tell you….  Looking for something with social consciousness? This is what you’re looking for !

So grab your friends and get them aboard the Yuri train with I’m in Love With the Villainess, streaming now on Crunchyroll.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 9
Characters – 100
Yuri – 8
Service  – This is a complicated question… Let’s take a look at it again later

Overall – 9

A fun start to what I hope will be a story that takes audiences to very gay places they have never been before. ^_^

Next up for us, would be to pressure Crunchyroll to provide us with premium BD box sets so we can get that doujinshi, too!  I mean, I can see myself pre-ordering the JP set just for that….please don’t make me do that, Crunchyroll.





Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story on Nintendo Switch, Guest Review by Eleanor W.

September 13th, 2023

Hello again. I’m back for another game review. You can find me lurking around the Internet @st_owly as usual. Today I’m looking at:

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story. The Nintendo Switch Game

I LOVE Birdie Wing, it’s everything I ever wanted out of a sports anime, so I was very excited to discover this was being localised, but…

When you first load the game, there’s a quick tutorial to show you the controls, then on you go to “story mode,” which loosely follows the storyline of the anime and sets up matches against various characters. And when I say “loosely” I mean it. There’s no meat to it, barely any of the anime story is actually there, it’s more like random characters appear, there’s a bit of dialogue and challenge Eve to a match. When you finally beat the last stage it just kind of stops and puts you back to the main menu so quickly you don’t realise what’s happened, and there’s no resolution to the story or anything. My main thought was “that’s it??”

There’s also a free play mode which is just the Nafrece U15 course and Anri’s putting shop. 

The graphics are fine; nothing special, but not terrible either. One big omission is that there’s no voice acting, even just yelling the names of the attacks when you/your opponent used them would be better than silence. The multi hole stages are also incredibly frustrating, as you can’t save after each hole, so if you fail the stage you have to go right back to the beginning. I lost count of how many times I failed the final 6 hole stage, but I do think the game learns when you’re bad at it and matches your opponent to your level. It’s very bizarre seeing Eve and co get double bogeys.  (I HATE PUTTING). 

The best way I can really describe this game is half finished and wasted potential. It seems like there’s so much more that could be done with it, but for whatever reason it was rushed out in this incredibly incomplete state. 

Let the record show that I did *once* get an eagle. I’ve never yet managed it again. 

The music is also just generic elevator music, the developers definitely missed a trick by not even having “Venus Line” as the menu music. The translation is also patchy at best, with lots of spelling errors and awkwardly constructed sentences. A Chinese translation is also available in the settings menu but I can’t comment on that.  

Example of the type of spelling/grammar mistake the dialogue is littered with. 

 

Ratings:

Art/music – 5/10. Thoroughly inoffensive and forgettable

Yuri/service – 0/10. Both non-existent. 

Story – 0/10. What story?

Characters – 1/10. Who are these people and why do they keep challenging me to play golf with them?

Gameplay – 3/10. A couple of little tweaks would make it so much less frustrating. I eventually developed a strategy which involved as little putting as possible and eventually finished the game, but it took *many* hours. 

Overall 3/10. It’s just a golf sim which happens to be loosely inspired by Birdie Wing. Don’t bother with it, even if you like golf sims, because it’s not even that great at that. And for the love of all that is holy please get a native speaker to proofread the translated dialogue before you release something. 





Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou -Revolution-, Volume 3 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。-Revolution-)

September 10th, 2023

Two girls in fanciful school uniforms with red jackets, frilly white blouses and black skirts smile, arms linked.This week inori.-sensei announced a brand new fantasy series and it seemed like a fitting place to squeeze in one more review of the series that was her breakout hit. So today I am reviewing the third  – and so far, final – print volume of Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou -Revolution-, Volume 3 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。-Revolution-).  Quick recap: WataOshi was originally serialized as a web novel, then picked up for digital release from GL Bunko. Then the novels were licensed here in English by Seven Seas as I’m In Love With The Villainess and other countries, and then licensed as a print series in Japan. This is the print volume of the third volume of the light novel in Japanese, from Ichijinsha. 

This third novel covers the entirety of the Revolution arc, as Rae seeks to remake the plotline of the otome game “Revolution ” and save Claire’s life…and how she fails. Rae and Claire uncover the evil forces behind the de-stabilization of the Bauer Kingdom and pull the forces for equality together to save it.

The final third of the book is post-revolution, as Rae and Claire become accustomed to their new lives as commoners and as partners. We meet their adopted daughters Aleah and Mei. One of the most poignant stories in the final third of the book is how those two children come in to their lives. Other shorts catch us up on former-Cardinal Lily’s travels as she seeks to expiate her crimes, even though she was literally not in her right mind when she committed them. And we see the power of the ritual known as “a wedding ceremony.” Despite Bauer’s new government’s refusal to acknowledge same-sex partnerships, Rae and Claire declare their love for one another in front of friends and family. 

There is no question that Hanagata’s art has improved since the first few illustrations. The art in this volume has more motion and depth and is far more relevant to the scene than earlier static portraits, which is visible when one does comparisons between newer and older images in this volume.

The manga for this series is ongoing, and the anime is premiering at the end of this month with a special ticketed event in Ikebukuro, so we’re not saying goodbye just yet. However, I see no hint that a Volume 4 is coming out in print, so we may be saying farewell and thank you – at least for the moment –  to this original novel series that has brought us so many hours of joy.

Art – 7
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Yuri – 10
LGBTQ –10
Service –  Let’s still say 2

Overall – 9

I still  hope for an epilogue some day in which Claire and Rae are allowed to legalize their marriage as my wife and I were able. It was a pretty damn powerful moment to have a certificate that just read “marriage” without any conditions. One day we can hope that there will be marriage for all in Japan.





Otherside Picnic, Volume 6, Guest Review by Sandy Ferguson

September 6th, 2023

The cover of Otherside Picnic, Volume 6, manga, makes it clear we are about to enjoy the common trope of the “beach episode.” At least from the cover it looks like Toriko is enjoying herself, whereas Sorawo has her usual look of, ‘how can I possibly be happy with the fact that this gorgeous blonde wants to hang out with me?’

In Volume 6 we have the conclusion of The Kisaragi Station Marines Rescue Operation, then the fun part of the ‘Resort Night at the Beach of the End’. Then another story from Kozakura’s perspective, ‘Ms. Yozakura’s Food Spam Livestream.’ 

First, there is thrilling climax to the rescue operation where the Sorawo and Toriko tag team bring this story to a satisfying conclusion, with some classic Otherside Picnic dialogue from the Marines in response to their success.

What struck me was how successful the manga is in conveying a moment of quiet after the Marines have gone, that provides an effective backdrop for a touching moment of intimacy between the accomplices Toriko and Sorawo as they deal with the emotional consequences of their actions, and what it reveals about their evolving relationship.

And then off to the beach, because girls just want to have fun, well at least Toriko does.

There are obligatory moments of accomplice panic from Sorawo as she wonders what is more terrifying:
a) discovering that they have somehow ended up on a beach in the Otherside, or
b) dressing for the beach in the presence of Toriko.

In this volume we are given some fleeting glimpses of the happier days of Sorawo and Toriko’s lives, a rarity in the usual narrative of loss that are their backstories. Indeed, these glimpses may be seen as a backdrop to the unusual aspect of this volume, we see the Otherside as a place where Sorawo and Toriko can chill and have fun, free from their fears of the social pressures of this world, in this case the fun consisting of drinking beer and shooting guns.

In this volume the Otherside becomes, for a moment, more nuanced. It is not just a place that provokes terror or triggers insanity, but a place that can bring for Sorawo and Toriko moments of connection based on simply enjoying being with one another. But this being the Otherside, things change, and Team Sorawo and Toriko once more must face the terrors of the Otherside, and the artwork rises to the challenge.

In the bonus story we discover more about Kozakura’s gig as a virtual YouTuber and the nature of her avatar, in what I found to be an interesting reflection of her past relationship with Satsuki Uruma. This YouTube session centres on food, with unexpected contributions from Sorawo and Toriko’s bender in Okinawa. There are also moments when Kozakura shares her pungent thoughts on her dealings with Sorawo and Toriko, as well as her thoughts on the nature of Sorawo and Toriko’s relationship.

Story – 9
Artwork -9
Character – 8, I enjoyed watching Sorawo and Toriko learning to have fun together.
Service – 9, it is a beach episode, though tastefully done. And Sorawo discovers how comfortable Toriko is in her presence…
Yuri – 7, this volume explores the various levels of initimacy growing between Sorawo and Toriko

Overall – 9

All in all, another great read.