Archive for the Series Category


Ichigo Mashimaro Manga, Volume 7(苺ましまろ)

May 5th, 2013

It’s been a long time since I’ve typed these words, (4 years, in fact)  but here we are, reading Ichigo Mashimaro, Volume 7 (苺ましまろ).

In those four years, two things have changed for Chika and her friends: One – Chika’s become a pretty damn good comedian in her own right and; Two – Miu’s skills using everyone and everything around her as a prop has soared to transcendent heights.

Volume 7 features, almost exclusively, the two of them committing sublime acts of comedy.  Anna functions mostly as Matsuri’s keeper and occasional kuroko. Nobue plays the same role for Chika. This volume is the Chi & Mi Comedy Hour…and don’t you forget it.

The first chapters are pure manzai in a time warp. The teacher yells at Miu for something, Miu responds with boke precision and Chika supplies alternative punchlines.  Same gag over and over, different punchlines. For *pages.*

Several chapters are retellings of well-known stories, Mashimaro style. Momotarou never looked so petulant, and Mario has never been so cruel to Princess Peach. And there are several classic ensemble-style chapters, including a precious one where the Chika and Miu pair are held up as foils to the Anna and Matsuri pair. Who reigns supreme at the end of the chapter depends on how boring you are – or not. ^_^

The  chapter where Miu is drawing special and sound effects on transparencies then holding them up, so we can “see” the effects is laugh out loud hilarious.

It’s all fun and games, but the highlight for me was a short gag in when we see exactly who Chika has become. Drunk Nobue comes home and is drunk. Chika stands up, and offers her a seat in the VIP section. Nobue staggers in. Chika closes the closet door on her and returns to watching TV with Miu. It’s only a few pages, but it’s an epiphany.

Ratings:

Art – 8 For the visual gag chapter alone
Story – 6
Characters –  Miu and Chika steal this volume – 9 for them, 5 for everyone else
Yuri –  2
Service – 7 (Same old underwear gags and lots of dress up and strange poses)

Overall – 8 When it’s funny, it’s really funny.

Miu ‘s dying words as a crossword puzzle for the win.





The Softest, Fluffiest Yuri Contest EVER!

May 2nd, 2013

This past winter, Okazu Superhero Ana M braved the hordes of Winter Comiket, hunting and gathering for me like a champ. Among the many trophies she successfully acquired was this load of goods from one of our favorite Yuri mangaka, Fujieda Miyabi, creator of Iono-sama Fanatics and Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan.

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Lilyca is Fujieda-sensei’s original doujinshi – as you can see, Sarasa and Seriho’s story is not over, just because Yuri Hime is not publishing any more Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan. This year’s bag and the clear file include original bunny-eared characters from a series he calls 黒綾白和.  And, the fourth item is a soft, fluffy blanket with the same characters.

I have no energy to judge complex things for this contest, so just enter by putting your name, age and the country you live in in the comments and we’ll go from there. I have some doujinshi to give away, too, so there may be more than one winner, wink wink nudge nudge. ^_^

Contest will wrap up when I remember to wrap it up – let’s say May 20th or so. Get your name in early!

 





Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 2nd A’s Anime (魔法少女リリカルなのは The MOVIE 2nd A’s)

April 24th, 2013

It’s Guest Post Wednesday! Today we are very pleased to have a new Guest Poster, so please welcome Jst for this review of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 2nd A’s (魔法少女リリカルなのは The MOVIE 2nd A’s)! /applause/ 

I have to begin here by publicly thanking Erica not for this opportunity, but rather for introducing me (and I must assume so many others) to stories like Nanoha’s. Until I read about Nanoha on Okazu, I had no idea such a series existed and in fairly short order it became one of my favorites. If that were the only occasion that this blog has steered me so well it would be worthy of thanks but given just how many of my favorites I’ve been introduced to directly thanks to Erica and Okazu, I cannot even fathom how to properly express my thanks. So I will simply continue to thank her in every opportunity I see. Thank you, Erica.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha movie the 2nd A’s as the title indicates is a sequel to 2010’s similarly titled Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st. Despite the odd phrasing these titles are actually quite informative. As is specified this is the second movie and it covers the “A’s” storyline of the second season of the MGLN TV series.

As with the original version, the movie picks up with Nanoha Takamachi looking forward to the return of the friends she’d made on her first magical adventure – only to find herself conveniently caught up in a new one shortly after we rejoin her. This time Nanoha and the girl with the beautiful, sad eyes from the first movie, Fate Testarossa, join forces to solve the mystery of a series of attacks which leave their victims drained of almost all of their magic.

As you might imagine, as a remake of a sequel, this story isn’t exactly an ideal place to jump in to the MGLN series. A fan that had seen the first series but not the first movie would likely be able to pick up right at the 2nd without too much trouble. However, since the movie and series continuity are considered to be completely separate with different permutations, for both the brevity and effect of cinematic experience.

Overall, the decisions which differentiate the A’s movie from the A’s series are smart and well executed. The fact that some of my favorite scenes from the series are removed outright should have been much more noticeable but the cuts and streamlining are smart enough to capture the essence of the original story without dragging out the story. Which is something I wouldn’t necessarily have accused the 13 episode series of doing without having seen it done such justice within the space of a movie.

The A’s storyline is as much about the antagonists as Nanoha and her friends from the first movie. The old axiom that the best villain is the hero of his or her own story is played out so well that we may find ourselves not only sympathizing with their plight but, also perhaps, hoping that something would be done to snap these “villains” out of their single-minded pursuit and that reason might be able to find another way. Fortunately the antagonists have Nanoha Takamachi as a foil, whose fan-perpetuated philosophy is “Befriending by maximum firepower”. The clashes continue even after we, the audience, know just what is at stake and those stakes continue to rise until a suitably explosive climax.

The movie disc contains one alternate audio commentary voiced in character by Subaru Nakajima and Teana Lanster, as was the case with the first movie, although neither characters has been introduced in either the series or film continuity by the end of A’s. This track does not contain any subtitles. The feature’s English subtitles remain quite serviceable. The names remain a bit all over the place with standard spelling for some but a few very noticeable departures. Particularly glaring was what was done to poor Amy’s name, similarly the TSAB remains DAB in these subs and Arf has gone from Alf to Alph in the course of two movies. However the video and audio quality are as excellent as should be expected of an animated movie Blu-ray.

While a Japanese import is a significant investment due to different media costs in Japan, the fact that both Nanoha series seem to be out of print it appears likely that an import will be the only chance to own either of the two existing movies any time soon in NA. Fortunately with the inclusion of competent English subtitles and an excellent BD product overall we do at least have the option.

(Please note that English subtitles are on the feature only so the various special editions with extra discs and booklets would be of limited value to non-Japanese speakers.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 5

Extras Yuri – 10 As Okazu reader B pointed out one of the extras has Fate’s Voice Actress (and huge Nano/Fate fan) Nana Mizuki in a character swapping game going off-script as Nanoha by asking Fate to marry her.

Service – 8 Transformation scenes are limited but just as disappointing as the first movie, and likely a reason for the film’s financial success in Japan. *Sigh*.

Overall – 8

Thank you again, Jst, for your comments over the years and for this great review! My copy of Blu-Ray arrived yesterday morning and you can bet I’m dying to watching it now! ^_^





Bodacious Space Pirates 2 Anime, Disk 2 (English)

April 23rd, 2013

BDSP2BDHere we are, at the final Disk of Bodacious Space Pirates (available on Blu-Ray and DVD) and the only emotion I feel is…total excitement for a fantasic ending with spaceships battling, Marika and her crew kicking ass in a dozen ways – and still being likable the whole time, really predictable plot complications and a hot mess of an ending that made no sense but I didn’t care one bit. ^_^

THIS WAS A FANTASTIC ANIME.

Random things I liked – I love the patchwork look of all the pirate ships. I also loved the creakiness of the Bentenmaru sailing in cosmic storms. It’s a detail that made me happy every time they used it.

I loved the smartness of the plot. The battle plan was clever in a real way, rather than in a “look how clever we are” way.

Above all, what I loved best were the characters. There wasn’t one of the Bentenmaru or Hakuoh crowd I didn’t like and with a cast that big, it’s not that easy to do. Bad guys were bad, but not absurdly bizarre or tiresome.

In the middle of the hot mess of the ending, for no reason at all, except to make us happy, we get a moment of Jenny and Lynn. It was ridiculous, meaningless, had no relationship to the story and I don’t care. And Chiaki gets a Yuri powerup, presumably because fans wanted it.

Ratings:

Art – 7, the CGI looks much better on this disk. Have I gotten used to it? Maybe, I don’t know.
Character – 10
Story – 10
Yuri – 7
Service- 8 Up significantly for the final arc. We had such a nice run there, though

Overall – 10

I’m left wanting to read the rest of the books very badly. And that, above all things, is the sign of a very good anime.





Bodacious Space Pirates 2 Anime, Disk 1 (English)

April 2nd, 2013

BDSP2BDAs the first disk of the second Bodacious Space Pirates collection opens (available on Blu-Ray and DVD), Marika and the girls of the Hakuoh Academy Yacht Club are thrust into a complex and dangerous situation! Oh no!

With the crew of the Bentenmaru quarantined, Marika recruits the Yacht Club members to do some piracy, so the Bentenmaru can maintain its Letter of Marque. Of course the girls are more than up for it and, after a typical piracy gig, they take on an ad hoc project – one that is genuinely dangerous. Jenny Dolittle, former club president, is facing an unwanted marriage as a part of her uncle’s business strategy. Lynn asks Marika if they can ‘kidnap’ her – or, really, prevent her from being kidnapped by her uncle.

This arc rocks in a number of ways and sucks in only one.

Let’s revisit my interpretation of the phrase a “strong female” character. I believe that a “strong” character is a character who takes control of their circumstances, a character that leads, not follows. In this arc Marika, Jenny and Lynn show themselves to be “strong” by my definition. Rather than allowing circumstances to  overwhelm them, they fight back with their brains, their power and their network of allies. A perfect example, IMHO, of female leaders leading.  As a bonus, we are given  a perfect Yuri couple, with *my* kind of service. Jenny makes a lovely princess to Lynn’s prince. ^_^

The only real negative in this arc is the animation. It completely falls to shit just when we might have wanted it to be at its most glorious. To be fair, the CGI is going to go through the roof in upcoming arcs, but darnit, it would have been nice of them to do some touch-up when Jenny and Lynn reunite. :-(

In the following arc, we again see something unusual – a minor character given a chance to shine. Once more we get a female character who is not overwhelmed by her circumstances. Ai shows us that she works hard and is able to retain control through good decision-making skills. A totally worthy conclusion to what is otherwise a silly arc.

There is some fanservice during the Nebula cup arc that may or may not annoy you. To give the creators credit, they”serve” up beefcake as well as more typical moe tropes.

As far as I’m concerned, this disk wins the universe. It has everything I’ve ever wanted in a series all at once. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7, but drops to like 3 just when I want it to be a 9. Sigh
Character – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 6

Overall – 9

Multiple named female characters that speak with each other about lots of things other than a man. Female characters with agency, with society, with smarts and friends and awesome personalities, allowed to shine. Bechdel Test and Friedman Addendum (as proposed here)  passed with flying colors. This series *still* makes my Top List this year.