Archive for the Series Category


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.





Light Novel: R.O.D. Volume 10

March 24th, 2013

I just don’t even…I…don’t…know what…/shakes head/

In R.O.D., Volume 10, Yomiko is sent by Joker to a fancy girl’s school to…something. She’s enrolled as a student, the main point of which is to get her in a school uniform. I gather this because it is mentioned about 8750 times that she is wearing a school uniform. At the school she finds a veritable book heaven. Books are everywhere, *all* the clubs are about reading and writing. Her roommate Kaku Izumi’s name refers to writing, as Yomiko’s does to reading. They become best friends.

There are a few disturbing things about the school – all the teachers are named Haga and they look identical. And while books are revered, romance novels, light novels and other light reading are forbidden. This means there are no books by Sumiregawa Nenene in the school. Heaven turns to hell instantly for Yomiko. But Izumi has one of Nenene’s books in their room. Phew!

Yomiko learns of the “Read Fight,” during which two girls read a book and are quizzed on small points of detail until one fails to answer correctly. Yomiko dominates Read Fight, utterly destroying the barely-in-existence-sanity of the champion, Mitsusei Utsuo. Mitsusei is also the chief dog and enforcer of the Student Council President, Kuniya Kino-sama, thus making their names two of the most tortured puns ever. (Kino Kuniya is easy enough to figure out, if you’re familiar with the Japanese bookstore chain Kinokuniya. Remembering that “mitsu” can also be read “san” and the character used for “Utsuo” is also “do”, instead of Mitsusei Utsuo, one gets Sanseido, another large Japanese bookstore chain.)

Kino-sama as Student Council president is beautiful, charismatic (we are repeatedly told) and prone to vomiting up blood.

…

With Izumi’s backing (who turns out to have a secret – she was the former Vice President) Yomiko runs for Council President and, after corruption in the count is uncovered, wins. As President, Yomiko gets the key to the secret book room, fights off multiple Haga-senseis and retrieves whatever Joker sent her there for. The end.

Aside from clone teachers and a Student Council President that vomited up blood, what made this volume particularly hard to read was the intrusive presence of the author, who not only made aside comments to us, and talked at Yomiko within the narration, he actually inserts himself randomly in two places. The first is an utterly pathetic aside in which he tells us he’s at Anime Expo 2004 in his room working, watching girls playing volleyball outside his window. Later there is a second scene in which he gets a text message on his phone.

These, and oh, the fact that two volumes ago the story was left hanging, unresolved, made this a particularly irksome read. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 4 I think it’s getting worse
Story – 7 It might have been okay as the second book of the series.
Characters – 7
Yuri – 0
Service – Other than the frenetic repetition of “Yomiko in school uniform!” – 1

Overall – I can’t even….

Do you remember the Monty Python album named Contractual Obligation? This book had that title written all over it.





Dokidoki! PreCure Anime (ドキドキ！プリキュア)

March 21st, 2013

dokidokiIt’s that time of year again, when I dutifully sit down and scan the new PreCure series before I wander off again. ^_^ This incarnation, Dokidoki! PreCure (ドキドキ！プリキュア),  is playing-card suit themed: Cure Heart, Cure Diamond, Cure Rosetta and Cure Sword. (You know the Spades of playing cards are the Swords of Tarot, right? Cards turned swords into plowshares. ^_^)

Mana, Cure Heart, is the president of her school’s Student Council. I approve, but not for the reason you might presume. ^_^ Instead of being clumsy and sweet, or full of love and a moron, Mana is a hard-working, intelligent lead character who has earned her rank as leader.

Rikka, Cure Diamond, is Mana’s best friend, her right-hand and she immediately pings the ole Yuridar. You just know she worships Mana, and if you are one of us, you can easily see more.

Alice, Cure Rosetta, is a nice switch around. Usually the Yellow PreCure is the loli-bait and initially it seems that Alice might be cast in that role, but along with being hyper-cute, she’s rich (that’s going to solve a lot of problems up front) and  is actually a skilled martial artist. I like that she’s got a tragic back story that was basically she beat people up too much. ^_^

We’ve seen Cure Sword and we’re not 4 years old, so we know who she is right from the get-go, MakoPi the famous idol. She’ll be our resident tsundere. I forsee some light crushiness by Mana.

PreCure has returned to the standard formula – color-coded, themed characters, tons of goods, and bad guys that make you sad with their ineffectiveness. ^_^

The only downside to this series is, well, the preachiness factor is through the roof. Monsters of the Day are created by minor acts of selfishness. Really minor – disagreements, playing one’s music in earphones too loud (really?)…I look forward to the one that represents taking the seats reserved for older or disabled folks and pregnant women on the train. Of course The PreCure will rescue Trump World, but by god if the final boss isn’t a parody of Donald Trump, I’m gonna be pissed.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Character – 8
Story – 7
Yuri – 2
Service – 1 on principle

Overall – A solid 7

I don’t see this series blowing me away, but I don’t hate it. ^_^





Yuri Manga: GIRL FRIENDS, The Complete Collection Volume 2 (English)

March 10th, 2013

Morinaga Milk’s GIRL FRIENDS, The Complete Collection, Volume 2, begins with an ending which segues into a new beginning for both Mari and Akiko.

As I noted in my review of the original volumes, after we’ve fully tasted the situation from Mari’s side – which is to say, plumbed the confusion, mortification, attraction and tension from the perspective of an introvert – we turn to Akiko the extrovert, who is no less confused, ecstatic, hurt, and out of her mind.

After plot complications that are realistic and some that are not so, the two find a moment to air out their mutual issues and, for a moment, are as one.

In re-reading this book I am once again reminded that, for all the manga tropes and plot complications, this is a fairly realistic story. Happily-ever-after does not begin with the moment of mutual confession. Life can never be that simple – and indeed it is not, even at the end of the series. But we can know, with every fiber of our being that Akiko and Mari have an excellent shot at building a life together because, as Mari says, “Regardless of what may lie ahead, I will never give up on you.”

Seven Seas’ volume was once again very decent. (There was one repeated typographical error -the music notes in reverse color – that should be fixed for any second printings, as it is actively distracting.) I notice that Macmillian is distributing the books, so I guess they managed to shift their contract from Tor into the larger group – for which I’m glad, that was never a great fit, and it allows them the distribution that direct sales and Amazon cannot provide. It also explains why GIRL FRIENDS is able to make the NY Times best-seller list. I’m pleased for Seven Seas and Morinaga-sensei all around.

Ratings:

Art – 9 (The art definitely improved over the course of this series)
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 10
Service – 6

Overall – 9

For those readers who worried that the first volume ended in a bad place – have patience and read the whole story. ^_^

CONTEST RESULTS:

I would like to thank everyone who entered in the Complete Collection Give-a-Way. We have a winner!

Kathryn (who writes the Contemporary Japanese Literature blog, which is absolutely worth your time) your message inspired me and, I hope, many others! You are the winner of this contest. Please email me at yuricon at gmail dot com with your address and a complete set of Morinaga Milk’s GIRL FRIENDS will be on its way to you!

I want to thank all of you who entered with your messages of love and acceptance. And I especially want to thank Ana Moreno, translator of GIRL FRIENDS, the Complete Collection, for her generous provision of books for this contest!  Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

AND I want to thank Okazu Superhero Amanda M. for her sponsorship of today’s review! I could not do it without you!

We’ve got a pile of new contests coming up here, so keep your antenna tuned to Okazu in days ahead. (So many things to give away…) ^_^