Archive for the Series Category


GIRL FRIENDS Contest Reminder

March 8th, 2013

In February, I reviewed Morinaga Milk’s GIRL FRIENDS, The Complete Collection, Volume 1 and I announced a contest –

To enter to win a complete set of this delightful Yuri romance by Morinaga Milk, in the comments write a message of encouragement and hope to a young LGBT person who isn’t sure about their self or feelings right now – or even a message to your younger self. Please include your name,  – if you plan on being Anon, please give yourself a nickname so I can let the winner know they’ve won.

I’ll be reviewing Volume 2 very shortly, so get your messages in (to enter, please use the comments on the review of Volume 1) and be entered to win both volumes of the Complete Set.  Good luck! ^_^

 





Hayate x Blade Manga, Volume 17 (はやてｘブレード)

February 28th, 2013

In Volume 17 of Hayate x Blade (はやてｘブレード), three things of major importance happen. All at once. Then a fourth important thing happens afterwards which isn’t important, but I want to remember to tell you about it. ^_^

Important Thing the First: Ayana and Hayate are now A-rank and their next battle will have to be against the single Special A-ranked team at Tenchi, Kamijou Maki and Soumeya Yukari. Yes, at last, Ayana will have to face her former friend and shinyuu and, as a result, her own past.

This is made slightly difficult by the…

Important Thing the Second: The ranks of the students at Tenchi have been swelled by the “Black Group,” an allied group of talented fighters who (we are told in the final pages of the volume) want to “steal the fighting students of Tenchi” from Hitsugi. What this means, really, or why, we don’t yet know. We do know that Hitsugi knows of the existence of the “Black Group” and appears to be supremely uninterested. In fact, she’s out haunting the B, C and D Hoshitori areas in a costume, masked, on a white horse.

The Black Group attempt to stop Ayana and Hayate from reaching the A area and commencing their battle, which lead us to…

Important Thing The Third: As Hayate and Ayana are surrounded by the Black Group, they find that their friends have come to rescue them…again. This leads to a pun on page 106 that is so excruciating, so egregious, that 1) I think Hayashiya-sensei has written 17 volumes of this manga solely for the purpose of creating the pun and; 2) I hope she laughed until she made herself sick. I really do.

(You know the famous Japanese folk tale of Momotarou? If not, go read it first or this will mean nothing to you. Also Momo=Peach, Inu=Dog, Saru=Monkey, Kiji=Pheasant.)

So The Black Group surrounds Hayate and Ayana, and in steps, Momoka, Isuzu, Kiji, Michi, Mizuki and Sou to let them go running off. As Hayate runs, she screams, “Thanks, Momo, Inu, Saru, Kiji!” and I groaned for an hour.

I believe that all 17 volumes of the series were created to lead up to that one joke.

Akira and Sae face down Hajime and Shingetsu (who appear to be the leaders of the Black Group, but are not) and learn their somewhat allegorical intention.

And the volume ends with the Hoshitori in full swing.

Which brings us to the final Important Thing: The cover, inside pages and slip cover all contain very cool cut-out-and-entertain-yourself things. As the Black Group points out in the omake, “Do It Yourself” is the theme for this volume. In other words, this is all so complicated, you do it. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9 I always know exactly who I am looking at and why. With this many characters, that’s genius
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 0
Service – 0

Overall –  10

Momo, Inu, Saru, Kiji. Really?





Light Novel: Miniskirt Space Pirates, Volume 2 Ougon no Yureisen (ミニスカ宇宙海賊 2 黄金の幽霊船)

February 21st, 2013

Miniskirt Space Pirates, Volume 2  Ougon no Yureisen (ミニスカ宇宙海賊 2 黄金の幽霊船) opens with a stowaway on the Bentenmaru and ends with two transfer students into Hakuoh Academy’s Yacht Club. In between is a centuries-old mystery, a gene bank in the form of a golden spaceship, and several space battles, all of which make for a rollicking tale of intrigue and space piracy.

If you are watching the Bodacious Space Pirates anime, this novel is the arc on Disk 2 of Volume 1. Seventh Princess of the Serenity Royal Family, Gruier Serenity, (with an uncanny resemblance to another princess named Serenity,) hides away on the Bentenmaru, in hopes of hiring the pirate ship to assist her in finding the Legendary Gold Spaceship.

Marika befriends the Princess and accepts the commission because who wouldn’t? ^_^

We get to experience Marika’s newfound confidence as Captain of the Bentenmaru and watch her crew rally around her with complete support of her decisions.

Nothing in the novel is significantly different from the anime, right down to the secret underground restaurant at the space relay station where Ririka works. (Or, I should say, if there were differences my Japanese wasn’t up to noticing them.)

The key point of the arc is that Marika has stepped into her father’s shoes and found that they fit rather well. And now we have a Princess or two on our side. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Interestingly, this book series is getting links for Kindle versions which don’t yet exist on Amazon JP. I’d love it if they put this series on Kindle, I’d like to see if I could buy the next book that way. I bet there’s region restrictions, though. Oh well, on to Volume 3, however I can get it. ^_^





Sailor Moon Manga, Volume 9 (English)

February 20th, 2013

In Volume 9 of Sailor Moon, the Dead Moon Circus is starting to have a terrible effect on the city and the Inner Senshi can’t transform! Well, until they can. And the reason they can now transform is that advice and guidance they received from the formidable Outer Senshi helps them get in touch with their inner strengths. Phew!

But…what about the Outer Senshi? After the defeat of Pharoah 90 and the Witches 5, they retired from the public eye and lost touch with the Inners. Unbeknownst to the younger Guardians, Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna have moved in together in a large suburban house to raise the baby Hotaru. And, unbeknownst to the younger women, the older also cannot transform. As the power of the Dead Moon threat is growing, the Outers are powerless.

But what is important to us is the quiet repose with which the former Outer Senshi have created a family life together. Haruka and Michiru, still together, watch over Hotaru  Hotaru, who is rapidly aging, appears quoting Yeats’ The Second Coming, which I think is well worth reproducing in whole here – imagine it spoken by a child of about 5 years:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
 The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
 Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
 Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
 The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
 The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
 The best lack all conviction, while the worst 
 Are full of passionate intensity.

 Surely some revelation is at hand;
 Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
 The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
 When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
 Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
 A shape with lion body and the head of a man, 
 A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, 
 Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it 
 Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds. 

 The darkness drops again but now I know 
 That twenty centuries of stony sleep 
 Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, 
 And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, 
 Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? 

This is the poem Hotaru quotes. Probably few of the children readers of Nakayoshi magazine understood the words they were reading, but the power in these words would resonate with the knowledge that that child speaking them is, in truth, the Senshi of Death.

I want give to the translation an “attaboy” on this volume, Transitions are always hard and the move from one translator to a new one was, IMHO, seamless here. It wasn’t an easy volume, with intense poetry, herbal and stone lore (and some good cautionary science in the notes!) Nice job, Mari. ^_^

But most importantly, we see that Haruka and Michiru make as dashing a married couple as they did a bon vivant pair of young celebrities. And when they, and the Inners, get to transform again, it feels kinda good. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 9
Yuri – 6
Service – 2

Overall – 8





Bodacious Space Pirates, Anime, Disk 2 (English)

February 17th, 2013

Following on the tail of Disk 1, we reach Disk 2 of Bodacious Space Pirates, on which Marika sets out on her first piracy commission as captain of the Bentenmaru.

The commission starts off lightly, with a request from a Princess of the Serenity household, Gruier, asking the Bentenmaru to track a golden ghost ship, but as the plot progresses, and they confront Serenity battleships, Marika has to face real battles with real consequences for herself and the crew.

The deeper meaning of the Golden Space Ship and the part it plays in Serenity history is presented almost as an afterthought, because this is a space opera and we, like Bentenmaru’s San-Daime, want to see Marika be a cool captain. ^_^

The disk ends on a quiet note, but not really a filler episode, as we’re shown transition in Hakuoh’s Yacht Club and in Ririka’s life, as well as a welcome return to day-to-day life for Marika.

This disk pretty much has it all, adventure, friendship, leadership and other qualities I look for in a story about a “strong female” character.  Bodacious Space Pirates passes what I call the The Friedman Addendum to the Bechdel Test:

Does female character have agency?
Does she have society?
Does she have personality?
Is she merely a female-shaped male hero doing male hero things while being female?

Bodacious Space Pirates passes with flying colors. Marika has agency – she is capable of and given the opportunity to make decisions for herself and others. She has society, the members of the yacht club, and especially her non-space-faring friend, Mami, who wants and needs nothing from her, and who is a very excellent friend.

Marika definitely has personality. We’re shown that and we’re told it. She is quick-witted, hard working, fair, decent, and just evil enough to make a fantastic pirate captain. ^_^

No she does not wear a bodysuit, but the miniskirt would realllllly toe that line except that the anime uses a fair amount of restraint in clothing design and perspective. It’s not that there is no service – the space suits don’t have to be formfitting, for instance, but compared to oh so many other series, the level of service is low.

Available on DVD, Blu-Ray or legal online stream for free (region-blocking may apply), Bodacious Space Pirates passes the Bechdel Test, the Friedman Addendum and is a rollicking good yarn. I’m looking forward to the next disks with relish, since I know that, for once, the added “romance” subplot won’t merely be the usual obligatory stuff. ^_^
Ratings:
Art – 7
Character – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 1…for now
Service – 5Overall – 9

My hypothetical girl child, along with Legend of Korra and kung-fu lessons, gets this series as a present. ^_^