Archive for the Series Category


Puella Magi Madoka Magica Novel, Volume 2 (魔法少女まどか☆マギカ)

November 26th, 2012

We left Volume 1 of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica  (魔法少女まどか☆マギカ) light novel series from Summer Comiket 2011, with Madoka suffering badly from the consequences of her inaction. Volume 2 begins with the fatal consequences of bad decision-making by another one of the cast. (Note: no spoilers, because if you have not yet watched this series, I hope you will and don’t want to ruin it for you.)

At its lowest point, the story switches perpsective, something that radically shifts the entire story from something we thought we knew where it was going, to a whole different path. We turn to Homura’s point of view and it turns out that her story is very unexpected. As I read this novel I had two thoughts, one of which is a huge spoilerish thing and, so, unsharable for the moment.

The other thought was in reference to something I have considered about on and off for years – about how, as a child I read fairy tales and wanted , like Utena, to save the princess. And how, in this series, one princess saves the other only to have her turn it around and save her in return. This was, as I pondered it, even more satisfying than it was at first viewing.

Quite interestingly, the end of this novel is slightly extended past the end of the anime. Just a few moments past, but the addition was lovely.

As a Light Novel version of the anime, I think this was very good. In Volume 2, we actually did gain some insight into Madoka’s actions (and inaction). Although Kyouko’s, Sayaka’s and Homura’s backstories were not apparently different from those of the anime, the additional epilogue – short as it was – added volumes to the narrative.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

All in all, a very satisfying read.

I will not be reading the Puella Magi Madoka Magica – A Different Story or Innocent Malice, so there is an opportunity for one of you to step in and write a review if you so desire. ^_^

Once more, my very sincere thanks to Zyl for sponsoring this review!





Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Manga, Volume 4 (English)

November 1st, 2012

Sakura has faced many trials in the course of Card Captor Sakura and here in Volume 4, she is going to face even more difficult trials, we are told…repeatedly. It’s true that Sakura will face down the original master of the cards, and have to transmute all the cards into “Sakura Cards” but the true trial seem to be deciding who she’s going to be in love with.

Yukito’s out – as we’re told several times, by several people, that Yuki and Toya are an item – for the few innocents who didn’t pick that up. More importantly, everyone else is paired up neatly in officially sanctioned inter-generational relationships and Sakura manages to figure out that she’s in love with one of the two people who have confessed their love to her. ^_^;;

Poor Tomoyo. Remember, y’all wouldn’t have had Tamayo in Strawberry Panic, without Tomoyo’s cheerful smile that hides a broken heart, as she drinks herself into oblivion in an all-white apartment in which her movies of Sakura play endlessly. (That’s how I’ve always imagined it, anyway. But I’m a jaded cynic. ^_^)

Aside from Eriol’s dire warnings of terrible trials, the actual trials Sakura faces are pretty gentle as befits this incredibly pretty, soft, fluffy magical girl manga in which everyone is destined to live happily ever after…

…except Tomoyo.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 2
Story – A little messy, especially around the Clow Reed bits – 7
Service – 5 for all the inter-generational relationships and  for Yuki and Toya and all the squealing

Overall – 9

I really love this series. It has loads of likable characters, pretty art and leaves me feeling good. Win all around.

…except for Tomoyo. ^_^;;

Many,  many thanks to Okazu Superhero Andreass L. for sponsoring today’s review and leaving me feeling good!





Dear Brother Anime (English)

October 22nd, 2012

It was 2004. Fansubs were already phasing out of the elegantly clunky VHS tape-exchanges by snail mail and were shifting towards the passionless and infinitely faster transmission of IP people had no right to share by digital means.

Oniisama E was already a relic of a former age even then. Fansubbed by a bastion of Victorian worldviews, each volume of the anime came with notes on culture, references and a full set of what we ought to be feeling and understanding. It wasn’t enough for us to know that the rain, the wind, the trains and the flocks of birds were symbolic, we were to be told exactly how to interpret them. ^_^ As the end of this series heralded the end of anime fandom as I had entered it, I finally wrote a review, if only to say goodbye to it.

Now we have a chance that I could never ever have expected – a free, legal, multi-language option for people to watch this oh-so-shoujo series, streaming on Viki.com. I hope every single one of you who loves Maria-sama ga Miteru will watch Oniisama E/Dear Brother based on the manga by Riyoko Ikeda.

This is a series fraught with fraughtness. In the poisonous hothouse of an elite girls’ school, a nice girl named Nanako will encounter insanity, obsession, emotional manipulation, friendship and love.

Kaoru-no-Kimi, the athletic masculine type, Miya-sama without whom we would never have had Juri in Utena and the beautifully tragic Sainte-Juste, who makes homicidal depression and drug use look…sexy. You cannot tell me that kids books today are too dark. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Character 9
Yuri – More than you expect (and more than Technogirls would admit)
Service – 4 for girls in suits, but nothing more salacious than that

Overall – 9

This stuff is made of awesome. Give me until Episode 7, and if you hate it, you can stop. But then, we can never be friends. ^_^





Ask Rose of Versailles’ Riyoko Ikeda Questions on RightStuf.com

October 19th, 2012

Nozomi Entertainment Wants Fans’ Questions for The Rose of Versailles Creator Riyoko Ikeda

Submit questions at rov.rightstuf.com by 4 p.m. CDT on Nov. 1, 2012.

GRIMES, Iowa, Oct. 18, 2012 – Anime producer and distributor Right Stuf, Inc. and Nozomi Entertainment want fans’ questions for Riyoko Ikeda, the legendary creator of The Rose of Versailles . Please submit questions, via the form located at the official series site (rov.rightstuf.com), by 4 p.m. CDT on Thurs., Nov. 1, 2012.

Right Stuf’s Nozomi Entertainment division will be releasing the anime adaptation of The Rose of Versailles, also known as “Berusaiyu no BaraThe Rose of Versailles and “Lady Oscar,” both digitally, via Viki.com in December 2012 (U.S. and Canada), and as two limited-edition DVD box sets in 2013. This will be the first time the entire anime series will be available to English-speaking audiences in North America. Right Stuf, Inc. licensed the series from TMS Entertainment, Ltd.

Set during the years preceding the French Revolution, The Rose of Versailles is a tale of romance and political intrigue that centers around Oscar François de Jarjayes, a young woman whose father has raised her as a man – and trained her to be an elite and skilled soldier – so she can succeed him as the commander of the palace guards.

The Rose of Versailles is based upon the best-selling manga (comic) by Riyoko Ikeda (Dear Brother, a.k.a. Oniisama e…), which was originally serialized in Shueisha’s shoujo (girls’) anthology magazine Margaret, from 1972 through 1973, and later collected into 10 volumes. In addition to its anime adaptation, it inspired a short story collection (also written by Ikeda), a French-Japanese live-action film, and multiple musicals staged by Japan’s famed Takarazuka Revue.

This 40-episode anime adaptation of The Rose of Versailles originally aired on Japanese television from October 1979 through September 1980. It features animation by TMS Entertainment, Ltd., as well as direction by Tadao Nagahama (Romance Robot Trilogy) and Osamu Dezaki (Nobody’s Boy – Remi, Dear Brother, Aim for the Ace!).

For more information about the series and to submit questions for the Q&A with Ms. Ikeda, visit rov.rightstuf.com.





Puella Magi Madoka Magica Manga, Volume 2 (English)

October 3rd, 2012

The other day, I found myself discussing the Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime with Okazu Superhero and good friend Bruce. We agreed that, for us, the sign of excellence in a series could be boiled down to one quality – the ability to withstand continuing critical review. No matter what angle you take, Revolutionary Girl Utena can withstand critical review – it has a lot of material to discuss, to analyze, to critique and criticize. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, as much as I adore it…really doesn’t hold up well under critical review. The repeated footage is not meant symbolically or ironically – it was just a money saver. The Monsters of the Day are not clever social commentary. Yes, the Senshi themselves are archetypes, but that’s about as far as one can take a discussion of Sailor Moon, before one has to invoke its effect on increasing the market for shoujo manga, or rely on discussion of shoujo tropes. By this standard then, both Bruce and I felt that the Madoka anime was excellent. It holds up under critical review of plot, character or visuals.

One of the key visual elements of the anime was Kyuubey’s unchanging face. It was that – and solely that – that was the first screaming red siren for me. He’s cute, carefully crafted to have an honest, open, trustworthy face. Everything about Kyuubey screamed “RUN!” at me. Which is why I wrote this helpful guide What You Need to Know To Become a Magical Girl, which so many people completely failed to understand.

Which of course, is the very basic premise of Madoka. We need to learn to think critically. Not cynically, not paranoically…critically.  We need to learn to ask good questions to get good answers – and we need to learn to understand the answers we receive.

In Volume 2 of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Sayaka becomes the second sacrifice to lack of critical thinking skills. What questions might she have asked if she was older, more experienced or wiser? What might she have heard – both said and unsaid –  in the answers she received? But we cannot blame Sayaka, really, or Madoka. They are children, being manipulated by a creature with the balance of power and information on his side. And this brings me to the only comment I have about this book. The art ruined it. The whole point of Kyuubey is that we never know what he is thinking, that we only ever see that trustworthy face. By giving him an “evil” face at the end of the volume, the manga artist has crushed one of the key visual elements of the story, rendering it a comic for children, not for adults. Volume 3 will play out as we already know it must, but I no longer trust the manga to tell the tale well enough to hold up under critical review.

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – 6, but only because the art has positioned itself as an enemy to the plot
Characters – 6
Yuri – 1
Service – 2

Overall – 5

Many, many thanks to Okazu Superhero Andreas L for giving me the chance to look at this manga critically. ^_^