Archive for the Read or Dream Category


Yuri Anime: ROD The TV, DVD Volume 3

December 2nd, 2004

ROD The TV continues to amaze and thrill. If you haven’t yet seen this series, you *really* should.

First, the whining:

Note the fanservice-a-riffic picture above. How embarrassing is it that there are people who will find this to be sexy? Worse yet, the special pencil board in this volume has the least sexy picture that I have ever seen of Nenene. I swear, a picture of her snorting potato chips and picking her nose would have been sexier. Like the cover picture, the thought that there are people out there who find this pencil board a turn-on just makes me cringe. Nenene is so cool, could we have not found a less uncomfortable pose for her?

Also, in this volume, the formerly excellent translation appears to go away to be replaced by somewhat more slapdash work. I have this bizarre belief that it *is* possible to translate what was said, and how it was said, in some reasonable facsimile, rather than just glossing over everything to get the general meaning. I DO expect more from professional translators than I do from fans. This volume was lame, Geneon. Really. (Thanks J, for catching that is was Geneon, not ADV, who deserves the blame this time.)

Lastly, I found it to be the height of tacky that Geneon ended this volume at episode 12. For one thing, the season ended on a *brilliant* cliffhanger at episode 13. (In fact, it was at this point that I regularly began to scream while watching this series. Seriously. I’d be sitting on the sofa and then I’d be running around the house screaming. “Oh my god! Aaaahhh!” and the wife would know I was watching ROD.) They certainly could have put *one* more episode on this DVD. Episode 12 makes a decent enough cliffhanger, but 13 would have been so much better! And, more importantly, this means that the last 2 DVDs in this series will probabaly have 3 episodes each, which I think is just crap.

Let me digress for a second, to indulge in this week’s rant. It has come to my attention that DVDs in Japan will, on occasion only have 2 episodes per volume, and cost about the same as we’re paying, so in that way, we’re getting a better deal. In fact this is the case for Maria-sama ga Miteru,but…it still makes me cranky to know that this series is being released on 7 DVDs, when 6 would have simply worked better. (4 volumes of 4 each and 2 volumes of 5.) Then the last volume of each season would have had five episodes, and Vol.3 would have ended on episode 13…the actual *end* of that season. Duh, hello? Am I the only one thinking this way? I swear to you all that, should *ever* begin distroing DVDs, I will use common sense in designing them. I promise.

Okay…that’s it for the whining. Now, the praise:

On the other side of the equation, this volume has some of the best episodes in the first season. The writers’ skills really shine in these four episodes, as we continue the pattern of shoujo/shounen/ alternating stories. I never once felt manipulated, even when I was getting all misty during the obligatory Christmas episode. I mean really – could there be anything more saccharine? And yet, I found myself sniffing happily…much like Nenene herself. ^_^

In terms of Yuri, the series pretty much peaks in Episode 11 when Anita and Hisami have a tearful and emotionally wrought parting. It’s incredibly well done and you can easily make a case for this being something that they will both look back on as their first love, even if they aren’t quite old enough to see it themselves. Certainly they do love each other, but you could just as easily say that it isn’t, you know, *that* kind of love. But I’m a Yuri fan, so screw that. It’s love. ^_^ Clearly the writers thought so too – the body language in this episode is very evocative.

Ratings:
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Art – 7 (still inconsistent)
Music – 9
Yuri – 8

Overall – 9

I would never recommend ROD The TV as a gateway anime – there’s too much going on for the average newbie to follow, but for older fans, and veterans of many, many crappy series, this is a refreshingly well-crafted story.





Yuri Anime: ROD The TV DVD Volume 2

October 12th, 2004

I have managed to watch, at last, ROD The TV, Volume 2.

Wow, is this series every bit as good, if not better, than I remembered it from the first time! It really is a must-see for anyone, except for, perhaps, those who only like shoujo.

First the technicals – the DVD comes with the reversible cover, which seems to be standard practice these days. This makes a nice mini-poster, which I saved. I purchased the box for this set, which I now regret for various reasons (some of which I detailed in my review of Volume 1.) As a result I am missing the first package insert which seems to have character and story comments. I’m always a fan of creative liner notes and commentary, so I’d like to see more of this. In addition, the DVD includes a two-sided pencilboard with obligatory sexy picture of, this time, Maggie, which appealed to me more than Michelle or, heaven help us, Anita. But that’s a personal taste issue. Now, if they have sexy pencilboard pictures of Nenene and Nancy – *then* I’ll be a happy girl. ^_^

There were four episodes on this disk, which seemed like too little, but that was mostly because the story is so damn good I’m always left wanting more. This volume almost exclusively focused on the three sisters, developing the characters quite a lot in a short space of time. Maggie turns out to be more competent than she first appears, Michelle smarter, and Anita more human. In retrospect, I can see many things that I missed the first time around, which just make the story more interesting – especially in regards to the sudden development of the sisters into more fully developed characters.

As always, the stories switch back and forth from “domestic” to “foreign”, each story focusing on a particular set of relationships, with Anita becoming more and more the main character. And most importantly, the tension is beginning to grow, as clues are handed out so subtly we don’t really know we’ve seen or heard one until after the fact.

The art is so variable on this series – I don’t want to say that animation is “bad”, because sometimes it is amazing…but the people often suffer while the backgrounds remained highly detailed.

In terms of yuri value, this volume is pretty high. On the comedic side, Nenene has chosen Maggie as her butt-girl, forcing her to cater to the cranky writer’s whims. On the drama side, we’re getting slow burning embers turning into flames between Anita and Hisa. An aborted confession gives us Hisa’s point of view, but for the moment, Anita’s feelings aren’t fully expressed. (Next volume will bring both out into the open, only to be parted. Boo hoo.)

Let me once more discuss translation here. The honorifics issue aside, this was one of the best translations I’ve ever seen on a US-release anime. This story is, by no means, easy to convey. It’s a fairly complex set-up, and the characters are deep, devious and contrived in turn. This translation is very good. The concepts being discussed are easy to follow. What is lost in the translation of names and honorifics is simply overridden by the terrific voice acting work of the seiyuu.

Ratings:

Story – 10
Characters – 9
Animation – 6-8, depending on the scene
Music – 8
Yuri – 8

Overall, a solid 9. This remains a must-have for Yuri fans, and anyone who likes a really well-constructed story.

And it’s only going to get better…. ;-)





Yuri Anime: Read or Dream The TV, Vol. 1

July 12th, 2004

Part 2

So, Upon rewatching the saga of the three paper sisters and erstwhile writing prodigy, I find that my initial reactions to the storyline and characters are little changed from my initial viewing.

The main thing about the first four episodes is the omnipresence of Yomiko Readman made plain through her absence. From the locket around Nenene’s neck, to the paper-using skills of Michelle, Maggie and Anita, the picture on Nenene’s desk, her search for information, etc., etc., Yomiko’s presence fills every second of this series. It almost seems as if she’s a kind of guardian spirit – which, of course, she isn’t. Future episodes will reveal how very human she is, but at this point, we don’t really know that yet.

I am also impressed with how much of a curmudgeon Nenene has become at 20. It’s taken me nearly twice that long to become so grumpy. My hat’s off to her.

As for the Paper Sisters…they are both more and less annoying that the first time. It strikes me much more this time how innocent and…unfinished…they all seem. It may be 20/20 hindsight, but they really aren’t quite human at this point. Like Maggie throwing out furniture to “clean” the apartment. No one would really do that, unless they had no experience of human interaction.

On the other hand, Anita, who I initially loathed, I find myself watching with more interest. Her annoying qualities seem less pronouced to me, this time around.

However, I still maintain that the second episode of this series is vile. Unfunny, irritating and in many ways pointless, it sets the characters on the board, true, but also annoyed the living daylights out of me. Both times.

For a first volume of an anime seires, however, it’s a pretty damn good beginning. A strong beginning, the weaknesses of the second episode pretty much made up for by good third and excellent fourth episodes. By the time you finish the first volume, there’s more than enough to work with in terms of character and the plot has, at least in part, appeared. Compare this with something like Bakuretsu Tenshi, which took something like 13 episodes to develop any kind of plot.

Fanservice comes in many flavors in ROD The TV. Whether you’re into Gainax bounces, loli, yuri, shota, androgyny, evil psychotics, it’s all pretty much in there, somewhere.

All in all, as anime series go, ROD The TV is still one of the best I’ve ever seen, and Volume 1 is a pretty strong start to an amazing series.

Overall – 9 out of 10 for character, plot, design, writing.





Yuri Anime: ROD The TV, Vol. 1

July 8th, 2004

Okay, so last month, I picked up the first DVD of ROD The TV.

While the story and characters remain excellent (and the subject of the next entry,) this DVD release does have some issues.

Let’s start from the beginning…the packaging. Geneon had this oh-so-clever idea about the packaging. They’ve made it look like a book with the “pages” being slots for actual disks. Let me be clear – not like usual box sets with room for DVD cases – this “book” only accepts the disk itself. For this neat look, one pays nearly ten dollars more than the regular price of the DVD alone. Here’s the problem though – what to do with the other DVD cases that one will have to buy when one gets the next volumes? Good question. Throw them out and lose the art? Cut them up? Stick them, empty, on your already overcrowded shelves? It’s up to you. And there is no, say, discount for future purchases of non-boxed DVDs, which is what *I* would have done – offered $5 off for every future volume you buy in a non-over packaged form.

For your extra money you get a $3 pencil baord with Michelle in semi-transparent clothing in a “sexy” pose and Anita looking appropriately loli on the other side. What will they think of next? Maggie in a lace teddy? I shudder to think.

Now, let’s move onto the DVD itself – the main menu is fantastic. Abolutely the best I’ve ever seen on a licensed DVD. It’s made up to look like the ToC of a book and makes sense, is easy to figure out and navigate. Kudos on that.

The English language track is okay. Personally, I can never stand to watch the dubs, because no matter how much better North American voice actors and actresses are getting, they never really sound natural. And they always cock up the pronunciation of the characters names. It’s about rhythm and phonics. For examples of the dub, check out that official site – you can watch clips with the dub track. It’s not painful, just not my cup of tea.

So, that brings us to the Japanese track and the….subtitles. *They* were painful. Once again, the DVD was made with the assumption that English-speaking viewers are morons who cannot, under any circumstances, understand the relationships expressed by honorifics. Here’s my rant from the Yuricon Mailing List:

“Maggie-chan” became “Maggie dear,” while “Anita-chan” just becomes “Anita” and all the ” -‘nee” endings Anita uses disappear, except when Nenene insists that Anita call her “Nenene-‘nee” (which is really awful in *any* language.) So then, the translators capitulate and use “big sister” as they do when Maggie calls Michelle “onee-san.”

You see the problem. Translating “-chan” as dear, regardless of the actual relationship is awkward and, in many case, incorrect. Drives me nuts. Inexplicably, they simply ignore the existence of “-kun.”

I think I may very well start attending Industry panels, just to ask them what the deal with the honorifics are. If we *all* do that, maybe they’ll get a clue. Send ’em a letter, because emails bounce and don’t look as real as a bag full of “Leave the honorifics alone, please” letters.

I would also have much preferred 5 episodes on the first volume. If it were me, 26 episodes would be on 6 volumes, with 5 episodes on the first and last volume. It seems fair-ish, even though we all know it could really be on 3 or 4 DVDs comfortably. But TPTB (The Powers That Be) are releasing it on *7* DVDs! What’s that 5 of 4 episodes and 2 of…3? That’s pretty cheesy, IMHO.

So, while ROD The TV remains an *excellent* series and chock-full o’yuri, the Volume 1 DVD is, at best, a 6.





Yuri Anime: ROD The TV

December 4th, 2003

By far and away, the standout anime on Japanese TV this season has got to be R.O.D. The TV.

R.O.D. (this time it stands for Read or Dream) is the television anime sequel to Read or Die, the three-episode OVA. Amazingly, R.O.D. the TV is a melding of the OVA, the Light Novels and original R.O.D. manga story-lines  -something that seems unlikely considering how unrelated they were, but is executed in the most astonishingly competent way.

ROD the TV begins four years after the OVA. Yomiko Readman, aka The Paper, has been missing for the past four years. Sumiregawa Nenene, the author that Yomiko so admired in the original R.O.D. manga, has fallen into a slump, at least in part because of Yomiko’s absence. Where in the original manga Nenene was a hyperactive, over-achieving and slightly callous young author, the 20-year old Nenene is far more mature, and more than a little melancholy.

The series begins as Nenene visits Hong Kong to be present for the opening of a movie based on one of her novels. Because there is some concern for her safety, she is assigned three rather scattered young women as her “bodyguards.” In an action-filled and very well-crafted episode, these three sisters turn out to be paper users, just like the missing Yomiko. The first episode looks and sounds like a James Bond movie (a feeling accentuated by the three sisters being named after three popular female HK action movie actresses.)

In the end, the three sisters, quiet, butchy Maggie, flighty Michelle and cynical Anita return to Japan with Nenene to be her bodyguards. At which point the truly most amazing transformation occurs – the entire anime shifts gears.

It took me a while to figure out what was going on. From high-powered, intense action in the first episode, the second appears to be written by a completely different group altogether. Then, bizarrely, so does the third…and the fourth episodes…at which point I realized just what was going on. The episodes switch back and forth between shounen and shoujo style writing. In the shounen episodes, we follow the efforts of the three sisters, as they battle vampires, adventurers and opportunists to retrieve rare books for the mysterious company “Dokusensha.” In the shoujo episodes, we follow the sisters and their relationship with Nenene,and Japan in general. Each of these episodes reads like a different kind of book – one a romance, one a suspense novel, etc…

Somewhere about episode eight I realized that this series is, by far and away, the most finely crafted anime I’d ever seen, in terms of writing. As we learn that Dokusensha isn’t what it seems, we are reintroduced to some old friends, Joker and Wendy, who may not be our friends this time, and introduced to new ones like Junior, a mysterious young boy who shares the phasing ability Nancy, aka Miss Deep, had in the OVA. And all through this, every episode is filled with the spirit of Yomiko who affects this series so strongly by her absence, that one is literally on the edge of one’s seat every time. Even the use of music is breathtaking in this series.

So, where’s the Yuri, you ask? Everywhere. Nenene claims she is not “in love” with Yomiko, but her behavior belies the fact. It’s obvious to anyone who has ever had an absent lover that she is, in fact, very in love with Yomiko. But that’s not all – the three sisters have very ambiguous sexuality, but their sensuality is obvious. Nenene picks on butchy Maggie constantly in ways that one could consider Yuri fan service.

But the real relationship in the series is left for Anita, the youngest of the sisters. In the beginning, Anita seems asif she’ll be no more than another annoying young girl character, but its not long before the viewer comes to realize that she is, in fact, the star of the series…R.O.D. is, quite literally, all about her. Anita is enrolled in a local school and almost immediately she and Shiishi Hisami
become friends. Their relationship is very real and very sweet and fills at least one entire episode with smiles and nods for us Yuri fans.

But here’s the kicker…the series is only half over.

So far, the first 13 episodes of ROD the TV have been *amazing*. So catch up, with the rest of us and sit down with your popcorn to find out just what this brilliant team of writers will do for the second half!

Ratingss:
Animation – uneven
Music – 9
Character – 10
Story – 10
Yuri – 7

Overall – 12 ;-)

Watch the best new series this season. Then join the Yuricon Mailing List and rant and rave about it with us. :-)