Archive for the Staff Writer Category


A Certain Scientific Railgun S Anime (English) Guest Review by Mara

August 7th, 2013

ACSRSWoo-hoo! It’s Guest Review Wednesday! Please welcome back serial Guest Reviewer Mara!

A Certain Scientific Railgun S (streaming for free, legally with applicable region limitations from Funimation) is a direct sequel to the anime A Certain Scientific Railgun… which doesn’t have ‘S’ at the end. Picking right up where its predecessor left off, it adapts the manga of the same name. If you are one of the lucky ones who only watched the anime of either Railgun or its mother series A Certain Magical Index, you should give this new season a go right now as it will be more of the same – i.e. an incredibly entertaining esper action story.

However if you are as voracious a consumer of the ‘A Certain Blank’ franchise as myself, you may be hesitant. Understandably so as this new series of Railgun is forced by existing cannon to now tackle the story arc that pushed Railgun into the so called ‘dark side’ of Railgun’s setting: Academy City. A story that focused on illegal cloning and perhaps the most gruesome form of level grinding in fiction. Known as the “Sisters” story arc – in the original novels it was responsible for introducing a lot of important characters; such as Kuroko, the Misaka clones and Accelerator. When it came time for the Sisters arc to appear in the Railgun manga the story focused almost entirely on Mikoto’s point of view leaving fan favourite characters out of the spotlight for an extended period of time; pretty much assuming you had already seen the Index version of the story in some way.

Not so for the anime adaptation. The anime gives you a complete story to enjoy and while Mikoto and the Sisters arc cast take centre stage we are not allowed to forget the rest of the cast, including characters that were introduced in the first Railgun anime:

By that I mean that Haruue is still around as is Banri, both characters from the first season. It is a treat to see that the anime staff did not just ignore them and assume that no-one would care if these characters appeared or not. In a show that had less effort put into it Haruue would have been put off stage now she has been reunited with Banri, instead we see their story continue alongside everyone else’s.

But it is Kuroko Shirai who receives a good portion of episode seven all to herself with her own sub-story that includes Saten, Uiharu and Haruue too. It keeps Mikoto’s story from becoming the dense all-encompassing mass it was in the manga buy piding up other events that would otherwise be entirely sequential. It also gives us an important glimpse of Kuroko’s view of Mikoto during this period, how concerned she is and the frustration that comes with trying to help someone who does not wish to be helped.

New to the Railgun story are quite a few scenes from Touma’s point of view as a digest version of the events he experienced in Index to add context for those who may have not seen or not remember the Index anime (way back in 2009). The manga assumes that we have seen Touma’s point of view before and thus gives us little to explain his appearance or motivation.  The anime however does show us how Touma finds out about Mikoto’s situation, including his interaction with Kuroko which involves a fun bit of perv to perv verbal combat that I really enjoy.

So if you have read the manga like myself and are wondering if you should bother with the first half of Railgun S, rest assured. The first season improved and expanded upon the story and the second season does the same with its source material far better than expected.

Score so far (Episodes 1-16):

Art – 7
Character – 10 (The A Certain Blank series is a fantastic example of Erica’s thesis that every character should have a unique ‘voice’. You would not mistake one character for another based on their lines… apart from the clones.)
Story – 6
Yuri – 5
Service – 9
Overall – 9

E here: Well, you’ve convinced me to watch it! I was dithering, since the manga had been so gloomy, but okay, I’ll give it  a try. ^_^ Thanks so much for the review and the prompt to reenter Academy City once again. ^_^





Jormungand Perfect Order Anime Guest Review by Mara

January 16th, 2013

JORPOFirst Guest Review Wednesday of the Year! I have basically said everything I have to say about Jormungand but, as Jormungand: Perfect Order is streaming legally and free on Funimation (as Episodes 13-24 of the series. Registration is required,) I felt it was worthy of a decent review. And so here is Mara with a very decent review. Please welcome him once again to Okazu! Take it away, Mara…

I remember picking up the Jormungand manga right off the shelf of a comic shop with completely zero expectations, as I usually do and being firmly impressed. Here was a half decent action manga with two protagonists that have hilarious chemistry. So it was fantastic to find out it was getting an anime.

The anime of Jormungand was aired in two half season segments and with a thirteen week break between them. This gives the production team a sliver of extra time to make sure that we do not see too much quality slippage over the whole run. A sensible idea for an action heavy show such as Jormungand where if the motion is not there on the screen to an adequate quality the show will suffer. It is a good thing too as Jormungand: Perfect Order starts right at the R/Hex arc where we have a big set piece climax.

The problem is while Jormungand’s action scenes work very well in the manga, they have not been transplanted so well into the anime in places. In a way they were moved into the anime too well with no attempt to change them to suit the animated medium. This means a lot of static shots of the characters firing with bottomless magazines while exposition goes on. Very noticeable in the street fight between Koko’s group and Hex’s group, it sadly sucks a good deal of the tension out from the action.

Despite that minor gripe, I still loved the action in Perfect Order. The stand out point for me would be the tunnel chase sequence in Tojo’s story arc; an exciting and energetic chase scene that improved upon the manga and used everyone in Koko’s group.

So, sadly, you may be thinking that as we had Valmet personal arc in the first season of Jormungand there is not much Yuri to talk about in Perfect Order. Well, it is true that Valmet fades a bit into the background now she has had her revenge. Valmet becomes Koko’s yes-woman for the most part. We do have a small scene in episode twenty where Koko messes around with Valmet to show off to Minami; but nothing is made of it afterward.

In fact, the major Yuri moment is more of a what we might call ‘Yuri goggles’ variety, but not of a relationship. No, I would suggest that we should turn our lily-tinted lenses to the group of four women who end up creating and wielding the power that changes the world: Jormungand. That while Koko gets the world, the girl (Valmet) and the adorable boy (Jonah), Dr Minami, Koko’s co-conspirator, gets her own elite science harem.

Firstly she easily secures the then unemployed Karen Low and easily pulls her into her own unique working environment. Then when Elena Baburin gets kidnapped from her kidnappers by Koko’s team she seems really distraught, who would not be? But then when we get a very jarring bathing scene later on we see that Elena is totally okay we working on Jormungand… now that she has met Minami! Later Rabbitfoot is also kidnapped out of a different kind of captivity to work on Jormungand, Koko makes it clear that she does not really like Rabbitfoot due to her previous conduct. Someone however finds Rabbitfoot’s single-mindedness cute… Dr Minami!

Frankly for me, it did not take much effort to see the whole of Perfect Order as having a sub-plot of Minami ensuring her retirement in a toy factory in South Africa, with three differently beautiful women who are all geniuses in their fields and her own personal open air bath. Not to mention she also gets her own cool high-backed chair among the four people who will ensure peace in the world for the foreseeable future. Minami makes out of this show like a bloody bandit.

Even if you don’t agree with me on that, it is still pretty sweet that the four people who will put an end to war, something that has often been used as an excuse to suppress women, are four women who are super geniuses in their respective fields. At the very least it gives me a feminist power fantasy high.

Speaking of the end of Jormungand I do feel like I have to mention the run up to the ending. In the last few episodes Koko finally reveals her plan to everyone and to Jonah. Sadly Koko, who to this point seemed so in control and genre savvy, seems to do a complete one hundred and eighty and simply delivers a speech about the sacrifices Jormungand will require, like she was a villain in a less interesting manga. It does not help that all of Koko’s ideas hinge on a very pessimistic and conservative viwew of people and of changing the world for the better. It is a real shift in tone for Koko to go from: ‘This is right because I’m awesome’ to: ‘This is right because it is the most cynical possibility’. A trope that I am getting sick and tired of being used as a crutch.

Now this was not an out and out character assassination, but this did not fit the standard of Koko’s actions up to that point and there was little attempt to show Koko’s turmoil as we immediately focus on Jonah and his thoughts for most of the rest of the series.

The writer clearly tries to distract us from this with a bit of fanservce that actually seems aimed at me for once. Koko cuts her hair to above shoulder length and starts wearing a black suit, plus the official reveal of the aforementioned lesbian cabal that will rule the world. Yay and all, but that does not distract me when the even greater fanservce of Kasper giving the best villain speech I have heard this year to Koko; thus highlighting that Koko, a character I fell in love with because she does awesome and cool things, has not done a cool thing in the last episode of a show about her.

The end, though, is very sensible. A reconciliation is achieved and the anime ends on a point where we know where everything is going and does not continue beyond that; sensibly preventing us from being disappointed.

Jormungand was a fantastic manga about a woman who though her own will and ability changes the world. Not for someone else but for her own aesthetic ideals. The Perfect Order anime was a fantastic adaptation of the last half of the manga. Such a good adaptation I will hold it up as an example of all the good and bad you can do by being perfectly faithful to the source material.

Ratings:

Art – 5, every third character looks flat like they are in a different show

Characters – 10, best part of the whole thing

Story – 7, Good but points off for dithering

Yuri – 5, Valmet is awesome but needs a spine, everything else is just in my head.

Service – 10, Let’s see, suits, abs, eye patches, adorable guys and butch ladies. Can’t give this any other score when I am the one scoring it.

Overall – 8

Two points off for dropping the ball with character models and for forgetting at the end that Koko needs to be the coolest person in the room. Other than that as close to perfect in this genre as I have seen in a while.

Erica here: Mara you hit the nail on the crumpet, IMHO. I also saw Minami’s ‘true’ plan. Laudable, I thought. ^_^ Thanks for the review and for being the one that got me into Jormungand in the first place!





Yuri Game: don’t take it personally, babe, it just ain’t your story, Guest Review by Mara)

October 14th, 2011

This is not so much a “Yuri Game” as a “Game with Yuri Elements” but that makes a clunky review header. Anyway, it is my very sincere pleasure to welcome back Guest Reviewer Mara, with another great game review!~ 

don’t take it personally, babe, it just ain’t your story is the newest game from creator Christine Love, who has also written Digital: A Love Story. The narrator is John, an arguably pathetic guy who is at least smart enough to be aware of it. John has just started teaching literature at a high school that has its own internal social network called Amie.

As a teacher, John is allowed access to his students’ profiles and messages, both public and private and is flat out told to monitor them at his discretion.  This is not just a plot element but worked into how we, as readers, experience the story. As the central narrative moves forward, all of the characters are messaging and posting in time with the main story, whether they are present in the scene or not.

Every time someone in the class posts, the player is alerted to it and can read the posts in a submenu. This gives the central characters a powerful sense of constant presence. Even if the main story leaves these characters behind; we still see them talking to each other and posting their status. This device was the selling point in the story for me as it really hammers home the fact that the main narration is just John’s incomplete view. By reading the students’ posts we are privy to their opinions on how the story unfolds, and we can see the gradual bubbling of incidents yet to happen.

It is through this mechanism that we learn of the first Yuri subplot in don’t take it personally. Two of John’s students, Kendall and Charlotte, have just broken up – apparently in a major way – and we see some of the residual fallout of this in the messaging that occurs right at the beginning of the game.  The online communication we see also highlights an important difference between Kendall and Charlotte. While Charlotte is pretty much the same in person as she is online (sensible, accepting and polite) Kendall is a loud witty troll online, but very subdued in person when John first meets her. It is only after the breakup story concludes that it becomes clear that Kendall’s perkiness begins to shift back into her offline persona.

One particular story route does deal with Kendall and Charlotte directly and the possibility of them getting back together. The result is something incredibly adorable in that teenage “this moment is the most important ever” sort of way. Although I did occasionally cringe at attempts to give the characters a unique voice; there was a sense of the raw emotional immediacy that seems to plague teenage life that felt truly genuine in how Kendall and Charlotte’s relationship played out.

However, Kendall and Charlotte are not the only Yuri draw in this game; there is another couple who, although they have much less exposure (John only meets one of them), were the couple that made the game for me. They are the mothers of Akira, another of John’s students, Ichigo and Hazuki.

Akira’s early story deals with him coming out to his friends and peers, having realised for himself very recently that he is gay. It is a sequence that is pretty much free of drama as everyone’s reply is ‘I already assumed so, ages ago’. This irritates Akira, as for him finding out he was gay was an important event and a powerful moment of self discovery…only to find that everyone else had already assumed it.

This is compounded for Akira, as his mother Hazuki by comparison, has a coming out story that spans a year with subplots, themes and a cast too big to fit on the stage. Although this and one other mention is all we get to know about Hazuki, we still get a solid flavour as to what her character is. That, and she induces intergenerational coming out envy in her son, which is just awesome.

We do get to meet Ichigo, in full mama-wolf mode during the end of a sequence where Akira is harassed by another character. Ichigo is straight to the point about the problem and refreshingly appropriate and direct. She also appears in the scene wearing a very dashing suit. I do have to say it is nice to see a mother turn up to protect her son and not be shown as a hysterical protective monster. Instead, Ichigo comes off as perfectly sensible especially, after she turns up again in the resolution of the main story to sort everything out and is instrumental in a very well-written big reveal.

don’t take it personally, babe, it just ain’t your story is a short visual novel. You can get through all the routes within a few hours. However, with both the offline and online world to read, it feels like a truly packed experience. The rhythm that builds up though each chapter allows the important points of each event to be easily digested, like lightly fried dumplings. The art is pleasant, although inconsistent, as two artists split the tasks, meaning that the art for the event cg and the profile pictures have a different feel than the sprites.

I am very willing to forgive this and indeed a few other flaws in don’t take it personally. Why? Well considering this was made for the most part by one person, who put it out for free, and I never felt for a moment that the effort put on this project dropped. don’t take it personally was easily more interesting and is more engaging than games I have bought for eight thousand yen (looking at you Yukkuri Panic and Koihime Musou.) To see such talent and effort available for free is truly humbling.

In conclusion, I seriously recommend this for two good reasons. It is entertaining and free. You cannot go wrong with that.

So:
Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Yaoi- 9
Service – 6

Overall – 9 (Hey, big achievements mean a lot to me)

What are you still doing here? :  : Go and read the visual novels of Christine Love!

Erica here; Mara, thank you so much for bringing this game to our attention! (That’s the “we” of the Yuri Network, not the royal “We.”) ^_^

The game sounds like it’s fun and your review might even get me to try it. 

Just a quick note: There will be no YNN Report this week. I’m at New York Comic Con (Table 1158, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!) and won’t have access to a keyboard and I’ll be damned if I try to write the YNN on a phone….





Visual Novel: Aoi Shiro Guest Review by Mara

January 13th, 2010

It must be Wednesday, because we have a Guest Review! Today I welcome back Mara, who will once again be reviewing the Anime/Manga/Choose Your Adventure/PowerPoint hybrid known as a Visual Novel. Enjoy!

It is a sign of success when a visual novel makes the port from PC to console. This is because the game in question must have significant appeal when you remove the erotic content (none of the console makers allow it). But when a game makes the leap the other way, from console to PC, the reasons are less consistent. In the case of Aoi Shiro it was a couple of extra scenes and some more event CG in an already CG-heavy game.

Aoi Shiro is a game by Success who previously brought us the Yuri visual novel Akai Ito – both games are set in the same supernatural universe. The main character this time is the serious kendo team captain Osanai Syouko who is played with surprising flexibility by Noriko Hidaka.

The plot of Aoi Shiro follows Syouko as she heads to a summer training camp with her kendo team. Their location, a Buddhist shrine on the southern coast, invokes sad childhood memories for Syouko. The exact nature of these memories takes awhile to become clear as Syouko seems to be cursed with a memory that makes any act of deep recollection EPIC in a clumsy attempt to give these events additional gravitas.

Regardless of this, Aoi Shiro has a pretty decent plot for a visual novel that really hangs more on the ‘visual’ aspect than the ‘novel’ aspect. When the characters are voiced and have animated sprites that blink and are lip synched to the lines, it becomes clear where the money went.

Regardless, Aoi Shiro has plenty of fun scenes where we get to know most of the characters pretty well and come to like their eccentricities. The many eating sequences stand out as they set the rhythm for each day of the story and there are some truly inspired conversations, such as the finer points of Zen vegetarianism.

Sadly, three major heroines can not share in these scenes and so feel underdeveloped. For example, when we are solidly on Nami’s route and she gets her voice back and begins to develop a personality, Syouko’s sudden gushing crush on her is rather jarring. Indeed the characters rarely discuss their feelings for each other and the short time span of the story (only 4-5 days) means that the endings for each route feel ultimately unfulfilling and do not resolve any of the romantic possibilities.

Although the stories may be low on Yuri the heroines themselves are not, as each fills a specific Yuri archetype, and does so very well. The stand out star heroine, however, is easily Kohaku, the deliberately androgynous, efficient, prideful and damn cool oni that kills off mooks by flicking stones as though she was playing marbles.

Kohaku is played by Kei Mizusawa, who plays her with a nice aggressive tone, and has easily the most ‘Yuri route’. It is in this route that Syouko expresses most strongly reciprocated romantic feelings. A route where we can leave our Yuri goggles on a very low setting and still be satisfied.

While many routes feel very watered down or evasive towards the end Kohaku’s at least feels like a “And that’s how we met” story that couples might tell you at their wedding…if they fought oni for a living.

But, having only one route that has a solid Yuri feel to it is a tad disappointing for a game of this pedigree. Even then there is the ‘grand route’ that we must thus assume is cannon, as all the mysteries and problems are solved. In this route, however, Syouko is not pared up with anyone although it does progress down Nami’s route for a while it is clearly everyone’s story and, so, there is not any time for any romance as the plot about summoning a demonic storm god takes priority. But it is a bit depressing that after all those routes where Syouko ‘got the girl/sister/rival’; the route that is considered the ‘true ending’ has no really romantic scenes at all.

While it is depressing that a game that clearly markets itself and is considered a Yuri game has very little Yuri content Aoi Shiro is still a very good visual novel. The artwork is undeniably beautiful to look at and the story has wonderful characters that each make the best of their short time in the limelight. I cannot recommend this game enough.

Ratings:

Art – 10 (It’s like an inverse Umineko)
Story – 6 (Rushed at the conclusion)
Characters – 9 (Everyone will latch onto one or two heroines)
Yuri – 3 (But Kohaku gets a 7)
Service – 4 (There’s an onsen at the shrine, you don’t say?)
Loser fan girl – 4 (The antagonist and the worlds most awesome Buddhist monk)

Overall – 9

It is the game equivalent of fireworks. A few beautiful explosions that leave your jaw hanging open, you just wish that there was one more or that they lasted just a bit longer

Erica again: First of all, thank you Mara! This really interested me, as I have read all of the Aoi Shiro manga, and I’d say that it’s pretty equivalent. Too many characters left undeveloped, too many opportunities for relationships squandered and too little Yuri, after a lot of Yuri-ish set-up. So, once again, thank you for the review and another glimpse into a piece of the Yuri puzzle that I don’t cover.





Yuri Game: Sapphism no Gensou

October 10th, 2009

Brain is a bit melty today, so it is with great relief pleasure that I welcome Guest Reviewer Ashley for today’s post! And even better, because as you know I don’t game and have no interest in games, Visual Novels or anything similar. So what a genuine pleasure to be able to provide you all with a review of the Sapphism no Gensou game that came out a few years ago and is undeniably Yuri. Take it away Mara!

Personally I do not comprehend the thinking behind same sex schools. Most of all I disagree with the argument that they somehow protect their students from something. But to each their own.

The school from Sapphism no Gensou on the other hand, I get. Not content with the usual standards of security a private school, the H.B. Polestar is a giant ship that sails an undisclosed course across the ocean to provide the best and most luxurious education for the daughters of the elite. Think a floating Ashford academy and you will not be far off. This is the absurd and fun setting of Sapphism no Gensou a visual novel by Lair-soft who since have done nothing else of note although they have kept with the theme of an unusual setting in nearly all their games.

This game’s unusual setting is home to a powerfully diverse cast, and not just diverse in the usual visual novel model of: ‘girl for every taste so we maximise sales’ way. The main character Anri, some sort of experimental fusion of Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena) and Tamaki (Ouran Host Club), deserves mention for not only being out but also deliberately going to this closed-off all-girl school so that she has the highest possible number of girls to hit on. Such openness and self-confidence are refreshing in a female main character in general, much less a Yuri main character. So much so that I overlook Anri’s massive ageism as a required character flaw (she gets over it anyway).

Anri is not alone in this story – besides the three main heroines, who are for the most part the dullest characters; there is Anri’s pre-existing, pre-Iono harem. These characters deserve an article all to themselves mainly because half of them are completely bonkers. For example there is Nicolle, the long-fringed daughter of an Italian mafia don who talks machine gun fast and has a serious gambling ‘interest’. Kanae, Anri’s sempai and incredible computation genius, who is addicted to coffee and goes into withdrawal if she misses her regular fix. Anne Shirley, the daughter of a Columbian drug lord, who constantly offers the rest of the cast giant fistfuls of ‘medicine’ and talks to spirits invisible to everyone but her, and the player.

I could go on forever.

For the most part the entire cast is made up of fantastically far out individuals with suitably silly dialogue; each scene with them is a treat. It is a good thing that the supporting cast is so amazing, as the three main heroines about which the three main story routes revolve are the dullest cookie cutter characters that could hope to disappoint you. This is almost appropriate though because the main story is utter crap.

Simply put, the writers seemed to have deliberately picked the only form of a closed circle mystery that could completely turn one’s stomach. A series of sexual assaults have been committed on board the H.B. Polestar and in this all female environment immediately the out lesbian is inaccurately labelled as the suspect. So much so that the onboard authorities decide to expel Anri regardless of her guilt so that they can escape charges of incompetence themselves. If this summary so far has not made you throw up then let me close it by saying that we are treated to one of the assaults as the opening scene of the game in an act of Somme-level idiocy by the designers.

This half of the story is so at odds with the pleasant atmosphere of the other half that I am truly convinced that Sapphism no Gensou was written by two completely separate groups who then shuffled their scripts together before sending it off to the producer. It is a real shame because this game does have some greatness that is not totally obscured by the crap that makes up the rest.

Luckily, the idiots who wrote the rape half of the game were fired for the special DVD edition of Sapphism no Gensou. This version comes with a whole game’s worth of extra short stories and scenes that expand on the all of the characters with further disregard for being disgusting in preference for being silly. All the characters get at least one including the main character and the old lady who founded the H.B. Polestar.

If you are a complete collector like myself then you should buy the DVD version of Sapphism no Gensou as the extras make it more than worth it. However I cannot recommend such a game generally when there are other, better, Yuri visual novels out there.

Art – 7
Story – For the main story: 3 For everything else: 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 10 (a massive neon 10 advertising a swimsuit maid cafe)

Overall – 8

I truly liked this game but I cannot recommend it to others for the same reason I would say that you should not become friends with a racist just to borrow their car.

Thank you for reminding me just why my aversion is something to treasure and nurture, rather than get over. ^_^ And thank you for today’s review! As I’ve said many times, if you, dear reader have a Yuri game you’d like to review, please contact me. Legitimately purchased copies only, no downloaded or pirated games, please.