Archive for the Yuri Anime Category


Yuri Anime: Shattered Angels, Volume 1 (English)

July 23rd, 2008

Shattered Angels (originally known as Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora) is a story that takes place in the land of Academia – a small country with an abundance of schools, and therefore students (but no teachers, I can’t help but notice.)

In this world there is a girl, Kuu, whose name means “empty” and indeed, she appears to lack mostly everything except incredulity and a childhood dream of a Prince. When Ayanokoji Kyoshiro arrives at the school, dressed in the school uniform of the one school that has been destroyed completely Kuu, like everyone else, is wowed by his princely-ness. So when he grabs her shirt and rips it open, she’s pretty aghast. Of course this being a Kaishaku story, she forgets to stay upset – and all the other girls in the school likewise have no frontal lobes – so when Kyoshiro asks Kuu to come with him, she does.

Immediately she finds herself the center of a battle for…herself. Why, Kuu has no idea and no one really tells her, but that’s not really important because of every character in this series, Kuu is the least interesting. lol And the only characters we want to see are Kaon and Himiko.

So in episode two, Kuu is kidnapped by Kaon, who turns out to be an Absolute Angel, like Tarlotte, the cat girl who was after Kuu, and Setsuna who fights for Kyoshiro. The meeting with Kaon and Himiko is mostly so we can witness them kissing, and they can deny that they are in love, and Kuu can, in her own brainless way, tell us that they are lying and even she knows it.

Then we meet Mika, the evil ojou-sama who “owns” Kaon and Himiko and watch her torture them both a bit in an ill-conceived plan of domination.

Episode three was hysterical, as nearly every character spends time in either bath or shower – even the boys. If the idea of anime beef- and/or cheesecake appeals, this episode is great. For me, it was plain hysterical – especially watching Soujiro, Kyoshiro and Mika in a split frame showing them all in showers as they provide exposition about the end of the world and their Absolute Angels. Episode three also includes many gratuitous random kiss scenes.

The final episode provides us with insight into Kyoshiro’s obsession about his older brother Kazuya, and a lot of crazy talk.

Video extras include the first and second DVD specials. The first shows us just how much of a raw deal Setsuna has signed up for. (Is there anyone watching this who does not feel bad for Setsuna? I know I do. She’s loads better than Kuu.) And the second is a romantic vignette called “Lovers Reunion” that shows us, in no uncertain terms, what Kaon and Himiko feel for one another. No subtext here at all. It’s a sweet and touching extra. Their interactions with each other will continue to be tender and touching through the series, whatever amount of service is layered over them. And I still prefer them to Chikane and Himeko, regardless of the fact that they are not the main couple.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7, except for Mika, Kaon and Himiko, who are all 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 7

Overall – 7

I know I’m in a minority when I say this but, I still think that Shattered Angels is a better Yuri story than Kannazuki, primarily because the Yuri relationship does not have violence or insanity built into it. This time the crazy and abusive is confined to the Ayanokojis, so Himiko and Kaon are left alone to have a deep, mostly functional love.





Yuri Anime: Simoun, Volume 4 (English)

July 15th, 2008

It’s not uncommon to run across this comment in anime forums in any language, referring to any anime – “It gets better in later episodes.” Whether it’s correct or not is entirely dependent upon whether you *like* whatever literary theme that particular anime is abusing, of course. lol

If you have been reading my reviews of Simoun here, you will know that I thought it was pretty breathtaking right out of the gate, but indeed, it also gets better in later episodes. I know that there are many fans of the series who consider Volume 4 to be the pinnacle of achievement.

However…I have a dilemma. In order to talk to you about this particular volume coherently, I will need to spoil it. I don’t want to do that, but there’s no way to get around it. I’ll do it as gently as I can.

In Volume 4, several major themes are coming together and landing directly on the heads of the priestesses of Chor Tempest:

One – their theocracy and the government based on it is weak, corrupt and foolish.

Secondly, the lies that government is seeking to hide might well have saved them all, if they had chosen to investigate rather than avoid it for fear of proving themselves wrong.

Thirdly, the ultimate sacrifice of one of the Tempest members not only is one of the most beautiful things about the series, but serves to highlight much of what is wrong with their society.

The result is that as a team, Chor Tempest slowly pulls together – not to fight the war for their country, but to survive – and transcend – it for themselves.

In the middle of everything going on, Aeru and Neviril start to bond in a natural and real way for the first time. It looks good on them.

And last, we see the result of an Emerald Rimaajon. Despite the fact that we are told what to expect – it’s still nothing we could *ever* have expected. lol

Oh, wait, no, this is last – if you haven’t yet started to think there’s a thing between Anubituf and Guragief, you will in this volume. :-)

Once again, I’m pleased to say that the Media Blasters team did a great job, so no technical issues marred my enjoyment of the volume. And the video extra, this time with the voice actresses for Roatreamon, Mamina and Yun was, by far and away, the most natural and enjoyable of the series to date. And thanks too, to the good folks at MB for this review copy of awesome.

A fabulous volume of a fabulous series.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 7 (a point off, because several of them are still wallowing in issues that we thought were, and should have been, previously resolved.)
Yuri – 4
Service – 5 (we spend an awful lot of time in the showers, don’t we?)

Overall – 8

I pretty much held my breath through this entire volume. It’s simply magnificent.





Yuri Anime: Kaleido Star, Volume 3 (English)

July 7th, 2008

Yuri fans hit paydirt with Volume 3 of Kaleido Star, in which Layla suddenly comes to the conclusion that Sora is her important partner. (Finally!) And we get to spend moments here and there noticing that Anna is acutally quite hunky and cool and that Mia is besotted, although more of that will come later. lol

We start the volume with a little time wallowing in Anna’s backstory, then we spend not nearly enough time as Layla and Sora bond over their “Amazingly Hot New Production” (the amusing title of the episode) – in which they star as pirates fighting in a storm, while the ship/swing bursts into flame below them. Seriously, if you do not want to see *that* you are clearly beyond help.

To cap off the volume, we get a painful episode where we learn that Carlos is in love with Sara, even though he treats her like crap (ah, beautiful Japanese-style heterosexual love.)

Nothing against the straights, but, I’m sticking with Sora and Layla fighting with swords on a swinging, burning pirate ship. Are you with me? Yar!

Rating:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 2
Service (oh yes, less Fool for a change, too) – 3

Overall – 8

This volume is one of those moments where you remember why you’re watching this stuff in the first place. ^_^ And it’s all due to the kindness and generosity of Ted the Awesome that I was once again able to wallow in the Yuri goodness that is Layla and Sora. Ted, you are indeed Awesome. ^_^





Yuri Anime: Puni Puni Poemy

July 1st, 2008

So, maybe you’re sitting around watching some of your older anime and thinking, “Gee, I really like Excel Saga, but I wish it had more mindless Yuri and made less sense.” Well, lucky for you, there’s Puni Puni Poemy (aka Puni Puni Poemi).

I get PPP. I really do. Because there have been days after I finished writing a really intense story or completed a series and I’ve lost my mind, too. You can’t really stop it – it’s like an allergic reaction. You need to get rid of the toxins somehow. In my case, I parody my own work and clearly, Nabeshin does, too. ^_^

So, there’s a girl called Poemi who calls herself by the name of her seiyuu, Kobayashi, and who, after much tragedy, learns that when she skins a dead fish and holds the skeleton aloft, she becomes a powerful magical girl. It may seem a little strange at first glance, but when you think about it, it’s really no more strange than accepting a locket from a talking Moon Cat or listening to your stuffed animal, or praying to God, or putting Saint Lipliner on. You get my point. ^_^

So, Poemi fights the bad guys and in the end, the story wasn’t about her at all, but about her very, very, very gay best friend Futaba. Which reminds me to point out that IMHO, the very funniest of all the gags in the entire anime is the Aasu sister’s names. They are in reverse numerical order. The oldest is “Mutsumi,” (6th) and the youngest is “Hitomi” (1st). That their parents thought ahead to name them in reverse order absolutely slayed me. It makes me giggle just thinking about it.

There are a lot of internal and external gags in PPP, and even more hyperactive activity, much of which makes no sense whatsoever. That’s okay, like most allergic reactions to more serious work, it’s not really for you – it’s for the people in the studio to let it allllll out.

If you don’t mind tasteless service, self-referential humor and hideous sight gags, Puni Puni Poemy is quite funny. My thanks once again to Ted the Awesome for providing many laughs by sponsoring today’s review!

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6 (you’re not watching it for the plot, anyway)
Characters – 6
Yuri – 6
Service – 8

Overall – 6

Futaba is very gay.





New Season Summer 2008 Anime: Ikkitousen: Great Guardians

June 24th, 2008

Ikkitousen returns, with bigger breasts and less sense than ever before. Moving on from merely double D size, Ikkitousen is now a hefty GG (ostensibly for Great Guardians, but duh, we’re not so stupid as to have missed the point. )

Ikkitousen:GG is a slightly alternate universe for Ikkitousen, which basically means nothing to us at all except that Ryoufu is no longer dead and her hale and hearty heart, which beats once again in a hefty chest, is set against Ryomou as her rival. Not a rival *for* anything particular (yet!) just someone to slam around in as many fights as possible.

My beloved Ryomou, sadly, is made to obsess over Saji, instead of following Goei with her eyes the way she did in the original series. I don’t mind, since we already know that as anime goes, Saji’s a reasonable lover. Nonetheless, I don’t expect a happy ending for them.

Since Ryoufu was resurrected – so far, anyway – without Chinkyuu, and Ryomou spends her time running after her erstwhile boyfriend, we turn our Yuri-hungry eyes upon our last, best hope and we are relieved, since not only does Kanu still have a raging crush on Ryuubi, she is in fact, turned completely, hopelessly, absurdly gay for her. Kanu Unchou, who once was nobility and power embodied, is now a comedic gimmick of raging lesbian hormones. Works for me. ^_^

Story? Oh, I imagine there will be something that can masquerade as a plot. For now, we are introduced to a new character who adds a whole new fetish to the lineup and, to be honest, it’s a fetish that really needed to be added. We *finally* have a character who will get captured, undressed and almost raped at least once a show and not fight back (yet!). As an added bonus, she will scream “Oniisama!” and “Oneesama!” annoyingly, so the segment of the population that finds that appealing will finally have someone to care about. Phew for them.

Never high art, if you go into Ikkitousen with anything other than resignation and amused tolerance, you are bound to be disappointed. If you were worried that Ryomou may no longer be wearing underwear or that Ryofu’s breasts are somehow not as large as before she died, then you will be mightly pleased at the new series.

Ratings:

Art – Hah!
Story – Snort
Characters – LOL
Yuri – That too
Service – Are you kidding me?

Overall – Not too bad, considering it’s utter crap

I’m almost relieved that this series drops the Romance of the Three Kingdoms tie-in since, in a lot of ways, it just got in the way of the panty shots.

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