Archive for the Yuri Anime Category


Yuri Anime: Battle Athletes, Volume 1

July 16th, 2007

Sorry for not posting for the last few days – I’ve been juggling trying to get ready for Otakon this weekend, and catching up on myself. Before we begin today, let’s offer up paeans of thanks to Eric who provided us with the subject of today’s review! Thank you Eric!

Battle Athletes, Volume 1 is…old school. Old school art, hair, opening theme, character design, everything. It’s so old school that a few minutes after turning it on, I had to turn it off to regroup mentally. ^_^ Once mentally prepared, I turned it back on – and was pretty pleased with what I saw. It took some retrofitting my brain used, as I am, to what’s currently running now, to enjoy the old animation, the whiny heroine and the screaming. There was a *lot* of screaming.

The story follows Kanzaki Akari, the daughter of the former greatest athlete in the universe, Tomoe Midori, on her quest to become the world’s greatest female athlete and win the title her mother held – Cosmos Beauty.

Unfortunately for Akari, she has inherited few of her mother’s traits. She appears to have barely any athletic skills, is a crybaby and generally whiny. Of course it can’t stay like that, because then there’d be no story, so when Akari is moved to save another competitor’s life, her heretofore non-existent athletic skills skyrocket into hypercompetence.

Thankfully for the audience, Akari is surrounded by much more interesting characters. There’s the offensive Chinese stereotype Ling-Pha, and the strange “weird foreign tribal-type” stereotype Tanya. Then there’s Akari’s best friend Ichino who, voiced by Hisakawa Aya, is the perfect Osaka stereotype. Completing the main cast is Russian stereotype Ayla and America stereotype Jessie. And one of the things I thought while I watched the latter two compete was that, when this anime was made, the concept of US vs Russia athletic competition was far more politically charged and intense than it is now. ^_^ Now, anyone under the age of 20 (if we could get them to sit still for this anime at all) would be like, “so?”

The basic idea of the anime is that we are following these women as they train to attend the Satellite Training Camp, where they will be training even harder to try and become competitors for Cosmos Beauty. So we see a variety of futuristic and often silly “athletic” competition. And a variety of service as well, since of course as female athletes they never wear pants.

Compared to later episodes, Volume 1 is marginally gay…except for those moments when it’s massively gay.

Ichino pings most people’s gaydar right off, something that’s borne out in later volumes. But I kind of think Akari has it right when she says that Ichino is like an older brother to her.

Ayla and Jessie, by virtue of being powerful, talented athletic women who seem to be very focused on one another read totally gay…even if, in a real-world situation, they’d just be excellent rivals and maybe friends.

Jessie, the less lesbian of the two gets the first open proposition of the series. When running around looking for Tanya, in what is otherwise an incredibly stupid episode, another student confesses her feelings to Jessie and asks if she can call her onee-sama; she suggests that they could start off by training in sports, but maybe they could segue into this and that. Jessie replies that she appreciates the thought, but isn’t interested.(This whole scene reminded me strongly of the old schoolness again, because the translation just sort of plays fast and loose with what’s being said. “Onee-sama” is not translated as big sister, much less kept as is. They sort of randomly assign words to what the classmate is saying. And Jessie’s “I have no interest” is, as often is the case for some reason in anime, translated as “I don’t swing that way.” Another phrase I’d like to see corrected in current anime translation. “Thank you for the thought, but I’m not interested in that” is so much less crude than, “No, I don’t swing that way.” Jessie is voiced by Itou Miki and speaks in a tone reminiscent of Sachiko’s formal voice – I really just don’t see her being that crude. But hey, this was translated a gazillion years ago before Onee-samas and Yuri ever made it to the shores of America. So I’ll let this one slide, but I would like to see it done correctly going forward.)

The final episode on the volume is Yuri enough for most, as it follows Ayla’s growing obsession with Jessie, and ends in a swimming match. For many, many reasons, I loved this episode. Mostly for the swimming. I swam competitively as a kid (without ever being good, mind you) and my love for swimming has never left me. Watching these two women swimming and obsessing about each other was definitely my happy place for the day. ^_^

So, I gotta say, Volume 1 was a lot more Yuri than I remembered it being. And it was a good chunk of fun too.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – Everyone other than Akari – 8. Akari – 5
Yuri – 5
Service – 5

Overall – 7

Let me also mention that I have reviewed the Battle Athletes series as a whole, Volume 3 and Volume 6, previously, should you be interested.





Yuri Anime: Ninja Nonsense, Volume 4 (English)

July 12th, 2007

Because I failed at this a few days ago, let me start off by thanking Serge for his sponsorship of today’s review! Thanks Serge!

Sponsoring a review is easy! Just buy something off my Yuri Wishlist and I’ll review it – with thanks to the generous donor. There’s SO much coming out these days, that its hard, even with my good job, to keep up with everything. So many thanks to the wonderful folks who help me do these reviews!

Today’s review, Ninja Nonsense, Volume 4 is the final volume of this anime series, also known as 2 x 2 Shinobuden. But you wouldn’t actually know it until the very, very end. Instead, the series starts on the usual wacky note. This time the Ninjas are going to “learn” how to celebrate Christmas. This segues into a sudden tidal wave of cursed objects infecting the Ninja Academy, Ninja class president Sasuke’s adolescent fantasies, and Ninjas trying to put on a play. All brilliant, if unsubtle, send-ups of typical school age life.

This is followed by a torpid episode in which Onsokomaru reveals his “secret” (which we all knew anyway and which Shinobu doesn’t get.)

Which brings us to the final episode,. Shinobu, if she passes the final exam, will graduate from Ninja Academy and go to a school in England. Hold onto that – I’ll get back to it.

As Yuri goes for this series, Yuri quotient on this volume is pretty high. It begins with, as I mentioned, the Christmas episode. At the end of this episode, Kaede instructs Shinobu in the “true” meaning of Christmas which is, obviously, that it’s the night to spend with the person you love. Kaede asks if Shinobu likes someone; Shinobu happily responds yes. After an awkward moment or two, Kaede clues in to the fact that she is, in fact, that person. While she does not melt happily into Shinobu’s arms, she doesn’t leave, either.

More importantly, the last episode. When Shinobu hears that she would, upon graduation, be transferred to a school in England, her mind immediately conjures up an image of a all-girl private school, in which other girls happily laugh and call her name…and she drools. lol So, that basically says that. She’s not just “in love with” Kaede. The girl’s gay.

When Kaede learns Shinobu may be leaving, she gets very depressed and moony. She berates herself for being down, but can’t shake it – even though she grits her teeth and says she’s happy for Shinobu.

Shinobu completes the test and graduates. She leaves Japan for England. We follow mopey Kaede, still missing her even months later. One day, Kaede is walking home from school when lo and behold! There’s Shinobu! She got lonely and came back, end of explanation. Kaede leaps into Shinobu’s arms as the series ends. Yuri fans nod, our work here is done. :-)

DVD extras consist of a reversible, but printed the same on both sides (?) cover, and “character gallery” with stills and no real information that couldn’t be gleaned from episode 1-4. It’s thin on the extras, let’s just say that.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 7
Service – 6

Overall – 7

As with all the other volumes, Ninja Nonsense is a brutal, but funny parody of the very fanboys that watch it. Fun party fare and good for a needed laugh.





Summer 2007 Season Yuri Anime: Hitohira

July 6th, 2007

I’m pleased as punch to present our first Guest Review from Hafl! Hafl bravely took up my offer to review the series Hitohira after I said that I would not be reviewing it myself. Hafl is getting in some English-language practice with this review, so I think we ought to offer extra special kudos for the effort! Take it away Hafl!

Hitohira is an anime that gradually grows and changes during the series. People who liked the beginning may dislike the ending episodes and those who found something they didn’t like at the start may grow really attached by the end. The series isn’t about any dramatic story, it’s about characters and how they grow up during the year the anime encompasses.

By all means, I should have hated Mugi, the main character, yet she turned up to be quite an interesting character. Yes, she has a problem that seems a bit overblown, but she tries to overcome it and this trying, along with her relationships with other characters is the force driving this series forward. I think, that Mugi is a good portrayal of weak character that gradually becomes stronger, mainly through her own effort, even though other characters get involved. That’s probably the thing I like about her the most – she grows up.

Other characters are also quite good. I like them all, even though some of them can be a bit annoying. Chitose, who is very clearly in love with Katsuragi-sempai, is probably the character I like the least, though I am still glad that she had her role to play in Mugi’s story and her own small storyline, so she didn’t become just a token comic relief character.

However, the two characters other that Mugi, who would interest yuri fans the most are Nono and Mirei. If you look at Hitohira in certain way you might think that there is a love triangle between Mugi, Nono and Mirei, but you don’t have to. Nono and Mirei share a lot of memories and they’re crucial to the story, but I can’t really see them as a couple. As it was said in the series(if I understood it right): they shared a dream. A dream, but probably nothing else, except a very close friendship.

The yuri in the series is something that is open to interpretation. You can’t deny that there are certain signs of it, but whether it’s real is something else. There is a male character that is clearly in love with Mugi, but I didn’t see her reciprocate the feeling at any given moment in the series. The same goes for Nono. Mugi and Nono are very important to each other, but saying that they’re in love may be a bit bold statement, though I think it could be made plausible. So, if you want to have a yuri couple in the series, you can have it and it won’t be much of a stretch. However, you can watch Hitohira, not see any yuri in it, and it would still be enjoyable.

I won’t go deep into the storyline here, but I think it doesn’t matter because it’s not of a great importance. Hitohira’s strenghth lies in the characters, not in the story, which is, after all, just a background for the actions of the characters. It would suffice to say, that even though Mugi gets completely tongue-tied whenever she’s nervous or a center of attention, she joins one of the two drama clubs in her school. The two drama clubs are having a competition about which one can make a better performance at the school’s culture festival in October to see which club would continue to function. The story develops with a good sense of pacing and it ends with a great sense of finality. It can’t be called really deep, but it’s enjoyable.

Overall, I really liked Hitohira, so I would recommend it to anyone, who wants to see a series about characters growing up, with some drama(though never overdone), some comedy (which I found funny, but that’s no guarantee it really is) and a grand ending.

Art – 8 (I liked it, but I don’t have a good eye for it, so you might see it different. At worst, it’s average.)
Story – 7
Characters – 9
Yuri – 5 (Subtract or add two points depending on what you want to see.)
Service – 2 (There was some service, but not much. Though I may be a FanBoy and not notice it.)

Overall – 7

Erica here again. Thank you for the fantastic review! Feel free to contribute any time! :-) Everyone, let’s hear it for Hafl!! /applause/

As I mentioned yesterday, there are a bunch of series I won’t review – either they hold no appeal for me, or I feel that the Yuri is so thin that it hardly bears mentioning or I just…can’t. That doesn’t mean I don’t know there’s Yuri interest. Guest reviewers are welcome to contribute reviews for these things. Feel free to send me a review of the Yuri in Bleach for instance. :-) I look forward to reading it!





Yuri Anime Licensing News – Anime Expo 2007

July 5th, 2007

Well, Anime Expo is over and there are a few series licenses that were announced that will be of interest to the Yuri community. Since I already discussed Seven Seas Yuri manga licenses here, I thought I’d summarize the Yuri anime licenses, too:

ADV – ADV announced that they have licensed Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora, Kaishaku’s most recent series. Although I do not hesitate to say that this series was laughably bad, I absolutely maintain that it was better than everything other Kaishaku anime in terms of internal consistency and sensibleness. AND the Yuri storyline was pretty good! If you liked Chikane and Himeko in Kannazuki no Miko you ought to like Kaon and Himiko here.

Geneon – No Maria-sama ga Miteru announcement as of yet, but based on the Q&A at the panel, they haven’t killed the idea or anything. Instead, Geneon licensed Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and the second and infinitely better season Nanoha As. Third season (and even better than the former two) StrikerS wasn’t included in this particular announcement. But now that we’ve seen Nanoha and Fate as lesbian moms, we might as well look back fondly on their early relationship. :-) To be honest, I’ll probably like this series better this time around, knowing that it does go somewhere and does get better.

Funimation – Although this will not be something I will purchase, Funimation announced the license to the Negima! anime. Konoka and Setsuna fans will surely be happy. (I’ve never reviewed the anime for this – nor do I plan to. If you’re interested in doing a Guest Review for Negima! contact me.)

Media Blasters – Our buddies at Media Blasters took my suggestions to heart, I see. :-) They had an awesomely Yuri-ful announcements list starting with Strawberry Panic! and including the ever more service-y Otome ha Boku (Onee-sama) ni Koishiteru (another series I’m not planning on reviewing, so feel free to send in a Guest review), and Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny. While Otoboku is not something I’ll be reviewing, as it’s based on a game where the main character is a boy dressing like a girl to fulfill the plot complication, the “Yuri” in the series comes in the form of the girls who fall in love with what they think is a girl. It’s real, if stoopid. And of course Ikkitousen is a thin plot connected by breasts, underwear and unresolved Yuri longing on the part of Kanu Unchou. Most popularly, we can once again enjoy the open theft of concepts, characters and whole storylines from earlier Yuri anime and manga series in Strawberry Panic!. :-)

So – some stuff to look forward too, albeit all quite servicey, where Yuri is one more fetish in the long list of fetishes catered to. ^_^





Yuri Anime: Maria-sama ga Miteru OAV 4 Ready, Go!

June 26th, 2007

How silly is this: Until I saw the French translation of the title on the anime, it never dawned on me that it could also be read, “Ladies, Go!” Missed a perfectly good pun there. Duh.

The fourth Maria-sama ga Miteru OAV, Ready, Go! was a bit of a mixed bag. Although much of the story had to be cut to fit the OAV time limit, the bits that remained are lots of fun, with moments of “waaahhh” wonderful.

Ready, Go! takes place at the Lillian Jogakuen Sports Festival. We get to see Yumi’s solution to her problem with Kanako, her handling of Touko and even better, her handling of Sachiko, so that’s all good. Other good things to enjoy are the mortification brought about by Yumi’s parents, and Shimako’s father, although we don’t get to complete the hat trick with the tales of Yoshino’s parents being appallingly parent-like.

Most importantly, we get to see Sachiko in gakuran (the boy’s uniform) and yay! They let her spin around. It was pretty much the best moment in the book, IMHO. I just loved that she spun around “like a model.” I just found it to be inexpressibly charming. And so did Yumi. ^_^

In other news, I really, really sympathized with Yoshino as Rei made her want to die with embarrassment with her “Canary Carnival” costume (which looked very Takarazuka-like, I thought.) What *was* the Yellow team thinking, I have to wonder?

I was also very pleased to note that they left the second-best moment of the book in, as well, when Yumi gets all choked up watching Rei and Yoshino run together in the hakama race. It’s a beautiful moment and another scene I think of fondly from time to time.

Unfortunately, the animation for this OAV was bad. Particularly compared with the previous OAVs. There are a few times where the animation was actively distracting it was so poorly done. As Kanako walks away from the greenhouse the first time, I was like, “Buh? She looks all distorted…”

There were also two story rewrites that weren’t very good. The first didn’t make much sense. In the book, Kanako says that Yumi must have been replaced by a twin and the real Yumi is in outer space. This is meant to indicate her level of cracked obsession and irrational thought. For Yumi to suggest this concept as an alternative to Kanako hating her really made no sense. I honestly don’t understand why they did that. The other way around made more sense to me, but I guess they didn’t want to spend the time to have Yumi explain that that wasn’t sensible.

The second rewrite at the end of the OAV was when Yumi tickles Kanako. That made me cringe. I just don’t know what they were thinking there. Again, in the book, Yumi merely asks Kanako what she wanted as a penalty game and eventually Kanako gives in and tells her. The tickling struck me as crass and unnecessary.

The third thing changed wasn’t a rewrite, but they sort of missed the point of the scene. When Itsue-san asks Yoshino to yell at her and Yoshino does, in the book Itsue was pleased about having gotten her just desserts, while in the OAV she looked like Yoshino had kicked while she was down.

The rest of the rewrites, like everything the announcers say, were fine. Nothing that tragically destroyed the story. The major cut was, of course, the crucial fact that Eriko-sama had been there and had cornered Yoshino into a strategically untenable corner with regards to her future soeur. ^_^

With those few cautions, I still think that there’s a lot of excellent in this OAV. ^_^

For those folks who might be tempted to get the Collector’s Edition (to which the picture above is linked) as opposed to the DVD only (to which the title above is linked) there are the usual bag of goodies.

The clear film picture this time is Rei and Yoshino in the hakama race, laid over a Yellow Rose, or inside the cover over a view of the Sports Festival banner. The assortment of postcards includes art by Hibiki Reine and anime screencaps, so again, you get Rei and Yoshino running and also Sachiko in gakuran, among other things. ^_^ The character file that comes with the DVD not only includes the three Roses in their respective cosplay, but also the general designs for the other three teams’ performances, Yumi’s parents and Sachiko’s father. Also, rather inexplicably, a view of the lunch Yumi’s mother made… (Onigiri, tamagoyaki and fried chicken if you care.)

Best of all, the random goody this time is, as I predicted, a green team hachimaki (headband) like the one Sachiko wore with her gakuran. (I mention this, because it is a long headband, like the one Sachiko wore, as opposed to the shorter ones that everyone wears for the events.) I’ve watched the anime twice, but haven’t yet watched it with seiyuu commentary, so maybe I’ll remember to wear the hachimaki when I watch it then. “Hoo-ray, Hoo-ray, Mi-do-ri!” LOL

I know I’m a huge fangirl, but I love getting all the junk that comes with the collector’s set. Can’t *wait* to see what comes with Ciao, Sorella. Let’s take bets. I say it’ll either be a chick-patterned washcloth or a marble-patterned writing pad. But since the last set had the panda cloth, probably the pad. So that’s my prediction. (The wife says, “Not senbei from Florence or manjyuu from Rome?” Hah!)

Ratings:
Art – 5
Characters – 9
Story – 8
Yuri – 5
Loser FanGirl – 8

Overall – 8

Squee! Sachiko-sama! ^_^