Archive for the Yuri Anime Category


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! ^_^





Yuri Anime: Doki Doki School Hours, Volume 3, English

June 22nd, 2007

Many thanks to Ted for sponsoring today’s review! (Want to sponsor a review, too? Check out my Yuri Wish List!)

Volume 3 of Doki Doki School Hours, aka Sensei no Ojikan, is as time-wastingly amusing as the previous volumes. :-)

We watch Mika-sensei struggle with her task as the MC for graduation ceremonies, the completely ridiculous field trip to Kyoto where someone gets lost, the excitment when a new student teacher arrives and the usual mid-summer supplemental class thing. None of the situations are especially original, but most are handled well enough that it doesn’t bore.

The characters’ personalities are all well-established by now, so our resident gay boy and girl are given free rein to be as openly gay as possible. In particular, Rio’s attention to Mika-sensei starts to change a bit in this volume. No longer satisfied with just teasing Mika-sensei, she starts to affect changes in her life to influence her mood and expressions. And this is what I want to chat about today.

In real life, you know you’re besotted when the person you love is doing something really ordinary, or stupid or annoying – and you think it’s cute anyway. Like enjoying the way they chew, or how their hair is all messy in the morning, that kind of thing. In this volume Rio spends large amounts of time doing just that. She messes Mika-sensei’s hair up, just to squee from the cuteness. ^_^ In other words – stupid anime it may be, but I’m calling Rio’s crush “real.” She definitely gets lots of touching Mika time in this volume – the first two episodes she has Mika in her arms a large portion of the time.

Ratings –

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 5
Service – 3

Doki Doki remains a fun Sunday afternoon silly time thing to watch. Or something to stick on when a few friends are over and ignore. ^_^





Yuri Anime: Best Student Council, Volume 2 (English)

June 1st, 2007

I, for one, am very, very glad that there is anime in the world like Best Student Council, Volume 2. It’s not particularly well-drawn, or well-written. The main themes aren’t deep and the plot ranges from silly to ridiculous. But the characters are cute and it never once takes itself too seriously. Which makes it just the thing to watch when one wants to take one’s brain off-line for a while. Many thanks to Ted for providing me with this few hours of low-toxicity relaxation! Our hero, Ted!

In this volume we get to enjoy various crises:

As final exams draw near it becomes apparent that several members of the Gokujou Seitokai are complete dunces

Council treasurer Mayura gets a (gasp!) boyfriend

An accusation against Rino for being an evil ventriloquist becomes a tale of Pucchan’s revenge against members of the council that doubt his puppet power

Sayuri’s past as a young master of her family sword style comes back to kick her ass

And, of course, the inevitable bathing suit episode, as the Student Council tries to keep the lovely women of Miyagami out of camera range of the boys from the surrounding areas.

It’s all amusing, fun to watch and entertaining, as Rein might say.

Yuri in this volume is about as Yuri as this series gets. By which I mean, it’s mostly in the eye of the beholder. Early on, we have scenes of Rino and Kanade spending happy time together, when a spot of fortune telling reveals the word “love” to the pair. There’s also the usual Kaori scenes of admiration/desire for Kanade.

But the most Yurified episode is Sayuri’s backstory episode in which Rein touches her – embraces her even – so gosh they must be together. And the girl who comes to take her revenge against Sayuri has massive Yuri vibes coming off her in waves. Must be the motorcycle.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 3

Overall – 7

Nothing revolutionary here, but if you like girls, character pieces, absurdly rich school gags, self-willed puppets and some Yuri-ish sorts of things, take a look at Best Student Council, Volume 2.