Archive for the Yuri Anime Category


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.





Yuri Anime: Kashimashi Girl meets Girl, Volume 1

May 21st, 2007

Let me start with the important bit – many thanks to the folks at Media Blasters for sending me a review copy of this DVD! It was really nice of them. :-)

The anime for Kashimashi ~ Girl meets Girl may differ from the manga in some details (especially in the pacing – for the better) but the main plot remains the same: Hazumu the boy, after being rejected by Yasuna, the girl he loves, is accidentally killed when an alien space ship crashes into the earth atmosphere. He is revived, but because of the limitations of alien technology, he has now become a she. As with my review of the translated Volume 2 of the manga, it was suitable, I thought, to review this DVD as we continue “gender identity” week. (Got a couple more to go yet.)

As I have also mentioned several times already in this review series, while Hazumu’s gender is changed, one of the main points of this first volume is that he, now she, is essentially the same person. When his best friend Tomari finally comes to realize that, she also comes to realize that she has been in love with Hazumu for years. At the same time, Yasuna confesses that she has a stupid plot complication disorder (SPCD) – she cannot see men, only women, aka “yurivision”. (No, not really. It’s just a joke – I saw it called that on an image board and it made me laugh.) Now she has come to terms with the fact that alone of all men, she could *see* Hazumu and she loves, has always loved, him. In order to not regret anything, Yasuna kisses Hazumu, upon which scene Tomari enters, and a love rivalry is born.

Let me start, as I mostly do, with the negatives. This DVD volume had the same subtitle problem that I encounter with My HiME. I can’t run it on any of the many and various DVD players in the house, only on my laptop using the new DVD drive and the new software. I find this irksome, since of all the DVD playing software, while the most flexible, it is also the least easy to control and pausing for longer than a few moments means I have to close it down and start it back up. Since I watched this volume over a few days…let’s just say that it didn’t make me happy. There was one typo in the subtitles (one very small one) and in one case the translation did that thing which sends me into apoplectic fits: A character yells out “Kurusu-sempai!” and the translation reads, for reasons completely unknown to me, “Tomari!” Whah?

In general the translation is – okay. It has a tendency to make things smooth and seamless…and voiceless. Everyone sounds exactly the same. The honorifics are removed completely, which will never fail to annoy me. (Back to my, “who do you think watches this?” rant. No random off-the-street twelve year old is likely to pick this anime up. You got to figure it’ll mostly be fans and I swear, Media Blaster folks, fans *want* the honorifics! That’s why fansubbers use them! I promise. Beat the leading edge people on this – go for broke, be a trendsetter, leave in the honorifics!) And, most damning, “Onee-nii-sama” which nets a nice translator’s note in the manga is translated here as “Sister Brother,” which just made me sad. (In retrospect I absolutely should have watched the anime before reading the manga since, by comparison, the translation for the anime comes off as lackluster. But let me say that it is not a BAD translation – it just lacks voice. And honorifics. And pizazz. And I am hugely more picky about these three things than most people.)

On the positive side, the translation made sense through the whole volume and I found myself caught up, again, in both Yasuna’s and Tomari’s internal conflict.

The first volume has 5 episodes, something I highly approve of. I assume the next two will have 4 each, completing the series plus bonus episode in 3 DVDs, which is completely acceptable, should that actually be the case.

And the DVD actually has some extras, not just ads and creditless OP/EP animation! This volume contains interviews by Kana Ueda (Hzumu’s voice actress) with the VAs for both Yasuna (Horie Yui) and Tomari (Tamura Yukari.) As I’m a huge seiyuu otaku, these made me tail-wagglingly happy. For these alone, the DVD is worth getting. IMHO, of course.

Lastly, let’s talk about the gender issue. I couldn’t help but notice two major things while watching this anime. One – while Tomari herself is the perfect tomboy, she determines that she’ll be the one to teach Hazumu “how to be a girl.” Her focus is on completely stereotypical gender role issues and ironically, goes exactly against everything she herself does. “No jumping down the stairs” she remonstrates a Hazumu who has never been seen to do so, while that was Tomari’s first appearance in the anime. Hmmm. Cleverly ironic? I really can’t quite tell. I’d like to think so, though. In the anime Hazumu has clearly been provided with lingerie by her mother – going shopping with Tomari is more a way to affirm Hazumu’s femaleness (and by extension femininity?) than a necessity. Which just works better than the manga “woops, Mom somehow forget to buy me underwear when she was buying me 800 dresses.” – even if the “how to put on a bra” scene is still just pandering service.

Second, the translator continues to translate the Japanese gender non-specific pronouns as “he” or “his” in regards to Hazumu throughout this volume, long after he is now, clearly, a she. I felt that that was completely appropriate for Tomari, but it seemed wrong for the others and especially for Yasuna. I *really* hope (despite making myself a complete hypocrite, since I also tended to refer to Hazumu as “him” throughout the anime and as the manga continued) that the translator will consider transitioning the “him” to “her” in the upcoming volumes.

So, thumbs up overall, but there’s definitely room for improvement. And please fix the subtitles. Thanks!

Today’s question: How do you you think Hazumu should be referred to? (Especially if you have seen the end of the anime or read the end of the manga.)

Ratings:
Art – 7
Story – 7
Music – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 6

Overall – 7