Archive for the Yuri Anime Category


Yuri Anime: Hana no Asuka-gumi Lonely Cats Battle Royale

May 31st, 2005

When you think of great Yuri love affairs, you tend to think of Michiru following Haruka in hopes of a ride in her car, or Anthy and Utena breaking through the world’s shell to gain the outside world. Or maybe you think of Sei falling hard for Shiori as she prays in the church at Lillian.

You probably *don’t* think of Yohko snidely commenting to a wounded Asuka that she wouldn’t be able to fight effectively with a broken hand.

But you should.

The second Hana no Asuka-gumi OVA is really quiet remarkably sexy for an old series that has no sex, and really no affection, at all. Because in this case the sexual tension is all sublimated into physical beatings – consider it the ultimate in “love taps.”

The full title of this untranslated OVA is Hana no Asuka-gumi Lonely Cats Battle Royale and it is the animated version of one of the “extra” volumes of the manga. It’s a rather complex tale that weaves in threads of a current (well, current in the mid-80s) gambling ring that involves people without their consent and a damsel in distress with a serious food allergy, and the backstory between Asuka and Yohko.

Let me mostly ignore the plot in favor of the backstory. ^_^

So, way back Asuka was a badly bullied kid in school. She tried to kill herself, but was saved, both physically and emotionally. She learned to channel her rage at others rather than herself and determined to become stronger than anyone so she could kick their bully asses. When we see the current Asuka, she has done just that – she’s the strongest fighter in all of Tokyo, bar maybe one or two people. (And Yohko, but that’s a different thing).

But between here and there, there was a time when Asuka was getting into a lot of fights – and losing. This is where Yohko found her, huddled up on the street nursing that broken hand. Yohko was nasty to her, derisive, and Asuka followed her more to annoy Yohko as much as anything else. Yohko had saved her previously from a false charge of shoplifting, only to thrust her into a seriously dangerous situation. When Asuka follows Yohko, the older girl knows that she’s found the perfect dupe.

Asuka falls hard in love with her tor/mentor.

The rest of the story is taken up with Asuka’s tough love rescue of the damsel in distress and the break up of the Ichigo Milk gambling scheme, but it ends up, as all Asuka/ Yohko interactions do, with the two of them fighting. I mean, really beating the daylights out of each other. This is rough sex without the kissing, and its *really* obvious – even to Yohko, who knows perfectly well what Asuka feels for her. Ultimately (although not in this OVA and not for many years) Asuka realizes, as well.

Of the two Hana no Asuka-gumi OVAs, this one is the win, because you get so much of Asuka’s backstory and alot of Yohko-Asuka interaction. The animation is still pretty “bleah” and the music is excruciating, but as girl gang OVAs go, this has a Yuri quotient right up there with the Sukeban Deka OVA.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Music – 5
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7

No lovey-dovey here – Asuka and Yohko’s love is a violent and dysfunctional love. But it is definitely love.





Air Master Anime, Volume 3

May 23rd, 2005

We did a mini-marathon last night and watched all the Air Master we had on DVD. Why? Because it’s a *great* series!

Last entry I pointed out some of the issues I had with the DVD release. Well, good news, kids, by Volume 3 some of the most egregious problems have been fixed. And as the plot (well…let’s call it that for argument’s sake…) just gets better and better, by Vol. 3 this series has kicked into high gear.

Let’s start with the thing that everyone complains about most – the art. Yup, its ugly. That’s not going to change. Move past it.

Next, what passes for a plot. In Vol. 3, in between big air and bloody, brutal fights, we actually learn quite a bit about Maki, and we even get a glimpse into the great Sakiyama Kaori’s past. But really, the fights are the point, and in this volume we get lots of Maki flying – my wife’s favorite part.

Yuri-wise, we get a nice handful of yuri to hold onto. Mina completely gives up on pretense and falls for Maki wholeheartedly, even going so far as to say that she will confess her love – and then does so (while asleep, mind you, but…). Maki, after fighting to the point of collapse, does collapse – in Mina’s arms. Sadly, we don’t get the followup scene from the manga where, as the Black Union grieves over Kinjiro, Mina takes Maki to a love hotel… Man, I would have LOVED that scene to be animated. ^_^

Many of the problems with the first two volumes – the closed captioning subtitles and really lousy translation simply disappears halfway through this volume. The translation, while loose, is *much* more casual and slang-filled, which gives the series the voice it needs. Lucha Master remains Roo-cha and the honorifics are still gone, but everything else improves significantly.

But what makes this volume so great is Sakiyama Kaori. My wife, who has completely disparate tastes in anime from myself, is equally as enamored of Sakiyama Kaori as I am. Because she is the GREATEST CHARACTER EVER. ^_^ Not only is she utterly, totally psychotic, violent and strange, but she is lovable and admirable all at the same time.

Volume 3 sees the beginning of the “Fami-wrestler” arc, in which Sakiyama Kaori and Maki become professional female tag team wrestlers. It’s my favorite arc, without question. The fights are brilliant, and Sakiyama Kaori simply shines as unrepressably insane and funny.

Yes, the art sucks. Yes there’s fan service out the wazoo, but come *on* – the fight scenes are brilliant. You can see exactly what technique everone is using – even if a move is unlikely, improbable or impossible its still cool that you can follow the fighting. Watching these fights makes me want to be a streetfighter. Really. And Sakiyama Kaori is my idol.

One last thing – it’s not the first thing that comes to mind but, the music for this series is top-notch. The opening and closing themes are brilliant, and the BGM is really, really well-done, and surprisingly subtle.

Ratings:
Art – 3, and I’m being generous
Characters – 10
Story – 8
Music – 9
Yuri – 8

Overall – 9

God, I love this anime!  ^_^





Air Master Anime, Volume 2

May 21st, 2005

No, you didn’t miss a review of Air Master Volume 1. Anime Castle was out of that volume when I was there to pick it up. Since I already know the story, I just took it from Vol. 2, and there we are.

To start, I reviewed this series way back on November 17, 2003 (it’s still running and yes, I am still reading) and the anime on February 26, 2004. If you want to know what the story is about and why we care – read those reviews.

Now, here is my review of the Geneon release of Air Master on DVD:

Geneon Entertainment Customer Service
c/o The Right Stuf International
PO Box 71309
Des Moines, IA 50325

Dear Sir or Madam;

My name is Erica Friedman, the President of Yuricon. The over 1200 members of Yuricon greatly enjoy many Geneon anime series, so we take it rather seriously when we feel that the quality of a DVD is exceptionally low. I am therefore writing to address two issues on behalf of my organization.

(I have snipped a portion here that is not relevant)

But far worse is the DVD of Air Master. The subtitles are incredibly small and hard to read – and they appear to actually be a close-caption track, rather than subtitles. It is incredibly annoying to pay good money for such a shoddy product. I and many of the members of Yuricon are perfectly aware that Toei anime seems to tend towards sub-par quality, but we do believe that the translation – which *is* yours – is poor enough that, at times it seems as if we are watching a bootlegged translation from Hong Kong, rather than the legally licensed version for America. It seems utterly strange to us that your translator was not familiar with shumai, a common Japanese dumpling (translated as siu-may) or Lucha (translated as Roo-cha) Master being named after the luchadores, Mexican masked wrestlers. Neither of these are particularly obscure terms…

We at Yuricon look forward to the day when Geneon licenses Maria-sama ga Miteru for the American audience, and we very much hope that your company strives to improve the quality of your translation and subtitling by then. And we do expect to see a revision in future volumes of Air Master. The current subtitling is simply inexcusably bad.

(Another small, irrelevant snip)

On behalf of the members of the Yuricon community, we thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Erica Friedman

***

You will notice that I left in the address for Geneon. Please feel free to write them and politely express your disapproval of this product. It’s the only way they will know what we think.





Yuri Anime: Noir, DVD Volume 1

May 16th, 2005

A blast from the past! But, you see, I never originally reviewed Noir. Isn’t that odd? I did talk about it a little in my initial overview of Bee Train series for my review of Madlax, but I have never talked about this series in detail. It gives me a good excuse to rewatch the series. ^_^

Let’s start with the bad.

There is so much repeated footage in the early episodes that it’s a wonder anyone gets past episode four. After watching the first volume again, I hated that damn watch and its musical theme all over again, something that time and distance had dulled.

The animation is surprisingly weak in places, especially in regards to the characters’ faces, which is all the more obvious when laid against really detailed and cool backgrounds.

Lastly, there is the small issue of entry and exit wounds…they do not exist. Guns make *holes*. People do not bleed by osmosis. We are watching an anime about assasins. We should REALLY have wounds. And while it’s a small issue, it just hits absurd proportions later on in the series, when Kirika and Mirielle are gunning down dozens at a time. Blood yes, but only behind bodies and with no wounds. Come ON, Bee Train, get some balls!

I will admit that they partially addressed the issue in Madlax.

That’s about it for the bad, now for the good.

Oh my god is the music orgasmic! I bought all three soundtracks to this anime, something never before heard of. With the exception of the watch’s theme, (and only because it’s just overused,) every track in this show rocks. Canta Per Me and Salva Nos are indescribably sexy as background music to the various “running around with guns and shooting people” scenes.

It’s about women who use guns. Like Gunsmith Cats, no matter how absurd the storyline, we’ll put up with it, because, well, it’s got sexy woman with gun and we like. ^_^

The various settings are fun. I think Bee Train do a really nice job of moving the story around the world – in this first volume we start in Japan, move to Paris and briefly slaughter some people in a tropical climate. I really like the mobility of the story. Especially as it will take them, eventually, to the woods of New Jersey.

The occult coolness. Could anything be cooler than two female assassins traveling around the world, killing with dispassionate skill? Yes! They could be investigating a Medieval occult conspiracy! Da Vinci Code step aside – Soldats has you beat flat.

Oh, and erm…gee they seem kinda Yuri don’t they? ^_^

Okay, in Volume 1, there is already a definite vibe between our two lovely leads. And there does seem to only be one bed doesn’t there? And gee, Mirielle seems a sensual, passionate sort, and she’s only a few years older than Kirika…

And anyway, geez, who *else* could they sleep with? It’s not like they’d be meeting lots of nice people to hang out with, or be able to buy sex, since it would be too risky. Bottom line is, it’s obvious, right off. And Bee Train tells us that if we want to see it there, it is, so I say it is. There, that’s settled. ^_^

Ratings:
Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 9
Yuri – 6

Overall – 8

Not for the cute, fluffy crowd, but a definite Yuri fan fave.





Yuri Anime: Gakuen Alice Update

April 25th, 2005

Jet lag is not fun. My only consolation is that everyone else who went to Japan with me feels the same way, so it isn’t me. Maybe it was the earthquake, but probably not. ^_^

In any case, I spent this weekend catching up on anime, including several excellent, but essentially non-Yuri series like Emma and Speed Grapher. And while I was at it, I managed to get up-to-date with Gakuen Alice, the only series I am currently watching with a Yuri couple that doesn’t make me want to cringe. (I say this because I am valiantly watching a few other series, which I will write about anon, that make me feel quite disgusted. All for the sake of Yuri. Sigh.)

Gakuen Alice only has a few more episodes left in its run, which is too bad, because it’s been pretty decent. As you may remember from my November review of this series, this anime is about your basic normal girl, Mikan, in the decidedly non-normal circustances of a school filled with children who have special powers and no manners.

The series follows Mikan as she surmounts enormous odds to turn the obnoxious brats of the school into friends, allies and even admirers. Her “alice” is nullification, which means that she can’t be hurt by other alices, but of course, she can be mortified and embarrassed. Much like Bink from Piers Anthony’s original Xanth book, from way back when he actually wrote novels that weren’t just collections of dumb puns about Florida.

I’d like to say that the saving grace of this series was the yuri love between Mikan and her bestest friend Hotaru…but I’d be lying if I did. Throughout most of the series, Hotaru has acted as if Mikan was nothing more than a bother – although from Mikan’s point of view, Hotaru has become increasingly desirable. We are treated to a scene mid-series where Mikan is caught snuggling her pillow and kissing it while dreaming of Hotaru.

So it’s been pretty much one-sided Yuri.

About 3/4 through the series, Hotaru thaws. In Episode 20, while the writers are cleverly tring to distract us with a non-existent straight love triangle between Mikan and Ruka and Natsume, Hotaru goes all Yuri with style.

Apparently, at the school dance, whoever you have the last dance with will love you forever or some such kind of thing. Ruka asks Mikan for the dance, but it turned down graciously. He gets an earlier dance, which he accepts just as graciously. It is supposed to appear that Natsume will be the recipient of Mikan’s last dance request, however, Hotaru has other plans. She has won some kind of contest and is allowed to choose any partner from among the entire crowd. In front of everyone, over the PA system so *no one* misses the announcement, she chooses Mikan. Yay Hotaru!

See above picture for reference. ^_^

Since then, Hotaru has been much more physically open with Mikan, allowing all the hugs and physical affection she previously rejected. I don’t see this relationship going any further, but in my opinion, this was a major battle won. We can hope for a first kiss snuck in there somewhere, off-stage at least.. ^_^

So, with two episodes to go, I still don’t know what’s going to happen in the plot, which makes me wish that the series would continue a little longer.

Ratings:

Story – 8
Characters – 8
Art – 7
Music – 7
Yuri – 7

Overall – a strong 7 with high recommendation, especially as the rest of this season is looking pretty bad for Yuri fans. ^_^