Archive for the Yuri Anime Category


Battle Athletes Victory, Volume 3

June 10th, 2005

Okay, so I was going to do a review of something new-ish, or maybe some cool news, but last night I sat down to do some work to the dulcet tones of the third DVD of Battle Athletes Victory subtitled “Tragedy and Triumph.”

And by the end of the disk I was sitting there repeating, “Oh my god, this so *SO* gay” over and over and over. So I thought I’d share with you. ^_^

If you haven’t watched (or heard of) the Battle Athletes OVA and/or Battle Athletes Victory – you really should give them a try. Neither are as spectacularly wonderful as the still untranslated manga, which I reviewed previously, but still – both are about as Yuri as one can get without it being actually “lesbian.”

First the down side – the main character is more of the “idiot savant” type that I don’t care for. Of practically suicidal low-esteem, Kanzaki Akari waffles from hugely incompetent to impossibly brilliant in a way that bodies just cannot support. So forget realism. And she’s a whiner. The worst bit is, that with the beginning of each arc in the anime, we are subjected to the very same self-esteem issues and behaviors as we did in the previous one, rendering the first volume of every arc dull and irritating. But the ends, in this case, are totally worth the means. In fact I don’t own the first volume of this series and am not going to bother reviewing the second, because I have a low tolerance for whining. But from this point on, the anime gets better in many ways – and is abysmal in only a few, so it works out to be a series totally worth having.

Other than Akari, the characters in this series are mostly all strong women who are driven by the need to perfect themselves in their chosen endeavor, which happens to be sports. (In fact, I find it hard to watch this anime sitting on the couch. I have to get up and exercise while watching, or my brain explodes…).

So, where’s all the Yuri? All OVER the place. In the early volumes Akari follows her mother’s dream and enters into athletic training. She becomes friends with Ichino and, almost immediately, becomes dependent upon her. I won’t kill the plot entirely, but let’s just say this – this DVD is *filled* with Ichino and Akari longing for each other and striving to be together. The climax of the DVD, which is the climax of the this portion of the storyline, is one gigantic confession of love between the two of them – followed by a scene so romantic that Ichino’s kid brother even comments that they are acting like lovers. Trust me. No one could watch this and not see it.

There’s a side thing that will never happen between Ayla and Jessie as well, which has about 30 seconds total to spring to life, falter and fail, which I thought was brilliant. It will be echoed again later in the thing between Mylandah and Lahrri (which, amazingly, will not fail, but I get well ahead of myself.)

Because I know what’s coming up, I’m all gung-ho about watching the rest of this series again. At least Kris isn’t in the sort of denial that Ichino is – she knows Yuri when she sees it too. ^_^

Okay, so, the anime never quite will go as far as the manga, where Kris and Akari kiss in front of the whole world, but its still damn gay.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

It’s not the greatest series ever…but oh my god, it’s *so* gay. ^_^





Yuri:Anime Stellvia, Volume 4

June 8th, 2005

You know what really sucks about Stellvia?

Nothing.

By Volume 4 of Stellvia, the whole space opera plot seems to have disappeared completely, with only the vaguest twinges of something coming in the future. So the writers are at leisure to explore the relationships between people, rather than focusing on external (and, admittedly, somewhat silly and nonsensical) threats from space. As a result, this particular DVD feels much more like a shoujo series than the shounen one it is.

All of the cadets on Stellvia now have to switch to a completely new flight system. Shima, who, with a lot of time and practice, was a decent pilot with occasional flashes of real skill, now shoots to the top of her class as a prodigy. This causes Ayaka of the “Big 4” to peg her as a rival, and to try and stop her meteoric rise. In a pretty nastly little scene, Ayaka sets out to hurt Shima in a joust, and is only stopped because Kouta gets out into space in time to save Shima. We learn that this is not the first time Ayaka has done this – she was the reason Yayoi was injured and held back a year.

This “incident” is the major conflict that drives the entire volume. Shima stresses that Ayaka hates her, even as the episode brings her closer to Kouta. Yayoi is confronted by two wildly conflicting issues – one, she can’t ever forgive Ayaka for what she did to her – and worse, tried to do to Shima – but two, she wants desperately to be able to forgive Ayaka.

In the background of Shima and Kouta’s relationship (which is so utterly, completely NORMAL and not dysfunctional, that it’s a bit disturbing…) we see the development of something growing between taciturn Akira and goofy Jojo, a hint of the space station commander’s crush on the doctor and, of course, Ayaka and Yayoi.

All in all, a very satisfying volume, really.

But let me go back and obsess for a second on Kouta. When I watched this series originally, I really disliked him – and up until now, I have maintained that dislike, because I really find idiot savant characters distasteful. Well, on second viewing I now find that I have no characters in this show to dislike. They are all so damn normal. And real. And not at *all* stereotypical Japanese dysfunctional relationship dorky. I mean, sure the guys are dorky, but like real 16 year old guys – not like emotionally and sexually dysfunctional sociopaths, like so many male characters in anime. (If *I* were a guy, I’d really protest how utterly stupid and pathetic so many male characters are…but I’m not, so I don’t care. But I digress.)

In fact, when Kouta kissed Shima I was so relieved that I almost cried. It was just like real people who do actually touch their boy/girlfriends, hold hands and kiss them and stuff. Wow! Imagine that!

But that leaves me with no one to hate. How irritating. I’m really even having a hard time disliking Linna. Darn these incredibly likable and well-written characters!

Over on the Yuri side of things, Ayaka and Yayoi’s relationship begins here, in a sense. There’s always been *something* between them, but after we learn about the the “incident”, anyone with eyes can see that that’s not all. And the end of the volume is just the beginning for them, as well as everyone else in the series.

Even the art is, for this brief moment in time, very stable and decent…sometimes almost approaching *good.*

Ratings:
Art – 7
Story – 9
Character – 9
Yuri – 7

Overall – 8

So far, Volume 4 of Stellvia has been the best of the breed. I hope that it gets better from here!





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.