Archive for the Yuri Anime Category


ROD The TV, Volume 6

June 28th, 2005

ROD The TV Volume 6 was a tough watch for me – the story is amazingly good, but it will, all too soon, draw to an end. So I actually put off watching this volume for several weeks after purchasing it. I know its a little infantile of me – after all, I can watch it as often as I want. But, still….

There are so many more positives than negatives with this volume, let’s start off with the good. First and foremost – the story, the plot, the dialogue, the characters are all “Wow.” This volume is an edge-of-your-seat type of anime. Not only do we get to see how everyone handles a crisis (with some serious surprises) but we get to see how a really decent set of writers bring a complex plot to fruition. Joker’s plan is no less insane than the I-jin’s in the ROD OVA, but the writers have handled it so much better that the “whoa, fuck” far outweighs the “for pity’s sake.”

In terms of characters in this volume, Nenene wins, hands down. If you didn’t love her before, in this volume she downright shines. More mature and aware, if somewhat less supernaturally powered than her companions, she is the physical embodiment of the adage “the pen is mightier than the sword.” (And it should not be lost on you, dear reader, that now that Yomiko is back in her life, Nenene is writing like a madwoman.)

But really, there’s no bad or weak characterization in Volume 6. Everyone really peaks as a character. And Nancy has some serious shiny moments which are totally kick-ass…even if they don’t really make sense in terms of the history we’ve given her. I mean, brain tissue doesn’t spontaneously regenerate when its been removed, does it? LOL Nonetheless, watching her kick into Miss Deep mode is another great “Whoah!” moment.

Animation-wise, this volume has had some obvious post-TV touchups done. It’s especially obvious in the hair. As with the previous volumes, it helps, so no complaints from me. I just wish the original art had been tighter.

Oh, and the question you all have is, I’m sure – what about the pencil board? Well, it’s not horrible! Whee! On the one side, the usual three paper sisters and Nenene (carrying her own book) and on the other – Wendy looking rather sexy, if we ignore that her body shape really says “feed me several steaks”. The usual double-sided cover (the inside significantly better than the outside) and liner notes.

Now for the not-so-positive. Three episodes. Please. This and the next volume should have been combined for one 6-ep disk and you bloody well know it, Geneon. And the incredibly lame gag of the American President peeing in his pants is done. Move on. It was only moderately amusing the first time, it seems slighhtly stupider every time thereafter and this time it was just boring. Let’s be real – if the guy had a problem, he’d wear diapers.

But to be fair, that’s about it for the less than positive. And the writing rocks in every other way, so we can afford to be magnanimous.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 9
Character – 9
Music – 8
Yuri – 6

Overall – 9, because the story and characters are both developing together, which makes this show a total win.

Let me please remind you that if you want to support yuri anime, please don’t bittorent this, or any other licensed series – buy it, rent it, borrow it, share it, but don’t steal it.

Oh – and thanks to everyone who let me know they liked the new format!





Yuri Anime: Noir, Volume 2

June 27th, 2005

I spent some time this weekend rewatching anime that I own, but haven’t yet reviewed here. It was edifying, let me tell you. There were some things that were great and some less so. I decided to start the week off with a reasonably strong entry. ^_^

Noir Volume 2, *feels* like a second volume. The art is significantly less good than the first volume, the plot sort of drops off a bit in favor of character development (sort of) and the use of repeated footage begins to grate. But otherwise it’s excellent. ^_^

On the positive side, the characters do become more than just ciphers. Despite myself, I was feeling a little for Mirielle and Kirika as they faced what, for them, were major life crises – Kirika’s lack of knowledge about herself and Mirielle’s past trauma coming back to haunt her.

We also get a glimpse of Mirielle in bed in the nude, which has carried Yuri fans for some time, as there is only one bed in the room. It would take a strong woman, so we rationalize, to sleep in the nude with someone with whom you are not sleeping. ;-) In fact, I think it’s a bit early for them, but hey, yuri goggles go a long way to building character development. ^_^

Geographically, we go from New York City to (the wildly improbable deep woods and high mountain passes) of New Jersey to sunny Sicily. For this alone, the “Intoccabile” arc is worth it. But this arc is worth watching, in general. I think Intoccabile would have made a much worthier opponent than Chloe and it was a damn shame we used her up so soon.

This volume also gives the viewer glimpses into a Kirika who is exactly as she appears – a young woman, apt to fall for a cute kitty or a good sob story. I liked that. It gives her more depth than most people assume she has. And Mirielle gets a chance to gently gloat about her superior knowledge of Russian literature. ^_^

So, yes, the second volume has problems – notably the art and repeated footage issue (and the no-wound thing, which plagues the whole production), but as far as giving the characters some three-dimensionality, this volume is fairly crucial – and actually not a bad watch.

Ratings:
Art – 5
Music – 7 (Salva Nos playing as they run through NJ’s bamboo forest is, to me, priceless)
Character – 8
Story – 7

Overall 7

Not as strong as the beginning, or the end, but a must for fanfic writers. ^_^





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.