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Archive for the Yuri Anime Category


Kannazuki no Miko – New Yuri Anime Season Autumn 2004

October 20th, 2004

So, I got good news and bad news, which do you want first? ^_^

The new anime season is well underway in Japan, and I notice that almost everything I’m watching right now is shounen, that is, targeted towards a male audience. Even the magical girl anime (which are legion this season) seem to be made much more for the boys than the girls – there’s a hard line to the art, and a hard edge to the fanservice, which is looking a little desperate these days. It’s almost as if all the anime running now is an allergic reaction to the slow pace, soft focus and emotional content of Maria-sama ga Miteru.

The Yuri out there looks a little thin right now – unless you’re one of those folks who holds that two women or more in any series, in any set-up, equals Yuri. Even wearing the Yuri goggles, there’s not a whole lot o’hope for us Yuri fans. (On the other hand, there’s plenty of stuff to watch if you’re just into girls, period. But I will get to that later on.)

The front-runner right now in the Yuri category is, hands down, Kannazuki no Miko. Based on a manga series drawn by Kaishaku, the artist team who created Steel Angel Kurumi and UFO Princess Walkure, we are certainly in for loads of Yuri fanservice, with or without the goggles.

Before I get into the, haha, plot, I want to discuss a totally irrelevant thing – the romanization of the series’ name. The official website romanizes it as “Kannaduki” and I’ve seen “Kannadzuki” as well as my preference, “Kannazuki.” Here’s why they are *all* right:

The second character in the first word is “tsuki,” the moon. As a second character this is *usually* romanized into “zuki”, as in Mizuki. But it is more properly “dzuki” since the “ts” of the individual form of the word would mutate into the softer “dz” for a combined use. BUT – and here’s where it gets complicated – the Japanese rarely acknowledge the existence of paired consonants, so they ignore the second consonant of the pair, leaving us with a “d”. Hence, all of the three spelling variants are correct. But I personally prefer, “zuki” because that’s how the combined “tsuki” is most commonly spelled. Got it? Good. ^_^ Now, on to the actual story.

This anime has a very strong Yuri beginning, which bodes badly for the rest of the season. ^_^ Dark Chikane and blonde Himeko not only share a birthday, they seem to share an affection for each other. They also, surprise, surprise, share a fate. Cool, rich, uber-competent Chikane is a priestess of the moon while bubbly and sweet Himeko is a priestess of the sun. They will be combating the forces of darkness in the form of 8 stars, the first one of which turns out to be their friend and close companion, the uber-competent, popular boy Ookami Souma (and what a name to live up to that is!)

The first episode nets Chikane a long look at Himeko’s chest, a gratuitous grope and in the last moment, a big-ass kiss. Souma may be Himeko’s champion and protector, but it’s Chikane’s arms Himeko falls into at the least little thing. And so far, this seems to be the pattern in every episode, which works for me. ^_^

Plot-wise, this anime is downright silly. Magic, schoolgirls and mecha *can* work fine together to make a colorful anime, but I’m not sure they work well together to make a good story. My initial read of this is that Geneon and Gainax got together to “fix” the problems in Marimite – you know, like not enough fanservice and no mecha. ^_^

Chikane and Himeko are Hatsumi and Hazuki (there’s that “-zuki” thing again) from Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito lookalikes. It would be nice to see Chikane get the girl where Hazuki failed. And there is no doubt at all in my mind that Chikane and Himeko actually have the hots for one another. Chhikane acts all cool about it, but she’s overtly burning for Himeko. And I don’t think Himeko would kick Chikane out of bed, if you know what I mean. She was surprised to be kissed, but she’s not complaining, either.

The bad guys are laughable, but the nun with the glasses is hot, and Corona, the idol-type bad girl, is voiced by Ueda Kana, Marimite‘s Yumi. ^_^

So – storywise, this’ll get repetitive by ep. 8 – assuming you don’t think it already is by Ep. 3 – and if it lasts longer than 13, it’ll be boring as hell, but I’m going to watch because I live in hope that Chikane and Himeko will, hahahah, live happily ever after. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7 (the still art for this is *gorgeous* but the anime is messy)
Plot – 4
Characters – 6 (Other than Chikane and Himeko, it’s like watching Gundam or Transformers, with cardboard cutout characters and mecha)
Music – 6
Yuri – 9

Overall – a shaky 7

Yamibou meets Gundam – there’s very little here for an intelligent audience, but I like it anyway. It’s like a pleasant temporary frontal lobotomy. ^_^





Yuri Anime: ROD The TV DVD Volume 2

October 12th, 2004

I have managed to watch, at last, ROD The TV, Volume 2.

Wow, is this series every bit as good, if not better, than I remembered it from the first time! It really is a must-see for anyone, except for, perhaps, those who only like shoujo.

First the technicals – the DVD comes with the reversible cover, which seems to be standard practice these days. This makes a nice mini-poster, which I saved. I purchased the box for this set, which I now regret for various reasons (some of which I detailed in my review of Volume 1.) As a result I am missing the first package insert which seems to have character and story comments. I’m always a fan of creative liner notes and commentary, so I’d like to see more of this. In addition, the DVD includes a two-sided pencilboard with obligatory sexy picture of, this time, Maggie, which appealed to me more than Michelle or, heaven help us, Anita. But that’s a personal taste issue. Now, if they have sexy pencilboard pictures of Nenene and Nancy – *then* I’ll be a happy girl. ^_^

There were four episodes on this disk, which seemed like too little, but that was mostly because the story is so damn good I’m always left wanting more. This volume almost exclusively focused on the three sisters, developing the characters quite a lot in a short space of time. Maggie turns out to be more competent than she first appears, Michelle smarter, and Anita more human. In retrospect, I can see many things that I missed the first time around, which just make the story more interesting – especially in regards to the sudden development of the sisters into more fully developed characters.

As always, the stories switch back and forth from “domestic” to “foreign”, each story focusing on a particular set of relationships, with Anita becoming more and more the main character. And most importantly, the tension is beginning to grow, as clues are handed out so subtly we don’t really know we’ve seen or heard one until after the fact.

The art is so variable on this series – I don’t want to say that animation is “bad”, because sometimes it is amazing…but the people often suffer while the backgrounds remained highly detailed.

In terms of yuri value, this volume is pretty high. On the comedic side, Nenene has chosen Maggie as her butt-girl, forcing her to cater to the cranky writer’s whims. On the drama side, we’re getting slow burning embers turning into flames between Anita and Hisa. An aborted confession gives us Hisa’s point of view, but for the moment, Anita’s feelings aren’t fully expressed. (Next volume will bring both out into the open, only to be parted. Boo hoo.)

Let me once more discuss translation here. The honorifics issue aside, this was one of the best translations I’ve ever seen on a US-release anime. This story is, by no means, easy to convey. It’s a fairly complex set-up, and the characters are deep, devious and contrived in turn. This translation is very good. The concepts being discussed are easy to follow. What is lost in the translation of names and honorifics is simply overridden by the terrific voice acting work of the seiyuu.

Ratings:

Story – 10
Characters – 9
Animation – 6-8, depending on the scene
Music – 8
Yuri – 8

Overall, a solid 9. This remains a must-have for Yuri fans, and anyone who likes a really well-constructed story.

And it’s only going to get better…. ;-)





Yuri Anime: Azumanga Daioh Vol. 4

October 1st, 2004

The short version: It’s a story about a bunch of loopy girls in school with a few loopy teachers. It’s funny as hell.

If you have heard of Azumanga Daioh but don’t know why Yuri fans should care, read my original review of the Yuri content first.

If you know about Azumanga Daioh and are just considering buying the US released DVDs, you might want to read my initial reviews of Azumanga Daioh Vols. 1,2, 3.

Which brings us, at last, to Volume 4. I picked this up in time to keep me company on the train back from a work-related conference in Washington, DC. It was the perfect anime to watch on the ride home, since it appears to be the funniest volume so far…or so I inferred from my continuing hysterics for well over an hour. In fact, I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.

To start, this is a 5-episode volume. I think that that should be the standard for a DVD, personally, with 6 from time to time as a bonus. Reversible cover seems to be the standard now – I approve. (Especially when one has gone and bought a box for the set – the reversible covers end up like little mini-posters that have some actual “keep and enjoy” value.)

Story-wise, Vol. 4 has alot to recommend it. It is, for one thing, insanely funny, and full of abundant cuteness provided by Chiyo-chan. On the down side, there’s a lot of Yomi-bashing, for some reason, which bothered me the first time around and isn’t any less irritating this time. I don’t really understand why fate keeps crapping on her, when Tomo is so wretched, but there you go, another mystery of life unsolved. But overall, this has been the best of all the volumes, with, perhaps (depending on who your favorite character is…) the very best yet to come.

The animation remains the same as the first volumes, of course. The DVD includes those amazingly detailed liner notes, but no toy surprise which was a bit of a bummer.

The sound quality kept fading in and out for me, but might have been any number of problems, including the earphones I was using, so I won’t hold that against the DVD itself.

And the translation is, at least, consistent. The honorific “-chan” is left as is, the others are ignored or translated according to some arcane alchemical formula which, assumably, is understood by the translators, (who feel that “Miss Yukari” can be an appropriate translation for “Yukari-chan”, “Yukari”, “Yukari-sensei” and “Sensei.” Do not ask me to explain – I do not know.)

So, I’m looking forward to the next DVD, as always, and have found that embarrassing one’s self by busting a gut in public is totally worth it when you are watching something as truly hysterical and wacky as Azumanga Daioh. ^_^

Ratings: Remain the same as previously. Overall 8, a must-have.

Oh, since *this* is the disk where Kaorin gets the rainbow jets and wedding bells (when she is recruited to do a 3-legged race with Sakaki-san,) maybe we’ll jump the Yuri rating to ‘8’ too. ^_^

Erratum: One of the liner notes in the first disk has a comment by a staffer that, after Chihiro’s first scene (she’s the classmate being helped by Chiyo-chan in the beginning,) she becomes background noise and kind of disappears into the story, never to be seen again, except maybe for one line. I am glad to report that he was wrong. I have been rooting for Chihiro since then, looking to see if she comes back and she does – repeatedly. She and Kaorin made the penguin costume Chiyo-chan wears, and she is also supposed to have been Kaorin’s 3-legged race partner. So, gambare Chihiro! Don’t disappear! ^_^





Stellvia Anime, Foundation 1 (English)

September 28th, 2004

I reviewed Stellvia almost a year ago. Well, now it has been released by Geneon, and so, I thought it deserved another look.

Geneon had a big-ass booth at Otakon this past year, and even sponsored a mini-concert by Angela, the singer for the opening and Ending themes for this anime. I hadn’t watched Stellvia since the very first time I saw it, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the music. It’s a strange OP, sort of yodel-y and it was appealing in an unusual way. When I watched the DVD, I found myself turning the volume way up on the opening credits.

So, Stellvia of the Universe, or Uchyuu no Stellvia, is, as I mentioned in my previous review, a space opera. Katase Shima has always wanted to see space “head on,” so she applies to “Foundation Stellvia,” a space station academy, to learn to become a pilot. The plot hasn’t changed much since my last review, so I’ll focus only on the actual DVD release.

Right off, I decided to purchase the plain DVD in a case version, eschewing the DVD in series box. I cannot imagine that whatever extras you get with the box is worth the $15 more in price. That’s practically a whole ‘nother DVD, for pity’s sake! And pencil boards go for around $3…, so…. You get 4 eps for your $20, which isn’t jump for joy great, but it’s not like I feel like I’m being taken to the cleaners, either.

The no-frills DVD is definitely that. You get nada with it. No liner notes, no anything. Just a notice of future release dates and a market research card. (Dear Geneon, Please license Maria-sama ga Miteru, I have lots of money to spend. Thanks so much. Love, Erica.). The cover of the DVD is the same as the Japanese version – a sort of lurid green with Shima-chan floating uncomfortably alone. The DVD itself is really lovely…the green sky theme repeated as a green DVD with cut-outs where the prismatic DVD is visible, like stars glowing in a green sky. Cle-ver…

The soundtrack was fubared on my DVD and I’m not really sure why. It would only play in monotrack on my TV, but worked fine on my computer. Other DVDs worked fine on the TV, so it had to be the disc. No clue what was going on there…and I didn’t lose much, just a few background noises.

The translation was, for the first episode, stunning. Absolutely fan-tastic. Shima-chan was appropriately translated as Shima-chan, the twice it was used. Honorifics in place, all’s well. And then the episode ended and aliens took over the translation for the next three episodes. Can we say, “wtf”?

Episodes 2-4 were dreadful. Translation was bland & colorless, and the honorifics were disappeared and carted off, never to be seen again – I cried when I realized that they were never coming back. I don’t know WHAT on earth happened to the translation, but clearly they need to find the folks who did the first episode and apologize for offending them and get them back on the job!

One last note – I had originally commented that the characters looked too young for my taste. I guess I had never noticed before, but the art looked about the same level as Digimon. The same faces and bodies on the characters, the same high-end CGI, but low-end character design…all very weird when put together.

I had also forgotten how GOOD the script was. For all my bitchin’, the story is still solid, the voice actors are still decent and Machida Ayaka, the hyper-competent, bitchy (and ultimately psycho lesbian, so you KNOW I like her) in the big 4 is voiced by Toyoguchi Megumi, who also voices Satou Sei in Maria-sama ga Miteru! (For the record, Kuzuhara Yayoi is voiced by Orikasa Fumiko.)

The DVD release is only a 6, but the story still gets an 8, for an overall 7.

This series is definitely worth a rent and, if you’re willing to wait for the payoff, a buy. I know I’ll look forward to the next volume, just because the story is really damn decent.





Yuri Anime: Digimon Tamers (English)

September 14th, 2004

You are probably sitting there, at your computer, boggling. “Digimon?” You are asking incredulously. “Did I read that right?”

Let me begin with the beginning. The first season of Digimon is really the story of a little girl, called Hikari in the Japanese original and Kari in the English language version. There are some older girls in the series, Mimi and Sora, but they don’t interact as much as one would hope. But in the second season, Hikari and Sora have a kind of relationship, partially through themselves, partially through their Digimon. I personally did not see what they has as a “relationship” if you know what I mean, but many, many people did. There is a fair amount of Kari/Sora stuff out there, if you care to look for it.

But what I really wanted to talk about was the third season. Known here in America as Digmon Tamers this season came on TV and went and barely left a trace. In every way, this Digimon series was the *best.*

Right off the bat, the main female lead, Rika in English, Ruki in Japanese, pinged every gaydar alarm I have. She’s tough, she’s intolerant, she’s an ice queen, she wears utterly butchy clothes. She’s better at the Digimon game than anyone else (they call her the “Digimon Queen”…uh-huh…) in the story. Inside that icy exterior, of course there is a fragile and lonely (read: codependent) girl. Her mother is a top model and only wants Ruki to be cute and doll-like, ignoring the obvious signs of babydykeness in her daughter.

Ruki’s Digimon is “Renamon,” a fox-creature. If you know anything about female fox spirits, this will make you smirk, since foxes are reputedly very sexual. At first Ruki only thinks of Renamon as a fighting animal – Renamon lives to serve, like all good butches – so fight she does.

As the series goes on, Ruki is worn down by Renamon’s loyalty, friendship and ultimately, love. From about 1/4 into this long season, Renamon and Ruki are *so* a couple, it’s rather frightening at times. Their conversations sound like actual conversations lesbian couples have…it’s a little creepy really. ^_^

Renamon digi-volves into progressively cooler forms. From Renamon, she becomes the nine-tailed fox-spirit Gyuubimon, the short-lived Viximon, and the way very cool and mystic Taomon. But it is in her final form that she and Ruki really, quite literally, merge. Together they become Sakuyamon, a priest-warrior female fox-humanoid thing. Trust me, it’s pretty cool. :-)

In order to leave to fight the final battle, Ruki is forced to “come out” to her mother, about herself, about Renamon…and her mother accepts her for who she is (and buys her a great big clunky belt buckle for her dykey belt, a sort of ritual acceptance of her daughter’s inevitable butchiness. ^_^)

The end of the series is, IMHO, tragic. Ruki and Renamon do not live happily ever after. I was really bummed at the end, as Renamon and the other Digimon are forcibly devolved and sucked back to the Digi-world, leaving their human friends alone and crying hysterically, but determined to get back to the D-World to find them again. Sob…

So, yeah, the ending sucked, but overall this was a really good series. By far and away the best of the whole bunch. Ruki and Renamon are an incredibly well-played couple…and I have to hand it to the American voice actors – they didn’t even suck. Mari Devon’s gruff Renamon was as close to on par with Orikasa Fumiko’s Renamon as I could hope to expect from a dub and Melissa Fahn was pretty spot on an angry babydyke Rika.

Now, if only they would release it on DVD – I’d so buy this series….

Ratings:

Character – 9
Story – 9 (Really…this was a decent story with a real plot…and the kids’ parent weren’t totally clueless, etc. etc.)
Animation – 7
Music – who can tell? The American version uses some heinous made-up theme. Bleah)
Yuri – 8
Overall – 8

Seriously. It may be a kid’s show and all about dumb monsters…but Ruki and Renamon rock and the story’s not bad. ^_^

2013 Update: You can now get the entire season of Digimon Tamers on DVD! (Dub only.)