Archive for the Yuri Anime Category


New Anime Season Autumn 2004 – Mai HiME

October 28th, 2004

Mai Hime feels like a game that has been turned into an anime, or an anime that will shortly be turned into a game.

Tokiha Mai seems to be a reasonably normal young lady. She and her sickly younger brother are traveling by ship to go to an exclusive school. On the way, a young girl is rescued from drowning by Mai. She is followed by an older girl who seems to be trying to kill the young girl. Mai finds herself involved in a huge fight that ends up destroying the ship.

In the next few episodes, as we rush to introduce every one of the gazillion characters in the cast, we learn that Mai has special powers, as do many of the girls in this school – including both the young, feral Mikoto and uber-cool, Kuga Natsuki. Mai learns that, along with Mikoto and Natsuki, she is a HiME (Highly-advanced Materalizing Equipment…which makes about as much sense as it sounds) and is prone to manifesting shiny energy bands about her limbs, floating and shouting “Arrrrh!” as she pours forth magical/bad science energy and defeats the whatchamcallit bad ceature which, in this case seem to be called Orphen.

There’s lots of Digimon-type creature fights in this anime, which are good, if you like the kid-and-his or her-monster-type story. I do, so I’m happy enough.

And the characters aren’t bad. Mai doesn’t have too many bad habits yet, nor much of a personality, really. But Natsuki’s bad-ass-ness and uber-cool, which is probably masking social retardation of immense proportions is fun – and she rides a motorcycle, which automatically means she’s a lesbian. You know the rules. ^_^

Mikoto gets lots of fanservice Yuri groping in, but she’s so feral, it means about the same as if your cat sticks his claws in your chest.

There’s a ton of suggestive undertones in the three girls’ interactions with some of the older characters, particularly Shizuru – who is either quite hedonistic, or just loves teasing poor Natsuki to ruffle her. Either way, Shizuru is currently my favorite character.

The most open yuri in the series is the entire closing credit sequence – and that may or may not have anything at all to do with the actual story. The jury is still deliberating.

There seems to be a character stereotype for anyone and everyone in this series, so if you don’t mind watching a show in which character development will take place between giant creatures fighting, and a plot that is clearly a marketing tool for a game, you’ll like Mai HiME just fine.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 7

Goofy fun with Yuri subtext – turn your Yuri goggles way up and see what happen.





New Season Anime Autumn 2004 – Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha

October 27th, 2004

Mahou Shoujo Ririkaru Nanoha, i.e., Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha has, quite literally, reinvented the wheel.

Young Nanoha find herself filling the role of collector of magical items when her predecessor, upon being defeated, turns into a ferret. Nanoha inherits both ferret and magical wand and heads off to collect the whatevers which appear to be Miyazaki demon-y things that have invaded the immediate area…one at a time.

Nanoha defies mahou shoujo convention by having not only *two* completely functional parents, but an older sister and brother – and he has a completely functional girlfriend, the older sister of Nanoha’s friend Suzuka. It’s all *so* functional and normal that I find I spend every episode waiting for the other boot to drop. :-)

Nanoha’s two friends, the aforementioned Suzuka and Arisa provide the only glimmer of yuri hope in this completely normal, without any weirdness (except for the creatures attacking the town that no one ever notices) series. Yes, I know they are young, and *yes* I know that I’m being silly, but I feel that Arisa and Suzuka, when off camera, are likely to be holding hands and proclaiming their like for each other.

The plot has not quite developed yet in the mere four episodes I’ve seen, and the cast of characters is hardly complete – the official site has a rather large page devoted to the myriad people we should expect to see. It looks as if we’re in for about another four major players (some of whom actually looks lightly older than 9 and vaguely more interesting to me) to be introduced before things take off. In the meantime, we watch while Nanoha collects whatsits with the help of her highly merchandisable wand Raging Heart…or not, as she’s foiled by her mysterious counterpart in black and *her* highly merchandisable wand, Bardiche. Honestly, I find the wands to be the most intriuiging characters.

Will this become another Card Captor Sakura? I can’t say for sure – CCS didn’t take off until Episode 8, but the art in CCS was alot nicer than in Nanoha. and the voice cast was miles above any other in quality. OTOH, I’ll keep an open mind. With one exception – the hair in Nanoha drives me batty. They all have early 80’s tufts that swtich from side to side depending on the angle we see them at. Even the ferret. (OK, not the ferret, but everyone else.) Also, I’m at a loss to explain why everyone in Suzuka’s family has lavender hair, including the maids. Other than these minor gripes, Nanoha is just fine.

2007 note: The Yuri did get better with time. If you’re here from a later Okazu post, you’ll know it did. :-) Even though, at the time, I didn’t care for it.

Ratings:

Story – 6
Characters – 7
Art – 5 (that hair really gets me)
Music -6
Yuri – 0

Overall – 6

Everyone is so *normal*…it’s creepy.





New Anime Season Autumn 2004 – Uta-Kata

October 25th, 2004

Utakata: Collection 1This week’s reviews can all be subtitled “Looking for Yuri in all the wrong places.”

Uta-kata is one of the several magical girl series that premiered this season that don’t *really* quite seem to be for girls at all. But, then, I’m not sure who this series is for. (A common refrain this season, I’m sorry to say.)

The plot is thin – Normal girl Ichika finds that her phone charm, given to her by two mysterious pretty boys, is not what it seems. Each charm has several gems – when each gem turns a color, Ichika is granted the blessing of a god and a really, really ugly outfit to transform into.

The blessing is accompanied, one assumes, by the powers granted by the god…but so far I’ve seen very little by way of powers. Instead the uneccesarilly full frontal henshin seems to give Ichika little more than a reason to play dress up and glow a bit. I will freely admit that I am watching this series raw, and so am, perhaps, missing major plot complications…but I doubt it.

The two mysterious bishounen seem to know what’s going on, as does the creepy-cool older neighbor lady who is clearly involved up to her arched eyebrows…but we, the audience have been, so far, kept out of the loop. Ichika’s mysterious magical friend is NOT a stuffed animal/cute creature, at least. Instead we have an aquamarine-hared girl, Manatsu, who *also* knows what’s up, but won’t tell Ichika because…I have no idea. I don’t ever understand the ole “withholding information for your own good” plot complication.

Again, assumably, when all the gems have activated on the two charms (which, placed together would make a yin/yang symbol – very significant, I’m sure) we’ll be graced with a plot…or, at least, we hope.

The supporting cast in this anime is legion. Ichika defies all the usual magical girl stereotypes by having two parents and a gaggle of perfectly normal friends – complete with their own in-jokes, the one thing I actually find enjoyable about this series. I expect her friends will be either be entangled in her magical girl career, or provide the ballast to keep her normal…either one would work in this situation.

I’ve seen folks implying some kind of relationship between Manatsu and Ichika, but I think they must have their yuri goggles turned WAY up to see anything there. In fact, so naive, bland and clueless is Ichika that I’m kind of inclined to think that Manatsu would have to have her pinned to the bed and naked, with her tongue half down her throat to gain her attention – or mine.

As you can see, I am not overwhelmed by this series. The best thing about it is the phone charm, which I would quite like as a toy. ^_^

Ratings:

Story – 5
Characters – 7
Art – 6
Music – 6
Yuri – 1, but only if your REALLY work at it.

Thus far, it has the feel of an exceptionally uninspired bishoujo game. I hope I’m wrong and it blossoms into “Ooh, cool!” but I’m not holding my breath.





Yuri Anime: Stratos 4, the overdue review (English)

October 21st, 2004

Stratos 4 is deservedly obscure anime.

I was surprised to note that I have never even *mentioned* it in this blog, and yet I clearly remember watching it all. It wasn’t bad enough to be good, nor was it good. It just sort of..was. I have yet to buy the DVD and I’m fighting hard with myself about it. I kind of don’t want to spend the money on such a lame story, but the Yuri is *way* over the top and funny.

In the near future, the earth is threatened by constant waves of meteors, so an elite force (primarily consisting of sexy young women,) has been created to destroy the meteors before they threaten the planet. These so-called Comet Blasters are “the” elite pilot force, full of young, beautiful things who are superstars to their millions of fans. Stratos 4 follows four girls, Shizuha, Ayamo, Karin, and Mikaze, as they train to be Meteor Sweepers – a sort of space cleanup crew that blast leftover meteor fragments left over from Comet Blaster missions…essentially, they get to follow the elephants. Everyone dreams of being a Comet Blaster, but only the best Meteor Sweepers ever even get a chance to try out.

Mikaze is our nominal heroine – from a long line of pilots, she feels a great deal of pressure to succeed but is, as usual, an idiot savant, showing only barely passable skill in everything until an emergency makes her mad piloting skillz appear. Sure, she saves the day, but she’s a danger to those around her. She and Shima-chan from Stellvia would make an exciting air show, that’s for sure.

While non-Yuri fans may be watching Mikaze and her trials and travails as she tries to keep her unpredictable skills under control, Yuri fans will be watching Miharu, the uber-sexy Comet Blaster as she seduces all the women under her command, and Karin, Mikaze’s friend, as *she* fights off an unnatural passion for Mikaze that has begun to possess her.

Which brings us to the bit that actually makes this series worth watching – while the main plot is complicated by a government conspiracy that threatens to ground the girls just when they are needed the most, *we’re* watching this bizarro case of viral lesbianism spread through the secondary cast. And that’s *exactly* what it is – a space virus spread by kissing (and, one hopes, by passionate sex). It appears initially to affect only women, but in the end we see some guys with it, too. However, we are spared the sight of any of the lovely Comet Blaster ladies actually kissing any those whatsits without the chest handles.*

Of course Miharu and the rest of the CB ladies aren’t gay – silly Yuri fan, what were you thinking? They are all possessed by the evil space virus. Miharu is really in love with her old flame, a loser mechanic who has the super-duper special prototype Spaceship That Will Save Us ALL (TM) in his garage.

And Karin isn’t a lesbian either, of course. In a feverish battle with her virus-borne lesbian pathogen, she realizes that she loves Mikaze too much as a friend to want to have passionate sex with her…or something like that. She overcomes her unnatural tendencies to return to being the bland and uninteresting character she was previously, with moderately more lines, and Mikaze and her posse roar off to save the day from space viruses, lesbians and sexually frustrated Comet Blaster babes.

Is this a good series? I don’t know. Fans of space opera may enjoy it. All I remember was thinking, “Uh-huh.” A lot. The fanservice was of the panty variety and, IMHO, quite utterly dull. Because we *needed* to see them on their rockets from the back looking forward. Yup.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Music – 6
Service – 6 The creative team sure likes asses
Yuri – 6

Overall – 6

* This line was paraphrased from a parody of Boku no Sexual Harrassment called Boku no Sucky-Sucky. The original line is from one of the salarymen (who isn’t gay, he just prefers sex with men) about a group of women sitting at another table. The salaryman says something to the effect of, “Oh look! It’s a group of those, whatsits, with the chest handles.” This line slayed me and is now a standard around the house.





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. ^_^