Archive for the Yuri Anime Category


Yuri Anime: Read or Dream The TV, Vol. 1

July 12th, 2004

Part 2

So, Upon rewatching the saga of the three paper sisters and erstwhile writing prodigy, I find that my initial reactions to the storyline and characters are little changed from my initial viewing.

The main thing about the first four episodes is the omnipresence of Yomiko Readman made plain through her absence. From the locket around Nenene’s neck, to the paper-using skills of Michelle, Maggie and Anita, the picture on Nenene’s desk, her search for information, etc., etc., Yomiko’s presence fills every second of this series. It almost seems as if she’s a kind of guardian spirit – which, of course, she isn’t. Future episodes will reveal how very human she is, but at this point, we don’t really know that yet.

I am also impressed with how much of a curmudgeon Nenene has become at 20. It’s taken me nearly twice that long to become so grumpy. My hat’s off to her.

As for the Paper Sisters…they are both more and less annoying that the first time. It strikes me much more this time how innocent and…unfinished…they all seem. It may be 20/20 hindsight, but they really aren’t quite human at this point. Like Maggie throwing out furniture to “clean” the apartment. No one would really do that, unless they had no experience of human interaction.

On the other hand, Anita, who I initially loathed, I find myself watching with more interest. Her annoying qualities seem less pronouced to me, this time around.

However, I still maintain that the second episode of this series is vile. Unfunny, irritating and in many ways pointless, it sets the characters on the board, true, but also annoyed the living daylights out of me. Both times.

For a first volume of an anime seires, however, it’s a pretty damn good beginning. A strong beginning, the weaknesses of the second episode pretty much made up for by good third and excellent fourth episodes. By the time you finish the first volume, there’s more than enough to work with in terms of character and the plot has, at least in part, appeared. Compare this with something like Bakuretsu Tenshi, which took something like 13 episodes to develop any kind of plot.

Fanservice comes in many flavors in ROD The TV. Whether you’re into Gainax bounces, loli, yuri, shota, androgyny, evil psychotics, it’s all pretty much in there, somewhere.

All in all, as anime series go, ROD The TV is still one of the best I’ve ever seen, and Volume 1 is a pretty strong start to an amazing series.

Overall – 9 out of 10 for character, plot, design, writing.





Yuri Anime: ROD The TV, Vol. 1

July 8th, 2004

Okay, so last month, I picked up the first DVD of ROD The TV.

While the story and characters remain excellent (and the subject of the next entry,) this DVD release does have some issues.

Let’s start from the beginning…the packaging. Geneon had this oh-so-clever idea about the packaging. They’ve made it look like a book with the “pages” being slots for actual disks. Let me be clear – not like usual box sets with room for DVD cases – this “book” only accepts the disk itself. For this neat look, one pays nearly ten dollars more than the regular price of the DVD alone. Here’s the problem though – what to do with the other DVD cases that one will have to buy when one gets the next volumes? Good question. Throw them out and lose the art? Cut them up? Stick them, empty, on your already overcrowded shelves? It’s up to you. And there is no, say, discount for future purchases of non-boxed DVDs, which is what *I* would have done – offered $5 off for every future volume you buy in a non-over packaged form.

For your extra money you get a $3 pencil baord with Michelle in semi-transparent clothing in a “sexy” pose and Anita looking appropriately loli on the other side. What will they think of next? Maggie in a lace teddy? I shudder to think.

Now, let’s move onto the DVD itself – the main menu is fantastic. Abolutely the best I’ve ever seen on a licensed DVD. It’s made up to look like the ToC of a book and makes sense, is easy to figure out and navigate. Kudos on that.

The English language track is okay. Personally, I can never stand to watch the dubs, because no matter how much better North American voice actors and actresses are getting, they never really sound natural. And they always cock up the pronunciation of the characters names. It’s about rhythm and phonics. For examples of the dub, check out that official site – you can watch clips with the dub track. It’s not painful, just not my cup of tea.

So, that brings us to the Japanese track and the….subtitles. *They* were painful. Once again, the DVD was made with the assumption that English-speaking viewers are morons who cannot, under any circumstances, understand the relationships expressed by honorifics. Here’s my rant from the Yuricon Mailing List:

“Maggie-chan” became “Maggie dear,” while “Anita-chan” just becomes “Anita” and all the ” -‘nee” endings Anita uses disappear, except when Nenene insists that Anita call her “Nenene-‘nee” (which is really awful in *any* language.) So then, the translators capitulate and use “big sister” as they do when Maggie calls Michelle “onee-san.”

You see the problem. Translating “-chan” as dear, regardless of the actual relationship is awkward and, in many case, incorrect. Drives me nuts. Inexplicably, they simply ignore the existence of “-kun.”

I think I may very well start attending Industry panels, just to ask them what the deal with the honorifics are. If we *all* do that, maybe they’ll get a clue. Send ’em a letter, because emails bounce and don’t look as real as a bag full of “Leave the honorifics alone, please” letters.

I would also have much preferred 5 episodes on the first volume. If it were me, 26 episodes would be on 6 volumes, with 5 episodes on the first and last volume. It seems fair-ish, even though we all know it could really be on 3 or 4 DVDs comfortably. But TPTB (The Powers That Be) are releasing it on *7* DVDs! What’s that 5 of 4 episodes and 2 of…3? That’s pretty cheesy, IMHO.

So, while ROD The TV remains an *excellent* series and chock-full o’yuri, the Volume 1 DVD is, at best, a 6.





Yuri Anime: Madlax

June 29th, 2004

madlaxAs promised, today I’m discussing the rather promising new Bee Train anime, Madlax. Now, bear in mind that a) Bee Train doesn’t have really overt screaming Yuri scenes; b)Bee Train also doesn’t bother tying up all the loose ends in their plots, so alot of what’s going on will never be resolved and; c) that this is a seriously biased overview from a person who has watched way too much anime recently… ;-)

“Madlax” is the name of a young woman, bodyguard and assassin by profession, tragic heroine by role. She lives and works in Gazth-Sonika, a war-torn banana republic in an undisclosed part of the world. It is established early on that, while she is very competent at her job, you probably wouldn’t want to invite her to dinner, since, like Jessica Fletcher, someone is likely to die when she’s around.

Meanwhile, in beautiful, vaguely European, Nafreces, where everyone is affluent and happy, rich girl Margaret Burton is introduced and established to be eternally spacey – perhaps as a result of a trauma she experienced as a small child…perhaps as a result of hallucinogenics in the drinking water, perhaps as a silly plot complication – the one thing we can be sure of is that we will probably never find out.

Protecting Margaret is Eleanor, a hyper-competent and unremittingly weird maid/bodyguard, who is by far and away, the most fascinating character to date. She is involved with…

Vanessa Renee, Margaret’s next-door neighbor who was like an older sister to a young Margaret, but is now no more than a vague memory to the spacey one.

When Vanessa invites herself, quite literally, into Margaret’s life, Eleanor finds her amusing and after a while, it becomes clear to those of us who watch anime with “Yuri goggles” that Vanessa and Eleanor are more than just having dinner with each other. The repartee’ becomes, at times, almost risque’ between them, while Margaret is totally oblivious.

We do learn that there is *alot* more to both Eleanor and Vanessa as they save Margaret from being ravished by a tiresome boy-type character. Most maids aren’t *that* good at hand-to-hand combat. And few of them are likely to be that vicious, either.

Meanwhile, back in the plot, Margaret locates a weird book which has mystic writing, which will in some way involve the token man (who works as an agent for *every* organization in the story), a tribal hot chick whose knowledge will probably not further the plot much, but will create more bath scenes and allow for yet *another* character to be looking for Margaret. (Now that I think about it, the youngish girl who is part of the tribal deal is probably going to involved with Margaret one way or another…)

This all may or may not have something to do with the illegal activities of the company Vanessa works for (and I’m betting Margaret owns, or something…) and a mafia-like organization, Enfan, that has a leader with the silliest and least fear-inspiring name ever…Friday Monday. I kid you not. He sounds like a bad guy from Pokemon, for pity’s sake.

Vanessa has gotten herself transferred to Gazth-Sonika, where Madlax has the nigh on impossible job of protecting her from herself and random assassination attempts. Vanessa’s yuri rating kicks up a notch or two when she invites Madlax to share a bed with her and in screencaps for the episode from last week, she embraces Madlax in a decidedly huggy way. Now all the Eleanor/Vanessa fans are crying, “Poor Eleanor!” Not that I think that Eleanor would mind, much. Madlax has also decided that Vanessa is a Princess and she, Madlax, is her Prince, and we, the audience, all looked for the spinning roses.

Lastly, there is Rimelda, another hyper-competent female sharpshooter, who works for the military and has a total obsession with Madlax, as well as Hisakawa Aya’s sexy “grown-up” voice. Yay!

So, the story is only at halfway and there are many, many plot elements to be sorted out – what the mystic book and Enfan have in common, what it all has to do with Margaret’s disappearance as a child, whether Vanessa goes home to Eleanor, and many, many other things that will never be resolved.

In the yuri goggles, Madlax/Rimelda, Vanessa/Madlax, Vanessa/Eleanor all look pretty yummy and will doubtless provide much fodder for horrible fanfiction and fan art. I can’t wait and I’m sure you feel the same way. :-)

Is Madlax worth watching? Depends – if you like tight stories, then avoid it like the plague. But as always with Bee Train work, the music is compelling, the action is fun (once we moved past the battle dress in the first episode,) and the yuri is pretty strong. Lots of chicks with guns. Lots of chicks in general.

Ratings:

Plot – hahahaha
Characters – 8, for Eleanor alone
Art – 7. It waffles from being excellent to being “eh”
Yuri – 8, maybe 9
Music – 9

Overall – 8

It’s a fun watch so far. Not “Read or Dream” quality, but darn fun.





Yuri Anime: Bee Train does it again

June 28th, 2004

Bee Train, best known for their work on Noir and the .hack universe, have once again brought us thinly veiled yuri subtext with many hints of a cool storyline, uber-competent female characters in a mysterious setting, none of which will be explained or resolved to anyone’s satisfaction in their newest series, Madlax. ^_^

Let’s just recap today, for those readers who do not remember, or have not yet discovered the Bee Train tendency towards Yuri.

In Noir we follow the violent experiences of amnesiac assassin Kirika and cool assassin Mirielle, as they track down their respective pasts and the occult/medieval/conspiracy/quasi-religious organization that binds them together. In the process thereof, we see Kirika and Mirielle open up to one another so far as to use whole sentences from time to time, never actually kill each other, with tantalizing bits of nudity, bed-sharing and affection shown in ways that only a fan could love. :-) A letter, written by Kirika to Mirielle towards the end of the series, beginning, “My beloved Mirielle” is marginally more overt. In a panel at Anime Expo 2002 (which I moderated, so I KNOW they said this, it’s not third-hand info) the Bee Train team discussed the potential relationship between Kirika and Mirielle stating simply that it was there if you wanted it to be, and if you didn’t, it wasn’t. So there you go. Whatever you want to see is the truth.

.hack/sign showed us the burgeoning affection of two young people in the virtual “The World” (the mainstay vitural universe/game that ties all the .hack stories together. Tsukasa, played by a female, but male in “The World,” has been trapped and is becoming, (or has always been) schizoid. Subaru, played by a wheelchair-bound woman, is powerful in “The World” by nature of her experience and skill, more than having any actual *power.* Subaru and Tsukasa bond, and perhaps, start to fall in love. In the final moments of the show, in fact, during the final credits, the two women who play the characters meet in the real, non-virtual world, in what is actually a touching scene. It’s certainly hopeful, at any rate.

Less satisfying was the ending of Avenger, Bee Train’s last series where nothing is resolved…nothing explained, either and the entire story really didn’t make any sense, since everyone was gonna die, anyway. The “yuri” in Avenger reads way more like a mother-daughter relationship, IMHO, but hey, remember, whatever you want to see, *is* the truth with the ole’ Bee Train crew.

Which brings me to the newest series, Madlax. Tomorrow I will review this series in irritating detail for your enjoyment. ^_^ In the meantime, run out and watch all of Noir and the last ten minutes of .hack/sign, so you get the feel for Bee Train Yuri. ^_^





Yuri Anime: Devilman Lady

May 28th, 2004

Okay, yesterday I forgot to tell you about the one great big gay character in the Devilman Lady manga, but that’s okay because I’ll be covering her today, with great enthusiasm. ^_^

Let me start off by saying that the anime version of Devilman Lady is SO lesbian, that it’s a wonder it doesn’t get more spin in Yuri circles. I guess the majority of viewers just prefer cute over tough, but call me a happy minority. I’ll take cool, competent and tough any day over cute. ^_^

Where in the manga our heroine, Fudou Jun, was a uber-tough, butched up athlete, even had been in the Olympics as a swimmer, the anime Jun is a quiet, lovely top-notch fashion model. She’s immensely popular and we can see why, because when she gets in front of the camera, she becomes something alive and animal – her charisma is obvious, and so is her hunger.

Into this life comes the (still) completely psychotic Ran Asuka, who throws Jun into a room with a guy who becomes a ravening Devilbeast. The shock of being attacked forces Jun to transform (no demon bats here…) and Asuka calmly tells Jun that she’ll help Asuka hunt other Devilbeasts around the city. Jun, who has pretty low self-esteem, does.

Asuka is openly and obviously attracted to Jun, but pretty much only when she’s in her Devilbeast form.  In any case, Asuka definitely teases her unmercifully, as she forces Jun to travel the country slaughtering people as a Devilbeast; ironically in the name of preserving humanity.

Complicating Jun’s life is the addition of a young friend, Kazumi who, after her parents are killed by a Devilbeast (and she is saved by Jun in her transformed state) moves in with Jun. It is *equally* apparent that these two LONG for each other. You’ll be happy to know that about 3/4 through the series, they finally acknowledge their feelings and even spend a night together, but this series is not a comedy – it’s a tragedy. I’ll leave you to guess the rest.

Episodes 5 and 6 of the series ought really to come with a 100% Yuri label. Kazumi has moved in and now wants to buy a bigger bed to share with Jun. She all buts says, “Look, stupid, I really want to sleep with you” but she’s young and a little unsure of Jun’s feelings. Jun, is agonizing over this, exactly *because* she wants so desperately to sleep with Kazumi. Trust me – this is not subtext. From this point on, whenever anyone other than Jun mentions Kazumi, it’s to refer to her as Jun’s lover, even though they aren’t. Jun wimps out, btw, and buys bunk beds. Kazumi is quite shocked by this admission of Jun’s, because what it says is either “I want you so much I won’t be able to control myself” – which is the truth, or, “I loathe you so much I can’t stand the thought of sharing a bed with you,” in which case she ought to make Kazumi leave. It’s pretty apparent that Jun feels she wouldn’t be able to control herself.

In the meantime,we introduce Jun’s old high school classmate (and, in the manga, rival), Big Gay Aoi.

Let me backtrack. In the manga, Kurosaki Aoi is like 6 1/2 feet tall and HUGE. Muscles everywhere. She makes butchy Jun look like a little girl. She obviously wants Jun, but they have a nasty rivalry between them and Aoi has a abusive background and doesn’t do well when she’s not letting the Devilbeast in her body eat people she hates. The Devilbeast, of course, decides it wants to eat Jun. Aoi and the beast that is her body argue and the beast eats Aoi i.e., itself. Aoi does confess her feelings and in the end, Jun is forced to admit that she was also attracted to Aoi. Duh.

Okay, here in the anime, Jun is no athlete – in fact, she’s anemic, and had a problem with passing out when she got too excited as a youth. Flashback to high school at a swim meet. Aoi sees Jun pass out and carries her to the locker room. When Jun comes to, Aoi tries to kiss her. At first Jun gives in, but then, in a moment of weakness, pushes Aoi away and they never speak again. For years. Now, Asuka sets Jun on Aoi’s tracks, because she’s exhibiting signs of being a Devilbeast. In the manga, where Aoi became a Devilbeast to avenge herself on her sexually abusive stepfather, here in the anime Aoi basically has done it for Jun. Jun visits her at the pool and Aoi blatantly asks Jun to love her back, but Jun refuses, again. (Given Jun’s reacton to Kazumi and Asuka, it seems to me that the worst enemy Jun has is herself. She obviously is attracted to women, but it scares her silly, even after all this time.) They fight and ultimately, to save Jun, Aoi sacrifices herself. Let me just add that as Jun is played by Iwao Junko (Tomoyo in Card Captor Sakura and Aoi’s voice is done by Ogata Megumi who played Tenou Haruka in Sailor Moon, we’re talkin’ serious 6 degrees of Yuri-fest right here. ^_^

Episode 6 is the story of a rival model who also wants Jun and ends up getting her naked and tied up in bed before the Devilbeast transformation happens and Jun has to kill her.

From this point on, the story becomes a triangle between Asuka, Jun and Kazumi. Kazumi wins, in a way, because she and Jun admit that they love each other, but in a more concrete way, Asuka wins, because she makes Jun into what she wants her to become. Asuka also wins because she’s the only transgender lesbian from New Jersey that I know of in anime. We learn that she was born and raised in New Jersey (Montclair, from the looks of it,) and that she was born male, but is now female. So in my book, Asuka wins, hands down, because I can say that she is a transgender lesbian from NJ. In anime. It always makes me happy to be able to say that. It doesn’t bother me that she’s insane because I love psychotic lesbians. ^_^

This series is campy horror, not as violent as the manga, but still violent and has a really sort of ambiguously happy ending. I think it’s one of the most Yuri series out there now and it’s a damn shame more people don’t know how wonderfully weird and bizarre it is. Sure, the girl doesn’t get the girl, but it really doesn’t matter, because it’s a great story, with a strange, but less super-weirdo-bizarre ending than the manga, but still plenty weird.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Characters – 10
Music – 10
Yuri – 10
Service – 10

Overall – 10

Devilman Lady is one of my very favorite anime series in the whole of Yuri-land. ^_^