Archive for the Yuri Anime Category


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. ^_^





Yuri Anime: Spring 2004 season

May 24th, 2004

Yesterday, the new season of Maria-sama ga Miteru anime was announced. The good news is that it’s starting as soon as July 4th, the bad news is that they’ve buried it on Sunday morning at 7:30 AM. Apparently they feel that insomniac six-year-olds are the target audience.

Most importantly, now we, the western audience will get to officially meet Yumi’s potential souer candidates, affectionately known as “drill-hair” and “stalker.” Makes you really wanna meet ’em, doesn’t it?

Now, onto other business.

This season of anime is sort of only vaguely yuri-ish. There’s the usual Bee Train yuri implications in Madlax and some fanservice-y kind of stuff in Bakaretsu Tenshi, but nothing that set the yuri-o-meter off at a high level. However, if goofy, silly yuri that will never go anywhere is good for you, then I recommend you catch the fansubs of Sensei Ojikan: After School Doki Doki Hours.

Sensei Ojikan is reminiscent of Azumanga Daioh, but really, only in the sense that they are both very silly comedies set at a school. There is a little overlap in character type, but only a little. If I remember correctly, Sensei Ojikan came first as a manga, so it isn’t really any kind of rip-off at all. Speaking of which – you all know that Azumanga Daioh has been released on DVD here, right? Run out and get it, if you haven’t, because this is a *very* funny series.

Sensei Ojikan is nominally the story of a teacher, Mika-sensei, who looks like a 10-year old. She’s only marginally effective as a teacher, but her class feels very affectionately towards her. There’s a goofy selection of kids in the class: the hyper genki underachiever, the over achiever, the class leader who is a boy idol otaku, the mangaka otaku, the gay girl, the gay boy, the crossdresser, the old guy and the slacker. All together, they make a fun combination and some of the episodes had me laughing out loud.

The gay boy is very obviously in love with the slacker kid and everyone in class knows it but the slacker. The gay girl is Kitagawa Rio and she is even more openly in love with the teacher. She’s very open about her liking girls in general, cute girls more specifically and Mika-sensei in particular…and she plays that card a lot, especially when she’s trying to get a reaction out of poor Mika-sensei.

Again, this is all played for laughs, so don’t expect Kitagawa and Mika-sensei to ride off onto the sunset or anything, but it’s cute. And, in accordance with the Rules of Supporting Yuri Characters, Kitagawa is especially good-looking and smarter than nearly anyone else in class. ^_^ So, if you want a few laughs and aren’t looking for a permanent relationship, check out Sensei Ojikan.





Yuri Anime: Haibane Renmei

April 29th, 2004

Sometimes a series comes along that is so rare, so special, that it would be worth watching just for itself, without any of the usual hooks one expects in anime or manga. Haibane Renmei is one of those series. It is as worth watching for what doesn’t happen, as what does.

Right off the top, Haibane Renmei has the distinction of being the first anime to be based completely off a doujinshi. Yoshitoshi Abe, well-known for his character designs in Serial Experiments Lain and Niea Under 7 had a vision of a bunch of characters called “Haibane,” (which means “charcoal wings”) one day and collected a bunch of sketches of them into a book called Haibane Renmei, (“Charcoal Wings Federation,) which he published and sold at Comiket in Tokyo. The book became really popular, and people kept asking him who these Haibane were and what they were and so on – and so he drew a little doujinshi about the place they lived, called “Old Home – a sort of “slice of life” of the Haibane. The story had a lot of holes in it – there didn’t seem to be a clear beginning or end, and there were a lot of things that the author didn’t know about, by his own admission, like why they can only wear hand-me-downs, and the like.

These characteristics were, lock, stock and barrel, plopped into the anime of Haibane Renmei. The story doesn’t have a clear beginning, nor are many things explained – in fact, the whole world that the Haibane inhabit is left wide open to the imagination. Because of this, not despite it, Yoshitoshi has managed to design one of the most beautiful and intriguing anime I’ve ever seen. To be blunt, I bawled like a baby through the end, but I never felt manipulated or cheated.

The art is seriously unconventional in many ways, the story line defies description, since it seems to begin sort of in the middle of a thing and go on until it stops. The piece we’re party to are examples of truly fine writing – sweet, whimsical, serious and mature by turn and compelling all the way through. There is a great deal left to know about the world of the Haibane – what comes before, what comes after, where do the come from and where do they go? But I’m inclined, like the people that inhabit the space, to simply accept it for what it is and just enjoy the beauty and poetry of the story.

I can hear you asking, “yeah, but is there Yuri?” My answer has got to be that that depends on how you define “Yuri.” If you mean sex between women, then no, definitely not…. What you can say is that Haibane Renmei is about an incredibly intense emotional bond between two women, one that significantly alters their lives, or at least what we see of their lives. For die-hard Yuri-seekers, I think there is *definitely* a case for calling Reki woman-identified, if not women-loving. Her former intense relationship is also with a woman, and that one is portrayed as being awfully close to love. I’m of the opinion that Reki and Rakka have as close to a love relationship as is possible in the Haibane’s world.

So, despite the fact that it’s not about anything, and nothing really *happens*, and there being no overtly Yuri relationship, Haibane Renmei wins, in my opinion, as one of the hands-down finest anime I’ve ever watched.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Music – 8
Story – 10 The story is breathtakingly well-written
Characters – 8

Overall – 9

This is a must watch for anyone who loves good storytelling.

***

And now, for something completely different – here is *my* interpretation of the events of Haibane Renmei. I don’t claim to be right, or even close – this is just what feel was going on:

POSSIBLE SPOILERS WARNING

Rakka was in love with someone…let’s say, for argument’s sake, that it was another girl. She and the other girl decided to kill themselves so they could be together eternally. The crow symbolizes Rakka’s lover – she “freed” her in a sense, but is also the reason she crashes, and ultimately, she needs to let go of that attachment to her previous life before she can move on.

The world we see is a kind of Purgatory, which is why the Haibane stay there for inconsistent and erratic periods of time – because you’re going to be there as long as it takes to do whatever it is you have to do. Life isn’t bad, it’s not Hell, but it’s not great, either, because its not Heaven. And the people who live there and sort of take care of the Haibane are other people who have not committed a “sin” so much as simply died with their souls in a limbo state…so they expiate their crimes wth service and another lifetime.

What are the Haibane, then? I think that they are children who died under extreme circumstances. The older ones might have killed themselves, or been killed, the younger ones may have died through accident or injury, but whatever the circumstance was, it was a violent death and therefore a “sin.” Perhaps the little kids died without being baptized.

In any case, these children die with what *they* feel is a spot on their souls and end up here. Like they feel partially responsible for their own deaths. If they felt completely filthy, they’d likely end up in some sort of mutually created Hell, so in this case they feel ambiguous about their nature. As they do their “work,” they expiate those sins, cleanse their spirits and eventually have to move on.

So, that would explain why Reki and Rakka bond so closely…perhaps in life they had similar stories, dying on account of the oh-so-popular “forbidden love” and intuiting that they could feel safe with one another. Or maybe they were just falling for each other, who knows? But there they were in Purgatory, where relationships have to be non-sexual, and temporary, because of the nature of the thing.

We can always fantasize about what happens when Rakka goes ober the wall herself, right? Maybe she enters her version of Heaven. meets up wih Reki and they fall in real love and live in eternal happiness. Sounds nice, right? Maybe someone will write a fanfic.

Anyway, so there you have it…*my* interpretation of Haibane Renmei.