Archive for the Yuri Anime Category


Okazu Top Yuri of 2019

December 31st, 2019

As we wrap up this year, the 100th anniversary of the Yuri genre, I like to imagine what Yoshiya Nobuko might think, if she were to spring to life and see Yuri anime, manga, novels, games…stories of women in love with women, in both fantasy and “real world” settings and bookstores around the world with Yuri titles and manga stores with dedicated Yuribu.  I’d like to think that once she got past the confusion of it all, she’d be pretty pleased about it. ^_^

For the 15th year in a row, I’m wrapping all the best Yuri people, companies, trends and titles up in one big old package and presenting it to you as the Okazu Top Yuri of 2019. ^_^ Please note there are no numbers, as this is not a countdown. Everything here is equally notable.

We’ll start with some well-deserved kudos to the pieces of the industry that set the places at which we sit and lay the feasts we enjoy.

 

Yuri Publishers & Yuribu
In this 100th anniversary of the genre, something almost miraculous occurred. Manga, anime and light novel publishers in the US and many of the major Japanese publishers are now investing in Yuri as Yuri.

My sincere thanks to everyone at Yen Press, VIZ Media, Seven Seas Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, J-Novel Club, UDON Entertainment, Kodansha Comics, Denpa, Lilyka Manga and in Japan, Ichijinsha, Futabasha, Shueisha, East Press, Seidosha, Hayakawa Shobo, Kadokawa Shoten, Akita Shoten and, at long last, Shogakukan.

Additionally, Japanese manga and bookstores have finally recognized that Yuri is a genre that does bring in business and have developed Yuri Clubs to help funnel money their way. ^_^ So thanks to Animate, Shosen, Gamers and Futabasha (again.) Toranoana has no Yuribu, but their Yuri Corner in the flagship store in Akihabara is worth noting, as well.

All these companies have recognized the potential of the growing LGBTQ and Yuri markets and responded to it with money and promotion (and in the case of US companies, care and attention,) which gives us hope for even more and even better Yuri in the year to come!

 

Yuri Webcomics
Webcomics have been an important arm of indie comics since the early 2000s and the last few years has really seen the growth in online platforms for comic artists.

Pixiv has quite literally changed the game for indie artists in Japan like Nagata Kabi, and Webtoons and Lezhin have been among newer platforms that opened up a whole new audience to the joy of Yuri manga and comics.

Artists like Ratiana Satis (Pulse) and Kuru of Color_LES (Mage and Demon Queen) have changed the landscape for how – and where and by whom – people are able to find Yuri.

I think this kind of work is very exciting and very entertaining and always look forward to more new independent artists breaking out!

 

Yuri Visual Novels/Games
I’m not going to lie, the visual novel landscape has a lot of problems, Steam’s inconsistent and obscure rule changes looming large among them.  But the industry is full of energy and creativity that is worth talking about.

In 2019, Studio Élan created a whole new game engine for putting out innovative, unique, and original work. What I have seen has impressed me so very deeply. Indie creators gather annually for the Yuri Game Jam which gives space for smaller creative teams and individual devs to work on their idea and for you to try them out. Itch.io has quietly become a significant independent resource for game and VN developers and players.

Even if I will never be the audience for them, there are some really excellent VNs and games being made and I think they absolutely deserve a place on this list this year.

 

Yuri Creators
There are so many creators of Yuri these days that it almost seems insulting to highlight a few names, but this year there has been some outstanding work by a few individuals, that I really believe it’s worth highlighting and celebrating them.

These are creators whose work has created change in the Yuri landscape: Yoshiya Nobuko (Yaneura no Nishojo) for setting in motion the creation of an entire genre by living her life and writing the stories she wrote;  Riyoko Ikeda (Rose of Versailles), for having conversation about gender presentation and sexuality 40 years before anyone else had words for them;  Takeuchi Naoko (Sailor Moon) who twenty-five years ago created characters so timeless, that we’re only now realizing just how important they are; Kabi Nagata (My Solo Exchange Diary), for her heart-breaking honesty – I know many of us want her to be healthy and happy; Takashima Hiromi (Kase-san and Yamada) for breaking Yuri romance out of high school where it had been locked for so long; Go Nagai (Devil Lady), for being a pioneer of queer women in his Devilman sagas;  Takemiya Jin (Itoshi Koishi) for walking us along the path with a young woman who wants to be out and open with her friends; Ameco Kaeruda (Sexiled), for writing a feminist power fantasy that is empowering, delightful and funny; Morishima Akiko (Conditions of Paradise) who at long last in 2020 will get the English-language recognition as a Yuri manga artist that she deserves.

Breakthroughs often pass unnoticed until long afterwards. I will note that 2020 will mark the end of one the most important decades in history for our genre, as well as the end of the first century for the genre. Some of these names created a solid foundation for us to build upon and some are among the leading lights as we head into a new decade. They most assuredly deserve our thanks and a place on this list.

 

Okazu Readers and Patrons
You, my Okazu readers, are critically important to our mission here. It is a testament to your engagement that so many of you have become writers for Okazu and a testament to your personalities that so many of you have become my friends. ^_^ My very sincere thanks to every one of you who reads and comments on and shares our content.

My very special thanks to Okazu Patrons for making it possible for me to celebrate this year with reviews and lectures and panels and events. Your financial and social support helps us pay for guest writers and reviewers. Every year you make this list, and once again this year I can say with all honesty, I could not have done it without you.

 

Light Novels & Novels
This year saw a veritable explosion of Light Novels and Novels in both digital and print. While as a genre LNs can be inconsistent, Yuri fans have been horribly spoiled by the high quality Light Novels we’ve seen.

J-Novel Club opened up their Yuri line with a salvo of truly excellent Yuri titles, including Last and First Idol,and Side-by-Side Dreamers. Seven Seas picked up what are extraordinarily good series-extension Bloom Into You, Regarding Saeki Sayaka. But the Light Novel that really blew my hair back was the totally-on-point brilliantly topical and deeply satisfying Sexiled series by Kaeruda Ameco. Those books scratched itches I didn’t know I had. If you haven’t read these, you should. Just go read them.

Will Yuri fans continue to be spoiled with top quality fantasy and science fiction Light Novels while everyone else has to deal with “the protagonist has no pants, hurh hurh” as a main plot point? I sure hope so.  ^_^

 

Now as we enter the final few of of our end-of-year roundup, I want to take a moment to note a few series that just deserve a moment of reverence and thanks for all they’ve done and all they will continue to do.

 

Our Dreams at Dusk Shimanami Tasogare
As I have repeatedly noted, this series is not Yuri. Instead, there is very real-world queer identity here; real problems faced by real people in the real world, which makes this series, if not unique, then at least extraordinary.

This story about self and community and creating a space in a world that isn’t welcoming…and then taking up that space and owning it, is a lot to ask of a work of fiction. Heck, it’s a lot to ask of life! Not only does Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare succeed at that, it does it beautifully.

This is the kind of LGBTQ work I hope we’ll see more and more of from increasingly open queer manga artists.

 

 

Sailor Moon Stars
Every year I joke that if there is a Sailor Moon out that year, it will find a way on to this list.  ^_^ Well this year a Sailor Moon that has never had an official English-language release is out and it so very, deeply, queer that it seems almost fantastic. Sailor Moon Stars is the final piece of the original series, and we’re looking forward to the Sailor Moon Crystal 4th season movies in the years to come.

Let me offer a toast to Sailor Moon Stars and to the permanent – and official –  partnership of Tenoh Haruka and Kaioh Michiru – and welcome to the the next iteration of Sailor Moon fandom. Here’s to cafes and night drive parfaits and anniversary albums. May we all be together once again for the 50th anniversary.

 

 

Rose of Versailles
The wait has not been in vain. It *just* squeaked onto this year’s list by having a limited release in December. Don’t be surprised to see it back again in 2020. It’s almost 50 years old but we have an official English language release of The Rose of Versailles at last and it is a truly magnificent thing. UDON has really gone above and beyond for this release.

Oscar’s struggle with gender and class expectations, with the pressures of a society in which she may not be the person she wants to be, takes us through love and loss and the overturning of an ancien regime in a story that is terrifyingly timely.

This story of the French Revolution seen through the eyes of Oscar François de Jarjayes is so very, very extra.

A classic manga just in time for our 100th anniversary. What a year we’ve had. Our Yuri shelves are already full to bursting, with even more amazing stuff to come in 2020!

 

 

Kase-san and Bloom Into You
Both the Kase-san series and Yagate Kimi ni Naru/Bloom Into You were relatively typical high school Yuri series. Both series managed to take the typical tropes of their origins and turn them into something interesting, unusual and ultimately,  original. Both had animation that went above and beyond the manga and both had a global impact.

Once upon a time, all we wanted was a genuinely happy ending for a Yuri love story, an ending that showed our characters moving into the future together. This year, we got two. Moreover, neither series is riding its fame into the sunset, yet. Takashima-sensei’s Kase-san is ongoing and we’re getting some post-series work from Nakatani-sensei in anthologies and artbooks and I desperately hope to see signs of a third Sayaka novel soon.

These series have made it onto both of the other lists and it seems only reasonable to just say this plainly – both these series were tops for 2019.

 

I’ve mentioned this repeatedly during these lists (and have to tell you, we’re not done yet…) but this year was an amazing one, for me, for the Yuri genre, for all of us. Which brings me to the very best Yuri thing this year.

 

100 Years of Yuri

Yuri Events were through the roof this year. It began with the an amazing time at TCAF and took me along, one fun Yuri-filled event to another. We did Yuri-focused Yurithon. We held the 100th Anniversary of Yuri Tour with a few like-minded friends, during which we spent time with the Sailor Senshi, and ate lunch with Fumi, flipped 500 yen coins at a shrine with Kuraku Asuka, bought Yuri goods and Yuri doujinshi and Yuri manga and glutted ourselves on food and threw money at Yuri artists at Girls Love Fest.

This celebration of Yuri’s 100th anniversary has been exhausting and amazing. I’ve met so many folks, got to meet new Yuri manga artists and see old friends and done so many presentations and had so very much fun.

The number one top Yuri thing of the year was…the year.

It’s been 100 Years since Yaneura no Nishojo (屋根裏の二) codified how we think and talk about Yuri. Thanks to Yoshiya Nobuko and thanks to all the people and companies on these lists. Thanks to all of you, my readers and commenters and my patrons.

Here’s looking forward to 2CYE (Common Yuri Era) in which the the fun is not over, as we extend the celebration into 2020 for the final 100th anniversary project here on Okazu. ^_^ Tune in tomorrow! And here’s to the next 100 Years!

 





Okazu Top Yuri Anime of 2019

December 27th, 2019

Hello and welcome to the 2019 Edition of the end-of-year lists here on Okazu! <pausing for applause> As usual, I will be splitting the lists of things I consider notable, interesting, worth mentioning into three. We begin, as we always begin with anime of the year that I consider worth noting. Also as usual, I will be bending the laws of relativity around words like “anime” “year” and “worth.” ^_^ I’ll do my best to note where and/or how you can watch this series on the list. Because it is possible this year, every single series on the list is available legitimately streaming and/or with an English-language release on DVD or Blu-ray.

These are all inherently my opinion and may therefore necessarily not reflect yours. ^_^ I invite you to write your top lists in the comments! I’d love to see what you consider best of the year.

 

Honorable Mention: Devilman Crybaby

This was explicitly a 2018 series, but I did not watch it until 2019, so could not include it last year, which was a huge failure on my part. Oh well. ^_^

Devilman Crybaby is also not “Yuri” per se, but it is queer as fuck and arguably the best anime I watched all year.

So here we are, starting off with this collaboration for Go Nagai and Masaaki Yuasa in one of the finest anime I have ever seen. Devilman Crybaby is a masterwork and deserves recognition for its mastery.

Streaming on Netflix.

 

 

 

Revue Starlight

It’s not as Yuri as I’d hoped, but there’s plenty of Yuri drama in between what is largely incoherent plot points. But who needs coherence when you have songs! and fights! and a giraffe!

For Futaba and anyone not Kaoruko, for Banana and Junna and above all, for Maya and Claudine, this series definitely deserves a place here.

Streaming on HIDIVE, coming out in 2020 on “home video” as they say, from Sentai Filmworks.

 

 

Steven Universe

I know and you know that this is not anime. It is, however so *deeply* inspired by anime that I hope I don’t even need to mention that it’s a child of Revolutionary Girl Utena, it’s just that obvious.

It tells us deeply difficult stories in a way that actually address all of the problematic bits, and it give us multiple queer characters seen from multiple angles. Both allies and enemies are sympathetic and unsympathetic in turn.  And it gave us so much music that gets stuck in my head. The series climax was brilliant, the movie finale was a Takarazuka tribute and “Future” gave us time to consider where we go from here. As long as there’s a Steven Universe. It’ll quite likely end up here on my Top list eventually. ^_^

Broadcast on Cartoon Network, streaming on Amazon Prime, available on DVD.

 

 

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Yep, also not an anime. But super duper gay, so yeah, it’s on here. It’s a little darker, a lot more complex than kid’s cartoons were in my youth, but the gay characters’ relationships are noted as such. There’ll be no segment of fandom trying to rewrite what they are told here – Netossa and Spinarella are a couple and so are Bow’s parents and that is that. I genuinely love how I am not the target audience for this series and how very obviously little kids are, without the tiresome blatant marketing + faux morality that was foisted upon cartoons I grew up with.

She-Ra and the Princess of Power is a damn fine animated series and you should at least give it a try.

Streaming on Netflix, available on DVD.

 

 

Sailor Moon Super S

Upon watching the Sailor Moon SuperS Special, one might find oneself inclined to become very gay indeed. (Also one might wonder about the ferociousness of Michiru without Haruka to keep her tempered.) For such a short special, it packs a really gay punch. And this is the first time its ever had an official English-language release!

SuperS starts off with a surprising amount of queerness, but it all gets set aside for the second of Chibi-Usa’s questionable love choices. Nonetheless, the SuperS Special makes this whole season worth existing and is the sole reason that it is on this list.

Streaming on Viz.com, available on Blu-ray from Viz Media.

 

 
 

Sailor Moon Stars

Where SuperS starts off queer, but ends back in boring old straightsville, Sailor Moon Stars starts queer and just keeps on going for a long, long while. It has the largest collection of non-cis and not-straight characters of all the seasons and Haruka and Michiru get some pretty intimate lines between them. When you remember that this is a 25 year old series for children, and you reevaluate some of their scenes, you might feel at least a little bad for those folks positive in their conviction that they were not women and not in love. Because they are so obviously, definitely two women in love any argument to the contrary seems utterly ridiculous.

For at long last, giving us the best possible version of Stars, Viz gets two thumbs up and a place in this year’s top three.

Streaming on Viz.com, available on DVD and Blu-ray Viz Media.

 

 

Kase-san and Morning Glories

It was sweet, it was charming, it was beautifully, lovingly animated. And now that it is available in English as a sub and a dub, it’s one of the best buys of the year! Yamada, who loves plants and struggles quietly with her sense of self-worth, and Kase-san, a beloved star athlete of the school, fall in love and it’s all…delightful. They have things to work through, and things they need to say out loud and things that they need to do for themselves, but they are there for each other, moving forward in life and love, together.

Their story is ongoing, but this anime can be watched as is without any explanation as a slice of two lives that are coming together as one.

Available on Blu-ray from Sentai Filmworks.

 

The Kase-san OVA has been my #1 of the year before, and I honestly expected it to be again this year, but then some things happened. First, something old and wonderful came back to us after years of being obscure.

 

Go Nagai’s The Devil Lady

A bit of a late entry, because I had no idea it had come back into circulation, but Go Nagai’s The Devil Lady, the early 2000’s ADV (now Section 23) release of Devilman Lady is….fantastically gay and deeply Yuri. It’s violent, and trashy, as all Nagai works are, and it’s full of mutating people and death and misery and sexual desire and even love.

In a year when queer horror is having the renaissance it deserves, and in Go Nagai’s 55th anniversary of his debut year, I can’t think of anything that makes me happier than to see one of my absolute favorites come back into the limelight. Fingers crossed for a license of the remastered Devilman Lady which ought to be out next year for a 20th anniversary. (And I’ve already asked Seven Seas to consider the manga which was deeply fucked up. ^_^)

Streaming on Amazon Prime.

 

When it comes to “something happened,” my number one pick of the year doubled down.

 

Bloom Into You

The first thing that happened was that – very unusually – the anime really added layers of depth to the manga and ended up being better than the source material.

With insightful voice acting in both English and Japanese, the anime took a few early volumes of the manga and made them seem far more compelling than the comic had. That’s rare in and of itself.

But what really catapulted this series into the top spot was that the home release actually fixed the problems with the broadcast/streaming animation, and added in a pile of physical extras on top of that. For once, it was really worth getting a Premium box set.

Considering that the story is chock-a-block full of typical Yuri tropes, the fact that the Bloom Into You Premium box set from Sentai Filmworks/Section 23 is so incredibly good, it is my number one Yuri anime pick of the year.

Streaming on HIDIVE, available on Blu-ray.

We didn’t have a lot of Yuri anime this year, but what we had was pretty amazing! Next up, the unbelievably difficult Yuri Manga list. (Holy cow there was a lot of good Yuri manga this year.)





Yuri Anime: Sailor Moon Stars Limited Edition, Part 1, Disk 1 (English)

December 24th, 2019

While at AnimeNYC, I took the opportunity to indulge myself a bit and buy myself a few presents. The Bloom Into You Premium Box Set (for which I believe one more review is due, since I watched the dub) was the first of my early holiday gifts to self and the Sailor Moon Stars Limited Edition was the second. Viz had a lovely booth set up and I was able to get the Limited Edition Blu-Ray Combo Pack for Part 1 and Part 2 and a neat little box for them, as well as the infamously misprinted booklet (I’ve already asked for my copy of the fixed version ^_^) and a pile of fetching art cards. Additionally, the set comes with a decorative box for both halves of the season and was handed over in one of Viz’s colorful Sailor Moon tote bags, this one purple with the silhouette of Eternal Sailor Moon on one side and her locket on the other. All very satisfying.

And so, for the first time in a number of years, I sat down to watch the first six episodes of Sailor Moon Stars Part 1, Disk 1, the fifth and final season, in its first-ever official western release.

As soon as the first notes of either the OP or ED start up, I get teary. In part because they are both deeply depressing songs. ^_^ Go ahead, look at the lyrics, see what I mean.

This first disk covers the best part of the Stars season, in my opinion, as Neherenia is freed from her prison and vows revenge against the White Moon Princess. This is not theg ood part…the good part is that we spend a lot of this arc with the Senshi. First we see Hotaru  growing up (at an accelerated rate) with Michiru, Haruka and Setsuna and later, Saturn gets a non-dying role protecting Chibi-Usa. I also very much enjoy the scenes where the Outers inspire the Inners to be even better at what they do. If I had been writing the series, it is quite likely I would have spent half the arc with this kind of thing.

Sailor Moon is able to save Mamoru and the other Senshi and, by extension, the Earth, once again. With two disks to go, we will finally be getting the Three Lights/Starlights and I know that most folks are poised to finally see them. I’m fairly alone in not liking them, for reasons we will discuss when we get there.

Right now, I just want to wallow a bit at how frickin’ gay Haruka and Michiru are in these six episodes. The gloves were off, clearly, as Michiru teases the heck out of her butchy partner. I rejoiced at how touchy they are, as well. Watching this disk, it boggles the mind that anyone ever insisted that they were not lovers, or if they were, Haruka had to be a man. But then, I suppose if the *.*gaters weren’t obsessed with Star Wars or whatever, we’d be having that argument all over again today. Instead, we get to smile and nod at Michiru when she tells Haruka that she could stare like this all day as she looks at her lover. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 4 In my memory, I thought this was some of the best art in the series. I was wrong.
Story – Despite being a reprise, it was not boring. Short, sharp and some of the best character writing so far
Characters – 9 I love the interaction between the Outers and Inners.
Yuri – 9
Service – 5 someone really had a thing for upskirting Jupiter

Overall – 8

My interest in this series effectively ends here, with just a few moments sprinkled through the story, but we still will have a lot to talk about including, eventually, my thoughts about the Starlights and what exists of the plot and how to rewrite it to make sense.





Yuri Anime: Kase-San and Morning Glories OVA (English), Guest Review by Eric P.

December 18th, 2019

Welcome to another Guest Review Wednesday here on Okazu. Thanks to our Okazu Patrons, we welcome back Guest Reviewer Eric P who is going to take a look at the Section 23 release of Kase-san and Morning Glories. Take it away Eric!

Kase-San and Morning Glories OVA, the high school love story between shy Yamada and her athlete girlfriend Kase, seemed to be a fairly big deal when it came out, with much love and acclaim. So, whichever western publisher would license this title, one would expect them to be well aware of its beloved status and treat its release accordingly, including a high-quality English audio track should they produce one. Kase-San was picked up by Sentai Filmworks/Section 23 , who seemed very much aware of the OVA’s importance.

Yamada’s voice is provided by Bryn Apprill, who also did Historia from Attack on Titan. Upon first listen it seems her voice gives Yamada a stereotypically cute/shy sound, but then I switch back and forth between the English and Japanese audio, and realize it was meant to be reflective of the original seiyuu. Some may still criticize it for trying a little too hard to stay faithful in that regard, and the moments where Yamada shrieks may be a bit much for those that find English shrieks being higher-pitched than the original Japanese bothersome. Yet these are just stressing nitpicks on my part, because by no means is it bad acting and Bryn still fitted the character. Her voice is most soothing when she narrates, and there’s something about the way she says “I think this might be a big deal” as she waits for Kase to come to her house that I felt was well-captured.

The one lead voice guaranteed not to give mixed feelings is Kase-san herself, portrayed by Morgan Berry, who also did Tokaku from Riddle Story of Devil and Dragon Panther from Cutie Honey Universe. While not the exact sound match-up to the original seiyuu like Yamada, she provides a fitting tomboy-type voice that emanates coolness within the movie’s first few moments. But when it comes to Yamada and their progressing relationship, she near-perfectly conveys vulnerable flustering and stumbling, countering her coolness with realistic adorableness.

The only other stand-out character is Yamada’s friend, Mikawa, voiced by Apphia Yu, who also did Tamako Arai from Barakamon. She gives Mikawa a suitable vibe of someone who is gearing up to be the life of the party, and all other additional/background voices making up the OVA’s overall mix come together as a natural-sounding whole. In the end, it is apparent the ADR cast and crew of Sentai poured their loving efforts into honoring this title. Even if one watches it in English just one time, the dub further serves its purpose in helping free the viewers’ eyes a bit and better take in the artistry that compliments the mutually lovely story.

The story itself is admittedly nothing groundbreaking. But even as a simple young romance tale, it is easy to recognize what made this OVA resonate so much is that it did everything it did well, with the right mix of direction, writing, art, music, what-have-you. It says just about everything it needs to say in a single self-contained hour, whether one has read or will read the manga or not. And because it also happens to be a same-sex love story, the focus relationship is depicted in such a casual, sweet and honest way without any “mandatory” sleazy stereotypes to bog it down. Yes, as I wrote the previous sentence I am thinking about that other OVA director Takuya Sato happened to do later that tried passing itself off as a spiritual follow-up to Kase-San. In a way it strangely makes me all the more appreciative that something like Kase-san and Morning Glories exists, and anyone could appreciate everything it offers any time they choose to sit down for one simple hour of pleasantness.

Ratings:

Dub—9.5
Blu-Ray—7*
OVA Overall—10

*Although a Sentai title, it is not yet available on HIDIVE as of this review posting. And Sentai’s basic blu-ray does not come with any bonus features outside the promo trailers and English dub. I would have thought Kase-San would have earned a Premium release of some kind, and nowhere on the disc will one find the Pony Canyon music video that started everything, which was surprising and curious enough on its own. Regardless, it is still worth owning if you are an English dub fan or are at least open to them. Or if you have not yet bought the original Amazon Japan release, then Sentai’s domestic blu-ray is still a more economical purchase to help add this to any Yuri collector’s library.

Erica here: Thank you very much, Eric for this look at the US release of this OVA! At less than $20 on Amazon, it might not be a premium release, but it’s worth every penny. ^_^

 




Yuri Anime: Bloom Into You Premium Box Set, Disk 2 (English)

December 16th, 2019

Bloom Into You Premium Box Set ends as it began, with shockingly good visuals and voice acting that elevates the story beyond the original manga.

Disk 2 might appear anti-climactic for those of us watching for Sayaka, but it is in these final episodes that the seeds of the rest of the story are sown. We are there to witness, you might say, the moment when Yuu’s promise turns into a lie. She might not know it yet, but we can see the moment she falls in love.

The DVD “extras” are basic. Clean beginning and endings for your Anime Music Videos (seriously, that’s why those are there, it’s a relic from “back in the day”) and promo material for other Sentai properties are the only content extras.

BUT, in order to do a complete review, (and to do a test run for the family get-together next week,) I made Rei’s cheesecake recipe. I wasn’t sure we had a springform pan and ultimately, we ended up throwing the one we had out, because it was degrading and made the cake taste weird. It might well have come with this house for all we know. ^_^;

The recipe was straightforward enough. It calls for cake flour, which gave the cake a lighter profile than the thicker cheesecakes I’m used to, which I actually liked. It wasn’t very sweet, which I also liked and the lemon functioned the same way sour cream does on Hungarian cheesecake, to cut the sweetness…and give it flavor.

Even packed down, the crust was really loose and crumbly. We’ll have to compact it a lot more next time, since we did not use cookies, we used graham crumb and it was super crumbly and dry. (Although, overnight in the fridge firmed it up considerably.)

The instructions say to leave the cake in the oven until completely cool, but this really overcooked it. Next time, we’ll take it out at half an hour. It’s going to crack no matter what. You could use a bain-marie to keep it moist but does *anyone* really care if the cheesecake cracks? Seriously. Eat the damn cake.

The flavor was very good. As I said, it had a slightly cakier texture, which meant it wasn’t as cloying or rich. It’s a really pretty good recipe as cheesecakes go. I gave half to cake to neighbors with a cautionary “It’s a 6.5/7 on a scale of 10.”  I don’t bake, so for my first cheesecake ever, it was pretty successful. I’ll try again next week with some small changes. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 1
Yuri – 3

Overall – 9

Bloom Into You Premium Blu-Ray Box Set, is a feast for any Yuri fan. With dessert.