New Customized "Yuri Search" Feature on Yuricon!

July 18th, 2007

I was fooling around with Google’s custom search feature and I set up a customized search function especially for Yuri fans. It draws from a small set of anime/manga related sites, which will lead you to reasonably relevant posts about the series you care about.

Type in a series, and you’ll get reviews, news, info or forum posts related to that series! No more putting in “Air Master” in Google and getting mattresses or fans in the results. :-)

The new search feature lives on the right-hand of the Yuricon Sitemap page.

Let me know what you think of it. :-) Enjoy!

Posted in Yuricon | No Comments »


Yuri Light Novel: Strawberry Panic, Volume 2 (Japanese)

July 17th, 2007

Extra long review today because I’m heading out for Otakon (Yuri Panel Sunday at 1pm! All ages!) later this week and will probably only post in teeny, non-review chunks for the next few days. Before I start today’s review, I wanted to share this with you. It is a *real* honest-to-god email I received. I have altered it in no way, except to cut out the “Hello Erica” part:

i just wnated to tell you i love youre book strawberry panic so much well i didnt read the book i watched the show and i want more episodes that series made me depressed for a weak and im still not over kaori :'[ make mroe episodes :[

…

Moving right along.

In a surprise move, the Light Novel Strawberry Panic!, Volume 2 was actually pretty entertaining. LOL

As you know, Seven Seas has licensed the LNs. I am reading the series in Japanese first, because I wanted to see what the original sounded like before I read the translation. And, because I enjoy it.

Quick Overview of the Series and Story So Far

(If you know all this, skip to the New Bits):

Strawberry Panic! was a parody series in which many recognizable characters, concepts and whole episodes/scenes from other Yuri anime and manga series were taken and put into a blender, creating the anime version of a Long Island Ice Tea – tasty, intoxicating and not very good for your brain.

The story is as follows: Aoi Nagisa transfers into the elite Astoria, an academy that consists of three different schools – St. Miator, St. Spica and St. Lu Lim. Miator’s strength is academics – it is the oldest and most traditional of the three schools. Spica excels at sports and Lu Lim stresses club life and creativity.

Immediately, Nagisa is singled out by the “star” of the three schools, Hanazono Shizuma, who is known to be a playgirl. Shizuma is the “Etoile” (star) of the schools and is going to graduate this year, but decides to run for Etoile again with Nagisa as her partner.

Competing with Shizuma and Nagisa for the position is the “Prince” of Spica, Ohtori Amane, and another transfer student, the angelic Kotohana Hikari.

In the first Light Novel:

Amane and Hikari win the first contest of the competition, a very silly horseback race to “save” the younger partner from a tower.

Just before the second contest – a showy vow of love and fealty by the elder partner (Ane) to the younger (Cadet) – Nagisa learns that Shizuma’s former partner, and her first love, Sakuragi Kaori, died a short time after they were made Etoile.

At the end of the book Amane and Hikari are given the “petite crown” for winning the first contest, and Shizuma admits her history with Kaori, but swears that her vow to love only Nagisa for all eternity was completely the truth.

New Bits

The first novel basically followed the continuity of the Strawberry Panic! manga, which I have previously reviewed. (Volume 1 and Volume 2) Volume 1 included most of most service-filled scenes from the first half of the anime, as well…I’m convinced that the author was required to include those by the editor.

Volume 2 completely digresses from both manga and anime storylines. It begins with a letter being delivered to Russia (HAH! Bet you didn’t expect that!) to one Kusanagi Makoto, a former Spica student. Upon learning that her beloved Prince Amane is running for Etoile with a no-name transfer student, Makoto leaves her training as a violinist and runs back to Spica to “save” it from the horror.

Meanwhile in Miator, Student Council President Rokujyou Miyuki comes up with a plan so clever that if you stuck a tail on it you could call it a weasel. Amane, it turns out, was dead against this whole women-loving-women thing that went on at Astoria. She had previously proclaimed that she was not interested in such lesbian goings on……then she met Hikari and fell head over heels. As a result, she’s basically overwhelmed and on fire for her newfound love. Miyuki changes the second contest from a tennis doubles match to “The Devil Without a Face” in which the Ane and Cadet are not allowed to see one another for two solid weeks. Many a potential couple had broken under the pressure – either they couldn’t stand the strain and had cheated, or one partner had decided that they *could* do without the other. Two weeks is long enough for doubt and distrust to creep in….

Before the contest begins on St. Meriadoc’s Day (June 8, if you care) the schools are gathering together for large meals each night at one of the school dining halls. Into one of these comes Makoto, who showily commands the attention of everyone by declaring her love for another student – without saying who it is. Neither Amane nor Hikari are in the hall at the moment, conveniently.

Also that night, Lu Lim Student Council President Minamoto Chikaru shows up and plants in Nagisa a seed of unhappiness about how wonderful the late Kaori was and how much Shizuma still misses her.

Before the contest begins, Shizuma meets Nagisa in secret. Before they part for two weeks, Shizuma gives Nagisa a hickey to remember her by. On the same night, Amane and Hikari sneak out together. Hikari kisses Amane before they part.

Chikaru meets up with Makoto, who is so focused on Amane that she does not kiss Chikaru when the opportunity presents itself. Chikaru asks Makoto for a favor…

Hikari’s roommate Yaya is her number one fan. Yaya is absolutely in love with Hikari, but isn’t going to stand in her way – in fact, she’s her biggest friend and supporter against the other students who have been bullying Hikari quite a bit. But on night 10, Yaya takes Hikari out to look at the stars and her heart breaks at the way Hikari is trying to be strong in her loneliness. She embraces Hikari, and they fall into the pool. Overcome by Hikari’s beauty, Yaya strips her roommate and strokes her skin under the moonlight.

While they are apart from their beloved Ane, both Nagisa and Hikari are practicing for the dance competition. Kenjou Kaname, who resents Hikari deeply for taking “her” place at Amane’s side, finds that she is starting to understand what Amane sees in this girl, who looks so much like an angel. Nagisa, in the meantime, is filled with a dark desire to know more about Kaori.

Shizuma has a dream, in which Kaori comes to her as an angel and tells her to be happy.

On the next to last night of the contest, Makoto holds a concert. The whole school attends. Amane and Hikari meet up in secret and later that night, they sneak off to be together. They are immediately discovered by, who else, Makoto, who brings one of the nuns and the three Student Council Presidents as witnesses. Amane and Hikari are disqualified.

One the last day of the contest, Nagisa can’t take another second – she finds Shizuma and demands to know more about Kaori. As Shizuma tells her what she wants to know, she is filled with the certainty that Shizuma is still in love with Kaori – and that their relationship is a sham.

The Spica Student Council is determining who will be their replacement for the dance contest when Lu Lim President Chikaru shows up and admits to being the one who sabotaged both sides. Spica President Toumori Shion asks why, since Lu Lim didn’t want the title. Chikaru explains that Lu Lim *did* want the title. In fact, the “Henshin Club” (the cosplay club run by Chikaru) was a front for her real plan – to turn her harem of underclassmen into school idols and future Etoile. The cosplay was all part of teaching them different roles and responsibilities and to promote them around the school.

As the third and final competition, the dance contest, begins, Amane and Hikari quietly leave the school together, and Nagisa officially pulls herself from the Etoile contest.

The dance contest starts, with Makoto and Student Council Secretary Tsubomi representing Spica and Chikaru’s protégés Remon and Kizuna representing Lu Lim.

End of Book.

I thought that the author did a pretty decent job of adding depth to most of the characters, changing several for the better. Amane and Hikari particularly, were given actual personalities; Yaya’s pain was given some depth; Miyuki continues to be far snarkier and funnier than her anime incarnation; and Nagisa’s behavior makes actual sense. Chikaru, while gaining depth, is also really creepy throughout the novel. I really liked how her cosplay obsession was made into part of the plot (her’s and the book’s.) Extra points to the author for that. :-)

Shizuma remains undeveloped if, perhaps, a bit sweeter and less manipulative than the anime version. Shion took the biggest hit in this novel – she sort of loses all personality and just spends the book being stunned and shocked. Kaname becomes a nasty temper on the hoof – I quite liked her, but I wish she’d stop obsessing about Amane. It’s getting tired.

Lastly, Tamao. I am not in alignment with most of Yuri fandumb in revering her anime incarnation. But I do not find sexual harassment appealing – whether it’s done by a woman or not. In the novels, she’s just annoying to me. Nagisa’s clueless – despite having been at school for several months now – and Tamao steadfastly provides no useful information. Their conversations look like this:

N: “Meowmeow? What’s that?”
T: “Oh, that’s right, you wouldn’t know about it. Oh well, you’ll find out. Tee hee!”

Every time the two of them had a conversation, the book ground to a halt in my opinion.

Overall, while less servicey than anime, manga or the first novel, I think that this book is really quite entertaining. There’s a genuine attempt by the author to imbue these characters with some real dimension and the plot with some real oomph.

Ratings:

Art – 6 (one point off for so often illustrating things we don’t want to see and not illustrating the ones we do)
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 5

Overall – 7

Last comment: EVERYTIME Hikari appears, she cries. Every time. No exceptions. It would make a good drinking game – drink when Hikari cries. You’d be blotto by page 50. It’s a 300+ page book.

Posted in Light Novel, Strawberry Panic | 13 Comments »


Yuri Anime: Battle Athletes, Volume 1

July 16th, 2007

Sorry for not posting for the last few days – I’ve been juggling trying to get ready for Otakon this weekend, and catching up on myself. Before we begin today, let’s offer up paeans of thanks to Eric who provided us with the subject of today’s review! Thank you Eric!

Battle Athletes, Volume 1 is…old school. Old school art, hair, opening theme, character design, everything. It’s so old school that a few minutes after turning it on, I had to turn it off to regroup mentally. ^_^ Once mentally prepared, I turned it back on – and was pretty pleased with what I saw. It took some retrofitting my brain used, as I am, to what’s currently running now, to enjoy the old animation, the whiny heroine and the screaming. There was a *lot* of screaming.

The story follows Kanzaki Akari, the daughter of the former greatest athlete in the universe, Tomoe Midori, on her quest to become the world’s greatest female athlete and win the title her mother held – Cosmos Beauty.

Unfortunately for Akari, she has inherited few of her mother’s traits. She appears to have barely any athletic skills, is a crybaby and generally whiny. Of course it can’t stay like that, because then there’d be no story, so when Akari is moved to save another competitor’s life, her heretofore non-existent athletic skills skyrocket into hypercompetence.

Thankfully for the audience, Akari is surrounded by much more interesting characters. There’s the offensive Chinese stereotype Ling-Pha, and the strange “weird foreign tribal-type” stereotype Tanya. Then there’s Akari’s best friend Ichino who, voiced by Hisakawa Aya, is the perfect Osaka stereotype. Completing the main cast is Russian stereotype Ayla and America stereotype Jessie. And one of the things I thought while I watched the latter two compete was that, when this anime was made, the concept of US vs Russia athletic competition was far more politically charged and intense than it is now. ^_^ Now, anyone under the age of 20 (if we could get them to sit still for this anime at all) would be like, “so?”

The basic idea of the anime is that we are following these women as they train to attend the Satellite Training Camp, where they will be training even harder to try and become competitors for Cosmos Beauty. So we see a variety of futuristic and often silly “athletic” competition. And a variety of service as well, since of course as female athletes they never wear pants.

Compared to later episodes, Volume 1 is marginally gay…except for those moments when it’s massively gay.

Ichino pings most people’s gaydar right off, something that’s borne out in later volumes. But I kind of think Akari has it right when she says that Ichino is like an older brother to her.

Ayla and Jessie, by virtue of being powerful, talented athletic women who seem to be very focused on one another read totally gay…even if, in a real-world situation, they’d just be excellent rivals and maybe friends.

Jessie, the less lesbian of the two gets the first open proposition of the series. When running around looking for Tanya, in what is otherwise an incredibly stupid episode, another student confesses her feelings to Jessie and asks if she can call her onee-sama; she suggests that they could start off by training in sports, but maybe they could segue into this and that. Jessie replies that she appreciates the thought, but isn’t interested.(This whole scene reminded me strongly of the old schoolness again, because the translation just sort of plays fast and loose with what’s being said. “Onee-sama” is not translated as big sister, much less kept as is. They sort of randomly assign words to what the classmate is saying. And Jessie’s “I have no interest” is, as often is the case for some reason in anime, translated as “I don’t swing that way.” Another phrase I’d like to see corrected in current anime translation. “Thank you for the thought, but I’m not interested in that” is so much less crude than, “No, I don’t swing that way.” Jessie is voiced by Itou Miki and speaks in a tone reminiscent of Sachiko’s formal voice – I really just don’t see her being that crude. But hey, this was translated a gazillion years ago before Onee-samas and Yuri ever made it to the shores of America. So I’ll let this one slide, but I would like to see it done correctly going forward.)

The final episode on the volume is Yuri enough for most, as it follows Ayla’s growing obsession with Jessie, and ends in a swimming match. For many, many reasons, I loved this episode. Mostly for the swimming. I swam competitively as a kid (without ever being good, mind you) and my love for swimming has never left me. Watching these two women swimming and obsessing about each other was definitely my happy place for the day. ^_^

So, I gotta say, Volume 1 was a lot more Yuri than I remembered it being. And it was a good chunk of fun too.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – Everyone other than Akari – 8. Akari – 5
Yuri – 5
Service – 5

Overall – 7

Let me also mention that I have reviewed the Battle Athletes series as a whole, Volume 3 and Volume 6, previously, should you be interested.

Posted in Battle Athletes, English Anime, Yuri Anime | 4 Comments »


Yuri Anime: Ninja Nonsense, Volume 4 (English)

July 12th, 2007

Because I failed at this a few days ago, let me start off by thanking Serge for his sponsorship of today’s review! Thanks Serge!

Sponsoring a review is easy! Just buy something off my Yuri Wishlist and I’ll review it – with thanks to the generous donor. There’s SO much coming out these days, that its hard, even with my good job, to keep up with everything. So many thanks to the wonderful folks who help me do these reviews!

Today’s review, Ninja Nonsense, Volume 4 is the final volume of this anime series, also known as 2 x 2 Shinobuden. But you wouldn’t actually know it until the very, very end. Instead, the series starts on the usual wacky note. This time the Ninjas are going to “learn” how to celebrate Christmas. This segues into a sudden tidal wave of cursed objects infecting the Ninja Academy, Ninja class president Sasuke’s adolescent fantasies, and Ninjas trying to put on a play. All brilliant, if unsubtle, send-ups of typical school age life.

This is followed by a torpid episode in which Onsokomaru reveals his “secret” (which we all knew anyway and which Shinobu doesn’t get.)

Which brings us to the final episode,. Shinobu, if she passes the final exam, will graduate from Ninja Academy and go to a school in England. Hold onto that – I’ll get back to it.

As Yuri goes for this series, Yuri quotient on this volume is pretty high. It begins with, as I mentioned, the Christmas episode. At the end of this episode, Kaede instructs Shinobu in the “true” meaning of Christmas which is, obviously, that it’s the night to spend with the person you love. Kaede asks if Shinobu likes someone; Shinobu happily responds yes. After an awkward moment or two, Kaede clues in to the fact that she is, in fact, that person. While she does not melt happily into Shinobu’s arms, she doesn’t leave, either.

More importantly, the last episode. When Shinobu hears that she would, upon graduation, be transferred to a school in England, her mind immediately conjures up an image of a all-girl private school, in which other girls happily laugh and call her name…and she drools. lol So, that basically says that. She’s not just “in love with” Kaede. The girl’s gay.

When Kaede learns Shinobu may be leaving, she gets very depressed and moony. She berates herself for being down, but can’t shake it – even though she grits her teeth and says she’s happy for Shinobu.

Shinobu completes the test and graduates. She leaves Japan for England. We follow mopey Kaede, still missing her even months later. One day, Kaede is walking home from school when lo and behold! There’s Shinobu! She got lonely and came back, end of explanation. Kaede leaps into Shinobu’s arms as the series ends. Yuri fans nod, our work here is done. :-)

DVD extras consist of a reversible, but printed the same on both sides (?) cover, and “character gallery” with stills and no real information that couldn’t be gleaned from episode 1-4. It’s thin on the extras, let’s just say that.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 7
Service – 6

Overall – 7

As with all the other volumes, Ninja Nonsense is a brutal, but funny parody of the very fanboys that watch it. Fun party fare and good for a needed laugh.

Posted in English Anime, Shinobuden, Yuri Anime | 2 Comments »


Guest Review Guidelines

July 12th, 2007

2021 Update: Guest Reviews on Okazu are paid at what is currently an industry standard. As a result we are more strict about Guest Review applications and submissions. Please read and follow the process below carefully: 

If you would like to write a Guest Review for Okazu, please begin here before you contact us!

1) If you have never been a Guest Reviewer before, please email me *first*. Introduce yourself. “Hello, my name is _____ and I am writing to discuss a possible Guest Review for /name of series and media/.” Anime, manga or games only please. Games and Visual Novels are especially welcome. 

Please send a request for *one* series to review. (Folks have been known to send suggestions for multiple series. Please do not. Thank you.)

Please also do a quick search using the search function on the righthand sidebar to see if the media you’re contacting me about has already been reviewed. We have a lot of content on Okazu, we may have covered it already. ^_^

 

If you have previously Guest Reviewed and are suggesting a review, you can begin here:

2) Suggest a series that you have legitimately purchased or watched on a legal stream. No subs or scans or games that were downloaded illicitly. Remember, at Okazu, we support the industry and the creators. 

3) What should follow is a short discussion of *why* that series suitable as a review topic for Okazu – i.e., where’s the Yuri or Queer content and why it is of interest to Okazu readers. This is the meat of your pitch so please, I beg you, keep your email relevant. We are most interested in Japanese and other East Asian popular culture content, but are open to western popular culture, or relevant non-fiction reviews.

Spell check it, make sure the grammar is correct. It is upon this section that I will be making my decision. (This is unnecessary if I have specifically solicited a review for a series from you.)

 

If you have have been solicited to write a review you can start here:

4) DO NOT EMAIL ATTACHMENTS. I hate, loathe and abhor attachments. When you email the review, you MUST send it as inline text, so I can cut and paste it. If you make me open an attachment I will be very grouchy. 500 words is average for a review, but we’re not counting, so you don’t have to be anal. If you can write a succinct review in a couple hundred words, feel free, or go longer if you have a lot to say.

5) Please use the format I use for Okazu and include ratings as I do. The format is, roughly: 

– Personal Intro and links to your relevant sites.
– Series Intro and Synopsis.
– Notable Items of Interest. If there are any. For instance, this is where you might discuss the art or a theme, etc.
– Discussion of the Yuri/Queer content
– Ratings.

If it is an obscure, out-of-print or hard-to-find series, please include a cover picture or a link to a cover picture. If it is currently available I’ll use the official cover art.

Ratings on Okazu are from 1-10 on categories:
Art –
Story –
Characters –
Service (level of salaciousness) –
Yuri  –
Overall –

You can also add in ratings for notable qualities like music for an anime. Ratings may be as capricious as you like. The Overall score does not have to be an average of the other scores. The Overall score is a general effect/overall impression score.

 

6) Please proofread your review before you send it. Have a friend proofread it or read it out loud. 

Lastly – being a Guest Reviewer on Okazu is an honor. I do not bestow it lightly. I may reject your review. It is most likely not personal. Either I did not feel that the series was worthy, or your review needed improvement or I want to review that anime/manga myself or something else. Please don’t take it personally. 

7) If your review is accepted payment will be made through Paypal. Include your Paypal email with your review. ^_^ We won’t demand formality. If you send out invoices for your own records, that’s fine.

We welcome Guest Reviewers on Okazu and look forward to working with you! Thank you to all our Okazu Patrons for making it possible to pay Guest Writers the industry standard!

Posted in Now This Is Only My Opinion, Okazu News | 14 Comments »