Yuri Anime: Hana no Asuka-gumi Lonely Cats Battle Royale

May 31st, 2005

When you think of great Yuri love affairs, you tend to think of Michiru following Haruka in hopes of a ride in her car, or Anthy and Utena breaking through the world’s shell to gain the outside world. Or maybe you think of Sei falling hard for Shiori as she prays in the church at Lillian.

You probably *don’t* think of Yohko snidely commenting to a wounded Asuka that she wouldn’t be able to fight effectively with a broken hand.

But you should.

The second Hana no Asuka-gumi OVA is really quiet remarkably sexy for an old series that has no sex, and really no affection, at all. Because in this case the sexual tension is all sublimated into physical beatings – consider it the ultimate in “love taps.”

The full title of this untranslated OVA is Hana no Asuka-gumi Lonely Cats Battle Royale and it is the animated version of one of the “extra” volumes of the manga. It’s a rather complex tale that weaves in threads of a current (well, current in the mid-80s) gambling ring that involves people without their consent and a damsel in distress with a serious food allergy, and the backstory between Asuka and Yohko.

Let me mostly ignore the plot in favor of the backstory. ^_^

So, way back Asuka was a badly bullied kid in school. She tried to kill herself, but was saved, both physically and emotionally. She learned to channel her rage at others rather than herself and determined to become stronger than anyone so she could kick their bully asses. When we see the current Asuka, she has done just that – she’s the strongest fighter in all of Tokyo, bar maybe one or two people. (And Yohko, but that’s a different thing).

But between here and there, there was a time when Asuka was getting into a lot of fights – and losing. This is where Yohko found her, huddled up on the street nursing that broken hand. Yohko was nasty to her, derisive, and Asuka followed her more to annoy Yohko as much as anything else. Yohko had saved her previously from a false charge of shoplifting, only to thrust her into a seriously dangerous situation. When Asuka follows Yohko, the older girl knows that she’s found the perfect dupe.

Asuka falls hard in love with her tor/mentor.

The rest of the story is taken up with Asuka’s tough love rescue of the damsel in distress and the break up of the Ichigo Milk gambling scheme, but it ends up, as all Asuka/ Yohko interactions do, with the two of them fighting. I mean, really beating the daylights out of each other. This is rough sex without the kissing, and its *really* obvious – even to Yohko, who knows perfectly well what Asuka feels for her. Ultimately (although not in this OVA and not for many years) Asuka realizes, as well.

Of the two Hana no Asuka-gumi OVAs, this one is the win, because you get so much of Asuka’s backstory and alot of Yohko-Asuka interaction. The animation is still pretty “bleah” and the music is excruciating, but as girl gang OVAs go, this has a Yuri quotient right up there with the Sukeban Deka OVA.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Music – 5
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7

No lovey-dovey here – Asuka and Yohko’s love is a violent and dysfunctional love. But it is definitely love.

Posted in Hana no Asuka-gumi, Yuri Anime | 5 Comments »


Events: Onna! announces "Be Discovered at Onna"!

May 26th, 2005

Onna!, a three-day festival of women�s roles in animation and comics taking place October 8-10, 2005 in Newark, NJ, is proud to introduce Project Manga!

Be Discovered at Onna! will give aspiring young artists a chance to pitch a manga-style story and art to a panel of publishing professionals, including Onna! Guest of Honor, creator of Jane’s World, Paige Braddock. The panel will include representatives from manga publishing companies – contestants will get guidance and advice from people who are leaders in the manga and comics industries. The winner has the possibility of being published by an American manga company.

Be Discovered at Onna! is just one of the original games and contests developed specifically for Onna!. You�ll also have a chance to play an English-language version of Hyakunin Isshu, the classical Japanese card game of verse-matching, or have the chance to participate in Onna!�s original Drama CD recording. Of course, Onna! will also have all the popular contest and games, from Music Video Contest to a whack-a-thon!

Pre-registration for Onna! is strongly encouraged � save $15 off the at-door price and reserve yourself a place at the most unique con of the year! Register online or email [email protected] for a mail-in registration form or more information.

Onna! – By women, about women, for everyone

October 8-10 2005
Newark, NJ

Posted in Events | 1 Comment »


Yuri Manga: Boku ha Onna no Ko Manga

May 25th, 2005

I’ve been reviewing so many things I like that I thought it was time to be a downer again. ^_^

This manga, Boku ha Onna no Ko, i.e., I am a Girl (where the “I” is a boy’s form) is…okay. I have seen this many, many, many times on “Yuri Manga” lists in Japanese. I’ve never really been tempted to buy it, but on my last night in Tokyo I was going crazy and throwing money around Comic Tora no Ana like I was a millionaire. So I got it.

Boku is a collection of short stories by Shimura Takako, that are all very “eh.” The first story – the title story, “Boku ha Onna no Ko,” seems to be about a boy who fell into a several-months long sleep and, upon waking, finds that she is now a girl. Even as a Kafka-esque piece, this story seemed forced to me. We get most of the Greek Chorus commentary from an older brother with a girl’s name – can’t remember it at the moment. Nothing happens, except we get to see her naked and confirm that yes, she is a girl, and um, the kids in school all want to know what it feels like. Tomorrow she will go out and buy dressses. The end.

The middle stories made absolutely *no* impression on me and I cannot recall any of them.

The final story had the most personality. In “Sweet 16 – Hina,” a young, very boyish girl named Hina falls in love with her (I think) music teacher, a woman. The teacher, in a very emotional scene, both acknolwedges and regretfully rejects Hina’s feelings, but it wasn’t nasty in any way – the teacher is in love with a man and is suffering a bit for her own love. The story is mostly a coming of age type thing, very mild and a little bittersweet. But nothing really happens.

I was not whelmed by this book, either over- or under-. It is gone from my collection now and after I upload this review, I will simply forget it.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Stories – 5
Characters – 5
Yuri – 6

Overall – a bland, uninteresting 5. There’s worse, but there’s better, too.

Posted in Shimura Takako | 3 Comments »


Live Action: Saving Face

May 24th, 2005

Last night 7 intrepid friends and staff of Yuricon went to the NYC premier of Saving Face, a “romantic comedy” about Chinese-Americans, lesbians, and mothers and daughters, written and directed by Alice Wu.

It was excellent.

For one thing – it was actually funny. That makes it the only romantic comedy I’ve ever watched that I laughed at.

The plot is simple: Wilhemina is a successful almost 30 years old Chinese-American surgeon in New York City. Her mother lives in hope that she will marry a nice Chinese boy one day. One day, Wil comes home to find her mother on her doorstep, pregnant at 48. As her mother moves in, Wil has to deal with a burgeoning relationship with a nice Chinese girl, Vivian, who is a professional dancer.

Wil desperately searches for a husband for her mother, while balancing Vivian’s increasing desire for their relationship to be publicly acknowledged.

It was very well acted. I genuinely think Joan Chen as Mom and Michelle Kusiec as Wil are way better looking in real life than on the screen, and Joan, particularly looked radiant on screen. (But Michelle was absolutely adorable at the party. I would have liked to had a chance to actually talk to her, but you know how it is – she’s moving around thanking everyone…) But Joan Chen in real life – wow. I want
to look that good when I grow up. Most of the cast was at the premier.

The writer/director, Alice Wu, was so cute! LOL She spent the night importuning people to tell their friends and get them to go to the first weekend openings, because this weekend’s box office takes will influence how heavily Sony markets the movie. So, here I am, telling all the folks in the NYC and LA areas to go see this movie! It’s funny, it’s well done, the girl gets the girl and…did I mention it’s
funny? :-)

Once again, May 27th, this Friday, opening places:

NEW YORK: the ANGELIKA (in Soho) and the AMC 25 (on 42nd Street)

LOS ANGELES: the SUNSET LAEMMLE 5, the WESTSIDE PAVILION, PLAYHOUSE (Pasadena), TOWN CENTER (Encino), and the SOUTH COAST VILLAGE (Costa Mesa)

And

SF BAY AREA: opens the weekend of JUNE 3 at the Landmark EMBARCADERO, the UA STONESTOWN Twin, the Landmark SHATTUCK (Berkeley), PALO ALTO SQUARE, CENTURY 5 (Pleasant Hill), SANTANA ROW (San Jose) and MARIN/ SAUSALITO.

For a glimpse of the trailer visit the Saving Face website.

Ratings:
Cinematography – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8

A fun night out for any fan of lesbian stories.

Posted in Live Action | 8 Comments »


Air Master Anime, Volume 3

May 23rd, 2005

We did a mini-marathon last night and watched all the Air Master we had on DVD. Why? Because it’s a *great* series!

Last entry I pointed out some of the issues I had with the DVD release. Well, good news, kids, by Volume 3 some of the most egregious problems have been fixed. And as the plot (well…let’s call it that for argument’s sake…) just gets better and better, by Vol. 3 this series has kicked into high gear.

Let’s start with the thing that everyone complains about most – the art. Yup, its ugly. That’s not going to change. Move past it.

Next, what passes for a plot. In Vol. 3, in between big air and bloody, brutal fights, we actually learn quite a bit about Maki, and we even get a glimpse into the great Sakiyama Kaori’s past. But really, the fights are the point, and in this volume we get lots of Maki flying – my wife’s favorite part.

Yuri-wise, we get a nice handful of yuri to hold onto. Mina completely gives up on pretense and falls for Maki wholeheartedly, even going so far as to say that she will confess her love – and then does so (while asleep, mind you, but…). Maki, after fighting to the point of collapse, does collapse – in Mina’s arms. Sadly, we don’t get the followup scene from the manga where, as the Black Union grieves over Kinjiro, Mina takes Maki to a love hotel… Man, I would have LOVED that scene to be animated. ^_^

Many of the problems with the first two volumes – the closed captioning subtitles and really lousy translation simply disappears halfway through this volume. The translation, while loose, is *much* more casual and slang-filled, which gives the series the voice it needs. Lucha Master remains Roo-cha and the honorifics are still gone, but everything else improves significantly.

But what makes this volume so great is Sakiyama Kaori. My wife, who has completely disparate tastes in anime from myself, is equally as enamored of Sakiyama Kaori as I am. Because she is the GREATEST CHARACTER EVER. ^_^ Not only is she utterly, totally psychotic, violent and strange, but she is lovable and admirable all at the same time.

Volume 3 sees the beginning of the “Fami-wrestler” arc, in which Sakiyama Kaori and Maki become professional female tag team wrestlers. It’s my favorite arc, without question. The fights are brilliant, and Sakiyama Kaori simply shines as unrepressably insane and funny.

Yes, the art sucks. Yes there’s fan service out the wazoo, but come *on* – the fight scenes are brilliant. You can see exactly what technique everone is using – even if a move is unlikely, improbable or impossible its still cool that you can follow the fighting. Watching these fights makes me want to be a streetfighter. Really. And Sakiyama Kaori is my idol.

One last thing – it’s not the first thing that comes to mind but, the music for this series is top-notch. The opening and closing themes are brilliant, and the BGM is really, really well-done, and surprisingly subtle.

Ratings:
Art – 3, and I’m being generous
Characters – 10
Story – 8
Music – 9
Yuri – 8

Overall – 9

God, I love this anime!  ^_^

Posted in Air Master, English Anime, Yuri Anime | 1 Comment »