Live Action: Cutie Honey Movie

November 8th, 2004

All hail Go Nagai!

Everything about the previews for the Cutie Honey movie, had me squirming with embarrassment. It looked like it was going to be a travesty of immense proportion, much along the lines of the Kekkou Kamen live action (if you can really call them that…) movies.

Instead, I was amazed at the translation of the cheesy, yet charming, anime into an equally cheesy and perhaps even more charming live action movie. Right off the bat, the bad guys rocked. Their costumes were amazing, they actually acted the parts like they cared, and the special effects were exactly the right level of screamingly bad/amusingly good.

Satou Eriko was stellar as Honey. She was cute, she was enthusiastic and genki…she was an irritating bubble-head, and you couldn’t help but smile at her antics. And while the opening scenes had a fair amount of Eriko in underwear fanservice, that was basically it for the movie. As the plot progessed the fanservice sort of tails off into dress-up scenes, and then completely disappears. Refreshing and a bit puzzling, since in the beginning there’s so much energy, and by the end of the movie everyone looks ready to call it a day and go home.

The opening sequence was a *perfect* reproduction of the Cutey Honey Flash anime, while the rest of the movie has more in common with the new Re Cutie Honey anime that I reviewed last week. (Although, quite inexplicably Sister Jill has been turned into an ugly guy. In fact, the portrayal of Jill was significant in the lack of energy in the ending. Sister Jill wasn’t just draining the people of Townsville’s energy – she was sucking mine away too. But I digress.) Unlike the anime, we got to enjoy the wacky capers of the Panther Claw hench-dudes, who are always, erm, yeah.

Aki Natsuko was played to a tee by Ichikawa Mikako (who looks alot more like Na-chan than any real human should…). There was a bit too much Seiji – played with vim, vigor and the appropriate arrogance by Murakami Jun – especially at the end, where his exceptional competence annoyed the hell out of me.

The movie comes in at a lower yuri score than the anime, but still, the vibe between Na-chan and Honey was still recognizably there. If Seiji backed off for a second, I think you’d see some sparks flying. And in the end it was Na-chan and Honey who cry in each other’s arms, while Seiji just sort of looks out of place. So there, Seiji – nyah. ^_^

A few other nice touches – Go Nagai has a cameo as the driver of a car upon which Honey falls, butt first. He looks extra happy to be looking up at the view. ^_^; And the remix of the Cutey Honey theme by Koda Kumi absolutely *rocks.* Her voice is a little deeper and breathier than the anime versions. The video for the theme is refreshingly awful and I highly recommend everyone watch it until, you, like me, sing the damn theme for weeks on end, non-stop. Can you say “sticky”? I knew you could.

The movie did have some weak areas, especially the lackluster ending. I don’t know why, but Japanese live-action movies really suck the life out of bad guys. The live action Hana no Asuka-gumi movie had the same problem – Hibari was turned into the same kind of non-presence as Sister Jill in this movie. When the bad guy is supposed to be the motivation for the heroine’s actions, you’d *think* they’d give us an energetic and charismatic baddie…but instead, we tend to get colorless non-entities who barely even move their mouths. Drives me crazy. Especially when Sister Jill was so great in the anime. Oh well.

In every other way, however, this movie is a must-see for fans of yuri, classic anime, inutterable cheesiness or all of the above. It looked like everyone on the set was having a really, really good time making this movie, something that they communicated through their acting. It left me with a really good feeling about the whole thing.

Ratings:
Story – 8
Character – 9
Cinematography – 8
Costumes – 9
Music – 9
Yuri – 5

Overall – A really strong 8.

This was one of the most enjoyable movies I’ve seen all year, bar none. I can’t recommend it enough. If I had seen this in the theater I would have been shouting and cheering through the entire first half like a lunatic. ^_^

Posted in Cutie Honey, Live Action | 2 Comments »


Yuri Anime: Re Cutie Honey

November 5th, 2004

Let us all get on our knees and worship at the deranged altar of Go Nagai. (Oh, mighty one, we worship you and your totally insane need to give us sweet, innocent, yet frequently naked, heroines.)

Back in July, I reviewed the Cutey Honey manga and Cutey Honey Flash anime, as collected in the Anime Essential Collection. Today, it is my *great* pleasure to review what has been, to me, the most deeply satisfying anime I’ve seen all season. Re Cutie Honey strikes a perfect balance between honestly good and enjoyably bad.

Produced by Gainax In their 20th anniversary year, the animation for Re Cutie Honey feels like Powerpuff Girls meets Batman. More angular than past incarnations, more action-filled (although with less violence, go figure) the new Cutie Honey has changed more than just the spelling of her name.

Like all incarnations of Honey, this OVA begins with an origin episode that establishes the bad science behind Honey’s creation, and her blonde good-girl persona as Kusanagi Honey. In this incarnation, she appears to be an Office Lady in a city government office.

We are quickly introduced to Aki Natsuko (“Na-chan”) a tough-as-nails female cop, who almost instantly dislikes Honey and everything she stands for. For Na-chan, justice is not about flashy costume changes and mass destruction, but grunt work and police procedure – and she resents the damage that Honey’s “justice” leaves behind.

Complicating matters, Honey and Na-chan are next-door neighbors. Honey tries to make amends, and desperately wants to be liked by Na-chan, but the policewoman has worked too hard and long to see Honey’s point of view.

Episode 1 passes with nary a shared look between the two, but in Episode 2, Na-chan and Honey have a blowup, as Na-chan totally rejects Honey’s overture of friendship. The two spend a tearful, melancholic night separated by a single physical wall and a huge emotional one. Honey, rejected and distraught, shuts down in the middle of her next battle, but Na-chan, realizing that Honey actually *needs* love to survive, strips down and brings her back to life in a spectacular use of fanservice.

Episode 3 concludes the highly charged arc between them, as baddie Sister Jill (we’ve lost the original Panther Claw and her gang of mask-wearing baddies) tries to take over the town. Sister Jill desires to possess Honey (as well as, of course, the rest of the world.) It turns out that Sister Jill was also created by Honey’s father, and so is a kind of big sister to Honey, although Jill’s desire for Honey doesn’t seem particularly sisterly, if you know what I mean.

But, of course, love wins the day, as a super butched-up, bristling with weapons Na-chan takes on Sister Jill and with a faux-kiss that was pretty sweet, once again gives Honey the will to survive. The battle ends with a big bang, but I knew that the story wasn’t over, because I’m an old hand at this, and Honey *never* dies.

The epilogue shows us the new improved butchy Na-chan and Honey have gone into business together and appear to be (to discerning eyes wearing their Yuri goggles) a couple. As they ride off to the scene of the next attack, Na-chan in her Akio-red car and Honey on her motorcycle (we remember what *that* means,right?) we can sit back and bask in the knowledge that fanfic writers everywhere are working on their “Honey and Na-chan get it on” fics even as we smile.

Good, bad and indifferent all at once, Re Cutie Honey is a thumbs up for fans would don’t mind taking their Yuri with a shaker or two of parody, perversion and pathos.

Ratings:
Story – 6
Characters – 9
Art – 8
Music – 9
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8.

“Hey, You got your Gainax in my Go Nagai!”
“Hey! Your Go Nagai’s in my Gainax!”
“Mmmm, delicious.”

Posted in Cutie Honey, Yuri Anime | 4 Comments »


Yuri Anime: 2×2 Shinobuden, the Nonsense Kunoichi Fiction

November 3rd, 2004

After nearly two weeks of turning the yuri goggles on full power and still having to squint, I need to write about something with *actual* yuri in it.

2×2 Shinobuden, the Nonsense Kunoichi Fiction, is just the thing to cure my “where’s the yuri?” blues.

The plot of Shinobuden can be summed up in two words – “Wackiness ensues.” While this is not my favorite plot in the universe, Shinobuden is a cute example of this very tired breed.

Shinobu is a young, well-endowed female ninja (the Kunoichi of the title) in training. She lives in a compound with a host of male ninjas and their master, a yellow ball with the name of Onsokumaru. The combined intelligence and maturity of all the ninjas and Onsokumaru appears to be about that of a 12 years old boy. The guys are all typical incompetent peverts, Shinobu is the typical sweet, clueless innocent. Wackiness ensues.

The yuri interest is Shinobu’s friend Kaede. For a change, Kaede is not engaged in a one-sided love for Shinobu, it’s the other way around. Shinobu hopelessly tries to entice Kaede to, you know, get closer, so they can, you know, be better friends, but Kaede’s a bit stuffy and doesn’t seem to be even remotely interested. In fact, she seems downright turned off by the idea of snuggling with Shinobu. Kaede is, however, the only really intelligent and competent character in the show, so when she comes over, wackiness ensues.

(There is one other seemingly intelligent and competent character, the master of the female ninja school, but as we learn that she is in love with Onsokumaru, her “intellgent” score drops pretty low on my scale. And *why* Shinobu doens’t go to the all-girl school is not really explained in the middle of all the wackiness ensuing.)

Poor Shinobu is really quite sweet and innocent so, although her desire for Kaede is apparent, it’s not like she’s going to come right out and be blunt. And, let’s be real, this is all played for laughs anyway. If one watches this show hoping for the girl to get the girl, one is deluding one’s self. :-)

This series gets filed under cute, sweet, goofy parody yuri.

Ratings:
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Art – 7
Music – 7, but highly sticky
Yuri – 8

Overall – 7. If you like farce and slapstick, this is a winner. Me, not so much.

My favorite bit of the entire show is the end credits which is done with puppet animation. I think that it’s exceptionally well done and funnier than the rest of the show.

Posted in Shinobuden, Yuri Anime | 6 Comments »


New Anime Season Autumn 2004 – Rozen Maiden

November 1st, 2004

A series about an abusive Gothic Lolita doll and her loser human servant. Need I say more?

I had actually picked up a copy of the Rozen Maiden manga ages ago, flipped through it, then dropped it like the evil thing it is.  But when the anime came out, I found myself attracted to it in ways that make absolutely *no* sense to me whatsoever. For one thing, I hate dolls with a passion. They utterly creep me out. And the Goth-loli look is not a charm point for me. So, why then am I watching this with something approaching actual enjoyment?

Well, to be fair, the anime for Rozen Maiden is really well done, for one thing. The art is clean, the voice acting excellent and the opening and ending themes are done by Ali Project, those darlings of Bee Train anime and also the folks who gave life to Pastel Pure – the opening theme of Maria-sama ga Miteru.

The story is simple – creepy doll Shinku finds her way to the house of Jun, a boy who is a classic hikkikomori, in the sense that he is *so* socially retarded (and, we are led to believe, genuinely phobic) that he is terrified to leave the house. Jun’s sister Nori seems happy enough to take care of Jun even while she hopes that he will one day go back to school.

Shortly after Shinku’s arrival another doll (a clown…of course,) arrives to kill Jun. Shinku informs Jun that she can save him, but he must swear to be her servant. The word she uses has more of the implication of “slave” so, naturally, Jun is reluctant. However, he is more reluctant to die, so, he kisses her ring and now lives as indentured servant to a doll. A doll with impeccable manners, but still…

The next several episodes involves introducing many more dolls, some good, some bad, and one seriously annoying little girl doll who makes my teeth clench everytime she speaks. Each doll has her own issues and powers. At least one of the dolls is *evil* – you can tell, she’s all in black and leaves raven feathers everywhere she’s been…oh, and she says something about destroying Shinku somewhere in there too. See? Evil.

Okay, I admit it, I have no sense of tension, urgency or passion about this series – in fact, when questioned, I admit it’s stupid with a capital “stoo,” but I like it anyway. Where else but in anime can one see a creepy loser kid get the stuffing beaten out of him by a doll and still like the doll better than the human?

So, yeah, Yuri. Well…I don’t got my hopes up, but I’m willing to be wrong. I think the sister would make good crush fodder, but as has already been pointed out to me, she *does* have a serious brother complex, so maybe not. Yuri between the dolls somehow holds no appeal for me…but then, I hate dolls. If there is any, I’m betting we see akogare by at least one of the dolls for Shinku who is, honestly, quite cool if you like physically abusive goth-loli dolls. ^_^

Ratings:

Story – 7
Character – 8
Art – 8
Music – 8
Yuri – 0
Service – 7

Overall – A strong 6. I’m willing to give it time and see where it goes.

Watching Shinku beat the crap out of Jun makes me happy, what can I say? Apparently my admiration for women who aren’t above a little physical violence extends to dolls. Great.

 

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New Season Anime Autumn 2004 Ryuusei Sentai Musumet

October 29th, 2004

musumetThere are so *many* things that are awful about Ryuusei Sentai Musumet, I’m at a loss where to begin. ^_^

I had high hopes for this anime, I really did. The logo is very Charlie’s Angels and I hoped for something that was self-consciously kitschy and satirical. Unfortunately, what I ended up with was something that was just dull. Oh, it *tries* to be kitschy and satirical…but fall short, and ends up being the kind of thing that teen boys make Beavis and Butthead noises about, while entirely missing that *they* are the ones being made fun of.

Musumet starts with three color-coded girls: Kurenai (red), Aoi (blue) and Midori (green). They live in a lab/HQ/complex along with an older guy who was Kurenai’s father’s best friend, a repulsive midget child, a requisite flaky, yet super genius inventor megane girl and a competent and probably homicidally frustrated blonde second-in-command. A random male classmate (who appears to be in a completely *different* anime most of the time,) finishes the lineup. The supporting cast are, apparently, three sisters, one who is half American and speaks highly amusing Jinglish/Engrish, one who is half Chinese, who is too cute to be as offensive as the normal Chinese stereotypes are usually, and one who is, inexplicably, half Brazilian (?) and seems to function in an expository manner most of the time.

In every episode, thus far, a random handsome guy has turned into a very stupid Monster of the Day, and been defeated by one or more of the Musumet girls – usually by the girl that liked him. Utterly yawn-making.

The satire portion of this series has been limited to henshin scenes in which only the helmet transforms and a few gags – mostly predictable, a few midly amusing. The self-conscious quality is completely missing…even the fanservice lacks irony.

And irony is what this series so desperately needs. Instead of being a funny parody of the sentai genre, it reads like one more of a zillion lame-ass fanservicey shounen attempts at magical girl. I anticipate tentacles any day now, in the same way that I anticipate a cavity at my next dental check up.

There is NO Yuri here. The first three episodes were virtually dedicated to proving how heterosexual these three girls are. I was *so* hoping for a Kate Jackson-like character, who was if not gay, at least cool and competent and slightly butchy…but no.

I can’t imagine a plot ever developing, either. What would they do? Why would anyone care? And yet, there was the vaguest hint at the end of the fourth episode, that a plot is forthcoming. I shudder to think.

Ratings:

Story – 3
Characters – 4
Art – 3
Music – 8, because it’s appropriately cheeseball
Yuri – 0

Overall – a lame, limping 4.

It’s series like this one that make me wonder *who* exactly are being targeted? I mean, if *I* thought this series was great, I’d be worried about me. On the whole, if I want crap, I’ll stick with the likes of Lingerie Soldier Papillon Rose – now *that’s* quality. ^_^

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