Kannazuki no Miko – New Yuri Anime Season Autumn 2004

October 20th, 2004

So, I got good news and bad news, which do you want first? ^_^

The new anime season is well underway in Japan, and I notice that almost everything I’m watching right now is shounen, that is, targeted towards a male audience. Even the magical girl anime (which are legion this season) seem to be made much more for the boys than the girls – there’s a hard line to the art, and a hard edge to the fanservice, which is looking a little desperate these days. It’s almost as if all the anime running now is an allergic reaction to the slow pace, soft focus and emotional content of Maria-sama ga Miteru.

The Yuri out there looks a little thin right now – unless you’re one of those folks who holds that two women or more in any series, in any set-up, equals Yuri. Even wearing the Yuri goggles, there’s not a whole lot o’hope for us Yuri fans. (On the other hand, there’s plenty of stuff to watch if you’re just into girls, period. But I will get to that later on.)

The front-runner right now in the Yuri category is, hands down, Kannazuki no Miko. Based on a manga series drawn by Kaishaku, the artist team who created Steel Angel Kurumi and UFO Princess Walkure, we are certainly in for loads of Yuri fanservice, with or without the goggles.

Before I get into the, haha, plot, I want to discuss a totally irrelevant thing – the romanization of the series’ name. The official website romanizes it as “Kannaduki” and I’ve seen “Kannadzuki” as well as my preference, “Kannazuki.” Here’s why they are *all* right:

The second character in the first word is “tsuki,” the moon. As a second character this is *usually* romanized into “zuki”, as in Mizuki. But it is more properly “dzuki” since the “ts” of the individual form of the word would mutate into the softer “dz” for a combined use. BUT – and here’s where it gets complicated – the Japanese rarely acknowledge the existence of paired consonants, so they ignore the second consonant of the pair, leaving us with a “d”. Hence, all of the three spelling variants are correct. But I personally prefer, “zuki” because that’s how the combined “tsuki” is most commonly spelled. Got it? Good. ^_^ Now, on to the actual story.

This anime has a very strong Yuri beginning, which bodes badly for the rest of the season. ^_^ Dark Chikane and blonde Himeko not only share a birthday, they seem to share an affection for each other. They also, surprise, surprise, share a fate. Cool, rich, uber-competent Chikane is a priestess of the moon while bubbly and sweet Himeko is a priestess of the sun. They will be combating the forces of darkness in the form of 8 stars, the first one of which turns out to be their friend and close companion, the uber-competent, popular boy Ookami Souma (and what a name to live up to that is!)

The first episode nets Chikane a long look at Himeko’s chest, a gratuitous grope and in the last moment, a big-ass kiss. Souma may be Himeko’s champion and protector, but it’s Chikane’s arms Himeko falls into at the least little thing. And so far, this seems to be the pattern in every episode, which works for me. ^_^

Plot-wise, this anime is downright silly. Magic, schoolgirls and mecha *can* work fine together to make a colorful anime, but I’m not sure they work well together to make a good story. My initial read of this is that Geneon and Gainax got together to “fix” the problems in Marimite – you know, like not enough fanservice and no mecha. ^_^

Chikane and Himeko are Hatsumi and Hazuki (there’s that “-zuki” thing again) from Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito lookalikes. It would be nice to see Chikane get the girl where Hazuki failed. And there is no doubt at all in my mind that Chikane and Himeko actually have the hots for one another. Chhikane acts all cool about it, but she’s overtly burning for Himeko. And I don’t think Himeko would kick Chikane out of bed, if you know what I mean. She was surprised to be kissed, but she’s not complaining, either.

The bad guys are laughable, but the nun with the glasses is hot, and Corona, the idol-type bad girl, is voiced by Ueda Kana, Marimite‘s Yumi. ^_^

So – storywise, this’ll get repetitive by ep. 8 – assuming you don’t think it already is by Ep. 3 – and if it lasts longer than 13, it’ll be boring as hell, but I’m going to watch because I live in hope that Chikane and Himeko will, hahahah, live happily ever after. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7 (the still art for this is *gorgeous* but the anime is messy)
Plot – 4
Characters – 6 (Other than Chikane and Himeko, it’s like watching Gundam or Transformers, with cardboard cutout characters and mecha)
Music – 6
Yuri – 9

Overall – a shaky 7

Yamibou meets Gundam – there’s very little here for an intelligent audience, but I like it anyway. It’s like a pleasant temporary frontal lobotomy. ^_^

Posted in Kannazuki no Miko, Yuri Anime | No Comments »


Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD: Ibara no Mori

October 19th, 2004

The fourth Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD set, Ibara no Mori! Whee!

This two-CD set covers the third novel of the series, Ibara no Mori/Shiroki Hanabira, which correspond to Episodes 10 and 11 of the first season of the anime – in other words, Sei’s lesbian angst arc.

I now have a complete Yamayurikai set of dolls on my desk at work. I feel better about that. ^_^ (Youko has a really strange look on her face, like she’s about to say something…Sei just looks smug, like she’s gotten away with something and you’ll find out later – to your chagrin.)

The first CD in the set is Ibara no Mori, aka Forest of Thorns. There’s a fair bit of conversation that was left out of the anime and Yoshino is WAY over the top a few times, but the manga is closer to the drama CD than the anime was. There’s STILL stuff missing from the manga, but nothing important. Nonetheless, the Drama CD makes a nice addition to the level of detail, as always. The voice performances are, as expected, very good, but…

The second CD is Shiroki Hanabira, which means White Petals. This is almost exclusively voiced by Toyoguchi Megumi, as Sei narrates the story of how she fell in love with, and lost, Shiori. To say that she does a superlative job is a wild understatement. I was simply breathless during some of the scenes. In fact, I think I can say that this Drama CD may well be the best voice acting I have ever heard *ever* in any medium.

Shinohara Emi was simply amazing as Youko – much better than she was in the anime, and the Former Rosa Gigantea was voiced by one of the most skilled seiyuu in the business, Takayama Minami. She was superb. Nakagawa Akiko was much better in this CD as Shiori than she was in the anime – I expect it’s because she has a bigger part, and we get to know her better. My jaw was hanging open all through the second CD of this set. It was simply brilliant. This was 10’s all the way around.

The *only* complaint I can even find to have on this set was the Foley. The sound engineering was simply awful, especially in the second CD. I don’t know if they were so enamored of the voice acting that they forgot to do it until the last second or what, but I have honestly never heard such bad Foley outside an incredibly low budget kung-fu flick.

Ratings:

Character – 10
Story – 10 (to be fair, teen angst doesn’t *usually* appeal to me, but done this well…)
Voice Acting – 10
Yuri – 10
Overall – 10

If you can understand even a little Japanese, you should get this CD set. This is *the* must-have Marimite item so far.

Posted in Drama CD, Drama CDs & Audiobooks, Maria-sama ga Miteru | No Comments »


Yuri Manga: Free Soul

October 14th, 2004

Back in June, I reviewed Free Soul, by Yamaji Ebine.

Last week, I received the collected edition of this series and let me just say that it is a definite must-have, all the way around.

The story hasn’t changed since June, but my reading of it has, so please forgive me as I go over it once more. The first time around, I began reading it in Feel Young magazine at the sixth chapter, and so was unaware of several issues. Most importantly, Angie, the black, skinhead, lesbian, jazz singer (very like Me’shell NdegeOcello) whose story fills the book, is not real, but a construct of the heroine’s imagination. Keito is a mangaka who spends much of the book writing and drawing Angie, speaking to her – and learning from her – as she deals with her own real-life problems.

Keito’s story begins shortly after she has run away from home at the age of 22. Her mother, a bitter woman, was extremely unhappy to learn that her daughter is a lesbian, so she has left. Keito meets Rui, an unconventional 80-something author, and is taken in by her. Keito does go back to talk to her mother, but her mother is never fully reconciled to her daughter’s “lifestyle.” Keito’s father, divorced from her mother some time earlier, seems a pale and shadowy man – he appears primarily to be told by Keito that it is not his fault that she is gay.

Keito, despite her less than happy family life, is a pretty cool kid. She gets a job at a jazz music record store and fits in quite happily among the primarily black male clientele.

At the record store Keito meets Niki, a bisexual trumpet player for a funk band. She loses her heart, but Niki explains that she’s not at *all* interested in having a relationship – but is perfectly willing to have sex. Keito’s pain as she fails to win Niki is touching, but not traumatic, and her quiet triumph as she regains Niki is enjoyable, but not ecstatic. As always, Yamaji Ebine’s work slides by comfortably, with a realistic and mature atmosphere – without hysterics or melodrama.

Yamaji Ebine’s art is stellar – everyone who sees it is moved by the simplicity, starkness and fine line work. I have, to this day, never seen anything else like it. As is also usual with a Yamaji story, the background music is jazz and blues.

What can I even say about the “Yuri quotient”? It’s a 100% Yuri story – written by a lesbian mangaka for an audience of adult women, about a young lesbian who falls in love with another woman. Period. With a sub-story about a lesbian jazz singer and her philosophies on life and love.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 10

Overall – a very strong 9.

If you aren’t reading Yamaji Ebine’s work…you are seriously missing out on the best yuri being published in Japanese right now. Run, don’t walk, to Amazon Japan and buy Yamaji Ebine’s work. You won’t regret it.

Posted in Yamaji Ebine, Yuri Manga | 6 Comments »


Yuri Manga: [es] ~ Eternal Sisters Yuri Anthology

October 13th, 2004

Another anthology about schoolgirls, [es]~ Eternal Sisters, is yet another entry in the field of pleasant, harmless and variable Yuri manga that are cropping up all over the place.

Like Yuri Shimai and Yuri Tengoku, [es]~Eternal Sisters focuses on cute, sweet relationships between girls in junior high and high school. Expect lots of blushing, some embraces and few kisses in these 200 pages.

The art ranges from quite professional to “Aggh! What’s that?!” but the stories are vaguely similar – in feel, if not in execution. Almost all of them focus on the moment of revelation, either one character realizing for herself, or both characters realizing the extent of their feelings, but little beyond that is touched upon.

What *does* make [es] stand out are the personalities of the characters involved. The couples themselves bear no relationship to one another. The first story, “Love Lunch” which starts out with two roommates who act like a married couple, gives the anthology a strong beginning. “Croquis,” later in the book, has another stand-out couple – cool, competent and pretty Sada, who is at a loss to understand why she is friends with incompetent, clumsy and plain Hayase. In the end, Sada is forced to confront her feelings – but it is Hayase who forces the confrontation. This was probably my favorite story in the collection.

Of course [es] has one of every usual sterotype necessary to round out such things – hyper-genki best friends, cuddly child-like best friends, wolf-like best friends, reticent, blushing best friends, longing, sighing best friends, etc, etc.

While [es] isn’t going to make any new trends, it’s enjoyable enough for what it is. It has the same layout problems and high quality of publication as Yuri Tengoku, but on the whole the art is a little less loli and a little better. Of the two, I think this one is marginally better. Like YT, if sweet stories of schoolgirls in love that go nowhere is your thing, this is a winner.

Ratings:

Art – 5-9 depending on the story
Story – 5 nothing groundbreaking here.
Characters – 7

Overall – 7

Posted in Yuri Anthology, Yuri Manga | 5 Comments »


Yuri Anime: ROD The TV DVD Volume 2

October 12th, 2004

I have managed to watch, at last, ROD The TV, Volume 2.

Wow, is this series every bit as good, if not better, than I remembered it from the first time! It really is a must-see for anyone, except for, perhaps, those who only like shoujo.

First the technicals – the DVD comes with the reversible cover, which seems to be standard practice these days. This makes a nice mini-poster, which I saved. I purchased the box for this set, which I now regret for various reasons (some of which I detailed in my review of Volume 1.) As a result I am missing the first package insert which seems to have character and story comments. I’m always a fan of creative liner notes and commentary, so I’d like to see more of this. In addition, the DVD includes a two-sided pencilboard with obligatory sexy picture of, this time, Maggie, which appealed to me more than Michelle or, heaven help us, Anita. But that’s a personal taste issue. Now, if they have sexy pencilboard pictures of Nenene and Nancy – *then* I’ll be a happy girl. ^_^

There were four episodes on this disk, which seemed like too little, but that was mostly because the story is so damn good I’m always left wanting more. This volume almost exclusively focused on the three sisters, developing the characters quite a lot in a short space of time. Maggie turns out to be more competent than she first appears, Michelle smarter, and Anita more human. In retrospect, I can see many things that I missed the first time around, which just make the story more interesting – especially in regards to the sudden development of the sisters into more fully developed characters.

As always, the stories switch back and forth from “domestic” to “foreign”, each story focusing on a particular set of relationships, with Anita becoming more and more the main character. And most importantly, the tension is beginning to grow, as clues are handed out so subtly we don’t really know we’ve seen or heard one until after the fact.

The art is so variable on this series – I don’t want to say that animation is “bad”, because sometimes it is amazing…but the people often suffer while the backgrounds remained highly detailed.

In terms of yuri value, this volume is pretty high. On the comedic side, Nenene has chosen Maggie as her butt-girl, forcing her to cater to the cranky writer’s whims. On the drama side, we’re getting slow burning embers turning into flames between Anita and Hisa. An aborted confession gives us Hisa’s point of view, but for the moment, Anita’s feelings aren’t fully expressed. (Next volume will bring both out into the open, only to be parted. Boo hoo.)

Let me once more discuss translation here. The honorifics issue aside, this was one of the best translations I’ve ever seen on a US-release anime. This story is, by no means, easy to convey. It’s a fairly complex set-up, and the characters are deep, devious and contrived in turn. This translation is very good. The concepts being discussed are easy to follow. What is lost in the translation of names and honorifics is simply overridden by the terrific voice acting work of the seiyuu.

Ratings:

Story – 10
Characters – 9
Animation – 6-8, depending on the scene
Music – 8
Yuri – 8

Overall, a solid 9. This remains a must-have for Yuri fans, and anyone who likes a really well-constructed story.

And it’s only going to get better…. ;-)

Posted in R.O.D., Read or Dream, Yuri Anime | 1 Comment »