Yuri Anime: Read or Dream The TV, Vol. 1

July 12th, 2004

Part 2

So, Upon rewatching the saga of the three paper sisters and erstwhile writing prodigy, I find that my initial reactions to the storyline and characters are little changed from my initial viewing.

The main thing about the first four episodes is the omnipresence of Yomiko Readman made plain through her absence. From the locket around Nenene’s neck, to the paper-using skills of Michelle, Maggie and Anita, the picture on Nenene’s desk, her search for information, etc., etc., Yomiko’s presence fills every second of this series. It almost seems as if she’s a kind of guardian spirit – which, of course, she isn’t. Future episodes will reveal how very human she is, but at this point, we don’t really know that yet.

I am also impressed with how much of a curmudgeon Nenene has become at 20. It’s taken me nearly twice that long to become so grumpy. My hat’s off to her.

As for the Paper Sisters…they are both more and less annoying that the first time. It strikes me much more this time how innocent and…unfinished…they all seem. It may be 20/20 hindsight, but they really aren’t quite human at this point. Like Maggie throwing out furniture to “clean” the apartment. No one would really do that, unless they had no experience of human interaction.

On the other hand, Anita, who I initially loathed, I find myself watching with more interest. Her annoying qualities seem less pronouced to me, this time around.

However, I still maintain that the second episode of this series is vile. Unfunny, irritating and in many ways pointless, it sets the characters on the board, true, but also annoyed the living daylights out of me. Both times.

For a first volume of an anime seires, however, it’s a pretty damn good beginning. A strong beginning, the weaknesses of the second episode pretty much made up for by good third and excellent fourth episodes. By the time you finish the first volume, there’s more than enough to work with in terms of character and the plot has, at least in part, appeared. Compare this with something like Bakuretsu Tenshi, which took something like 13 episodes to develop any kind of plot.

Fanservice comes in many flavors in ROD The TV. Whether you’re into Gainax bounces, loli, yuri, shota, androgyny, evil psychotics, it’s all pretty much in there, somewhere.

All in all, as anime series go, ROD The TV is still one of the best I’ve ever seen, and Volume 1 is a pretty strong start to an amazing series.

Overall – 9 out of 10 for character, plot, design, writing.

Posted in English Anime, R.O.D., Read or Dream, Yuri Anime | 3 Comments »


Yuri Anime: ROD The TV, Vol. 1

July 8th, 2004

Okay, so last month, I picked up the first DVD of ROD The TV.

While the story and characters remain excellent (and the subject of the next entry,) this DVD release does have some issues.

Let’s start from the beginning…the packaging. Geneon had this oh-so-clever idea about the packaging. They’ve made it look like a book with the “pages” being slots for actual disks. Let me be clear – not like usual box sets with room for DVD cases – this “book” only accepts the disk itself. For this neat look, one pays nearly ten dollars more than the regular price of the DVD alone. Here’s the problem though – what to do with the other DVD cases that one will have to buy when one gets the next volumes? Good question. Throw them out and lose the art? Cut them up? Stick them, empty, on your already overcrowded shelves? It’s up to you. And there is no, say, discount for future purchases of non-boxed DVDs, which is what *I* would have done – offered $5 off for every future volume you buy in a non-over packaged form.

For your extra money you get a $3 pencil baord with Michelle in semi-transparent clothing in a “sexy” pose and Anita looking appropriately loli on the other side. What will they think of next? Maggie in a lace teddy? I shudder to think.

Now, let’s move onto the DVD itself – the main menu is fantastic. Abolutely the best I’ve ever seen on a licensed DVD. It’s made up to look like the ToC of a book and makes sense, is easy to figure out and navigate. Kudos on that.

The English language track is okay. Personally, I can never stand to watch the dubs, because no matter how much better North American voice actors and actresses are getting, they never really sound natural. And they always cock up the pronunciation of the characters names. It’s about rhythm and phonics. For examples of the dub, check out that official site – you can watch clips with the dub track. It’s not painful, just not my cup of tea.

So, that brings us to the Japanese track and the….subtitles. *They* were painful. Once again, the DVD was made with the assumption that English-speaking viewers are morons who cannot, under any circumstances, understand the relationships expressed by honorifics. Here’s my rant from the Yuricon Mailing List:

“Maggie-chan” became “Maggie dear,” while “Anita-chan” just becomes “Anita” and all the ” -‘nee” endings Anita uses disappear, except when Nenene insists that Anita call her “Nenene-‘nee” (which is really awful in *any* language.) So then, the translators capitulate and use “big sister” as they do when Maggie calls Michelle “onee-san.”

You see the problem. Translating “-chan” as dear, regardless of the actual relationship is awkward and, in many case, incorrect. Drives me nuts. Inexplicably, they simply ignore the existence of “-kun.”

I think I may very well start attending Industry panels, just to ask them what the deal with the honorifics are. If we *all* do that, maybe they’ll get a clue. Send ’em a letter, because emails bounce and don’t look as real as a bag full of “Leave the honorifics alone, please” letters.

I would also have much preferred 5 episodes on the first volume. If it were me, 26 episodes would be on 6 volumes, with 5 episodes on the first and last volume. It seems fair-ish, even though we all know it could really be on 3 or 4 DVDs comfortably. But TPTB (The Powers That Be) are releasing it on *7* DVDs! What’s that 5 of 4 episodes and 2 of…3? That’s pretty cheesy, IMHO.

So, while ROD The TV remains an *excellent* series and chock-full o’yuri, the Volume 1 DVD is, at best, a 6.

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


Live Action: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Yuri, Continued

July 7th, 2004

Part 4

Minako, Minako, Minako.

Aino Minako – We get to see Sailor V long before we saw any of the other Senshi, which was cool. And she’s a fine Venus and all, but it’s in her interactions with the Senshi – particularly Rei and Usagi – that really makes this Minako a yuri top-runner.

Usagi’s natural lovableness threatens to eat through Minako’s cool exterior almost immediately. Every time she’s with her Princess, this very competent and self-acknowledged leader of the Senshi is forced to remind herself, repeatedly, not to succumb to her charm.

But her interaction with Rei is completely different. Rivals right from the start, Minako and Rei shoot lightning bolts at each other for the first few times they have to interact. This changes to a kind of grudging mutual respect, as Minako quite evilly forces Rei to do things she might otherwise avoid in order to become stronger. It takes a strong person to do that – and to not care that the other person might hate you for it. As Rei gets stronger, Minako pushes the boundaries of their relationship. Rei’s reaction is to bind herself even closer to their enigmatic leader, coming to care about her as an actual person. Even as the climax approaches, Rei is carrying the heavy burden of the truth about Minako. Not that we’re worried, mind you – they won’t kill our darling golden girl off. But it’s fun to watch Rei suffer. ^_^

Komatsu Ayaka is, in my very personal opinion, breathtakingly lovely. She makes a faboo Sailor Venus, and an even better Aino Minako, all tragic and bearing up under the pressure. She seems less natural as Aino Minako the idol, but then, we hardly ever see her just being an idol. Still – every time we do see her “in concert” it seems a little forced. She is, otherwise, quite wonderful in the role.

Minako’s Yuri goggle rating is the highest of the bunch – 9 – just for her concerted torture of Rei. ^_^

In conclusion, there’s plenty of sweet-cute-snuggliness between the Senshi, with a specific statement that no boys will be ruining the sisterhood, so overall, the Senshi have a rating of ‘8’ in the ole Yuri goggles.

Please do join us on the Yuricon Mailing List and join us in our prayer for this particular version to do well, just long enough that we get those bastions of Yuri-ness, the Outer Senshi. ^_^

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Live Action: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Yuri, Continued

July 6th, 2004

Part 3

So, we’ve done Ami and Usagi, so now we have to notch up the Yuri ratings with the advent of:

Hino Rei – Rei comes onto the screen like a scorching flame, no pun on her attributes intended. Kitagawa Keiko is playing Rei with an admirable sense of discomfort, distaste and annoyance, which makes her utterly charming and irresistable. She’s the kind of gal who will scare little kids in her aged years and make 20-something psychic wannabees pee their pants when she looks right throught them. One of the best things about Rei is how really uncomfortable she is in her own skin, and how that comes through with her being so unbending and uncompromising. Usagi softens her up, but it doesn’t make her any happier to be soft and woojawooja.

When Rei meets Minako, the sparks fly immediately – more than a few folks who watch them see a torrid, and probably self-destructive, love affair in the making. ^_^ And Minako returns Rei’s interest with, well, interest. She’s horribly mean to Rei – pushing her to perform in public and generally break out of her self-imposed box…all for Rei’s own good. Rock on, Minako!

After Rei’s little sleepover with Ami, her Yuri goggle rating has got to be a 9.

Kino Makoto – Yup, she’s boyish, tall, strong, athletic. We love her. Sure, she has this stupid old sempai thing, but they put that to rest almost immediately and, in her super-duper fun power-up episode, Makoto informs us that she, and all the rest of the Senshi are meant to be alone in this life – i.e., “Stop writing us to see if Makoto and Motoki will ever get together already! No! No, they won’t!” To which we all say, “Yay!”
Because, if they girls will never have a boyfriend in this existence, then they’ll just *have* to rely on each other, won’t they. ^_^

Azama Myuu is doing a bang-up job of making Makoto butchy, without losing her essential girl-ness, and giving extra time to her internal torment, without making her pathetic.

Yuri goggle rating of a 7, because while she perfect baby dyke material, we haven’t actually seen her staring at anyone since she met Rei (and has obviously lost Rei to Minako.)

Last, but definitely NOT least, I’ll linger lovingly over Minako…tomorrow. ^_^

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Totally, wildly, completely off-topic

July 5th, 2004

Today is the day when Americans celebrate their independence from the British Empire – and by extension, their general sense of freedom.

I personally tend to not be the most patriotic, in the sense of being an aphorism-spewing, flag-waving, love it or leave it kind of person, but I am very grateful to be living in the US, if not in agreement with all of my government’s policies and actions. One of the best things about being American is that you *can* call the current President an insult to orangutans everywhere and not get disappeared overnight…so far.

However, I do love celebrating Independence Day with an intense bout of wachting fireworks and being nine years old. Tonight, I walked down the road to watch a local fireworks display from up the street. I could see all the explosions that went high enough to clear the trees, which was about 1/2 of the display. What I saw made me very happy and I stood, by myself, in the street clapping and saying, “oooh” like a kid.

And then the finale began. Most of the fireworks didn’t clear the treeline, so all I saw was a series of flashes and loud booms, and my blood ran cold, because, but for the grace of many gods, I might have been standing there watching Cedar Knolls being blown to hell. It was a very sobering thought…and one that made me really thankful to be where I am, to have what I have. And tonight, my prayers will definitely be with anyone, anywhere, who aren’t watching fireworks when the booms and flashes come.

Happy 4th of July

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