Live Action: Densha Otoko

February 17th, 2006

There is no Yuri in Densha Otoko. Let me just get that out of the way. However, it is so very worth of watching that I wanted to review it anyway.

For the three of you who have not run into in Densha Otoko, (Train Man in English), let me summarize the plot:

A dorky otaku sees a beautiful woman on a train. A druken man accosts said woman and the otaku has the balls to tell the old dude to stop. (In Japan, where it is common for people to ignore untoward things – heck in ANY city, really – this is a fairly significant thing). The woman sends the otaku a thank you note, and he asks a BBS channel for advice. With the help of all his “friends” on the chan, he ends up with the girl.

This story is supposed to be “based on” a real story. I found a really fun and bitter blog that thinks its a big ole fake. The channel, 2-chan, is familiar to most otaku, from America as well as Japan. The board does, indeed exist, and the messages as well…but the above blog thinks they were planted. But I think he missed the point. He’s convinced its a massive conspiracy – I’m convinced its a *well-written story.*

And that’s why I’m reviewing it. This, if it indeed is based upon a real story, probably has as much connection to it as the movie version of Last of the Mohicans did to the book. Which is to say, damned little. But as a drama? Oh my GOD was this an AMAZING story.

It is, at its heart, a love story. It’s a story about beauties and beasts and how sometimes the beauties are beasts inside and vice versa. It’s a story about how online communities and friendships are as important, as solid and as real as any other. And it’s a story about otaku life. From idol photo sessions, to bulletin boards, to figurines, maid cafes, seiyuu obsession, Comiket and everything, it’s about the life that I, and many other otaku have. And above all – it’s about being okay with who you are.

So much of anime is about average people in non-average situations. This story is about a horribly dysfunctionally non-average person in an average situation, which leaves him just about crippled. I mean, really, how many average guys would have a hard time calling a woman and asking her out?

On second thought don’t answer that.

Anwyay, for THIS man, it’s almost inconceivable, but he does it. And even after he “comes out” as an otaku – his words, “come out” – she accepts him.

In one of the many omake to this drama, two of his otaku friends, who are exceptionally horrible, (^_^;) enact his confession scene and end up kissing as a result. It was the most awful, funny train-wreck-but-I-can’t-stop-watching BL service scene I’d ever, ever seen. I loved it.

One other thing that has to be worth noting: the opening sequence is an homage to a very early Gainax animation sequence which is often referred to as “legendary”. The Wikipedia entry on Densha Otoko gives a nice summary of why, so I won’t bother plagiarizing. But the music cracks me up, I have to admit. We have both the Styx and ELO albums used in the series sitting on the shelf below my, yes, turntable.

To sum up – this series is BRILLIANT. If you are an otaku…not just a fan, but a rabid fan with more figurines, manga, DVDs, games, plushies, artbooks, etc than you know what to do with…watch this. Seriously.

Ratings:

Cinematography – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9 (especially the Hanshin Tigers fanatic. He was my fave.)
Yuri – 0
Service – 1, even though it is about the stereotypical otaku.

I don’t think I’ve cried as much, as happily, for anything else I’ve ever watched. Ever.

Posted in Live Action | 1 Comment »


Yuri Manga: Transistor ni Venus, Volume 7

February 16th, 2006

This last volume of Transistor ni Venus is certainly full of kisses for our intrepid heroine Enus, but dammit!, I wanted to have a big Yuri bang for an ending. No go – and Takemoto Izumi knows it, so there’s a luv luv omake to make up for it.  ^_^ But I get ahead of myself.

Enus is contracted to accompany Princess Asatsuyu and her companion Pera – and their guardian Sena, across a snowy country to somewhere. Asatsuyu and Pera are maybe 12 and Sena is most definitely all grown up. All three greet Enus with, “Your reputation precedes you.” Enus is like, “what?”

The girls want very much to experience some of Enus’ goddess power, but Sena menaces Enus anytime she catches them in any even remotely suggestive position. Of course Enus has no interest in the girls, but they are definitely interested in her, and are constantly working out ways to be close to her in intimate situations.

Everytime the girls steal a kiss, Sena pops up and reminds Enus that she knows about the rumors (what rumors are those?, Enus always replies,) and Sena kisses her, as if she’s throwing herself as a sacrifice instead of the the princess.

After baths, and sharing beds, and falling into a snowy crevasse forcing us to huddle together semi-clothed, and after foiling an attempt by the enemy to something by Enus dressing up as a barmaid, she finally gets the girls to their destination, where she learns that they are not who they aid they are. The real Asayuki was masquerading as Pera and vice versa. Ahahahah.

Enus discovers, at last!, the markings on Asayuki’s back that she’s been undressing girls to find since the beginning of the series. I have no idea why, sorry. These are not easy books to translate. But I’m sure its important. :-D

In the end, Enus manages to get Sena back for all the kisses by REALLY kissing her, but good.

Enus’ last mission involves adorable little Miss Yabumusu, who has to go to a desert-type area to find some guy. Enus gets her kisses from Miss Y, but Miss Y ends up wandering off with Winslow, the cat. Enus goes to find the guy and find him she does, surrounded by two attractive women. Ririn finds herself unable to control herself and gives in to Enus’ charms, but Rinirinia finds it all a bit distasteful.

Meanwhile Miss Y finds the capsule we’re all looking for, still with Winslow. She returns, is kissed by Enus (much to her annoyance, because she’s hot and exhausted) and throws Ririn into a tizzy, because now she’s kinda embarrassed by it all. Miss Y leads them all to the capsule where tey are attacked by enemy lizards and Enus gets to be cool and spy-y. They all get to the capsule, find the aliens inside and help them get back to space. Yay us.

Enus and Ririn go to a dinner party – where “Miss Contro” (who had been mentioned by Ririn earlier in the story) approaches them, induces Enus to kiss her. You know – she stands in front of her. Miss C bites Enus on the lip in response. In the meantime, Miss Y snags Ririn and leads her off, leaving our poor overworked Enus alone. Boo hoo. End of story? Enus goes home and snags herself some Mariaana time.

This was not a bang-up ending, as I said, so to soothe us frazzled readers, the artists adds a “Omake Love Love Mariaana” picture, so our last image of Enus is of her and her honey kissing. Yay. :-)

I still would have preferred a big bad bed scene, and pages and pages of Yuri love, but without fail, Transistor ni Venus always makes me smile.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 7

Not the strongest volume in the series, but good, clean, Yuri fun.

Posted in Transistor ni Venus, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Yuricon News:: "Rica ‘tte Kanji!?" to be used in Brandeis University Anthropology curriculum.

February 14th, 2006

Professor Kerridwen Luis has chosen Rica ‘tte Kanji!? by Rica Takashima as a textbook for Anthropology 166B at Brandeis University, for the Spring 2006 semester.

Professor Luis describes the class: “This class will cover some (not all!) of the current ethnography dealing with non-heteronormative sexualities cross-culturally. Why “non-heteronormative” instead of “non-heterosexual?” Well, the divide between hetero- and homo- that Western culture tends to insist on may not exist in other cultures. Since sexuality is complex, it is difficult to apply our own assumptions and labels (such as “gay, lesbian, bisexual”) to the desires, loves, and sexual activity of other people– boundaries may be more fluid (or more rigid) and identities differently constructed. Sexuality may even impact gender and the body; the formation of identities in different cultural contexts may be a two-way street. This class will examine how those identities are created, some of the vast array of diverse human activity in this area, how the social sciences have handled this topic, and how different perspectives, race, class, culture, and ethnicity all influence how these matters are viewed.”

Keridwen N. Luis is a Ph.D. student in Anthropology at Brandeis University. Her study interests include folk conceptions of culture and culture theory, women’s studies, gender studies, nonheternormative sexualities, intentional communities, consciously created culture, ghost story narratives and belief, personhood, agency and identity.

For more information on ALC Publishing’s Yuri manga or on Yuricon, please visit our website.

Posted in ALC Publishing, Rica 'tte Kanji, Yuri Manga, Yuri Network News | No Comments »


Yuri Anime: Stellvia, Volume 6

February 14th, 2006

Let’s jump right into Stellvia, Volume 6, shall we? In this volume, we get one of the best bit of character interaction I’ve ever seen in any anime. All the girls argue. At once. And with a level of snarky bitchiness that I’d actually expect from a group of four women arguing.

For that, and that alone, this volume is worth watching. As I do go on endlessly, the strength of this series is the humanity. The plot is really pretty meh. The aliens are bugs, literally, and they are horrible and violent and we can feel righteous about destroying them in the classic space opera fashion. The time spent with clueless Kouta (and his inability to ASK what is bothering Shima when she spends six hours crying in his presence….I mean really, could he be anymore of an annoying clod?) is just marking time in between the great moments as all the four main female characters crash and burn in their own ways.

Ayaka seems to have gotten herself together, but Yayoi starts to lose it. Akira, who is suffering a completely normal crisis of identity and confidence – and a bout of plain old jealousy – turns out to be quite perceptive. She not only pins Arisu to the wall on running away from being a pilot, but implies that Arisu’s crush on Shima isn’t as secret as she might think. AND she gets the snarky award for telling Yayoi that her subtlety is no beard for her real interest.

Arisu tries to be the good guy and gets stabbed in the back by an entirely self-absorbed and petty Shima, who is so entirely caught up in herself that she can’t even see that she’s being a jerk. I bet none of us have ever been there, huh? ^_^

The girls all make up in the time-honored anime fashion of having a good cry, which I object to, but the fight *was* stellar.

The art wasn’t as bad as usual for some reason. I can’t imagine why. Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention.

For the rest of this series, the plot is fairly inconsequential, even tiresome, but the characters reign supreme. This anime, like Patlabor, is about the people. The rest is just window dressing.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 4
Characters – 8
Music – 8
Yuri – 5 (mostly from Akira’s bitchy implications, but still there’s shades of Ayaka and Yayoi on their own)
Service – 6 (any spacesuits that have separate colors for the secondary sexual characteristics are *entirely* servicey seriously)

Overall – 7

If you don’t like it, you don’t like. I like it. ^_^

Posted in Stellvia, Yuri Anime | 1 Comment »


Yuri Anime: Kaleido Star Legend of Phoenix

February 10th, 2006

I mentioned Kaleido Star: Legend of Phoenix (aka Layla Hamilton Monogatari) on my Top Ten Yuri Anime of 2005. And despite the fact that it’s just an OVA for the longer series, it definitely deserved a spot in the top ten.

One of my problems with the TV series for Kaleido Star was that the growth and challenge plot was mostly confined to Sora. And I saw Carlos’ nonverbal tactics as being enraging and abusive. But really, when I stood back from the series, and thought about it again, I was really very wrong. Yes, the male characters are still fairly loathsome for most of the series (of course Sora wins them all over to her ideas, but…).

…I can’t explain it exactly, but it felt like I was watching a show that might be aired on the “Violence Against Women Network”, aka Lifetime. You know – one hour and forty-five minutes of outrageous physical and emotional violence against women, follwed by fifteen minutes of inadequate legal retribution.) But I digress.

But, because of a post on Gin Sweater, I realize that I have been horribly misinterpreting the entire series. I felt enlightened after reading that post. And now I know why Kaleido Star: Legend of Phoenix was the episode I was waiting for. This series is a classic challenge myth; Hercules’ Labors translated to a fanciful acrobatic circus venue.

Yes, Sora has to endure pain and suffering on both emotional and physical levels, but no pain, no gain, as the masochistic say. The thing is – it’s not just Sora who has to change and grow and what I was seeing, but not noticing, is how *much* we see the surrounding characters change and grow into themselves, as well. In fact, this show shares many of the qualities that I enjoy about Stellvia, but I was unable to see it. Now I do.

Legend of Phoenix is an OVA filled entirely with Layla Hamilton having the same revelation. How nice is that? ;-)

Layla and Sora are about to launch different interpretations of the same show “Legend of Phoenix” on opposite coasts. Layla wants to find her Phoenix in a way unique to her, but also to the audience. In a desperate attempt to be reborn, she runs off on a solo bicycle trip to upstate New York. Meanwhile, Sora is also attempting to find her own Phoenix, but when she learns of Layla’s disappearance she, Ken and May run off to New York to find Layla.

Layla’s trip hooked me on a few points. For one thing, as I mentioned in my end-of-year review, her trip takes her to Rt. 17 in New York – a road upon which I had many surreal experiences myself. So it hit the “nostalgia” button solidly for me there. And Layla, for all that she’s trying to find herself, spends her entire time alone obsessing about Sora. Until she, and we, come to realize just how MUCH Sora has been a muse to her, Sora fills her thoughts. And once she accepts that, she is reborn.

Could I have asked for a better OVA than one filled with Layla thinking about Sora and her importance in her life? Nope.

During the end credits, we get to see the two different Phoenixes – really lovely, as all the Kaleido staging consistently is throughout series and OVAs.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Music – 7
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Yuri – 6
Service – 4, some obligatory Fool perviness and, for this series, subtle fanservice

Overall – 8

This was, as I said, the Kaleido Star I’d been waiting for all along. I’ll take a dozen of the same, please!  ^_^

Posted in Kaleido Star, Yuri Anime | 6 Comments »