Yuri Manga: Bakuretsu Tenshi, Vol. 3

October 16th, 2005

Why couldn’t the Bakuretsu Tenshi anime have been this decent? That’s what I want to know.

In Volume 2, Jo suddenly has to face her past, of which she remembers nothing. People attack her for the very skills she treasures, and Sei and Emi seem to know more about her than she does. Only Meg loves Jo for who she is, but Jo rejects Meg in a fit of grand self-loathing. Her only objective is to learn what she is, and what she was.

If you’re at all familiar with anime and manga in general, you can, of course *guess* what Jo is…a bioengineered killing machine. One of many, and the one that got away. Duh. Does this make her not human? She fights against this concept like many a Boomer before her, but unlike most of the biomechanical killing machines that have gone before, this one has something special. Jo has Meg.

Meg runs off to find Jo and indeed, does find her, in the middle of a battle for her life. Meg (quite unlike the more tedious Meg of the anime) throws herself into the battle and changes the outcome – on several levels. She not only makes it possible for Jo to win, but after seeing the gentle look in Jo’s eyes as she reclaims her partner, her opponent realizes that Jo is, after all, not a killing machine but a human.

But…too bad the evil conglomerate doesn’t think so! They kidnap Meg and, in a sense rape Jo, (rough surgery to reclaim some part that had alot of kanji that I didn’t feel like translating.) Essentially they ripped her spine out.

But Sei comes on the scene and saves Jo, then accompanies her to Evil Conglomerate Inc. HQ where they save Meg, destroy *this* particular weirdo and live happily ever after.

The volume ends with a note that the story continues in the animation Burst Angel – both note and title are in English. I swear to god, I want to be an English consultant to Japanese anime companies, hired to suggest less dorky translations, and to work on the r/l confusion….

In any case, Meg’s love is what saves Jo from a short life of violence and catapults her into a much, much longer life filled with violence.

The biggest problem with the anime, especially after the manga, is how Jo and Meg really *don’t* connect. We see Jo save a suddenly incompetent Meg frequently, and we see Meg snuggle an unresponsive Jo a few times. What a damn shame we don’t get to see the Jo and Meg of the manga appear in the anime – how much better a series might it have been?

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7

Better than mediocre, the Bakuretsu Tenshi manga series is far superior to the anime.

Posted in Bakuretsu Tenshi, Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »


Yuri Anime: Ichigo Mashimaro

October 13th, 2005

Why on earth do I find Ichigo Mashimaro so appealing?

It could be the talented voice cast, or the sheer insanity of the non-plots, or Miu’s pleasantly sociopathic worldview, or the goofball situations, or even the incredibly sticky opening theme. Any of those things is enough.

But I think ultimately,that its just that its so darn *cute* that really wins. And don’t think that that doesn’t irk the daylights out of me! It does – I hate being swayed by cute. I maintain myself as the anti-cute reader, a single point of pessimistic darkness in the world of moe/loli Yuri fandom who think two cute girls snuggling equals Yuri.

And yet…

As much as I don’t want to think about it, this series *does* have Yuri. Miu is clearly crushing on Nobue. I don’t see Nobue actually having desire for any of the kids, but this series is probably the best example (certainly the least gross) of moe, I’ve ever seen. Nobue’s affection for Matsuri and Ana has all the qualities of moe. She clearly has a need to protect, and desire to snuggle, them like a kid with stuffed animals.

But for me, the real attraction is Miu. She’s barking mad and happy to be it. Nobue and she have enough in common that the resulting tension moves the story zippily along and is darned fun while doing so.

Ratings:
Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Music – 7
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7.5

Really, talking about this series doesn’t cut it. Just watch it and laugh. There, that was easy.

Posted in Ichigo Mashimaro, Yuri Anime | 4 Comments »


Events: What a weekend at Onna!

October 11th, 2005

To quote Paulette Hodge, the co-chair of Onna!, “That was the best con I’ve ever attended and didn’t see anything.”

Seriously. Onna! was, without doubt the most amazing con, full of energy and fun and great things to do and see and buy, and people to meet, and little miracles that just kept happening, that I am still processing it all.

The best thing about Onna!, to me, was how magnificent my staff was. Every department ran smoothly because the folks who ran our committees and the people who helped them gave 149%, and then a little more, because that’s the kind of folks they are.

Sunday night at 3AM when I was wrapping up the video rooms, there were small crowds of kids still hanging about, talking and asking if we were doing it again next year. :-) And this time, the idea didn’t make me nauseous. Mostly because of Paulette, who was great about letting me get some sleep. (I returned the favor the next day.)

Our guests were all gracious, charming and alot of fun, so my thanks to Paige Braddock, Euralis Weekes and Tania Del Rio. They can totally consider themselves invited to anything I ever do again.

Also, big hugs to Tran and her sister from Drama Queen, who rock my world. Thanks for everything.

The new manga talent contest “Be Discovered” uncovered some exceptional artists indeed! Expect to see at least some of our finalists publishing some great work…and soon. :-)

Two miracles occurred in the form of invited masters. The martial arts demo group – the NY Budo Kai – showed up, totally controlled their demo, wowed their audience cleaned up and then wandered around taking in the con. Zero maintenance needed. Deb – your group was amazing. Please come again!!

And the second little miracle came in the form of Anna Nakada, an Ikebana master who was the most *amazing* (by which I mean breathtaking, adorable, talented and elegant artist I’ve met in years). She positively captivated the audience and when I walked in on the end of her workshop I simply went breathless. Her ikebana was indescribably gorgeous. In any future Onna! I run, she will get a bigger room and and longer workshop, and I will literally herd people into it to get a taste of something refined and spontaneous in a way we almost never get to experience. I can only say this – if you did not see Anna’s ikebana creations, your life is poorer for it. I mean that. I feel quite uplifted and enriched having simply *seen* them.

Sigh.

Back to the topic – Onna! was a great success, nearly everyone had a fantastic time (except for those people who come to cons full of dissatisfaction and loathing and whose only joy is to ruin things for other people.)

Lastly, let me thanks all the many, many Lililicious folks who came, helped, partied and basically had the good time I wished I was having. LOL

Bottom line, we hope we’ll be able to do it again. Keep your eyes peeled for announcements on the website.

Posted in Events | 4 Comments »


Events: Off to Onna!

October 7th, 2005

Well, as of just about 30 minutes from now, I’m off to the yuriest US con of 2005, Onna!.

If you’re still on the fence about coming, see if you can make it on Sunday. Saturday will, no doubt be sold out early, and while there’s lots to do and watch on Saturday (Guest panels, Concert and Cosplay are all going to be popular,) Sunday has even MORE guest panels, the new manga talent contest “Be Discovered at Onna!,” a Harajuku Fashion show, a Gaming Arcade and a dance! As well as all the usual fun games, fan panels and great videos.

If you’re sticking around on Monday, we’ve got a cool panel-video programming connection going on, where the panels we’re running are coordinated with the Video schedule. So you can talk about classic 70s shoujo, then wile away the morning watching it. :-) Or Takarazuka…or Rumiko Takahashi…..

If you’re a reader of Okazu, or a member of the Yuricon ML, or #lilicious or #otenba and we haven’t met face to face, please, please at least catch me for a sec and introduce yourself. It’s always my great pleasure to meet the folks who are my online friends and fans. :-)

Don’t be surprised if I don’t update for the next few days, but I do have a camera, and you never know. I might be bored and insomniac one night.LOL

In the meantime, here is an article about Onna! that appeared in today’s Newark Star Ledger newspaper. In the tradition of all newspaper articles, it is full of errors. LOL But they got the hotel and the dates right in the paper, so it’s okay with me. ;-)

See you all at Onna!!

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Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD 6, Valentine’s Gift

October 6th, 2005

Surprised to see me posting so close to Onna!? Me too. ;-)

This is short post in any case. The Drama CD for Maria-sama ga Miteru, Valentinusu no Okurimono, (Valentine’s Gift), was, as always, another delightful interlude with the talented ladies that comprise the Marimite team. The story is almost exactly like the novel, at least so much so that I can’t think of any significant alterations.

One of the exceptionally fun things about the Drama CD is that we get to hear the sections of the novel that were cut from the anime. Specifically, the bit where Yoshino and Eriko angst amusingly about the cake Rei gives them for Valentine’s Day. Yoshino’s voice actress, Ikezawa Haruna has a chance to stretch her range a little. I quite enjoyed her melodic musings.

Also, to my great joy, we get to hear Shinohara Emi narrate “The Greatest Day of Rosa Chinensis’ Life.” I cannot stress how fun this story is. Totally worth the price for both CDs. Just for the “psychedelic” music as Youko’s meds kick in, really.

Anyway, another excellent entry in the series, and a chance for use to get a few more moments with a team of exceptional seiyuu bringing together exceptional characters by an exceptional writer.

Ratings:

9 all the way around.

BTW, all the pictures for these posts are now linked to the Amazon JP entry for the item. So if you read a post and wish you too can enjoy Yumi stressing over Valentine’s chocolates for Sachiko…well, now you can! ^_^

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