Madlax, Volume 1

June 6th, 2005

I’m not sure if Madlax is better than I remembered it to be, but it is definitely damn good. In this series, I think Bee Train might well have hit their peak – animation, story, music, etc, all work together to make a really enjoyable whole.

I reviewed the early part of the series about a year ago in June 2004, so I won’t repeat the basic plot stuff since, obviously, that has not changed. ;-)

So let’s talk packaging. Like Noir, the packaging is minimal. No posters, no pencil boards, just a disk and some liner notes. The notes are interesting, but not Azumanga Daioh-level stellar. 4 episodes on the disk. I know it’s standard, but you know my rant – it shouldn’t be. 6 episodes on a disk *should* be standard, or why have we switched at all from VHS?

The music has a definitely similarity to that of Noir, without being a complete copycat. I did notice, this time around, that “The Book” (or individual pages from The Book) has a plinky, irrirtating theme, much as The Watch did. The book also comes with a pretentious quasi-militaristic, vaguely Teutonic male choir, which means that even if you’re only half paying attention, you’ll look up when it comes on-screen. :-)

I’m always fascinated by the phenomenon of watching an anime I enjoyed with that 20/20 hindsight that comes from knowing what will happen. It frees one to notice many more details – in this case I was able to appreciate just how really flaky Margaret is. lol

For the yuri fan, there is instant rapport between Elenore and Vanessa, who seem to be sharing some kind of obvious secret as they trade snarky comments. And Rimelda gives off gaydar vibes like crazy…but maybe that’s just me.

The whole war thing actually makes more sense this time around – I think we get alot of Madlax’s point of view in the beginning just to establish that pretty much everyone knows this war is meaningless – except for the guys fighting it. Hey, *that* sounds familiar…. I also like Madlax’s sensuality in the middle of everything. The first time watching it seemed frivolous – this time it feels somehow necessary.

The biggest downside to this series hasn’t really yet been established: Bee Train has a nasty tendency to severely overuse repeated footage, like some kind of animated nervous tic. In the case of Volume 1, we have yet to really see the repeated scenes, but we will, we will…established by Episode 4, they just keep coming back again and again and again, until we want to scream. Or maybe that’s just me.

Other than that – the violence is appropriate, people bleed (an issue I had with Noir) from their wounds and the only serious handwave is Madlax’s mad assasinatin’ skillz. Which is *the* handwave, really, so we’ll let it go. She can fight in a cocktail dress if she wants, so there.

Ratings:

Art – 8 (I think BT really hits a high here. It’s the best they’ve done so far.)
Characters – 8 (Intriguing rather than interesting)
Story – 7
Yuri – 4 with a hint of more to come
Music – 9

Overall – a strong 8. If you liked Noir, you’ll probably like Madlax. Get it at the Yuricon Shop and support yuri!

Posted in Bee Train, Madlax | No Comments »


Hot new items at Yuricon

June 4th, 2005

We’ve been making some changes and additions on the Yuricon website, so if you haven’t visited in a while, drop by now and take a look!

Right off the bat, we have a brand new Contest:The 2005 Yuriko Fanfic Contest will be running until August 1. Yuriko, our beloved mascot has done many things as a pop idol – tell us about her best, worst of funniest job and win some great prizes! Please read the submission rules before sending anything.

As always, there are new names on our ever-exapnding “The List” of anime and manga lesbians, lesbian wannabes and oughta-bes.

We’ve added more anime and manga to the Yuricon Shop and we’ve also switched to the Paypal system to make it more convenient for you to make purchases of ALC yuri manga, doujinshi and novels! Don’t forget to get a few I Love Yuri” gifts and t-shirts while you’re there, too.

And there’s a new essay up on our Essays page. The members of the Yuricon Mailing List voted on their absolute top must-read and must-see yuri anime and manga. We’ve collected those titles into a Yuri 101 primer for folks who want to know where to begin.

Last, but not at all least, check out our exciting Calendar of Events to find out where you can join Yuricon staff and friends for fun yuri-related panels, events, and more.

Make sure you write down October 8-10, 2005 on your calendar and don’t miss out on Onna! the yuriest con of 2005! Co-sponsored by Yuricon, Onna! will have plenty of yuri content, video programming, panels, guests and more, so Pre-register today and save! The price of admission goes up on June 19th, so get that registration is and make Onna! part of your 2005 events calendar!

And there’s more – new issues of Shoujoai ni Bouken: The Adventures of Yuriko (now available as an illustrated novel on the Shop), and of course, a great group of people to chat about yuri with on the Yuricon Mailing List – so visit the site, buy your goodies, then come to the list and let us know what your favorite yuri couples and series are!

Posted in Miscellaneous | 5 Comments »


Yuri News Items!

June 3rd, 2005

Today we’ll cover a bunch of news snippets, because there’s *alot* going on in the world of yuri!

The magazine formerly known as Yuri Shimai is back in a new incarnation, now known as Yuri Hime!

According the website, we can expect all of our favorite authors, art and stories. We cab also expect a manga report of Yuricon in Tokyo. I’m a little worried about that!. LOL

***

Rica ‘tte Kanji!? and Yuri Monogatari were both reviewed in the June issue of Curve and Girlfriends magazines. (Curve actually ran separate sidebars on both Yuricon and ALC Publishing.) The verdicts?

“…my new bedside table fave, Rica ‘tte Kanji!?…” – Diane Anderson Marshall, Curve

“Yuri Monogatari 2 is a more titillating collection with some, let’s just say satisying, graphics…” “[Rica ‘tte Kanji!?] is a fun graphic novel about sexual awakening…” – Lauren Dockett, Girlfriends

Overall, very positive comments from a non-manga reading audience. :-)

***

Back on February 8th and May 17th and I reviewed a lovely little manga series called Aria. Alert reader Ladios pointed out that an anime of Aria was forthcoming and today I received an email pointing to this Anime News Network release that confirms it:

Animate.tv has confirmed that Kozue Amano’s manga series Aria is to be adapted into an anime. More details are expected to be announced the the August issue of Monthly Comic Blade (on sale June 30th). Mag Garden’s website states (in Japanese) the anime is to be released in July.

So there you go – an Aria anime is coming. Thank you alert readers!

PS – Don’t expect high levels of yuri, but look for Aika’s akogare/crush on Alicia – and see if Alicia and Akari look like lovers in this version, the way they do in the manga. lol

And to finsh off for the news items – if you haven’t been to the Yuricon website recently, you should stop by. We have a new essay up and new anime and manga titles up on the Yuricon Shop. And, until June 14th, get $10 off all orders of $30 of “I Love Yuri” gifts and apparel from Cafepress.
We’ve got new names on “The List” and a new issue of Saiyuu no Ryouko: The Continuing Adventures of Yuriko!

That’s it for today – send more news!

Posted in ALC Publishing, Yuri Network News | No Comments »


Transistor ni Venus, Volume 2

June 2nd, 2005

No, you didn’t miss a review Volume 1 of Transistor ni Venus. I just haven’t been able to find it yet.

First, once again, my deepest thanks go out to Touko_no_doriru-san for getting me started on this manga! I’d seen it on and off at the used manga store for years, but had never actually gotten it. Your gift of Volumes 3 and 6 were *just* the thing I needed to make me go out and get as much as I could find! (And extra thanks for the artbook – I’m a huge artbook fan.

This series is delightful. It follows the career of April Enus, aka Venus, a spy in the late 24th century. In classic James Bond-like fashion, she sleeps with nearly every woman she encounters, and has amazing adventures on land, in the water, in the sky and even out into space.

Enus’s world is populated by aliens, sentient animals and a wide variety of really adorable men and women, because the art style is very pin-up, rather than manga.

Enus definitely prefers women, but will certainly take a man at a pinch. Although we never actually see her stoop that low. She trades kisses with a few guys, but saves her real skills for the women.

In her off hours Enus is a teacher at an girl’s private school, where the students regularly ask her for “treats” of kisses when they do well in their schoolwork. She’s happy to oblige, but saves the “adult kisses” for the adult students, and again, sticks with taking the other female teachers to bed.

Volume 2 starts off in a blimp. Enus has hooked up with an attractive lounge singer who favors tuxedos…and jewels. Jara, the singer, has a unique jewelry box, and Enus spends most of the volume attempting to break into it. In between attempts, she sleeps with Jara, who develops a fetish for dressing her up in cosplay outfits. Enus likes Jara plenty, but wishes she could “take the lead” once in a while. Jara is pretty adamant that *she* wears the pants in this relationship, until circumstances force the crew to use the water in the singer’s bath to cool an overheating engine. Jara is livid, but Enus suggests that she use her bath – one one condition.

As the next scene begins, Jara enters the lounge wearing a fetching dress, while Enus is now clad in tux. Apparently you can only have one butch at a a time in this relationship. lol

Enus’ adventures are silly and frequently, downright funny. There’s rarely any sense of urgency, although there is action – and not just in bed. There’s also a nice selection of ray guns and bombs and counterespionage all drawn and written in a nicely fluffy, tension-free way.

The second scenario in the book involves Mariaanna, one of Enus’ lovers and Mariaanna’s brother Rashiko, who kisses his sister on the lips, which upsets Enus. (She gets hers though, the end of the story finds the Mariaanna in bed with Enus.)

The volume ends with a *very* goofy story about Enus being companion to an 8-year old girl, much to her distress. Forced to abandon several female lovers along the way, Enus and her charge switch from one space ship to another as they are attacked again and again. It’s all very silly and enjoyable.

I’m definitely on the hunt for the first volume now. I think I have all but 1 and 8 and every volume is sillier and more full of girl-girl kisses than the last. Although I don’t think we see Enus in bed with a lover nearly as much in the other volumes as we do in this one.

Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 8 (great fluff – who needs substance)
Characters – 9
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

Definitely keep an eye out for this one. It’s way out of print, but more fun than a barrel of lesbians.

Posted in Transistor ni Venus, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Yuri Anime: Hana no Asuka-gumi Lonely Cats Battle Royale

May 31st, 2005

When you think of great Yuri love affairs, you tend to think of Michiru following Haruka in hopes of a ride in her car, or Anthy and Utena breaking through the world’s shell to gain the outside world. Or maybe you think of Sei falling hard for Shiori as she prays in the church at Lillian.

You probably *don’t* think of Yohko snidely commenting to a wounded Asuka that she wouldn’t be able to fight effectively with a broken hand.

But you should.

The second Hana no Asuka-gumi OVA is really quiet remarkably sexy for an old series that has no sex, and really no affection, at all. Because in this case the sexual tension is all sublimated into physical beatings – consider it the ultimate in “love taps.”

The full title of this untranslated OVA is Hana no Asuka-gumi Lonely Cats Battle Royale and it is the animated version of one of the “extra” volumes of the manga. It’s a rather complex tale that weaves in threads of a current (well, current in the mid-80s) gambling ring that involves people without their consent and a damsel in distress with a serious food allergy, and the backstory between Asuka and Yohko.

Let me mostly ignore the plot in favor of the backstory. ^_^

So, way back Asuka was a badly bullied kid in school. She tried to kill herself, but was saved, both physically and emotionally. She learned to channel her rage at others rather than herself and determined to become stronger than anyone so she could kick their bully asses. When we see the current Asuka, she has done just that – she’s the strongest fighter in all of Tokyo, bar maybe one or two people. (And Yohko, but that’s a different thing).

But between here and there, there was a time when Asuka was getting into a lot of fights – and losing. This is where Yohko found her, huddled up on the street nursing that broken hand. Yohko was nasty to her, derisive, and Asuka followed her more to annoy Yohko as much as anything else. Yohko had saved her previously from a false charge of shoplifting, only to thrust her into a seriously dangerous situation. When Asuka follows Yohko, the older girl knows that she’s found the perfect dupe.

Asuka falls hard in love with her tor/mentor.

The rest of the story is taken up with Asuka’s tough love rescue of the damsel in distress and the break up of the Ichigo Milk gambling scheme, but it ends up, as all Asuka/ Yohko interactions do, with the two of them fighting. I mean, really beating the daylights out of each other. This is rough sex without the kissing, and its *really* obvious – even to Yohko, who knows perfectly well what Asuka feels for her. Ultimately (although not in this OVA and not for many years) Asuka realizes, as well.

Of the two Hana no Asuka-gumi OVAs, this one is the win, because you get so much of Asuka’s backstory and alot of Yohko-Asuka interaction. The animation is still pretty “bleah” and the music is excruciating, but as girl gang OVAs go, this has a Yuri quotient right up there with the Sukeban Deka OVA.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 7

No lovey-dovey here – Asuka and Yohko’s love is a violent and dysfunctional love. But it is definitely love.

Posted in Hana no Asuka-gumi, Yuri Anime | 5 Comments »