In 2013, we had the questionable pleasure of watching the idol group Denpa-gumi starring in the servicey and silly Innocent Lilies: Shiroyuki Gakuen. It was subtitled in multiple languages and streamed on Viki.com.

Now it’s 2015, and Innocent Lilies was apparently popular enough to get a sequel. Only 5 episodes this time and, as I mentioned in YNN, more money for costumes and less for scripting. But, pleasantly, more for casting!

If you recall, at the end of the first series Moga and Eimi are the only survivors of White Which Academy. In the beginning of Shiro Majyo Gakuen ~ Owari to Hajimari (白魔女学園 – オワリとハジマリ), Eimi is killed by 3 black witches. A new white witch protects Moga, then is captured by the black witches. To find the meaning of all this, Moga joins the black witch school and is embroiled in a plot that will destroy the world as we know it. In between visions of a singing maiden surrounded by thorns. Moga is joined by another girl in the school, Ran, who is here to save Rina, the captured white witch. Complicating matters is a Red Prince…is he good or bad? You’ll have to watch to see.

The subtitles are slightly off in key moments, so instead of “bonds” between Moga and her friends, they have “bondage.” It added an extra eye-rolling component to the experience. ^_^

The series is an amazing combination of vile and wonderful. It’s almost nauseating to watch with constant in-and-out of focus as the only real cinematic technique and incessant quick cuts for no reason. The beginning of the series, like the previous series, wallows in mild and bland torture fetishtry, adorned with thigh -staring (ugh), but the end is a concatenation of  mythological and magical, with some hand-to-hand combat and a little Bodhisattva flair.

On the positive side, the world is not destroyed. On the bad side, everyone else is.

Ratings:

Cinematography – Bleeerggggh….
Story – Silly, preachy and confused
Characters – Chewing up the scenes
Service – Not as bad as the first series, but yes
Yuri – Not enough

Overall – 7

If you’re a Madoka fan, you might enjoy this series. It’s got a lot of the same wallowing in pain and salvation. I’m not sure who else might enjoy it. I’m not sure I did. ^_^; The ending  was fun and I like the moral of the story (insofar as there is a moral) but could have done with less nauseating camerawork and a little more Yuri.

Last November, I had the pleasure of reviewing the live-action webseries Carmilla. It was a smart, funny, intriguing blend of many things I found in my nerdy lumberyard, and in general I enjoyed it immensely. This summer we have a chance to watch a second season of this silly concatenation of random geeky Yuri interests.

As the series begins, we return to Silas University, where the evil Dean has been defeated, her plan to feed to student body to a giant fish god who lives beneath the campus thwarted. The students are ready to return to a semblance of normality, but that’s not likely, as the Board of Directors is traveling back to the campus to, it appears,  dissolve the university and, apparently, sell the students to a secret company/organization. The biggest spanner in the works is the identity of the Chairman of the Board, Camilla’s sister, Mattie Belmonde, cheerfully overacted by Sophia Walker. It’s hard to dislike her when she’s being so vile. ^_^

The story starts off with a nice kiss between Laura and Carmilla, then, between the elements of the larger plot, descends into some comfortable lesbian drama, as the two of them argue about completely mundane things in the middle of the blood-and-horror fest around them. Almost all of the previous cast returns, including Danny, Perri and  La Fontaine.

Ratings:

Overall  – 9

The series is not yet complete, but again tends to be short 5 or so minute webisodes, which makes for a fun weekend binge-watch. As with most sequel seasons there’s a bit of floundering in detail where we’re not sure it’ll have meaning, but I’m still watching. ^_^