I have been so crazy busy recently working on Yuri Monogatari 6 that, after hours of staring at the computer, the thought of reviewing something for you makes me want to cry. Which is why it is once again my absolute, sincere pleasure to welcome Winterbraid as a guest reviewer! Yay!

I`ve finally bled up enough coin to get the new (well, not really, ’cause it was some time ago) and shiny release of Murder Princess, which got, uh, released – by a company aptly calling themselves “Anime Video” – in Poland. And in Germany too, I guess, since it comes with both Polish and German subtitles; and even two different versions of the latter, according to my video player. I know this series has already been taken apart, like, three times on Okazu; but I`m still gonna write about it excessively.
^-^

I must say, while Murder Princess doesn`t seem to have magically gained more Yuri value (or more innovative value, when we`re at it ^-^;) on the second run, it is still – all the same – an enjoyable anime to watch. I think it`s because it is basically a handful of entirely unoriginal themes blended together in an entirely original manner, serviceliciously free of intellectual baggage, and amply seasoned with awesome (like in “Hey, she just thrashed a monster ten times her size!!!” awesome). ^-^ Yes, I just like this series, somehow – perhaps not the title, though. ^-^;

The release consists of two DVDs in a single box (the summary on the back cover has a rather serious mistake, by the way); the first thing I noticed (or should I say, didn`t notice) upon opening the box was lack of postcard. =_= On the other hand, there was a booklet with several pictures of Faris and Alita, and translated liner notes from Tomoyuki Kurokawa of Bee-Train; quite a nice touch, yeah, but still not a postcard… okay, okay. ^-^; Each DVD contains three episodes, and the remaining space is conveniently filled with trailers; nothing Yuri-esque there, so I skipped that part (the company has also released both seasons of Black Lagoon, by the way).

Now for the translation, which is… rather unusual, I`d say. The translators obviously went the creative way; that in itself is more than commendable, as long as it is a result of actual creativity rather than lack of knowledge. I`d like to believe the former is the case here, although this belief`s been put to trial a few times. In other words, there are moments when the text not only doesn`t make sense when compared with original speech, but it also doesn`t make any sense at all. ^-^; Oh well. Still, there is a number of actual “wow!” moments, and these – at least in my opinion – more than make up for the occasional not-so-wow moment, and the more blatant differences from the original are an extra source of fun. ^-^ The characters are, for once, literate (actually, even more literate sometimes than in the original; that`s okay, seeing that while short sentences might sound cool in Japanese, in Polish they just sound dumb ^-^;), use more than 2000 basic words, and – most of the time – use wording you`d expect from the genre. In fact, the result might be a bit too… theatrical at times, but this anime isn`t one to be taken seriously either, so it`s all right, I guess. ^-^; I believe in beautiful translations rather than strictly true translations, so I wholeheartedly support the turn towards creativity (as long as some improvement is on the way) and I can only wish the editors even more imagination in the future, to cover up any gaps in actual knowledge. And more postcards, perhaps. ^-^

And these were my thoughts on “Murder Princess.”

Erica here – thank you Winterbraid for that insightful and entirely laugh-out-loud review. Consider your thoughts and rambles welcome here any time.

Kitsune to Atori is a freaky little collection of three multi-part stories that have absolutely nothing in common except the creator, Takeda Hinata.

The first half of the book, “Kitsune and Atori,” follows the lives, deaths and lives (and deaths, etc, etc,) of sisters Kitsune and Atori. Atori loves her big sister, but hates the foxes that haunt the shrine they live in. It’s kind of sadly apparent that they *are* the foxes, but when Atori kills her sister, there’s nothing we can do about it. Nor can we do anything when we see them alive once again, only this time it’s Atori who has to die. The story is a little weird, a little depressing, a little violent and a little touching, with a measure of “Wait, wasn’t that…? But I thought she…? HUH?”

The second half of the book, “The Doll’s Girl,” follows an introverted and lonely girl, Minori, who has been hospitalized for a long time, following her father’s death. Minori assuages her loneliness by making clothes for her only companion, a doll. When Kanae, a girl slightly older than Minori and exactly opposite in personality, arrives to share her room for a little while, she throws Minori’s life into complete chaos. Kanae is clothes obsessed, extroverted and brand-conscious. But she’s good-hearted and when she sees Hana, Minori’s doll, she decides that she needs a little bling in her life, pulls out a pair of scissors and slices her camisole up for lace for Hana’s hat. Kanae moves to her own room, but she and Minori come to see each other over and over. Minori asks if she can use one of the shiny buttons Kanae wears on her purse, but is told that those, and those alone, she can’t have.

When Kanae’s surgery day comes close Minori makes her a protective charm. Minori cuts out ivy leaves which, in the language of flowers, means “eternal friendship.” Kanae wants to see what’s inside, but Minori won’t let her, embarrassed by her moment of emotionality. Minori thinks Kanae doesn’t appreciate her, so she demands the o-mamori back. As she’s wheeled to surgery, Kanae asks the nurse to give the charm back to Minori, after learning what was in it. Minori receives the charm and opens it to find the buttons that Kanae treasured inside. Minori goes running through the halls to tell Kanae not to die.

The story comes to an end with Minori, dressed quite nattily, visiting a recovering Kanae in the hospital, with an epilogue in which Kanae and Minori are reunited in the outside world, hopefully never to be parted again.

The third story, “Yaeka’s Airmail,” involves a nursing school and some characters that look like infants, a lot of animals, and cool adult characters who look all of mid-teens. It was very dramatic, with fun interiors that didn’t match the story at all.

So, not the Yuriest manga ever published, but for incesty crushes and hospital crushes and impossible age-difference and geographically separate crushes, it was a fun romp through the interesting variety of stuff in the creator’s brain. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – variable, but averaging at 7
Story – ditto
Characters – same here
Yuri – 1
Service – 1

Overall – 7

Today’s review was sponsored by the peerless Komatsu-san, whose blog makes me laugh, as well as educates me about my own industry from the Japanese perspective.