Mai Otome S.ifr Anime

December 28th, 2008

When last we left Rena and Sifr in Mai Otome 0~S.ifr (舞-乙HiME 0~S.ifr~) it was so many months ago that I pretty much had completely forgotten who, what, where, when and why. How always involves three things – partial nudity, explosions and lots of screaming, that one’s easy. ^_^

But the story was easy enough to catch up on. Sifr is the bastard child of the Windbloom family and thus, has the power to make the Harmonium work. Garderobe’s babealicious, but misguided headmistress has decided to kill Sifr to keep that from happening. On the other side, the evil-eyebrowed Schwarz is running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trailing a captured Sifr behind them. (Surely I was not the only one who thought them taking her to outer space then blowing up the station and taking her back to earth was just about the stupidest waste of fuel ever?) Defying both sides are Bruce, Rena, Shion, Mayo and Eliot. And Mayu, who obviously could have taken care of all of this on her own, but doesn’t, for whatever reason.

I kept getting the feeling that series continuity was being ignored in this OVA. Probably because in Mai Otome, the Harmonium had been been buried and forgotten for ages, but s.ifr only takes place a generation before. Or maybe it’s just an alternate universe. Or something else. But, it had the three things we cared about – a hot Garderobe headmistress, Rena getting to be uber cool as the Blue Star Sapphire Otome and some Yuri service. We even got the added bonus of Sifr having some brass. So really, who cares about the rest? It was shiny and colorful – exactly what we want out of our Mai.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Music – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – 2
Service – 4

Overall – 7

Oh, and I completely forgot! An adult female kissed an adult male and he did NOT nosebleed or pass out or anything else idiotic. He blushed – totally approved behavior for being kissed by a pretty girl.

Posted in Mai Otome | 3 Comments »


This Week in Yuri – December 27, 2008

December 27th, 2008

Yuri Anime

Funimation has announced that it has picked up the licenses for Ikkitousen and Vandread. Whether that is good news or bad will entirely depend on your feelings towards these series. lol Personally, I’m split 50/50 on them. I love Ikkitousen‘s craptastic-ness and find Vandread-ful. :-)

Eric writes in to let us know that episode 1 of anti-Yuri series Mariaholic is live and streaming for your viewing (dis)pleasure. The “romantic comedy” plot centers around a Yuri-obsessed girl who falls for a beautiful girl at her school only to learn that the “girl” is actually a cross-dressing guy who treats her like crap. The plot of this series cascaded into a discussion in my house about how in anime, any main character wearing the clothes of the opposite gender almost immediately becomes a paragon of that gender and object of desire.

Right Stuf announces a March 24, 2009 release date for ARIA The NATURAL – Part 2 DVD Collection.

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Yuri Manga

The issue of Morning 2 magazine on sale on January 22, 2009 will feature a front and back, full color cover of Gunjou by Nakamura Ching. It will be awesome.

Erin S. kindly points out that February will see the advent of Yuri Hime Wildrose 3 and that the Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan collection also coming out in spring will, like the MikoMajyo series by the same author, come as a deluxe set with Drama CD as well as manga volume alone. Something for me to look forward to, anyway. :-)

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Snatches of Yuri

Jacob S. wanted to share this snatch of Yuri: Vanillaware has made a game, Grim Grimoire, where you play a young witch who goes from timid schoolgirl to royal mage-consul. He points out that there is a very mild (the game is rated E), but most definitely Yuri-ful, end.

Speaking of snatches…for the three of us who care, Hakodate Youjin Buraijou Himegami, Volume 4 is on sale!

Something that’s all over the Japanese Yuri blogs, and yet is unlikely to be something I’ll ever read, is Wasabi ala Mode. It’s Kirara CR. It’s moe Yuri-ish maids. Whoo.

In Fura Furu, we follow Natsu and Hana who are exploring the latest Yuri fetish – poverty. It’s all the rage in Yuri manga these days…haven’t you noticed? I have. Anyway. Rabu-rabu, or so the J-blogs say.

And Yasashii Ira is a collection of shorts, many with Yuri, and with a mopey looking kid on the cover. Moe and bittersweet is my best guess.

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Other Yuri News

Maria-sama ga Miteru: Hello Goodbye went on sale on the 26th in Japan. Yes, I ordered a copy and am racing to the end of Scenes Before Graduation to be ready when it arrives. And, as I went to get the link to it just now, I notice that it is Number *3* on the book charts at Amazon.co.jp. Wow.

The new OP for Ichigo Mashimaro “Encore” is up on YouTube. It includes Chika going completely tsundere for Miu as they hold hands and Ana and Matsuri also touching, although I tend to think of that relationship more as a primary caregiver and her functional, yet mentally disabled patient. lol

Last up, Pizza Hut announced a new Maria-sama ga Miteru campaign in honor of the 4th season next week. This commemorative box will picture Sei and Yumi.

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So much excitement this week. See you next week for more fabulous Yuri news!

Posted in Yuri Network News | 8 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Clover

December 26th, 2008

Otsu Hiyori is a darn good storyteller. Not many mangaka are. If they can draw, they often can’t write. Vice versa applies, as well. And even if you have an awesome team of artist/writer, if the magazine’s editing staff has specific, overwhelming requirements, or they aren’t good at their job or any number of other things, the end result can, to coin a phrase…suck.

Not so with Otsu Hiyori, whose deft, light-handed touch makes for individual stories that read pleasantly and, when collected, turn into a little slice of wow. One such slice is Clover. It is a collection of stories that ran in Comic Yuri Hime and one fabulous omake chapter that makes it all the more ‘wow’-er.

Let us begin at the beginning. I *completely* missed that the stories that make up Clover were about 4 sisters. Sure, they all had the same family name, but I never noticed their family name in the first place. And the stories are told in non-chronological fashion – and the magazine comes out 3 months apart, so pardon me for not noticing, okay?!? ^_^

So, the Tachibana family has four sisters, each of whom have had at least one relationship that involves falling for another woman, or having one fall for them. They are all very cool about it; it’s not screaming, knife-wielding drama for this family (nor for any of Otsu’s characters ever, really.) And for most of the sisters it was but a fleeting moment in time. Except for one.

In “Bitter Girl,” Midori finds herself at rope’s end working at a cake shop during the holiday season with no help. She asks the girl who drops by all the time to help out and so, Sugiura starts to work with her. As they work together, they talk about themselves and ultimately, Sugiura and Midori start going out. Midori’s not entirely sure about this, because she thinks she’s doing it as a lark, but when a boy asks her out, and Sugiura breaks up with her to free her up, Midori realizes that she’s fallen for Sugiura! She runs after the other girl, only to catch up to her and find that despite the cheerful face she had on when she said goodbye, Sugiura is crying. Midori and she are honest with one another at last. The story had a nice extended epilogue in which we learned that Sugiura really don’t like cake at all – she liked the girl at the cake shop. ^_^

The collected volume Clover also has an extended epilogue omake that finds Sugiura and Midori still together 3 years later. Sugiura is in law school and always busy; Midori is home, feeling a bit resentful of playing the role of the wife. She feels as if she’s being taken for granted and is starting to rethink this relationship. When she confronts Sugiura, the other woman falls apart instantly, as she did all those years ago. Midori realizes that she was misinterprating Seiko’s feelings completely, and the two of them patch it up instantly. On the final page, we see Sugiura, now a successful lawyer (we can tell because of the suit,) being seen off by Midori – and so we can assume happily ever after.

I just loved this collection. Otsu’s stories rarely feel typical, even when they are playing in safe waters. There’s always a feeling of self-awareness about the characters, as if they are looking at themselves and seeing some of their situation from outside themselves. Otsu’s style fits the atypical stories – the ones set outside of high school – best, because her characters are so often mature and laid-back.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Stories – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 1

Overall – 8

A great book, one that will fly under most people’s radar because there are no mecha, no sex, no over-the-top melodrama. I know Seven Seas can’t bring over the more explicit Yuri Hime books and if they bring this out it probably won’t sell well because “nothing happens.” But this is a *fabulous* example of Yuri that does not suck and I hope that they can bring it over here and you can all prove me wrong by making it a best-seller. ^_^

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Yuri Manga | 6 Comments »


Top Ten Yuri Anime of 2008

December 24th, 2008

It’s Erev Christmas, and most people are thinking about presents and whatnot, so I thought it would be a good time to present you with my thoughts on the Top Ten Yuri Anime of 2008.

As always, this my opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. You will probably disagree with at least some of my choices, and certainly with some of the reasoning behind my choices. You are welcome to express your opinions in the comments field, of course, but please remember that your opinions are probably not going to change my opinions. lol

As we’ve done for the last few years, I’m going to split this into a Top Five list for both Japanese and English Anime. So, away we go!

Top Five Japanese Yuri Anime of 2008

5) Candy Boy and Shoujo Sect – These two are tied at 5th for the year. They both made a big splash in Yuri Fandom. Both were described as “beautiful” and “lovely” and “romantic” and lots of other really positive adjectives by people who were not me. On someone else’s Yuri Top Ten, they’d likely be the top 1 and 2 and spots. ^_^ So, depsite my feelings about how dreadfully dull both these shows were, they definitely deserve to make the list for having had a tremendous impact on Yuri fandom at large this year.

3) Ikkitousen GG and Koihime Musou – What are the chances of not one, but *two* utter abominations of anime loosely based upon the classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms coming out at the same time? Infintesimal? And yet, in 2008, we had two such craptastic anime to watch! One in which the revered warriors of ancient China were turned into buxom high school girls, complete with exploding clothes and no plot, and one in which they were turned into moe girls, with breasts bouncing and loli aplenty. Both had an abundance of unresolved Yuri, so take yer pick, we got something for everyone here…except those who want to see the Romance portrayed with some historical accuracy and dignity. ^_^

1) Mnemosyne – I know you folks aren’t going to agree with me on this one, but I thought Mnemosyne was brilliant. It wasn’t ever a Yuri story, it just happened to have high-octane Yuri-service injected engines. But for a creepy, gore-filled, ultra-violent freak show about women who can’t die and the men who try to rip their throats out, I thought this was simply spectacular. It is my sincere wish to see this picked up for a 2-DVD set release, because I just loved every lesbian-threesome with expository voiceover and every single second watching Rin die over and over and over and over. Plus, if you stop whining about the ridiculous ending, you’ll notice that the epilogue leaves us with Rin in the middle of an alternative 3-female family raising a small child together. That’s *got* to count for something. For me, the whole package was my Top Japanese Yuri anime release in 2008.

Top Five English Yuri Anime of 2008

5) Red Garden – It’s true that there is so little Yuri in this series that it’s almost not really a “Yuri” anime however, the little Yuri that there is – by which I mean Paula – is so significant that it must receive a mention. Paula is lovely, elegant and her feelings for Kate are genuine. And in the end, the lesbian does not die, is not repudiated, does not become psychotic. She simply is thanked for her feelings and all her help and loved for who she is. That’s unheard of – and puts it at number 5.

4) My Otome – How can we count the ways, I said when I reviewed this originally. There’s so much Yuri-service here that it’s almost easier to count the straight relationships…all three of them. ^_^ This series was totally gay and we loved it the first time around, then loved it again all over on DVD and I’ll love it again when I rewatch it in a brain-numbing marathon. Long Live Garderobe!

3) Strawberry Panic – The first half is still soppy and slow, nothing happens in the most annoyingly coquettish way, but the second half totally makes up for it all by being funny, clever at times, melodramatic, and parodying everything on the planet that isn’t nailed down. For Volume 3 of the English version alone, this series would make the list. For Shizuma and Kaori having sex outside in what is one of the worst decisions *ever* in anime, and for Hikari and Amane actually going all the way, (which is quite mind-boggling if you take a moment to think about it) Strawberry Panic makes number three for the year.

2) Simoun – I will go to my death saying that this was one of the best anime I have ever watched – ever. The Yuri is not the point, although we liked it plenty, thanks. There was an actual story, with actual characters that actually developed sensibly. There were just so very many things to like about the series, and I’ve talked about them over and over. The DVD release left me breathless all over again. Absolutely this was one of the top five releases this year. And it probably would have made number one, except….

1) Maria Watches Over Us – Sei’s raw and beautiful lesbian affair that cracked her stone facade and warmed her up; the circumstances that made it possible for her to be the Rosa Gigantea that Yumi grows to rely on. Sachiko, the arrogant, distant rich girl who, without realizing it, makes the most important decision of her young life when she decides to take Yumi as her soeur. Yoshino, who shakes the school to its very foundation when she demands to have her feelings be understood. Youko’s meddling, Eriko’s flakiness, Rei’s solid dependability, Shimako’s frail perfection. I still can’t believe it was released in English. No question. The top English Yuri anime release for 2008 is Maria Watches Over Us.

Whether you celebrate Mithras slaying the bull or light Kwanzaa candles, whether your holiday was three days ago, or tonight is the 3rd night of your holiday, the night before your holiday, or you still have 12 days to go, or if you don’t celebrate anything particularly, whether you spend the night with your lover or your family, in a snow-covered house or out in the summer sun – a very happy holiday season to everyone.

And let me remind you, too, that the English anime listed here and much, much more are available on the largest Yuri-related online shop in the world – the Yuricon Shop. When you purchase anything through the Yuricon Shop, you show your support for Yuri and for Yuricon. :-)

Posted in English Anime, Now This Is Only My Opinion, Top Yuri Lists | 24 Comments »


Day of the Revolution Manga, Volume 2 (English)

December 23rd, 2008

Have you read Orlando, Virginia Woolf’s love letter to Vita Sackville-West that she cleverly disguised as a novel? If you have, you have also read Day of the Revolution, Volume 2.

Megumi, formerly Kei, is dealing with the single most pressing issue of her *entire* life – how to find a boyfriend, quickly, before she cracks under the pressure of being the only desirable female in the entire school. Really, shouldn’t there be at least one other issue that is at least as important than the absurd notion that she must hury-hurry-hurry and pair up immediately!!!!!!!!! Oh, right, right it’s a comedy. And it is amusing, as Megumi’s best friend forever hooks her up with her own little brother, Mikoto. Mikoto, you might remember is forced to cross-dress on a regular basis in another of Tsuda’s stories, Princess Princess. So, of course he’ll understand Megumi’s issues. Unfortunately, Mikoto’s still just a kid, so Megumi’s kind of forced to be the seme in that relationship, and for both their sakes they will have to take it slow. Which works out okay in the end.

Like most classic “comedies,” the girl who was a boy gets the boy who is occasionally a girl for money, and everyone lives *happily* ever after. ^_^

What?

Oh, Yuri? Ah, nope. But the author’s notes are as interesting as ever.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 0
Service – 0

Overall – 7

Many thanks to Amanda M. who is the sponsor of today’s review and our newest Okazu hero! Amanda, email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com and receive your Hero’s Badge. ^_^

Posted in English Manga | 4 Comments »