Top Ten Yuri Anime of 2007

December 22nd, 2007

Writing “Top 10” lists is *always* hard for me. This year’s list was especially difficult – while there are more Yuri characters and stories in general, there’s less this year that can be identified specifically as Yuri. But I did want to get this done before I left for Japan, so here we go. :-)

Let me remind you that these choices are my opinion, and based on the series that I watched over the past year. Chances are there a zillion series you think are Yuri-er, but here are *my* choices for the year. It’s almost guaranteed that most people will disagree with me. lol

I have split the list into 5 Japanese and 5 American releases, to allow me to cheat a bit. :-) Without further ado, the Okazu Top 10 Yuri Anime of 2007! Yaaaayy!

English Language

4) Tied for 4th (no, that’s not wrong – ties eliminate the lower position) are Burst Angel and Strawberry Marshmallow:

It’s true that neither series is particularly overt in their Yuri, but it’s “obvious” to us that Meg and Jo are an item, and I and many others remain convinced that Miu is a Evil Psycho Lesbian-in-training. Burst Angel has fights, Strawberry Marshmallow has funnies, and both have characters that this lesbian thinks are “friends of Yuri.”

3) Coming in 3rd for their English-language releases are My HiME and My Otome.

The Yuri is, perhaps, laid on a bit *thicker* through the translation choices and in any case, Shizuru still has the hots for Natsuki, Aoi and Chie are still a couple, Erst wants Nina and Tomoe has her eyes on Shizuru. Among a bazillion other slashable HiMEs and Meisters.

2) In 2nd place, after long consideration, I choose you Simoun:

For still having a terrific Yuri-esque setting, complex world and for keeping me glued to my seat for the entirety of every episode. This anime series remains a must-see, not only for Yuri fans, but anyone, anywhere, who enjoys animation as an art form.

And in first place…

1) Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl:

The setup was ridiculous, the ending even more so, with forays into the utter trite, tedious and absurd. But. The story is about three girls and their love triangle and it remains about three girls and their love triangle right to the very last, very Yuri, kiss.

It’s a one-two punch for Media Blasters, with their initial Yuri anime offerings this year, so congrats to them! (Unintentional, I assure you. It didn’t even occur to me until just this second.)

Japanese Language

5) In fifth place, we have the laughably awful Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora:

This story was a complete recycling of many of the most popular fetishes from previous Kaishaku stories. Kaon and Himiko were the token Yuri couple, trapped in a dysfunctional Yuri triangle with Mika. And yet where, at the end of Kannazuki no Miko, we have no reason to believe that Himeko and Chikane will live happily every after this time, we *see* that Kaon and Himiko do. Yes, yes, it’s crap. I still say fifth place.

4) No “Top Ten” list of mine is going to go by without at least one of the Maria-sama ga Miteru OVAs on it:

Yumi waking Sachiko up in her summer house, Yumi enjoying Sachiko in her Gakuran, Touko dancing in the boy’s role to dance with Yumi, Kanako engaging in a little light stalking, Rei and Yoshino running side by side in the hakama race and Sei. You don’t see Yuri? Fine. I do. Fourth place for every second we spent grinning as Panda Yumi and Sachiko embraced for ever.

3) Moving quickly into the final three comes Blue Drop:

Partially because there was damn little to choose from this year and partially because it’s excellent, I have to include this wonderful and all-too-short series. The girls are charming, Hagino had the greatest pickup line ever in the history of the universe and the love-love was about as overt and out as we can ask for and still get it on TV.

2) Let’s give some Yuri loving to El Cazador de la Bruja:

In this final entry in the “girls with guns on the run” trilogy, Bee Train and director Mashimo set intensity and angst aside, enjoyed a few tacos and had some fun. Because Ellis loves Nadie best when her eyes are shining, El Cazador de la Bruja comes in second.

No surprise here I’m sure, when I say that my choice for the best Yuri anime of the year is:

1) Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS:

Fate, Vivio and Nanoha make a wonderful family and I simply don’t care what anyone in the entire universe argues – I know a big, pluffy bed of lesbian love when I see one.

So Kashimashi and StrikerS, best Yuri anime of the year here on Okazu!

Come back tomorrow for the best Yuri manga of 2007!

Note to those of you who are writing in about Candy Boy. It was vile. It was never even vaguely considered for the top anything. fyi)

Posted in English Anime, Now This Is Only My Opinion, Top Yuri Lists, Yuri Anime | 16 Comments »


Eternal Alice Rondo Manga, Volume 1 (English)

December 20th, 2007

Two quick things before we wade into today’s review:

One, I want to thank everyone who has bought items off the Yuri Wishlist this year with special thanks to Ted, Dan and Eric. I’m usually a little uncomfortable accepting gifts and everyone’s generosity leaves me a bit breathless. But I believe that accepting gifts graciously is the responsibility of the receiver so, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you all, and especially those three gentlemen. Because of you, Okazu keeps rolling along and I can have clothes and food, too. :-)

All orders between now and 12/23 will go out on the 24th. After that, I’m suspending shipping for a few weeks while I am out of the country. This also goes for all third-party orders for alc_pub items through Amazon. Items purchased through Amazon directly other third party vendors are not affected by this, unless they are on backorder and then there’s a whole other set of issues.

That’s it for my announcements. Today’s review is entirely because of something Dan said today in an email – that Okazu allows him to “groom his inner LFB.” ^-^It’s such a great line, I wanted to do something especially servicey for him today. And looking over my pile of things to review, Key Princess Story: Eternal Alice Rondo, Volume 1 certainly seems to fit the bill.

When I originally read this manga as it ran monthly in Dengeki Daioh I was struck by the sensation that Kaishaku was flailing pretty desperately during this series, in both art and story. Month after month, I slogged through the chapters and basically never figured out what the heck was going on (aside from the obvious.) It came as no surprise to me to find that the story makes no more sense in English than it did in Japanese. Eternal Alice Rondo is simply a shitty story. ^_^

The story is basically the same as that of the anime – there are two famous “Alice” books that everyone knows and a third that was never written. The third lives in the hearts of girls who fight each other for fill-in-the-blank-reason. Aruto, a “nice guy” who loves the Alice books and wants to write his own Alice stories, bumbles into the magic world where these girls fight, and finds he has the ability to read and copy the stories in each girls’ heart. He does this to collect the whole of the third, unwritten book.

Of course that’s not what the story is about. The story is really about the unhealthy obsession Aruto’s sister has for him, her attempts to “get closer to him” while he fights off interest in or from every single female in this female-heavy series. Each girl pretty much represents a fetish, something Kaishaku does with regularity. Aruto’s actual love interest, Arisu, is a dead ringer for his idea of what “Alice” looks like. She seems pretty normal, so you just know there’s going to be a catch. (And there is, but it doesn’t happen in this volume.)

The Yuri fetish is represented in Volume 1 by Kisa, Aruto’s sister Kirara’s bestest friend. Kisa is a monomaniac, as all lesbians are, and incapable of expressing her feelings, as all lesbians are. So she seems pretty realistic. Except for the whole magical girl fighting giant key thing. I have yet to see a lesbian do that. :-) Because Kirara is also a monomaniac, she never notices Kisa’s feelings and because they are both girls Kisa gets away with a lot, without giving anything away. But the relationship is destined to go nowhere. I predict a single farewell kiss as Kisa dies in a future volume. Because we likes our Yuri characters hopeless, crazy and/or dead, yes we do. ;-)

I’m not really torn about Eternal Alice Rondo – I always thought the story sucked. Sucked when I read it the first time, it sucked as an anime and isn’t any better in English. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – Aruto’s hair was criminal – 4 at its best
Story – …seriously? – 4 at best
Characters – Other than Kirara – 5 Kirara – 2
Yuri – 3
Service – your pick, but the incestophiles win – 9

Overall – 4

Posted in English Manga | 4 Comments »


Yuri Anime: Noir, Volume 6

December 19th, 2007

May 5, 2005. That was the date I reviewed the first translated volume of the now-classic Noir. And I’m *still* not done reviewing this series. lol Don’t want to rush things, ya know?

It’s a testament to the genre’s growth in the past two years that it’s taken me so long to get around to Volume 6. (Check out the Noir category on the sidebar for the other reviews.)

My first thought, upon pulling this down from the shelf where it lives was to wonder how it would hold up in my post-Madlax, post-El Cazador de la Bruja brain. It’s a testament to the series that I found it as enchanting, as exhilarating and as entertaining as I remembered it being the first time around. When I have a weekend where I have time to take myself off-line for three days or so, I’m going to marathon them all in a row just to see what a head-to-head comparison leads to. ^_^

In fact, Noir was so good, that I found myself taking notes to remind myself of the things I wanted to mention here. I wrote them down in no particular order and they will be relayed to you with the same randomness as I conceived of them. ^_^

The sound of a shell being ejected from a gun is a sound that fills all three of the “girls with guns on the run” trilogy. It’s almost, in a creepy way, comforting to hear it. Ah, we’re in a Bee Train series about women who kill things. Ahhh…

Volume 6 provides us with as much of an explanation of the internal political situation in Soldats as we’re going to get – and it’s a good place to realize that Altena is pretty much barking mad. One half of Soldats is about the power and money, very Illuminati-esque, and Altena, cracked as she is, wants to destroy the world for its “own good” and return to an 11th century “purity,” using the two maidens who embrace sin. Um, yeah, sounds great, uh gotta go, look at the time… All I’m saying is that Altena, Friday Monday and Rosenberg in a room together would rival Sartre’ for surreal conversation.

The one thing I thought was exhausting was that Chloe was there at the horrible past event that, when both Mirielle and Kirika remember it, pretty much changes nothing, except for their ability to be honest with one another. Please. Mirielle’s house must have been crawling with random people wandering in and out or something. Cats, kids with guns, donkeys, etc,….

I also noticed that Chloe’s eyes are really small and suspicious, like adults typically have, but her worldview is surprisingly naive and childlike. In contrast, Kirika’s eyes are huge, like the typical little girl, but her worldview is very scarred and bitter and adult.

In Volume 6, you can actually pinpoint the moment where everything unravels. Kirika begs Mirielle to kill her now that they know the “truth,” since that was what they had promised. Mirielle fails to do so. Kirika interprets Mirielle’s failure as a form of punishment, forcing her to stay alive and face her crimes. Mirielle inteprets her failure as a weakness of spirit when all it is, really, is that she’s grown to care about Kirika.

From this point, Kirika erroneously decides to embrace her fate as Noir, since she believes that Mirielle has rejected her. Mirielle is grasping at trying to put some meaning on her failure to keep their promise. When she reads Kirika’s farewell letter, she realizes what it means, and it gives her strength to go after Kirika.

Which brings me to the letter. “Daisukina Mirielle” it reads, which the translators translate as “Dear Mirielle.” Which I think is fair, although I really would have preferred, “My dear Mirielle,” as encompassing a slightly more intense, but no less ambiguous, feeling.

As I’ve mentioned here many times, Bee Train has publicly said that if you want to see Yuri in Noir see it. If not, don’t. I know that Yuri fans want commitment from the creators of anime so that we can point to a series and say “See? This is *Yuri*!” which is why Strawberry Panic will always be popular. Noir is not that series. But whether you see Kirika’s letter as an admission of love love, or of friend love, it’s still a nice letter and a great scene.

Interestingly, the liner notes for this volume include a little essay on Yuri in Noir. Overall it gives a fair assessment, considering the Yuri as part of fan parody, the fans playing with this series. The conclusion drawn is, basically – feel free to have a little fun with the characters and if you see Yuri, go ahead and see Yuri. It interests me to note that Bee Train and the director felt like they could “have a little fun” with the characters in El Cazador themselves, and make the Yuri a little less ambiguous while they were at it. ^_^ As if they were heeding their own advice.

The other extra of note was an interview with one of my all-time favorite seiyuu, Hisakawa Aya, as she discusses voicing Chloe and her relationship with the other voice actresses. I clearly have to go back and watch the extras for earlier volumes that I completely missed. Duh.

Ratings:

Art – wildly inconsistent from 4-7
Character – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 5
Service – 1, but I can’t actually think of much

Overall – 8

The other thing I wanted to mention is that joining conspiracies is definitely the way to go. All the Soldats, Enfant and Leviathan folks seemed to have been pretty successful, so there’s obviously some kind of lesson in that. ^_^

Posted in Noir, Yuri Anime | 4 Comments »


Yuri Live-Action: Cutie Honey the Live

December 17th, 2007

It’s not like Cutie Honey the Live is good or anything. In fact, it’s pretty horrid; a veritable blivet of pandering, service and pervtastic-ness. And yet…I love it. Like Ikkitousen and Kannazuki no Miko, I can look past the stuff crammed into it to pander to the somewhat-lower-than-lowest-common-denominator to see something worth watching.

Like all of the versions in the Cutie/Cutey Honey mythos (barring Cutie Honey Seed) in this edition, Kisaragi Honey is the android daughter of the brilliant Professor Kisaragi. Like the original CH manga, Honey is a schoolgirl and her best friend and roommate at the White Rose School (Shirobara Gakuen) is Aki Natsuko. In this incarnation Na-chan is sadly reduced to a cringing dweeb – a far cry from the hyper-competent, muscular, gun-toting public peace officer I loved in Cutey Honey a-GoGo.

After the initial story of Honey’s existence and the death of her father, this Live-Action TV series deviates from the previous incarnations. Hayami Seiji is a homeless doofus who fancies himself a suave guy and crack private investigator. He’s really just an amusingly jerky guy. The kind of role a young Bruce Campbell might have played.

Honey this time is a bit bubble-headed, but likeable. She has no ego or pride, which makes it virtually impossible for the school bully and her henchchicks to make fun of Honey – something that they keep trying to do and at which they fail amusingly every time. I prefer Honey to be a bit more on the ball, but I have to give this actress some real credit – she’s got some actual stunt skills and does not at all suck in the role.

Panther Claw seems to be run by four leaders (who in my head I call Black Claw, Silver Claw, Scarlet Claw and the to be named, but probably Cobalt or Gold Claw.) Black Claw is a super-suave, bilingual metrosexual and Silver Claw is a schizoid personality. They are both good fighters and play a variety of freakish games that utilize society’s most pathetic people, to make money. (And while I wouldn’t swear to it, I believe that the old guy who keeps winning the games is Go Nagai himself.)

Scarlet Claw just showed up a few episodes ago and with her, the first real sign of Yuri. (I knew we’d get some eventually. Along with the panty shots and dress-up and other fetishy stuff, Yuri’s a good bet in CH.) By day, she’s a teacher at a high-end school and she’s clearly seduced several of her female students (and, just as clearly has no time for her male ones.) She also has a really disgusting egg fetish thing which I found quite nasty, but she made up for it by having an aesthetically pleasing costume as Scarlet Claw. :-) (The two guys just wear suits. Boring.) Scarlet Claw is totally an EPL. Thumbs up.

Now, here’s where the story starts to get good. In this incarnation, Honey is not the only AI-system android. Early on, we encounter the world’s most miserable girl, Miki. Where Honey lives happily, going to school, playing with Seiji and his homeless friends and generally being hopelessly cheerful, Miki’s existence is full of misery and grim, with a side of despair. We first encounter her in a girl’s juvenile detention center – and no one likes her there. Poor Miki. Only, she’s not helpless and when the Panther Claw start killing girls mysteriously at juvie, Miki takes matters into her own hands. Where Honey wears a red heart pendant, Miki wears a blue spade and also becomes a “Cutie”-type android…although I blank from calling her Cutie Miki, ’cause she such a miserable soul. ^_^;

Miki transfers to Honey’s school, but rebuffs Honey’s attempts at being friends. Miki learns that Honey is also an android, but manages to keep her own existence as one secret. Miki’s awesome – and kinda hot too. Scarlet Claw has some fun groping her, but of course she and Honey escape the evil clutches, etc, etc. Miki’s actress also has some decent physical skills, but not as much as Honey’s actress.

And that, I thought, was going to be that. Only, I was totally wrong. Yay!

In one episode, the school bully and her henchchicks recruit Miki to destroy Honey’s reputation. Cleverly they come up with a plan to make Miki do bad stuff and blame Honey, so it will sound like Honey’s doing the bad things herself. The first thing they try is to steal money from a sweet, naive rich girl. But she’s so eager to help them that she gladly hands over a lot of money and the bully and her henchchicks freak. “Put that away!” they yell. “Someone’s going to steal that!!” Trust me – it was funny. The rich girl walks off bemused, but concerned for the person she thinks is Kisaragi Honey. Several episodes later, the same rich girl, Yuki, is kidnapped. Because she’s charmingly loopy, she tries to help the kidnapper, eventually meeting the real Honey and engaging her assistance. Together, they save the day – and the life of the kidnapper.

In episode 10 Yuki, once again in the story, eventually confesses to Hayami (well, threatens him, really) that she’s in love with Honey. So, they go on a date. Unfortunately Hayami comes along and you know this isn’t going anywhere, but yay! Yuki’s in love with Honey! And that’s not even the best part. Silver Claw and Black Claw double-team Honey and beat her unconscious. Yuki runs up, demanding to know what they are doing. When they send their Panther Claws mooks after her, Yuki presses the white diamond pendant she wears and – lo and behold! – we’re up to three AI-system androids. Yuki leaps another notch up in yayness. Yuki’s actress is clearly a dancer and has pretty much no “fighting” skills – her moves are very PGSM-style “fighting.”

All of this leads me to believe that we are one Claw and one android short on the series, because it defies logic to think that we have a heart, a spade and a diamond, but won’t be getting a club. And here’s where I *just* had a brilliant thought. ^_^Wouldn’t it be the coolest thing evar if Na-chan was the fourth android? Just thinking out loud, but…cool, huh?

Once again, do *not* be watching this show if panty shots, breasts, maids, nurses and other staples of the fanboy fetish closet bother you. This series is not subtle or classy. But if you can either deal with those things and like me, watch around them or if, heaven forfend, you actually enjoy them, and you like Yuri, Cutie Honey the Live is another notch in Go Nagai’s headboard.

Ratings:

Characters – 7
Story – 5, with moments of 8
Live-Action Adaptation of Manga/Anime – 8
Yuri – 6
Service – 827

Overall – 7

I find the ending sequences rather charming, too. For the most part, we see Honey fighting the masked Panther Claw dudes in a fountain – and she looks like she’s having a blast. The song totally fits her. When Miki arrived, we saw her fighting the PC in the same fountain, looking considerably less cheerful. Again, the song fits her. Now that Yuki has arrived, this week we got *her* fighting the PC, same fountain, and a song for her. It’s kind of cute, actually. Here’s keeping my fingers crossed for Na-chan being the fourth.

Posted in Cutie Honey, Live Action | 7 Comments »


Yuricon Shop updated with new Anime, Manga and Drama CDs!

December 16th, 2007

The Yuricon Site update is complete, with the addition of terrific
new anime, manga and Drama CDs on the Yuricon Shop just in time for your holiday wishlist!

Anime:

Iczer-One and Iczer Reborn – relive this classic of early anime – and
early Yuri!

My Otome (Hime-Z/Zhime) – get more great Meister action with Natuski’s Gaderobe Academy

Red Garden – Dead girls, violent battles and a lesbian Student Council President

Manga:

Family Complex – Mikiyo Tsuda’s study of a very complex family

Kannazuki no Miko – Preorder the Tokyopop relase of Kaishaku’s popular story!

Strawberry Panic – pre-order the manga version of love and loss at Astoria.

Also available from Amazon – Yuri Monogatari 3,4 and 5!


Drama CDs:

Hayate x Blade 2 – mayhem at the Tenchi Gakuen school festival

Maria-sama ga Miteru: Cherry Blossom – Shimako meets Noriko

El Cazador – Ellis and Nadie hit the road

***

Of course there’s much more on the Yuricon Shop – great Yuricon and “I Love Yuri” items on the gift page and more. And don’t forget the sales on all 100% Yuri from ALC Publishing! One more week to go to save up to %50!


Yuricon – “For real women who love their women…animated.

Posted in ALC Publishing, Yuricon | 2 Comments »