Yuri Anime: Doki Doki School Hours, Volume 4 (English)

July 29th, 2007

Today’s review is Doki Doki School Hours Volume 4, or “How you know an anime (that had a pretty thin plot in the first place) has jumped the shark.” ^_^ Many, many thanks to Ted for sponsoring today’s review – your support is greatly appreciated! (And note to Ted: no space settings, but it does have chicks in suits, so good/bad.)

School life in Japan. Classwork, school festivals, exams. How many anime cover these things and the joys of summer vacation, the class trip, transfer students, etc, etc? Many, I’m sure. But how many anime also cover dystopian realities in which manga is outlawed, or hotel stays that end up being survival exercises with visits to the hot springs people,or alt-universe versions of their own plot in which all the characters are suddenly brothers and sisters?

Few, I wager.

Yes, in the fourth volume of Doki Doki, the writers of Mika-sensei and her second-year students at Okitsu High suddenly get sick and tired of their own plots, and start randomly adding silly alternative universe stories starring their own characters. There is no rhyme or reason for these stories, half of them have no particular tie-in to the story at hand. But because they are entertaining, who, really, cares? ^_^

The volume begins with a trip to the beach which ends up in an exclusive hotel which, for no good reason, has a jungle ride through an extensive in-hotel onsen. This leads to the students getting lost, braving monsters and onsen-people and waterfalls. In the hotel. Yes.

Okitsu gets a transfer student – from America! He’s the usual Aryan type (because all Americans are blond/e and blue-eyed. all of us) but this time, he is also – an otaku! The students boggle as his Japanese, which is fluent, is also incomprehensibly filled with otaku terms like “moe.” His appearance leads to the dystopia scenario, where manga is illegal and Kitagawa looks good in a suit. ^_^

Back in “reality” the sports festival is approaching. Cross-dressing Seki is dissed by the girls when he suggests that he wears a cheerleading costume, but they flock to Kitagawa when she appears in Japanese traditional boy’s uniform, the gakuran. ^_^ This was my favorite moment of the volume, easily.

The last episode is a totally bizarre alternate universe story in which Mika and all the students are suddenly siblings (which in no way lessens Kitagawa’s feeling for “big sister Mika”) whose mother runs a ramen shop. It’s just….wtf. As if the writers decided to write a fanfic for the series, because no one stopped them from doing so.

With the exception of the the shenanigans in the hotel, I liked this volume a lot. It was totally random, it made no sense, but it’s not like this anime was super intelligent or deep to begin with. Yes, it jumped the shark. As I said earlier, who, really, cares?

I’m not sure I’d recommend this series for a beginner in anime – too many of the jokes are parodies of Japanese culture and life to be easy to understand for the newbie, but if you’ve seen/read more than a dozen school-type anime or manga, you ought to get most of it.

Ratings –

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 4
Service – 3

Overall – 6

Kitagawa remains totally lesbian, Seki is still a cross-dresser, Kudo is still gay.

Posted in English Anime, Yuri Anime | 3 Comments »


Yuri Manga License Announcements from San Diego Comic Con

July 28th, 2007

Seven Seas has announced that they have licensed Hayate x Blade, which makes me happy for several reasons. A while back, they asked me to send a list of good Yuri titles and, while I said that it was not Yuri, I suggested that they look into this because it is so *good*. Based on their recent acquisitions of the Ichijinsha properties and now HxB, it looks like they really took my list quite seriously.

7S also announced licenses for Hakamada Mera’s Akatsuki-iro no Senpuku Majo, and two novels, Girls Love and Girls Revolution, neither of which I am familiar with. I’ll look into them.

(Now, can you guys at 7S send me the review copies you promised, so I can review your books, already?)

Tokyopop has announced the Kannazuki no Miko manga, which will give us a whole new generation of degenerates who think rape is sexy as long as it’s two women. The ending – not nearly as Yuri as the anime. I look forward to the mental gymnastics the end will cause in readers who inisist in Chikane and Himeko as a couple. :-)

Will be away all day, so more announcements tomorrow, if there’s any to be had.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 6 Comments »


Live Action: Cutie Honey Movie (English)

July 26th, 2007

I reviewed the Cutie Honey live-action movie back in 2004 when it first came out and fundamentally, none of my opinions have changed. It remains an incredibly silly, thoroughly enjoyable, and overwhelmingly fannish look at one of anime and manga’s longest-lasting superheroine series, Cutie (or Cutey) Honey.

For new readers, Cutie Honey is the name of a cute female android created by a Professor Kisaragi. Honey uses the I-system (a pun on “Ai” the Japanese word for love) to transform into whatever form best suits the situation. From motorcycle rider, to Office Lady, to S&M Queen to Bad Guy henchclone, Cutie Honey’s form will be just what is needed to save the day. Her true form is as a ally of love and justice and several times an episode we are given the opportunity to enjoy Honey’s at least partially nude transformation, because that’s the way the series works. In this live action movie the transformations are more coy but we get plenty of partially-clothed Honey for other, even less justifiable reasons, because that’s the way the movie works.

In every incarnation, Honey fights the crazy baddies of the evil Panther Claw gang: in this case the nipple-ringed Gold Claw, creepy Cobalt Claw, short-lived Scarlet Claw and pop idol-wannabee Black Claw. It comes as no surprise to anyone who has watched any of the Honey series that she will win in the end. Because, after all, love always wins the day.

Because I did indeed already review this movie, I just want to make a few comments on the official US release. One – go get it. It’s really wonderful. Thoroughly cracktastic – from the music to the use of animation, the bizarre body language to the choppy cinematography. It’s like Power Rangers for grown up otaku.

Secondly…the subtitles. *What* was going on with the subtitles????? The two most obviously persistent problems were in regards to Sister Jill-sama, the chief bad guy. Sometimes translated “Lord Sister Jill,” sometimes “Lady Sister Jill” and other times not translated at all, the phrase “Sister Jill-sama” because a cue for me to try and guess the next version. Worse, the translators apparently had serious issues with Honey’s Uncle’s name. You say Uzuki, I say Utsugi – the translators used both. Indiscriminately. And they never settled on one version by the end of the movie. If it hadn’t been so sad, it would have been hysterical.

Thirdly, and most importantly. Is it love between Na-chan and Honey? Despite reporter Seiji’s aborted attempt to get close to Inspector Aki Natsuko, by the end, it is SO Honey who has taken over the tough-as-nails inspector’s heart. For pity’s sake – even Jill’s creepy butler notices. And when, in the final scene, Seiji kisses Honey’s hand, no one is gonna tell me that Na-chan’s reaction is not pure jealousy. Not for Seiji, either. It’s really obvious that it’s on Honey’s behalf.

I’m not sure that someone new to anime and manga would “get” this movie, but for anyone who is even remotely a fan of the legend of Cutie Honey, it’s a must-see. It is just so much fun!

Ratings:
Story – 8
Character – 9
Cinematography – 8
Costumes – 9
Music – 9
Yuri – 5

Overall – 8 edging into 9

 

Posted in Cutie Honey, Live Action | 5 Comments »


AAIFF – Tickets for tonight’s NY screening of "Talking About Amy"

July 26th, 2007

I have *just* learned that we have 4 tickets available to anyone who wants to come to tonight’s screening of “Talking About Amy” at the Asian-American Independent
Film Festival at the Asia Society in NYC.

“Talking” is an animated short about Yuri manga artist Rica Takashima and will be showing as part of the festival’s shorts category, “She’s Your Queen.” Rica herself will be there, so you can meet her in person (bring her book to autograph!)

If you would like to come, just email me at yuricon @ hotmail.com, subject line “Talking”. The first four people will get tickets from Rica, and anyone else is welcome to just purchase tickets at the box office and join us tonight for “Talking About Amy”!

Posted in Events | No Comments »


Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime Selection, Volume 1

July 25th, 2007

First of all, welcome to everyone that comes to Okazu from Afterellen.com! I hope you’ll enjoy the reviews, the biting humor, the random mixture of internet and anime fandom slang. :-) I apologize for starting you off with a Japanese-language magazine – it was what I had slated to review today, since I expected the Afterellen article to run tomorrow. Woops. :-) I’ll try and put definitions after all the jargon for non-otaku (obsessive anime/manga fans.)

Today’s review is Yuri Hime Selection, Volume 1 the third all-Yuri quarterly publication from Japanese publisher Ichijinsha. Sister to Yuri Hime and Yuri Hime S, Yuri Hime Selection is a mix of stories originally published in the now-defunct Yuri Shimai magazine and new stories. Yuri Hime Selection is, for our new readers, a Japanese-language magazine.

One of my original complaints about the stories that ran in Yuri Shimai was that they were heavy on the schoolgirl crushes. While reading Yuri Hime Selection I was also reminded that many of them were about abortive schoolgirl crushes or were, in other ways, kind of annoying…

Case in point, the first story, “Under the Rose” about two half-sisters whose incestuous and abusive relationship got completely under my fingernails the first time around. Four years later, it is no less irksome. But the next two stories, also by Kita Konno, are much more interesting, if a little on the bland side.

This goes for many of the stories that follow – Girl A finds Girl B interesting, but don’t expect much more. Some lost opportunities, pleasant memories of school years gone by – even the ghost story is about a love lost. There’s a lot of that in this book. When one remembers that the audience for Yuri Shimai was straight women, this is not too surprising. This is not “Yuri” nearly so much as “memories of first crushes for women who went to girls’ schools.”

The second half of the book contains new stories. The first, by Hiyori Otsu, fits right in with the first half of the book. The second, by Morishima Akiko, stands out as being completely out of sync. About Sarina and Sumi (from Yuri Hime 8) the story is about adult women on the cusp of a new relationship, with only a short flashback to their school years.

This is followed by the 4-panel comic “Apple Day Dream” which, if you’ve ever read any of my previous Yuri Hime reviews, you know that I enjoy about as much as biting my own cheek. Kaoru and Mayu work at a fashion house. Kaoru still likes big breasts and Mayu still has them. Lots of passive-aggressive behavior and pretty clothes.

Following that is yet another story of children with absurdly large heads and awkward relationships, by Hakamada Mera. Less repulsive than the most recent Yuri Hime S story, it’s got that similar bitter unrequited love feeling as most of the stories in this magazine.

Next is more of the wacky 4-panel comic “Nanami and Misuzu” which remains impenetrable and unfunny as always. LOL (Why is it that comic strips are so exhausting to read? In English, they are the easiest to understand – in Japanese, I feel like I need an advanced degree to “get” them.)

The final story is a sketchily drawn, but entertaining sempai-kouhai (upper-/lower- classman) relationship by Aikawa Jinko. Still, in the end, there is nothing more than beautiful memories.

I can’t say that Yuri Hime Selection is my favorite of the YH magazines. Many of the older stories seemed pale in comparison with the likes of the currently running series. The newer stories fell into line with lots of unrequited love, lots of first loves, beautiful memories of love, etc, etc. Not at all to *my* taste but, if you’re a completist, or only started collecting after Yuri Shimai went out of print and want to have everything in the series, you’ll probably want to get Yuri Hime Selection too.

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »