Yuri Anime: Mai HiME, Volume 4 (English)

July 9th, 2007

Woops! I forgot to thank Ted for his sponsorship of today’s review. Sorry ted – I promise I’ll try to not slack off next time.

Visit my Yuri Wish List and pick something for me to review! Your contribution will be received with thanks…(even if it’s a teeny bit belated) and you can join the ranks of people who, by sponsoring a review have been imbued with magic lesbian powers. Yes, even the guys. ^_^

Where the heck was Volume 4 of My HiME when I was watching Volume 3? I wanted other people’s misery and all I got from Volume 3 was goofy evil creatures that ate cake. And here I was ready for some more goofy and Volume 4 had to go and be self-important and serious. How vexing.

After all the happy-go-luckiness of Volume 3, Volume 4 wallows deep in Mai’s various emotional conflicts, seasoned with a little light portentous (and pretentious) apocalyptic plot for flavor. But we’re just past halfway on the series, so even when the entire world blows up, we’re just not as tense about it as we should be, I think.

So, the story picks up on the night of the Tamayura festival which, among many other things, comes along with a traditional love tradition, in which lovers traditionally tie ribbons to traditionally express their desire for an eternal love. More importantly – and probably even more traditionally – lovers sneak into the woods for a quick snog. Mai *almost* gets a good first kiss, but then the schlub has to go and ruin it. Then the world blows up.

After the world blows up, we learn of the Searrs Foundation’s unreasonable plan to bring world peace by something something the something, until we all fall in line like the cattle we are. ‘Cause that’s worked before.

Lots of fights, and Mai nobly sacrifices herself for the first time in the series. Don’t worry – she’ll get to do it again later. And Miyu and Alyssa (who I still like better as a bird) get to have a melodramatic end. Don’t worry…they’ll get to do it again later, too.

Let’s see…for Yuri, we have Yukino’s hidden desire for eternal togetherness with Haruka, Chie and Aoi are eternally together, despite their occasional vageuish mention of wanting a guy and lots of Miyu x Alyssa snuggles. And Shizuru’s continued leering after Natsuki, which in this volume is pretty laid back. Almost as if they didn’t want us to know…oh, wait, that’d be a spoiler. ;-)

The “Character Featurettes” (seriously, that’s what it says on the DVD!) are the usual powerpoint slides accompanied by insightful monologue. This time we get to hear the deep feelings of Tate – whose deep feelings seem to be “Mai has large breasts” – Miyu and Alyssa – who ruins it all by mentioning her father, what a jerk – and a “funny” discussion of Orphans by Nagi and Natsuki. The actually funny thing about these was that I had completely forgotten them all until I went to write this review, so I had to throw the DVD in to see what they were. I forgot to change the language track to Japanese. Honestly, I jumped when Tate began to talk in English! It was so stupid.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Character – 7
Story – 6
Yuri – 3
Service – 6

Overall – 7

The volume ends with Nagi pretentiously (and portentously) telling the HiME that the “fun” is just beginning and now they have to fight one another. In my reality, I’d have nodded, and suggested to my fellow HiME that, before we fight one another, we should kick the snarky little bastard’s ass. But hey, that’s just me.

Posted in English Anime, Mai Hime | No Comments »


Event: AnimeNEXT report

July 8th, 2007

Looking for a Yuri Panel at a con near you? Check out the Yuri Events Page on Yuricon first! If you know of a Yuri panel or event happening, email it to us so we can add it to the list!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure, once again, of participating at AnimeNEXT, my local general con. I’ve been involved with them since their first year and I consider it a privilege and a pleasure to have been there as staff, as a board member and like yesterday, as a panelist. So, many, many thanks to the folks at ANEXT for their kindness and for the table in “con row.” :-) I go as much for the hugs as anything else. lol

Because of something I can’t yet tell you about, I wasn’t able to do the whole con, but we had a great day yesterday. :-) Books went well, the Yuri Panel looked to have about 40 people and the Fanfic Writing Workshop I always do there had about 20 people, most of whom were really into it. So, overall, a good day.

But that wasn’t what I wanted to tell you about. The thing that made my day, above all things, were three girls who walked by dressed like Yumi, Shimako and Yoshino. I almost died they looked so cute. I am not a fan of cosplay, and I am not a fan of cute, but oh, my GOD were these kids adorable. The girl who was Yoshino, Leeann, (and I hope she reads this and corrects me if I spelled her name wrong!) was a spitfire. She was funny and smart and cute as a button. She was also obviously the ringleader, which was perfect. LOL She assured me that her hair, when she had the wig off, looked like Sei’s and when she came by later, it did indeed! I took a picture of the three of the together as first-years (Shimako was wearing her rosary on the correct wrist! swoon) and then Leeann as Sei, hugging Yumi. Sadly, my pictures were with my phone and the lighting was bad, so they didn’t come out well, so I can’t share. But oh, my goodness, were they CUTE!

I changed the Yuri Panel age rating, so that anyone could come in, and my friend Leeann showed up, with good questions. There was a Shizuma in the front row and Sei there in the middle. How happy was I as a Yuri panelist. LOL

Anyway – Leeann and your two friends, thank you. You win as the best cosplay *ever* in my experience. Even better than the Japanese girls who cosplay them because you looked JUST like the characters. So that pretty much made my day. LOL

(A belated note to the woman who asked for some good not-schoolgirl Yuri manga. I’m sorry my brain was so friend when you asked. Here are a few top contenders: Iono-sama Fanatics, Shoujo Sect 2 which, although it starts off as a schoolgirl story wraps up as an adult story. Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to and Moonlight Flowers. All have been reviewed here – you can find them on the right-hand Categories.

Next up, I and a large chunk of the Yuricon senior staff will be at Otakon. Yuri Panel is Sunday 1-2PM, all ages. Don’t miss it!

Posted in Events | 4 Comments »


Summer 2007 Season Yuri Anime: Hitohira

July 6th, 2007

I’m pleased as punch to present our first Guest Review from Hafl! Hafl bravely took up my offer to review the series Hitohira after I said that I would not be reviewing it myself. Hafl is getting in some English-language practice with this review, so I think we ought to offer extra special kudos for the effort! Take it away Hafl!

Hitohira is an anime that gradually grows and changes during the series. People who liked the beginning may dislike the ending episodes and those who found something they didn’t like at the start may grow really attached by the end. The series isn’t about any dramatic story, it’s about characters and how they grow up during the year the anime encompasses.

By all means, I should have hated Mugi, the main character, yet she turned up to be quite an interesting character. Yes, she has a problem that seems a bit overblown, but she tries to overcome it and this trying, along with her relationships with other characters is the force driving this series forward. I think, that Mugi is a good portrayal of weak character that gradually becomes stronger, mainly through her own effort, even though other characters get involved. That’s probably the thing I like about her the most – she grows up.

Other characters are also quite good. I like them all, even though some of them can be a bit annoying. Chitose, who is very clearly in love with Katsuragi-sempai, is probably the character I like the least, though I am still glad that she had her role to play in Mugi’s story and her own small storyline, so she didn’t become just a token comic relief character.

However, the two characters other that Mugi, who would interest yuri fans the most are Nono and Mirei. If you look at Hitohira in certain way you might think that there is a love triangle between Mugi, Nono and Mirei, but you don’t have to. Nono and Mirei share a lot of memories and they’re crucial to the story, but I can’t really see them as a couple. As it was said in the series(if I understood it right): they shared a dream. A dream, but probably nothing else, except a very close friendship.

The yuri in the series is something that is open to interpretation. You can’t deny that there are certain signs of it, but whether it’s real is something else. There is a male character that is clearly in love with Mugi, but I didn’t see her reciprocate the feeling at any given moment in the series. The same goes for Nono. Mugi and Nono are very important to each other, but saying that they’re in love may be a bit bold statement, though I think it could be made plausible. So, if you want to have a yuri couple in the series, you can have it and it won’t be much of a stretch. However, you can watch Hitohira, not see any yuri in it, and it would still be enjoyable.

I won’t go deep into the storyline here, but I think it doesn’t matter because it’s not of a great importance. Hitohira’s strenghth lies in the characters, not in the story, which is, after all, just a background for the actions of the characters. It would suffice to say, that even though Mugi gets completely tongue-tied whenever she’s nervous or a center of attention, she joins one of the two drama clubs in her school. The two drama clubs are having a competition about which one can make a better performance at the school’s culture festival in October to see which club would continue to function. The story develops with a good sense of pacing and it ends with a great sense of finality. It can’t be called really deep, but it’s enjoyable.

Overall, I really liked Hitohira, so I would recommend it to anyone, who wants to see a series about characters growing up, with some drama(though never overdone), some comedy (which I found funny, but that’s no guarantee it really is) and a grand ending.

Art – 8 (I liked it, but I don’t have a good eye for it, so you might see it different. At worst, it’s average.)
Story – 7
Characters – 9
Yuri – 5 (Subtract or add two points depending on what you want to see.)
Service – 2 (There was some service, but not much. Though I may be a FanBoy and not notice it.)

Overall – 7

Erica here again. Thank you for the fantastic review! Feel free to contribute any time! :-) Everyone, let’s hear it for Hafl!! /applause/

As I mentioned yesterday, there are a bunch of series I won’t review – either they hold no appeal for me, or I feel that the Yuri is so thin that it hardly bears mentioning or I just…can’t. That doesn’t mean I don’t know there’s Yuri interest. Guest reviewers are welcome to contribute reviews for these things. Feel free to send me a review of the Yuri in Bleach for instance. :-) I look forward to reading it!

Posted in Yuri Anime | 9 Comments »


Yuri Anime Licensing News – Anime Expo 2007

July 5th, 2007

Well, Anime Expo is over and there are a few series licenses that were announced that will be of interest to the Yuri community. Since I already discussed Seven Seas Yuri manga licenses here, I thought I’d summarize the Yuri anime licenses, too:

ADV – ADV announced that they have licensed Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora, Kaishaku’s most recent series. Although I do not hesitate to say that this series was laughably bad, I absolutely maintain that it was better than everything other Kaishaku anime in terms of internal consistency and sensibleness. AND the Yuri storyline was pretty good! If you liked Chikane and Himeko in Kannazuki no Miko you ought to like Kaon and Himiko here.

Geneon – No Maria-sama ga Miteru announcement as of yet, but based on the Q&A at the panel, they haven’t killed the idea or anything. Instead, Geneon licensed Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and the second and infinitely better season Nanoha As. Third season (and even better than the former two) StrikerS wasn’t included in this particular announcement. But now that we’ve seen Nanoha and Fate as lesbian moms, we might as well look back fondly on their early relationship. :-) To be honest, I’ll probably like this series better this time around, knowing that it does go somewhere and does get better.

Funimation – Although this will not be something I will purchase, Funimation announced the license to the Negima! anime. Konoka and Setsuna fans will surely be happy. (I’ve never reviewed the anime for this – nor do I plan to. If you’re interested in doing a Guest Review for Negima! contact me.)

Media Blasters – Our buddies at Media Blasters took my suggestions to heart, I see. :-) They had an awesomely Yuri-ful announcements list starting with Strawberry Panic! and including the ever more service-y Otome ha Boku (Onee-sama) ni Koishiteru (another series I’m not planning on reviewing, so feel free to send in a Guest review), and Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny. While Otoboku is not something I’ll be reviewing, as it’s based on a game where the main character is a boy dressing like a girl to fulfill the plot complication, the “Yuri” in the series comes in the form of the girls who fall in love with what they think is a girl. It’s real, if stoopid. And of course Ikkitousen is a thin plot connected by breasts, underwear and unresolved Yuri longing on the part of Kanu Unchou. Most popularly, we can once again enjoy the open theft of concepts, characters and whole storylines from earlier Yuri anime and manga series in Strawberry Panic!. :-)

So – some stuff to look forward too, albeit all quite servicey, where Yuri is one more fetish in the long list of fetishes catered to. ^_^

Posted in Nanoha, Yuri Anime, Yuri Network News | 2 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime S, Part 2

July 3rd, 2007

The second half of Yuri Hime “S” is as variable as the first. What was good was really pretty good, and what was bad was exhaustingly tedious.

“Interface” by Kurogane Kenn (Shoujo Sect) was unexpected in every conceivable way. The story begins with a girl walking in on another girl drawing a stick figure on the chalkboard in a classroom. When the first girl asks “who is it?” the second replies, “There’s no one inside.” But she touches it with a blown glass heart pendant then says that the pendant is her. (Not “hers” – “her.”) She gives the first girl the pendant, then runs off and quite literally disappears. The girl (who remains nameless throughout) tries to find the girl who gave her the pendant, but is unsuccessful. She’s directed towards Kitamoto-sensei, who runs the handicrafts club, in which they might have blown glass. But Kitamoto-sensei is not only unhelpful, she’s downright rude. The girl says that she’ll come back later and ask, but the teacher just says that she’s not promising to help…which is rather odd, when the question is just “do you know whose this is?” Girl waits for the teacher, who turns out to be out the next day, and waits every day for a whole month for Kitamoto-sensei to return to school. When Kitamoto sees her waiting, she asks if the girl wants to meet the girl who gave her the pendant. The girl says yes, and they get into the teacher’s car and drive….to a cemetery. Ena, the girl who gave her the pendant, died after a protracted illness. She and Kitamoto were lovers, which explains why the teacher was so rude when she realized that Ena gave someone else the pendant. The girl suggests that by giving her the pendant, Ena is now inside her, and the story ends with all sorts of possibilities.

I can’t tell you how much I liked this story. It was original, the art was clean and Kurogane drew the adults to look like adults. It was just plain old good in every direction. Hands down, the best in the book.

This was followed immediately by a new original work by Fujieda Miyabi (Iono-sama Fanatics) called “Otome-iro Stay Tune.” Hinako and Arise work together on a radio talk show. Arise has a raging crush on Hinako, which Hinako brushes off through a variety of implausible mental gymnastics. But to thank Hina for her guidance, Arise is about to go home with her and make her some dinner…to be continued. This story was so short it felt like half a chapter. I wish the other half had been included. Much the same way the most recent “Ameiro Koucha Kandan” chapter in Yuri Hime 8 felt sort of half done. I think Fujieda’s just running out of time between all his projects.

Next up was the totally crack-tastic “Gretel” by Sudoo Kaoro (Onegai Suzune-chan). I recognized the art style immediately, which was weird because about all Sudoo is known for is pretty obscure hentai…it just happens that I own – and like – Onegai Suzune-chan. LOL Mikoshima Yuu is ecstatic to be entering into a all-girl world at St. Millefeuille Gakuen. Mariya is annoyed that she’s been assigned to show the newbie around (and she’s also the resident panty-shot recipient, for no particular reason that I can see.) But Nagi volunteers to escort her – in fact, she’s positive frantic to do so, and immediately starts to court Yuu, who is thrown off her stride when she’s so openly being pursued by a beautiful girl. But she gets used to it pretty fast, and succumbs shortly thereafter. As they kiss, a loud alarm makes them jump – okay, now hold on, because this story gets pretty weird, pretty fast – the school has been invaded/infested with “Formika,” creatures that feast on sugar and are therefore the enemies of young women everywhere. Got that? Everyone is running around like crazy; theteacher suddenly develops a GothLoli younger sister who clearly speaks in a monotone and who is tied into the school systems; Formika defense is on. Hashimoto-sensei enters the control room where an engineer-y type touch chick gives her the lowdown on the situation and the GothLoli girl monitors everything. In the meantime, Yuu’s beautiful maiden’s garden has blown up in her face and she’s sort of standing there in shock. When a gigantic Formika tears through a wall and heads towards her, she thrusts her hands in front of her and blasts it unconscious! Everyone, including Mariya of the panties, reacts with shock! Except the Teacher and the Smoking Engineer Woman who just look pleased with themselves. Mariya tells Yuu that she has “Gigantus Force” to which Yuu reasonably replies “huh?” and Nagi runs up happily to tell Yuu that she has it too! Yay! They both have “Obu” – to which Yuu reasonably replies, “Obu?” To be continued…obviously. This story was simply bizarre, so of course, I liked it. ^_^

“Apple Day Dream” is, like its Yuri Hime counterpart, primarily concerned with Kaoru’s breast obsession. In this case, because it’s summer she wants to see Mayu in a bikini. This is one of these stories in which my “Good” rule come into play. If Kauro were a guy, he’d be a boring perv. As a girl, Kaoru is a boring perv. I’m so not into this series. The art is nice, but there’s no anything – no plot, no character development, no humor – unless a girl endlessly obsessing about breasts is, in your mind, endlessly hysterical.

“Itoshii no Maid-sama” by Hakamada Mera (Saigo no Seifuku) was barely readable to me. The carnival-head art was compounded by the main character being drawn to look and be the size of a five-year old. The sight of her sexually molesting her sempai just…nope. DO NOT WANT. The story? Creepy chibi Eri wants pretty Kyouko and whines and clings until she gets her. Bleah. I didn’t even think it was possible to like Hakamada less than I did already, but yup, it’s possible.

In “Flower Flower” by Iwami Shouko (Suzunari!) Princess Nina has been sent to a foreign country to marry the prince only, she’d prefer the princess instead. Shuurei’s not sure about this – especially when Nina turns out to be more than a little cruel and sadistic. When Shuurei shows Nina kindness, Nina breaks down in her arms. The story ends with Nina being difficult again, but there should be a continuation, so we and Shuurei can enjoy more passive-aggressiveness and abuse.

Yuzuha Seiro’s story, with a title I haven’t translated and am too lazy to look up is a servant/ rich girl story with a sad ending. The art is very pretty, but the story isn’t a happy one. Suzuka-ojousama and Kotone are in love, but Suzuka has to be married to the man her family chose. Suzuka leaves Kotone a note and hopefully will not forget her true love.

The final story is all-color “Cassiopeia Dolce” by Takagi Nobuyuki(Kokoro Library.) It ought to be popular with those readers who liked Kokoro Library – you know, the kind of people who like cupid-faced girls of undetermined age dressed up as maids for no reason in an all-girl’s word that has no explanation. There’s a kiss or two and some light nudity, because of course when women all get together, we all wear our lingerie or maid outfits and eat bon-bons and try to kiss one another. It’s a compulsive behavior. In this case the maids all compete for the affection of their mistress, who seems to be on laudanum. I recognized both the art and the service. You can have both. I’ll stick with some of the earlier stories, thanks. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 7

I’ll say it again, it wasn’t all stuff I liked, but I liked way more than expected. If it keeps the hideous service to a minimum, I’ll be pleased. If it starts adding more maid costumes and panty shots and having less original ideas, I’ll drop it and save my money for better.

 

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