Yuri Anime: Maria Watches Over Us Preview (English)

June 19th, 2008

Yesterday, I received a preview copy of Maria Watches Over Us, the Nozomi/Right Stuf US release of Maria-sama ga Miteru. Thank you Right Stuf for the preview! I was warned ahead of time that this preview only included the non-honorific subtitles track. :-)

Before I start to pick nits, let me sum up by saying that even with “Lady Sachiko,” I’d give the translation an 8 out of 10. One of the points lost was for a genuine error that made no sense. The other was for a few translation moments that were not wrong so much as just out of step with fan convention. No points were lost for the things that weren’t wrong, but just felt weird.  After the nit-picking, I’ll touch upon some of the good things, just to balance it all out. ^_^

The Bad:

Unforgivably, Sachiko is translated as telling Yumi that her “scarf” is crooked. That doesn’t even make sense. She says “tie” using the English word, and even if one was going to mistranslate that, “collar” seems the most reasonable mistake. It’s September – no one is wearing scarves, and they call those mufflers anyway. And no one is wearing a fashionable scarf with their uniform, either. Given the many millions of “crooked tie” gags that have beeen propagated across the intertubes, this seems a particularly egregious error. ^_^

The Indifferent:

Both Japanese and American fandoms tend to use and become familiar with certain terms. In several cases, the RS translation isn’t wrong, but it just isn’t the same as the ones we’ve become comfortable with.

“Forest of thorns,” as spoken by Tsutako is rendered “forest of briars.”

“Mother Maria” seemed an odd choice in every language, since one naturally assumes that the translator would choose either English or Japanese. Mother Mary/Maria-sama/Blessed Virgin, whatever. But “Mother Maria” seems like a strange juxtaposition chosen only for its ability to be not instantly identifiable by people looking for things to get outraged about.

I’m pretty used to “Yamayurikai” but here it is translated as “Yamayuri Council.” Not hideously awful, just again, a sort of weird halfway-translated term.

And again, in the song Maria-sama no Kokoro, “Yamayuri lily” is pretty redundant. “Wild lily” or “mountain lily” is surely sufficient.

And while we’re on the topic of “Mother Maria’s Heart” – I don’t care that the correct name for the bird is the bush warbler – I find that amusing in an totally infantile giggly kind of way. lol

The Good:

All the Rosa’s retain their titles. Rosa Chinensis, Foetida and Gigantea are unmarred by attempts at translation. And so are their en bouton. “Rosa Chinensis en bouton petite soeur” graces our TV screen accurately, if unwieldily. ^_^ I absolutely appreciated that. In fact, that was kind of my biggest concern.

The Excellent:

The story itself is something I have not actually watched, or read, in a long time (although I am reading the novels voraciously these days.) So once again I felt that it was very nostalgic to see Yumi dealing with the Rosas for the first time. It’s a very, very amusing story. Sure Sachiko’s a raging bitch, but I love her for it – especially the moment when, after visibly having no recollection of ever having met Yumi previously, she blatantly lies to Youko about how close she and Yumi are…. ^_^

To sum up – there may be some issues even with the inclusion of the honorifics (and I don’t know to what extent honorifics will be included. Will “oneesama-gata” stay “dear sisters” or not? I don’t know for sure. Or will Maria-sama get her honorific back? No idea.) But I think that even with “Lady Sachiko” and “older sisters,” the translation was not *so* heinous that it couldn’t be enjoyed. It would be lovely to be able to give it a 10 out of 10, but with a little more smoothing, a 9 out of 10 ought to be easily obtainable.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 2
Marimite Fan – 100

Translation – 8

Overall – 8

Aside from the usual fannish grinning like a moron, I’m very prepared to fall in love with this series all over again for the fourth time. ^_^

Posted in Anime, English Anime, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Yuri Anime | 5 Comments »


Yuri Live-Action: Last Friends

June 18th, 2008

A great deal of anime and manga fanfiction is written with what we call around my house “Hand of God” writing – i.e., writing that uses a great big emotional trauma as a plot driver. Like taking an established couple from a series and killing one of them off in order to force the other to react. Its a very common tactic in fanfic, especially when people are first trying their hand at writing. A trauma that makes a character react or characters getting drunk to provide a lead-in to sexual encounters are “Hand of God” writing.

For original fiction, there’s no real difference. Soap operas thrive on ridiculous, overstated situations and melodrama to drive their plots. I’m immediately reminded of my youth, when *everyone* was watching Luke and Laura try to find to one-armed boy before the mysterious Australian Robert Scorpio did, on General Hospital. (And let me remind you all that Luke raped Laura earlier in their relationship, but then they became a couple, and after years, finally married with an amazing amount of fanfare and buzz.)

The live-action J-drama, Last Friends, is about 6 people whose lives intertwine deeply. Eri owns a house, which becomes a refuge for friends who find themselves in need of a support network. The friends’ lives are very complex and dramatic and frankly of no interest to me at all, except for the fact that two of them are named Ruka and Michiru and seem *awfully* similar to Haruka and Michiru from Sailor Moon…in a very “Hand of God” fanfic way. ^_^

**There will be spoilers in this post**

Do not read further if you do not want to be spoiled – perhaps emotionally damaged.

That is all.

** **

In this version, Ruka, still a motocross racer and still massively in love with Michiru since high school, is having serious issues about her gender. She simply feels wrong in this body – unable to compete equally in her chosen sport and unable to protect Michiru properly.

And boy does Michiru need protecting. Brought up in an abusive household, Michiru has entered into an extremely abusive relationship with Sousuke. Her inability to see and comprehend Ruka’s feelings for her and Ruka’s fear of verbalizing them sits like a wall between them. Everyone around them is, whether they know it or not, dancing to the tune of this non-relationship.

Adding to the complexity of the polygon is Takeru who is really gay, although he doesn’t know it (this is not in the story so much as in my watching of the story, because he is REALLY very gay) and who has fallen for boyish Ruka. (Well, duh.)

And then there’s Eri who owns the absolutely adorable house they all live in, whose own problems constantly take a back seat to the major drama, and the other guy, but no one cares about him at all.

The best thing about the series is Ruka’s actress. She does a fabulous job of being all but blatantly in love with Michiru in a way that only the willfully ignorant and straight can’t see. ^_^

Now here’s the thing. This story is 99% sure to not have the happy ending that we want. (Really 100%, but I’m being kind and offering is a glimmer of hope.) In the first five minutes of the show, we saw a pregnant Michiru talking about how if things had gone differently, “that person” wouldn’t have had to die. Realistically, what we should expect is Ruka dead by Sousuke’s hands, Sousuke in jail and Takeru and Michiru together to raise her and Sousuke’s baby whom they will name Ruka.

Alternately, Sousuke, who I am far more inclined to call “that person” than Ruka, will die and Ruka will leave to get her surgery and build a new life. Takeru and Michiru together to raise her and Sousuke’s baby whom they will name Ruka.

Of course there’s the infinitesimal chance that Ruka and Michiru will get together at the end, but what’s the likelihood? .0001%?

Because this series is highly unlikely to end in a way I find satisfying, I’ve taken up the hobby of constructing possible alternate endings to the series for fun. The individual episodes are so miserable, that if I don’t do something else with my brain, I get all stabby. I invite you all to join in the in the comments. ^_^ Here’s a few of the alternatives I’ve come up with:

Ruka has her surgery and comes back as a boy, stabs Sousuke in self defense and marries Michiru. Takeru realizes that he is (duh!) gay and lives with them as a housemaid.

Michiru and Ruka realize that they are in love and run away “to America.”

Takeru kills Sousuke and goes to jail. Eri loses the other guy, changes her name to Setsuna and the three of them raise the child together. (This one makes me laugh every time I think of it.)

Sousuke kills Takeru, we all feel bad for a microsecond, and Ruka, Michiru and Eri raise the baby together.

Sousuke dies and we all have a “ding dong the witch is dead” party at Eri’s adorable house and live happily every after.

Anyway, that’s a small selection of the endings that this series will not have. Feel free to add your own, because that’s about all the satisfaction we’ll get out of this particular fanfic. However, if you are one of those folks who likes WEtv, and enjoys the institutionalized sexism and violence against women of josei manga, this show is right up your alley.

Ratings:

Story – 4 (As we all know, I really loathe violence against women as entertainment for women)
Characters – 6 I’d like to like them more, but this is a J-drama….
Yuri – 4
Loser FanGirl – 8

Overall – 5

If I thought for a second that the ending would be Yuri-friendly, I *might* be able to tolerate the rest of the garbage heap, but I doubt it, really. ^_^

Update: It ended and it wasn’t as bad as expected. Ambiguously happy, which is about as good as we can expect from a J-Drama. “That person” did indeed turn out to be Sousuke. Yay.

Posted in Live Action | 16 Comments »


Stray Little Devil Manga, Volume 1 (English)

June 17th, 2008

Last time I was in Tokyo, I was standing in the K-Books used manga store in Ikebukuro (quite possibly my favorite place on earth) looking at titles. This series was pointed out to me at the time, with the caveat that while it had mild Yuri, I’d probably loathe it. ^_^ I don’t loathe it, but I will say that Stray Little Devil is one of those manga series that an awful lot of creepy guys think is “cute.” ^_^

Before I forget, I believe the today’s review was made possible by a grant from loyal friend of Yuri, Ted the Awesome. Thanks for once again being a hero and sponsoring a review, Ted!

In Volume 1, we meet Pam, an energetic kid who is trying to impress some friends by conjuring up some big magic. Shockingly, the magic spins out of control and she ends up being transported to another dimension. In this dimension, she learns, Angels and Devils live and fight and stuff. No one believes she’s human, so she’s turned into a Devil and told that if she manages to make full Devil status, she’ll be able to go home. Of course no one tells her anything at all about anything important – and of course she can’t figure out anything from reading the handbooks, because if any of that happened, there’d be no story. And it is *so* much funnier for her to bumble and stumble around hopelessly, causing havoc with every little thing she attempts because there is nothing more delightfully amusing than an incompetent moron who is thwarted at every turn. Like clown routines, Pam’s adventures are endless hysterical.

Of course, Pam is not a clown, she is a hapless manga character, so every time she manages to clear a level, she gains a new ally. Also because it is a manga, we look at her ass quite often. Apparently panty shots are not allowed in this manga…but staring at young girls’ asses being thrust in our faces in any number of unlikely positions and situations is perfectly acceptable. (Not in my book, personally. I find it exhausting on good days and on bad days it makes me murderous.)

In any case, in Volume 1, Pam is learning to become a Devil Intern, but before she does, she has a run in with a very elite Angel Lin-fa…who amazingly looks *exactly* like Pam’s Best Friend Forever, Rinka. (I’m only reading the English language edition, but I bet that those two names would use the same Kanji/Chinese characters.)

Lin-fa is yer basic Nadesico beauty with haughty attitude, who finds herself maddened by Pam’s energetic and cheerful bumbling. Absolutely not to be confused with the other 14 million series in which a classic Japanese beauty’s life is thrown into disarray by a cheerful, energetic average girl. And, of course, Lin-fa’s reaction is the *exact* reaction that Yuri fans who want to see 13-year old girls have romantic entanglements with other 13-year old girls see as the *exact* kind of love/hate they are looking for. The Yuri in Volume 1 is implication only, but based on what other people have said on the Yuricon Mailing List, it’s enough for many. ^_^

 

If you are of that ilk that like Yuri underaged, heavily sexualized, but in a way that you can mentally rewrite as “cute” and “sweet” you’ll probably like Stray Little Devil lots.

My genuinely favorite plot complication is the “conservation of luck” principle, which states that if a Devil helps an Angel, or vice versa, they will receive the same amount of bad luck in return. I quite liked that.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 6
Story – 7
Yuri – 1
Service – 5

Overall – 6

It wasn’t my cup of tea, no. Nor was it the worst thing I’ve ever read. I don’t think the plot itself would be enough to capture my interest without the Yuri angle – I’m not sure that that will be sufficient to maintain my interest in the long run. (And, oh god, PLEASE don’t write me and tell me how much better future volumes are. I’ve already read them, and they aren’t. I’m just reviewing *this* volume this time. Okay?)

Posted in English Manga | 1 Comment »


Yuri Anime: Strawberry Panic, Volume 2 (English)

June 16th, 2008

I’m sitting on my beloved sofa, watching Strawberry Panic, Volume 2 and two things occur to me. One, it feels like this a very, very old series, one that I haven’t watched in a million years, and two, every time the story tries to be serious – or heaven forfend, menacing – it’s a total laugh riot.

Then a third thing occurred to me as I watched it, which needs a bit of a lead-in.

Sometime in the past few months, I was in discussion with the president of another manga company and we got on the topic of companies and their flexibility re: acknowledging mistakes and fan sentiment. The other President confidently told me that “fans don’t like it when you change things mid-series” to which I replied quickly that, speaking as a fan, if you did it wrong the first time, then yes, yes we do like it. It means you listened to what we had to say and responded. For instance, Right Stuf is making a very good effort to not only listen to fans’ concerns about the Yamayurikai members titles, but to be responsive and let people know that they have been heard. They clearly had a subtitle track all ready to go, but are creating a second one. They didn’t have to do that. We could have watched the first track, bitched that the anime companies *still* don’t get us, and moved on.

Which brings me to Strawberry Panic. When I reviewed Volume 1, I expressed some major misgivings about both the quality control and the translation of the series. I forwarded my review to Media Blasters. (As I have said many times, I think the folks at MB are wonderful. I’m not *trying* to be a nag. I’m trying to help…but I kind of wondered if they appreciated it or not. You know, like, “thanks for constantly pointing out our inadequacies Erica, you dumb so-and-so!” ^_^) I also wondered if the reason that MB’s work was sometimes so sloppy was because no one really ever cared about them. Like the kid in class whose parents don’t really care if he’s got clean clothes or not. Well *I* care about MB’s work, especially when it applies to my beloved Yuri, so I feel like I’m making sure MB combs their hair and puts on clean underwear before they send out a DVD. lol

All of this a roundabout way to say that Strawberry Panic Volume 2 is the BEST work I’ve ever seen from Media Blasters. The translation is nearly seamless, there are no typos and best of all, they listened to my complaints and are no longer translating “oneesama” as “Big Sister.” NOW it sounds okay. “Shizuma-oneesama” “Chiyo-chan” “Hikari-san” etc, etc.

Thank you to everyone at Media Blasters for listening. And thank you for sending me this disk for review! Now…can I ask you for *one* more thing? LOL Can we also have the opening and ending themes in romaji too? It can be at the same time as in English, or alternated, one English, one Japanese. Either way is fine. Thanks. ^_^

Now, on to the series. This volume basically covers three main issues, with some side stories thrown in. One – Hikari and Amane like each other. Two, Shizuma and Nagisa realize that they have actual feelings for one another. And third – and most important – Kaname and Momomi are barking mad.

This third point was really the best part of the anime. Kaname’s plan to thwart Amane from pursuing the Etoile title (which she has repeatedly said that she doesn’t want) is nothing short of brilliant – she’ll force Hikari to love her instead, so she doesn’t think about Amane. Which might actually work, if she wasn’t such a ham-handed creep. Well, you know what they say – if subtlety and charm takes too long, just rape her. That’ll work.

…

What’s worse, Kaname is totally tedious about it. There she is, holding Hikari down and instead of actually doing anything, she’s going on and on about how, after Hikari has her as a lover she’ll never look at Amane again. Yes, she continues, she an amazing lover. Yup, really and truly. No one’s better… Have I mentioned how good she is? She did – like five times. Without so much as even vaguely attempting to do anything. Kaname, Kaname, you’re a crappy rapist.

Also amusing was the episode that blatantly ripped off Marimite’s “Rainy Blue,” cleverly titled “Hydrangea.” If you take the ane/imouto argument tension out of Rainy Blue, and turn the focus on the lost umbrella, so that it no longer represents the loss of everything important in Yumi’s life, but instead is merely a lost umbrella, that sort of is what “Hydrangea” was about. With alot of “shared umbrella of love” fantasies thrown in. (The wife says, “For all you umbrella fetishists out htere – this is the episode you’ve been waiting for!”) My favorite moment is where Shizuma thinks that her umbrella is too big for two people, because she and Nagisa don’t have to huddle underneath it.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 6
Yuri – 7
Service- 7
Umbrellas – 10

Technically, this volume was a pleasure to watch. A good translation can’t make a bad series better, but it can keep a mediocre series mediocre. Content-wise, this series is still a bowl of derivative anime crack; a cheap shot that makes for a few moments of fun.

Posted in English Anime, Strawberry Panic, Yuri Anime | 17 Comments »


Yuri News This Week – June 14, 2008

June 14th, 2008

It was a long week this week and all sorts of news from all over…

Yuri Anime

Amuri in Star Ocean, which is a manga series that runs in Dengeki Daioh magazine has posted a streamed version of the anime trailer on the website Amuri.jp. Amuri consistently has some Yuri service in the manga. I don’t actually know if the anime has any or not. Interestingly though, the trailer is available in a “moe” version and a “sci-fi” version.

The Shoujo Sect anime trailer has been uploaded for you to do whatever it is you want to do while watching it. Looks like they are covering quite a few of the scenarios from the manga. All I want is the very final chapter. Probably not, because it has comparatively little sex.

And Right Stuff has said that anyone who directly preorders the first season of Maria-sama ga Miteru from them, will get a Rosa Chinesis phone strap as a free chotchke. I spoke briefly with them about gew-gaws. We agreed that this audience would be a huge consumer of “stuff” if they let us get any. :-)

***

Yuri Manga

The husband and wife team that writes and draws He is My Master has split. Asu Tsubaki, the artist half, who draws for Yuri Hime S, among other things, has said she will not continue the series. I’m heartbroken, as you can imagine.

Steady Beat creator Rivkah reports that Tokyopop will be releasing the third volume of her series on the Web only. This seems to be the fate of many of their World Manga/OEL titles.

Someone asked last week what the TP contraction would mean for the Yuri titles. I think its safe to say that the one or two titles they had that were even vaguely Yuri will take a hit. The third, which had not been released yet, will also likely not see the light of day. I’m conjecturing here, but overall, compared with Yaoi/BL titles, Yuri do comparatively poorly in sales. I’ve figured out why, too. BL titles’ audience – women – *buy* more than guys. A lot more. Guys, if they like a thing want to know where to download it – for free. Women come running up to a table, buy everything and run off. lol Don’t know why, but I’ve seen it over and over at events.

Also, to continue a conversation on the Yuricon Mailing List, this contraction has already trickled to the Tokyopop UK group and is likely to hit Germany and France soon. What that means for the translated Maria-sama ga Miteru novels in Gernmany is as yet unknown. Money talks, so if the books are selling well, they may well be continued.

Friend of Yuri Steven reminds me to mention GIRL X GIRL X BOY, a manga series I keep meaning to review, but keep forgetting. It’s out in tankoubon now. As the title indicates, it’s about a love triangle. While not earthshatteringly brilliant, it does have a happy ending.

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Snatches of Yuri

From Rei, a news item that Shin Megami Tensei Kahn has utterly trash-ariffic Yuri. The Publisher’s Weekly review listed on the Amazon site sums it up nicely: “The book has a surprising amount of violence and nudity: nearly all the female leads appear nude, including Nobu’s mother. Saeko is coerced into graphic demon lesbian sex in one very long scene. At worst, this book is a poor introduction to the MegaTen franchise. At best, it is a mediocre story about demons and a fast pulp read.” Okay then.

And once again from Ana, who knows me so well!, a mention that Light Novel Vanilla – A Sweet Partner has trashy Yuri girls with guns. I am *so* there. I’ll be sure to report back – and put it on the Yuricon Shop’s Light Novels page!

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Other News

Since I mentioned Tokyopop’s collapse, I guess I ought to to give ADV the same courtesy. ANN reports that the next issue of PiQ magazine, ADV’s replacement for Newtype will be its last. I can’t say I’m surprised, but I did think it was a decent magazine. It’s just that the costs of printing and distributing magazines these days make it hard to support the business model. I hope they think about continuing it as an online or mobile magazine.

And last for today, once again my novel Shoujoai ni Bouken is the subject of discussion at Ultimo Spalpeen (In Japanese.) This time Komatsu-san informs me, he is reassuring Japanese readers that my understanding of Japanese culture is not cringe-making. lol Thank you once again, Komatsu-san! I wrote it 8 years ago now, and there are definitely things I’d do differently, but I’m very pleased to have no huge gaffes instantly apparent. Phew. :-)

***

That’s it for this week. Don’t forget to join me at 12:30 at the Brooklyn Museum of Art for Ghost in the Shell: Innocence!. See you there!

Posted in Maria-sama ga Miteru, Shoujo Sect, Shoujoai ni Bouken, Yuri Network News | 8 Comments »