Saturday, June 30, 2012

Summer 2012 Anime Season

We had a delectable smorgasbord of shows this past spring season. The summer season doesn't look as strong, but there's still are still some good pickings.

07/01
Chitose Get You!!:
An adaptation of a 4-koma about an elementary school girl who has a crush on a young man and pursues him relentlessly.

...This is aimed at grown men. Grown men who want to watch a series in which the entire premise is a little girl pursuing her crush on a grown man. Even if the little girl isn't sexualized at all in the actual manga and show, it's still sketchy.

Noteworthy Seiyuu:
Mitsuishi Kotono (Usagi in Sailor Moon)

Jinrui ha Suitai Shimashita:
Centuries from now, Earth has become inhabited by fairies- the pocket-sized kind who love sweets and make this series' protagonist look like she's tripping in the promo art. Our protagonist, Watashi, returns to her hometown after taking on the job of mediating human-fairy relations. Watashi learns that her new job isn't as easy as she thought it would be.

Going by the PV, this is meant to be an iyashikei (healing type) series, but I don't feel healed at all by watching these creepy little things.
Their faces NEVER MOVE.

Noteworthy Seiyuu:
Nakahara Mai (Strawberry Panic's Nagisa)

La storia della Arcana Famiglia:
An adaptation of an otome adventure game, about the daughter of an organization with "mysterious powers" that rules a small island. The protagonist chooses a husband by making her suitors participate in a competition that she herself will compete in. I'm assuming she will only agree to marry whichever suitor can beat her in fighting prowess, kind of like Atalanta.

Seiyuu:
Noto Mamiko (Maria-sama ga Miteru's Shimako)
Fukuyama Jun (Code Geass's Lelouch)
Sugita Tomokazu (Suzumiya Haruhi's Kyon)
Nakamura Yuuichi (Clannad's Tomoya)

Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse:
An adaptation of a light novel that is itself a spin-off of the Muv-Luv Alternative visual novel. Because I'm lazy and don't care about this series at all, I'm quoting the Wikipedia explanation of its setting:  
Muv-Luv Unlimited takes place in an alternate world to Extra, where aliens called BETA (an acronym for "Beings of the Extra Terrestrial origin which is Adversary of human race") have invaded and mankind fights back against the alien aggressors with giant robots called Senjutsuhokousentouki (戦術歩行戦闘機, Tactical Surface Fighter), usually referred to as simply Senjutsuki (戦術機), as almost all conventional weapons were ineffective.
The BETA first arrived on Earth in 1973 (in China and Canada) after arriving on the Moon in 1967 and being spotted on Mars in 1958. By 2001, the world population has been reduced to 1 billion people, and most of Europe and central Asia have been wiped out. The Soviet Union, though, is still around, operating out of Alaska. When the BETA first arrived in Japan in 1998, 36 million people were dead within a week.
Most of the major characters from the Extra timeline are present in Unlimited, except for the Unlimited world's Takeru, who is said to be dead, and Sumika, who does not seem to exist in the Unlimited timeline. The characters are, for the most part identical to their Extra counterparts, with the possible exception of Mikoto, who is now female.
In the sequel Muv-Luv Alternative, Takeru wakes up three years after the end of Unlimited to find himself back in his room. Although he first thinks that everything that had happened to him was a dream, he soon feels that something is wrong, and leaves the house to find that he has been sent back in time to the beginning of the events in Unlimited. Unwilling to accept the events at the end of Unlimited, he decides to help professor Kouzuki save the earth and mankind.
Promo streaming here.

Seiyuu:
Nakahara Mai (Strawberry Panic's Nagisa)
Ono Daisuke (Kuroshitsuji's Sebastian)
Nabatame Hitomi (Strawberry Panic's Shizuma, Maria-sama ga Miteru's Eriko)
Ishihara Kaori (Rinne no Lagrange's Madoka)
Noto Mamiko (Maria-sama ga Miteru's Shimako)
Tanaka Rie (Azumanga Daioh's Yomi)
Nogawa Sakura (Azumanga Daioh's Kaori, Strawberry Panic's Tsubomi)
Ohara Sayaka (Fate/Zero's Irisviel, Jormungand's Valmet)
Honda Takako (Hourou Musuko's Yuki, Kara no Kyoukai's Touko)
Sugita Tomokazu (Suzumiya Haruhi's Kyon)
Hikasa Youko (K-ON!'s Mio)

Rinne no Lagrange season 2
Yay, more Lagrange! The first season was an unexpectedly fun take on the hoary old "teenager pilots a mech to save humanity" premise. But you probably already know if you're watching it or not.

Madoka x Lan fans will be happy with this season's PV. Update: Here's another PV.

Seiyuu:
Ishihara Kaori (Saki Achiga-hen's Ryuuka)
Seto Asami (Hourou Musuko's Takatsuki)
Kayano Ai (Mouretsu Pirates's Ai)
Noto Mamiko (Marimite's Shimako)
Nakajima Megumi (Macross Frontier's Ranka)
Tanaka Rie (Azumanga Daioh's Yomi)
Nakamura Yuuichi (Clannad's Tomoya)
Nanri Yuuka (Hourou Musuko's Chiba)
Ise Mariya (Yes! Precure 5's Urara)

Tari Tari:
P.A. Works's newest offering, about five high schoolers who have completely different hobbies but come together as friends because of music during their last summer in high school.

I'll give it a shot. PVs streaming here and here.

Seiyuu:
Seto Asami (Hourou Musuko's Takatsuki)
Takagaki Ayahi (Sasameki Koto's Sumi, Symphogear's Chris)
Hayami Saori (Morita-san ha Mukuchi's Chihiro)


07/02
Chouyaku Hyakunin Isshu: Uta Koi:
An adaptation of a josei manga that provides a "super-loose adaptation" of the Hyukunin Isshu poetry anthology that forms the basis of the karuta game.

Its premise is different enough for me to want to try it. Here's its PV.

Seiyuu:
Endo Aya (Macross Frontier's Sheryl)
Suwabe Junichi (Natsume Yuujinchou-shi's Seiji)
Hayami Saori (Morita-san ha Mukuchi's Chihiro)
Kaji Yuuki (No. 6's Shion)
Kobayashi Sanae (Madlax's Madlax)
Ohara Sayaka (Fate/Zero's Irisviel, Jormungand's Valmet)

Yuruyuri ♪♪:
You already know if you're watching more Yuruyuri. I didn't care for it, but clearly enough people did to get it a second season.

PVs here and here.

Seiyuu:
Ookubo Rumi (Suite Precure's Ako)
Toyosaki Aki (K-ON!'s Yui)
Taketatsu Ayana (K-ON!'s Azusa)
Katou Emiri (Sasameki Koto's Kiyori, Madoka Magica's Kyuubey)
Shiraishi Ryoko (Saki's Mako)
Goto Saori (Strawberry Panic's Momomi)
Yuuki Aoi (Madoka Magica's Madoka)
Horie Yui (Aoi Hana's Kyouko, Hourou Musuko's Anna)

07/04

Binbougami ga!:
The latest series by studio Sunrise. Sakura lives a charmed life because she saps away other people's "happiness energy." To stop Sakura from doing that, a Poverty God named Momiji decides to kill her. Hijinks ensue.

This is clearly crap, but it seems to know that it is crap and have a high amount of dark humor. I still don't see myself following it, but I'll give it a try. PV streaming here.

Seiyuu:
Hanazawa Kana (Morita-san ha Mukuchi's Mayu, Black Rock Shooter's Mato)
Tomatsu Haruka (Shiki's Megumi)

07/05

Joshiraku:
A gag comedy about the behind-the-scenes dressing room conversations among a group of female rakugo performers.

It looks "meh," but I'll try it anyway. PV available here.

Seiyuu:
Sakura Ayane (Hotarubi no Mori e's Hotaru)
Goto Saori (Strawberry Panic's Momomi)
Nanjou Yoshino (CANAAN's Maria, Morita-san ha Mukuchi's Hana)

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate:
An adaptation of an eroge about a boy who attends an elite school and runs for Student Council president to save the club he's in, the Food Research Club, from being abolished. Incidentally, the Food Research Club is almost entirely composed of cute girls.

Eh. PVs found here.

Seiyuu:
Nakamura Yuuichi (Clannad's Tomoya)
Imai Asami (Steins;Gate's Kurisu)
Sanada Asami (K-ON!'s Sawako, Nanoha's Vita)
Ishimatsu Chiemi (Aoi Hana's Yasuko)
Mizuhashi Kaori (Hidamari Sketch's Miyako)
Oogata Megumi (Sailor Moon's Haruka)
Gibu Yuko (Aoi Hana's Akira)
Asakawa Yuu (Azumanga Daioh's Sakaki)

Moyashimon Returns:
The much-anticipated return of one of Noitamina's most popular series. Admittedly, I still haven't seen its first season. It's one of those shows that I keep meaning to watch. ^_^; Moyashimon is a comedy about a college student who can see microorganisms with his naked eyes and communicate with them, as well as his friends.

PVs and three promotional animated shorts streaming here.

Seiyuu:
Noto Mamiko (Marimite's Shimako)
Saiga Mitsuki (Mai-Hime's Chie)
Sawashiro Miyuki (CANAAN's Canaan, Black Rock Shooter's Yomi)
Ohara Sayaka (Fate/Zero's Irisviel, Jormungand's Valmet)

Nakaimo - Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!:
To inherit his family's fortune, Shougo must choose a bride at school. He transfers to a new school to do that and learns that he has a long lost sister attending that school. For some reason, he isn't able to find out who she is and doesn't transfer to a different school. Watch Shougo struggle to choose a bride while knowing that any choice could end with him getting the bullet in this Russian Roulette of a premise and sleeping with his sister. Or don't. That's what I'm going to do. PVs here and here.

Seiyuu:
Taketatsu Ayana (K-ON!'s Azusa)
Sakura Ayane (Hotarubi no Mori e's Hotaru)
Ishihara Kaori (Rinne no Lagrange's Madoka)
Sakurai Takahiro (Code Geass's Suzaku)

Natsuyuki Rendezvous:
This season's other Noitamina series. An adaptation of a josei manga focusing on a love triangle between a florist named Hazuki, his boss Rokka, and the ghost of Rokka's deceased husband Shimao.

I'm curious about how this story will play out. It could easily be hokey, but in the right hands, it could be poignant stuff. Its PVs (here and here) look good enough that I'm optimistic about it.

Seiyuu:
Fukuyama Jun (Code Geass's Lelouch)
Ohara Sayaka (Fate/Zero's Irisviel, Jormungand's Valmet)
Nakamura Yuuichi (Clannad's Tomoya)

07/06

Campione!:
A high school boy named Godou kills a god, gaining its powers. Together with a girl named Erica, Godou, now a "Campione" (god-killer) continues to battle against gods and other Campione.

*shrug* PV streaming here, just click the second banner.

Seiyuu:
Hikasa Youko (K-ON!'s Mio)
Kitamura Eri (Madoka Magica's Sayaka)
Hanazawa Kana (Morita-san ha Mukuchi's Mayu, Black Rock Shooter's Mato)

Dakara Boku ha, H ga Dekinai:
Ryousuke makes a contract with a frequently undressed Goddess of Death, unwittingly giving up his "erotic spirit" (i.e. his ability to be turned on). Now he must regain it.

At least it isn't pretending to be anything more than softcore porn. Pass for me. PV streaming here.

Seiyuu:
Endo Aya (Macross Frontier's Sheryl)
Ishihara Kaori (Rinne no Lagrange's Madoka)
Fukuen Misato (Hidamari Sketch's Natsume, Smile Precure's Miyuki)

Hagure Yuusha no Estetica:
Akatsuki returns to the real world from a world of magic, together with the daughter of a demon lord. PVs here and here.

Zzzzzzzzz.

Seiyuu:
Hikasa Youko (K-ON!'s Mio)
Taketatsu Ayana (K-ON!'s Azusa)
Hanazawa Kana (Morita-san ha Mukuchi's Mayu, Black Rock Shooter's Mato)
Ueda Kana (Marimite's Yumi)
Inoue Marina (Smile Precure's Nao)
Satou Rina (Railgun's Mikoto)
Sakurai Takahiro (Code Geass's Suzaku)


07/07

Dog Days':
The second season of a series about a middle school boy who unwittingly travels to a magical alternate world where everyone has animal ears and tails. It looks like he returned to his world at the end of the first season, and he's going back to the magical world at the beginning of this one.

I like this show's theme song ("Scarlet Knight" by Mizuki Nana), but I haven't seen a minute of the actual show. ^_^; I'm still not interested. PV streaming here.

Seiyuu:
Miyano Mamoru (Steins; Gate's Okabe)
Horie Yui (Aoi Hana's Kyouko, Hourou Musuko's Anna)
Koshimizu Ami (Marimite's Kanako)
Yuuki Aoi (Madoka Magica's Madoka)
Taketatsu Ayana (K-ON!'s Azusa)
Hanazawa Kana (Morita-san ha Mukuchi's Mayu, Black Rock Shooter's Mato)
Asumi Kana (Hidamari Sketch's Yuuno)
Kotobuki Minako (K-ON!'s Mugi)
Mizuki Nana (Nanoha's Fate, Symphogear's Tsubasa)
Hikasa Youko (K-ON!'s Mio)
Nagata Yoriko (K-ON!'s Jun)


Kokoro Connect:
A group of friends- three girls and two boys- accidentally switch bodies, causing love polygon hijinks.

Doesn't sound interesting. PV found here.

Seiyuu:
Toyosaki Aki (K-ON!'s Yui)
Sawashiro Miyuki (CANAAN's Canaan, Black Rock Shooter's Yomi)
Kanemoto Hisako (Sora no Woto's Kanata, Smile Precure's Yayoi)
Itou Shizuka (Marimite's Rei, Saki's Hisa, Jormungand's Koko)

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon II:
The second season of Sunrise's newest hit, about a future in which people try to recreate history by following a book called Testament and are in the tech-heavy future equivalent of the Sengoku Era. In trying to save the girl he loves from being executed because of a political technicality, Horizon's protagonist sparks a war between those who want to follow Testament and those who would rather not.

The first season was more miss than hit for me, but I'm willing to give it another shot for the reasons explained here. (Not least of which is Horizon's lesbian couple.) PV streaming here. Update: New PV streaming here.

Seiyuu:
Fukuyama Jun (Code Geass's Lelouch)
Chihara Minori (Saki's Touka)
Shimizu Ai (Strawberry Panic's Tamao and Kizuna)
Koshimizu Ami (Marimite's Kanako)
Yuuki Aoi (Madoka Magica's Madoka)
Saito Chiwa (Madoka Magica's Homura)
Ono Daisuke (Kuroshitsuji's Sebastian)
Nazuka Kaori (Eureka Seven's Eureka)
Nakahara Mai (Strawberry Panic's Nagisa)
Inoue Marina (Smile Precure's Nao)
Asano Masumi (Ikki Tousen's Hakufu)
Toyoguchi Megumi (Marimite's Sei)
Kotobuki Minako (K-ON!'s Mugi)
Shiraishi Minoru (Lucky Star's Shiraishi Minoru)
Sawashiro Miyuki (CANAAN's Canaan, Black Rock Shooter's Yomi)
Saito Momoko (Saki's Momo)
Tanaka Rie (Azumanga Daioh's Yomi)
Morinaga Rika (Saki's Kana)
Shintani Ryoko (Mai-Hime's Aoi, Hidamari Sketch's Sae)
Shiraishi Ryoko (Saki's Mako)
Tamura Yukari (Nanoha)
Kobayashi Yuu (Saki's Yumi)
Sugita Tomokazu (Suzumiya Haruhi's Kyon)
Koyasu Takehito (Utena's Touga)

Sword Art Online:
A programmer enters an MMO world called Swort Art Online. If you die in the game, you actually die, and the only way out after you begin is to finish the game.

Doesn't look interesting, even with a soundtrack by Kajiura Yuki.

Seiyuu:
Tomatsu Haruka (Shiki's Megumi)
Itou Kanae (Railgun's Saten)
Takagaki Ayahi (Sasameki Koto's Sumi, Symphogear's Chris)
Hayami Saori (Morita-san ha Mukuchi's Chihiro)
Taketatsu Ayana (K-ON!'s Azusa)

Tanken Driland:
An adaptation of a fantasy mobile game- typical search dungeons for treasure, defeat monsters while you're there kind of game.

Pass. 

Seiyuu:
Hikasa Youko (K-ON!'s Mio)

07/08

Hakuouki Reimeiroku
A sequel to the first two seasons of Hakuouki, an adaptation of an otome adventure game about a girl who joins the Shinsengumi after setting out to search for her missing father. There are also demons. I tried one episode of the first season. It was fine. Cool fight scenes, but nothing else that stuck out for better or worse.

Seiyuu:
Seki Tomokazu (Fate/Zero's Rider)

Oda Nobunaga no Yabou:
An ordinary high school boy gets pulled back to the Sengoku Era, where he finds that all of the historically famous warlords are women and Oda Nobunaga wants him to help her conquer the world. Sound familiar?

Pass. PVs here.

Seiyuu:
Itou Kanae (Railgun's Saten)
Katou Emiri (Sasameki Koto's Kiyori, Madoka Magica's Kyuubey)
Nabatame Hitomi (Strawberry Panic's Shizuma, Maria-sama ga Miteru's Eriko)
Noto Mamiko (Maria-sama ga Miteru's Shimako)
Fukuen Misato (Hidamari Sketch's Natsume, Smile Precure's Miyuki)
Sakurai Takahiro (Code Geass's Suzaku)

07/14
Ebiten: Kouritsu Ebisugawa Koukou Tenmon-bu:
Itsuki wants to join his school's Astronomy Club, but accidentally joins the fujoshi club. Harem hijinks ensue.

Pass.

Seiyuu:
Asumi Kana (Hidamari Sketch's Yuuno)
Ise Mariya (Yes! Precure 5's Urara)
Nazuka Kaori (Eureka Seven's Eureka)
Satou Satomi (K-ON!'s Ritsu)

And that's it!

Friday, June 29, 2012

YAY, AOI HANA ANIME LICENSED!!!!


YES!!!!! FINALLY!!!! At their Anime Expo panel this evening, Nozomi Entertainment announced that they're releasing Aoi Hana on DVD YAY!!!! ANN just posted more details about it. It's been about three years, but it finally happened. Now excuse me as I go back to happy-dancing over it while babbling incoherently.

Update: Here is Nozomi's Anime Expo trailer for Aoi Hana.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Fate/Zero Finale Recap


At long last, Fate/Zero's finale. It was rather grand. :-) My fellow recappers and I have many feelings about it, which you can read here.

In addition to the usual fan art, I'm linking a cute, short Saber x Irisviel doujinshi that one of my readers, Sha Yurigami, made based on this fan art. It can be downloaded here. Enjoy!

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Saturday, June 23, 2012

Light novel review: Strawberry Panic, The Complete Novel Collection, volume 2



Volume 2 is, overall, noticeably better than volume 1. Volume 1's early problems involving Shizuma are long past, and the rules of the lesbian Wonderland that is Astraea Hill have been explained. Now for round 2 of the Etoile competition.

Volume 1 established the rivalry between Miator's Student Council President Miyuki and Spica's Student Council President Shion. The spotlight in volume 2 falls on Lulim's Student Council President Chikaru. Chikaru is a fan favorite because, rather than angst over love like the other major characters, she is whimsical and laid-back while still being very gay. In the anime, she collects girls like candy and has them dress up in cosplay and do random crap like solve mysteries or bake sweets for shits and giggles. Here, Chikaru does the same thing, but she and her harem just cosplay.

Amusingly, light novel Chikaru has a Grand Master Plan beyond macking on girls. As the only student with any ambition at Lulim, she wants to build Lulim up to a school whose glory rivals Miator and Spica's. She might seem like she's just having her kouhai Kizuna, Remon and Kagome cosplay as bunny girls and police officers so she can ogle Kizuna and Remon and go moe over Kagome, but she's really training them to be strong Etoile candidates.

But alas, if Lulim were to claim its glory when Kizuna, Remon and Kagome were popular enough to win the Etoile crown purely on their own merits, Chikaru would graduate before realizing her dream. And if she graduated before Lulim became more popular, she wouldn't have fulfilled her ultimate goal of having more cute Lulim girls to add to her harem. It's all very nuanced and complicated, you see.

Unlike the anime version of Strawberry Panic, the students from the different schools mostly don't socialize with each other in the novels. The thing I miss most about that here is Tamao and Yaya commiserating with each other about being in love with thickheaded idiots who don't love them back. It also raises the question of what would happen if two students from different schools wanted to enter the Etoile competition as a couple. That question is answered here.

We also meet Kusanagi Makoto, a former Spica student who returns from studying music in Russia to challenge Amane's place as the Top Star in Spica. Makoto proclaims that she wants to replace the lesbianism at Astraea Hill with "pure sisterly love" but, interestingly, wins her peers over by giving them jewelry and promising them kisses. To her credit, Amane is mature enough to know that Astraea Hill is not the center of the universe and doesn't care about being replaced as the Spica student with the most stalkers.

While novel Amane is more likeable than anime Amane, as discussed in my previous SP novel review, novel Yaya has gotten less face time than anime Yaya. Which is too bad, because I like her better than Amane. (Yes, I am that rare SP fan who likes Shizuma x Nagisa and Yaya x Hikari.) The novels throw Yaya x Hikari fans a bone when Yaya confesses her feelings to Hikari in a less graceless way than she did in the anime. But while her confession had repercussions on her and Hikari's friendship in the anime and they talked through it, here, the scene fades out and the entire thing is forgotten. Or so it seems. Just wait until volume 3.

This volume ends with neither of our lead couples looking good in the Etoile competition. Amane and Hikari run away from school. Nagisa decides to drop out of the competition after learning more about Shizuma's past relationship with Kaori and concluding that she can't compete with a dead girl. As idiotic as Nagisa is, I can actually understand her not telling Shizuma that she wants to hear her say that she loves her now, more than Kaori, because she wants to know Shizuma is saying it sincerely instead of because she knows it'll calm Nagisa down. It might be passive-aggressive, but it's understandable.

More things about this volume I liked- Kaname, to her chagrin, starting to have feelings for Hikari after having treated Hikari badly because Kaname likes Amane, and Shizuma's best friend Hitomi speculating that Shizuma's deep grief over Kaori was fueled by guilt as much as love. This plants the seed of a plot point that gives Shizuma's storyline more nuance than I expected. And I like that this volume fleshes out Shizuma's background and gives her friends Mizuho and Hitomi more of an active role than the anime does. (Although she isn't close friends with Miyuki here, an aspect of the anime that I liked.) It gives her a life outside her romances, making her a better-developed character than it initially seemed she would be.

So yeah, more of what was fun about volume 1 with much less of what was "meh." How will it all resolve!? Dun dun dun.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Fate/Zero's Penultimate Recap

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Pretty intense episode, no? I'm on pins and needles waiting for the finale, even though I've been spoiled by Fate/stay night. Here's the newest recap!

And of course, more fan art. The first one below is my favorite.
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Obligatory Kannazuki no Miko parody- extra-fitting because Chikane and Saber share the same seiyuu.
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Monday, June 18, 2012

Manga Review: Pieta volume 2


 Volume 1 of Pieta (reviewed here) left us with a pretty grim scenario.

Thankfully, the jump does not kill Rio. It turns out that she will be able to recover fully,  but Sahoko and Rio's psychologist Minori-sensei know that she'll try to commit suicide again unless what caused her to do it is actually dealt with.

They figure out that it was Rio's stepmother's doing. She owns up to her culpability and makes it clear that she'll do whatever it takes to remove Rio from the Martha Stewart fantasy of a life she wants by committing Rio to a mental institution as soon as possible. Even Rio's father is disturbed by her, and he tells Minori-sensei the truth about what his wife told Rio. Minori-sensei clears things up for Rio, and she decides to divorce her family. In one of my favorite scenes, Minori-sensei tells Rio that he and his wife have wanted to adopt her as a daughter for a long time. Even if she doesn't want to be adopted, they're still there for her if she needs anything.

As Sahoko continues visiting her in the hospital, Rio gets over her fear that she'll hurt whoever she loves. We also learn more about what caused Sahoko to become a hikikomori for a full school year. While Rio has a truckload of horrible family reasons for her issues, Sahoko comes from a perfectly functional, loving family. The explanation for her withdrawal from society works because, well, you don't need to have a traumatic childhood to have problems interacting with people. Some people are just like that. While Rio wore her problems on her sleeve and acted out when we first met her, Sahoko was that girl who hides her problems desperately in order to create normalcy in some sphere of her life. After she gets over that by opening up to Rio, she's able to actually feel relaxed and happy instead of just pretending to be. In short, both of their behavior from the beginning of this series makes sense.

Let me go on a small tangent. When Pieta was published, it was still popular to link mental illness to lesbianism in manga. Pieta subverts that by making its characters' issues have absolutely nothing to do with their sexual orientations or who they like, instead making Rio and Sahoko's love what helps them overcome their problems. You'll find thematic similarities in the recently popular Blue Friend by Eban Fumi, which seems pretty clearly influenced by Pieta, if you're looking for something similar in yuri. I also recommend Fuyumi Soryo's Mars, a non-yuri shoujo title that feels similar as well.

Rio's stepmother tosses out Rio's things and moves her own things into the house Rio occupied, but in a delicious bit of irony, the house catches on fire. Rio's possessions stay safe and out of the dumpster because of Sahoko picking them up and storing them at her house.

After leaving the hospital, Rio moves in with Sahoko. This series addresses the issues that could, realistically, come with Sahoko already deciding that she wants to spend her life with Rio by having Minori-sensei and his wife discuss them- satisfactorily, I might add.

Rio and Sahoko help each other study for their entrance exams and start college, looking forward to their lives together

We get a bonus chapter showing them spending a week at Sahoko's aunt's beach house, where they send an omiyage to Minori-sensei and his wife.

A sweet conclusion to a roller-coaster ride of a series.

Story: A
Art: A-
Overall: A

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Light novel review: Strawberry Panic, The Complete Novel Collection, volume 1


At long last, I am reviewing the Strawberry Panic light novels.

Even though I have been an avid reader of manga since I was a kid, it took me some getting used to the idea of novels that read like manga (complete with full-page illustrations and onomatopoetic sound effects like "Flutter flutter" for sakura petals, "Swish!" for a skirt, and "Drip" for tears falling) when I tried the SP light novel, my first light novel read, as a college freshman. That said, I've never had any problem settling into fanfiction- go figure.

Like its anime and manga iterations, the Strawberry Panic light novel is about the love polygons at three lesboriffic girls' schools that are adjacent to and affiliated with each other on Astraea Hill- Miator, the oldest and most traditional school, Spica, the second oldest one that focuses on creating the leaders of tomorrow, and Lulim, where students focus on club activities instead of studies. Despite the description given for Spica, Miator's students can't bear coming in second place in anything next to Spica or Lulim, so it seems like the place to send a girl who wants to learn good leadership and competition skills, no?

Our protagonist, Aoi Nagisa, is a cheerful, bumbling, utterly unremarkable Miator transfer student who instantly attracts Miator's most popular student, Hanazono Shizuma. Nagisa's roommate Tamao also has the hots for Nagisa, as does Nagisa's kouhai Chiyo.

Over in Spica, we meet another transfer student- shy, unassuming Konohana Hikari. Hikari and Spica's butchy "Prince" Ootori Amane fall in love, but Amane's unwanted legion of ravenous fangirls would rather shoot themselves in the leg than see their beloved Amane-sama fall for one person. Hikari's roommate Yaya is also in love with her.

At the beginning of each school year, Miator, Spica and Lulim hold the Etoile competition. They don't describe it as a contest for the three schools' best lesbian couple, but that's what it is. Each couple is composed of an aînée (a.k.a. the Oneesama in the relationship) and her cadette.

When Tamao hits on Nagisa in front of Shizuma and rubs it in Shizuma's face, Shizuma overrides her by asking Nagisa to be her cadette in the Etoile competition. The other students at Miator aren't happy about it because, why should someone who just transferred in get to compete for the Etoile crown with their exalted Shizuma-sama? Shizuma also competed last year and won with her friend Mizuho, dedicating her victory and all of her love to her dead girlfriend Kaori. For that reason, I can see why some students would be bothered by Shizuma competing again with Nagisa. (Even though they weren't bothered by her dating and sleeping with half the campus prior to that?)

A lot of SP fans like Tamao x Nagisa more than Shizuma x Nagisa, but I'm on team Shizuma x Nagisa. Even though Shizuma isn't very likeable early in the story, she does improve (the turning point for her characterization being the pre-Etoile competition party) and shows that she genuinely cares about Nagisa, for some reason. I do feel bad for Tamao, since she makes her feelings clear repeatedly, but Nagisa doesn't get it since she's as dense as a brick.

Amane, of course, chooses Hikari as the cadette to her aînée. I like Amane x Hikari more in the SP light novels than in the SP anime because Amane has more of a personality and her relationship with Hikari feels sweeter here.

Despite the Miator and Spica students' qualms about Shizuma and Amane's Etoile partners, they rally around them because they want their school to win.

Nagisa finds out about Shizuma pledging all of her love to Kaori the year before, making her doubt the veracity of Shizuma's feelings for her, but they win the first competition (in which the aînées answer questions about how devoted they are) anyway.

The high point of this volume is the second competition, in which the aînées and cadettes dress in costumes, the cadettes are all squeezed onto a high platform with no railing, and the aînées race to pick them up on horseback from below. Nagisa winds up dangling off the edge of the platform hoping that her Oneesama will reach her in time.

Yes, this is trash. But as trash, it is first-rate. I always have a bit of a hard time starting it because I need to get used to the overripe, affected language. It doesn't help that 90% of the early portion of this volume feels like it's composed of descriptions of how amazing Shizuma is. She's pretty, smart, has glossy, shampoo commercial-worthy hair and an amazing smile, birds sing when she passes by them and the very sun and moon pale in comparison to her...thankfully, SP's author realizes that we get it already, and eases up on the flowery Shizuma descriptions as the book goes on. All of the descriptions are very flowery, in the way that a parody of the yuri genre (particularly old school or old school-influenced titles like Shiroi Heya no Futari, Oniisama E, Himitsu no Kaidan, and Marimite) would need to be. But I don't really mind as long as the intentionally cheesy descriptions aren't relegated too much to one character. lol

If you're already an SP fan, you'll like this. If not, don't bother.

No ratings until I review the third and final volume.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Fate/Zero Recap of the Week

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Sorry about posting this a bit late. The internet was being wonky last night.

After the build-up last week, this week's episode was pretty thrilling. More Saber badassery, just about everything Rider and Waver did, and even Archer had a cool moment. Here's the recap!

And you know the drill.

See way the bottom of this post for a source. Can't link to where I found this doujinshi cover image anymore, since Melon Books removed it after they stopped selling it.
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