My pile o' things to review

For anyone curious, here's the backlog of things that are already out that I'm going to put the top priority on reviewing after I start my post-school year posting.

Blue Friend volume 2 (I previously wrote about Blue Friend here.)

Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo volumes 1 and 2 (I reviewed the original KTS collection published by Yuri Hime here.) Volume 1 reviewed here. Volume 2 reviewed here.

Passionate Friendship: The Aesthetics of Girls' Culture in Japan since it seems relevant to yuri's roots.
Pieta volume 2 (Volume 1 reviewed here.) Volume 2 reviewed here.

Poor Poor Lips volumes 2 and 3 (Volume 1 reviewed here.) Volume 2 reviewed here. Volume 3 reviewed here.

Prism volume 1 Reviewed here.

The second half of Red Garden (First half reviewed here.) Second half reviewed here.

Rinne no Lagrange season1 Reviewed here.

The huge Strawberry Panic! light novel omnibus thing-a-ma-jig Reviewed here, here and here.
Wandering Son volume 2 (Volume 1 reviewed here.) Volume 2 reviewed here.

Of course, I'll review Mouretsu Pirates after it finishes airing. And Fate/Zero, after its second season wraps up. I've already written so much about F/Z (i.e. episodic recaps) that I'll probably just review both seasons together. There's also Jormungand and Saki Achiga-hen. Even though I reviewed the first two seasons of Queen's Blade, I'm going to throw in the towel for QB: Rebellion. Rebellion's first two episodes felt like the anime equivalent of a bullet to the head. From what I've seen, Rebellion has less of what I liked about the first two seasons (an all-adult fighting female cast- aside from Ymir and Nowa, who hardly appeared; and characters who I would ship hard if they were in a less crappy series, like Tomoe and Shizuka) and ramps up what I disliked (in the form of service that either has a really sadistic edge, like the part with the dragon fighter, or is "ewww"-inducing, like the octopus gag). But I know, Queen's Blade has always been tasteless crap and I'm not remotely who the folks writing QB have in mind as their audience.

I do still plan on trying Yuruyuri season 2 and Horizon season 2 this summer. I don't expect Yuruyuri to improve, but I actually have some hope for Horizon. Why? Because: A) Malga (one half of Horizon's lesbian couple, who really deserve their own series) will supposedly play a much greater role in season 2 than she did in season 1; B) Toori (Horizon's male lead) got together with the girl he worships at the end of season 1 and, hopefully, won't be "comedically" groping random women before being punched away anymore (this is what irritated me most about season 1- sexual harassment presented in a "Har, that scamp! Boys will be boys!" way); C) the first season covered the prologue to the Horizon novels' main storyline, so who knows, the "real" plot could be better; and D) most of season 1 of Nanoha sucked, but I came to love Nanoha because of its later seasons. (See: my current icon.) I'm open to liking Horizon's second season, even though I understand why someone wouldn't be.

Crack List: My Dream Version of The Tale of Genji

I know that I just posted that I am not doing any more posts. But the professor for my class on The Tale of Genji and The Pillow Book gave us students a fun assignment for our last class- who would we cast to play several of the characters in The Tale of Genji if we made a movie adaptation of it?

I decided to create a Takarazuka/lesbian version. And I decided to share it here. ^_^ (Just pretend that all of my choices can act.)

Tomu Ranju (the Top Star in the Takarazuka show I saw last summer) as Genji

I may own a clear file featuring this image. ^_^ (Found it in the Takarazuka shop in Tokyo.)

Ueno Juri (Ruka in Last Friends) as To no Chuujo

Utada Hikaru (my favorite singer) as Fujitsubo

Tanaka Rie (a talented and hot seiyuu) as Aoi

Imajuku Asami (Eri in the Love My Life movie, to the left in the screencap below) as Utsusemi

Sakamoto Maaya (a squee-worthy seiyuu) as Rokujou Haven

Ichinose Ayaka (an out lesbian AV idol and the only out Japanese lesbian celebrity I can think of, interviewed here) as Yuugao

Noto Mamiko (another squee-worthy seiyuu) as Suetsumuhana

Kawasumi Ayako (yet another squee-worthy seiyuu) as Hanachirusato

And finally, Mizuki Nana (yup, another seiyuu I like) as Murasaki (As long as I'm making this my ideal adaptation of Genji, Genji and Murasaki meet and get together when Murasaki's an adult in my movie.)

Agree? Disagree? Other characters you'd cast? If you feel like chiming in, feel free.

Update: My professor and classmates got a kick out of my list, which I showed in Word document form on a projection screen. Turns out my professor's a Takarazuka fan too. lol

This week's Fate/Zero recap- and a bit on Jormungand and Saki Achiga-hen

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You know the drill. :-)

I won't contribute to the recap- or post at all- next weekend, because of finals next week. To compensate, I offer extra fan art

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and a hearty recommendation to try the currently airing Jormungand. It's a fun, kick ass series about an arms dealer named Koko and her retinue of bodyguards- including a woman named Valmet, who goes weak in the knees for Koko. As much as I appreciate the thoughtfulness of Fate/Zero, it's also sometimes nice to watch an action show that's just about blowing stuff up.

Fan art because, why not? ^_^
Update: Oh. D'oh. As pointed out here, Valmet has the same seiyuu as Irisviel, Ohara Sayaka, and Koko is played by Itou Shizuka, who voiced Rei in Marimite and Nadie in El Cazador.

The new Saki series is okay...it doesn't stand well on its own at all, but it's a way to see the original cast after the events of season 1 until (I'm assuming) a second season of their story is green-lit. As you can tell, I'm not that attached to the new cast. lol

Until next time!

YES. Canon Yuri Couple Confirmed in Mouretsu Pirates Episode 17!

OMG

OMGOMGOMG

Jenny and Lynn! Jenny and Lynn!

I haven't felt this utterly satisfied by a new anime series in a long time. THANK YOU, Mouretsu Pirates!

Brief recap for those who haven't been watching this show:
In the distant future, 16 year old Marika finds out that her father was captain of a space pirate (well, more like privateer) ship called the Bentenmaru. Marika chooses to take his place as captain and starts training under the supervision of the Bentenmaru's crew. It helps that she's used to piloting space ships as a result of being in her school's Yacht Club. Chiaki, the prickly daughter of another space pirate captain, joins the Yacht Club and befriends Marika. There's some nice shippability between Marika and Chiaki.

Over the course of the show, the Yacht Club's President Jenny graduates, and the Yacht Club's former Vice President, Lynn, takes over.

Additionally, the Bentenmaru's crew gets exposed to an illness that requires them to be quarantined for a month. The Bentenmaru will lose its pirating license if it doesn't carry out any piracy during that time, so Marika recruits her friends from the Yacht Club for a standard pirating mission. After much foreshadowing, Lynn asks Marika and the others to accept Jenny's request for them to "kidnap" her from her arranged wedding (long story behind it) and take her to the university where she's enrolled. Jenny's family won't be able to remove her from the university once she's there. Before the Bentenmaru can take action, Jenny runs away from the wedding thanks to the gun she kept under her dress and her solo piloting skills and boards the Bentenmaru. The episode ends with Jenny's family's ships in hot pursuit of the Bentenmaru.

The two things that I liked most in this episode:

YURIYURIYURI. Duh. Jenny and Lynn are great characters on their own, and they're great as a couple. I've known for a long time that they come out as a couple in the novels this series is based on, but I'm still thrilled with how well their storyline was executed here. Jenny and Lynn's arc grew organically out of the previous arc, and it doesn't feel cheap or pandery at all. The scene in which Jenny and Lynn kissed and the girls on the Bentenmaru squealed? Loved it. Jenny and Lynn's friends didn't react any differently than if they'd seen a girl and a boy reunite with a great big hug and kiss after foiling an arranged wedding. I also loved the little hand squeeze between them before Jenny started listing how she would repay the Bentenmaru. So cute. I've enjoyed Mouretsu Pirates from it's first episode, and this just adds to how happy I am with it.

I'm also glad that Jenny saved herself more than anyone else did. Stories about women who want to escape arranged weddings are usually (if the wedding doesn't actually happen) resolved by the would-be bride being rescued by the person she really loves. (e.g. The Princess Bride, as much as I enjoy that movie.) Lynn obviously would have done whatever it took to get Jenny out of there, but I love that Jenny was the one planning her escape from beginning, before getting herself out and then saving herself again when convincing the Bentenmaru's insurance company to accept her conditions instead of her uncle's.

Bravo, Mouretsu Pirates.

Mouretsu Pirates is streaming on Crunchyroll.

Check out Okazu's Live Stream Yuri Panel!

On Sunday April 29 (i.e. tomorrow), Okazu's Erica will be holding the first live online yuri panel! :-) The panel can be found here. It will go live at 5:00 pm Eastern US Time.

Erica will answer a few questions submitted to her in advance in addition to one or two that people ask during the panel.

If you want to attend a yuri panel but haven't found any in your area, this is a good opportunity!

Yuri fangirls on Fate/Zero, part two

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Wow, I'm really glad my previous Fate/Zero post got such a good response. (So many hits! o_o) Seems there are more Saber x Irisviel shippers out there than I thought. lol Here's the newest post by Day and I. Lily wasn't able to contribute this week, but will be back in later posts. Episode 16 was kind of spirit-crushing, but still fun to pick apart.

Also, shameless plug time. Please vote for my blog in the Aniblog Tourney! This blog is currently being voted on, and every vote is appreciated!

Anime Review: Senki Zesshou Symphogear

I was wrong when I called Symphogear a vehicle for promoting the seiyuu playing three of its four leads, Mizuki Nana, Takagaki Ayahi and Yuuki Aoi. This show was created to promote Elements Garden, the group of music composers that produced Symphogear's music. Elements Garden member Agematsu Noriyasu conceptualized the story.

Symphogear (also dubbed Symphogay and Sapphogear by yuri fans) is about girls who sing to transform, magical girl-style, into superpowered armor called Symphogear in order to fight aliens called Noise.

A girl named Miku (second one from the left in the pic above) invites her best friend Hibiki (second from the right) to a concert for her favorite singing duo, Zwei Wing, but isn't able to make it. When the Noise attack during the concert, the members of Zwei Wing, Tsubasa (far right) and Kanade, transform to fight them off. Kanade dies protecting Hibiki, and fragments of her broken weapon get lodged in Hibiki's chest.

Two years later, Hibiki transforms into a Symphogear user while protecting a little girl from the Noise. She learns that Symphogear is a classified government project and becomes Tsubasa's fighting partner. Tsubasa loathes Hibiki at first because she doesn't want Kanade being replaced- and her being in love with Kanade hasn't exactly sped up the mourning process. Of course, she warms up to Hibiki and her memories of Kanade eventually motivate her to do her best again as a singer and a Symphogear-user, rather than cause her to shut out people.

A rogue Symphogear user named Chris (far left in the pic above) attacks Tsubasa and Hibiki because the show's villain got to her before the government could. Of course, Hibiki befriends Chris and turns her good.

Miku, the lovestruck Lois Lane to Hibiki's Clark Kent, gets mad at Hibiki after finding out she's been keeping such a big secret from her, but they make up. As the bravest and arguably most realistic character in the show, Miku became my favorite.

The only character I really disliked was Hibiki because she starts out as one of those cheerfully incompetent leads. Her personality paired with her quavering, Kaname Madoka-like Yuuki Aoi voice made me feel like the writers were trying way too hard to make me go moe over her. But then something miraculous happened. She trained hard to become stronger and more competent, and...actually did so by the show's halfway point. I came to like her, and this made the show much more watchable for me. Miku, Tsubasa, Kanade, and Chris are all likeable (or at the least, not annoying) throughout. One of the show's saving graces when Hibiki was still a twat was that Tsubasa and Chris found her as irritating as I did.

And thank goodness for the decent characterization, because I didn't care at all about the plot. The initial concept- girls singing to fight aliens- gives way to something or other about a millenia-old priestess who has possessed a member of the government and wants to destroy the moon because her love for the god Kadingir was rejected when the Tower of Babel was built...yup. But even though the ending didn't really make sense, it was like...the writers knew that their show was already ridiculous and cheesy, so they just went to town with it. And the final scene, while still not making sense, was actually sweet. So I was satisfied with it.

I'm not completely sure what verdict to give the villain, though. As a villain, she fails, but as camp, she gets top marks.

The music, of course, is a huge component of this show. Bless her heart, Yuuki Aoi tried, but she isn't much of a singer. Takagaki Ayahi is a talented singer and I have enjoyed some of her music, but I didn't like the songs that she sung in her Chris voice that much. Thankfully, Tsubasa's seiyuu is the lovely Mizuki Nana and I really enjoyed her songs.

Story: Cheerfully dumb plot + mostly likeable characters (including an annoying lead who actually grows) + a dollop of irritating service (do we really need a crotch shot of Tsubasa when Chris knocks her to the ground?) + a helping of canon, surprisingly un-servicey yuri + several catchy songs = okay overall.
Art: C-
Overall: C+