NOTE: The Noir buttercup is actually an older
version. The newer version is at work--will upload as soon as I get a chance
this week. Not htat it really matters to any of you, but it's important
to me.
Other
anime I've seen
The Rose of Versailles
This is a very good older anime, produced in the late 70s-early 80s
and based on a very famous manga by the same name. The manga is enjoying
it's 30th anniversary. The story begins 20 years before the French Revolution
and follows the adventures of Lady Oscar, a noblewoman raised as a man
by her father who serves as captain of the royal guard. The story sometimes
takes itself a bit too seriously, and gets a bit soap-operaish in places,
but the build-up to the revolution is used very effectively to heighten
the suspense and tension. The second half is more emotionally engaging,
but suffers from very poor animation.
One-sided shoujo-ai content. But dude! A cross-dressing
woman (even if she is straight)!
Alien 9
I saw all four episodes of this series at Yuricon (I watched a lot of
anime!). It's...disturbing, to say the least, but oddly compelling and
I couldn't even begin to tell you why. The main character is the most
obnoxious, annoying crybaby imaginable and you just want to smack her
around after awhile. But there was something about it. It's weird and
disturbing and makes you feel uncomfortable. All the standard "Growing
up is ugly and painful but something you have to do" themes and symbolism
were there, but kind of clumsily. But that just sort of added to it. It
left me feeling unsettled, but I think overall I liked it. Strange, because
I didn't like the manga it's based on.
Subtle shoujo-ai. Open to interpretation.
I, My, Me! Strawberry Eggs
I caught two episodes of this at Yuricon. At first glance, this seems
to be a silly cross-dressing sitcom. A guy poses as a woman so he can
get a job at a school that hires only women faculty. The second episode
I saw, however, actually dealt with some issues of gender discrimination
and prejudice in an interesting fashion. And one of the main character's
students who doesn't know she's a he has a very obvious crush on her sensai.
The animation style wasn't bad, but the music was truly bizarre--it was
essentially bluegrass music. Very strange. I'd actually kind of like to
see more of it someday.
Student has obvious crush on teacher, not knowing
said teacher is male.
Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke)
I saw this in the theater when it was released here in the US a few years
ago, and have the DVD. This is one of the few examples of dubbing that
I find acceptable and will watch the movie either subtitled or dubbed.
The movie is very beautifully animated and popolated with interesting,
morally complicated characters.
No shoujo-ai content.
Fushigi Yuugi (The Mysterious
Play)
I got the dubbed version of this series for free, and only made it through
a few episodes. I absolutely couldn't stand Miaka and Tomahome, the two
main characters. Miaka's best friend, who looks like a younger version
of Haruka, was very interesting to me, but not interesting enough to make
me sit through any more of Miaka and Tomahome than I had to.
I've heard there is potential shoujo-ai content,
but it's probably one-sided. I also believe there is a gay character (male).
Read or Die
I watched this three part OAV series yesterday
and, for the most part, really loved it. It's beautifully animated, with
nice vocal performances from the various seiyuu, and an intriguing plot.
The musical score is pretty great, too. The story
revolves around a librarian named Yomiko Readman who is also a secret
agent known as The Paper, for her ability to manipulate paper. Evil clones
are plotting something horrible for humanity, and it's up to Yomiko and
her partners, Drake and Miss Deep to stop them! There's to be an anime
series called Read or Dream, which is related to Read or Die, but with
all new characters and I already feel resentful of it because I liked
these characters.
I'd heard that there was debatable shoujo-ai content
in RoD but I thought it was very slashy for the first two episodes. Things
kind of fall apart in the third episode, and it's disappointing but still
workable. The very final bits really left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't
mind sad endings, but have the guts to have a sad ending instead of attempting
to cut both ways.
Animatrix
Some of the
shorts were pretty keen, and some were...not so keen. The opening short,
entitled "The Last Flight of the Osiris" reminds you why "Final
Fantasy: The Spirits Within" was such a flop. CG backgrounds and
effects have come a long way, but CG people still have a long way to go.
I also didn't care for "World Record," not because it wasn't
a good story but because the anime was too damn stylized and I found it
distracting. "Kid's Story" wasn't that interesting to me, either,
though it directly ties into Matrix: Reloaded. I liked all the others,
very much, however
No shoujo-ai/yuri content
to speak of.
Spirited Away
This is a charming fable
of Chihiro's attempt to rescue her parents from a betwitched land. This
is probably Miyazaki's most accessible movie and is just wonderful
No
shoujo-ai/yuri content to speak of.
What am
I watching now?
The Devilman Lady
I saw the first five episodes at Yuricon
and definitely want to see more! This is the first horror anime series
I've been interested in. It's extremely dark and extremely violent, and
I think the gore factor is gratutiously high at times (having just finished
watching Noir which has very little blood despite being a very violent
anime, I'm especially sensitive to this right now, I think). But so far
I'm intrigued by the premise as well as the characters and their relationships.
7/16/2003:
I have now seen the first 21 episodes and am dying to see the remaining
five. There is not going to be a happy ending to this one, but I do see
why so many shoujo-ai/yuri fans talk about this series. You do have to
stomach a lot of violence for it, though.
Fans of shoujo-ai hold this series in very high
regard.
serial experiments lain
Very trippy and surreal. I've liked what I've seen but it moves very slowly.
Definite shoujo-ai content in the later episodes.
Escaflowne
Much more mainstream than I usually go for. The first few episodes were
cute, and it's an anime that certainly covers all the bases (magical girl,
mecha, romance, etc).
I'm not holding out much hope for any shoujo-ai
content but it still looks like a nice series anyway.
Cardcaptor Sakura
It's...*choke*...SO...*gurgle*...DAMN...*sputter*...CUTE...helpmespock!
This one I
know has shoujo-ai content (canon, too), though it's one-sided.
What
am I interested in seeing?
Fruits Basket
.hack//SIGN
Battle Athletes
Kiddy Grade
Steam Detectives
Oniisama E
Neo Ranga
Spiral
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Grave of the Fireflies
Castle in the Sky
Blue Submarine No. 6
Sakura Wars
Sins of the Sisters
FAKE
Miyuki-chan in Wonderland
Perfect Blue
Blood, the Last Vampire
Mai, the Psychic Girl
A friend recommended the first volume to me,
and I quite enjoyed it. I'm currently working my way through the third
and final volume. It's beautifully drawn, and the story, while fairly
cliched, is still interesting and engaging.
7/16/2003: I finished this
and totally loved it. Nice little adventure/action story with good art
and engaging characters. It's cliched in places, but it's still a fun
read.
Shoujo Kakumei
Utena
I bought volumes 1-5 on ebay. They're in Japanese and I had this crazy
idea that I could translate them. I actually didn't do too badly on the
first couple of pages, but then I found a translation online. There are
some significant differences between the manga and the anime and many
people who like the series hate the manga. I decided to see for myself.
Magic Knights Rayearth
I bought the two memorial edition sets, and have read volumes 1 and 2.
I do plan to finish it, but for some reason the story and the characters
are not really grabbing me. It's from CLAMP which probably explains my
amazing lack of enthusiasm for it.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
I'm not sure what possessed me to
pick up the first volume of this. Mostly it was because I thought the
art was pretty and it is. The story isn't terrible (it's a prequel to
the movie and based on the original author's storyline) but I find the
action sequences, of which there are many, laughably done. It's just...silly.
I'll probably sell my set on ebay at some point.
Between the Sheets
Boy, this manga really pissed
me off. It's about these two girls who are friends, until one of them
falls in love with the other, then she becomes this weird stalker girl.
To make matters worse, she spends the entire book pining for her friend,
Saki, while sleeping with all of Saki's boyfriends. In the end she doesn't
even get the girl. It was really fucked up, and not in a good way. I
was sorely disappointed by it.
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