Ah, I’ll admit I’ve been very neglectful of this blog. However, much of that squandered time was used on watching some excellent shows, so I’ll share a few of these with you before the season’s newest offerings start!
Based on the five-volume manga series of the same name, REC is a slice-of-life romantic comedy that ran for nine twelve-minute episodes in February and March of 2006. Salaryman Matsumaru is looking for a little romance in his life just as he meets Aka, an up-and-coming voice actress whose apartment complex just happens to have burnt to the ground. The sympathetic Matsumaru invites her to stay with him for as long as she needs, but he hasn’t bargained on the personality conflicts, sexual tension and cramped living Aka’s intrusion brings into his life. When her career really starts to take off, both need to decide where they want to take their relationship.
This is a relatively unknown series (any fans of Audrey Hepburn will appreciate Aka’s character, for sure) and quite short, but it’s a real gem, directed by Nakamura Ryutaro of Serial Experiments Lain, Sakura Wars and Kino no Tabi. It also features the catchiest opening theme song I’ve heard in a long while. No official English adaptation is planned at the moment (fansubs are around, however), but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone decided to pick it up for a DVD release.
Revolutionary Girl Utena (少女革命ウテナ; Shoujo Kakumei Utena) is a manga by Saito Chiho and anime directed by Ikuhara Kunihiko. The manga serial began in the June 1996 issue of Ciao and the anime was first broadcast in 1997. A movie, “Adolescence of Utena” (Japanese: Adolescence Mokushiroku, literally “Adolescence Apocalypse”) was released in theatres in 1999.
The main character of Utena is an androgynous teenaged female, Utena Tenjou, who was so impressed by a kind prince in her childhood that she decided to become a prince herself, and cross-dresses as a male. She attends Ohtori Academy, where she rooms with a student named Anthy, who in turn is in an abusive relationship with another member of the Academy. Utena fights to protect Anthy, and is pulled into a series of sword duels with the student council, all of whom fight for Anthy as the key to a coming revolution, and whom they refer to as “the Rose Bride,” as the winner of each duel receives her as their prize.
The series itself is highly unusual, to the point of being outright metaphysical. Though the plot is relatively straightforward, everyone’s motives are obscure (initially, at least). It may be best not to take the story on the literal level, as the latter half of the series (and movie) can be somewhat confusing due to what the director admits is a mix of metaphor, borrowed visuals from Takarazuka theater, classic shoujo, mythology, and a large amount of “stuff that just looks really cool.”
The anime and manga were created simultaneously, but, despite some similarities, they progress in different directions.
Links:
Central Park Media’s Utena tv series site
Ikuhara Kunihiko’s official site
The Utena Network
Empty Movement
Related Articles:
A number of parallels have been drawn between Utena and Ikeda Riyoko’s Rose of Versailles.
Source:
Wikipedia
Rozen Maiden is a series by TBS based on the manga by PEACH-PIT. It deals obliquely with the pressures placed on children in Japan by telling the story of a student, Jun Sakurada, who cracked under the strain. The series chronicles Jun’s reluctant mental recovery through experiences with the Rozen Maiden, a series of enchanted dolls with a mysterious purpose.
The Rozen Maiden is a collection of dolls created by a craftsman known only as “Father”. Their primary source of power is a human host — a “medium” — that wears a ring to symbolize their bond with the doll. Each Rozen Maiden has her own distinct personality, guardian spirit, and supernatural ability. Their purpose is apparently their participation in the cryptic “Alice Game”, a lethal competition that promises the winner the right to meet “Father” by becoming “Alice”, a being that is supposedly the incarnation of perfect femininity. The game is played through duels in which the dolls fight using both their guardian spirits and respective abilities — such as the manipulation of strawberry vines — as well as the spiritual energy from their medium. The doll that loses the duel loses her “Rosa Mystica”, the very thing that endows her with the ability to move, thus becoming “junk”. The lost Rosa Mystica is then collected and absorbed by the duel’s winner. The doll that gains all of her sisters’ Rosa Mysticae will become Alice.
Rozen Maiden’s first season consists of twelve episodes that aired between October and December 2004. Rozen Maiden ~Träumend~ will also consist of twelve episodes and began airing on October 20 2005.
Links:
Official Site
*Rosa Mystica* (Fanlisting)
Review of Träumend
Source: Wikipedia
In honour of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Marie Antoinette, 1979 shoujo anime The Rose of Versailles (Beirusaiyu no Bara) will be seeing a rerelease on R2 DVD as well as a reenactment of the famous Takarazuka stage production. In fact, it will be seeing multiple performances, as reported by Anime News Network:
From November 11 to November 13 they will present The Rose of Versailles at the Kyung Hee University in South Korea. They will also present a “The Soul of Shiva” a play about Shiva, the God who invented dancing, reborn in New York City. The performances are in commemoration of the Korea-Japan Friendship Year.
In addition to the Korean performances, Takarazuka is also simultaneously performing two different versions of The Rose of Versailles in Japan.
Takarazuka Star Troupe toured Japan from September 24 to October 21 performing the “Fersen and Marie Antoinette version.” From January to February they will perform at the Takarazuka Grand Theater, and then from February to April at the Toyko Takarazuka Theater.
Meanwhile, the Snow Troupe will be performing the “Oscar” version from February to March at the Takarazuka Grand Theater, and from April to May at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater.”
To read more on Rose of Versailles, check out this article from a few months back.
Links:
Takarazuka site
The results for the Petite Cosette contest that I reported on in the past few weeks have been announced! Check out the lucky winners’ designs here!
Source: ANN
I decided this was an interesting idea; to make a list of some great titles (both known and unknown) for shoujo* fans to check out. Tried not to just include titles I’ve reviewed in the past, because you can see those by simply looking in the Shoujo section of anime.3yen, instead there are a lot of titles I’ve heard great things about as well as ones I plan to review in the future.
I’ll follow this post up with recommendations for other genres as well, and any comments made with recommendations will be edited in as I receive them. So if you’ve got a favorite title (especially one that not many people know about!) feel free to reply and say so!
Akazukin Cha-Cha
Angelic Layer
Angel Sanctuary
Boys Be…
Card Captor Sakura
D.N. Angel
Fruits Basket
Full Moon wo Sagashite
Fushigi Yuugi
Gravitation
Hana Yori Dango
Kimagure Orange Road
Magical Angel Creamy Mami
Magical Emi
Magic Knight Rayearth
Magical Stage Fancy Lala
Mahou Tsukai Tai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~Somedays Dreamers~
Marmalade Boy
Pretear
Pretty Sammy
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Rose of Versailles
Princess Tutu
Sailor Moon
Saint Tail
Vision of Escaflowne
Wedding Peach
Weiß Kreuz
*Some of these titles fall into other genres as well, however for the purpose of this posting we’ll group them as shoujo.
The name of this show is just so amusing.
Anyway. This shoujo story, based on a manga that serialized in Nakayoshi, consists of 52 episodes plus a 39-episode sequel/second season known as Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure. The mermaid heroine, Lucia, is a princess who searches for a boy she rescued seven years previous. Once they are reunited, though, she must find a way to bring him to the realization that she is the same girl he met so long ago, without telling him outright - elsewise she will be turned into seafoam.
…in the meantime, she and other mermaid princesses turn into idol singers to fight evil sea monsters with the power of their voices.
It’s an odd show, but definitely tried-and-true shoujo (including magical girls!) if you like that kind of series. Unfortunately the license, which was picked up by ADV Films in 2004, has since been dropped, so it’s only available via raws and fansubs.
Links:
Official Site
Mermaid Melody
Seven Oceans
Pearl Song (manga)
Based on what is credited as the first true shoujo manga, the Rose of Versailles anime began its run in October of 1979, continuing for 40 episodes. It details the life of Oscar Francois de Jarjeyes, the young, androgynous commander of the Royal French Guard, and ascension of Marie Antoinette to the French throne. Set previous to the French Revolution, the story combines real aspects of history with some fictional characters and situations, such as Oscar, who was raised as a son rather than a daughter, to enable her to take up her father’s legacy. Oscar becomes part of the Royal Guard just previous to the wedding of Austria’s Marie Antoinette to Louis XVI of France, the wedding that was intended to cement good relations between the two nations permanently. Her childhood friend, Andre, appears frequently, as do several important figures in the life of Marie Antoinette, such as Hans Axel von Fersen of Sweden, Austrian diplomat Count Florimund Mercy d’Argenteau, and others.
Since the historical manga debuted in 1972, The Rose of Versailles has been made into an anime, a live-action film, and been performed in Japanese theatre. The anime has been translated into many languages since its inception in Japan, including French, German, Italian, and many others, though no English-language version was ever produced.
For more information, images, and tips on locating this anime, please visit one of the excellent fansites below:
The Rose of Versailles
Araya
Destiny of Roses
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