#lesbian anime review

[pinkarachnia]

Lesbian Anime Review #12 - Revolutionary Girl Utena & Adolescence of Utena

Hey

That was funny revolutionary

How does one review a piece of media so foundational to everything else that it inspired?

Going into Utena, I felt like I wanted the show to prove itself to me. Why is this one always put on such a pedestal? When something is so universally acclaimed as this, it sets expectations so high it should be unreasonable for it to meet them.

And yet.

Utena serves as a reminder that sometimes we put pieces of media on a pedestal because they've earned gold.

In this show a girl transforms into a cow and the cow returns for the movie.

My biggest criticism of this show is it needs a flashing lights warning all over it. Some of the shots are really difficult to look at, which is such a shame considering how gorgeous the animation can be.

I don't know if it's possible for me to have an original thought about Utena. After finishing it and the subsequent movie, I spent some time listening to people's takes, impressions, and theories about it. I gained a lot of insight through that process. It helps that people have had a lot of time to dwell on this show and its meaning. When I finished it, I felt that I was still searching for more of that meaning. Utena doesn't try to explain what its themes and symbolism mean and a lot is left to the audience to interpret, but I got the distinct impression that it was supposed to carry a specific meaning, not something vague or nebulous. For a while this meant that I felt frustrated that after everything I still had lingering questions, as though there should have been answers I could have found, but by now I think I'm content. I found answers to the questions that needed answers, and what was left could remain unanswered and that was okay.

Anyway, Nanami episodes.

Utena is a show that has a serious plot with the duels and the student council and the absolute destiny apocalypse and all that, but every 4 episodes or so you're treated to a precious gift in the form of an episode centred around this little shit head.

She's the best character and she has ridiculous episodes that seem only tenuously canonical but I'll be damned if they weren't fantastic.

I really liked the part where she was pursued relentlessly by a group of elephants while she tried to acquire a rare spice to create a curry that will reverse Utena and Anthy's body swap.

RELENTLESSLY.

So this anime is about a girl called Utena who wants to be a prince because when she was a kid, a prince showed her kindness when her parents died and gave her a ring that would apparently lead her back to him eventually, and she thought that guy was sick AF.

Utena is good at sports and wears a masculine school uniform and all the girlies like her. She learns that the student council at her new school is fucked up and they've all got the same rings as her, which identify them as duelists. They have sword fights to determine who has the right to marry the Rose Bride, a girl called Anthy. Utena thinks this whole system is batshit, but she has to fight duel after duel because she just keeps winning and people keep challenging her. Anthy seems unnervingly chill about a lot of it, but also seems genuinely happier when she gets to be with Utena rather than any of the other freaks who are dueling for her.

Damn everyone in this show wants to beat up Anthy so bad! I mean, Utena doesn't but they're like girlwives so that's to be expected but everyone else loves smacking her around. I can understand why Utena's default response was to go protector mode, even though her attitude of wanting to protect Anthy and fight for her would be the thing that ultimately condemns them to inevitable tragedy.

Spoilers below the gifs!

The rest of this review is going to be messy. I'm not sorry.

At least one of the themes of Utena was unclear to me until after I had watched the movie.

I understood that the school represented adolescence in general and that escaping the school meant breaking free of that and becoming empowered with independence.

At the end of the series, Utena has a sword fight with the big bad, frees Anthy from her prison and presumably dies in the process. She had spent the whole series fighting for Anthy and trying to win her freedom, but the flaw in her thinking is that she never tries to help Anthy by empowering her. She destroys the power structures that were holding Anthy in place, but in the process she destroys herself, when what Anthy needed was for Utena to give her the strength she needed to leave on her own. Even after all the duels fought for her, Anthy doesn't have the courage to take that step by herself, and while Utena is fighting her evil brother, she stabs Utena, which might be the thing that ultimately kills her. Just like how Birdie Wing Season 2 stabbed me in the back after I gave season 1 a 10/10. Utena is dealing with a lot of her own shit this whole time too, which doesn't help her see through to the heart of the matter.

This is contrasted in the movie, Adolescence of Utena, which confused me initially because people had insisted that I watch it after the show and I assumed it might help me to understand more of the show, but it was mostly the opposite.

The movie is maybe an alternate universe, maybe a time loop. It's never elaborated on. The point is it's a retelling but a bunch of the parameters are changed. The relevant part here is that when Utena decides that she wants to help Anthy, instead of fighting her battles for her, she transforms into a car. Cars are used in Utena to represent the power of adulthood and the freedom it confers; the main villain of the series is almost always driving his car and uses it to manipulate and influence people. Utena turning into a car that Anthy can drive to escape the school was the exact thing she needed. From that point, Anthy becomes the protagonist of the film and is able to move forward herself. She is literally in the drivers seat, which is a kind of empowerment that Anthy in the series is never given. This is how I came to understand why Utena failed in the series.

I also liked that in the movie, Utena appears to go into it knowing she likes girls. In the series, there's a conversation towards the end where Juri is talking to Utena about her relationship with Anthy and Utena's response is to push back on the idea that she and Anthy have a romantic connection; she says that it's different from the way Juri feels about Shiori, that it's more "pure". In the movie, when Anthy is insisting that she's become Utena's wife after she wins a duel, Utena's response is that if they're going to have a relationship, they should move forward at a more natural pace. She doesn't deny that they could have a relationship, she just doesn't like that Anthy immediately shifts into wife mode the moment Utena wins a duel. But then they have a romantic dance and it's all good.

I haven't even talked about "all women are rose brides" and it's difficult to put into words how hard that hit me.

The imagery of Anthy in her rose bride outfit speared with a thousand swords holding her in place and the main villain talking about how actually, all women are just like that: items to be owned and preserved in adolescence without any power to choose or act for themselves. This show did so much.

And the Nanami development was unreal. The joke character who has an episode where she's despairing because she's convinced she laid an egg is the character who discovers that Anthy is being sexually abused by her brother. She's just had her own arc where she learns that her own older brother isn't blood related to her. He then comes onto her like, "this is what you wanted right?", and she rejects him. Nanami is repulsed by what she learns about Anthy and even more that Utena continues to live with Anthy while unaware. The way they grow her as a character is incredible. Thanks Nanami. Hit him with the 10 hit combo into command grab.

I could write another entire review just about Juri and her whole deal. Juri is the fencing club captain and she's crushing on the most toxic girl in the universe who's doing the whole Kaguya-sama bit where she thinks that if she tells Juri she likes her then she's losing at love, so instead she keeps getting into other relationships so that one day Juri might get jealous enough that she confesses first, but Juri just continues brooding and yearning. It's that toxic codependent yuri that everyone keeps talking about and this time I didn't even clock it when I watched the show, I need another lesbian to explain to me why people like Shiori. When I watched it, I just assumed she was a bitch! I was the Juri in the relationship, assuming Shiori was just an evil straight girl.

So yeah, everyone was right about Utena. It's one of the lesbian anime of all time. Ikuhara does it again. This guy really is my favourite director. This does mean I have some bias because I love all the things this guy does with his shows. I just need to watch Sarazanmai and I'll have seen them all.

Of course I'm giving this a 10; if not this then what are 10s even for? There's a lesbian sword fight in almost every episode. I'll be thinking about this show for the rest of my life. And I shouldn't need to remind you, but I cannot be killed. Zettai unmei mokushiroku.

Fuck, would it be too cringe to get that as a tattoo?

[lgbtpopcult]

Best WLW animated shows 2023

Harley Quinn

The Owl House

I'm in Love with the Villainess

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady

Rwby

Disenchantment

Yuri is my Job

[yurimother]

'I'm in Love with the Villainess' Anime - Episode 1 Review

An astounding and hilarious first outing for the series with the power to revolutionize Yuri

We are finally here, the long-awaited and much anticipated first episode of Platinum Vision’s I’m in Love with the Villainess anime aired on Tokyo MX and is streaming everywhere outside of Asia with a plethora of dubbing options, including English, on day one on Crunchyroll.

The first outing covers most of the events of the light novel’s first chapter, or the first three chapters of the manga, at a rapid but steady and not overwhelming pace. At this rate, the anime should be able to cover much of the series’ first arc, or the first two out of five books, in a single cour. Perhaps a bit less, depending on which of the story’s various adventures it elects to include. This is an exciting possibility, to be sure, as the story is a character-driven, socially mindful, and expertly written and, despite its fantasy setting, an exceptionally relevant tale of romance, socio-economic inequality, and of course, queerness.

While the first arc of Villainess is a triumph, it would be a shame not to see at least some of the developments from the extra chapters that lead into the second story, like (spoilers for the end of volume 2) Rae and Claire’s wedding and their adopted twin daughters May and Aleah. If we are lucky, perhaps they will appear in the final episode or, dare to dream, a second season (end of spoilers).

Now, onto the show itself. For those who, for whatever reason, have not read Inori’s masterpiece, I’m in Love with the Villainess follows Rae Taylor. A salary worker who dies and is reincarnated as the protagonist of her favorite otome game, Revolution. However, Rae has no interest in any of the game world’s three eligible royal bachelors and has eyes only for the game villainess Claire François. Armed with exceptionally magical ability, Rae sets out determined to secure a happy ending for her beloved Claire against the coming revolution and perhaps win her heart in the process.

Now, the opening of I’m in Love with the Villainess is the series' weakest moment in all mediums, which, considering episode one’s outstanding quality, only highlights just how superb the Yuri masterpiece is as a whole. Even with its need to establish the setting, characters, and premise of the series, the premiere managed to be an excellent introduction and set the bar high with lots of laughs, entertainment, and service between our two leads.

I watched the Japanese audio, and Yu Serizawa and Karin Nanami are fantastic in these roles, with Serizawa playing up Rae’s teasing adoration and borderline masochism at full blast, and Nanami explicitly giving voice to Claire’s arrogance and frustration. She even manages to deliver a perfect Ojou-style laugh to seal the character’s elite status and lean into the show’s use of otome tropes. And having the leads sing the excellent opening and ending themes is just icing on the cake.

Speaking of tropes, while Ironi’s original work is a genre-defying masterpiece that broke the Yuri mold, it is never afraid to play with the genre’s iconography and its otome game setting. Every other scene had another allusion, including to the book’s cover. As always, I am likely overeager to see connections, however intentional they may be, but the academy’s halls harken to otome staples, the bells and strings of the first scene's soundtrack conjured blistering memories of Strawberry Panic (perhaps a sacrilegious comparison to make but I digress), and even an areal shot of the campus was another check mark on my “Scenic Yuri” theory.

Now, as mentioned, I’m in Love with the Villainess has to establish the groundwork here, and narratively, these are the weakest moments, often direct exposition, with a few exceptions like Rae’s conversation with her roommate Mash about maintaining Claire’s attention. The narration is at least accompanied by relevant and creative, if perhaps limited, animation. But to their credit, these moments are succinct, existing only as long as they have to in order to provide the necessary information and get out of the way for what matters most: the characters.

Rae and Claire are front and center from the very get-go, and there is little time wasted in showcasing Rae’s intense bottom energy or establishing Claire’s elitism and bewildered anger towards Rae’s excitement in the face of Claire’s carefully calculated cruelty. It is a montage of silly and fun competitions between the two that had me laughing and smiling all the way through, as the Yuri was present in full force, and gives glimpses at the mutual obsession the women have for each other that will soon blossom into a wonderful romance.

These early story beats have a light tone and focus on the bullying, teasing, and rivalry between Rae and Claire, a dynamic that previously and understandably made a subset of readers somewhat uncomfortable. However, assuming the anime unfolds in a similar manner to the manga and light novels, the narrative will explore meatier, heavier subject matter and a far deeper lesbian romance, all without losing its sense of fun and adventure. The next episode or two will be incredibly telling - as the source material is perhaps the most profound and forthright depictions of LGBTQ identity in Yuri, and that all starts with a pivotal conversation that, if it is included, will be coming up shortly.

Overall, I am incredibly excited for this series. The first episode is everything I had hoped for out of an adaptation of one of my favorite works of all time, save the animation, which is average at best. While there is a lot more to see, and we will have to wait to know if I’m in Love with the Villainess lives up to its incredible potential and source material, I am extremely hopeful. We have one of the funniest, most thoughtful, and queerest works of Yuri transformed into a stunning anime project unlike anything that has come before and offers the chance at not just a new Yuri “gateway” but to continue the work of its source material in revolutionizing the genre.

Ratings: Story – 8 Characters – 10 Art – 5 LGBTQ – We shall see… Sexual Content – 3 Final – 8

I'm in Love with the Villainess is streaming on Crunchyroll with English sub/dub.

Review made possible by Avery Riehl and the rest of the YuriMother Patrons. Support YuriMother on Patreon for early access, exclusive article, and more: patreon.com/yurimother

[superrainbow06]

Good news ISAT fans! The anti-woke gaming person who made the spreadsheet determining which games are woke to a somewhat accurate degree has decided that In Stars And Time is, in fact, woke!!

The funniest part about all of this is that in order to leave these reviews on steam and know if these are woke they had to play all of the games on the list, at least a little bit. This person bought In Stars And Time to write a review about how it was woke. They probably refunded it but they still bought it.

Anyway. Go play In Stars And Time!! It's so good!!

Also go check out the woke games spreadsheet because it had a bunch of indie games on it! And it even lists which ones are gay and have diversity and women!

Also maybe go check out this website. Which is a guessing game about the woke games spreadsheet which tells you the name of the game and you have to guess if it's woke or not. Super fun I would recommend. Or don't click on links from random people that's also cool

[queerslurheritageposts]

I come bearing links to funny faggot videos (you said you couldn’t find the series, but I have them here)

Baldur’s Gate 3

Animal Crossing (there’s two separate parts that’s why there’s two links)

Legend Of Zelda

Pokémon

these are all of the ones out now, but if any more come out, I’ll be sure to send them 🫡

not the bg3 one calling Wyll spineless 😭 he would be scared to say it tho he's too niceys

these are all very good thank you for sharing!

[poltergeist-punk]

vampire in the garden is such a beautiful and breathtaking anime. definitely doomed yuri tho /lh

but srsly i’m not sure if it’s official but i felt very sapphic and queer. and very sad.

5 episodes about a vampire queen and human soldier running away from war to grieve together. they become unlikely allies and in their search for peace, they slowly fall in love.

it so good, very angsty.

[the-anime-void]

I cannot talk enough about how much I simply adore this series!

[saibas-yuri-review]

Yuri haul! The last one is wrapped... exciting!! Can't wait to write my review on this series, but first, I have a pretty scathing review on a certain oneoff coming up. Stay tuned!

[mx-pokirby]

Episode 1 review of Sakura Trick

I'm conflicted in a way that makes me curious to watch more

The explicit "selling point" of this anime is that there are girls, and they kiss. Genuine, unapologetic, not-a-joke, canon, on screen, love-fueled girl-on-girl kissing. "These bitches gay. Good for them, good for them."

When the two leads kiss in episode 1, and even when they're just yearning for each other from afar, it's really sweet and wholesome and makes my gay little heart go :)

Now here's the middle part of the compliment sandwich where the not compliments come in.

Less than 15 seconds into Ep 1, the very first time we see of one of the leads is a cliche, albeit not explicit, slow pan-up shot of her bare legs, then the rest of her doing a cute post for the camera. No, it's no "grave offense", it's just a nice single example of a pattern we quickly noticed throughout the episode.

Despite essentially being about lesbians, the show (ep 1) also absolutely has "cute girls doing cute girls things/moe appeal/male gaze" written all over it. The way the girls are generally framed by the animators says everything. Even the OP shows them all off in bathing suits and 'family-friendly' naked. Except for the actual kissing scenes, which feel like they were intended to evoke feelings in a specifically lesbian audience.

We're thus led to the conclusion that this anime's ideal target demographic is not myself; it's myself (or more specifically Isabelle) like 10-15 years ago. An anime for growing "boys" who want to gawk at cute girls, and get a funny feeling in her chest when she sees these girls kiss, even though she's totally not gay like the characters are because she likes girls, and she's "totally" a straight boy, which then makes her sad cuz it means the characters could never be interested in her for being a boy.

... What was I talking about? Oh, right. Anyways I think this already shows the potential of once being able to be one of my favorite Slice of Life's as a teen.

But anyways we highly doubt a work like it would've ever been made with the intent of specifically appealing to pre-out trans lesbians, so I've no clue what the actual goal was to tell if they succeeded or not.

[pretentious-art-love]

Film Reviews #7 - Madoka Magica the Movie Part III: The Story of the Rebellion

Spoilers for both movie and show will follow ahead!

This film, and the TV show itself, have a lot of flaws, like holy crap there are so many flaws that I just feel lazy when I think about listing them all.

Anyway, let's list them all, first and foremost, the pacing is incredibly convoluted, like bloody hell the first time you watch this you will have eyebrow pain from frowning so much and you will be mentally exhausted of all the things you have to keep to track of to puzzle the story together in a overarching arc that feels as long as listing all the digits of Pi, and most digits of Pi serve no purpose whatsoever! The thing is that, this movie would have worked a lot more as a full TV season for the show, things are so heavily compressed and the pacing might start slowly but then goes super fast and then builds up an important scene and then moves to another part of the plot! The TV show does have this same issue as well, since while it builds up nicely around the beginning, some things are cut short and that makes some scenes feel underdeveloped, like the whole arc with Sayaka and the pain of feeling like a lich, or a zombie, we got to see her pain and her reluctantcy to talk to the boy she likes, but we didn't get to see or feel what bad things she felt would happen in a relationship in the state she was in, I have dealt with dysphoria myself, so I understand her predicament to an extent, but I know a lot of people will think she is just dumb, the friendship of Homura and Madoka could have been expanded more to make us feel the importance of Madoka in Homura's life, and at the end she just comes as a very obsessed lesbian, I can go on and on, but again, I am getting a little lazy, the first season could have even been 24 episodes long, this movie, 12 episodes long, but with its movie running time it has at the very most 8 episodes worth of runtime, and that hurts the storytelling a lot.

Because of that, there are scenes with a lot, and I mean a lot of exposition, with Kyubey being the equivalent of the exposition pug from the Men in Black series here, while in the show he still had a bigger role in the story despite also delivering a lot of exposition. That makes the whole story feel clunky, convoluted, and nonsensical, we don't get shown what it is happening, we get told about it more than what it is healthy for a story. There are some characters, like Bebe, that are introduced in a very quick way and then work as a normal part of the rooster without us getting to know her backstory, I only know it myself because a friend told me about it from something she read about a gacha game that expanded her arc. All this, all these issues, and more, that it's hard to call it a good movie, let alone a good show because of that, and the thing with animation and art like this is that knowing how to use your screen-time properly is really really difficult, and no matter the path you pick (either some scenes of quick exposition or basically not explaining it at all just to leave it to additional material) will end up leaving at least some people unhappy.

So, what about the goods? Is there anything good in this movie at all? Yes, there is, starting with the eye candy that is Shaft's visual direction, with that heavy French New Wave influence and featured not just here but also in the Madoka show and the Monogatari series, for the whole 100 episodes of it, its an absolute joy, the surreal atmosphere with complex backgrounds, overbearing lighting, characters that talk in such a idiosyncratic way that feels unique to them, and the cutout animation that mixes with the more traditional characters to create this scary but beautiful aura with the unnatural creatures and happening of this world, for eye candy like this alone I would rate this movie 4 stars, and out of all the discourse people seem to bring from this movie, it is at least the general consensus that the visuals of it are great!

But! That's not the thing, haha, you see, because the reason I like this movie so much… the reason I like this movie so much it's because of its writing! Yes, that is right! Yes, I know, you might be saying the obvious, how I, with all the issues I see about this movie and the TV show, saying that the best thing about Rebellion being the writing is bogus, so now, just stay still, and listen. You see, the Madoka TV show was fine… it was fine, it was a fun show, you know, a normal deconstruction of the super hero genre, even if you aren't into magical girls, as long as you know what a super hero is, and are familiar with the trope of the normal person protagonist thingy being chosen to save the world, you will enjoy the show, the TV show has some twists and turns that make you wonder who the real villain is or what it is going to happen next, but there are things that you can easily predict from the first episode alone, and as the story goes along, these predictions get confirmed to you, and the end of the show does not really come as a surprise when you reach it, you say, ahh, yeah, that makes sense, that was nice.

Madoka the TV show takes the whole idea of the Magical Girl/Super Hero and shows us a story where the only way to save the world is sacrificing yourself, even at the cost of your humanity, and plays with the idea that maybe the best option for you is to not become a super hero, a magical girl, because the cost for that power and that responsibility can be too great to bare. The show ends in a bittersweet note, and plays with the idea of Godhood and the ideal time loop after a sacrifice has been made, that idea is very fun on its own, there are interesting rules within the show that allow Madoka to propose a cohesive idea of God without becoming a power trip story, like the idea that God is in every place and every time in the universe, but can't directly interact with us because its fighting to keep the balance of the world as we know it, making it no more than a mere observer that cannot alter our life on its own will despite being omnipresent.

The idea is good, and I like it a lot, even when there are shows that have used this idea to make things a lot more interesting things with them, like it is the case of Serial Experiments Lain where its ending is not only an exploration of godhood but it also plants questions about our identity on itself, and about who we are now in the digital era, which makes more the message a lot more personal to the audience. So, the show itself is fine, yeah, the ending had been done already before and after, the plot is a bit convoluted and characters arcs cut short, but overall its a fun ride with its own self contained ending, not life changing or anything but really good for the fans of this kind of media.

Anyway, the show become super popular and a movie sequel was approved, so what are we gonna do now? The show had already used the concept of alternative timelines for its main plot, so if you are going to make a sequel or alternative version, using them to spicy things up or continue along with the characters its a no go, its a really big task to continue things from the point the TV show ended, and the struggle does show, some people call the movie unnecessary, and I can see why would they think that. The movie does have also some well known tropes like the ideal/dystopian timeline that starts the new arc of the franchise that has been shown in anime like… well, I don't think I can say it without making it a spoiler, but if you want to know, ask me, it's a fun trope to write, and a confusing one to watch. In that part, it is nothing new, and the pacing is a lot more convoluted than the TV show, not just reducing character arcs and growth to mere one liners but also making the whole succession of events a mind boggling mess to watch the first time.

But around the end, around the end, it happens, it just happens. Homura's arc in the show was good enough, she acts as the quiet, traumatized hero, the martyr that is under the scenes and tries to save people despite looking as a cold hearted foe in the outside, she was someone with extreme methods that could involve even killing Sayaka or letting Mami die as long it meant to save Madoka, there are great moments she has like in the episode 10 where she and Madoka are about to become witches, and Homura says that as long they are together, she doesn't care if she destroys the entire world with her, and that she would destroy and unleash her despair on the whole earth as long she gets to be with Madoka, which I found quite passionate, the way she remembers her after everything has passed, and how get to see her more and more as the protagonist in the show as it goes on.

The thing that… her character as it is its fine, it is just fine, like… she is a good character, but maybe not the most memorable character ever? I mean considering that the trope of the martyr hero that is silently suffering but is helping the hero from the shadows its a very well known trope, it doesn't come as a twist, it is something that you can even see from episode 1, and a lot of people did, myself included, when the flashback scenes come, you say, yeah yeah, I see it now, but there is not really a twist, not the twist the show wanted you to experience, it was heavily implied and when you see it come, you watch it mostly because you want to know the how, not the why, of her character. So yes, the character its fine, it is a good character, but it doesn't change things too much, it just serves as a another spring in the perfectly tied together clockwork that is the show, it has a nice conclusion, all answers are given to you, when you look at it, it does feel as what you would expect, it is a fine good clock, aside the pacing, you could say the TV show its a good clock, maybe too good in fact, too tidy and perfect for its own good, it is a story that ends as how it should have, with protagonists that end with the character growth that they should have… Madoka does the sacrifice of losing her humanity to save all magical girls, and Homura is finally able to express her pain directly to the person that she loves, and is finally able to break the time loop she is in, living now in an universe where magical girls don't become witches, and continues as a silent hero that fights from the shadows, with her sad backstory, and her resolve to go on, it's all really nice, a really tidy and clean ending for a show…

But, if you allow me to be a bit pedantic… I think that's boring, super and incredibly ultra mega boring, it is boring, boring boring, super boring, expected, already shown, already made, predictable! It is boring! BO-RI-NG! It is too by the numbers! And yes, sure, Madoka started as a deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre, and it might have been seen as something that subverted the source material it was inspired from, but that is only if you came to it blind, all blind, expecting something cute and fun, so in other terms, it relied in nothing more than a marketing gimmick, and when your movie relies in a marketing gimmick, once that gimmick is gone, half of its appeal its over, just like with The Blair Witch Project, sure it was supposed to be a real found tape, but of course you can't keep your actors locked in a basement, so the immersion is absolutely broken out of the gate with that. I did my best, and I watched Madoka as blind as possible, not knowing anything about the plot, anything, I didn't google it, checked it or did anything or research about it, but even then, when people mention Madoka on the internet, they say, oh Madoka… haha, Madoka is not what it pretends to be! Mwhahaha! If Madoka comes up as a random conversation topic in your discord server, that is the bare minimum you are going to hear. I can say that in this day and age, it is incredibly obvious from the get go that you come to Madoka looking forward to it pull a fast one on you, and with me having watched stuff like Magical Girl Site around 2017 or so and being used to a whole fanfare of violent magical girl shows, I arrived to Madoka and I kept asking myself, where is all the blood? Where is the angst? The edgyness? Sure, a character just died in episode 3, the cutouts are artsy and fancy, but to be honest with you, I'm not feeling subverted right now! I am waiting to see the most shocking and grotesque thing to exist! Where is it?! And then, I have to adjust my expectations, the plot it is very interesting with the material it works on, people say Kyubey did nothing wrong, and that is a discussion you can argue with very solid points, but if you are familiar with the the time loop genre or time travel stories, you will see that Homura is a good girl from episode 1, from episode 1.

I kept eating my nails waiting for Madoka to become a magical girl in every episode, just to start to realize around episode 5 and 6 that it most likely wouldn't happen in the whole anime, and if it did, it would probably be only at the very end, because the story is about avoiding letting Madoka become a magical girl. When you realize what kind of story it is, you can see the whole picture of it before it ends, it is just so tidy and clean to the point it is almost antiseptic and symmetrical, just uncannily geometrical, it just feels artificial, and fiction is that, artificial, but the magic trick is about to make it feel like its not. Sure, you are going through a very elaborate and carefully made build up, but even when I am in that slowly but surely ascending roller-coaster, I could be ripping my eyes out because I just want the roller-coaster to start to descend! I am seeing the whole landscape from up here already! Just shake me right now! Scare me away! Even when the show ends with a character turning into godhood and rewriting the entire world and history as they knew it you can't do anything else than say… yeah, that was a good ending, all arcs were written… all characters were there… and the conflict was resolved as it should have, it was all done, in a tidy neat little bow, overall, it is one of the TV shows of all time.

Listen, I know that there is only 7 basic plots for all fiction, I get it, and it is not easy to making something properly satisfying when you have to handle several characters, fantasy worlds with rules on their own, the feelings you want to convey and handle the life of all people that live temporarily in your head, but I just want to dream! Is that so wrong? Is it wrong of me to wish for a character that makes me feel absolute and complete rage even when do not actually exist? To want to feel inspired by a conclusion a character reaches that is actually taboo for the place they and I live in and that makes the audience raise an eyebrow because it defies the status quo? To have a Chekhov's gun unfired the whole play? I just want to feel that the world I am watching to feel real! To have the gun there just because it happened to be that there was a gun there! Not because it was left by the karmic threads of destiny for the heroes to pick! That is what I want, it will make people angry, it will make people confused, but that doesn't matter, because at the end of the day, that's what I really want, I want to feel things! Not to account for all the mathematical equations the screenwriter is trying to balance on a narrative!

So, in this movie, we see something further beyond than that perfect, tidy ending of the show, we see that Homura, despite Madoka's promise of being always everywhere and every time, is still afflicted by her inability to interact with her, to see her or talk to her, to see that Madoka cannot see interact with her friends, her family, and that for most purposes, she is as good as dead to the world. Because all of this, she ends up, due to Kyubey's meddling and others, creating a fake reality where she and her friends are all fighting as a group of friends, always together, and living a happy life following their own duty as magical girls, the life they always dreamed. After a lot of suspicion and her good detective skills, she realizes that the city they live in is no more than a mirage, and that the friends she has been fighting with have been trapped due to her own grief. Even Madoka, who used to be an omnipresent being, had turned into her previous, human form, and it is interacting with the world just like she used to. After all this, Homura, yet one more time, decides to follow her path of a martyr, and tries to sacrifice herself now that she has gotten her wish to talk to Madoka yet one more time, she doesn't want to keep her friends in a glass prison where everything is fake, where they fight threats that do not really exist, where Madoka is not doing her duty saving other magical girls, and she cries because she knows that even after the sacrifice Madoka made, she is still unable to move on, and it is heartbreaking.

Just before she finally jails herself in an eternal prison where not even Madoka to save her, ready to experience eternal pain, her friends come to save her, Mami and Kyoko, who after realizing they have been trapped they decide to help, and even Bebe and Sayaka, who had died in a way or another in the past, are in a way, alive, helping Madoka, and are working together to save her. It is all a nice display of the power of friendship, and a nice ending, so nice, so wholesome and cute that almost makes me puke, hehe, even Sayaka says that they are kinda like Madoka's secretaries and are moving through the cosmic plane in a carriage, isn't that nice? Since they are all working together, why not start giving presents to the kids every 24th of December as well? Why not make it a tradition? Call it, I don't know… Christmas or something! Even when had experienced those characters death's, it's fine! They will just go back to the main dusty cloud of the whole universe hivemind, where they will continue to do good deeds like the super heroes we are in our own life! Haha! Haha! How nice! Isn't it?

Don't make me laugh.

Anime has touched a lot of times the idea of instrumentality, right? The idea of being part of a whole, huge massive being, Evangelion, Kaiba, Code Geass, and Ghost in the Shell have mentioned the idea either as a main plot device or mentioning it as something they want to avoid, right? Because the unknown is scary, that's the basis of cosmic horror, the basis of losing our own individuality, our self, and become something that might not even be truly alive to our own eyes. So when Madoka takes Homura's hand and promises to take her with her, to that afterlife, so they can be together forever, I can feel the fear, I can feel the wish, the need to avoid that to happen, because even if there is a promise for her to be together forever, Homura has already experienced the pain of being unable to interact with Madoka in the human world, the pain of knowing Madoka wouldn't be able to interact with other people, her friends, what does even mean to be a god if you can't put your own will of your own in the entire universe? If you can't experience what it is to have your own senses? To be a fragile and mortal being? After Homura remembers all the pain she went through to keep Madoka alive in every loop, and the pain she experienced even when she somehow achieved with Madoka entering into a new plane of existence, she decides that that's not what she was to have, and an awesome thing happens.

She takes Madoka and breaks her apart, stealing her power, and yet once again, jailing her in a reality she has herself made, just as she said herself, a new demon is born. The story, in a way, ends the same as it just started, but with the big difference that Homura has turned from protagonist, to antagonist, from secretive hero to anti hero, and the people who trusted in her, the audience as well, felt heartbroken, felt disappointment, and condemned the movie because of it. But the thing is that, even when the pacing is convoluted and filled with a lot of exposition and shortcuts, the story on itself it is not! It is not, I can feel the character's pain and their whole psychological progression, I can deeply relate to them in a way that feels so real that I can almost touch it, the trying to help behind the shadows, the failing and succumbing to despair, the accepting the bittersweet solution and gray reality of things, and the pain that comes from realizing that you can't really accept that bittersweet reality and you just break over again! Like, to put a very personal and specific example, I am trans, right? Trust me, this is relevant. So, I start realizing I want to be a girl, and I say, yeah, this is a phase, this is not right, and then I try to push it inside, and I try to be more manly, and I try to become more outgoing and talk with girls the way it is expected from me, and I fail, and I fail, and I am awkward, or I do things I don't understand and that do not work because I just don't like acting as a man, but I keep trying, and I end up having a lot of faux passes and sour memories of all my high school life because of it, and then I just start to understand that I am no more than awkward boy and that I am fated to be an awkward weird boy all my life and that's just how things are, that girls can do certain things, and I can do certain things as well but not what girls can't, and that dream girl that always inhabits my mind its just someone nobody else can really see, just like Homura accepting that Madoka wouldn't never turn into a tangible person in her own world.

But, I can't accept it! It is unbearable, it is really really unbearable, and not really a fair compromise at all, even if I am not trying to date anybody, even when I am trying to be on my own, be with myself, I just can't accept being a man, because it makes me miserable, seeing myself in the mirror, it makes me sick, my voice, I hate it, the relationships I have with other people, they are noting more than a mask, nothing more than a facade in a shell I am carrying and in a body I can't even use to express myself well! So what do I do? I do what I should not do, I do something that could be considered a crime, against what our religion told my family! What everyone thinks is right, what even my own biology gave me and what should be the right path to take, instead of forgetting about all those desires that I should not have, I take the bite, and I start a physical transition, even if it means losing the friends I had, even if it means probably losing my parents! Even if it means becoming a stranger to the people that knew me and making cry to the people that took care and grew up with me all my life! Because that is my desire, because that is what makes me happy! Oh and because screw you, that's why. Wouldn't destroying the God that reigned over your life and do whatever you want completely outside of the plan he had with you the most liberating thing you could ever do? Wouldn't that be the ultimate expression of your own free will? See? This is what is so good about Homura's character this arc, not because being becoming trans is akin to becoming a villain or any nonsense like that, but because to have what you truly want, you sometimes you will have to take decisions that will make others unhappy, because sometimes you just can't play the good girl all the time!

After this, Homura turns from the tidy and fated secret martyr hero of her perfect and tidy story and turns into something a lot more real, she turns into someone you can't really agree with because turns to be heavily flawed in her morals, but that you still deeply relate with, and that emotion she felt around the end of the movie, I felt it deeply and intensely, and you feel it too, because we have seen not only her breaking point, but also the whole arc and descent into madness. Despite all sorts of bad villains we have had in super hero fiction lately, villains that end up evil because of an accident or just because the protagonist didn't pay attention to them for long enough (looking at you Iron Man 3), Rebellion, despite being a super hero film, it takes its time to make its own protagonist, a real and true villain. In anime we have had villains with enough sympathetic qualities, like with 千と千尋の神隠し [Spirited Away] where we can see the need for control and order that help us see her in a more humane light, but they still have a certain, really clear defect like greed that give enough reasons for the audience to not side with her, in films like A Clockwork Orange we have seen villains so vile and disgusting that you would never want to side with them, but have some compassion for after they lose a bit of their humanity, and in recent films like Joker, we have had villains where you feel so close to them that you can't help but say, it is me! I am a villain, if I was in that person's shoes, I would turn into a villain all along, I would be the one to hurt you, because this is what my pain has turned me into! Because I simply can't hold it together any longer! It is me! Me! Me! Its that kind of villains that makes you really tremble, that make you really scared, villains like Joaquin's Joker, like Homura, because you are scared not of anything fantastical, or a fictional concept, someone with a powerful gun or over aching politics that are outside of your own reach, you are afraid of your own self, and the horror that creeps within…

I have seen people even argue that Homura did nothing wrong, but even when you agree, like me, that she did something truly wrong, just because she was in love, you just can't help but feel for sympathetic for her, not even because we have been love, or we also have had a crush, but because we all have experienced grief in a way or another, and we are afraid of the unknown. There is something that I really like about cosmic horror and the fear of the unknown and I think turning humans themselves the mere sources of that fear of the unknown that you can use to evolve the genre in something new. With the ending, the whole movie and the franchise altogether breaks into that neat tidiness and clockwork precision of character arcs and destroys a character that people liked making it into something really different, but you want to know why this is great? Because it all felt real, because unlike all the rest of the shows answers and questions, that moment alone felt like a break into the perfectly synced chain of events that lead Homura's life. This is why, even with all the qualms I have with the movie, with the show itself, with the things I don't like and the things I can laugh at, this is why, this movie deserves my absolute and guaranteed five stars, making it the top of 10 movies I have ever seen, because what I felt with it, I felt it so vividly and so intensely that for a moment I felt I could see a real person in its plot, rather than a mere sets of puppets pulled by a writer's strings.

I remember a comment about Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens [Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror] where a person said that in their class the people who watched it kept laughing the whole way through the movie, making fun of the techniques, the plot and the tropes of the time, even after when the movie finished and they all left, but there was one moment, one single moment around the end where Nosferatu dies and turns to ashes, everyone stayed silent, surprised, and for that moment alone, they felt the surprise and shock of the character's death, without saying anything, only feeling what was really happening, and they commenter said, that is cinema, and that's right, that is cinema! Even when I did not understand Броненосец «Потёмкин» [Battleship Potemkin] the scene of the stair kept me fascinated and horrified the time I watched it, and with this movie, I got shaken to my very core at the end, do you understand what I am trying to say? Sometimes we will interact and understand movies and fictional media as much as we do real people, partially, only in bits, but if we do, that moment we connect with each other will become something truly special.

Even when there are unanswered questions at the end, even when there are characters that could have gotten more screen time, even where the pacing could have been a lot slowed down, even when things could have been shown instead of told, even when the character design is too chibi-like for me to call it actually interesting, even when its just a goofy magical girls movie with all those idiosyncrasies that this Japanese sub genre of super hero fiction for kids has that seem silly to me, even with all that, I think this movie is truly great, not just because of its artistic direction and animation eye candy, but also because its with its conclusion that the movie achieved something that felt real and unique. Stories about exploring godhood are incredibly fun because they are stories where you can get really creative with the stakes of the plot and it's conflict. In the movie, that whole concept in the movie morphs in an amazing idea, filled with lots of possibilities, from the silly little comedies like Bruce Almighty where Godhood comes as something that might not work for you because the balance in the world is too big for you to keep in control on, or action films like The Matrix Revolutions where your mere existence as a God is part of the chain of events that keeps the world fated to die, will you keep your power at the cost of everything else? Or would you sacrifice yourself? On games we also have theories like the ones of the Elder Scrolls franchise where it is implied that the universe is simply a dream of The Godhead, so keeping him asleep becomes part of the thin thread that keeps your existence, and the laws of your world can become more flexible since everything your characters know is purely oneiric on essence, and that is just an incredible help for your world-building when you are a writer!

This movie plants the idea of a demon trying to keep God asleep because they are in love with them and for real though, that is probably one of the funniest ideas to come out from fiction in 2013, there are other anime like the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya that play with the concept of Godhood and the task of having to keep a God asleep but this whole series turns that concept with an antagonistic lenses, which makes it a lot more fun, since the biggest catastrophe is not something you want to avoid, but something that you live in every day, in the story. I know, I am afraid and excited for the upcoming sequel, because just as I can feel a great connection with an artist, or a person, that something can always change after we all move to the next stage of our lives, just as a franchise moves to a (probably final) sequel, and a new arc, still though, I know that was done here will always mean something to me, it is not a simple retcon, it is not unnecessary, it felt warranted, it felt genuine, and it made me feel truly intense things.

And that is, my whole review.

10/10

[hauntingblue]

You guys think the one piece movies are on letterboxd?

[pinkarachnia]

Not even an anime review

I’m just thinking about these lesbians again. Still going to use the tag though.

So I watched the contrapoints video about twilight and it’s got me thinking about Sweet Blue Flowers again. Specifically, I’m fixated on this one scene, where “prince of the school” character Yasuko Sugimoto is at home with her family and her older sister calls her a bisexual and Sugimoto, clearly offended, gets up and leaves to go to her room.

I’ve been stewing on this after having some time to think on the contrapoints video because of its discussion of typical heteronormative gender roles in relationships, and because of what this accusation means for Sugimoto and what her sister is actually accusing her of.

For those who haven’t watched the anime or read the manga, Sugimoto is a character with a complex internal struggle going on. At her all-girls school she’s occupying the role of the handsome girl acting as the kind of male surrogate and she’s fawned over by a lot of her schoolmates who frequently vie for her attention and affection. She embraces this role and will often flirt back, and at one point in the plot pursues a relationship with one of the main characters, Fumi Manjoume. The bisexual scene happens when she introduces Fumi to her family as her girlfriend.

It’s more complicated because throughout this plot, it’s revealed that Sugimoto has long been yearning for a relationship with Masanori Kagami, a male teacher at her school who is engaged to another of her sisters (not the one who calls her bi). Sugimoto does not broadcast this information about herself and largely keeps it hidden. It’s the fact that she keeps this relationship hidden when juxtaposed with how she projects herself in public that I find fascinating and it’s key to why she’s so offended at being called bisexual.

Sugimoto is confronted by the two sides of her that are in conflict; her confident, dominant and masculine Prince persona who maintains a kind of position of power through her popularity and reputation, and the side of her who yearns for someone unattainable for whom she wants to be seen as a woman and a potential lover.

In her dynamic with Kagami, Sugimoto isn’t in the position of power; she doesn’t get to choose her partner like she does when she’s at school, she’s the one who wants to be chosen. And it’s clear that her feelings for Kagami are hurting her - with his wedding looming and no apparent changes to their dynamic, it seems highly unlikely that her feelings are going to be reciprocated, but even when she starts a relationship with Manjoume, those feelings don’t go away.

I think it’s because she holds onto these feelings despite how they’re clearly bad for her that makes this Sugimoto feel like the more authentic one. It makes the face she wears at school feel like an act, like she’s performing a role, and in considering why she would play this character it seems like it can only be for herself. It doesn’t seem like anyone else really benefits from it, unless all her fans getting to have a crush on her counts as a benefit.

I receive:

Catharsis from emulating a position of power

Your love and attention

A girlfriend

You receive:

A crush on me

So when she’s told she’s bisexual it’s a bit more than an “I know what you are” moment. From the sister’s perspective it might just mean “I know you like/d that guy though”, but for Sugimoto it challenges her perception of herself. If she was a lesbian then she would only be her confident self, beloved by all, but the bisexual Sugimoto is hiding and wounded and masking her grief.

I don’t know whether I think this conflict bleeds into Sugimoto’s perception of the masculine and feminine self and I feel like it might be unfair to chalk all this up to internalised misogyny, but it’s a possibility. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that the version of herself she’s proud of is the one that displays her more masculine traits, gets cast to play men in the school play, and romances women, where the side she rejects wants to be perceived as a woman by an adult man. It’s entirely possible that she hides this because she’s just embarrassed to be the one doing the yearning and not because she’s embarrassed to be acting in the kind of role typically assigned to women in heteronormative romance dynamics, but I think it could be either or both.

I think that’s more or less all my thoughts out of my system. If you took the time to read it then cool, thanks! I don’t think I’m saying anything too groundbreaking or deeply insightful here but I needed to eject this from my brain so I can be normal again.

Next I’ll write a real review I promise.

[alexissara]

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady Quick Review

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady or as we'll be calling it for the rest of this review, Magirevo is an amazing yuri anime series. It made a lot of interesting choices in it's adaptation to make the 12 episodes very punchy, fast paced and really get to the heart of the series without spending a lot of time pondering. I do wish the series was longer and we had more time for getting into people's feelings, the lives of the side characters, etc but the 12 episodes we did get are superub. The anime starts a little slow and it's jokes don't land nearly as well as the manga but the comedy in this series is mostly pushed away for action.

It was a really smart choice to turn Magirevo into more of an action yuri in terms of having it reach a wider audience. The action looks very cool and it makes a lot of sense with the ending they were building to with a dramatic fight that decides what will happen with the future of the kingdom. Everything is very intentionally building to the ending and it makes a lot of the choices make a ton of sense.

Our Protagonist Anis is charming, she is funny, she's very relatable to me even as a dumb ass because she feels very real to a lesbian who is living in a fantasy world. Euphy is very much tied into the royalty, nobility, the sense of duty but the show is also super empathic to her plight and her feeling like she had a role and it was taken form her and the grief she felt about it. The side characters Tilty, Lainie and Ilia are both really good side characters whom I really wish got much more attention but at the very least every scene with them in it was a banger, when they get to talk, it's good. A lot of the other characters I found more annoying or like they were serving their role in the story.

I think the show's politics were lacking in the detail and care they needed and it is something I really hope we could see that expanded if the show were to magically gain a second season. As for the first season I think the politics were at play were all there to serve the plot and more important to serve directly as an oppressive structure for Anis who feels like she can escape it only to be dragged in again more and more. We see that system slowly killing her soul and I think that is an effective way to show the problems with the system. The main issue is that our main villain does wish to tear down the system but we aren't given a really appropriate counter weight till like epilogue scenes wrapping up the anime.

I think another place I would have loved just a bit more care in is the queer politics of the show. The anime is explicitly gay, like we get 3 gay kisses in the 12 episode run which I mean I can't say about most other shows ever. Yet, Magirevo kinda plays off Anis's dad's homophobia is a bit, a little joke and it was upsetting to like humanize him without resolving that. We jut kinda hand waved it completely. There is some implication that maybe he is bisexual later but it's all like subtext, there is no exploring that, there is no slow moment of like understanding or whatever. We understand that the politics by the elders is like very heteronormative and we show that as like a traumatic instrument but we don't get a lot of time to really explore the queerness even just on it's own merit.

All that critical stuff said OMG I love it, the animation is so good, it's very gay, the girls are super cute, I do wish Tilly and Anis got together but like that is shipper shit [in a poly waym not in a replacing Euphie way], I the pacing is great, the action scenes are so cool, I love this anime. This is for sure going in my list of favorite animes of all time, for sure.

[trishyeves]

Just finished Super Lesbian Animal RPG!

So, uh... I kind of loved it? I can't remember the last time I played through a game this quickly, it's so hard for me to actually finish games these days, but I had to keep playing this one. And it wasn't for just one reason either.

The new mechanics added to the standard RPG battle system made playing it fun! Even difficult battles were still engaging because of all the tools I could play this.

The humor is snappy and funny in a way that feels genuine. I've heard a lot of people compare it to Undertale or Earthbound, but while I can see the influence, there is something unique about the writing here that made me laugh out loud so many times.

The characters are all so well realized, both in their designs and their stories. I've grown to love this cast of characters so much, I was so eager to see where the plot took them. Part of that is just how relatable they are, especially our four protagonists.

The soundtrack is gorgeous. The tracks stock on your head, they make the entire experience blend together perfectly, the glue that holds it all together.

On top of all that, it was just so nice playing a game this unabashedly queer. Not that those are impossible to find these days, but there still aren't many like this one. I know a lot of people like to talk about quiet representation that doesn't need to be explicitly stated, but there is something to playing a game with an explicitly trans protagonist who talks about how she chose her name or how her bond with her only other trans friend feels special and unique compared to her other friends.

I adore this game. It might be one of my favorites of all time, I don't know. I am swimming in a river of delicious happy brain juice and I don't want to leave it, I want to bask in the beauty of this game.

(Also, gonna definitely write some SLARPG fanfic)

[historyhermann]

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story Season 2 Spoiler-Filled Review [Part 1]

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story is an original (wild) golf anime directed by Takayuki Inagaki, with Yōsuke Kuroda as the series writer. The series is produced by Bandai Namco Pictures, a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Filmworks. The first cour/season of Birdie Wing aired from April to June 2022, and the second season/cour aired from April 2023 to June 2023.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the thirty-eighth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on July 2, 2023.

The first season of this off-the-wall anime centered on Eve (voiced by Kito Akari), a spunky teenage girl from the slums of Nafrece who illegally golfs for money, and a rich Japanese girl named Aoi Amawashi (voiced by Asami Seto), who matches her determination and skill. That season showed that this anime is more than a sports story, which are common these days, with wild underground golf games against organized crime bosses obsessed with solving issues through golf.

Diversity is central to Birdie Wing. Heavy issues like undocumented immigration, corrupt urban renewal, political corruption, and racial injustice are brought to the forefront. Unsurprisingly, yuri subtext is abound in this anime, primarily between Eve and Aoi, especially during their golf games against one another, or together.

The second season picks up where the first one left off, with magical girl-esque golf drives by Eve and Aoi, and continued ridiculousness. This series is more mature than many Western animations. It is even more intense and relatable than the previous season, with Eve remaining at a prestigious Japanese golf academy in the first part of the season. It does this while flaunting rules of the sports genre, mixed with well-placed comedic moments.

Surely, there are terrible women in Birdie Wing, but others are more relatable. In many ways, this series makes the elitist sport of golf interesting to watch. The series goes above and beyond other sports anime focused on girls. The plot and characters remain compelling. The talented crew and cast allow the series to excel. This season went a different direction than I had anticipated in my season one review: that Aoi would lose her privileges, that Eve would become a subservient golf supersoldier doing the bidding of the golf-obsessed Mafia, and that Eve would remain in Japan.

In fact, Aoi never lost her life of privilege while Eve did not remain in Japan. It is heavily implied that she has romantic feelings toward Aoi and vice versa. The first few episodes of the second season show Aoi making mistakes. But Eve did not kiss her since promised to only do so if Aoi did well. On the other hand, Eve's repressed memories began to come back when she did one of her golf power moves, revealing her true identity.

Unlike season one of Birdie Wing, the physical toll of playing golf, at this intense level, is a major theme. At the beginning of the season, Aoi gets a headache and her playing suffers, with Eve filling in for her. Aoi collapses because of the stress she is under. Predictably, Eve declares she will "kill" her opponents in golf. Otherwise, there is a connection between the condition of Aoi's father, and her condition, with the latter a result of overwork.

I liked how the series seemed to imply that Eve and Aoi were half-sisters, then demolished this idea with an absurdly complex web of relationships between the show's characters. It turns out that Leo Millafoden (voiced by Shūichi Ikeda) taught Eve golf at request of Eve's real father, Kazuhika Hodoka (voiced by Kousuke Toriumi). The latter was in a relationship with Eleanor Burton (voiced by Yuko Minaguchi). He later married Aoi's mother, Seira Amawashi (voiced by Yūko Kaida), after she was pregnant with a baby from another man: Reiya Amuro (voiced by Tōru Furuya). Reiya later became a coach of the golf academy which Aoi and Eve attended.

In an intriguing twist, it is revealed that Eve doesn't remember her past because of amnesia. A cruise liner crashed, killing her mother and father, and countless others. When she woke up from the accident, she didn't remember anything, not even her name. So, there wasn't any human experimentation, as I had thought before. Instead, she grew up in the slums. Klein Clare (voiced by Sayaka Kinoshita), Lily Lipman (voiced by Akira Sekine), and others in Nafrece take her in and raise her.

The arc in the first few episodes of Birdie Wing's season 2, with Aoi and Eve playing together, ends abruptly. Seira incorrectly believes that Eve is "bad news". She plans to expel Eve from the country, in an effort to "protect" Aoi, in a decision based on faulty information "proving" Eve is tied to the Mafia. The "deportation" of Eve, as some fans termed it online, results. She is pressured to quit school, kidnapped, and brought to an airport, then told to leave Japan "or else".

The definition of deportation in U.S. law is simple. It refers to the removal of a foreigner from a country. In legal terms, such foreigners have a presence which is "deemed inconsistent with the public welfare and without any punishment...imposed or contemplated". In contrast, expulsion is removal of a person or people, by a governmental act/dictate/declaration, from a territory against their will. A successful expulsion is a deportation.

Eve wasn't pushed out of Japan by a government official or agency. As such, it is either forced migration, forced displacement, or forced relocation. Even those terms don't fit, since the latter applies to people persecuted for one reason or another. On the other hand, what happened to Eve is likely is a form of displacement, which can be caused by conflicts, disasters, development, criminal organizations, political entities, and conflicts.

Moreover, it is accurate to say Eve was displaced, but not deported, as no government official forced her on a plane. Eve left the country of her own free will, although the driver threatened her with violence. This analysis is further confirmed by looking at definitions of "deportation," "expulsion," "immigration," "immigrant," "emigrant," "emigration," "alien," and "illegal alien" in the Third Pocket Edition of Black's Law Dictionary which I have on hand.

By these definitions, Eve would be an "alien", and technically an "illegal alien". She has a passport, but a fraudulent one. It is, ultimately, questionable whether she was deported or expelled, as there isn't enough evidence to say definitively that she was compelled to leave.

Eve's return to Nafrece results in a big reunion. She meets Vipere (voiced by Kaori Nazuka), who she calls the "snake lady", along with her partner-of-sorts, and visits her parents' grave. In a possible commentary on reality of the golf world, she gets sponsored by the Burton family, thanks to former pro golfer Alan Harvey (voiced by Shigeru Ushiyama), allowing her to achieve her goals. She uses her golf skills to destroy her opponents and re-firm support of the Burtons, which may have Mafia connections, in her.

The self-made and ever-changing golf course of Mafia boss Catherine (voiced by Umeka Shouji) reappears with gusto, in a callback to the first season of Birdie Wing. In order to win against Catherine's golfer, Remelda (voiced by Marina Inoue), and possible lover, the caddy of Eve, Ichina Saotome (voiced by Saki Fujita) joins her. In a leap of faith, she even quits school, at the request of Eve, so that she can offer the best advice possible. The savvy well-versed and knowledgeable caddy of Aoi, Amane Shinjō (voiced by Ami Koshimizu) does the same, in a parallel to Ichina's actions.

In many ways, Ichina brings realism to the situation. She realizes the danger in going against Catherine, through her golfer, Remelda, on a golf course that uses an absurd amount of power and energy. Even a hydroelectric dam overflows so the course can move with incredible speed. Ichina is rightly terrified after Catherine threatens Eve with a gun. She puts her hands up in fear. Eve is used to her life being in danger and easily shrugs off the threat. At first, Ichina seems like one of the only people in this series who is above the absurdity. As such, she doesn't recognize what Eve sees: that the course is a place filled with "money and greed". Nor can she could she ever do golf shots which have a ball skip across the water to get to its target!

Eve's victories are paralleled by what Aoi was doing, although there are entire episodes of Birdie Wing's season 2 where Aoi barely appeared! I liked that Aoi had her skill on the decline when Eve isn't there, but builds herself back up. The connection between Eve and Aoi remains, even if they aren't directly talking to one another.

Time and again, Eve doesn't waste any time deeming women as "bellissime", including Remelda, who she plays during the second season, and likely others as well. She even didn't mind when Ichina seemed to have a crush on her, with Ichina declaring that she'd be Eve's caddy "for life". She may have even have some feelings for Aisha Khambatta, who faces Eve later in the second season. Assisted by Leo, Aisha is a person that Eve describes as "incredibly dangerous".

The focus on found and chosen family is a big part of Birdie Wing's story, especially for Eve. Once back in Nafrece, she happily greets Klein, Lilly, and their adopted daughters. Thanks to the actions by Vipere, in season one, they all have legal status in Nafrece! As for Aoi, she has a chosen family as well, represented by assistance from her father, and her loyal caddy, Amane.

Although Seira later supports Aoi, she outs herself as a terrible parent when Aoi travels to a contest where plays Eve, and perhaps golf, for the "last" time. She forced/strong armed Amane to becoming the caddy of Aoi in the first place! Later, Amane decides to stay with Aoi, as her caddy. She does so even though she is no longer forced to do so, as an act of her own free will, indicating her power as a character. She may even have a crush, to some extent, on Aoi.

Birdie Wing is even more compelling when Aoi does her own golf power moves. She calls them Shining Shots, like Eve with her "rainbow bullet", "blue bullet", and so on. The absurdity of Aoi winning because of rain, over her opponent, Shikishima, in a game the announcer declares will go down in Japanese women's golf history, says more about the series than anything else.

The final episodes of the second season push Aoi and Eve to the brink, but especially Eve. She begins to suffer from the physical demands of golf, more than ever before, especially after she does her rainbow burst, combining the styles of Leo and her father. This is the "terrible price" she plays for this form of golf. This makes clear that neither Eve nor Aoi are invincible. They are as fallible as the rest of us, even if they don't want to show "weakness" on camera.

This reminded me of similar themes in Carmen Sandiego. Although Carmen appears to have strength and energy to do everything, this is only based on her own training. She has a terrible wipe out in the episode "The Stockholm Syndrome Caper". It causes her almost life-threatening injuries that she has to recover from. Kim Possible in the series of the same name is similar. She is a cheerleader and uses her skills to fight villains and "save" the world. She is not invincible either.

More than any other character in Birdie Wing, apart from Aoi, Eve is a lesbian icon. She only has eyes for other girls and never for any men, whatsoever. Not even Sumire Heanna in Love Live! Superstar!!, Mari Ohara in Love Live! Sunshine!!, or Nijika Ijichi in Bocchi the Rock! compare to Eve, in the slightest.

Eve might only be rivaled by badass huntress Yang Xiao Long in RWBY. Yang can go super saiyan if she wants and is deeply in love with catgirl Blake Belladonna. Hime Shiraki in Yuri Is My Job! or Anisphia "Anis" Wynn Palettia in The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady are other "rivals".

The final episodes of Birdie Wing's second season are some of the strongest. Eve's body can't sustain the pressure from her intense golf. She even gets acupuncture from Allen Harvey so she can use her Rainbow Burst without grievously hurting herself. Aoi perfects her golf and apologizes for letting everyone down.

The various health issues Aoi experiences don't stop her. She suffers from an awful genetic disease (Tuberous Sclerosis Complex). There are nice montages of both engaged in physical training to make their bodies stronger. They prepare for their match at the Bandai Namaco British Women's Open the following year.

It is powerful for the final episodes of Birdie Wing to center a Black woman, Juha Hamilail (voiced by Yuu Asakawa). She previously had been hinted in the show's opening sequence. In the next-to-last episode, she comes into her own. She plans to take the British Open for herself, putting her face-to-face with Eve and Aoi. Eve expresses the annoyance of yuri fans who may see Juha as a hindrance and believe Juha should get out of the way.

On the one hand, it seems strange, and possibly racially tinged, that the obstacle which impedes the protagonists is represented by a Black woman. Even so, she is not an evil character. Rather, she is out for herself. She believes that the unexpected always happens in golf, making it fun. She expressed this directly in the 24th episode, to her caddy, Karen Lapana (voiced by Shizuka Itou). Juha is a strong and gorgeous final boss, of sorts, making the series that much more dramatic.

The latter is similar to how Aoi feels. She enjoys playing golf with Eve, even though she can barely hold it together. This fallibility is clear when she collapses in the same episode, causing Even to shake her and cry. Not long after, she falls once again. She asks a higher power to give her one more chance to fulfill her promise to Eve.

The role of the two other caddies, Amane and Ichina, come to a fore in the next-to-last episode. For instance, Ichina gives Eve advice on how to get birdies and keep pace with Aoi. Amane helps prop up Aoi, who is faltering. Eve and Aoi express their feelings, in their own way, to another, seeing the golf skills each of them can do. This is something that Juha recognizes, remaining jealous that each of them has a rival which drives them to improve.

Birdie Wing, is, as well-known yuri reviewer Erica Friedman put it, "the shounest anime about women's sports ever made". As such, Eve, Aoi, nor none of the other characters goes the route of golf shown in The Phantom of the Open, or in various other golf manga and anime over the years. There are so many of the latter that "Golf in anime and manga" is a Wikipedia category!

The final episode shows Friedman to be right. Even after Aoi collapses and is taken off the field, Juha keeps swinging her golf clubs. Eve, for her part, openly defends Aoi. Eve visits Aoi in the hospital. To make this even more absurd, she declares their game is still on even though Aoi isn't actively playing her! One of the best parts of the episode is the surprise twist: Aoi cuts her hair and serves as Eve's caddy. Even though they don't win, thanks to sneaky and corrupt shenanigans by Karen, they still go out with a bang. Eve even uses Aoi's golf clubs. She has a new golf move, which combines her skills with Aoi's golf strike. It is named the Shining Rainbow Burst. Of course, her human body can't take all the strain and Juha ends up winning.

In more ways than one, Karen acts like a Karen: she slyly leaks to the media. She received the damning information, from Remelda, "proving" that Eve has Mafia connections. Although this rumor is false (as Eve no longer has such connections), it leads to an investigation. Her professional license is suspended for three years by the golf association! Juha shows a bit of a backbone, for the first time. She doesn't approve of these slimy tactics against Eve. Strangely, she doesn't fire Karen. She lets Karen be her caddy for the rest of the game. After all, she didn't even a bat an eye, and kept playing at full speed after Aoi collapsed. Unsurprisingly, neither Karen nor Remelda face any consequences for their actions.

The final episode of Birdie Wing ends strongly. In the first time skip, set three years later, Eve begins training with her caddy, Ichina, at a golf course in Japan. This happens after Ichina says she won't be a caddy for anyone else because she is Eve's personal caddy. Then, there is yet another time skip, with Eve and Aoi finally facing one another during a golf tournament. It appears that the affliction Aoi suffered from is cured and their scores are close. There is even a great scene showing all of Eve's sisters, from her adopted family, all grown up, and are now teens. The series closes positively, with Eve doing her Rainbow Bullet golf strike and viewers can see the bullet going through the sky, as the credits continue to roll.

[continued in part 2. Tumblr wouldn't let me post the whole review on here as one post, for some reason]

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[the-anime-void]

Sharing this video again, fresh for Pride Month.

I'm in Love With the Villainess is a yuri series that seems surprisingly underrated state-side from what I can tell, and is extremely positive LGBTQ+, touching on a number of issues in serious and measured manner despite it's wacky and romcomy showing. Though, as of right now, it's mostly in the light novel as it doesn't appear likely that the anime is getting a second season.

I highly recommend all mediums, however, and I hope I get proven wrong about that. More people really do need to check it out.