As a Side Note...

Just to add to the bit about Stellvia, since it was a Geneon release and those are getting harder and harder to find. TRSI (aka Right Stuf) is the only place to easily find the entire series at a good price these days. They have it both as singles (8 total) and a complete collection. The singles are in the bargain bin and run $8 each. They have just over 100 each of the last two volumes, but a lot more of all the others, a number of which other retailers like Amazon are completely sold out on. The complete collection comes in a tin that holds double thinkpak keepcases. All artwork from the 8 discs is retained even though there are only 4 thinpaks. The complete collection runs $90, however TRSI is having a 20% off sale right now which would nab it for around $75. With both orders, shipping would be free. Incidentally, I also recommend the soundtracks. The opening theme is fantastic.

Coupon code for the sale is cleaning2008 and will be good through 3/30/08. If you're thinking about shopping with them, head over to animeondvd.com and click into the store through them. The banner for the sale is also up on the main page there.

Stellvia

Crawlspace Says: 4 Starships out of 5

Replay Value: High

R1 Availability: Geneon – that about says it all, though RightStuff does have it in stock...

The first thought I had when we broke open the plastic and took disc 1 of Stellvia for a whirl was “Battle Athletes.” By the end of the first episode, I’d updated that to “Battle Athletes with a heavy dash of Vandread.” This, of course, meant the series was an automatic win. Right through to the end, Stellvia never did anything to change those first very positive impressions.

The overall plot for the series is pretty cookie cutter. A group of teenagers going to school on a space station are tasked with saving Earth from destruction. The way it all plays out, though, is a bit different. Though she does play a major role in all the big moments, our central character, Shima, isn’t The One, It, or She who will save us all. That dubious honor will go to her eventual love interest, Kouta. Shima, like most gifted students, has great aptitude in some things while barely keeping her academic head afloat in others. She works hard for what she accomplishes rather than relying on fate or some mystical talent that only she possesses.

Unfortunately, she’s also a crier.

Much in the vein of Usagi Tsukino and many other teenage heroines before her, Shima spends several episodes doing nothing but crying because of her perceived inadequacies. This seems to be something of a requirement for all teenage girls when they’re the lead character, and thankfully it only lasts for a small chunk of episodes, culminating in one of the best scenes in the series.

For yuri fans, there’s one unambiguous couple and one small unrequited crush. The crush comes from Shima’s roommate, Arissa, who upon meeting Shima on their way to the space station declares they are to be best friends. Arissa is a sweetheart with a loud mouth and an outgoing personality. Her crush is, for the most part, very subtle. She doesn’t pine away for Shima and seems happy enough being her friend. The best way to describe her is Tomoyo at one quarter strength, but without the video camera and weird costume fetish.

Our yuri couple is Ayaka and Yayoi. Their backstory is told in flashbacks and bits and pieces as the series progresses. Lots of angst here, and lots to love. The epilogue left me with a huge grin just because of these two.

Even without the yuri, the characters are all likable, each with their own quirks and storylines. Akira was my favorite, no doubt because of her strong resemblance to a young Setsuna. I even liked Kouta, who like most heterosexual males suffers undue hatred at the hands of rabid yuri fans. You know those kinds of fans, the ones who can’t stand the fact that the lead female is in love with a guy even though they’re given an actual yuri couple to pull for. So they turn that guy into a horrible, heartless brute as an excuse to break them up in fanfiction and put the heroine with the girl of their choosing. Poor Kouta. He really is a very nice, average teenage boy who, in spite of being “mankind’s greatest hope” is completely confused by his girlfriend’s mood swings.

And the English voice actors managed to capture all of this very nicely.

I can practically hear everything suddenly grinding to a halt with horrified cries of “You watched the dub!?” echoing in the background. The answer to that would be “Kind of.” Doc and I watched a few episodes in English just to see what they’d be like. Bang Zoom handled the English production, and for the most part it turned out well. Rinna was spot-on perfect, though the best VA in the dub was the one voicing one of the teachers, Leila. Her voice sounded natural when she spoke, the flow of her words making me forget there was an actor behind the drawing on the screen. That’s a very rare thing in a dub for me.

I only had a few quibbles with the dub. First, Ayaka’s VA was uneven, missing the mark about 25% of the time. In most of those instances, what should have been subtle or subdued was coming across more as flat and strained. Second was Shima. Carrie Savage wound up higher pitched than the Japanese VA, and while her acting was good, the pitch was wrong for the character. Had she been voicing the much younger Rinna, she would have been fine. Even with that, though, Shima is tolerable once you get used to listening to her. I could watch this in English if I had to, and I expect the next time we pull it off the shelf, we’ll be listening to the English VA’s.

So overall, this was a fun series with high replay value and as a bonus, a good English dub. I give it four starships out of five, topped with whipped cream and a strawberry for the yuri payoff. Even though the plot is standard anime fare, the characters carry it above the norm. This one comes highly recommended.

El Cazador de la Bruja

I've been a fan of BeeTrain ever since .hack/sign (yes, I even like Avenger, though I choose to block out Mein Leib), so when I heard they were putting out their third girls with guns series, I was tickled to death. And El Cazador delivered in every way possible. Much more light hearted than Noir or Madlax, it's also a lot more straight forward in it's story telling and character relationships. Not that their isn't the typical mysterious organization that's never fully explained, complete with loose threads and plot holes the size of Texas. But if you've seen any other BeeTrain series, you know to expect this and just move on and enjoy it for what it is. And that's very easy to do here, since this show is primarily character driven with a heavy dose of action to keep things bouncing. There's a touch of angst, but never so much that it weighs you down, and the mysterious organizations and plot elements aren't so mysterious that they turn your brain to mush trying to figure them out. The series has great pacing and never seems to drag, the side trips providing true character development rather than feeling like pure filler. Everything actually had a purpose, even that little trinket Ellis randomly acquired in random early episode.

For yuri fans, there's true payoff. So much so that I remember non-yuri fans complaining about halfway through the series when it became obvious where Nadie and Ellis stood. For Aya Hisakawa fans... well, let's just say I was very pleased. I don't usually get to hear her voicing these types of characters, and the fangirl in me was doing cartwheels. For once, she got to play the adult instead of the odd little girl or random side character. I am completely in love with Jody "Blue Eyes" Hayward. And I like her posse, too, though I still can't figure out if the one girl was just wearing that eye patch for fun... Also, Jody seems to have a particular fetish with being tied up, though I may have just missed something there, too.

As has become almost standard with BeeTrain, Yuki Kajiura is composing. The soundtrack is very similar to those from Noir and Madlax, but to me that's not a bad thing. I'm as much a Kajiura fan as I am a BeeTrain and Aya fangirl. I've been humming various pieces all week, and it's the main reason I'd like to see Bandai bring this over. With them, we're more likely to get the soundtrack and possibly the drama CDs. With ADV we'll get beat over the head with song subs and no chance at the soundtrack. I'll take it from which ever releases it, but I have a clear preference.

Tacos. You'll just have to watch it and you'll understand. :)

Overall, this was an enjoyable series that I'd highly recommend, even to those that didn't like Noir and Madlax. While similar to it's sisters, it's not as heavy on the drama and provides a fun 26 episodes for yuri fans with payoff at the end.