Awesome Music Thursday: Eternal Eternity

90’s Sailor Moon had a lot of character songs, but even with so many there was a notable omission in the area of duets.

Sailor Moon Crystal changes that. The Infinity arc goes through three ending songs in 13 episodes, each focused on a different character(s) and sung by their voice actors/actresses. The second is Chibiusa’s and the third is Tuxedo Mask’s, but it’s the first that I’m talking about, “Eternal Eternity” sung by Junko Minagawa and Sayaka Ohara. Haruka and Michiru, AKA Sailors Uranus and Neptune, get an ending to themselves and finally get a song together after all these years, and it is yuritastic.

(Uploaded by Tomas AC)

Awesome Music Thursday: Ano Mori de Matteru

As a complete change of pace from anything else I’ve posted recently, I just thought I’d share the fact that the opening to Yurikuma Arashi,  “Ano Mori de Matteru” (“I’ve Been Waiting in That Forest”) by Bonjour Suzuki, is without a doubt the most sensual song I have ever heard in an anime.

Kannazuki no Miko: In Defense of Souma

Part 1 of this series of posts is here.

Kannazuki no Miko is widely known as a yuri series, but it’s also been described as a bisexual love triangle. So the most important male character, Souma Oogami, tends to get some hate from some of those who watched the series only for the yuri.

(This post will contain spoilers for most of the series.)

I think this is undeserved, for several reasons, but let’s just start with this. We are talking about a series in which a character who had to choose between two love interests of different sexes chose the one of the same sex, and it wasn’t because there was anything wrong with the opposite sex option or because she suddenly realized she was only into girls. How many times does that happen?

I don’t think Souma’s good qualities not related to the triangle situation really need much defending. He’s hotblooded, decisive in the midst of angst, and a rare (in anime) illustration of how the personality of “the hero” adapts into a supporting role.

Souma is sometimes considered an example of the “male interference” yuri trope, but he’s hardly a textbook case of it. For starters, he doesn’t know he’s interfering with anything; he may or may not be aware of Chikane’s feelings for Himeko, but he definitely hasn’t seen any indication that Himeko might be romantically interested in Chikane at any point before the last real romantic interaction between him and Himeko. (And the margin isn’t even a small one if you don’t count things like the fact that the manga he buys for Himeko is a yuri one. Incidentally it’s also by Reiko, and Himeko being one of her fans is arguably the greatest relevance Reiko even has. (I swear I don’t hate Reiko or anything.))

Awesome Music Thursday: Agony

Between re-watching Kannazuki no Miko recently and doing the 30-day song challenge, I’ve become a big fan of KOTOKO recently, especially this song, “Agony”. This was the ending song for Kannazuki no Miko.

(uploaded by anlismil)

Chikane, Himeko, and THAT part of Kannazuki no Miko

Part 1 of this series of posts is here.

The beginning of Kannazuki no Miko is something a little uncommon; all three parts of the love triangle already know each other, but haven’t expressed feelings beyond friendship. The events of the first episode change this for both Chikane and Souma, though Souma effectively has a head start because he’s much more direct.

At first, Himeko and Chikane’s relationship seems barely changed from the secret friendship they already had, and Chikane tries to support what Himeko wants even if it’s being with someone else, but she gradually grows more conflicted about it.

Even while seeing their relationship as friendship rather than romance, Himeko views Chikane in an overly idealized way. But Chikane herself would be the first to say she isn’t perfect, and even take it too far into the opposite direction; it’s never explicitly spelled out, but Chikane suffers from some degree of internalized homophobia. Chikane also simply assumes (falsely) that Himeko, who she idealizes, could never have such “dirty” feelings in return.

In fact, it’s interesting to note that Himeko saying she’s realized Chikane is a mix of good and bad is associated with her romantic feelings, in contrast to many other series where idealization is associated with romance.

Alright, I’m going to be talking about Chikane’s actions in the later part of the series next; major spoilers obviously, though to be honest, this main one is the “Rosebud” of yuri.

Kannazuki no Miko: Overview

Honestly, I don’t even know if I should call Kannazuki no Miko a “modern classic”, “cult classic”, or just plain “classic”, and difficulties in describing it briefly go well past that. Two things I can say for certain are that there are still people who consider it greatest yuri anime, and that both its defenders and detractors often have very strong feelings about it.

Note: I have a lot to say and intend to spread it out over multiple posts. This one won’t have anything about the most controversial aspects of the series, or the biggest spoilers.

Someone could say that, based on the early episodes, calling it yuri as I did above is itself a spoiler, but to this I say the opening makes it pretty clear who the official couple is.

(uploaded by Kaichi44)

Song Challenge Day 21: At my wedding

“A song you want to dance to at your wedding”

Assuming, of course, I were to marry someone who agrees, my answer is “Toki Ni Ai Wa” (At Times, Love is…) by Masami Okui. This is my favorite romantic song ever, in any language. (And no, even though it’s associated with a yuri couple, the lyrics aren’t actually specific to any particular combination of genders.)

(uploaded by williponncio)

Song Challenge Day 9: I feel like dancing

“A song that makes you want to dance”

I could definitely dance to “Re-Sublimity” by KOTOKO. Just, you know, not very well.

(uploaded by Nakamura Kazuko)

This song was used as the opening for Kannazuki no Miko, an anime I’ll (probably) be saying more about some time next month.

Awesome Music Thursday: Toki Ni Ai Wa

Both the series and the movie versions of Utena are very mindscrewy (Is that a word?), and not even in very similar ways. The dance scene at the start of this AMV is widely considered the best part of the movie, in no small part due to this song: Toki Ni Ai Wa by Masami Ouki.

(uploaded by williponcio)

Y is for Yuri

Yuri is literally Japanese for lily, but it’s come to be associated with the portrayal of lesbian relationships in Japanese media. The etymology is actually a lot more straightforward than that of the male counterpart term yaoi; an influential magazine referred to gay men as the rose tribe and lesbians as the lily tribe.