BEING UPFRONT: A Pictorial Guide to Bodacious Women in Anime--Page 8 (Mi-P)

MIDNIGHT PANTHER
Lou; Kei; Sonya (left to right) Central Park Media had a pretty good measure of success with their release of the original manga by Ms. Yu Asagiri, and figured that releasing the OVAs here would be the next logical step. In both, in a bizarre neo-medieval setting, we meet a trio of girls who operate as an idol group called the Pussycats by day...and as assassins by night (as if the terrible music of that one song of theirs we hear wouldn't be enough to do the job, but I digress). Lou is a tomboy who is given all the monster-killing jobs so the creepy/irritating old lady who acts as their manager can have spare parts to make magical potions with. The other girls give her a lot of teasing over not being feminine enough, and while she obviously doesn't make it into BU for sizable tracts of land, she is given a couple of great jiggle takes, including one where she stomps up to Kei (in the fine tradition of Noriko from Gunbuster) to get mad at her for putting her body down again. Kei is the cute and perky one (who just happens to have an overactive animalistic side), and Sonya is the deep-voiced seductress who makes sure to have a good time before carrying out her duty (mainly so the readers/viewers can see, of course), and these two are responsible for going after men. Their failure rate is very low, needless to say. For their performance at King Bad's (don't ask) castle, they don't even sing; Lou just looks cute and Kei and Sonya wobble their way into the rather depraved audience's libido. I've read some of the manga, and, compared to that, this destroys any trace of charm that the story had. It's a nice little change of pace from Anime18's typical overcooked tentacle fare and current Sex For Complete Bastards 101 titles, but you'd be much better off with Lunatic Night or Visionary instead.

English-version videos (edited and unedited CENTRAL PARK MEDIA DUB VHS/edited sub VHS--which was absolutely pointless, as the people who'd want the sub would also want it unedited/bilingual unedited DVD) are available from

MIYUKI-CHAN IN WONDERLAND (Jpn: FUSHIGI NO KUNI NO MIYUKI-CHAN)
Door; Hatter (center of picture); Cheshire Cat (top row, left to right);
Queen; Gargoyle (bottom row, left to right)

This OVA is based on the excellent four-woman manga team CLAMP's adaptation of two classic Lewis Carroll stories. And something tells me the lesbo-erotic tone of this version (all male and animal characters are now women in costumes) was based on the part of CLAMP writer Nanase Ohkawa's brain that likes to collect ecchi computer games (Note: According to

MOUSE
Mei Momozono; Yayoi Kuribayashi (second and third from left, left picture); Rinya
By day, Muon Sorata is a cute but hapless college student and assistant instructor of Fine Arts at the Yamanoue Complex, where a group of three students have a crush on him and two teachers and the school nurse regularly give him a hard time. By night, he is Mouse (right in left picture), the latest in a long line of thieves using that name who keeps Japan in thrall with his daring robberies, which have included entire buildings. He is assisted in his dramatic deeds by three ever-(and-over-)loving servants, including Mei, the math teacher who can infiltrate places and influence people, and Yayoi, the aforementioned nurse, whose night job has her throttling computers and brewing up gas and other chemicals. I might add that all three of the servents also look good in almost everything they wear (or don't), so if one doesn't get a facefull of their looks already, well, maybe the maid costumes will do the job. No? How about the catsuits? Late in the series, we meet Mouse's old adversary, One, and his own two assistants. Rinya is the one who uses clubs whilst fighting, as Mei unfortunately finds out. Good choice of weapon; if she misses with them, she can always clobber her enemy with her emphasis. Screenwritten by (and based on the manga scripted by) Satoru Akahori (yep, him again), this was possibly the most controversial anime TV series of January-March 2003. A lot of western anime fans hated it for its over-the-top fan service (bounce was not spared here), lack of writing quality (it's an action/gag/ecchi series, not Evangelion, y'see) and theme songs (admittedly, Under 17's lead singer's nasal vocals drive me nuts, too). I've also heard about Japanese fans finding it inferior to the manga; never mind that that's almost always the case in these situations. Now, these things may be so, but one thing is forgotten in all that--the series is still a lot of lightweight fun (a couple of scenes involving bondage notwithstanding, but they're not that glamourized), and, at only 12 13-minute episodes, quick fun at that, if it's your idea of it. Suffice it to say that it's mine, but your own milage may very.

Before it's ripped off, you can check out the official Japanese-only website at

NEW CUTEY HONEY (Jpn: SHIN CUTEY HONEY) Honey Kisaragi plus various villainesses I couldn't complete this thing without including Go Nagai's wonderfully corrupted update of this popular (yet atypical) 1970's magical girl show for a 1994 OVA series. Nagai started out doing giant robot shows like Mazinger Z, and then made a positive artistic change (in my opinion, anyway!) when he turned to doing more character-driven shows, especially with characters designed to cause nosebleeds, be it by fist/face contact or eye/figure interaction. For these OVAs, he upped both of these factors in the same person. Any female character who looks beautiful, is fundamentally kind and compassionate and can kick much booty when she needs to (which is pretty often, against the evil forces in Cosplay City) is good in my books. Part of this lovely android's talent is to change her appearance and costume at will; the pic you see here is how she normally looks/dresses. Of course, Nagai had to make her transformation sequences a fair bit saucier than how they originally were. Mind you, it wasn't that much of a stretch in attitude; the lyrics of the original 1973 TV series theme (which was re-recorded for this) commented on how nice her behind and breasts were! I guess it was just a matter of time before somebody offered more explicit proof dB). Also, it appears that all the bad guys Honey has to go up against are actually bad girls. And we all know how well Nagai does bad girls, right? However, seeing as they're all basically monsters of the week, I'm not going to spoil the remaining bits of story by listing them here. You really have to see them for yourself.

Look at a lot of, read a bit about and even explore other neighbourhoods you can find Honey in in

NURSE WITCH KOMUGI (Jpn: NURSE WITCH KOMUGI-CHAN MAGIKARTE)
Megumi Akiba (left, middle left); Koyori Kokobunji (middle right)/Magical Maid Koyori-chan (right)
Koyori was awarded Miss Stuck Up, Newtype Japan Heroine of the Year reader's poll, 2002.
The Soul Taker (official

OGENKI CLINIC
Nurse Ruko Tatase (BWH: 90/60/90cm); Diane Melon (72!!"/24"/36") (left to right)
...and every other female cast member, for that matter!
(Source: Ogenki Clinic manga)
This is a hentai farce, and as such, the proportions of all of the female characters are as insane as the comedy. The female lead of the series is Nurse Ruko Tatase, the assistant of the clinic's Dr. Sawaru Ogekuri. When she isn't whipping the clinic's patients into shape in one way or another, she's busy keeping the lecherous doctor in line, or fighting off entire subway cars of men. While you can hardly consider her a feminist icon, you can at least give the series' creator a bit of credit for not giving her the personality of a doormat. One of the most extraordinary features of the anime portrayal of Nurse Tatase is that she is voiced by

OTAKU NO VIDEO Misty May Otaku no Video is a parody of the fanboy/girl culture in Japan, brought to you by the good folks at Gainax. Anno and company take no prisoners in this two-part mockumentary, and spare a few of their sharpest barbs for themselves. This includes Misty May, a hybrid of Cutey Honey, Magical Angel Creamy Mami [in Italian, but at least you can see what she looks like] and the Daicon IV bunny girl (a character created by the people who went on to form Gainax) [a Japanese site, but you can link to images from there]. She not only has the ears, but does the hop quite well, as this still illustrates. An obvious dig at that one trait of Gunbuster! Aim For the Top!, cranked up to an absurd level. The English-version video (sub VHS/sub-only DVD) is available from AnimEigo. You can also check out their liner notes, which explain most, if not all, of the show's jokes and cultural/anime references.

OUTLAW STAR (Jpn: SEIHOU BUKYOU OUTLAW STAR)
"Hot Ice" Hilda; Aisha Clanclan (left to right, upper row); Urt; Urt's aides; Hamushi (lower row)
This series follows the freewheeling Gene Starwind (right in upper left picture, being upfront in his own right) and his young, much more responsible partner Jim Hawking as they acquire the spaceship of the title and set out across space to find adventure, meet interesting people, and try to "hit it big" so they can pay off their mounting debts. They take a job from a woman named Rachell Sweet (more new-wave singer name plundering, General?), who turns out to be a pirate named "Hot Ice" Hilda, a tough cookie who takes no guff from Gene (and looks delectable in aerobics-style cotton underwear dB); I might add that, if you wanna fry your eyes nicely, there's a scene with her and Gene in the original manga that you definitely don't want to miss). As a result of a complication, Gene winds up acquiring an advanced Grappler Ship and an bio-android named Melfina, who is born out of a cold-sleep crate. One of the interesting "people" our heroes encounter is Aisha, the Ambassador Plenipotentiary of the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire. The Ctarl-Ctarl are a fierce race, best described as a cross between a tiger and a human. Ms. Clanclan is introduced in the second episode with a slow upward pan that doesn't start at her face, if ya know what I mean. She's vicious at the worst of times (and highly irritable at the best), and throws her weight around a lot; just see the fifth episode. She's the comic relief of the series, and one of my favourite characters in a series where there really aren't any I don't like.
For the most part, this show is pretty tasteful about fan service (Ms. Clanclan notwithstanding, of course). And then you get to episode 23, which takes place on Tenrei, a planet that is essentially one big hot springs resort. Yeah. In this episode we are introduced to Urt, a woman who Gene seeks for help with his mission (and gets in hilarious trouble more than once trying to get to her hideout). When he does finally reach her, she is surrounded by women who sing and gently stir the water of her private pool-sized bath with planks. And apparently make extra money on the side stress-testing for the Ace Bandage Co. Episode 24 introduces one of the villains, Anten assassin Hamushi, in a scene that draws a bit of a giggle. Several of this particular group come together in one place to meet with the main villain, and line up swiftly for the menacing group pan. Wobble. Perhaps it's the last bit of a yuk before things get really serious for the show (or the animators wanting to throw in a little something for the hell of it), but hey, it's all good.

Here's a relatively simple but informative fan page with lots of links by

PHOTON
Keyne Aqua; Lashara Moon; Ma Maime
This OVA series is produced by AIC (Tenchi-Muyo!; El Hazard), and is one of the most wonderfully silly pieces of work I've ever seen. From the remote, Tattooine-like Sandy Planet, Photon Earth is the young put-upon-looking lad on the right in the left picture above. He's kind of slow (mentally) and naive, but loyal, unbelievably strong and tougher than a truckload of nails to boot. Keyne Aqua is a woman who is escaping Count Papacharino Nanadan, when her damaged ship lands on the Sandy Planet. Photon winds up in her capsule because of his bratty, starstruck friend Aun Freya, and thanks to a couple of incidents with the village treasure (a felt-tip permanent marker which fell from Keyne's ship some time ago), he winds up with Keyne as his wife! This does not sit well with Papacharino, who is still after Keyne and the Aho (literally "idiot") power technology her fugitive grandfather developed. He's a player and an incompetent, abusive buffoon (which is admittedly a pretty bizarre combination, but it's anime, so work with me here) who is engaged to Lashara Moon. She's the First Imperial Princess of the Galaxy, and a blithe, naive young woman...okay, she's kind of an airhead. She has to be, to be head over heels in love with Papacharino like she is. However, he doesn't let that bit of triviality get in the way of his libido, so he's frequently found in the same bed as his exotic mistress, Ma Maime. Being an AIC OVA production, they can't get away without an onsen episode, and #4 is it. When Aun finds out that Photon and Keyne are now an item, it drives her buggy for some reason, even though she keeps insisting that she doesn't like Photon like that. Still from that time afterwards, they are at each other's throats, with Keyne winning on points for her snipes against Aun's underdeveloped body. However, when Lashara and then Ma Maime turn up in the bath, they are both stunned into silence by their endowments. And they shut my trapper for a bit, too, actually. Photon is a manic adventure comedy with ridiculous amounts of nudity (not all of it female!), massive destruction, and no main character escaping looking stupid at some point or another. In other words, this is good stuff.

You can read up (and make yourself more intelligent than the cast) at

PLASTIC LITTLE Elisse Altmodich; Titamyva Koshiyaga (AKA Tita); Mei Lin Jones (left to right) This infamous little OVA (which has earned the title and the lead character very obvious nicknames) was based on the manga by Satoshi Urushihara, who also directed it and did the character design, so you get his very distinctive style; you gotta love those eyes. Tita, captain of the pet shop hunter ship Cha Cha Maru, rescues Elisse from a very brutal bunch of military thugs who are trying to wrangle information from her about her father's research. The action that ensues will have you on the edge of your seat. The fan service that happens in the well-known scene where Tita drags Elisse off to the cavernous bathing room after bringing her on board will have your eyebrows on the edge of your hairline. Tita gets quite jealous when she finds that Elisse has larger breasts than her although she's one year younger, and you can't help but look long enough to compare (and appreciate the same attention to detail that went into their faces). You do also notice that Tita still has enough to move, so she's here. I can tell you that while the bath scene is pretty gratuitous, there's really not very much nudity throughout the rest of the one-hour span of the OVA. Also, the ship's doctor, the kind and gentle Mei, has the sort of figure that makes you wonder when her scene will happen...and it doesn't, which is a pretty good twist against the obvious. The most you see of her is this picture in the production portfolio section of ADV's tape; however, in the original manga there is a bath scene where Mei comforts a worried Tita by holding her close (awwww)--and Tita destroys the spell by commenting on what she's being held against. Trust me--ignore the hype. There is more to this than eye candy. Anime MASTER has a nice little picture gallery. Now, if I can find a tribute page wot doesn't suck... The English-version video (sub VHS/dub VHS/bilingual DVD with the debut of the Jiggle Counter™ feature; really, you have to see it to believe it) is available from ADV Films. They have recently released an Anime Essentials version of this, which is lower-priced and has the dub remixed in Dolby 5.1.

POPOTAN
Ai (BWH: 90/63/88cm); Mai (82/56/87) (left to right)
(Source: Opening sequence from the original PC game)
Popotan is about a trio of sisters (plus a maid and a pet ferret) who run a Christmas store. We have one of those in Ottawa; I wonder if I'd find Ai there? They seek out "popotan" (what they call "tanpopo," or dandelions), which Ai can communicate with, and they appear and disappear from people's lives just like them. Ai is the oldest sister, a gentle, kind soul. What the creators wanted to have the audience like about her was obvious from her first scene in the first episode, in which she just walks out of the bath, finds out a young lad is running through the hallway of their mansion, loses her towel, trips and falls on him and ends up having to extricate his head from between her breasts to set him free. She spends a lot of time in the bath. Sometimes, others join her. I wonder why. She could almost be considered a perfect woman--if only her cooking wasn't deadly to almost everyone except her. Middle sister Mai, while having a much smaller chest than her big sister (which little sister Mii teases her about a lot, usually earning getting her head squeezed between Mai's fists), is given a few quick turns. She's very moody, and we find out one of the reasons why in the second episode, in which she has to deal with constantly transferring between schools. Mii is the very cute, excitable and affectionate--and slightly bratty--little purple-haired sister who goes crazy over "puni puni" (soft and squeezable) things, from the aforementioned boy's cheeks to a frog to Ai's emphasis. She's the most popular character in the series; fair enough, since she does provide contrast to Ai and Mai, but my tastes obviously don't lean towards prepubescent characters--especially ones who give the odd panty shot. Judging by the few eps I've watched, this is a generally cute series with some nice bits of drama. Some people feel that the fan service undermines the show. On one hand, I can't really blame them for feeling that way; it probably would work even better without it. On the other hand, it's based on an H computer game--a trend which seems to have especially flourished in 2003--and if you think Mii's occasional panchira are rude, you should see some of her pics in the game...excuse me (puts keyboard down, grabs bottle of tequila and slugs from it to try to blot out the images). I suggest just trying to enjoy the good parts of the show--and they are well worth watching--and keeping in mind that the naughty parts could be even worse before raising your hackles about them.

In Japan, there are two virtual dandelion fields where they can be found:

PRIVATE PSYCHO LESSON Sara Iijima Sara Iijima is a psychotherapist at a college in Japan. Her method of treating students' problems is called psychofeed, which combines deep analysis with ancient Eastern sexuality. One of Sara's psychofeed techniques is to hypnotize her patients into revealing their repressed subconscious memories by twirling her sizeable breasts in opposite directions. Her choices of outfit prove that she is not afraid to flaunt it, but get a little too close and she will make you regret it, as her colleague Tamine never does quite learn. I might add that near the end of the first OVA is probably the most absurd and funniest spontaneous leap of disbelief ever made. Private Psycho Lesson's creator, U-Jin, is best known for his computer-graphic-coloured drawings of extremely cute but mostly realistically-endowed young girls. While PPL is pretty serious, compared to New Angel, you can tell that he had a bit of fun creating a more maternal type of character in Dr. Iijima. The English-version video (sub VHS/bilingual DVD) is available from Anime 18 (18 and over only, please).

PUNI PUNI POEMY Shii Aasu (BWH: 101cm/??/??) (Source: Excel-Saga.com's Poemy page) Puni Puni Poemy is an two-OVA spinoff of the infamously whacked-out series Excel Saga, also directed by Shinichiri Watanabe (AKA Nabeshin, owner of the greatest afro in the anime biz). In this series, the hyperactive Poemy Watanabe (yes, Nabeshin's daughter) dreams of being a voice actress one day. Due to circumstances which I won't spoil for you, Poemy ends up living with the family of her close (and I mean close) friend, Futaba Aasu. Her six sisters, ranging in age from 3 to 28 (don't ask) make themselves known after she arrives. Shii Aasu makes her presence literally felt by plonking her selves down on top of Poemy's head to relieve the stress on her back (in the scene to your left). She complains about how heavy her breasts are (albeit in the same kind and airy tone she says everything in, similar to Excel Saga's Hyatt), and juggles them in her hands every now and again to ease the burden on her shoulders...or is that really the reason? Anyhoo, if Excel blows your mind, then PPPoemy will blow your head clean off with much more manic activity, more parodies of popular anime (you know you watch too much anime when you can spot them all)--and more fan service, natch (remember, this is an OVA; they could--and did--have more fun). Recommended--after you finish Excel.

The best source of (English) Poemy information is this