This post is a part of the Remembering Love series of posts by trzr23, where we bloggers rewatch our favorite anime series and write about them for the heck of it. I encourage other bloggers to come and participate as … Continue reading →
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Medium: Manga (1 volume)  Author: Usamaru Furuya Genre: Drama, Science Fiction, Tragedy Publisher: Ohta Publishing Company (JP), Vertical, Inc. (US)  Serialized in: Manga Erotics F (JP) Release Date: Jul. 7, 2006 (JP), Apr 26, 2011 (US)  Age Rating: 18+ (contains extremely graphic violence, uncensored sexual content, and off-panel rape) In an over-industrialized Japanese town, 8 schoolboys have found a valuable way to waste away their boyhood years: a "Light Club" in an abandoned factory, where they meet up to hang out after school every day. But things are not what they seem to be. The club has a miltaristic structure, complete with neo-Nazi themes and German nicknames, and the boys maim and murder anyone who dares discover their secret hideout. That, and they're building a robot — powered by lychee fruit — with the express goal of using it to "capture a beautiful girl." Lychee Light Club is a one-shot graphic novel from cult favorite Usamaru Furuya, based on the Tokyo Grand Guignol theatre troupe's tragic 1985 play of the same name. It follows the rapid degeneration of this tightly controlled boyhood hierarchy, perpetuated by the successful activation of their robot, "Lychee," and his successful capture of a beautiful girl named Kanon. Amidst growing paranoia in the club, Kanon forms a strange connection with her robot captor, who has been programmed to believe that he, too, is human. Lychee's greatest strength is its brevity; the one-shot format allows Furuya to tell a complete story with a surprisingly satisfying arc, all while driving home some biting social commentary. My first impression was that Furuya is commenting on Japanese sexual seclusion, most clearly evidenced by the boys' idolatrous view of girls. One says "I kinda can't believe it: a girl, right in front of me," and the dictatorial leader of the group, Zera, declares that "you must never look at her as an object of lust!" Intentional or not, it calls to mind otaku culture's "sexualization of innocence," as evidenced by moé anime and teenage idol culture. Grand Guignol-style theatre is known for its gruesome violence, and this manga adaptation pulls no punches. A female history teacher who chances upon the Light Club is stripped and then evicerated for her crime, and a fellow student who makes the same mistake has his eyes burned out after a morbidly funny scene in which the boys brainstorm ways to punish their unfortunate captive. These moments of quirky, black comedy are rare, but they are deftly incorporated into the story, such as a sequence in which Lychee brings back a series of inanimate objects and ugly people in a failed attempt to pinpoint what "beautiful girl" means. There's a fascinating (and horrifying) cognitive dissonance in laughing during a scene involving human beings who have been needlessly kidnapped to fulfill the sexual urges of a cabal of disturbed teenagers. The two rays of light in this story are Kanon and Lychee himself, who, in working as a tool for the Light Club members' dark desires, becomes more human than they could ever be. By the end of the story, the friendship (and perhaps romance?) between Kanon and Lychee becomes a strong driving force, and manages to leave the reader with a satisfying conclusion despite the horrific events throughout the book. Furuya's art is a perfect match for the subject, mixing super-high contrast shadows and highlights with intentionally ugly, androgynous character designs. He seems to delight in drawing hair and cloth in particular, usually depicting them as all-black with white highlights. There's a lot going on in Furuya's macabre epic, from subdued commentary on industrialization (told through background art but never explicitly mentioned) to homoerotic experimentation (the boys fulfill each others sexual desires in absence of a female presence). If you can accept that all of Furuya's absurd violence, including people being flattened from the head-down, burned alive, snapped in half, and raped, is there for the sake of commentary and (in some cases) catharsis, not titillation, you will find Lychee Light Club to be a wholly satisfying, even ... fruitful experience.
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Can the future exist without a past? Yuichi hasn’t seen his cousin Nayuki in years. Now that he’s back, all …Continue reading »
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December the 15th and we’re just about at the halfway point! Is everyone getting ready for the holidays? Touyama Nao and Kanon-chan sure are! Let’s have a look at a fun tune, Uraha Love! Nakagawa Kanon is an inspiring pop star. Her songs are uplifting, charming and never fail to bring a smile to the [...]
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Compared to last week's rather lack-luster episode - not including the information we were able to gather about Shu's father - this week was a significant improvement. Not only was there the action we've been missing the last couple of weeks, but we find out some plot-altering information. The episode starts off with Yahiro's little brother Jun being supported by Yahiro (he fell out of the bed and is unable to move on his own) when Jun becomes scared of something. That something turns out to be Makoto and his group infiltrating the nunnery they boys were staying at. However, when Makoto enters the room the two of them were hiding in, he's surprised to see that they've disappeared. We then see Shu and Inori working on club activities, though Shu is taking a break to take a phone call from Gai. As it turns out, Gai is going to be heading somewhere for work and won't be back for about 5 weeks or so. He instructs Shu to stay in school and keep an eye on Inori. Shu laughs, saying he'll be a good boy, which isn't lost on Hare, who is watching him from afar. Later, she's talking with Kanon and asks her friend if she noticed anything different about Shu. Kanon teases Hare, saying that he must have crossed the threshold to manhood while they were on vacation the week before. This startles Hare and she becomes quite upset so Kanon tries to calm her down by saying that she was just joking. The two then become quiet for a moment before Kanon suggests they pull up their fortune for the day. They do so and Kanon wonders what's waiting for her at the aquarium while Hare is baffled by her fortune. She wonders where she'll find a tiger-striped tea kettle when, as luck would have it, the exact thing she was wondering about bounces into the room.
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Written by: otou-san at Sea Slugs! Anime BlogSummary: After a quick glimpse at Yahiro while we wonder “who’s that girl?” (spoiler: it’s his brother) we go back to school. Girls, as they are wont to do, are plotting. That’s actual girls this time. Reliable yet short-skirted class president Kanon tries to persuade Hare to go after the newly remodeled Shu. But of course, [...]
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As Yahiro evades Major Segai and the GHQ while on the run with his Apocalypse Virus-infected younger brother Jun, Shu shows a slighter more bolder and open personality during school that surprises Hare.  After exchanging their astrological love life information (e.g. Hare’s love life involving a tiger-colored pot and Kanon meeting her love [aka Yahiro] at [...]
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As Yahiro evades Major Segai and the GHQ while on the run with his Apocalypse Virus-infected younger brother Jun, Shu shows a slighter more bolder and open personality during school that surprises Hare.  After exchanging their astrological love life information (e.g. Hare’s love life involving a tiger-colored pot and Kanon meeting her love [aka Yahiro] at [...]
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This week’s episode looks to have more of a focus on Hare, Shu’s classmate who clearly likes him. Her friend Kanon creates an opportunity for Shu and Hare to go shopping together, but they are interrupted when Yahiro appears. Shu … Continue reading →
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After last week's spectacular display of Shu's prowess as a Void user and finding out that the Undertakers have finally gotten financial support, I can only assume that things are bound to get a lot more interesting. It seems as though I was right, but I certainly wasn't expecting Shu to be the type to use his friends the way he does in this episode. The episode kicks off with Shu and Inori getting ready for a club trip to Oshima along with Hare, Kanon and Souta. His mother seems upset that he's leaving her all alone, but she finally relents and tells Shu to at least visit his father's grave while he's there. When the group arrives at Oshima, everyone is excited to spend time at the beach and to work on a project or two (or at least, they think that's what they're there for). As it turns out, Shu and Inori are there for a mission along with Gai and the rest of the Undertakers. We see a small flashback to a few days prior when Gai tells Shu that he needs his friend Souta's Void in order to retrieve something important to their goal. At first Shu is wary of the idea of using his friend to obtain something, but Gai tells Shu that friends are there to be used in a time of need. After a moment's hesitation - and some more goading by Gai - Shu finally agrees to it. Gai suggests that they use the trip to Oshima for a club outing as a cover-up and way to get Souta there. It seems as though the plan worked perfectly, much to Gai's credit. The group arrives at the beach house they'll be staying at - supplied by the Kuhouin Group, though everyone is made to believe that it belongs to Shu's family - and before they can even start working on a project, Souta runs out to the beach. Everyone seems exasperated by his excitement, but they follow him anyway.
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