"Galaxy Fraulein Yuna" (Anime)

[pkristen]

First OVA: 2 Episodes. Returns OVA: 3 Episodes. Originally reviewed April 12, 2001

Summary
Based on a current/minimally futuristic Earth, cutesy girls in mecha suits battling aliens in a series that is so obviously a parody of the Sailor Moon-verse. Yuna is the savior of the universe, when she’s not being an adored idol singer or saving puppies.

Review
Decent animation marred with stereotypical plots and characterizations, and no men in the cast. I don’t feel the two collections are different enough to list separately.

Not knowing the background of this series, I found I was immediately overwhelmed with too many characters that I didn’t want to spend too much brain matter trying to keep them apart — but maybe that was a parody point as well. Rented it on a whim and will probably never watch it again unless I need to do research for certain scenes. What starts off as a pretty on target parody quickly turns into deluding itself with seriousness and becomes boring as well as a poor imitation of the original. To be fair, it did provide unexpected (purposeful) laughs but unfortunately not that many.

The really weird part was listening to the English dub version and hearing an actress like Laura Chapman, who has a wonderfully deep and mature voice, coming out of the body of cutesyfied teenage-looking character. As a whole, the series did make me wonder just how many actresses ADV Films has in its talent pool.

Lesbian Analysis
As stated in the review, this series is so obviously a parody of the “Sailor Moon” mythos, with Yuna being the Usagi/Sailor Moon parallel character. What I find intriguing about it is that ALL the main characters in the good guy camp are female (even the counterpart of Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask.) Even though there are clear “panty shot” priorities at moments, I am going to focus on key behaviors rather than go with the default of lesbianism because there are no male romantic leads in the story and these girls are not a bunch of nuns. Plus, having only seen the dubbed version, I realized some English translation liberties may have been taken.

Yuna: Bubbly and overly friendly lead character who is a pop idol, and intergalactic hero nicknamed “The Savior of the Light”

# From the opening credits of the first OAV, it’s clear that she’s infatuated with the TV hero Polylina, the Masked Maiden, who is (unknown to her) one of her best friends Lia. She considers it important to describe herself as the number one member of Polylina’s fanclub, as well as her promised one and only.

# When a new female transferred student (Saline/Misaki) is found staring at her, Yuna reacts extremely positively to the suggestion that the girl might have a crush on her. And even goes through the rest of the first OAV eps pursuing the idea of romantic/sexual flirtations with the other woman.

# In the “Returns” OAV, extremely devoted to Ayako, the evil android who is trying to become a good girl. This devotion felt extremely blurred in whether or not Yuna’s intent could be truly interpreted as romantic. Given how open she is about pursuing Polylina, I would default to the side that Ayako is viewed as just a friend.

Lia/Polylina: One of Yuna’s best friend and actress behind Polylina, the Masked Maiden

# Reacts with embarrassment to Yuna’s overly romantic and flirtatious overtures — though doesn’t necessarily turn her down either.

# The entire concept of Polylina the Masked Maiden is based on throwing roses and coming to the rescue of Damsels in Distress. Can’t see the purpose of the character to cause guys to swoon with hearts in their eyes.

# Starts off the “Returns” OAV with a highly romantic poppish duet with Yuna at a concert. I personally thought the English version of the song to be really bad but the moment is there and the intent is clear.

Saline/Misaki: Undercover intergalactic law enforcement officer sent to research charges of Yuna wanting to take over the galaxy.

# Constantly at odds with herself about how someone as friendly and pure as Yuna could be accused of such treachery. I personally didn’t see anything in her behavior that truly crossed the boundary of romantic interest or intent.

# When she arrests Yuna and has her bound with cuffs, Misaki was embarrassed and quickly squashed Yuna’s hopeful assessment of more fun bondage type activities. (I thought Yuna’s disappoint was funny myself.)

Lucia & Lica: Evil henchwomen duo who are out to help frame Yuna for the treasonous crimes.

# Whether celebrating or being attacked, they hug each other an awful lot. (Though the first time they did it, there was a cute stunned reaction they shared that could be open to interpretation, and me being me decided to use the lesbian implications.)

Ayako: Evil android who turns into good “girl” in the “Returns” OAV

# Clearly develops a special bond with Yuna, but again, the lines are blurred on romantic devotion or just really good friends in the making. Since I couldn’t force myself to sit through the entire “Returns” saga again (my least liked of the two OAV sets), I’m unfortunately going to have to leave this issue as inconclusive.