Brighter Than the Dawning Blue currently runs LEGALLY for FREE on The Anime Network and on Hulu+ with a paid subscription. The 2006 anime is also sold under the title Yoake Mae yori Ruriiro na.

Brighter Than The Dawning Blue was originally a Hentai Visual Novel, where you would have played as Tatsuya, and had sex with all of the girls before finally deciding your path. This was later turned into a much cleaner PlayStation 2 game in Japan, an even cleaner manga and then finally, a romantic anime with clear and straightforward direction.

This is a very romantic anime with a subtle anti-racism message underneath, and just the right amount of slapstick comedy and action where needed.

The story starts us off with a little backstory. Somewhere in the future, we go to war with the people of the Moon, and we nearly blow up both sides in the process. The Moon wants peace, but doesn't know how to go about it. Earth is pig-headed. There. I said it.

Fast forward a number of years and we find Tatsuya, the middle child and only son of a trio of adopted siblings. His father spends most of his time in deep space, leaving Tatsuya in the care of Sayaka, a distant cousin who acts as a surrogate older sister/mother. He also lives with his adopted little sister Mai, who has no blood relation to the family and plays the flute.

One day, Tatsuya returns home from work to find Sayaka has developed a home-stay inside his house and rented out a room for the princess of the Moon, Princess Feena Fam Earthlight (one hell of a name) with whom Tatsuya instantly falls in love with. He doesn't remember it yet, but he was actually the childhood friend of Feena, and helped her cope with the sudden loss of her mother, just before racial tensions arose again between Earthlings and people from the Moon.

Over the course of the 12 episode series, Tatsuya and Feena fall in love, while trying to sort through the daily problems of high school, the government, the Moon's military, Feena's psychotic fiancee and the usual long line of pretty girls usually saved for the average "Harem" type anime, with great slapstick comedy involving Jin, the perverted older brother of Tatsuya's childhood classmate Natsuki.

The last episode is the most enjoyable. Unlike the visual novel, Tatsuya is faithful to Feena, and their emotions come to a head in the final episode, which sees a showdown with Feena's now ex-fiancee and with her father, as the whole cast learns that the Earth and the Moon's people... are actually the same. And just when all seems lost, a miracle happens, which leads to a sugary sweet and very satisfying ending.

The passion between Tatsuya and Feena is so thick, by episode six you can cut it with a knife. These two have to face so much together, and whether the storm of a very nosey cast, but the way their emotions are drawn and animated for the screen is perfect. You can practically hear what the other is thinking when there is no audio going on, and it's really no wonder this started off as a Hentai.

The war segments are your typical military-anime writing, complete with government characters that are so hard-headed, you just want to rip your hair out. But if you can sit through these scenes long enough, it'll be all the more enjoyable once the final episode plays, and again, an anti-racism sentiment ends up saving the day and renewing these characters.

Brighter Than the Dawning Blue is very short, so it doesn't have a lot of time to provide you with much action. But it's a sweet love story with a fairy-tale ending that's sure to please.

Indian Summer currently airs on Hulu and The Anime Network. Hulu requires a Hulu+ subscription for viewing. Anime Network requires it's own subscription if you are watching via Roku, but if you are watching via PC, MAC or Laptop, you will need a Hulu+ login, as the website siphons the stream from Hulu. ADV released the original DVD seen left of this text back in 2009, but Sentai Filmworks is releasing a new HD print February 2016. As of 01/23/2016, both releases are slightly under $20 on Amazon. It's a three episode OVA, with each episode running close to 25 minutes in length.

Indian Summer wanted to be a hentai. It really did, honest! It just tried it's very best to become a hentai. At least, that's the impression I got from watching this OVA.

Based off of a seven volume manga series by Ecchi artist Takehito Mizuki, who is also known for drawing the series "Otomari Honey", Indian Summer is supposed to be a comedy of errors.

Indian summer is named for 19th century, racially insensitive slang used to describe hot summers in areas of the United States mostly inhabited by Native Americans, which is weird, considering that there is nothing racially insensitive about this OVA. In fact, summer itself is barely mentioned, and the title only pops up before the final-ever credits.

The story begins with Takaya Murase, a young man who lives alone and is a perverted otaku. He collects anime figures and has a thing for maids. He's also gifted at sewing and cooking, and works part-time at Cafe Cowbeya, a maid cafe that serves coffee.

In the first episode, we see him shopping for a robot at MaidWorks, a company that specializes in human-like robot maid girls with fully functional A.I. While he is dazzled by the hotness of all the robot women, he is most captivated by a robot, who unconsciously grabs him by the shirt while she is lying on the floor. He instantly buys her, and has her shipped to his home.

The new robot is Yui, a busty, temperamental blonde in pigtails, who is at first disgusted by Takaya's fetishes. She demonstrates this by throwing away his figurine collection and scolding him for being perverted, which not only fails to curb Takaya's natural naughty side, but also backfires on her in the second episode. Yui at first comes across as annoying and self-righteous, but as we follow the story, we see she's actually your classic "tsundere", running hot and cold.

During the three episode run, Takaya and Yui end up dealing with more busty females, such as Minori, the daughter of Cafe Cowbeya's owner, who has a slight crush on Takaya, and wants to become a mother someday, Kuon, a moody and elegant robot who is desperate to find a master to call her own, and finally Sakuya, a bubbly, pink-haired robot, created from the figurines Yui tossed in the trash, whose soul was created from the love (and lust) Takaya showed his collection before meeting Yui. They also are routinely greeted by the store manager for MaidWorks, who becomes a good friend to Yui and Kuon. 

The cast also includes a few out of place characters, such as Kanae, a temperamental young mother with a larger set than Minori, Ayumi, daughter of Kanae, who is an out of place child who appears in a few disturbing scenes, an then the flat-chested Miko sisters; Sumire and Ran, who usually show up as villains.

Amid the oddness is a light story of boy meets robot. Yui at first rebukes Takaya, but ends up falling in love with him, so much so that in the last episode, when it seems she might have lost him to a human, it causes her to short out into a coma. She tries to tell Takaya how she feels, not realizing that she really doesn't need to "win" his heart, because from the first episode onward, she already has it. This is a little sweet to watch, as Takaya tells her straight up that he loves her and needs her, and she just can't understand it. Sure it's sprinkled with Takaya's naughty nature as he keeps making risque costumes for Yui, but when you watch their segments from episodes 2 and 3, you get the impression that in a less-sexual setting, this would be a cute romance story.

... Unfortunately, to get to those short, sweet moments, you have to sift through the weird and uncomfortable.

For starters, Minori is the constant target of the Miko sisters, who (in a running gag) keep conjuring a giant octopus monster to abuse her with tentacles.

Ayumi's existence is out of place and creepy, especially in episode two, where she escalates from unnecessary kid character, to sexually harassing tsundere. She contributes to one of two PedoBear segments in the series, being preceded by a disgusting half-episode, involving Yui babysitting a half-dressed baby boy. The less said the better, as this was tasteless and excessively creepy.

The series is supposed to parody hentai and ecchi anime, so it goes without saying that it's very heavy on fanservice, but you will be spending a good bit of time just fast-forwarding just to keep up with the story.

​Indian Summer exists mostly to those wanting fanservice. If you don't mind skipping ahead, it has it's sweet side, but the visuals for the non-adult scenes might be off-putting for most.

Papillon Rose currently airs on Hulu and The Anime Network. Despite internet rumor, the series is only seven episodes long, including the OVA. All seven run 25 minutes. It's available for free viewers on both sites, but you have to confirm your age to watch it. Subscribers do not have to confirm age on Hulu. On Anime Network's Roku app, the episodes run commercial-free.

This is going to be a LONG story. I highly advise you to stop here, go to the bathroom, wash your hands, and then grab a snack and something to drink. We have a long journey ahead of us, and I highly stress that you grab something caffeinated. Trust me, you'll need it.

I just want to point out too that the following review features fowl language and extremely ADULT content.

If you are under age 18, SCRAM!! Go away!! Flee. I don;t care how "mature" you think you are, or what your mommy and daddy told you, or even how "cool" your friends think you are, if you are not yet 18, you are a kid and therefore I want you OFF my page. You can come back to me when you're old enough to vote.

And if you're a parent allowing your kid onto this review, shame on you!! It's an adult show, with an adult review, written by an adult. Have some decency, people!!

​And to be up front, I'd like to thank the owners of the Papillon Rose Wikia, who went above and beyond to preserve just about all of the story content for the meta-series after the websites went dark. All of the Rose images come from them. The Sailor Moon pictures below are from my own collection.

Papillon Rose is the strange story of what happens when an internet hoax becomes reality.

​So once upon a time, it was the 1990's. We had internet trolls, hoaxers, hackers and cyberstalkers, we just didn't have these cute names for them. We just called them "assholes" and grouped them all under the same umbrella.

We also had plenty of Otaku to spare, and it was pretty much a given that if you were going to make a website based on (let's say) a fanfic or an idea, you would make it clear "This is a fan-made story, it is not based on ANYTHING real, there is NO season for ____________ G, it's just a fanfic." and people would understand. If you didn't make it clear that this was not a work of your imagination, we had the right to call you an asshole, and let other people know not to buy your fake VHS tapes off of eBay. And this was a good system.

And then one day, an internet troll working under the alias "Shinji Tobita" came along and changed the rules.

Shinji Tobita's pen name is derived from Tobita Shinchi, the biggest brothel district in Japan, so that ought to paint a picture of where this article is going. He's also used the pen name "Ai Hanazono" which loosely translated means something akin to "Flower Garden of Love".

Tobita started his rule-changing career by making up a website, devoted to "Papillon Rose" which was an entirely made-up anime. He took a few pictures from Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Wedding Peach and Cutie Honey, and PhotoShopped them to look like original characters from this imaginary anime. He then went on to create several concept stories, complete with episode synopsis, and made it look like this was a full-fledged anime with multiple seasons, a manga and a movie. To enhance the hoax further, he enlisted fans as voice actresses, and had them provide sound clips to the imaginary characters. He even went so far as to venture to Comiket and hand out merchandise and manga books for the "upcoming" project. Anybody who ventured to the website would get en eyeful of sexually changed "jokes", artwork and stories from the fake episodes, which were all ripped off from Sailor Moon.

And then the damnedest thing happened. Papillon Rose went from being an internet hoax... to a REAL LIFE OVA?!?!

Somehow, some way, after fooling people for several years, Tobita got together a few people from the equally fictitious-turned-real studio "Pink Company" and found a real anime company "ECHIGOYA" to produce one 24 minute OVA in 2003 titled "Lingerie Soldier Papillon Rose". It initially debuted on VHS at Comiket, and the VHS copy was later ported to DVD and then made air on Japanese television. The band Kuri-Zill performed the music for the anime. Shortly before production began however, Tobita had to make some emergency changes to the artwork, as he was still blatently PhotoShopping pictures from Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon R and Sailor Moon S, with one lone shot from SuperS and Sailor StarS. I'll let you view the evidence:

The character "Ranma" would later be named "RaMa" in some prints of the DVD, due to the fact that she's named after Ranma 1/2. She also had to undergo a complete transformation, because let's face facts here, IT'S FUCKING LUNA!!! 

I shouldn't have to say this, but Toei Animation and Naoko Takeuchi were not said to have been 100% thrilled about the old designs, though they did get the joke.

And yes, the cat does have a condom on the tail. And that serves as your warning for the rest of the series.

So going forward, we have the OVA, starring the main character Tsubomi, a (tell me if you've heard this before) clumsy crybaby who is terrible in school. Tsubomi however has a heart of gold, and wants to do right by her friends.

Tsubomi is a lingerie model in her last year of high school, so thankfully, she's over 18. Considering the show's background, that was just about as high as I let my expectations get, and rightfully so. Aside from being a lingerie model, she also works at a maid cafe, which we don't see much of until later. In the OVA, it's a pub with the implications of it also being a strip club.

One day, while running late from school to get to work, she bumps into a mysterious young man named Hikaru...... who takes her to a love hotel and has sex with her, in an animation segment that drifts between lazy animation and a drug-induced dream sequence. In having sex with her, he awakens her long hidden superpowers. He then leaves a weapon for her inside her uterus (Okay, WTF??) and then leaves her passed out on the bed. As the story goes on, she ends up finding Rama, a bitchy Siamese talking cat, who informs her that those new powers are her hidden identity as Papillon Rose. She is awakened in time to fight Sister Biene, a Kaolinite clone who is trying to steal the sexual energy of everyone in Japan, beginning with all of the world's men, because she despises them. 

I can't even begin to explain the fight sequence here. To summarize, Rose's "wand" is a giant *AHEM* "intimate massager" (you know what it is and where it goes) , which Hikaru left inside her uterus. No, I'm not going to point out everything medically WRONG with this scene, or I'll be here all day. Rose however can't use it right away, because Sister Biene is whipping her as hard as humanly possible. Hikaru, who actually doesn't have any powers of his own, appears in cosplay as "Dandy Lion" to aid Rose. How is it he implanted a magic wand into Rose, but has no powers of his own? Easy. Lazy writing. So anyway, he appears in costume to rape Sister Biene, which offers enough distraction for Rose to use her attack to kill Biene. Biene's death of course angers her boss Regina, who is a rip-off of Queen Beryl.

I apologize for the writing here. You must understand I was typing this out while gritting my teeth at the sloppy, lazy animation. Imagine view-master stills that your kid sister traced over, and you'll have an idea of what to expect.

Now after an OVA this awful, bordering on Hentai, you would think this would have ended the series once and for all. And if you thought that, shame on you. How dare you be a decent individual? OF COURSE a full fledged series was to follow..... sort of.

Between 2003 and 2005, Tobita returned to his habit of PhotoShopping pictures from Sailor Moon into Papillon Rose "episode clips" for his now defunct websites, again trying to fool people into believing that there was a movie and at least two seasons for Rose and her flock. Books were produced for Comiket only, showing episode "recaps" and even merchandise for Tsubomi and her future daughter Kotsubomi, who was modeled after Sailor Moon's first daughter Chibiusa, but named after Sailor Moon's manga-only second child Kousagi. (Ko- as a prefix means "little" in Japanese.) Each new story had the Tenchi Muyo effect, in which the characters remain the same, but the universes change. 

For each story, Papillon Rose, and her "Senshi" (Yes, the word was used) Papillon Lily, Papillon Margarette, Papillon Dahlia, and Papillon Cosmos, each had to endure rape, drugs and rampant sexual acts, in order to discover newer and better superpowers. Dandy Lion would either be killed off or go mad in each universe, and was a serial rapist otaku, who becomes one of several love interests for Rose.

LOVE INTEREST??? I'm sorry, did we all just miss that last part? Dandy Lion is a serial RAPIST and even though he sexually assaults Rose, but she's willing to welcome him as a boyfriend??? Ah how about NO!! In what universe is this even acceptable??

​You know what, to counter this crass idiocy, let me share with you all the link to RAINN which is fighting to combat sexual assault around the world. If you know someone going through what Tsubomi has with Dandy Lion, share the link and get them some help. Feel like making a donation? Their t-shirts are cheaper than store-bought and the bracelets are only $3.

Now if you had read some of these dirty stories from either the lost Comiket books or the website, you wouldn't believe for an instant that anybody would have ever granted this fool a TV run. And you would be wrong.

TVQ Kyushu, a subsidiary of TV Tokyo, offered to air a trial run of Papillon Rose episodes. But since this was a full-fledged network, some things had to be changed.

For starters, the drug references had to be dropped. Much of the sexual themes had to be dropped, but the costumes could remain the same as in the Comiket books and websites. (Thongs man, so appropriate.) The language had to be cleaned up, and Rama could no longer have a condom on her tail. To meet the compromise, Rama's tail now has a yellow bow on the end, the villains were replaced with easier to deal with enemies, Kotsubomi and Papillon Cosmos were dropped and Dandy Lion was killed off and replaced with his twin brother, Hibiki, a toned down ninja who fights under the name Torakage.

Another change involves Tsubomi's day-job after school. The pub/strip club was demolished in a "pre episode memory" and replaced with a maid cafe, which doesn't help when you consider that at maid cafes, the waitresses have to call every man "master" and behave like a slave to him. There's no sexual content in these scenes, but the whole "slave" thing just isn't a good enough replacement for the strip-pub. Ironically enough, mentions of Tsubomi being a lingerie model are left alone, so TVQ has basically decided that it's okay for a high school girl to model lingerie and save the world while wearing a thong, as long as she's off the pole. *clap, clap, clap* way to go, glad to see we can pick and choose our perversion. I'm just happy she's 18 or 19 by this point.

Papillon Rose's main TV show only lasted six episodes. Since it was made clear this was only to be a trial, the series wraps up the new story by the credit roll of episode six. They must have figured out early that there wouldn't be enough charity from TVQ to garner a second season.

The main TV show is set sometime after the end of Papillon Rose R and G, the two imaginary series that remains website clip only. In flashback scenes that are traced over Sailor Moon sequences, we find out that Dandy Lion was killed protecting Rose, and Rose's teammates have all had their memories wiped of the last year. So after regaining her own memories, Tsubomi sets out with Rama to convince Lily and Margarette of their past as superheroes. But while dealing with that, a new enemy arrives, fusing adorable, innocent, baby monsters, with random objects, in order to make them deadly enemies.

As if the weak script, sloppy ecchi toss-ins and lazy tracings weren't enough to infuriate you, there's episode two, (three on Hulu) where Tsubomi has to fight against "Babagappa", which was made from a baby Kappa, fused with the final energy of legendary wrestler Giant Baba. The Kappa-Dead-Wrestler hybrid is shown to be stupid, clumsy, and is very abusive towards the girls, more than the average baddie-of-the-day, and that's where I threw in the towel on this show.

Giant Baba was a saintly and charitable wrestler, who helped to found a wonderful company in All Japan Pro Wrestling and passed away from cancer when Papillon Rose was still doing Comiket and website hoaxes, and to see Papillon Rose degrade his memory to that of a joke villain is nothing short of sickening. This crossed the line of satire and went straight to tasteless. Sure, Papillon Rose is based off of shock value, but this went way too far. It was beyond tasteless and damn right dishonorable.

But then again, maybe being dishonorable is exactly what the animators of Papillon Rose wanted all along? If that's the case, then they succeeded. In fact, the show has left such a bad taste in peoples' mouths that both Hulu and Anime Network did not even care enough about the show to run it in order! On Hulu, the OVA correctly runs before the later six episodes, but all seven shorts have their titles mixed up, while Anime Network airs the OVA last. You know you screwed up when even the streaming services can't help you.

Papillon Rose attempts to bring shock-value humor to the magical girl genre, but fails to bring in laughs or even decent action. The writing is sloppy, and smacks of a desperate clown trying to write and masturbate at the same time. It's purely shameless, right down to the point where it almost seems like getting angry at it is giving it too much credit.

It doesn't just try to poke fun of magical girl Shōjo anime as much as it runs right out into traffic, screaming "LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME!! I can draw Sailor Moon with a mouse and add sex to it!! Aren't I funny? I sure showed THEM, didn't I?? LOOK!! I EXPOSED them and drew sex on top, worship me!!" and it behaves exactly like the internet troll that wrote it. 

My best advice is to treat Papillon Rose exactly as you would an internet troll. AVOID IT. Do not give this show your energy. If you find this or it's creators on Facebook, hit the block option. Tell your anime friends not to acknowledge this show. There are other anime titles out there, and even better Hentai out there, so don't waste your time on this troll of a show.

In 2014, the series creator posted another website, promising to make another series for it. Do not give him that attention. Just walk away.