is an early

hentai Hentai () is a style of Pornography in Japan, Japanese pornographic anime and manga. In addition to anime and manga, hentai works exist in a variety of media, including artwork and video games (commonly known as ''eroge''). The developme ...

series. The first ''Cream Lemon'' OVA was released in August 1984, though ''Cream Lemon'' was not the first hentai OVA. The first was '' Lolita Anime'', released earlier in February 1984. Patrick W. Galbraith writes that ''Cream Lemon'' "was by far the longest running and most influential" hentai series in the 1980s and "laid the foundation for pornographic animation in Japan". Related to ''Cream Lemon'' is the ''

Project A-ko is a 1986 Japanese animated science fiction action comedy film. The film focuses on 16-year-old Japanese schoolgirl A-ko, who defends her best friend C-ko, as they face off against their classmate and rival B-ko while the Earth faces the threa ...

'' franchise, which was meant to be the third installment of ''Cream Lemon'' but changed during production to be a mainstream film. The only remaining indication is the bath scene with B-ko. Adult entertainment company Excalibur Films dubbed, edited, and released in English five ''Cream Lemon'' OVAs as parts two and three of their three-volume ''Brothers Grime X-Rated Cartoons'' series in 1987 and 1989. In 1987, Brazilian distributor Everest Video licensed the series and released much of it on VHS, in uncensored form.

Plot

''Cream Lemon'' is a collection of sometimes surreal stories having different settings and situations, with genres including fantasy, comedy, suspense, sci-fi, action, drama, mecha, magical girl, horror, and mystery. The overriding theme of the series is sex of almost any kind imaginable. Most chapters stand alone as separate titles, having no relation to any other stories within the ''Cream Lemon'' series. The main recurring character is Ami Nonomura, who has an incestuous relationship with her step-brother Hiroshi. ''Cream Lemon'' often focuses on unrealistic and exaggerated sexual themes. One example is the story of a teenage girl who does not like having sex because of a series of rapes in her family. To cure this, the school counselor orders her to strip in front of the art class and masturbate herself to the point of orgasm. She then has public sex with a boy and likes it, causing the whole class to start having sex. Many others are similarly surreal.

Media

Cream Lemon

Cream Lemon Omnibus

New Cream Lemon

Ami: From Then On

The ''Ami: From Then On'' OVAs are an alternate ending to the ''Ami'' series, replacing the 1986 theatrical short film ''Going on a Journey: Ami Final Chapter''.

Manga Artist series

Due to the

moral panic A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", usually perpetuated by moral e ...

after the arrest of

Tsutomu Miyazaki was a Japanese serial killer who murdered four young girls in Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture between August 1988 and June 1989. He abducted and killed the girls, aged from 4 to 7, in his car before dismembering them and molesting their corpses. ...

, three episodes of this series besides "Magic City Astalot" had sex scenes removed and were released as "The VHS Series". Later, the uncensored works were released as "full versions".

Miscellaneous specials

New Century Cream Lemon

After eight years, the first in a brief new age of ''Cream Lemon'' OVAs made its appearance, with another following the year after. The episodes are connected to the "Escalation" and "Ami" series.

Non-pornographic animation

A music video, ''Ami Image: White Shadow'', as well as a feature film, ''Going on a Journey: Ami Final Chapter'', were released in 1985 and 1986, respectively. ''Going on a Journey: Ami Final Chapter'' was screened as a double feature alongside ''

''. They were bundled onto a single

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

set released by

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966, which distributes music, films, home video, and video games. It is affiliated with the Japanese media group Fujisankei Communications Group. Pony Canyo ...

on September 21, 1986. An OVA series titled ''Cream Lemon: New Generation'' was released in 2006.

Ami Image/Journey

Cream Lemon: New Generation

Live-action

In March 1997, a live-action video based on the ''Escalation'' series was released under the title ''Cream Lemon Escalation: Angel Wings''. A romantic live action film titled ''Cream Lemon'', loosely based on the ''Ami'' series, was released in Japanese theaters on September 25, 2004. It was directed by

Nobuhiro Yamashita is a Japanese film director. Career Born in Aichi Prefecture, Yamashita attended Osaka University of Arts where he worked on Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's '' Kichiku Dai Enkai''. His graduation film ''Hazy Life'', took the Off Theatre Competition Grand ...

, with Chiharu Muraishi as Ami and Kenji Mizuhashi as Hiroshi. A nine-episode erotic

V-Cinema Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strate ...

(direct-to-video) series, ''Cream Lemon Label'', focusing on forbidden brother-sister relationships, was released from September 16, 2005, to March 28, 2008, with the last episode also being released in theaters on February 23, 2008.

Video games

Re-releases

Green Bunny Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created b ...

distributed the ''Cream Lemon'' OVAs across eighteen DVD sets from October 25, 1999, to August 25, 2000. AMG Entertainment released a single DVD box set on April 20, 2007.

Voice actors

;Ami series * Hitomi Oikawa as Ami Nonomura *

Nobuo Tobita is a Japanese voice actor and narrator from Ibaraki Prefecture. He is represented by Arts Vision. He is most known for the roles of Kamille Bidan ('' Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam''), Albert Heinrich/004 ('' Cyborg 009'' (2001)), and Sueo Maruo ('' Ch ...

as Hiroshi Nonomura * Natsumi Sasaki as Satomi Kudō * Arisa Andou as Kyōko Terasawa * Narumi Tsunoda as Yasuko Nonomura & Kyōko Hori * Kouichi Hashimoto as Ryūji Kōno ;Escalation series * Narumi Tsunoda as Naomi Hayakawa * Arisa Andou as Rie Komatsuzaki * Natsumi Sasaki as Midori Ōmori * Hitomi Oikawa as Teacher * Miki Itou as Mari * Ikuya Sawaki as Naomi's father *

Naoko Matsui is a Japanese voice actress and narrator from Hakodate, Hokkaido. Matsui was a member of Production Baobab for 20 years before becoming a freelancer. Matsui is most notable for the roles of Uru Chie in '' High School! Kimengumi'', Rem Ayano ...

as Arisa Kuriki ;Rall series * Sanae Miyuki as Caron * Daisuke Gouri as Ramorue * Seiko Nakano as Peruru * Arisa Andou as Yulia *

as Raike * Kae Araki as Sara ;Pop Chaser * Kaori Hanai as Rio * Makoto Kōsaka (Yoshie Takaishi) as Mai * Yuji Osada as Bartender * Yasu Sato as Zack ;Mako series * Mayumi Shou & Miki Itou as Mako Kiryū * Shigeru Nakahara as Yū * Masako Miura as Free & Repress * Hitomi Oikawa as Friend C * Narumi Tsunoda as Friend ;Super Virgin * Arisa Andou as Mako * Aya Mizoguchi as Iiya Ōane * Hiroyuki Shibamoto as Tamaki ;Happening Summer *

Hirotaka Suzuoki was a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, who graduated from Tokyo Keizai University. His best known roles include Bright Noa in ''Mobile Suit Gundam'', Kojirou Hyuga in ''Captain Tsubasa'', Dragon Shiryū ...

as Akira * Maria Kawamura as Keiko *

as Yuki * Minako Arakawa as Etsuko Aoki ;Star Trap *

Chieko Honda was a Japanese actress and voice actress. During her life, she was attached to Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society and Mix Max; she was attached to Aoni Production at the time of her death. On 18 February 2013, Honda died of multiple ...

as Ran * Sanae Miyuki as Kanata * Kouichi Hashimoto as Joke Tōgō ;Black Cat Manor series * Arisa Andou as Marisa Ayukawa * Yuuichi Meguro as Masaki Murakami *

Yoshino Ohtori is a Japanese actress and voice actress from Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. She was formerly credited as . Filmography Television animation ;1976 * '' Yōkai-den Nekomekozō'' as Mineko ;1977 * '' Muteki Chōjin Zambot 3'' as Sumie Koe ...

as Saeko Ayukawa * Aya Mizoguchi as Aya Ōmuro ;Nalice Scramble *

as Narisu Madogiwa * Kenichi Ogata as Principal Madogiwa * Emi Shinohara as Rami Ichimonji * Aya Mizoguchi as An Koshi & Kyan Hitomi * Yumi Takada as Seiko Madogiwa

Reception

AVN reviewed volumes two and three of the ''Brothers Grime X-Rated Cartoons'' series.

Notes

References

* McCarthy, Helen and Jonathan Clements. ''The Erotic Anime Movie Guide''. London: Titan Books, 1998. . (Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 1999. .) Chapter 5 covers ''Cream Lemon'' in detail. *

External links

''Cream Lemon'' official site

{{Radix Ace Entertainment 1984 anime OVAs 1985 anime OVAs 1986 anime OVAs 1987 anime OVAs 1988 anime OVAs 1989 anime OVAs 1990 anime OVAs 1992 anime OVAs 1993 anime OVAs 2001 anime OVAs 2006 anime OVAs Japanese adult animated films Hentai anime and manga Anime and manga about incest 1986 films