Well, I’m not gonna say that this wasn’t a really original book. In Mushroom Girls in Love, Murayama Kei creates a multi-layered society and an entire planet ruled by sentient mushroom beings. There is a royal ruling class, a military, scribes, herders and traders. According to the “Shroompedia,” the world was once inhabited by “gods” but now only the simple fungus folk live here.
On this world, all the beings are female-bodied, but in a blatant rejection of biology, some mushroom people still are “husbands” and others “wives” who are meant reproduce. If two fungi marry but are not compatible they might die from rot. Arriala and Erriela get married and are not compatible. Arriala almost dies, but surgery is performed to remove her spores (which I’m gonna be honest, gagged me a bit.) Because of this inability to reproduce which grants her an immunity to the royal curse, a Princess desires Arriala and kidnaps her. Erriela defies family, tribe, custom, law and the royal family to get Arriala back.
They are reunited, and leave both scribe and herder tribes behind them to join the traders and make a new life for themselves together.
I’m not gonna say that this wasn’t a really original book.
I’m probably also not gonna say it was an enjoyable book. Between the fungus-infected spiders and the extreme grotesquery of political infighting in the royal family, I kind wished both Arriala and Erriela got to be plopped down in another story completely.
But it sure was original.
Ratings:
Art – Both pretty good and pretty ick at the same time
Character – The leads were epic, everyone else was a total fungus
Story – Again epic
Yuri – Arriala and Erriela are very much in love
Service – 10 if you are a mushroom fetishist
Overall – I really wish Bruce were alive so he could have argued the pro side on this for me. Here is his review of the Japanese original as a stand-in.
I wonder if it hadn’t been mushrooms, how I would have felt about some other plant form. “Dandelion Girls in Love”? I have no idea. I’m probably gonna think twice before eating mushrooms for a few days.
I really hated this book, on many levels and for many reasons. I’m wondering if someone who did like it could offer a contrasting set of opinions. It’s always refreshing to hear another point of view.
Bruce’s review is pretty much that opposing P.O.V. ^_^
So I re-read Bruce’s review (I had read it first when it was originally posted) and I have to wonder if we read the same thing? Was there a lot lost in translation to English? Was there nuance and narrative clarity and foreshadowing and grief and all sorts of emotions that didn’t make the English translation? Ah well… :)
No, you simply don’t share his sense. It’s okay, you can just not like it and he can like it and both opinions are correct. Remember:
Just because you like it, doesn’t mean it’s good.
Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean it’s bad.
Just because its “good,” doesn’t mean you have to like it.
Just because it’s “bad,” doesn’t mean you can’t like it.
We all can simply like and dislike things individually without needing to convince people they are wrong or that we’re right. ^_^
LOL, I didn’t mean to come across as disagreeing with Bruce, just hoping that there was something I missed not being able to read the original, trying to give the benefit of the doubt to the original creator. Instead, I’ll chalk it up to it just not being my thing but glad it’s out there in English for people whose thing it is! :) Better to have more and varied things translated and released in English than less! BTW, I often use your four points above to help set norms of collaboration in trainings I do. They are well written! Thanks
No no, I didn’t think so. I just like to post our sanity rules here sometimes so people don’t think we’re fighting. :-)
Well, although I’m far from “hating” this author, their style is still pretty odd to me. Especially in Centaur’s life, which can combine a sarcastic parody of political correctness, a discussion of the genocide and playful yuri with cute monster girls
But, I will never call it bad, rather such a postmodern style of studying political themes is just not for me.