Archive for the Strawberry Panic Category


Yuri Anime: Strawberry Panic, Volume 1 (English)

April 4th, 2008

Strawberry Panic is a series with a fairly consistent pedigree. It began as a series of one-shot stories in Dengeki G’s magazine where the short, almost non-existent action in each vignette served to caption a exceedingly moe picture, about girls in “Yuri couplings.” It proceeded from there to be made into an anime, a manga (that also ran in G’s I believe) and a series of light novels, which were probably serialized somewhere that is also a typical fanservicey publication.

It’s nice that lots of girls, as well as guys, love this series, but that doesn’t actually change the fact that it was meant to be pandering, service and, ultimately, parody for a Yuri Fanboy audience. I expect someone will inform me exactly where the LN was serialized in the comments because this series’ fandom seems to need to express “facts” about the series to give it a frisson of legitimacy. Frankly, I don’t see why it can’t just be crap you like. As Bruce Pregger says, “Just because it’s bad, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it.” My corollary to which is, “Just because you enjoy it, doesn’t mean it’s good, either.” ^_^

In any case, in Strawberry Panic, new student Aoi Nagisa arrives at Astrea Hill to attend the notable and superior St. Miator Academy. Immediately, she’s thrown into intrigue when the star of the school, the Etoile, Hanazono Shizuma, takes a fancy to her in front of the entire student body. Nagisa is overwhelmed by Shizuma, and is further thrown into confusion by her roommate Tamao’s behavior, which can only be described as “pervy.” We also meet simple, sweet Hikari who has fallen for the Prince of her school, and is further thrown into confusion by her roommate Yaya’s behavior, which can only be described as “pervy.”

The first volume of the anime, (for which I must thank the gentlemen at Media Blasters) covers the first six episodes of the series, in which Nagisa is confused about everything related to the school from meals, to the Etoile, to her uniform and curfews. Pretty much everything she needs to make a complete and total ass of herself in every possible situation. We are told several times that her transfer was rushed, an “emergency,” but it does beg the question – does no one think to just sit her down with a copy of the school handbook? The conversation the day after we watched this, went something like this:

“Wow, A-ko-san, you’ve really got the hang of the school in such a short time. I’m impressed.”

“Thanks, B-ko-san. I made sure I read the school handbook when I transferred in. It’s so embarrassing to not know the important details.”

Just so.

In any case, I watched the anime with a critical eye for two things – one, if I was totally mistaken originally, and the whole series was an obvious parody which I simply missed while I was busy being pompous, and; two, the translation.

The first is answered easily – no, I was not mistaken, although I was undoubtedly pompous. lol The first quarter of the series is played “straight,” if you will allow the use of that phrase. Other than the obvious rip-offs of Catholic School, Onee-sama-ing, midnight tea parties, and other pretty well-known memes taken from previous Yuri series (most of which would be familiar to Japanese viewers more than western ones,) there is no obvious humor in the series. It’s played for moe cute, precious and pervy….not in that order. I forgot to count the number of *almost* kisses, but there’s at least one in every episode, which made me gnash my teeth originally and wasn’t much less irritating this time around.

Secondly, the translation. Up until right towards the very end, it was very good. Most of the usual honorifics were kept, right until the very end where strangely “-oneesama” was not, so we get that jarring turn of phrase “Big Sister Shizuma.” No one says that in English. Why “-oneesama” wasn’t kept as an honorific befuddles me – especially when I warned them ahead of time that I planned on being picky about that, as a fan and a reviewer. Also towards the end, in perhaps the fifth or six episode, there suddenly was a tendency to translate in that dubtitle way – you know, what they meant, not what they said. It left me with the impression that either they changed translators halfway through or by the last two episodes, the translator was simply getting tired.

And then there’s the QC…or more properly, lack thereof. In the last episode, there’s multiple typos in the subtitles. MB folks, I love you. But you NEED to QC this stuff. You can’t send it out the door looking like this. Seriously. It doesn’t look professional. Seven Seas is doing such exceptional work on the manga and Light Novels. The anime really needs to be able to stand up to the print series.

But don’t let my nitpicking detract from the genuine, laudable efforts by MB to keep the honorifics in place. “Shizuma-sama,” “Tamao-chan” and everyone “-san” is really a lovely change of pace in official releases.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 6
Service – 9

Overall – 7

It’s not fabulous. It’s very good. It’s definitely a good deal for the money. It’s very official – fans of Strawberry Panic *should* buy it and support bringing more Yuri anime over here. But. It could still be better.





Yuri Light Novel: Strawberry Panic!, Volume 1 (English)

March 16th, 2008

…A pure world within the walls that was reserved only for young ladies. A world of classes, sports, friendship and love, as well as mental and emotional bonds and passionate physical aches.

All of it existing only between girls.

Or, as that last line might be reinterpreted by the fandom:

“All of it existing only between ******girls*******!!!!!!!!111111111111one”

LOL

First, many, many thanks to the fabulous folks at Seven Seas for the opportunity to review the first volume of the Strawberry Panic! Light Novel series in advance. I previously reviewed the Japanese edition of this novel, and Volumes 2 and 3, as well and, by the time I was done with them, I was *dying* to get my hands on a copy of the translation. And now that I have, I can say that Seven Seas has not let me down one single bit. This translation was just about perfect. Not a single moment of eye-popping absurdity has been altered.

It was the uniform of the venerable St. Miator Girls’ Academy, which every single girl desperately wanted to attend.

(Was that every single girl in the world – or every *single* girl? I think the interpretation’s up for grabs. lol)

The overall tone of voice – that pretentious, overformal, precious tone, favored by moe fans everywhere, was captured perfectly. My kudos to the translator and adaptor.

Hikari came off as fragile, Amane as admirable, Miyuki as snarky, Shion as raging against the machine, Shizuma as a playgirl, and Nagisa as…Nagisa. Tamao isn’t as pervy as she is in the anime, Chikaru seems to be written by two different people – the one who acts like she’s pulling the strings and the one who thinks she’s barely interested, and Kaname…is nuts.

Kaname drew a red rose seemingly out of nowhere and offered it to Amane.

“Please give up; this is our fate. It’s all right. It only hurts in the beginning….”

And the Etoile competition is, to quote Tamao, a “festering pile of trickery.” She’s right, too. ^_^

I enjoyed every second of this novel, for the amusingly over-the-top tone, the heavy beating with the Yuri stick, and the fact that while I thought it hysterical, I am sure to get many emails and comments on how “beautiful” a story it is. My answer in advance, is to once again quote from the book:

Of course, most of the young ladies used their judgment when they heard those legends. But there were some who really believed them. …And yet those same young ladies grew into fine women.

Ratings:

Art – 6 (I’ve revised this down, because it’s too cute for some of the characters, who are supposed to be seen as sexy, or sensual, or masculine.)
Story – 6 (I’ve revised this up, because I’m no longer weighing this series against anything I take seriously)
Characters – 7 (Ditto)
Yuri – 9
Service – 8

Overall – 7

Translation – 9
Adaptation – 9

Strawberry Panic! is stellar as a comedy. Fans who don’t see that will find it to be stellar as a Yuri novel, because it is indubitably Yuri and therefore must be excellent. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Strawberry Panic, Volume 1 (English)

January 21st, 2008

Strawberry Panic, Volume 1 was a fascinating example of translation and adaptation of a Japanese manga into English. Before I get into the details of why I say that, I’ll give you (and the folks at Seven Seas, for whom I have to thank for the review copy,) the sound bite – this was a very entertaining book. :-)

For an overview of the plot, please see my review of the Japanese edition of Volume 1 from June, 2006. This review will cover the adaptation and translation only.

There are a very few small differences in the Japanese and English versions physically – the English cover lacks the tagline “Girls School in Full Bloom” nor does it list the names of the main characters. And the art, both on the cover and the inside appears to have been scanned in from the original. (You would *think* that, when a company licenses a series the Japanese company would send original digital files to works from, but in my experience they don’t. That’s partially why the borders on English translations are often cut off, or have white space when the original pages don’t.) In this case, they opted for small additional white space edges across the whole book. It really doesn’t change anything – I just happened to notice it. And even though the English edition does not have a dust jacket, the original Japanese edition has the world’s most boring under-jacket cover ever, so we lose absolutely nothing by it.

The Seven Seas edition includes the color page, something I think really sets their volumes a step above Tokyopop’s. It’s not like this color page is especially *exciting* or anything, lol, it just looks nice.

Here’s the interesting bit, though. :-) The original Strawberry Panic manga was run in Dengeki’s G’s Magazine, a bishoujo gaming magazine. This is a pretty hardcore “otaku” audience. These are not people with social lives, or indeed skills. As a result, they tend to have little to no sense of humor about their passions. They take anime/manga/games and their obsessions with them *very* seriously. This latter quality is reflected in western fandom as well. And, as I’ve pointed out several times here, *no one* likes to think that the story they love is worthless trash or obviously a joke, when they themselves take it so seriously. (This applies to everyone about *something*. Whether it be sports maniacs, car crazies, people who obsess about the lives of celebrities or royals, whatever.)

So, when Strawberry Panic was first released, despite the obvious parody elements, people took the story at face value. That it involved sexual harrassment, evil psycho lesbians, total memory loss amnesia, former lover dying from an unnamed disease, openly stolen scenes, characters and symbols from more than a dozen other series, etc, etc, was irrelevant. This, I have been repeatedly told, is an awesome story.

*I* can see that it’s a parody. Many *other* people can see that it is a parody. Some people don’t care because they are not familiar with the series being parodied or, they just don’t care. But the majority of SP fans, both here and in Japan, take it quite seriously. They do not see that it is a parody and don’t like it when people, especially me, point out that it is.

Bear with me here – I do have a point. The point is this – Seven Seas knows SP was a parody and they *adapted* it like it was one. Sorry it took me so long to get there, but you have to appreciate the underlying issue. By adapting it the way they did, Seven Seas runs the risk of alienating the majority of their readership. HOWEVER, thanks to cognitive dissonance and the human ability to ignore all facts that don’t fit in with our preconceived notions, most of the people who might possibly be alienated will simply ignore the clues in the text and continue to take the story at face value. So phew for them.

Here’s what Seven Seas did. The first few chapters of Strawberry Panic utilize both italics and bold letters to subtly offer a few “wink, wink, nudge, nudge” moments in the text. It’s only in the first few chapters, then they back off. If it had continued it would have become annoying, but by laying the foundation in the beginning, anyone who *can* see it, is let in on the joke. It’s true that some of the worlds they emphasize are also emphasized in the Japanese text – but not all of them. I’m not sure why they did it, but I think it worked. ^_^

I have only two complaints about the translation itself – can someone explain to me why Hikari says “golly” instead of something more like “oh, no”? It does give her a bit of a provincial aspect, but I never really got that from the original. Maybe I just missed her accent?

Also, I am deeply disappointed in Yaya’s criminally smart “Amane wannbees” (with “wannabees” being the actual word she chose) changed to “Amane nuts.” This is small, but they missed two things by changing it. One, in the context of the story, they’ve missed that Yaya’s understanding of human nature is pretty sharp. But more importantly, they’re missing that it was meant to parody Tsutako’s equally sharp understanding of her fellow students by labeling them “Yoshino wannabees” in Maria-sama ga Miteru: Kibara Kakumei. Seven Seas gets one point off for that and another because the word “wannabees” is so fun, why would anyone ever chose a different one? lol

With those two teeny exceptions, Strawberry Panic is otherwise a very decent translation and adaptation.

Seven Seas regains one of the lost points above for doing something which was technically incorrect, but for which I thank them with all my might. In the original Japanese Nagisa, our preposterous heroine, refers to herself in third person. It was meant to accentuate her childlike naiveté and girlishness. It also made it nigh on impossible to like her. For whatever reason it was decided that she *not* do that in the English edition. And while it changes her personality, it does so for the better. Yes, it’s “wrong.” Thank the gods (woops, I mean Maria-sama,) it was done. Amen.

Ratings:

Art – 7 (too moe for my taste, but not *bad*)
Story – 7
Characters – 7 (Chikaru is rapidly becoming my hero. She really doesn’t care what happens, as long as it’s a good show with lots of fireworks.)
Yuri – 9
FanBoy – 7 FanGirl – a completely different 7

Overall – 8 (7, plus one point for the amusing adaption)

Regardless if you admit to (or even notice) the satirical emphases, Strawberry Panic is an amusing, brainless read full of groping and service among privileged female students. Clearly, something to be taken *very* seriously. ^_^

 





Yuri Light Novel: Strawberry Panic, Volume 3 (Japanese)

August 10th, 2007

When it comes to Strawberry Panic!, Volume 3, I really don’t even know where to begin. This book was so cracktastic, so chock full of utter randomness that went nowhere and did nothing that the only thing I can think of to start is this:

I believe in my heart that stories that take place at all-girl’s private schools for the daughters of the privileged that are not action stories, ought to include no more than 1(One) use of private helicopters. More just seems overkill. ^_^

You may remember that Volume 2 in the Strawberry Panic! light novel series ended with Amane and Hikari having run away from the school together and Nagisa having removed herself from both the Etoile-sen and her relationship with Shizuma.

Volume 3 begins with the crowning of the winners of the most recent competition for the Etoile-sen – Spica’s newly returned violin virtuoso Kusanagi Makoto and Lu Lim’s girl prodigy, Byakudan Kagome (sans bear.) This couple was so utterly “huh???” I read the passage about three times to make sure I hadn’t gotten it wrong.

Nagisa, still suffering from heart break and nervous strain from the pressure of the Etoile-sen, decides to leave Astoria forever. Tamao catches her packing and begs her to stay – even offering to enter the Etoile-sen with her as partner. Nagisa relents and decides to stay, but doesn’t reenter the contest.

Momomi and Kaname notice one another for the first time. Woot.

Shizuma’s friends Mizuho and Hitomi admit to one another that they probably had something to do with Nagisa’s breakdown. In an attempt to reassure Nagisa, they told her the absolute truth about Shizuma and Kaori – that Shizuma never loved Kaori at all. In fact, it was Hitomi who was in love with Kaori, but since Kaori admired Shizuma so much, she introduced them. Kaori instantly fell under Shizuma’s spell. Shizuma didn’t want to be cruel, and she didn’t want to hurt the person Hitomi loved so much, so she stayed by Kaori’s side right to the end. This brings no solace to Nagisa.

Shizuma, under cover of contemplative internal monologue bares Miyuki’s and Yaya’s deepest secrets; Miyuki’s arranged marriage to some man her family had chosen and Yaya’s dislike of men, due to her father’s neglectful and abusive behavior.

For no reason at all, we learn Makoto’s secret, that she is illegitimate and that her her half sister is the “legendary” Etoile, Kusanagi Masaki. This fact is totally random, and never really given relevance and the fact that a whole new character arrives in the story to tell us this (a character who appears in the story primarily to be sexually harassed by Shizuma then does nothing else) makes the whole thing extra random. It also serves to show us that Shizuma, while in every other scene is genuinely kind and worried about Nagisa, when stuck in the bathroom behaves compulsively. (No, what it really shows is that painstakingly developed characterization will be thrown to the dogs for the teeniest, most pointless bits of service.)

Meanwhile, Amane and Hikari have run off to Amane’s family’s summer home. After getting wet in the surf, they return to the house to shower. Amane is overcome and begins to kiss Hikari. In a moment of utter, complete FAIL, as Amane begins to move down to her chest, Hikari says Yaya’s name. Amane stops and asks why, naturally enough. Hikari tells her about her and Yaya’s night in the pool. In a stunning display of self-control, Amane realizes that Yaya, poor bitch, is really in love with Hikari, and that if she, Amane, is ever to have Hikari for herself, she needs to return to Astoria, win the Etoile-sen with her, and rub Yaya’s nose in it but good. But she says it in a nicer, more cool and gracious way. ^_^

Lots of meaningless running around and angsting goes on. Yaya has stopped caring about life and is sleeping through class and haunting the halls of the dorm at night. When she does fall asleep she dreams sexually suggestive dreams about Hikari. In nearly every portentous scene, Chikaru appears, like some kind of omen of misfortune. In reality, she isn’t, it just seems that way. She also gets a random dress-up party with the Henshin Club for no reason at all. During this scene, Kagome admits that she doesn’t like Makoto, who made fun of her teddy bear.

Shizuma determines to leave the school, to return to her family and whatever marriage they have arranged for her.

The Principal of St. Miator, who likes her attendants in suits and sunglasses, suddenly appears in the story and also appears to find all of the drama fascinating.

The three Student Council Presidents meet to figure out what to do about the aborted Etoile-sen. Miyuki says that, since Miator is already holding the position, it should continue to do so. Shion objects for several reasons – Shizuma is graduating, and possibly leaving before that, Spica’s couple won the first petite crown and one half the second, so Spica should hold the position. But Chikaru regretfully says that Kagome has asked to be removed from the contest, since Makoto’s a big doodyhead. All three schools are without major candidates.

And then the first helicopter shows up.

Everyone – and I mean *everyone* – runs to the top of Spica’s big tower, the penthouse of which is the Student Council room, where the helipad is. (Yes, I am laughing as I type this.) The St. Miator private helicopter lands, disgorging Amane and Hikari, the sight of whom makes Shion burst into tears. (It’s hard to imagine if all you know of Amane is the anime version, but everyone at Astoria is in love with Amane’s good looks, her charm, her overwhelming charisma, etc.) Amane proclaims that they have returned, even though having left in the first place, they will probably be expelled. At which the Principal of Miator arrives and says that if Spica expels them, Miator would accept them. Chikaru chides the Principal, who is also her mother, for her recklessness. Learning that her family is an old Miator family, it makes perfect sense that Chikaru is attending Lu Lim.

Yaya has heard the rumors and rushes off, not to the helipad (snort) but to Spica’s Principal’s office where, when Amane and Hikari arrive, Hikari leaps into her arms, begging forgiveness. Seeing Amane and Hikari together kills all of Yaya’s unhappy thoughts and in a giant moment of satori, she realizes that she does love Hikari, but does not need to possess her. In her heart, she gives Hikari up to Amane, who accepts her happily.

Meanwhile, Nagisa suddenly realizes that she desperately wants to see Shizuma. Horribly, desperately. She runs around trying to find her, only to learn that Shizuma has already left the school. So, in a giagantic handwave, Tamao offers her *family* helicopter to go to the airport and stop her from leaving. Nagisa runs up just as Shizuma is climbing the stairs to the plane. They reunite with an embrace and kisses.

And they all live happily ever after.

The End.

So. I wasn’t really able to express to you in this review how much “wtf”-ness was contained in this book. Clearly the author thought the series was going to go on for longer, as she added in several characters that ended up doing not much of anything. I also think that at about the mention of the first helicopter, she had finally gotten a look at her paycheck for this job and thought, “well, screw that.” ^_^;

Both Amane and Yaya come through the series with actual personalities. Hikari fails massively as a person, but as a couple, only Amane and Hikari are at all interesting. Everyone at Miator was a bore and Chikaru was all foreplay and no payoff. And five years from now, when all the main players are gone, I have no doubt that Kagome and her teddy bear rule the school with an iron fist.  And, in my heart, I hope Kaname and Momomi have lots of hawt lesbian secks.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 6
Story – 10 for sheer wtf-ness
Yuri – 8
Service – 5

Overall – 7

I cannot wait to see this thing translated, really. It was so…yeah.





Yuri Light Novel: Strawberry Panic, Volume 2 (Japanese)

July 17th, 2007

Extra long review today because I’m heading out for Otakon (Yuri Panel Sunday at 1pm! All ages!) later this week and will probably only post in teeny, non-review chunks for the next few days. Before I start today’s review, I wanted to share this with you. It is a *real* honest-to-god email I received. I have altered it in no way, except to cut out the “Hello Erica” part:

i just wnated to tell you i love youre book strawberry panic so much well i didnt read the book i watched the show and i want more episodes that series made me depressed for a weak and im still not over kaori :'[ make mroe episodes :[

…

Moving right along.

In a surprise move, the Light Novel Strawberry Panic!, Volume 2 was actually pretty entertaining. LOL

As you know, Seven Seas has licensed the LNs. I am reading the series in Japanese first, because I wanted to see what the original sounded like before I read the translation. And, because I enjoy it.

Quick Overview of the Series and Story So Far

(If you know all this, skip to the New Bits):

Strawberry Panic! was a parody series in which many recognizable characters, concepts and whole episodes/scenes from other Yuri anime and manga series were taken and put into a blender, creating the anime version of a Long Island Ice Tea – tasty, intoxicating and not very good for your brain.

The story is as follows: Aoi Nagisa transfers into the elite Astoria, an academy that consists of three different schools – St. Miator, St. Spica and St. Lu Lim. Miator’s strength is academics – it is the oldest and most traditional of the three schools. Spica excels at sports and Lu Lim stresses club life and creativity.

Immediately, Nagisa is singled out by the “star” of the three schools, Hanazono Shizuma, who is known to be a playgirl. Shizuma is the “Etoile” (star) of the schools and is going to graduate this year, but decides to run for Etoile again with Nagisa as her partner.

Competing with Shizuma and Nagisa for the position is the “Prince” of Spica, Ohtori Amane, and another transfer student, the angelic Kotohana Hikari.

In the first Light Novel:

Amane and Hikari win the first contest of the competition, a very silly horseback race to “save” the younger partner from a tower.

Just before the second contest – a showy vow of love and fealty by the elder partner (Ane) to the younger (Cadet) – Nagisa learns that Shizuma’s former partner, and her first love, Sakuragi Kaori, died a short time after they were made Etoile.

At the end of the book Amane and Hikari are given the “petite crown” for winning the first contest, and Shizuma admits her history with Kaori, but swears that her vow to love only Nagisa for all eternity was completely the truth.

New Bits

The first novel basically followed the continuity of the Strawberry Panic! manga, which I have previously reviewed. (Volume 1 and Volume 2) Volume 1 included most of most service-filled scenes from the first half of the anime, as well…I’m convinced that the author was required to include those by the editor.

Volume 2 completely digresses from both manga and anime storylines. It begins with a letter being delivered to Russia (HAH! Bet you didn’t expect that!) to one Kusanagi Makoto, a former Spica student. Upon learning that her beloved Prince Amane is running for Etoile with a no-name transfer student, Makoto leaves her training as a violinist and runs back to Spica to “save” it from the horror.

Meanwhile in Miator, Student Council President Rokujyou Miyuki comes up with a plan so clever that if you stuck a tail on it you could call it a weasel. Amane, it turns out, was dead against this whole women-loving-women thing that went on at Astoria. She had previously proclaimed that she was not interested in such lesbian goings on……then she met Hikari and fell head over heels. As a result, she’s basically overwhelmed and on fire for her newfound love. Miyuki changes the second contest from a tennis doubles match to “The Devil Without a Face” in which the Ane and Cadet are not allowed to see one another for two solid weeks. Many a potential couple had broken under the pressure – either they couldn’t stand the strain and had cheated, or one partner had decided that they *could* do without the other. Two weeks is long enough for doubt and distrust to creep in….

Before the contest begins on St. Meriadoc’s Day (June 8, if you care) the schools are gathering together for large meals each night at one of the school dining halls. Into one of these comes Makoto, who showily commands the attention of everyone by declaring her love for another student – without saying who it is. Neither Amane nor Hikari are in the hall at the moment, conveniently.

Also that night, Lu Lim Student Council President Minamoto Chikaru shows up and plants in Nagisa a seed of unhappiness about how wonderful the late Kaori was and how much Shizuma still misses her.

Before the contest begins, Shizuma meets Nagisa in secret. Before they part for two weeks, Shizuma gives Nagisa a hickey to remember her by. On the same night, Amane and Hikari sneak out together. Hikari kisses Amane before they part.

Chikaru meets up with Makoto, who is so focused on Amane that she does not kiss Chikaru when the opportunity presents itself. Chikaru asks Makoto for a favor…

Hikari’s roommate Yaya is her number one fan. Yaya is absolutely in love with Hikari, but isn’t going to stand in her way – in fact, she’s her biggest friend and supporter against the other students who have been bullying Hikari quite a bit. But on night 10, Yaya takes Hikari out to look at the stars and her heart breaks at the way Hikari is trying to be strong in her loneliness. She embraces Hikari, and they fall into the pool. Overcome by Hikari’s beauty, Yaya strips her roommate and strokes her skin under the moonlight.

While they are apart from their beloved Ane, both Nagisa and Hikari are practicing for the dance competition. Kenjou Kaname, who resents Hikari deeply for taking “her” place at Amane’s side, finds that she is starting to understand what Amane sees in this girl, who looks so much like an angel. Nagisa, in the meantime, is filled with a dark desire to know more about Kaori.

Shizuma has a dream, in which Kaori comes to her as an angel and tells her to be happy.

On the next to last night of the contest, Makoto holds a concert. The whole school attends. Amane and Hikari meet up in secret and later that night, they sneak off to be together. They are immediately discovered by, who else, Makoto, who brings one of the nuns and the three Student Council Presidents as witnesses. Amane and Hikari are disqualified.

One the last day of the contest, Nagisa can’t take another second – she finds Shizuma and demands to know more about Kaori. As Shizuma tells her what she wants to know, she is filled with the certainty that Shizuma is still in love with Kaori – and that their relationship is a sham.

The Spica Student Council is determining who will be their replacement for the dance contest when Lu Lim President Chikaru shows up and admits to being the one who sabotaged both sides. Spica President Toumori Shion asks why, since Lu Lim didn’t want the title. Chikaru explains that Lu Lim *did* want the title. In fact, the “Henshin Club” (the cosplay club run by Chikaru) was a front for her real plan – to turn her harem of underclassmen into school idols and future Etoile. The cosplay was all part of teaching them different roles and responsibilities and to promote them around the school.

As the third and final competition, the dance contest, begins, Amane and Hikari quietly leave the school together, and Nagisa officially pulls herself from the Etoile contest.

The dance contest starts, with Makoto and Student Council Secretary Tsubomi representing Spica and Chikaru’s protégés Remon and Kizuna representing Lu Lim.

End of Book.

I thought that the author did a pretty decent job of adding depth to most of the characters, changing several for the better. Amane and Hikari particularly, were given actual personalities; Yaya’s pain was given some depth; Miyuki continues to be far snarkier and funnier than her anime incarnation; and Nagisa’s behavior makes actual sense. Chikaru, while gaining depth, is also really creepy throughout the novel. I really liked how her cosplay obsession was made into part of the plot (her’s and the book’s.) Extra points to the author for that. :-)

Shizuma remains undeveloped if, perhaps, a bit sweeter and less manipulative than the anime version. Shion took the biggest hit in this novel – she sort of loses all personality and just spends the book being stunned and shocked. Kaname becomes a nasty temper on the hoof – I quite liked her, but I wish she’d stop obsessing about Amane. It’s getting tired.

Lastly, Tamao. I am not in alignment with most of Yuri fandumb in revering her anime incarnation. But I do not find sexual harassment appealing – whether it’s done by a woman or not. In the novels, she’s just annoying to me. Nagisa’s clueless – despite having been at school for several months now – and Tamao steadfastly provides no useful information. Their conversations look like this:

N: “Meowmeow? What’s that?”
T: “Oh, that’s right, you wouldn’t know about it. Oh well, you’ll find out. Tee hee!”

Every time the two of them had a conversation, the book ground to a halt in my opinion.

Overall, while less servicey than anime, manga or the first novel, I think that this book is really quite entertaining. There’s a genuine attempt by the author to imbue these characters with some real dimension and the plot with some real oomph.

Ratings:

Art – 6 (one point off for so often illustrating things we don’t want to see and not illustrating the ones we do)
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 5

Overall – 7

Last comment: EVERYTIME Hikari appears, she cries. Every time. No exceptions. It would make a good drinking game – drink when Hikari cries. You’d be blotto by page 50. It’s a 300+ page book.