It’s been about a month since the Marimite anime ended, and of course, we’re all waiting with baited breath to hear any news of a second season. In the meantime, however, I’m filling the void with the manga, running in Margaret monthly.

And since I have to kill about forty minutes here at work before the week ends, I figured an update of the manga story was in order. ^_^

As I’ve mentioned about a thousand times since this series exploded onto the Yuri scene, the manga is more detailed than the anime, and in some cases, more exact to the novels. Although for purists, any cut is a bad cut.

The first volume of the manga has been out since the end of February and we can probably expect a second volume pretty soon, even though the installments are coming monthly now and not biweekly. I’ve covered some of the differences between the anime and the manga of the first arc in my February 6th entry.

Well, now the manga is firmly into the second arc, aka “The Yellow Rose Revolution” and I wanted to share a few of the fun bits either changed in or left out of the anime with you, because I can. ^_^

Just to remind you (or introduce you to the story) the second arc deals with the repercussions when Yoshino (Rosa Foetida en Bouton Petite Soeur) returns her rosary to her oneesama, Rei (Rosa Foetida En Bouton.) This happens shortly after Yumi has become Sachiko’s soeur and she is still very new and uunsure of herself in her role. It absolutely shocks her when Yoshino returns Rei’s rosary, undoing their relationship…and poor Yumi is even more apalled when other girls do the same thing. In the meantime, Rei is training for a kendo match, at the same time that Yoshino is preparing to have heart surgery.

Here are a few of the more romantic/funny moments so far…

So, Yumi and Sei (Rosa Gigantea) are in the Rose mansion and Sei is coughing up the fact that Eriko (Rosa Foetida) is basically good at anything she tries to do, but is seriously unmotivated.

Sei throws her arms around Yumi, once again completely taken by Yumi’s cuteness. Yumi grimaces and says, “Why don’t you get yourself someone as a boyfriend?” and Sei laughs and says, “I couldn’t be faithful to some guy. Only Yumi-chan.” and kisses Yumi…just as Sachiko walks in.

The rest of that conversation is in the anime as well, with Sachiko telling Sei to play with her own petite soeur. Sei says, “Gee, I never thought of that…” and Sachiko yells at Yumi for not struggling to get away, and not to do anything that would make Rosa Gigantea happy. ^_^

While tying ribbons into Yumi’s hair, Sachiko calls Yumi Rei and Yoshino’s “carrier pigeon.”

Yumi is immediately distracted as Sachiko takes her hand, quite forcefully, and begins walking towards the bus stop. As they walk hand in hand, Yumi’s head explodes and her heart begins to pound and she desperately wonders if the other petite soeur have this problem of so wanting to be close to their onee-sama that they can’t quite cope. Her face becomes so red and distracted that, despite Yumi’s fervent wish that they stay connected a while longer, Sachiko lets go – she thinks she’s bothering Yumi. When they approach the bus stop holding hands – a few of the other girls see them and go all girly-squealy, but sotto voce, about how sweet it is that they Rosa Chinensis en bouton and her petite soeur are holding hands.

Later, at Rei’s shiai Sei wanders over with lots of snacks for Yumi, reassuring Yumi that she doesn’t need to be paid back, but Sachiko insists on paying for her. Yumi feels awfully contrite, because she didn’t think to bring her purse. Sachiko smiles gently at her and tells her that she, Yumi, should let her, Sachiko, act like an onee-sama every once in a while. Yumi sits, once again overwhelmed by Sachiko’s coolness. ^_^

One other difference is that Eriko’s absence is more notable – people at school have commented that she’s missing, and Yumi thinks she sees her, but each time, Eriko is gone when she looks again. At the hospital while visiting Yoshino, Yumi thinks she sees Eriko’s “ghost” because she looks so pale and is in all white – with further reflection Yumi might have realized that Eriko was wearing a hospital gown, but at the moment, she strikes her as ghost-like. It is from these things that the weird rumors will presumably begin about Eriko. ^_^

In any case, the manga is more satisfying than the anime, if what you crave is more interaction, more story, more personal details, etc. I imagine that I’ll write another update at the end of this arc and by then, we ought to have some news of the new anime season! ^_^