If you really, really like Shitsurakuen (失楽園) Volume 1, let me caution you about reading this review. I did not like it at all. I will be critical and, if you’re a typical fan, you’ll take that as me criticizing you, your tastes and your family – despite the fact that there is no intent to do any such thing. My intent is only to explain why *I* do not like it. So if you do like it and you are that kind of remarkably fragile that fans so often are when it comes to other people not loving what they love, then maybe you’d better skip the rest of this review. Your other option is to lecture me in the comments about how I *clearly* don’t understand what I read. Feel free to do that, of course, but be aware that my friends and I are laughing at your need to “educate” me. I did understand what I read – I simply understand it differently than you.
Shitsurakuen takes place at the oxymoronically named Utopia academy. We join the school along with transfer student Sora, and once again find that she has somehow – like so *many* heroines – managed to be accepted and transfer in without an inkling of what the school is actually like. Her expository friend Tsuki helpfully explains that she’s pretty much just transferred into hell.
Male students battle for supremacy, while female students are forced into subservient, near-slave positions, where they are dominated and abused by the males students and used to produce weapons with which the boys fight.
Fans of Revolutionary Girl Utena will immediately recognize many of the qualities of the duels, and will understand that every girl has been turned into Anthy. It comes down to our not-even-remotely androgynous, but nonetheless determined-to-protect-a-princess Sora. Sora’s name made me smile, btw. Utena’s family name was “Tenjou” – ceiling. “Sora” has broken free of the confines of that limitation and is the entire sky.
As far as the duels go, despite the guys’ screaming, Sora mostly keeps winning, except when she’s sucker-punched or ganged up on, thus accumulating a harem of 2.5 girls by the end of the volume. (.5, because one girl is currently questionable, for various reasons. No doubt she will join our our team – wink, wink, nudge, nudge – by the end of Volume 2.) Plus Tsuki, whose job it is to provide exposition.
As I said initially, I did not like this manga at all.
For one thing, the humiliation and abuse of the girls at the school made me ill. The near gang rape of a middle school student was pretty much the icing on that shitcake. And the premise that, if left unchecked, all men become abusive, rapist animals makes me angry on behalf of the men I know. I really didn’t enjoy spending time at Utopia. I want all the women to pick up cast-iron frying pans and swing. Knees break easily, as I always say.
I’m sure that Sora will continue to save the day and will eventually save all the women at Utopia.
Ratings:
Art – 7
Story – 8 if you can make it work in your head, 2 for me
Characters – same
Yuri – 1
Service – 6
Violence against women as entertainment for women deeply disturbs and puzzles me. Violence against women as entertainment for men enrages me. And that is why I did not like Shitsurakuen – because being enraged does not make me feel happy. Give me a manga where equals kick the crap out of each other and I’m there. Something like this? Pass.
“Violence against women as entertainment for women deeply disturbs and puzzles me.”
Ditto. In many “adult” visual novels/ dating sims for women, rape is pretty common, and I cannot fathom why, since these games try hard to make the player feel like they’re the main character. I know I certainly don’t like to imagine violence, sexual or otherwise, is happening to me when I play a game.
What *is* the target audience for this apparent drek? Come to think of it, what’s the gender of the mangaka? (’cause that seems to add another axis to the confused/disgusted graph)
And *as* a man, I have to agree that I feel insulted by the idea that men if left unchecked devolve into violence and abuse…and really, and other variation on the “it’s instinctive; they can’t help it” argument.
“I did not like it at all. I will be critical and, if you’re a typical fan, you’ll take that as me criticizing you, your tastes and your family – despite the fact that there is no intent to do any such thing.”
I guess that makes me an atypical fan. I totally respect your not liking it, and my following responses to a couple of your points are idle musings, not trying to change your opinion!
“We join the school along with transfer student Sora, and once again find that she has somehow – like so *many* heroines – managed to be accepted and transfer in without an inkling of what the school is actually like.”
Yeah, that is odd. Lemme guess, secondary school and domineering parents filled out all the forms?
“For one thing, the humiliation and abuse of the girls at the school made me ill. The near gang rape of a middle school student was pretty much the icing on that shitcake.”
I agree. Personally, at the same time, I liked the author’s tone and message that this is shitty behavior, not sexy behavior.
Kinda like Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series – not violence against girls as entertainment for guys, but violence against some guys (guys who are violent against girls) as entertainment for anti-misogynists of all genders. BTW, I found *that* series (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest), or at least the first 2 books (I haven’t read #3 yet) both gut-wrenching and good, YMMV.
“And the premise that, if left unchecked, all men become abusive, rapist animals makes me angry on behalf of the men I know.”
I didn’t get that impression (more that, for whatever reason, some boys got away with this shit in this setting and that maybe later issues will reveal boys who are against it getting stomped by the system like happens in some misogynistic societies IRL) but that’s just me.
One last off-topic and cheerful note, did you see this?
http://precur.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/they-really-do/
The violence against women is supposed to enrage you, so that you cheer for Sora to save the day.
I sort of got that same cliche feeling when I saw some of the characters in this manga: totally domineering men, non-resisting women, fan service (I don’t know why, I always feel like it’s insulting, like saying ‘I can totally read you, the viewer, and know what you like!’), etc. And some silly stuff too like the villain with the mask, because in high school it’s always time for Mardi Gras.
I do however always like a protagonist who’s blind to the stereotypes that society tries to place on them (be it gender, race, religion, etc.). In that sense I do enjoy Sora and the message behind her, even if it’s really drowned out by stereotypes. However on the male side, at least, I sort of feel like they all ‘have’ to be simple, stupid characters in order to make any victory Sora’s alone, and not have the story melt down into the Prince Charming Comes and Saves Everyone deal.
In that sense I can sort of agree with the poster above me where I didn’t get the impression that there was any ‘man-hate’ so to speak. Rather I think the extreme interpretation of the boys is a result of this being a shounen’ish manga, and fighting ‘grey’ (neutral) characters every week doesn’t really work out. There should definitely be some nice guys though to contrast against them, but that don’t steal Sora’s spotlight (I get the feeling the guy in the glasses will be a ‘turnaround’ character).
I do really like the art!
“And some silly stuff too like the villain with the mask, because in high school it’s always time for Mardi Gras.”
Given the uniforms in this manga and some others, in high school it’s all Mardi Gras all the time.
Which actually reminds me of this:
http://www.womenofchina.cn/Issues/Education/13171.jsp
“…”The plan to change the current school uniform from sports wear has been cancelled,” an employee of the school told the Jinling Evening Paper.
“The students dislike the current uniform, so the school took advice from the students last November, knowing that most of students prefer Korean or Japanese style school uniforms. We know cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou have changed their sports wear school uniforms to more fashionable uniforms” an employee surnamed Lin said.
“However, we had to stop the plan because many parents are strongly against it. Some parents think it’s just a way for the school to make money, and others think the new uniforms will take students’ attention away from their studies,” Lin said…”
Kids, why complain about your comfy tracksuits instead of enjoying the fact that you don’t have to wear fetish gear (I’ve noticed more school uniform fetish porn being aimed at middle-aged men involving Korean-and-Japanese-style or western-Catholic-style school uniforms than involving Chinese-tracksuit-style uniforms or British-sweater-and-trousers-for girls-style uniforms) to school?
“The violence against women is supposed to enrage you, so that you cheer for Sora to save the day.”
That’s true. At the same time I still totally understand how a reader can find Sora saving the day not enough to make up for the reader’s earlier feelings of rage.
Sora’s knightly demeanour makes this manga bearable. Everything else does not.
I refuse to believe that men would turn into cavemen once given the right to treat women like dirt. I know scuzzballs who wouldn’t even sink that low.
And wait–this was Yuri…?
Yeah, seriously. I couldn’t get past the first chapter. It felt like a cheap rip off of Utena, except with a girl that was not even remotely believable as a prince. I hate it when they try to pass of ditzy characters as heroic types. Just no. Can’t do much about it when you can’t even stand the main character.
The only good thing about it is that when I hear the title of this manga, I break out into song from that one lyric in Utena’s 絶対運命黙示録: “時のメッキの失楽園…”
Which just makes me think that it’s a rip off even more because they’ve already given too many nods towards Utena to the point of lacking subtlety.
Oh, and, btw, concerning Utena’s family name: was it not 天上 (heavens) rather than 天井 (ceiling)? Homophones though they are, I think it was, if memory serves, what was written on her dorm’s outside wall. Correct me if I’m wrong.
I didn’t think it was about men left unchecked becoming rapist animals – if anything, it’s saying that if you give one group of people power over another group of people, that power is going to get abused. Kind of like the Stanford prison experiment.
Agreed on all other counts, though.
Violence against women as entertainment for women deeply disturbs and puzzles me. Violence against women as entertainment for men enrages me. And that is why I did not like Shitsurakuen – because being enraged does not make me feel happy. Give me a manga where equals kick the crap out of each other and I’m there. Something like this? Pass.
THIS.
Many people think that you’re somehow supposed to shut down your ethical sensibilities when it comes to anything that can somehow be considered art. Screw that, I say!
I believe in artists’ ethical responsibility to actually think about what they are producing and how it can be read. But critical thinking is not the vestige of many people so glorifying violence, rape and antiquated gender roles will probably remain an easy and cheap way to establish suspense.
I admit I am conflicted with this manga. On the one hand, I can absolutely understand why this story would offend some people. I, too, find the use of violence against women as a means to entertain the masses greatly disturbing. (Although many would disagree with me, I thought Kannazuki no Miko was dreadful and found little redeeming qualities in it). On the other, I think there is potentially a positive message buried in Shitsurakuen about working together to overthrow the oppressive status quo. However, does the potentially positive message outweigh the violence depicted toward young girls? At the end of this first volume, I am leaning more toward “no” than “yes”, but I am still curious whether the writer can build a story that can overcome my initial negative response. It would be a remarkable feat for the author given the multiple ridiculous situations (e.g. of course, no one would link a kid with an eye-patch with the one with half-mask because there are often so many in a single school).
And the premise that, if left unchecked, all men become abusive, rapist animals makes me angry on behalf of the men I know.
I can see your point about the men in this manga depicted as abusive individuals. Strangely, I was under the impression that the cruelty of the young men was due to the context where such abhorrent behavior was fostered and encouraged rather than something inherent in their nature. I thought the purpose of the carbon-copy-cruel kids was more a comment about the power of institutions in shaping one’s actions or inactions as the case may be. I’m not excusing the actions of the male characters or even disagreeing with your premise. I was just interested in the differing perspectives.
“I admit I am conflicted with this manga. On the one hand, I can absolutely understand why this story would offend some people. I, too, find the use of violence against women as a means to entertain the masses greatly disturbing.”
I agree. However, in this case, I don’t necessarily see the manga trying to glorify violence as much as setting up a contrast between the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ characters (it’s just done so extremely that it becomes stereotyped). “Glorified” violence/rape/etc. in works is when it’s completely one sided with no real reason for it (IE there’s no protagonist working against), like every ‘smut’ manga out there, or offers it as some convoluted “solution” in the story. Those are the bad works that really should be ignored completely, because they don’t use the violence as a plot device or a setup to show an ethical lesson, but just put it in to get their jollies.
In this case, I think it’s a byproduct of what the author is trying to achieve. He/she wants to show how wrong the way of this school is (which is given by what Sora is trying to do) by showing how ugly/despicable the teachings of it are. But because *every* guy is in on it (what it seems to be anyways), it’s a much harder pill to swallow because we don’t have any other contrasting forces besides Sora pretty much. If she wasn’t there, then this would be a totally dumb glorifying-violence story.
I’ve been reading this manga for a bit (about the time it was translated) and I gotta say… it’s not the worst manga I’ve ever read…
My issues with it come in the form of the common “depiction” mangaka use for genders. I HATE when either male or female characters are devolved into one-dimensional stereotypes… unless it’s meant to be funny… which in this case, it is not.
as for the rest of the manga… meh, I’d say I could do better… but that’d be pretentious lol
I’ll keep reading it for now… it helps to remind me that there are better Yuri action series
on a side note…
I don’t think Sora needs to be androgynous to be a ‘Prince’, per-say… her being masculine would probably tie her too closely to the stereotypical depiction of female fighters (the tough girl who HAS to cross dress to do ANYTHING considered “manly”), and the last thing this series needs is more stereotyping…
I’m ok with the fact that she’s more feminine, kind of feels refreshing… and less rip-off-y of Utena
She’s definitely not drop dead gorgeous as well… just an average Jane…
oh, and as for Yuri… who knows, maybe she’ll keep getting swooning princesses… or it’ll most likely go nowhere, as Sora seems indifferent at the moment
I’d give this series a pass, I really can’t see any harm in it’s existence
This puzzles me.
There are a lot of stories set in, say, a farm using slave labour. The violence is pretty much 100% white-on-nonwhite. Eventually, the slaves rise up and win their freedom.
Why is it that *those* stories are seen as empowering, when EXACTLY THE SAME KIND OF STORY is somehow not when it comes to gender?
It’s a bit odd and hypocritical, in my eyes. Nobody whines about the germans when a movie portrays Nazis killing jews and jews doing something about it. We know not all germans are evil.
Nobody complains about a movie about said slave-owner farm portraying all whites as wicked.
Why the worry about the men here? It’s not what the manga does. There’s some men who do this crap, that’s all. A story does not need to show the “noble exception” to portray oppression.
Anonymous – I’m talking about a comic book that is supposed to be entertainment. You’re talking about.what, exactly? I don’t know what you’re trying to compare, but *I* wouldn’t find a book like that entertaining, any more than I find this one entertaining. It might be profound, important, well-written…but hardly my choice of entertainment.
” Nobody whines about the germans when a movie portrays Nazis killing jews and jews doing something about it.”
Nobody?
“Anonymous – I’m talking about a comic book that is supposed to be entertainment. You’re talking about.what, exactly?”
My guess is the book Beloved, the movie Inglorious Basterds, etc.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to compare, but *I* wouldn’t find a book like that entertaining, any more than I find this one entertaining. It might be profound, important, well-written…but hardly my choice of entertainment.”
Exactly. You wrote well about how *you* don’t find this revenge fantasy about a group that gets discriminated against IRL entertaining, not about why nobody else should either.
“And that is why I did not like Shitsurakuen – because being enraged does not make me feel happy. Give me a manga where equals kick the crap out of each other and I’m there.”
Right on. I got through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire by putting the books down except when I was *already* enraged (usually by horrors happening IRL that I’d learned about when reading the news).
“Why is it that *those* stories are seen as empowering, when EXACTLY THE SAME KIND OF STORY is somehow not when it comes to gender?”
Not when it comes to gender? Read more Stieg Larsson!
“I admit I am conflicted with this manga. On the one hand, I can absolutely understand why this story would offend some people. I, too, find the use of violence against women as a means to entertain the masses greatly disturbing.”
I agree. However, in this case, I don’t necessarily see the manga trying to glorify violence as much as setting up a contrast between the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ characters (it’s just done so extremely that it becomes stereotyped).
Actually, in that last statement of mine that you quoted, I was only stating my preferences in manga in general and was not referring to Shitsurakuen at all. I never said the violence in that manga was gratuitous. Although the author brought up interesting notions in the manga, the author’s repeated use of violence toward girls as a plot device is what I personally found disturbing. For some, this may not be a problem, but I tend not to want to continue reading such material. I make no judgments of people whose tastes differ from my own or ask them to justify their preference. I was merely stating my own reaction to reading that particular manga.
Well, I can see where you’re coming from but I must say that ‘men unchecked become chauvanistic cavemen’ wasn’t how I read it. What happens is what happens when you give one group of people power over another group of people.
Someone mentioned the Standford Prison experiment, I thought of this one –
http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7article/article35.htm
If one person nodding and saying “Yes, it’s all right. You must continue the experiment” is sufficient to get most people to the point they believe they’ve murdered another human being what can an entire institution do in terms of turning one group of people into playing pieces? I’m not saying it’s high art or anything but I can see it working out just the same way if you replaced “sex” with “skin color”.
You’re not the only one with the arguments you had here, and when I went back and re-read, I see why you think what you did about Shitsurakuen. But I read it very differently.
Men and women will act as their society tells them to act, mostly, and that includes made-up environments in an isolated enough space (the famous Zimbardo and Milligram experiments speak for that). The author went out of his way to point out Utopia was a mini-culture unto itself, even being on an island. Thus, I didn’t see the story as saying all men are evil or all women are wimps, but rather saying that Sora has come into a society with established rules, rules she’s challenging. The women are having different reactions; some side with her, others don’t. I expect the men will begin to do the same, but will probably have to be forced–most people, male and female, do.
As for women in danger, that drives most fairy-tales; think of Snow White, first having her heart nearly cut out, then being poisoned. Mind you, I’m not blaming you for disliking it; just saying I don’t think the mangaka overstepped fairy tale standards of danger, that it’s not managa misogyny driving it.
Anyway, too bad you didn’t like it. The anthropologist in me finds Shitsurakuen fascinating (and very accurate in some ways), Utena-rip-off scenes aside.
I somehow have the feeling that a few of the people here have forgotten what kind of public this manga is supposed to attract. It’s a fantasy that’s actually quite common in Japanese adult works. It’s like those manga’s that have only one plot item: a girl with big boobs. I find that rather gross, but apparently Japanese men find it exciting. The same with violence and rape. I seriously think that Japanese men are the only ones capable of finding guro erotic for example… I don’t see the attraction in guys having sex with girls with big wounds or missing limbs…
For the record I haven’t read this manga yet. As a matter of fact I had bought it in my local Tsutaya (Magazine/CD store here in Japan) because I liked how the cover looked. Also I tend to automatically buy anything that has the word “otome” on the description… :P So anyway it was lying right next to my computer when I read the review :P
This manga is terribly anti-male. All the men are abusive, rapist and just generally bad, but all the women are “good” but are all victims in the story of the “bad” men.
If you are disturbed by the violence against women, just imagine all the violence men endure and how much of it is around us. The use of violence against all the boys and men for comedy in animes like Love Hina or Tora Dora and millions other like them.
thanks for the short review.
interested in this, because I like women getting hit and degraded. adding this to my list.
… This Roy, is a sick bastard. I’m a chauvinistic, right-of-center guy who really dislikes homosexuals(lesbians are different), and I still think Roy is a sick bastard.
Btw, nobody seems to notice the demonization of gays? The “gay = evil” equation is what’s going on with the main villain’s posse (see “Depraved Homosexual” on TVTropes). What the hell is up with that? I don’t like gays at all, but I don’t hold with this sort of depiction.
That’s what this manga is saying, guys are essentially evil (and the most evil, the student council, are also hot for each other, as a natural offshoot of their utter, unbending contempt for the female gender, despite the fact that these effeminate pussies are less manly than many girls I know — manly in a good way I mean). The only “good guy”, Akane, is basically a wimp. This is Sheri S. Tepper all over again.
The manga is based on a fascinating concept but utterly unbalanced when it comes to gender and sexuality depiction. Is the mangaka some sort of disgruntled lesbian? Or a really misguided left-winger male? Or one of the 17,368 “in-between” genders that modern liberals like to self-identify as?
Well this manga is defiantly not something I would suggest to everyone but by saying it is about violence against women for entertainment, you are missing the point. The violence is depicted as a terrible consequence to women not standing up for themselves, and I am hard pressed to find any situation were it is idolized by the protagonists. All of the analogies to abuse in regular relationships is painfully obvious, so I am amazed at so many of you feel that his comic is sexist against women(I do agree on the charge that it’s against men though). I think it is very easy for readers to get outraged by the world the author has created and forget that this fictional world is serving a purpose. All the terrible things that happen to women are meant to enrage and shock you, and I don’t know many people who haven’t had this reaction.
When it comes down to it though, women are abused every day in much worse ways than this manga has shown us. It is pointless, and even damaging, to focus on topics, such as violence and rape without exploring how terrible they can really be. You can’t learn anything if you don’t get a little shaken up by the thing you are reading. Shitsurakuen isn’t afraid to bring these concepts to light, any that’s why I enjoy the read. I hate reading pointless fluff that is just meant to make you feel good because I want to read something that will provoke actually thought. I know some people don’t like reading for this sake though, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Manga is entertainment after all.
to be continued… to long…
continued from first comment that was too long….
On to the characters, I know a lot of people don’t like Sora but her attitude is supposed to be reminiscent of most other shounen titles with main male characters. It is a shounen title after all….She is undoubtedly goofy but this character trait shows that you don’t need to be reserved and intelligent to be a strong woman. She pretty much embodies the freedom that the other women are striving for and her having flaws in her character is important. It shows that just about any women can be strong like her if they have the courage to fight against their oppression.
My only real issue with this comic so far is how men are portrayed, but I think Akane(the boy with the glasses)serves a fine purpose for showing the exception to the rule. The comic practically explains why all the men at the school are jerks and Sora’s reaction to them as being abnormal clearly shows that the author does not mean this manga to be against men. This location is built clearly around sexism so any halfway decent guy would probably not choose to go to this school. Because of this the school only attracts men who are seeking to oppress women and women who either don’t have enough control over their life or are simply naive about the school. I would definitely appreciate another male or two who are exceptions to the rule like Akane, but the manga is still new and it’s hard for perfect equality in gender roles when you are also trying to tell a story.
As far as the homophobia issue goes, if all the villains are men, it is bound to happen that some of the men are homosexual, and that some are evil. If anything I would argue that this comic has some heterophobic elements(be that is a little ridiculous so I’m not going to go there) If you look at all of the strongest men on campus, quite a few of the are actually homosexual. Also with so many Yuri/shojo-ai undertones I am surprised that this is an issue. Sorry but lesbians are just as homosexual as gays and I feel silly to even need to point this out.
Well I pretty much wrote an essay here, but this is how I feel about the series. I completely understand why some people would not like it but I hate when people totally miss the point. This comic is clearly not for you and a lot of people here but it is not because the comic is sexist, it is because the situations deal with sexism in a way that makes you uncomfortable.
part 2…continued from first part…
On to the characters, I know a lot of people don’t like Sora but her attitude is supposed to be reminiscent of most other shounen titles with main male characters. It is a shounen title after all….She is undoubtedly goofy but this character trait shows that you don’t need to be reserved and intelligent to be a strong woman. She pretty much embodies the freedom that the other women are striving for and her having flaws in her character is important. It shows that just about any women can be strong like her if they have the courage to fight against their oppression.
My only real issue with this comic so far is how men are portrayed, but I think Akane(the boy with the glasses)serves a fine purpose for showing the exception to the rule. The comic practically explains why all the men at the school are jerks and Sora’s reaction to them as being abnormal clearly shows that the author does not mean this manga to be against men. This location is built clearly around sexism so any halfway decent guy would probably not choose to go to this school. Because of this the school only attracts men who are seeking to oppress women and women who either don’t have enough control over their life or are simply naive about the school. I would definitely appreciate another male or two who are exceptions to the rule like Akane, but the manga is still new and it’s hard for perfect equality in gender roles when you are also trying to tell a story.
on more part left….sorry it was so long…
last part….
As far as the homophobia issue goes, if all the villains are men, it is bound to happen that some of the men are homosexual, and that some are evil. If anything I would argue that this comic has some heterophobic elements(be that is a little ridiculous so I’m not going to go there) If you look at all of the strongest men on campus, quite a few of the are actually homosexual. Also with so many Yuri/shojo-ai undertones I am surprised that this is an issue. Sorry but lesbians are just as homosexual as gays and I feel silly to even need to point this out.
Well I pretty much wrote an essay here, but this is how I feel about the series. I completely understand why some people would not like it but I hate when people totally miss the point. This comic is clearly not for you and a lot of people here but it is not because the comic is sexist, it is because the situations deal with sexism in a way that makes you uncomfortable.