What if you entered a school that had a fabled old tradition and it sounded so beautiful and romantic that you couldn’t wait to be part of it…but once you did you found the system was broken and toxic?
Nao has been partnered with Asagiri Ibuki and she find that she’s genuinely falling in love with her sempai. Ibuki is kind and thoughtful and it definitely seems like the feeling is returned.
Kairo has been partnered with Abiko Yuuka, but while Yuuka and she have become lovers, Kairo is sure she’s being used. Abiko-sempai is emotionally manipulation and occasionally abusive and even when she is being kind, it hurts.
Both Nao and Kairo can see that Ibuki and Yuuka have a past. Ibuki lies about it to Nao, but Yuuka tells Kairo the truth.
Kairo is also going through a little crisis about herself. She refers to herself as “boku” and it’s pretty obvious that she’d like to be more princely. I think she’d specifically like to be Nao’s prince.
Yamada from the newspaper club says it first…the Aikata System is not working. People are being hurt. It’s broken and it needs to be broken up.
Aikata System ~ Gakuen ga Eranda Unmei no Onna no ko~, Volume 2 (相方システム~学園が選んだ運命の女の子~) did not go *anywhere* I thought it would and wow, am I impressed. Creator Hakamada Mera is showing us a version of Marimite‘s souer system that is a poisoned well, and I find that, as difficult as this book is to read or enjoy, it’s a compelling story.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 3 Partial nudity, sexual situations.
Yuri – 6
Overall – 8
Although I was deeply distressed by Abiko-sempai’s treatment of Kairo, I was relieved that by the end of this volume, Kairo, Yamada and Nao are all aware that this system is not working. I think it would be interesting to see the first-years band together and take down the system, although that might be asking too much of this series. ^_^
I cannot find any English versions of this manga anywhere. Did you read it in raw Japanese?
Yes. If a title includes the name in Japanese characters, it was read in Japanese, which was purchased legitimately in print or digital format.
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“We do not support scanlations or other illicit distribution of IP here on Okazu.”
Good thing I didn’t specially ask for a scanlation or illicit distribution of IP.
“Yes. If a title includes the name in Japanese characters, it was read in Japanese, which was purchased legitimately in print or digital format.”
That is extremely impressive. However, a bit odd, leaving an English review for something that can only be read in Japanese. Are your followers here also Japanese readers? As an English-only reader, it’s off putting reading your English review for something that is only available in Japanese.
Please feel free to begin your own blog where your preferences can be satisfied.
Your comment of not finding “any English versions anywhere” could be easily interpreted as inclusive of those types of translations.
I would imagine that most readers, regardless of their Japanese proficiency, are avid enough followers of the genre that they are excited at the very least to know what’s out there in the pipeline for future licensing. They may even actively lobby publishers if they see something new that they are especially excited about. Speaking for myself, while I do read Japanese, not every series is worth the extra time and money to read in that format, but might be of interest once licensed. In that case the early hype keeps the series on my radar.
Re: the actual book, while the concept is really interesting to me and could be both a great twist on and necessary deconstruction of a tired trope, I just have never liked anything I’ve ever read by this author. I especially dislike their art style. I think it’s just too off-putting for me to overlook even for a good story. :/
That’s interesting because for me the sœurs system was very confusing when I saw the anime. A sempai choose a kohai under vague circonstances and the pair have to fit and stick together during two years, generally the most important for any teenage girl… it’s intriguing but I can not see how everyone and everything can get along all the time… I’m curious about how broke can possibly be the system. Thanks for the reading and the review ❤️
The souer system isn’t very fully developed in Maria-sama ga Miteru, but it really doesn’t have to be, when you think about it. ^_^ Even beyond it just being a fictional plot complication, Souer are only just an overblown version of sempai-kouhai. Sisterly affection seems likely generally, among older student who guide younger in a club or some activity or interest for a few years. If you assume normal Japanese high school timing, you’re likely to have close contact with your souer for 2 years, give or take a few months, as you’d need to join a club, develop an interest, a sempai and you would gravitate towards one another, you’d be together until they left the club to study for exams.
Something I liked about Maria-sama ga Miteru, was the many different kinds of souer relationships we saw. Not all of them (actually, very few!) were platonic romance. ^_^
Did you mean that only a few were platonic or that few were not platonic? Personally, I remember at least 2 or 3 cases. Anyway, it always seemed to me that MariMitte just introduced their own fictional version of the original Class S, although I don’t know if it had “official” rules at the time.
I mean that, in a novel series that spanned 15 years and 40 volumes, there were many kinds of relationships portrayed.
I thought you were only talking about the volumes that were adapted into the anime, so I took this as your words about Yumi, Sachiko and the rest. So the original LN spans a lot more “generations” of characters?
Not more generations, so much…more characters and their relationships. But even in the main characters there aren’t that many platonic romance, most of characters love, admire and care for their souer in a completely non-romantic way.
And we constantly see other kinds of relationships even during the anime. It’s lazy thinking that paints every relationship with the same brush.
Yumi and Sachiko have a different relationship from Sachiko and Youko, or Yumi and Touko, and the nature of Sei and Shimako’s relationship is the subject of an arc on its own. Rei and Yoshino are sisters in all but name and Eriko’s relationship with Rei is very hands off. They are *completely* different. In the anime there is only one overtly romantic relationship and it is not a souer relationship at all.
Now I seem to begin to understand what you wanted to say initially. I took you too literally that the relationship that was not a platonic romance was supposedly a complete romance. I’m sorry if I really misunderstood you. Before this your clarification, I thought that every souer relationship was meant to be a platonic romance at least