In Volume 1, otaku and class loner Kurokawa Kaede is thrown together with school princess, Fujishiro Nanaki. In time-honored fashion, Fujishiro gives a radical makeover to the girl with glasses, and they both find that they are willing to sacrifice their judgemental former circles for each other’s company, in Volume 2.
As Dekisokonai no Hime-tachi, Volume 3 began, I found myself actively reluctant to read this next volume of Ajiichi’s school-life drama. And it’s taken me a couple of readthroughs to figure out why. By the time I finished out the volume, I was right, but for the wrong reason.
As Volume 3 begins, Kaede and Nanaki are joined by two new friends, Izumi and Iroha. And the school trip is coming up – Nara and Kyoto. Iroha, who is from Kansai is not at all pleased, but everyone else is looking forward to getting away. Nanaki and Kaede privately each imagine time together,but…
…when the rooms and schedules are arranged, suddenly Nanaki is with Izumi and Kaeda with Iroha. Neither wants to be the one to pop the bubble, so they just go along with it. No one meant anything by it, surely. From that point on, the trip is bittersweet for them both, as neither has the nerve to say what ought to be said. And in the end, it might not have been accidental at all…
Here’s my concern. In the same way that Bloom Into You was *always* meant to be a Yuri romance, Dekisokonai no Hime-tachi is, as well. Despite the absurdly enormous amount of romance series I read and review for Okazu, I don’t really care for the romance genre all that much. The ending is preordained, so all the “tension,” the “will they, won’t they” is… well, I think it’s tiresome. Obviously, they will. Otherwise what is this book even for?
I assumed the whole separation of Kaede and Nanaki was a big farce and it just annoyed me, but when it turns out to be a plot complication I was only partly mollified. Because they will obviously end up together and this becomes merely delaying tactics.
I love Ajiichi’s art. I’m not fond of gratuitous nudity in the bath. I’d be perfectly okay without seeing nipples in a bath scene ever again.
I like Kaede and Nanaki. I don’t even dislike Izumi…although Iroha grates on my nerves. But I’m not sure how I feel about this story, other than reluctant. I kind of want the story to go back to plumbing the depths of the way their relationship puts them at odds with their own people, which I found deeply compelling in Volume 2. I’m not at all sure what Volume 4 could bring other than handwaves of “here’s a reason for them to not get together” that will stall the main relationship further….but I do like the cover, so I’m willing to give it a chance. ^_^
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 6
Yuri – 6
Overall – 7
Volume 2 of Failed Princesses is available now – a very strong volume and well worth reading. Volume 3 is available for pre-order, but not yet up on the Yuricon Store, with a February release date.
I kind of feel the opposite about nudity – I find it way more distracting when the artist either draws the characters like asexual dolls or has conspicuous puffs of steam or curls of hair always perfectly placed to cover normal human anatomy. It pulls my attention out of being an observer of these characters’ lives and forcibly reminds me I’m a consumer of a depiction of a story instead.
Now there’s an argument to be made that a lot of scenes that take place in baths and showers don’t need to be there anyway, and I agree. But then we’re playing an even sillier game where the artist has drawn a bath/shower scene specifically to show the characters naked curves but then doesn’t drawn them naked to spare our blushing eyes?
I say, if it’s not an ecchi manga, don’t draw characters in situations where they will be naked unless it’s important to the plot or character, and if you do have the courage to draw them naked. Nudity isn’t inherently sexual or dirty and I hate to see puritanical attitudes about our bodies (we get enough of that in America). And if it’s an ecchi manga and you’re avoiding nudity I think you’re pulling the old bait and switch. :p
All that said, I do realize that many mangaka draw a “censored” version of such scenes with the steam and whatnot for the periodical run and an uncensored one as an incentive to buy the tankoubon. Probably a big reason for including superfluous shower scenes in the first place. And I guess I can’t blame them for using a successful tactic to get people to actually buy their work; it’s not like many of them are rolling in cash.
I’m deeply uncomfortable with the idea that images of characters who are in school’s nipples are a selling point from beginning to end. Bathing scenes are alway gratuitous and narratively tedious. “zOMG, she’s naked, and I can’t look!” is an absolute failure of storytelling, IMHO.
The nudity in Our Teachers Are Dating doesn’t bother me in the least. They are adults. I find it unspeakbly vile that eroticizing children’s bodies is still, gods help us, common in manga.
That’s a good point. I tend not to read the type of manga where that’s an issue – the adult life yuri trend has been a huge boon for me. But, unfortunately, I also have to admit becoming somewhat desensitized to the issue after 20+ years as an anime/manga fan.
It used to really disturb me, but it got to the point where all of the series and artists I liked sexualized the underage characters this way and I just kind of tuned that out or I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the stories at all. It “helped” that most of the time the characters were drawn fully adult – big breasts, curvy hips – and it was easier to put it in the same mental box as 20-something actors playing teenagers on TV. It’s also probably the biggest reason why I hate moe and loli stuff even when that style is used on ostensibly adult characters.
It’s no excuse, of course. I’m still torn about it when I am forced to confront it. The best I can conclude is that I am not going to be able to personally change the Japanese cultural obsession with youth and specifically 14 as the ideal age. So I handwave: yeah, yeah, ok, sure she’s “14” (but has an hourglass figure and lives alone in a mansion with no parents and is a hand-to-hand combat expert etc. etc. etc.) And finally, I try to look at it from the viewpoint that, since it’s just a drawing, at least actual children aren’t being exploited whatever the creator or audience’s reasoning.
Maybe that’s a cop-out or makes fans complicit with a squicky culture/industry. The only thing I can think to do is avoid the truly garishly exploitative works (which I would likely not be interested in anyway for other reasons) and be sure to financially support creators focusing on things I enjoy as often as possible.
I feel this. I can’t change anything, but I can at least hold on to that discomfort and point it out when it crosses a line for me.