It’s always nice to return to one’s roots – if only for a good laugh. My Yuri fannishness began with Sailor Moon, I whetted it on Utena and honed it into a finely-edged obsession on Maria-sama ga Miteru. So it’s kind of nice, in between the loads and loads of stuff for guys I read and watch, to take a step back into the shoujo world from time to time.

My sincere thanks to today’s review sponsor, Brent, for allowing me to do so.

Gakuen Alice is the first manga I simply decided to wait and read in English, not for any particular reason, except that I expected it to be out much sooner than it was. (Based on nothing but common sense, I believe that the delay was a conscious decision by Tokyopop to set this up as their flagship shoujo title after Fruits Basket ended.) I reviewed the anime originally in November 2004, and updated my review, with a pronunciation of “Yep, it’s Yuri” in April 2005. I knew then that the manga was not as Yuri as the anime; that only the early chapters really have the Mikan x Hotaru love-loveness. That’s okay. Today I am reviewing those early chapters. ^_^ (The anime closely followed the manga at the beginning, so for the basic premise, hit up that 2004 review.)

Since it’s been three years since I last thought about Gakuen Alice there was a lot I’d forgotten. Mostly, I’d forgotten how really obnoxious the whole Alice school setup was, with institutional bullying and uncontrolled and uncontrollable children. I’d also forgotten how freakin’ violent and depressing this story is in the early parts! Good god – *this* is what we give little girls to read for entertainment? I especially resent the constant sexual harrassment “gag” about the color of Mikan’s underwear – that’s not a funny thing at all to most little girls.

I’d also forgotten how hyper and funny Mikan is – and how much she really, truly loves Hotaru. And yes, I realize that their love is that of true friends, close enough to be sisters, and that it is unreasonable to expect that they become a couple (anime not withstanding,) but tell that to the translators! lol

This book is translated in a way that constantly beats you over the head with language that expresses Mikan’s love for Hotaru in a “love” kind of way. Like she’s setting out to find her soulmate, not a BFF. I know that it’s pandering and meant to be funny, but if you really want to – and what Yuri fan doesn’t – you can just interpret it literally. At the end of Volume 1, at least, there’s no doubt that Mikan is besotted. (Unless you want to doubt that. Then go right ahead.) In fact, the language is so over the top that it often seems like Mikan is repeating things she heard on TV and doesn’t really understand herself. Hotaru is, as in the anime, cold and distant. But that’s how Hotaru is – pretend it’s tough love and it’ll fit just fine into your understanding of the series as a “Yuri” story.

Tokyopop did a nice job on the reproduction, with clear tones (so important in shoujo manga) and a very decent translation. Some of the sound effects – the minor ones in particular – aren’t translated. The adaptation of the script is quite good – the characters even have voices of their own, something I rarely see in translated manga – sometimes because the original creators didn’t bother with voice, sometimes because the translators don’t have a good grasp of it. It’s important to me and sets a story above others in its class when I encounter it.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 3

Overall – 7

It was really nice to spend some time back in the shoujo world again and remember what it’s like to be a girl.

Long-time readers of Okazu (all of whom are clearly intelligent, discriminating people) will certainly have looked at the title of today’s review and asked “Why, Erica, why? Why do you continue to torture both us and yourself by continuing to review this and other Kaishaku series?”

The answer is three-fold: 1) Because their work has Yuri; 2) Because it amuses me to do so and mostly importantly; 3) I don’t know, I can’t stop myself. ^_^;

In any case, today we are looking at Eternal Alice Rondo Key Princess Story Volume 2, rendered for the English-speaking audience by the brave women and men at DrMaster.

Volume 1 set up the story in which obsessed Lewis Carrol otaku Aruto finds himself able to enter marvielleux space and observe and affect “Alice” fights between a host of girls who represent a host of fetishes. Aruto finds himself the subject of a rivalry between his obsessively adoring little sister Kiraha and Arisu, who is the very picture of Aruto’s idea of what an “Alice” should be.

Volume 2 starts in the middle of a fight with Akane, a mentally disturbed pryomaniac, segueing bizarrely (I was going to write “smoothly” there, but realized that the sarcasm would probably go unnoticed,) into a chapter about Kiraha and her obsessively adoring best friend Kisa making cookies. *Magic* cookies. Cookies that will make the person who eats them fall in love with you. Kisa wants Kiraha to fall in love with her, Kiraha wants Aruto to fall in love with her, and in the end the cookies make the person who makes them fall in love with the person who they made them for. In other words, nothing changes.

This is followed by the shocking revelation that the author of the Alice books is still alive – oh wait, not, he’s a descendant that looks, acts, sounds and dresses exactly the same. Of course. He offers Aruto a chance to be play a part in the creation of the third, unwritten Alice book. Clearly he is holding something back. Like his insanity.

Another smooth segue into a ghost story, followed by a pool episode. Kisa spends the entire time thinking about, fantasizing about and focusing on Kiraha, who only has eyes for Aruto. Who, if he wasn’t such a loser, would only have eyes for Alice.

Suddenly, we are wallowing around in the most painful memories of our various Alices, set off by an unnamed enemy, who uses those painful thoughts to defeat her opponents. Haha on her, Arisu has no memories, so she wins that round.

But Suwa has no intention of giving up, so she releases crazy Akane, and immediately regrets it, because she can’t keep her under any kind of control. Suwa manages to get a hold of Kirika and forces her to be her slave.

We’re introduced to a handful of other Alices, all of whom realize that they are actually in the series Rozen Maiden. A battle royale is about to begin, presided over by the Alice Master who, in another shocking revelation, turns out to be not a descendant of Alternate L. Takion, the author of the Alice books, but the man himself.

Suwa meets up with Arisu and decides that one slave isn’t enough.

We close the book with a sigh of relief.

DrMaster does as good a job as one can do with this series. The translation is as coherent as it can possibly be within the context of an incoherent storyline, and it is not the reproduction’s fault that it’s hard to see what’s going on in the action scenes.

If you are a fan of any of the various fetishes represented in the series, especially incest, which is the predominant meme, and plot, character and internal consistency don’t mean much to you, this series is certainly worth a look. For fans of previous Kaishaku works who watched or read for the Yuri storylines, I’d recommend sticking with Kannazuki and Kyoshiro both of which have much more satisfying Yuri couples than Kisa’s unrequited – and rather tedious- love for Kiraha.

Ratings:

Art – 5 sometimes I could even make out what was going on…
Story – 5 – this volume started to make sense, which worried me
Characters – Averaging out at 5, but I liked Akane for being completely bugfucked
Yuri – 4
Service – 8
Overall – 5

I almost feel like reviewing something else tonight, just to get this out of my brain…. ^_^