Archive for the Light Novel Category


LGBTQ Light Novel – Friends

September 11th, 2016

friendsoyuki As the light novel series Maria-sama ga Miteru began winding down after more than ten years, creator Konno Oyuki did not rest on her laurels. She immediately moved on to a fantasy romance series called Ame no Tiara (雨のティアラ). I tell you this, because it’s a very human thing to assume that if you’re not personally reading someone’s work, they must have just stopped creating. ^_^

But, no. Konno-sensei is a professional writer and so, has been writing – often several novels at once. And, now a mere two years after she wrapped up the multiple strands of Maria-sama ga Miteru and Oshaka-sama mo Miteru, we are back in her front yard, looking at her with giant eyes, full of anticipation.

In Friends, Konno-sensei tells us the story of Kazumi and Midori, two young women who had been so close in high school, they practically were each other, But now that they attend the same fine arts college, and run in the same circles, Kazumi has basically been avoiding Midori. Circumstances will bring them together again…but in what kind of relationship?

There are many good qualities in this book. First and foremost, Konno-sensei is deft at building the characters. Kazumi has a family, a circle of friends, a history and a future she’s striving towards. There’s nothing about her that we’re left wondering “yeah, but what about…?” She’s fully developed. Midori, at least at first, appears to be more of a mystery. As the book progresses, we come to understand why – we’ve been seeing Midori through Kazumi’s eyes, and she’s working hard at not “seeing” Midori.

They clash during a gokon – a group date. Kazumi is genuinely uninterested in the men in the group, but not really sure whether it’s just that she’s uninterested or that they are boring. Eventually, her friend Mutsumi has had enough of her and tells her to leave, she’ll be replaced by Midori. Midori and Kazumi meet – and decide to blow the others off and go out together.

The book takes a sharp turn as Kazumi starts to realize that her discomfort with Midori was her own feelings for the other woman. She’s infatuated, but has no coping tactics. Kazumi ends up discussing her confusion with her savvy grandmother, who instant recognizes it as love, “koi.” Kazumi suddenly starts to realize that her distance from Midori is her own fault.

The two women are supposed to join friends on a camping trip, but Midori falls sick, so Kazumi cancels. When she visits Midori, she learns two things that profoundly affect her – all these years she’s been friends with Midori and she knew nothing at all about her family. Now, Kazumi is mortified to learn that Midori’s parents are a famous designer and actress. As she visits with Midori, she remembers whole chunks of her life with the other girl – and the dog they both loved – that she had forgotten. Kazumi breaks down and apologizes to Midori for being so aloof for so long.

Their relationship changes again. Hanging out together, going out to eat, shopping, Kazumi is spending more time with Midori, against a backdrop of her own family life and the mild mystery of the old man and young man who have moved into in the “haunted mansion” around the corner.

We turn away from the two women, to watch Kazumi’s family life, with her middle sister, who just started middle school, elementary school-age sister and their parents. Conversations are realistically weird, as the girls imagine whole novels’ worth of intrigue about the new neighbors.

But…there’s Midori. One day while shopping, Kazumi tries on a skirt that looks terrible on her. Midori tries it on and it looks stunning, so she buys it. Kazumi snaps. She leaves Midori and goes home, miserable. Midori is taking everything – her attention, her time, even her yellow skirt!

Miserable, Kazumi calls on their mutual friend Mutsumi to talk it out (although beats me why, since Mutsumi’s been kind of a jerk). They meet at their old high school. Mutsumi admits that she’s always thought that Kazumi and Midori’s relationship was unhealthy and that they needed distance between them. Upon learning that Midori is there at the school, Kazumi runs off to find her.

The two reconcile, and finally Kazumi admits her feelings, but she also admits to Midori that her interest in sex is abstract, at best. Midori says that her feelings are the same. They agree that they don’t necessarily want a physical relationship, but the idea of the other with someone else upsets them. What they both want, they agree, is to be together. They hold each other’s hands and look at each other. “Should we kiss?” asks Midori. “I think not.” say Kazumi and they smile and walk off hand in hand.

The last scene is some months later, as Midori, Kazumi and their friends plan for their group camping trip. The girls will get a cabin, the boys will tent outside. Kazumi watches Midori and sees angel’s wings spreading from her shoulders as Kazumi herself wears that beloved yellow skirt that Midori has redesigned for her.

The illustrations – which open up the book’s sections – highlight objects like the skirt, or Mutsumi’s lipstick, that are key points of the section. They are competently done, but give no particular insight to the story.

I have a policy when reading anything. It’s based loosely on Maya Angelou’s advice, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Basically, I take most of what I read at face value. I can’t tell what the author’s intent is and unless I bring my own agenda or intent to a character, I have to assume that what I see is what they wanted me to see.  So, this story has a happy ending for an asexual, homoromantic couple, as we say in the parlance of the day. ^_^

Ratings:

Story – 8
Characters – 9
LGBTQ – 7

Overall – 8

This novel is once again a chance to spend time with incredibly well-conceived and realistically written characters, and watch them deal with a topic near and dear to our hearts – two women in love.





Light Novel: Miniskirt Pirates, Volume 6 Crimson Pirate Ship ( ミニスカ宇宙海賊6　真紅の海賊船)

September 1st, 2016

MPCPR7Volume 5 of Miniskirt Pirates added a level of complexity to the “Three Ships” arc without resolving it. Jackie Kelvin, aka Jackie Celsius, aka Jackie Fahrenheight, who had been trying to obtain Hakuoh High School Yacht Club’s training ship, the Odette 2 (which has originally been known as the Whitebird and was, in fact, one of the original seven pirate ships from the Galactic war) turns out to have been hired by the Pirate Guild.

In Miniskirt Pirates, Crimson Pirate Ship, Volume 6 ( ミニスカ宇宙海賊6　真紅の海賊船) having fought Jackie to a standstill, the Pirate Guild’s representative, the cuthroat Captain Miura Grant of the Chimera of Scylla, appears and the fight continues. Grant grabs control of the Odette (and it’s star-killing weapon) and runs into hyperspace. The Bentenmaru and Barbarossa give chase, and are joined by several other ships.

The key point of this entire novel is this scene, in which Marika finds herself in command of not only her own two crews (the Bentenmaru’s professional crew and the Odette’s (now under Ririka’s direct command) amateurs, but also being encouraged to lead by Kenjo Kurihara (Chiaki’s father and captain of the Barbarossa) and in indirect control of several other ships, who have joined to help her. Kenjo cheerfully points out to her that Captain Kato Marika is now in control of her own fleet.

Bam.

At that moment, you can feel the shadow of her father, Gozaemon, looming up behind her.

Something else happens at that moment. Gozaemon starts to be mentioned. By name. Not as Marika’s father, or the former captain, but just here and there by name. If you’ve watched the anime, you’ve seen the utterly unsubtle foreshadowing that this echoes.

With the help of the Koukuchou, the Glamorous Ridis, the Death Shadow, and other ships, the Bentenmaru and Barbarossa free the Odette from the clutches of the Pirate Guild. Jackie bails, and Grant retreats.

Back in Volume 5, I said that if this arc doesn’t end in Volume 6, I might not read the next one. But realistically, there’s no chance now that I won’t. I can guess some of what is going to happen and I want to see where it goes.

As I did with Volume 5, I read this novel on Bookwalker Global. Now that I’ve adjusted the type on my Surface to suit my tired eyes, I find reading a page or two digitally every night not insurmountable. As a result, I think I’m moving more quickly though the book than I did in print.

I’m into Volume 7 now and the arc is still ongoing. I already know the climax, but the arc isn’t what’s driving me forward, it is and always has been, the characters. And I really want to know what’s going to happen to them.

Ratings:

Overall – 7

Still a lot of technobabble and space fighting, with a soupçon of electronic warfare and good ole’ reconnaissance and subterfuge. It’s a damn good military/pirate adventure and I can feel the end already.

Ahoy, Volume 7, here I come!





Novel: Ten to Chi no Moribito: Part 1, Rota Oukoku Hen (天と地の守り人〈第1部〉ロタ王国編)

January 24th, 2016

TtCnMRbBefore we get to talking about Ten to Chi no Moribito: Part 1, Rota Oukoku Hen (天と地の守り人〈第1部〉ロタ王国編), I need to back the story way up. The last you heard about Balsa was in Kami no Moribito (Part 1 and Part 2) where she helped two kids escape slavers and stopped a vengeful god from destroying many people, among other things.

After that, we turned our attention to Chagum, the Prince in Seirei no Moribito, who carried the spirit within him and whom Balsa had to save from being killed thereby bringing an unending drought upon his country. It’s been 5 years since Chagum and Balsa have seen each other in the flesh. In Yume no Moribito, they met briefly on the side of Nayug, the other world that inhabits the same space as their world. Chagum’s sickly older brother has died, leaving Chagum the Crown Prince of  the Kingdom of New Yogo.  He now has a younger brother and a little sister.

As he turns 16, Chagum sets off on a tour of their world. This is his last chance to really experience freedom before he’s an adult and he’s taking the opportunity. In the books Kokuu no Tabibito (虚空の旅人) and  Aochi no Tabibito (蒼路の旅人), we follow Chagum as he travels to, first, the southern islands, where he is implicated in a murder plot and thwarts a ritual sacrifice of a young girl and in the second, in a trip to the Sangal Kingdom’s archipelago, where he is captured by pirates and taken to the second Prince of the Tarsh Empire, who tells him that war is coming and Tarsh will rule everything in the world. Chagum is sent back, but is once again waylaid and taken to the Rota Kingdom (where Kami no Moribito took place.)  I didn’t review these two books, because while Balsa is mentioned, she does not appear.

Okay, so. As Ten to Chi no Moribito opens, Balsa has taken up her old job as bodyguard for hire again, when she is found by someone with a letter for her. Do you remember the youngest of the King’s hunters who tracked Balsa and Chagum? His name was Jin. After failing to capture them he left the employ of the New Yogo royal family and became a pirate. In Aoichi no Moribito he and Chagum meet, but I never felt he was truly an ally and was working against Chagum while pretending to be friendly. (Chagum’s one sort-of ally in that book was a pirate captain, Hyuugo. Hyuugo liked the young prince and felt bad about having to kidnap him.) Anyway, Jin sends a letter to Balsa telling her Chagum is missing, presumed dead, on the way to Rota.

Balsa decided she’s going to find Chagum and bring him back home. Her adventure takes her through a bit of Sangal and into Rota, where she is tracked by soldiers, jumped by a bunch of heavies working for a local criminal boss whose ass she kicks. She was fabulously badass in this scene.

The recurring theme at this point is that Balsa, although she doesn’t think of herself as anything different, is massively famous. She literally cannot go anywhere anymore, because the moment the woman who wields a spear arrives in town, everyone knows it’s her. There are songs sung about her and Chagum. They cannot ever be unfamous again.

While escaping from royal hunters for the Rota kingdom, Balsa meets up with Hyuugo, who is mortally wounded. He tells her everything he knows, and explains in detail that war is coming and New Yogo is doomed unless it allies with Sangal, Rota and Kanbal against the Tarsh Empire. He’s got an exceptional grasp of the politics and the veil falls from Balsa’s eyes, she knows where Chagum must be.

Balsa find herself helped by a village headwoman, and yet another long insightful conversation happens, explaining the political ramifications of the situation.

We briefly turn to Tanda, who is found and “captured” by a bunch of soldiers, but discovers they are extremely young and scared to death of the war that they know is inevitable. (We also have short scenes where we revisit Torogai, Tanda’s teacher, Chikisa and Asura from Kami no Moribito, and other characters from past books.)

Balsa makes it to Rota where she is admitted to Prince Ihan’s presence without delay. This conversation was so adult, it was almost refreshing. Ihan admitted he had had Chagum, and why he had captured the boy – he was going to hold him as insurance that New Yogo allied with them. But Chagum, who was being moved further north, was no longer in his castle. And Shihana, the shaman huntress from Kami no Moribito, who had been after Asura, is now hunting Chagum as well.

Balsa heads north, finding dead bodies and broken military troops along the way. The wolves were attacking  again. (The wolves of Rota get a lot of play in Kami no Moribito. They attack in massive packs and are ferocious. The first time in KnM we see Asura draw down the vengeful god is to destroy a wolf pack of hundreds.)

In the forest, shadowed by a wolfpack, Balsa is attacked by a group of men. With the wolves at her heels, she fights man and canine and is rescued, barely, by a group of three men, one of whom is Chagum. The other two are killed and Chagum and Balsa are wounded.  When Chagum embraces her, Balsa notes that he’s now taller than she. They find a hut to in which to hunker down against the snow and tend to their wounds. Warm, fed, and trying not to die of infections, they have an emotional reunion. And they talk about the war that is coming.

With the snow swirling around them, Chagum asks if Balsa will take him to Kanbal and she agrees, even if her bones should break, she’ll take him there.

End of book. Phew!

As with Kami no Moribito, I’m kind of surprised at the political maneuverings and details in a YA series, but I’m also kind of glad that Uehashi-sensei doesn’t underestimate her audience, and presumes they are completely capable of understanding the situation.

But most importantly – Balsa. She is now 35 and is still at the top of her game It’s obvious that she’d prefer to be a small-time bodyguard leading people across the mountains, but is neither running from nor appalled by her fame. Although she has not, she says, heard any of the songs about her. She is still quite capable of being the person who changes the course of history…and when she meets Chagum once again, it’s pretty obvious that they both think it’s inevitable that she will be. We also get a few clear glimpses at her feelings for both Tanda and Chagum. During a long, cold night while on the road, she wishes for a brief moment to be in Tanda’s arms. I think this is the first time we’ve seen that kind of admission from her.

Her affection for Chagum has never been hidden, nor his for her. He’s spoken of her admiringly in every book. When they reunite, it is with a warm embrace. We never doubted for a second that they missed each other. ^_^

Nor do I doubt for a second that they will once again change the world. Who can stand against the Ten to Chi no Moribito, the guardians of heaven and earth?

Ratings:

Overall – 9 Awesome, with  a side of terrific. This book has it all. Chases and fights and intrigue and Chagum and Balsa reuniting. ^_^

This final arc is a three-book series. I hope to be able to complete it before we get the story in the Moribito TV series!





Light Novel: St. Cross Gakuin Stories, Volume 1 – Welcome to the Mysteries Club! (聖クロス女学院物語　ようこそ、神秘倶楽部へ！)

November 23rd, 2015

321307000253St. Cross Gakuen Stories, Volume 1 – Welcome to the Mysteries Club! (聖クロス女学院物語　ようこそ、神秘倶楽部へ！) ends up a little like Maria-sama ga Miteru meets Scooby-Doo. But the path it takes to get there is a rambling one.

Back in the 1930s, the beginnings of girls’s culture was born and bred in the hothouse environment of girls magazines. These spread the idea that girls’ schools were a place where older girls chose and mentored younger girls, all in the name of becoming fine upstanding young women. This ideal was rewritten, redrawn, rethought, twisted, knotted and unraveled for the next 100 years as creators took “girls culture” and reimagined it for themselves and their audience.

In the early 2000s, this ideal was once again established for popular culture with the Maria-sama ga Miteru light novel series. And, once again, the same ideal was remolded into a hundred new copies, each with their own specific focus. And somehow the ideal has remained intact, mostly. Sort of. ^_^

Here at St. Cross Gakuin, a Catholic school, Hana and her best friend Nana are planning on joining the Fine Art Club. They have been together since they were children and have exchanged Mary medals as a symbol of their eternal friendship. When Hana loses her medal, she is extremely upset. Thinking she lost it in the art museum, she runs back, but starts to cry when she can’t find it. The beautiful and kind Student Council President, Shiori-sama, offers her comfort and Hana hopes that Shiori-sama is her onee-sama.

At St. Cross, we learn at the beginning of the book, underclassmen are taken under the wing of a secret onee-sama, who can only be communicated with by letter that must be posted to the secret post box on campus. It moves every year and must be found first. With diligence, one of Hana’s classmates, the eyepatch-wearing Kanon finds it up a tree.

So, we have the secret onee-sama, the lost medal, Shiori-sama, and plenty of stuff for a plot, so instead of any of that, the story digresses into the creation of a new club. The Mysteries Club, run by Kanon, will investigate the paranormal. Hana is strong armed into becoming a member and wackiness ensues. I don’t want to spoil the end, but you’ll have to trust me that everything works out and it’s really quite adorable.

There were some very interesting things to note about this book. Firstly, while the concept of Catholicism in books like this contains some of the more obscure ritual trappings of Catholicism, the one nun who has even the remotest grasp of doctrine is the antagonist. ^_^

The girls sometimes talk like actual girls their age might actually do, which is surprising and refreshing. I found it amusing that the concept that private school girls say “Gokigenyou” as a greeting is mentioned, only to be dismissed as an urban legend or “Sometimes we say it, as a joke.”

Hana and Nana’s “eternal friendship” is never mocked, nor presumed to be fantasy. This book is from 2014, we don’t marry girls off after school anymore, otaku fantasy notwithstanding. They can be friends forever.

There was a teeny bit of Yuri service when Student Council VP Mitsuki-sama is embraced by Shiroi-sama in a shockingly intimate way. (They hugged!)

This book is an easy read, an interesting many-times-filtered Catholic Girls’ School adventure;  it’s cute and a little goofy. The series is on Bookwalker Global, so you can enjoy it for about $5/book. I also found a page of reviews on Kadokawa’s Tsubasa Bunko site, which warmed my heart, as the average age of readers appears to be 11-12 year old girls. And me. ^_^  After all, who doesn’t want to read a paranormal mystery series at a Japanese Catholic Girls’ School, with a club run by an eyepatch-wearing 12 year old who had had a near-death experience? ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8 Cute and fun
Story – 8 Random, unfocused and fun
Characters – 8 Fun and odd
Yuri – 3 Teeniest little bit of service for fun
Service – Nope

Overall – 8 Fun enough that I’ll read the next one. Me and all the 12 year olds. ^_^

Oh, before I forget, my favorite utterly random line describes Kanon as having “a smile like a marshmallow.” What?





Light Novel: Miniskirt Pirates, Volume 5 Shirogane Kyuunansen (ミニスカ宇宙海賊 5 白銀の救難船)

October 12th, 2015

MSPSR6When we left off the narrative in Volume 4, the Bentenmaru, Odette 2nd (formerly one of the “original 7” pirate ships of the galactic war, the Whitebird) and the Barbarossa*, captained by Marika, her mother Ririka and Kenjo Kurihara (Chiaki’s Dad) respectively, have teamed up to take on the irritating Jackie Fahrenheit and his plan to takeover the Odette by using the lost “original 7” ship the Blackbird as bait.

In Volume 5 of Miniskirt Pirates, Shirogane Kyuunansen (ミニスカ宇宙海賊 5 白銀の救難船), we learn why. But not for a really long time. The first several hundred pages are what can only be termed “a submarine battle in space.” Yes, the boot finally dropped and this was a novel chock full of military and scifi geekiness, throughout which I missed a good of 53% of what was being said, because I am way too lazy to look up every kanji combination. (This is the reason I want ebooks digitally. It would be so much easier to translate on the fly with digital ebooks.)

So for about 300 of 400+ pages, they maneuver slowly around a red supergiant (coincidentally, a kanji combination I could read, although I have no idea how it’s pronounced) on the verge of going supernova (same), while they shifted positions in 3-dimensional space and put me to sleep every night with brilliant dialogue like “Turning 3 degrees to starboard.”

When we finally learn why Jackie wants the Odette, it’s kind of horrible, really. He has the code for a legendary weapon, the Stellar Slayer, and we don’t have to guess too hard what that does. But it can’t be used without a single piece of critical equipment….that happens to be part of the Odette’s bowsprit. (Bowsprit is the actually word used. I found that interesting.) Jackie’s “client” wants this weapon…and wants to be able to use it.

In order to protect himself, Jackie calls in the Galactic Imperial Navy and the final 100 pages or so are a slow battle with three Galactic warchips, with more turning of three degrees, then two degrees. The final climax comes as, rather unexpectedly, they find that tucked away in an old unused relay station, the Blackbird, a grand heap of junk, with a working transponder, about to be disintegrated in the approaching supernova.

And in the end…it doesn’t end! Argh! I am very ready to see the back end of Jackie, and also find out what’s going to happen, presuming anything does. When (I mean, obviously when) they get the Blackbird, who will captain it? Does Ririka take it over? I hope so.

Back with the crew members, we had a couple of good scenes; Lynn’s computer skills impressed Ririka, and Nora, the Barbarossa’s navigator and Hyakume, the Bentenmaru’s radar and sensor specialist, bond rather cutely on the Silent Whisper.

Volume 6 takes me halfway in the series, but I’m going to have to say that if this arc doesn’t end, I might not read the volume after that. Jackie’s very annoying and I don’t read books about submarine battles for a reason. ^_^; Oh, who am I kidding, I probably will anyway.

Ratings:

Overall – 6

Much more for military and scifi fetistry fanatics than people who follow the characters. I expected it much earlier on, so we’re pretty lucky. There’s almost no service in the book, other than this skanky cover and a bit about Misa’s clothes. The next most servicey thing in the whole book was a detailed comparison of which ship was bigger than the others. Barbarossa wins.

The title translates to “Silver white rescue ship”. As opposed to the black shipwreck of Volume 4. Volume 6 has a red ship in the title.

*Yes, I know they call it the Barabalusa. It still should be the Barbarossa.