Archive for the Light Novel Category


Random Thoughts on the Strawberry Panic Light Novel Omnibus (English)

June 16th, 2011

SPN2There’s two things you need to know up front about today’s post about Strawberry Panic: The Complete Novel Collection.

1) This not a review. I’ll explain why in a moment.

2) I worked as the Copy Editor on this book and so, if you find any typos, I declare them things that were found, but inexplicably not corrected. Kapeesh? ^_^

Okay, so, this isn’t a review because realistically, you either LOVED Strawberry Panic anime, manga and/or Light Novels and nothing I will ever say will sway you from your opinion or you didn’t love it and ditto. And, at least for the first two novels, I’ve already reviewed them in English.

It’s also not a synopsis because I did that already too, when discussing the original three volumes in Japanese.

Instead, I’m going to jot down some random thoughts about the series.

Thought 1 – I want to congratulate and thank Seven Seas for another excellent adaptation from Japanese into English. If at any point you think the books sound utterly ridiculous and no one speaks that way, you should thank the translators and editors for perfectly capturing the tone of voice from the Japanese.

The original novels were written in a tone of voice I don’t have a word for, so if you can think of one, let me know. The tone is faux-serious, overformal and precious, yet so facetious and corny that it’s hard to take any individual sentence seriously, much less whole conversations. Oh, wait! I have it – a new word to describe this! I will call it moego, the language of moe. ^_^

Well, these novels are written in full moego, let me tell you. As I read, I keep saying to myself – no one speaks that way. And really, no one does.

Thought 2 – The one genuine negative comment I have about this book is that it is both an omnibus, but made with thin paper. So it feels…impermanent, but clunky. The originals were all Light Novels, which are printed in a small size and made to be a quick read, so can get away with less than stellar paper, precisely because they are “Light” novels. This collection has too much bulk to be easily carriable and yet is made kinda crappily, so it won’t survive being carried around in a book bag or briefcase well.

Thought 3 – I feel bad for this book, because there are very few anime/manga reviewers who can really do it justice. The very intelligent reviewers out there will look at this thing like a piece of three-day old dead cod. They won’t “understand” it, (as few have “understood” A Certain Scientific Railgun.) The problem is that these novels are a franchise extender for a franchise few of them are likely to have seen, even fewer to have enjoyed and Light Novels as a whole puzzle them – as they expect, y’know, *stories* in a novel and not meaningless drivel wrapped in detailed discussions of school uniforms.

As I said on Twitter the other day, manga is generally not written for people to get into, the way a novel is. Manga are frequently written for people who already have a hook into that thing to try something like that thing. With Strawberry Panic!, if you’re not a Yuri fan, there’s darn little here to appeal. (Unless the reviewer is a *very* good reader and can hear the moego for the broad parody it is.) With few exceptions, the reviewers who are likely to “get” this omnibus are going to be unashamedly uncritical fans who love the series, but won’t get what’s actually going on in the novels. I desperately hope that a few people I know and respect will review this book for what it is, loving it for the lovable bits and laughing heartily at the hilarious bits sprinkled throughout.

I will, of course, do my best to do all that. I just hope that I’m not alone in this. I can almost see the look on Brigid Alverson‘s or David Welsh‘s face trying to read this wholly inexplicable thing….(Or Ed Sizemore or Kate Dacey or Melinda Beasi or just about any reviewer I respect, honestly…. Sean – it’s all on you, I think. Help me out here!)

Thought 4 – Drinking games. It’s a toss up who cries more – in Novel 1, I’d say go for Chiyo. In Novel 2, Hikari. In Novel 3, just drink every time Chikaru shows up and does nothing.

Thought 5 – Finally! This book is the first time my Commanding Officer, Ana M. and I have had a chance to work together on a book since Inukami! For that alone, I love this book with all my love.

In fact, I do love this book. It’s hilariously funny and, in a few cases, there’s a teeny bit of romantic something or other. Thank the gods my memory of the helicopters was not some fever dream, but actually part of the story. Phew. Dodged that bullet. ^_^ In fact, I believe that, overall, my synopsis of the novels from Japanese stand solid. When I’ve read this whole thing at once, I shall endeavor to once again synopsize and properly review, knowing that, if God is indeed in his heaven and all is indeed right with the world, that shall be the very last Strawberry Panic post I will ever write.

Until then, dear readers!





Light Novel: R.O.D., Volume 6

May 26th, 2011

Yomiko and Nancy team up against the powerful Dokusensha! Finally! As you’d expect sparks fly, walls are phased through, paper is flung…and it’s not quite as excellent in book form as it would be animated.

Yomiko, if you recall from Book 5, has inadvertently handed the Guttenberg paper over to Dokusensha’s paper user, Ou-en. To correct this mistake, she has taken on the task of traveling to China to retrieve the item. In China, she almost immediately runs into British Library agent Nancy Makuhari.

As R.O.D. Volume 6 opens, the two of them sit down to enjoy excellent tea and pastries and be held at gunpoint by a disgruntled client of Nancy’s. When Yomiko shows off her skills, Nancy, who had had a hard time seeing past the goofy, book-obsessed facade, is very impressed. But that quickly turns to surprise and maybe a little fear as Yomiko’s bibliomania exerts its influence over her character and Nancy gets a quick glimpse into what madness looks like. Nancy’s no fool, she knows what she’s looking at, and backs off quickly.

And then, they run. They run in and around Shanghai, through stores and underground tunnels and buildings. And eventually, the come face to face with Dokusensha’s agents.As Yomiko’s skills with paper are mirrored by Ou-en, Nancy’s abilities to change the density of her body and things she touches are mirrored by a Dokusensha agent who can do that too. Which, although the bulk of the book is super-charged action scenes, ultimately was not great reading. There are a few reason why that may be:

First and foremost, I am a character person. The parts of these novels I like best are the characters interacting with one another. The quiet moment at the beginning, where Yomiko and Nancy size each other up over tea was more “fun” for me than the later action scenes.

Secondly, the writer, while usually quite competent, just wasn’t getting me really hooked into the action. I don’t know if he had a hard time writing protracted action scenes (which is totally understandable, as writing action is much harder than showing it) or whether he was rushed and just didn’t have energy to manage it.

Thirdly, having mirror-matched enemies was kind of…boring. We don’t get to see Nancy shine because, in the way of all good sci-fi novels, the bad guy is actually slightly better/more powerful than we are, and ahead of us in the game. You know how it goes. So we barely get to see Nancy kick ass, because she’s being thwarted at every turn. Bleah. What we like in our action is Yomiko and Nancy blowing the bad guys away, not running in second place. This sort of sucked the fun from the action for me.

Fourthly, I have come to realize that I like Yomiko best when she is with Nenene. For the duration of this book, they are apart. Nenene does have some quality time with Wendy, though. When Wendy prepares an excellent lunch for them, Nenene comments that, if she were a boy, she’d take Wendy as a lover, to which Wendy replies, “But, if you were a boy, wouldn’t you already have taken Yomiko as a lover?” Nenene flips out at the insinuation, but Wendy is firm in calling it like she sees it.

The other stand-out scene for me was when Yomiko saves Nancy and, when Nancy (who is clearly not used to be valued by anyone) asks why, Yomiko replies simply, “Because I like you.” These words repeat in Nancy’s brain through the remainder of the book, like a refrain. I felt the cloister bell of future anime series ringing in this scene.

The upshot of the action is that Nancy escapes, but Yomiko is captured by Dokusensha. In the final scene, the traitor Faust appears and gives Yomiko a devil’s bargain – either she must marry Faust, or be killed. Dum~dum~dummm~

Ratings:

Art- Typically ugh – 5
Story – Atypcially ugh – 5
Characters – The saving grace here – 7
Yuri – 2
Service – 7 for Nancy’s leather suit alone

Overall – 5

Tune in next time to find out when/how/if Yomiko escapes a fate worse than fate!





CANAAN Light Novel, Volume 2 (下)

May 13th, 2011

Volume 2 of the Light Novels based on the anime CANAAN is, like the first volume, an exact rendition of the anime to text form. Where that worked well for the first volume, the emphasis on action scenes – specifically one-on-one confrontations – made for some really slow reading in this volume.

It’s not that the author is bad, it’s just that the action scenes are literally descriptions of the action portrayed in the anime. So literal that, after a while, it begins to feel like one is reading an RPG which, if you think about it, you kinda are. ^_^

So, after 350+ pages of “Person A does a thing. Then Person B does a thing. ‘Blah, blah,” Person A said,” I found myself replaying the scenes from the anime in my head to remember the energy and passion contained within them. Painful or awkward scenes were especially slow. Hakko’s final hours and Liang Qi’s fate were rather more excruciating than they were in the anime. To be fair, this is probably because it took *me* so long to make my way through them, and not any particular fault of the scenes themselves.

The few good Yuri scenes we had in the anime remained good in the novel. The night before they enter the destroyed village on the Silk Road, in which Canaan and Maria realize just how much they mean to each other, was quite wonderful. And, in the same way, the moment when Canaan sort of belies that by naming their relationship “friends” is just as disappointing to us. However, I’m more convinced than ever that it was not the death knell for Yuri, but the beginning of Maria and Canaan being able to see each other as equals and from that…who knows. It still seems to me that what they had was far more intimate (in an emotional sense) than a friendship.

At the beginning of the series, Canaan is more like Superdog than anything else. Super-powered, cute, a little alien, a little exotic, a lot “what do you do with this?” Maria is naive and helpless. They have to move past those things to be people who can look each other in the eyes squarely. Now, as the story comes to a close, I can see the two of them learning to love one another in a not-childish way.

But, the pages of the story do come to a close and so must this review.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – In my hopeful delusion, I’m going to say 6
Series – 4

Overall – 8

As with the first volume, if you very much enjoyed the anime and wish to level up your reading skills (there is a lot of scientific and military terminology, as well as just adults having adult conversations) you will probably enjoy CANAAN.





Light Novel: Maria-sama ga Miteru ~ Step

March 2nd, 2011

This week’s theme appears to be “some series never die.” We started off the week with a look back at Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon was just re-licensed in Germany, and I have another re-tread planned for later this week. And, today, we’re taking a look at one of the most recent volumes of a series that has lodged itself firmly in our hearts, Maria-sama ga Miteru. There is one massive spoiler ahead, be warned.

Maria-sama ga Miteru ~ Step (マリア様がみてる ステップ) tells the story of two girls, Katsuki and Ritsu. They are second-years in high school at Lillian and they are the very best of friends. They’ve been together so long that they are practically like sisters.

So, when Ritsu tells Katsuki that she’s seeing a boy, it comes as a shock – not because she’s seeing a boy so much, but because she’s *been* seeing him for a few weeks, and she never mentioned it. Katsuki is hurt, but honest about it, so they separate for a little while, then take it slow to repair the tears in their bonds carefully and neatly. But, as Katsuki points out in her interior monologue, once a person has taken that step up the stair of life, they can never really go back to being the person they were, even if they want to.

In the meantime, Katsuki has herself, through an accidental, somewhat silly, circumstance met a guy she thinks she might be interested in and, when she learns through another completely accidental circumstance that he is Ritsu’s brother, *she* keeps it secret from her best friend. Katsuki had somewhat complicated things a little by lying to “Ken-san,” the nickname she created for the guy she met, about her own name.

Then comes the day Katsuki encounters Ritsu’s boyfriend and her hurried confession the next day to Ritsu that it was another incredible coincidence and nothing else. But, Ritsu says, it doesn’t matter – she’s already broken up with Kouta. In fact, Ritsu knew that Katsuki had met her boyfriend…and the problem was not that she was jealous of Katsuki for being with Kouta, but that she was jealous of Kouta for being with Katsuki.

During the school trip, Ritsu “confesses” that her break-up with Kouta was because she likes Katsuki more. Katsuki thinks about it and asks if Ritsu would like to kiss her. Ritsu replies, “Sure, I guess,” to which Katsuki says, “Right – you guess.” She calmly points out that she really doesn’t think Ritsu’s gay and she’s fairly sure she might have noticed by now if she was and Ritsu pretty much agrees that she’s the same.But they agree that they love each other very much.

Katsuki is now sure that Ritsu does want to go out with Kouta (who she knows is a nice guy) and she kind of wants an excuse to see Isao, Ritsu’s brother, so she calls him to ask him to bring Kouta to the school festival. There is a little tension, but Kouta does come, and he and Ritsu head off to the Sakuratei cafe together. In the meantime, Katsuki meets and is instantly recognized by Isao as the girl he met in the park….despite her makeup and costume as a monster for the haunted house. Woops.

In the end, the two girls have frank talks with their prospective partners about their feelings for them and for each other. Kouta tells Ritsu that he also has a bosom buddy he feels that close too, Isao. And Katsuki comes to realize that Hasekura Isao is a genuinely nice guy.

The author’s note begins with the most obvious question ever – can you guess Kouta’s family name? I could and did. Can you?

One of the questions I’m asked most on #marimite_spoilers @rizon.net is “when” the book I’m discussing is. Yumi’s first-year or second or third? This one was impossible to peg until we were given that single hint. Once we got that, it was obvious “when” we were.

As with many of of Konno-sensei’s books, the plot here took a long time to develop. It was  a bit tiring at first, with all the “boyfriend this” and “boyfriend that” but, as the story developed it picked up some speed. And there were a number of small, but interesting features. Ritsu’s and Katsuki’s frank discussion about their affection for one another was one, Kouta’s admission of affection for Isao was another. But of all the interactions in the book, the most interesting to me was a conversation Katsuki had with another classmate, Watako.

Katsuki asks Watako if she had a lover, to which Watako replies, “not at the moment.” Katsuki and I both naturally interpreted that to mean that she had had one previously and expects to do so again. In this way, on top of the shocking idea Konno-sensei introduces in this novel that Lillian girls may have (*gasp!*) boyfriends, Konno-sensei introduces the even more shocking idea that some of them may have had lovers. Two steps out of the garden of maidens in one shot. You go Konno-sensei. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – starts at a 5, but ends up an 8

The key thing to making this book work as well as it did was that both Kouta and Isao really are nice guys.





Light Novel: Book Girl and the Famished Spirit (English)

February 7th, 2011

Book Girl and the Famished SpiritHaving talked yesterday about Light Novels, I felt it was most appropriate today to discuss Yen Press’s edition of Book Girl and The Famished Spirit, the second of the Bungaku Shoujo Light Novel series. I reviewed the first in the series, Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime over at David Welsh’s Manga Curmudgeon. For the tl;dr crowd – it was fantastic. A truly compelling read. You should seriously run out and get it right away. Get extra copies for your library and friends.

Book Girl and the Famished Spirit, follows the same formula as the first. Konoha is a high school second-year student who carries the baggage of two life-altering episodes. A girl he loved deeply killed herself while he stood there, unable to do anything to stop her. And he wrote a novel that was an award winning best-seller – only, he wrote it under the name of the girl he loved and as a result can tell no one. The subsequent nervous breakdown from the pressure of being famous (but not really) turned him into a recluse. Konoha has managed to pull himself back into society, but is still prone to panic attacks. And he still writes. Only this time, he confines his writing to short stories, “snacks” for his book-eating Book Club president, Tohko.

While Konoha fills Tohko’s appetite for stories, Tohko has set up a post box on the school campus to feed her desire for adventure. In this second novel, the genre is “horror” as a ghost leaves mysterious and desperate messages, which leads them to encounter a horribly skinny girl Hotaru, her “ghost” Kayano and the gothic horror romance that drives their story.

These novels are rated for 15+ and where I felt that the first book could easily be enjoyed by a precocious younger reader, I strongly feel that the age rating is justified for this book. This is not a light Light Novel. Creeping psychological horror fills most of the second half. To some extent the ending is actually a cop-out, to which I can only say, thank heavens! The alternative would have been quite appalling.

Each one of the Book Girl Light Novels is steeped in the idea of “Books.” A book – a classic of literature, whether Japanese or Western – runs through and intertwines with the plot of the story, almost as another character. Anyone even remotely familiar with the “book” will immediately gain hints as to the backstory of the plot, but Nomura doesn’t make it that easy, even if you have read “the book.” She throws book McGuffins into the plot, pointing you in the direction of Agatha Christie or Souseki Natsume, before she reveals the *real* book behind the book. In some ways, her unnatural attention to books leads me to believe that this series is an elaborate prank to make teens want to read literature they’d probably have to read for school, anyway. And it works, too! I’m dying to read every last reference in this series.

I say the books are steeped in the idea of “Books” – you’ll note that I do not say “Writing.” Despite Konoha’s brush with fame and his duty to his President, we learn nothing about how he writes, and only barely anything about what he writes. This is a book for readers, not writers.

Since I am reviewing this book here on Okazu, you must realize by now that there is at least *some* smidgen of Yuri.

Most of the romantic tension in this series is decidedly heterosexual. Konoha does not “like” Tohko, but is sometimes aware of her as a girl, as opposed to just a weird-ass person. The romances (such as they are) in both this book and the first are likewise straight. And there’s a girl who likes Konoha, but shows it by glaring. However.

We are introduced in the first book to the Granddaughter of the school chairman, the obscenely rich, highly connected, ridiculously smart and talented, Maki. Maki wants to be a painter, but her school is renowned for their orchestra. Her grandfather insists, therefore, that she conduct. She agreed on one condition – that she also gets a private painting studio. So, when we meet Maki, she is painting. Art seems to be her first love. Her desire for Tohko to pose nude could be just a tease, but there was some quality about her relationship with Tohko – beyond the teasing and the fact that she fit all the criteria (better looking, smarter, talented) for a Yuri character – that made my Yuri sense tingle. In this second volume, we learn the truth of her feelings for Tohko. I won’t give any of it away, but let’s just say that my Yuri sense was not wrong.

Technically speaking, I think the translation is excellent – by which I mean that I forgot I was reading a translated book – with one exception. They tried *just* a bit too hard with Ryuto. But it was otherwise seamless and for that, I offer a nod of appreciation to Yen’s staff. I don’t have the original to compare the reproduction to, but don’t very much care what was changed – this was a book about reading for readers that made an excellent read. That pretty much hits all my buttons just the right way.

Ratings:

Art – 6 Cute, but too light and airy for this novel
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 4
Service – 1

Overall – 9

Book Girl and the Famished Spirit is not a gentle book. It is waves in a storm crashing on the rocks, salty and cold. It tastes of dark, dark, bittersweet chocolate.

I absolutely loved this book.