Archive for the Light Novel Category


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.





Light Novel: R.O.D., Volume 5

October 20th, 2010

Read or Die, Volume 5 continues the story from Volume 4. Indeed, it begins the very next day after a giant paper dragon has swum up the Thames river only to be defeated by British Library Agent Yomiko Readman.

Dokusensha has upped the ante for the Guttenberg Paper – they have kidnapped the Queen and are demanding the Paper in return. And they demand that Yomiko be the one to make the exchange.

Joker decides that Ziggy Stardust, British Library boffin and Faust should create a fake to make the exchange with. Faust disagrees strongly and is put under house arrest as a result. Ziggy also disagrees, but the fake is made. Just before Yomiko leaves to make the exchange, Faust goes out on a “date” with her in the British Museum, where he says that he is troubled, but doesn’t say why.

In the meantime, author Sumiregawa Nenene is also under house arrest in Yomiko’s apartment. Because Yomiko cannot explain what is going on, she simply confines Nenene to her room, sets Wendy to watch her and doesn’t return for days. Nenene moves past sulking into depression and eventually abandonment, all of which is quickly shaken off when Yomiko returns…to say goodbye. Nenene tackles Yomiko in an embrace, then proceeds to yell at her for keeping her locked in a room! Yomiko apologizes, but insists she stay there for her own good. Yomiko leaves after promising to return, soon.

Yomiko heads over to Picadilly Circus, where she once again encounters Ou-En, the young Asian man she had met in Hay-on-Wye. As the police and army close in, he uses his Paper abilities to cut down all of the surrounding military. Yomiko can only watch, stunned, as it happens too fast for her to even respond. Ou-En takes the Paper but, as they part, they each take a slice at the other. Yomiko manages to make a pretty severe cut on Ou-En’s neck, but he contents himself with a lock of her hair, and tells her that he’ll “see you again in China.”

When Yomiko returns to the British Library, she learns that the Paper had been switched and she had handed over the real Guttenberg Paper…and that Faust is missing, presumed to be a traitor. Yomiko reminds Joker that he mentioned they had an agent in China. She asks to go there to get the Paper back. He agrees.

In China, Yomiko leaves the airport and finds herself in front of a book store, where she purchases some books – only to have them stolen from her. As she gives chase, the thief is stopped by an attractive woman who identifies Yomiko immediately, then introduces herself as the British Library agent in China…Nancy Makuhari.

Meanwhile, Wendy and Nenene settle into Yomiko’s apartment in Tokyo, where she has asked them to wait for her. Nenene wonders why the nameplate says “D.N.” and suddenly realizes that they are in Yomiko’s late lover, Donny Nakajima’s, apartment. Wendy is shocked to learn that Yomiko had a lover at all, but something shifts in Nenene and she decides to spend the time writing a new book, since that will make Yomiko happiest. As she clears a space to write, she finds an old, dusty diary with the name “Donny Nakajima” on the inside cover. …

In an epilogue, we meet a man named Joel who lives in an apartment on Baker Street in London, who can hear Nenene yelling at Yomiko through the walls. And boy, if they weren’t two women, he’d be sure they were lovers, because that’s *exactly* what Nenene sounds like – a jilted woman yelling at her missing boyfriend.

Volume 5 was not as riveting as some of the previous volumes, but it had a lot of story-building. We hear a story about Yomiko’s father from an ex-colleague in MI6. We get a deeper look at Dokusensha, Faust’s story is expanded – as opposed to Gentleman’s, which is where I supposed it would go. And the betrayal by Faust guarantees that he’ll be back. Volume 5 also introduces Nancy, something that will change this series forever.

While the beginning and middle were a little weak, man does this series have awesome endings. I read 200 pages for the last 20, every time. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 2

Overall – 7

Gee, Yomiko and Nenene sound like lovers to an outside listener? I’m shocked. For the record, even Wendy can see that Nenene doesn’t just like Yomiko. In a scene that echoes a similar scene with Anita from ROD The TV some years later, Wendy asks Nenene if she loves Yomiko and Nenene has the exact same problem with answering honestly. From *our* perspective (and Joel’s) it’s obvious that she does.





Lesbian Light Novel: Vertigo

September 2nd, 2010

Vertigo (ヴァーティゴ) by Fukami Makoto, is a story of a cop and her ex-army partner as they track down and defeat a criminal operation that has been killing people all around Tokyo.

On the one hand, Vertigo is an incredibly crappy science fiction novel, with “cybernetic’ everything and “nanotubes” used in the stupidest, least convincing way possible. All the women are clothed in form-fitting bodysuits (with the occasional tactical vest thrown in for good measure) or otherwise scantily clad, yet somehow fully protected. For instance, Reo’s halter top there on the cover is “armored mesh.” Uh-huh.

On the other, Vertigo stars two strong female leads, neither of which back down in a pinch, neither of which flinch from a fight, whether hand-to-hand or projectile.

On the one hand, the art for the book portrays women with such exceptionally large breasts, hips and contoured nipples and crotches that it pretty much ruins your ability to see them as anything but human-shaped milk cows. You can get a sense of that from the cover image. To drive my point home, here is a picture of Nako, a side character, one of Reo’s ex-lovers. The picture is Not Safe For Work or Brain. Don’t come screaming to me if you click it.

On the other, one of the characters, ex-army, now police detective in training, Hashibe Reo, is an out lesbian in a long-term relationship that is not broken up or even threatened by anything in the plot and there’s a discussion of when same-sex marriage became legal in Japan and how it was a good thing all around for everyone. Reo loves her lover Rina and Rina loves her back – they are considering marriage. And we end the book pretty sure that Reo and Rina will get married, after all.

On the one hand, dedicated police detective Natsume Shizuka kills her own neglectful mother who she thought had been dead for years.

On the other, Shizuka ends the story with a nice girlfriend, a new job and a happy ending.

One the one hand, the plot combines Chinese terrorists, an illegal fight club, (a scene in which Reo and Shizuka are inexplicably required to kiss each other by a passing stranger, but otherwise has nothing to do with the plot,) a possible Christian cult, and an evil pharmaceutical company.

On the other, the actual plot had just about *nothing* to do with any of the above. Except the evil pharmaceutical company.

On the one hand, gang rape as a form of torture was used as a main plot point, and on top of that, the book included childhood flashbacks of threats of rape and a brother that was forced to do child porn and subsequently killed himself.

On the other, the after-trauma situation was handled with grace, sensitivity and honesty.

Reading Vertigo has been a challenge on several levels for me. The kanji, sci-fi/military/police procedural as it is, was *way* above my level of comprehension. I was dedicated and experienced enough to grasp a lot from the context and lucky enough to know more than the average otaku about hand-to-hand combat, so I actually understood (and enjoyed) the bit about Capoeira and could figure out a lot of the rest. But man, do I so not know the words for a lot of normal business things. ^_^

It’s pretty apparent from the predictability of the plot, that this was written to become a movie – and if it does, I’m sure it will be successful. It has pretty much something for everyone (well, everyone likely to go see a scifi-action-suspense-movie like this.)

I can’t say I liked it, but I also can’t say I didn’t. It was both really awful and really good at the same time – sometimes in the very same sentence. In conclusion, I have to say, Vertigo was an aptly named novel.

Ratings:

Art – AAAAUUUGGHHHH MY EYES!!!!!
Story – 2 and 9 all at once
Characters – 9
Lesbian – 9
Service – 10 Googolplexes

Overall – I’m feeling dizzy. Pick a number. That’s what it was.

Today review marks a wonderful day – the addition of yet another new Okazu Superhero! I want to welcome and thank with all my heart and the parts of my brain that don’t hurt, Mari Kurisato, for sponsoring today’s review!





Light Novel: Noblesse Oblige ~ Kayamori Kuzuha’s Resolution

August 23rd, 2010

Kayamori Sakurako is the granddaughter of the head of the Sacred Tree Blue Heaven Style of sword fighting. On her first day of high school, her grandfather names her his heir, and awards her the sword name “Kuzuha,” the fourth woman in the family to bear the name.

When Kuzuha gets to school, she comes across a young man attacking a schoolmate of hers. Although the schoolmate is also a kenshi, a swordfighter, she’s trying to protect the people around them and is, as a result, losing. Kuzuha jumps in and saves the other girl, who turns out to be Kajimoto Ami, a member of the school’s self-policing organization, Luminous Force. Thus Ami and Kuzuha meet…fatefully.

You know how you’re listening to someone talk and you suddenly realize you have no idea what they are talking about and you have to say, “I’m sorry, now who was that and what was going on?”

I felt like that through the entirety of Noblesse Oblige ~ Kayamori Kuzuha’s Resolution. (ノブレス・オブリージュ ~茅森楠葉の覚悟~)

Which is not to say that this was a bad book. It wasn’t. I just kept wondering things like, “so what’s going on here and why do we care?” and “why was this book written, again?” This may makes it seem like I wasn’t enjoying it, but that’s not true. This was a nice novel, in fact, it had some really excellent elements, I just felt like I was missing something, as if it was a franchise extender for a game or something else that I couldn’t find.

I can’t synopsize the plot of this book, because there isn’t actually a plot. The point of view starts as Kuzuha’s, then switches to Ami’s for the rest of the book, except when it switches back in the middle of the story to Kuzuha’s.

The book takes place at Seibou Girl’s Academy, an elite academy for daughters of the nobility (kazoku) and the knightly class (kenzoku). Ami seems to be the sole commoner at the school. That she is part of Luminous Force, protege to the Guardian of the West, does not make her popular, but neither does she seem to be bullied. She is hounded by a random girl who demands that she admit that the reason she’s a Luminous Force member is because she and her mentor, Sayaka-sama, are LOVERS. Ami’s reaction is wonderful. “Lovers?” she thinks. “First I’ve heard of it.”

Kuzuha is trying to integrate being the public heir to her family’s fighting style into her life. She visits another of the Luminous Force members, Guardian of the South, the seventh of her line to bear the name Nanami. Kuzuha’s maid and Nanami fight, but when Nanami attempts a killing blow, it’s Kuzuha who stops the blade with her bare hands. In return for injuring her, Nanami spoils Kuzuha a bit at school.

Ami and Kuzuha are set up by another member of Luminous Force, Eastern Guardian Koyuri, to fight as part of the school festival, but Kuzuha takes a dive. It later turns out that she had never before picked up a shinai in her life, having always practiced with live blades. Ami finds herself sympathetic towards Kuzuha and really, really wants to be friends with her. The more she gets to know about Kuzuha, the more she respects and admires her. It’s obvious that Kuzuha is a truly excellent swordswoman, and the loss to Ami was a gift to the other girl, to cement her position as a member of Luminous Force,

One day, Ami is waiting for the bus when Kuzuha pulls up in her family’s private car. Inexplicably, she tells Ami that she’s found glasses like Ami’s and wants to do her hair up like Ami has. She’s girlishly excited when the her maid tells her they look the same. After asking to borrow Ami’s sword, she leaps out of the car and runs after…the guy who attacked Ami in the second chapter. The kid, not knowing Ami well, except superficially, believes he is fighting Ami, so when he is summarily defeated by Kuzuha’s Pure Sky Cut, they are all pretty sure he’ll never bother her again. When they reach school, they learn that Nanami has taken Kuzuha into Luminous Force as her protege.

Ami retaliates for that act of kindness by bringing Kuzuha’s best friend into Luminous Force so those two can be closer, too.

The final scene, Koyuri pairs Ami and Kuzuha up for a re-match, this time, for real. The end of the book is actually kind of silly, and everyone is laughing by the final page.

And I still have no idea what the book was about. ^_^

However, the sword fighting was really pretty good, until the very end with the Pure Sky attack which is right out of comics. The book had me hooked when Kuzuha’s maid, Kofuyu, mentioned that she uses only a wakizashi to fight. As I’m inordinately fond of wakizashi, (indeed, it’s the only kind of Japanese blade I’m comfortable with, having trained all those years with a two-edged sword, and because of a certain wakizashi I once had the pleasure of bearing…) I just got all tail-waggy happy at that scene.

The other element which was excellent was the complete lack of Yuri. It’s not like there weren’t lead-ins all over the place: Kuzuha’s close relationship with her maid Kofuyu, Nanami and Kuzuha, Ami and Sayaka, Kuzuha and her best friend Suzune, Ami and Kuzuha…and you know what? None of them were anything even close to being treated with stupid service. In fact, all the relationships seemed totally organic and normal considering the unreal setup. The one I expected to be totally Yuri-fied was Sayaka and Ami, since they were *clearly* the Sachiko and Yumi of the series, but it never once went there. Sayaka was cool, kind, sympathetic, friendly, scolding, but nothing more. She was a firm/kind mentor, Ami her protege. The end.

When Ami watches Kuzuha defeat the guy, disguised as Ami, her desire to embrace Kuzuha was really, honestly, just to give another girl, a friend, a hug.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 1
Swordplay – 8
Service – 1

Overall – 8

So despite the fact that I really haven’t a clue what this book was about, or who it was for, or why it was written…I liked it. There’s a sequel, about the other Luminous Force member, Harumi. I’m sort of even tempted to get it. ^_^