Archive for the Light Novel Category


Light Novel: Miniskirt Space Pirates, Volume 2 Ougon no Yureisen (ミニスカ宇宙海賊 2 黄金の幽霊船)

February 21st, 2013

Miniskirt Space Pirates, Volume 2  Ougon no Yureisen (ミニスカ宇宙海賊 2 黄金の幽霊船) opens with a stowaway on the Bentenmaru and ends with two transfer students into Hakuoh Academy’s Yacht Club. In between is a centuries-old mystery, a gene bank in the form of a golden spaceship, and several space battles, all of which make for a rollicking tale of intrigue and space piracy.

If you are watching the Bodacious Space Pirates anime, this novel is the arc on Disk 2 of Volume 1. Seventh Princess of the Serenity Royal Family, Gruier Serenity, (with an uncanny resemblance to another princess named Serenity,) hides away on the Bentenmaru, in hopes of hiring the pirate ship to assist her in finding the Legendary Gold Spaceship.

Marika befriends the Princess and accepts the commission because who wouldn’t? ^_^

We get to experience Marika’s newfound confidence as Captain of the Bentenmaru and watch her crew rally around her with complete support of her decisions.

Nothing in the novel is significantly different from the anime, right down to the secret underground restaurant at the space relay station where Ririka works. (Or, I should say, if there were differences my Japanese wasn’t up to noticing them.)

The key point of the arc is that Marika has stepped into her father’s shoes and found that they fit rather well. And now we have a Princess or two on our side. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Interestingly, this book series is getting links for Kindle versions which don’t yet exist on Amazon JP. I’d love it if they put this series on Kindle, I’d like to see if I could buy the next book that way. I bet there’s region restrictions, though. Oh well, on to Volume 3, however I can get it. ^_^





Light Novel: Oshaka-sama mo Miteru: Cho Nankai Mondaishuu (お釈迦様もみてる 超難解問題集)

January 6th, 2013

Reading O-Shaka-sama mo Miteru: Cho Nankai Mondaishuu (お釈迦様もみてる超難解問題集) it suddenly dawned on me why I simply do not enjoy this series as much as I might. And with that, I formulated a new rule of writing for myself:

If you create a really great ensemble of characters and then spend a lot of time with a really irritating character instead, people will not like your story.

In the Oshaka series we have Yuuki, Arisu, Kobayashi and Takada all of whom are fun to follow. And no matter how many of these books there are, Andre-sempai will never, ever be a fun character. He’s a self-important jerk at the best of times. So when you keep taking the focus off your fun characters to spend time with the jerk, it’s going to make readers grumpy.

This book deals with the end-of-term exams and the four first-years’ issues with them. Yuuki is, predictably, a good if not outstanding student. Arisu is in the top ten of their year. Takada barely passed last semester and Kobayashi failed just about everything that wasn’t math. Andre-sempai spends much of the first two thirds of the book importuning the younger students to “Study, already” to the point of obsession. He’s not wrong – members of the Student Council do need to keep their grades up, but his constant nagging was merely that – nagging.

In the end, everyone’s grades jumped but Arisu, who remained #7. So yay, but what an annoying story.

The final third of the book is what happened on the day after New Year’s Day and why Yuuki was at Sachiko’s house when Yumi arrived. Once again I adore Sayoko, Sachiko’s mother more than anyone. And once again we spend a few moments in Yuuki’s head wondering if Kashiwagi is gay…or, not really wondering, just sort of mentioning it, just in case we forgot that he might be. The more Yuuki wonders about it, the less I’m convinced. It seems too much like service.

I don’t hate these novels – and we know that Andre-sempai isn’t in the Hanadera Council next year – so I’m sticking with the series to see what happens. I expect the next one deals with the Student Council elections and, maybe, Valentine’s Day.

Ratings:

Overall – 7

It was nice to see Sei again…. ^_^





Light Novel: R.O.D., Volume 9

October 2nd, 2012

As Volume 9 of R.O.D begins, Yomiko Readman and the head of Dokusensha, the woman known as China, are flying through the air on one of Yomiko’s paper airplanes, when the mountain that held the Dokusensha headquarters explodes.

Joker, having heard no word from Yomiko or Nancy for days, learns of the explosion and tunes in by satellite. When he sees that the “explosion” is an eruption of paper flowers, he gets the message from Yomiko loud and clear.

Yomiko and China enter the woods around Dokusensha HQ, only to encounter Ou-En and the 4 sisters and learn, belatedly, that Gentleman was seen at Dokusensha HQ. The news is received with solemnity, as it is accompanied by the news that Gentleman has slaughtered many of the Dokusensha members and destroyed HQ.

While sitting around the fire that night, trying to convince the sisters that she doesn’t have any intention of harming China, Yomiko learns that Ou-En feels affection for her – she remind him of his sister and of a previous lover. As they share their stories, they are joined by a tall, strapping and very naked man…Gentleman has arrived.

Nancy spends an important interlude with Drake’s team undressing and dressing in her normal bondage-gear outfit.

Meanwhile, in India, Nenene and Wendy are doing something. I’m not sure what, because they were on their way to China, but hey, whatever. While Wendy is out, Nenene reads more of Donny’s diary.

Donny recounts the time just before the British Library moved to its current location, when he’s begun meeting up with Yomiko at random times at the BL. Her 16th birthday is approaching and he promises that he’ll celebrate it with her. But Joker sends him out of town that day – and Donny doesn’t have Yomiko’s address or phone number. He runs into her later, and as he’s apologizing, a voice over loudspeaker invites them into the new BL. They take a private tour of the new location, shepherded by Joker’s voice, eventually finding themselves in the King’s library, surrounded by the original manuscripts of some of the world’s greatest literature. Yomiko says that this is like a dream, at which Donny asks her to dance. Alone in the King’s Library, they dance, while paper flowers rain down upon them.

When Yomiko asks for a kiss to make her night complete, Donny blows it completely and kisses her on the cheek.

So, with two novels to go, we really still don’t know much about the Gutenberk paper, Donny or Gentleman or Joker or Dokusensha or Nancy or, really, Yomiko.

Ratings:

Art – 4 Almost every picture was carefully crafted to skeeve me, except the one of Donny kissing Yomiko, which was just awkward.
Story – 7 Had some good bits and some less good
Characters – 8
Yuri – 0
Service – 8

Overall – 7

More Yomiko and Nenene dammit!





Light Novel: Maria-sama ga Miteru ~ Farewell Bouquet (マリア様がみてる フェアウェル ブーケ)

August 24th, 2012

The number one question in every fan’s mind as we read each successive Maria-sama ga Miteru novel is…is this the last one? This can’t go on forever, can it? Well, no, it can’t go on forever, as much as we might wish it could. But as for the first question, I have no answer. As with the last several of the books in the series, the ending is written so that if we never got another one, this would be a fine place to end the series. However…however… Maria-sama ga Miteru ~ Farewell Bouquet (マリア様がみてる フェアウェル ブーケ) ends at the end of July of Yumi’s third year at Lillian Jogakuen High School. I just cannot believe that Konno-sensei will just end it here. She could, definitely. But there’s the Sports Festival, and the Culture Festival and Christmas, and New Year’s…and Valentine’s Day (and the half-day date contest)…and the chance/need for the 2nd-years to find soeur and the elections…and then there’s graduation.  I cannot imagine that we won’t be given the opportunity to end our time with Yumi and her friends with great wopping tears at graduation. I will not believe it.

But.

We might, and I can’t promise we won’t. Japanese fans are asking the same question, mind you, and we won’t know until we see more chapters appear in Cobalt Shueisha. (Btw, according to the Cobalt website, the upcoming November issue, will include a Marimite section on the enclosed Drama CD.)

In the meantime, Konno-sensei is being mean and teasing us unmercifully, with novel titles like Hello Goodbye and Farewell Bouquet. I mean, really.

So the book begins with a teacher meeting up with a student on the school grounds and being taken to the Rose Mansion for some herb tea and a long chat. The teacher, Katori Maki-sensei, has been around for quite a few of the novels, and we’ve come to like her quite a bit.

The stories that fill the spaces between Maki-sensei’s time at the Rose Mansion are a pile of some really odd stories. In one, a student wants a teacher to be her onee-sama, and finds that she’s her big sister for real. In another a female art teacher is abruptly asked to make cookies by a male teacher who finds himself presented with cookies that look like, well, breasts.  My favorite story includes a radically intelligent way to teach history to bored teen girls – imagine the clans and houses as a bunch of boy bands! Seriously, I thought that was genius.

But the real story, although it takes up the least space, is the story of why Maki-sensei is taking a leave of absence from school. And, ultimately, it’s Yumi that arranges for an impromptu, beautiful and topical herb bouquet from the Yamayurikai to Maki-sensei. This ribbon story includes cameos from all our principles.

I want to make sure I mention this: Maki-sensei has a whole scene in which she absolutely assures herself (and us) that she will not be quitting teaching, that she will be returning. I’m very glad that she was made to make that point. I’m really tired of anime/manga/games/novels clinging to the outdated and tired quitting work after getting married or pregnant thing. This is as 20th century in Japan as much as it is in the US.)

And last, the final chapter is a lovely interlude with Sachiko and Yumi enjoying tea together and a gentle admonishment that this moment in time is to be enjoyed for itself.

Another delightful book. If it is the last – and it could be – it was wonderful. Time to have a cup of herb tea and think about the best moments we’ve shared with the lovely ladies of Lillian. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 9





Light Novel: Miniskirt Space Pirates, Volume 1 (ミニスカ宇宙海賊(パイレーツ))

August 8th, 2012

When I was in Tokyo last December, I found, picked up and put down the same one novel over and over. I’d see the cover and think “Oooh!” pick it up, see that the title was Miniskirt Space Pirates and put it down again. I must have done that half a dozen times.  Well, I sure felt like I had dropped the ball on that when I started to watch the Bodacious Space Pirates anime. ^_^;; So, later that winter I added the first volume of  Sasamoto Yuuichi’s novel series, Miniskirt Space Pirates (ミニスカ宇宙海賊(パイレーツ) to my Amazon JP order.

It’s taken me a few months to get through this book, but right off the top, I have to say that it was totally worth it. I am glad I had seen the anime first, because a great deal of the kanji in this novel is above my reading level. Having context for what was going on meant that I missed less than if I had been reading this cold.

The story is pretty much the same as it is in the anime. The first novel is covered by the first 5 episodes of the anime and there is strikingly little changed or cut out. I expected long, lingering obsessive descriptions of ships or technology (as one gets in military and gun-fetish manga and novels) but…no. This is classic Space Opera – the technology takes second place to the people. The only semi-major fact that was changed for the anime (and I have no idea at all why it was…) is that Marika’s mother, Ririka, in the anime was a Bentenmaru crew member who was nicknamed Blaster Ririka. In the novel she was a captain in her own right and was known as Captain Ririka (a name she puts quickly aside when it’s brought up in the story.) The scene where she teaches Marika how to shoot in a combat situation actually is a rather touching mother-daughter bonding moment. ^_^

Other than that, I felt no major changes were made. Which was all to the good. One of the key things I liked about the anime was that the girls of the Hakuoh Jogakuin yacht club were left to find their way through various situations on their own. Neither Misa nor Kane, Bentenmaru crewmembers acting as faculty advisors, stepped in as the Odette was being tracked or hacked into. Jenny, Lynn, Chiaki, Marika and the members of the yacht club are allowed to make their own choices. They are given the opportunity to be as brave and competent as they can be  – and they rise to the challenge.

As usual when I complete a novel, my wife asked me “Did you like it?” Unreservedly, the answer this time is…yes. I will have to up my reading game for the next one.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I have one small complaint. It comes at the very end of the book when Marika’s captain’s costume is described. We are told that Marika’s costume include a miniskirt for ease of movement. Dear men – miniskirts are not easier to move in. They are considerably *less* easy to move in than longer, looser and more flowy skirts or pants. Please stop using that as a reason to put the girl in a miniskirt, it just makes you look pervy *and* dumb.

Oh…the title? Editors decided to name the series that. So…yeah.