Archive for the Light Novel Category


Light Novel: Maria-sama ga Miteru ~ Little Horrors

January 6th, 2010

High school, among other things, is a series of mortifying moments. Between hormones, life roles and adults being adults, there’s just about no day that goes by when a high school student doesn’t wish that the earth would open up and swallow them at least for a little while.

For Arima Nana, the day described in Maria-sama ga Miteru – Little Horrors (マリア様がみてる―リトルホラーズ) is one of those days.

Nana has entered Lillian Girls’ School in a slightly unusual position. Before she even enters high school, she is Rosa Foetida en Bouton. Not only does she start her high school career as a member of the Student Council but, because of her family and her famed kendo skills, she’s slated to be one of the highlights of the kendo team in time.

So, when the team calls a meeting and her onee-sama, Rose Foetida herself, younger sister of the former captain and third-year member of the team doesn’t show – the earth could not open up fast enough.

Little Horrors appears to be the story of Nana, as she runs around the school, looking for Yoshino. She starts in Yoshino’s classroom, and then tries the Rose Mansion. Noriko joins her as they broaden the search and finally Touko adds her help. When they finally find Yoshino, Nana and she get into a bit of an argument, as Nana explains that she was subject to mortification as a result of Yoshino’s absence. Yoshino, by way of explanation, tries to explain that she didn’t want to stand in Nana’s way in the club.

But all this takes a quick back seat to the real issue – because they find Yumi and Yoshino in the bottom floor of the Rose Mansion, barely containing a leaking pipe. The three en bouton jump in to relieve their onee-sama.

Time passes. Noriko goes off to find a teacher, Yoshino leaves to make her appearance at the club meeting, Touko leaves to go to the toilet. One little, two little, three little Lillian, four little, five little Lillian girls, Nana sings to herself.

Nana and Yumi, alone in the first-floor room, have a conversation in which Yumi was…my god, she was Rosa Chinensis! Youko could not have been more sensible, encouraging and supportive.

And then…the noise starts. Stomp stomp, clap. Stomp stomp clap. the noise comes from the second-floor council room. Yumi and Nana stare at the ceiling and finally Yumi tells Nana to go check, she’s really okay by herself.

Ambivalent about what she might find there, Nana ascends the stairs.

Before I tell you what she found, I ought to point out that this was all in the “ribbon” story – the bits that ties the actual stories together. The actual short stories were all about non-Yamayurikai characters including, as I predicted, the vile twins who seduced then threatened a teacher, and a marginally interesting story about a girl who wasn’t sure if she really was a girl or was an old guy dreaming he was a girl. There was also a completely forgettable story about a girl who becomes friends with the girl who sits beside her in class – while the girl isn’t actually there. -_-; And even more forgettable, a story about a girl who makes up a ridiculous sets of lies that all turn out, through painful contortion of the plot, to end up being true.

But, back to Nana. Slowy, slowly, she reaches out to open the door and slowly, slowly, she enters and suddenly…Pop! The sound of party crackers sound and lo and behold! the whole thing was a setup for a surprise party to welcome Nana. The plan was created by Yoshino – fake a leak to keep Nana out of the second floor room and give everyone a chance to gather there before her. :-)

As a bonus, Yoshino comments that she did indeed make the kendo club meeting where her rival, Tanuma Chisato was voted in as the new club president and she, busy with Yamayurikai duties as she is, was asked by Chisato to be the club vice president. Yoshino was mortified, of course, but that’s high school for you.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 4-7
Yuri – .5
Fan Service – 12? (Noriko-sama! Touko-sama! Squee!)

Overall – 7

In the Afterword, Konno-sensei mentions that her editor referred to this book as Variety Gift IV. Heh.





The Worst Light Novel Ever

December 25th, 2009

If you’ve been following me on Twitter or Facebook, you know that I have been reading the world’s worst book.

As I’ve been reading it, I’ve been thinking about what makes it the worst thing I’ve ever read. After I tell you what it’s about, I’ll tell you why.

Memeko is an extremely youthful-looking agent of the secret organization Al Hazan, that collects and protects rare eyeglasses. They are attempting to get a hold of the rare and dangerous Medusa glasses that, like the rare and dangerous Gorgon glasses, turn people into stone. Memeko is a Glasses-User, and can make a kind of energy knife shoot from her glasses-wearing gaze.

But, for all her unusual strength with eyeglasses, Memeko is terrified of the world outside eyeglasses. When her handler, Lucia, asks her to attend and infiltrate Misono Gakuin to find the secret to the eyeglass theft that goes on there, Memeko finds it hard to talk to anyone who does not wear eyeglasses. In her homeroom that leaves her with one option – the tall, beautiful Ai.

I will not torture you with descriptions of the scenes that in another action book would be the “secret agent cleaning a gun” scene, or the “love interest and agent getting to know each other scene,” but I will mention that when Ai is saved by Memeko’s super Al Hazan eyeglasses skillz, she falls into the standard pattern of believing in and relying on Memeko.

Let me cut to the chase – the traitor was their homeroom teacher who was obsessed with Ai’s beauty and who stole all the eyeglasses to find the perfect ones for her. He attempts to scare Ai by telling her the truth behind Memeko’s skills, but it backfires and their love for one another defeats his ridiculous plan.

In the end, Memeko returns to the school, not as a secret agent, but as a 16-year old and a friend and probably soon-to-be-lover of Ai. And now she can talk to people who don’t wear eyeglasses, too. Phew. Happy end, except for the bit where there is a implication that there might be a sequel. AAAUUUGGGHHHH!!! As it happens there are at least two sequels. Scary, huh?

Okay, so, here’s why I think this is the worst Light Novel ever. Not because it was badly written. In fact, it was actually pretty well written, so scenes were exactly where they belonged in a genre title like this and the dialogue was exactly the same kind of jaded lines you’d expect from an action-adventure story. No, the real reason I think this is the worst Light Novel ever is because the author clearly felt that if you were going to buy a story called Kanoujo ha Megane-HOLIC (彼女は眼鏡-HOLIC) then you deserved whatever you got.

And he was right.

Ratings:

Art – 5
Characters – 2
Story – 2
Yuri – 2
Loser Fan Eyeglasses Fetishist – 451

Overall – 2

This book actually beats out Adam Smith’s On the Wealth of Nations for the worst book I have ever read. Congrats.





Yuri Light Novel: R.O.D., Volume 2

December 5th, 2009

I write about many things here at Okazu, but above all, I write about love.

There are, obviously, many types of love. Love of family, love of friends, love between comrades, love as an obsession. And in so many of these reviews, I deal with love that can’t easily be expressed in simple terms.

In the second Read or Die Light Novel, we find Yomiko and Nenene in this space. They aren’t “in love” with one another, but they clearly need one another and love and care for one another. They are each other’s most important person, but they are not lovers. More than friends, less than lovers, more than family.

This is all in the small spaces in between the larger issues like the opening of the world’s largest bookstore, the subsequent terrorist attack, the appearance of Mr. Gentlemen and lots of running around.

R.O.D novels have a very specific genre pattern – goofy beginning, serious plot with loads of violence, Nenene in danger, evil bad guy, happy reunion between Nenene and Yomiko, then Yomiko goes home to her shrine to her dead lover Donny and the book ends.

This volume had exactly what I wanted out of it – a few moments where we had glimpses of the affection Yomiko and Nenene feel for one another, a moment where Yomiko is cooler than cool and Yomiko saving the day and beating up the bad guy.

The plot isn’t really important. If you’ve read or watched Towering Inferno, just add John Smith as a terrorist and you’re pretty much there. ;-) Now add Yomiko walking out of the burning building and standing in front of an unhappy and worried Nenene, sitting there holding her knees until she realizes it’s Yomiko, then leaping to her feet, crying as she embraces the other woman. There, that’s this book.

Ratings:

Art – 4
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 2
Service – 2

It wasn’t until I was almost done with the book that I realized that I was picturing John Smith from Mai Otome, not the John Smith from the R.O.D.-verse. Not like there’s that much of a difference.





Yuri Light Novel; 384,403 km ~ Anata ni Sarattara

October 20th, 2009

When I see a book with illustrations by Kurogane Kenn, my first thought is, “Oh, this is going to be great, I can tell.” I’m willing to bet that my tone of voice is not the same as many of yours would be if you were to say that. ^_^;

And so I did say, when I first came across 394,408km ~ Anata ni Sarattara, a light novel written by Kousaka Hio and illustrated by Kenn.

The novel primarily follows the singular obsession of Miyuki for classmate Rise. Miyuki is an honor student, ojou-sama type, but in reality, her family is not rich and she is not able to follow Rise to an elite school after elementary school. But that doesn’t stop her from obsessing about her. For eight years.

When Miyu’s father suddenly hits the lottery, her first and only concern is to get into the same elite school that Rise attends. With her excellent grades, it’s no problem at all. At last, Miyuki can be reunited with her beloved Rise who, by the way, has no idea at all that Miyuki feels this way. Miyuki had asked Rise to be hers, back in 1st grade and is now determined to realize that dream.

On the way to meet Rise, whose class is inexplicably on the floor above her own, Miyu runs into the “Silver Witch,” green-eyed Mikado Maria. Maria smells the scent of lilies about Miyuki, and invites her to join her “Romantic Love Study Group.” After an odd, lukewarm reunion with Rise, Miyu is approached by the president of the Morals Committee, who recruits her to join the Romantic Love Study Group in order to infiltrate and get the dirt on their repulsive, filthy behavior. Immediately, Miyu can see that the President has some feelings for Maria, but whatever. Since Rise’s a member, she’ll do it.

The first day in the RLSG is not easy. Witch Maria plays with people like toys and it’s immediately obvious that the group follows her whim. She makes Rise and Miyuki flirt for them all, and they end with a kiss. Frustrated that it is merely a kiss between friends, Miyuki walks away from the group.

After witnessing Maria and Rise doing more than just kiss, Miyuki challenges Maria to a duel to win Rise. Maria calls for the match to be strip poker, which Miyu loses, but in the end she does gain Rise.

The rest of the book is them having sex. Sometimes from one perspective, sometimes from the other.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Character – 6
Yuri – 10
Service – 10

Overall – 7

The title, by the way, is the distance between the Moon, of which Miyuki has always fancied herself the Queen, and the Earth, which of course is Rise (her name even contains the character for Earth.) But I think Sean Gaffney said it best when he asked if that was the distance between this book and literature. ^_^





Yuri Light Novel: R.O.D., Volume 1

October 2nd, 2009

The reason I didn’t post yesterday was that I was hustling to finish this novel so I could write about it today. ^_^;

Most ROD fans are familiar with the anime – the OVA and the later R.O.D. the TV series. Fewer have read the two manga series, R.O.D. and Read or Dream. Each of these occupies a slightly different version of the ROD-verse, which the TV series neatly tied together in a strange, but amazingly satisfying package. Amazingly, because we end the series with many unanswered questions…but it’s perfectly all right that they remain unanswered.

Well, I had one question that I was NOT all right with not having the answer to. “What happened in the novels?” was an itch I couldn’t scratch any other way than by reading them. I obtained the entire series in pieces some years ago and there they sat on my shelves, visibly taunting me with their bright yellow spines. Hah hah, they seemed to say, you have no idea what happens inside us – and the pictures don’t help at *all*! Hah!

So, at last I have finally read the first light novel of the R.O.D. series.

The book begins with a really creepy scene as Joker confronts a book thief and Yomiko is introduced in the skankiest way possible, practically orgasming as she “confirms” a book’s provenance. Then a fight breaks out and it is revealed that she has super strange skills with paper.

Immediately, the book takes a right turn into a plot that you will basically recognize as the plot from the first volume of the R.O.D manga. Yomiko arrives at a school to become a teacher in order to meet and save genius teenage author Sumiregawa Nenene. The bad henchguy is different – where the manga has a fire wielder, the book has a guy called Scissorhands (because of his…you got it, right?) who had previously battled the former The Paper, Yomiko’s deceased mentor and lover Donny Nakajima. Yes, they were lovers.

Crazed fan “Paul S.,” who kidnaps Nenene, is all the same as in the manga. With extra creepy nuttiness thrown in for good measure.

Here’s the key differences – Nenene doesn’t kiss Yomiko upon meeting her, although she is still writing a different novel with each hand. There is way more actual violence in the novel, because Scissorhands cuts limbs off people.

When Nenene and Yomiko spend one quiet night together, there is a real sense of them actually thinking they might like one another, until the next morning Scissorhands blows it all to pieces. However, when Yomiko arrives to rescue Nenene, she actually does confess her love for the girl. We know this is what she meant by “Suki” because the narrator helpfully tells us so. “After this confession of love,” the books says….

Most importantly, the ending of the book makes it VERY, VERY, VERY clear that the emotion goes both ways. So if you weren’t really quite sure about Nenene and Yomiko the answer is – yes, they like one another.

Here’s the other thing of note that the anime leaves a little gray. In this version, Yomiko did definitely kill Donny, in order, she says, to become The Paper. As she so succinctly puts it, “He chose me over books – I chose books over him.”

Having finally read this thing I find myself liking Yomiko more than I ever have. She is very disturbed, that is clear. Her bibliomania is an advanced Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, yes. But despite the first chapter, once she meets Nenene, she becomes instantly sweeter, more human and more sympathetic. By the end, when Nenene finds and reads Yomiko’s farewell letter to her, I found myself saying “awwww.” Because it was a really sweet letter.

And, at the end of the book, when Nenene follows Yomiko to England, because she can’t get Yomiko – not The Paper, but the woman behind the title – out of her mind, I finished the book with a big ass grin on my face.

Definitely, positively not High Art. It’s full of service and the art really focuses on the insanity of the characters, as it does in the manga. But now I know what happened and I finally really like Yomiko. I just like her better with Nenene than without her. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 4
Story – starts at 4 but ends at 8
Characters – same
Yuri – 5
Service – 5

Overall – If I had stopped halfway, 5, but by the end, 8

I liked the end so much that I immediately pulled the next one down and stuck it on the pile of “things to read.” But today my order from Japan came in (a mere 34 hours after I placed it…) and so now it will probably be another 5 years until I get to it. ^_^