Archive for the Light Novel Category


Yuri Light Novel: Escalation (From Cream Lemon)

November 4th, 2007

For today’s review, I would like to thank 828-san, who let me know that there was a novelization for the “Escalation” arc from the classic hentai series, Cream Lemon. (Here is a synopsis of “Escalation” and the other Yuri(ish) episodes of CL.)

(BTW, when I use quotes around the title, i.e., “Escalation,” I am referring to the anime or the story in general; when I put the title in italics, Escalation, I am referring to the novel. Just to be clear.)

In and of itself Escalation is not a particularly unique or worthy story, but when you consider that it is, in all likelihood, the direct ancestor of both Maria-sama ga Miteru and Strawberry Panic, it’s worthy of note. Plus, it wasn’t too bad, as porn goes. :-) The novel pretty much follows the story of the three “Escalation” anime episodes, with a bit more depth for each character (except for Midori. She gets one line of character development.)

Okay, so the story follows Komatsuzaka Rie, as she leaves her home where her tutor has broken her heart by sleeping with her mother, and transfers to St. Azaria Jogakuen, the typical private Catholic (aka Mission) school for rich girls. Instantly, she is captivated by the Student Council president and classic Japanese beauty, Hayakawa Naomi.

In the anime, the bit with Rie’s tutor is recounted in two still frames. In the novel, we get a bit more detail about Rie’s feelings for the college student who is her tutor, along with a gratuitous masturbation scene, just so you know it’s desire, and not just a crush. When she discovers her mother and tutor, of course we get more detail, but ultimately, it’s not her mother’s or tutor’s betrayal that bugs Rie…although it does…it’s her mother’s relationship with her father that just fills her with gall. She realizes that her father knows, and yet both parents act like there is nothing wrong. She can’t stand it, and feels that she MUST leave the house. And yes, the tutor’s behavior makes her swear off men.

When she arrives at St. Azaria, we learn a few things of significance, all of which were in the anime. Rie is an excellent student and a brilliant pianist. But the one thing I liked that was different – and pretty much the *only* difference between the novel and the anime, was that Rie is no shrinking violet. She sees Naomi up there addressing the class and her thought is something to the effect of “I want one of those for a lover.” And from that point on, she actively pursues Naomi. It’s a small change, but a cool one. In the anime, she’s passive, but amenable. In the novel, she knows what she wants and gets it. She wants Naomi. And she gets her.

As in the anime, we are introduced to weirdo Midori in class, where she “saves” Rie by answering a problem that Rie is too distracted by lustful thoughts of Naomi to solve. And, as in the anime, Rie’s first full night with Naomi includes Midori, some light bondage and a dildo. So romantic. ^_^; I have to mention this – in the scene where Rie is “assigned” to Naomi’s room and Mari, her temporary roommate, is sad that Rie is leaving now that they have become friends, Rie is out the door while Mari is still talking. It was absolutely hysterical.

The second episode of the anime covers a special invitation after a piano competition from Naomi, who has graduated. Rie is taken by Midori to the Hayakawa family summer home and immediately involved in a BDSM scenario that includes her ex-roommate Mari and Naomi’s boring little brother Akira, while Naomi’s father watches and uses Midori as a sex doll.

We also learn that Rie is now not only a successful pianist, but also the top student in the school and the incoming President of the Student Council.

I need to set that all up for you, because it’s the outcome of what I actually thought was the best scene in the book. Naomi goes to her father to ask for use of the summer home. Her father is a bit put out because, since Naomi’s mother died no one has used it. And here’s why – Naomi’s mother was a S&M ojou-sama who had orgies there, with young men to service her. Dad knew about these, but he loved Mom, so he didn’t try and stop her. Mom was deeply unhappy and drank herself to death. Dad did love her, but he loathed her too, and didn’t try and save her, so he avoided the summer house and had women of his own in their main house. Okay. So. Naomi says to him, I’m just like both you and Mother. Like Mother, I enjoy BDSM and multiple partner sex. Like you, I prefer young women. You two made me what I am. And so, I want the summer house for *my* kind of party. Not surprisingly, Dad nearly has a heart attack at all this frankness.

Naomi continues: Midori, who has a serious father complex, has the hots for you and wants you to be there. (There it was – all of Midori’s character development, right there) and I want you to bring Akira, because he’s a spineless nothing and we both can’t stand him. Maybe – although probably not – I can make a man out of him.

It’s probably not a good thing that I thought this was the best scene in the book. LOL No, seriously, I loved Naomi just laying it out on the line like that.

So the “party” proceeds as in the anime, with crashing thunder and lightning as a backdrop.

The end result of all of it is that Naomi leaves Japan and goes to Paris to find herself and leaves Rie to have her school life without complications. Mari, Midori and Rie become close friends. Mari keeps trying to throw herself at Rie but she, still obsessed by Naomi, doesn’t bite. Midori (who seems to favor sloppy seconds) is glad to pick up the slack. Although we don’t see them on screen, as it were, Mari and Midori become an item.

In the third section, Rie is now a third-year and is the object of desire of first-year Kurimoto Arisa. As Rie had with Naomi, Arisa now pursues Rie with vigor. Rie finds herself taking the lead, but they are interrupted by Mari who drives Arisa out of their room in a fit of jealousy. She admits that she’s been sleeping with Midori, but she really wants Rie. After they sleep together, Mari confesses that she’s leaving the next day for LA, because of her family situation. She leaves and Rie hopes to see her once again, but probably not.

Rie moves on to graduate, and is excited beyond belief to find an invitation from Naomi, who has returned to Japan, waiting for her. Rie goes to her home to find that her graduation present from Naomi is Arisa. Rie enjoys her present, then retires upstairs with Naomi, while Midori and Arisa continue. All of this is in the anime, as well. The only difference is that the evening ends with the four of the sleeping (well, snuggling and sleeping) in one bed, until dawn.

Before they make love, Naomi and Rie talk. Naomi confesses that she won’t be returning to Japan anymore. Being here – being around her father and brother – brings out bad things in her and she doesn’t want to be that person. She’ll be returning to Paris, where she is very happy. But that she looks forward to following Rie’s career as a pianist and one day, when they meet up again, she can introduce Rie to the people she knows as her lover.

As in the anime, Rie goes on to be a splendid Student Council President, with many fans, Arisa chief among them. When she graduates, she leaves behind a legacy for Arisa to continue. The anime ends there, but the novel goes on just a bit, so that we can see Arisa, now President, admired and desired by all the underclassmen, but also with a special pet, to whom she passes the legacy. It’s kind of dumb, but I liked that we got to see that this whole cycle continues as a tradition. I have no idea why I liked it – I just did. :)

The language of the novel is flowery. Literally. They play with each other’s “buds” and they blossom and bloom all over the place. The author is a woman (or at least uses a woman’s name) so the prose used for the sex is both sensitive and slightly purple…or should that be florid? Anyway, it tends towards girly melodrama instead of stark porninshness. I think it fit the story rather well.

The novel has both color and black and white pictures. These are very in the style of Cream Lemon and so, pretty awful art. ^_^

Now, in the beginning, I made the comment that this series is the direct ancestor of both Marimite and Strawberry Panic. That might seem an outrageous claim to make, although anyone who knew of “Escalation”s existence assumed it was an antecedent of Strawberry Panic, so I thought I’d mention a few similarities. Aside from the obvious lesbian relationships at a private school for rich girls. Because that didn’t originate with “Escalation,” it originated with Yoshiya Nobuko’s Yaneura no Nishojo. (As far as I know. There may be an earlier example and if you know of it, do tell me!)

Let me just pull out a few points to consider. None of these are definitive. Here are *some* of the reasons why.

In Escalation, we see a strong tradition of the upperclassman/lowerclassman relationship at Azaria that is passed down, which is very similar to both the soeur tradition of Lillian and the Etoile tradition of Astoria. But that is merely a pastiche of the larger, more common sempai/kouhai tradition in Japan. Hardly significant.

In Escalation, the first significant scene where Naomi shows interest in Rie is in the music room where Naomi comes in to watch Rie play, sits down next to her and makes her explode with desire. In Marimite, as Yumi avoids the other students because she is torn by her desire to become Sachiko’s soeur and her desire to not be forced to become her soeur, Yumi is sitting at the piano when Sachiko comes in and they play a duet, while Yumi’s heart pounds as Sachiko touches her. Likewise, in Strawberry Panic Shizuma and Nagisa share a tense attraction as they play a duet in the middle of the night at the piano.

The music room scene leads Naomi to take Rie on a tour of the school. In the chapel, she fiercely embraces a very willing Rie – and gets pretty far pretty quickly, until they are interrupted. Naomi decides at that point that she must make Rie hers. In Strawberry Panic the outcomes of the tour are different for anime/manga and novel, but in all cases Shizuma attempts to kiss Nagisa. In the library, not the church. But they do tour the church, while Shizuma seduces Nagisa. In the SP novel, it is during this end of the school tour where Shizuma determines that she will make Nagisa her partner for Etoile. In Marimite, it is *in* the church that Sei attempts to kiss Shiori and fails, receiving a slap for her efforts. But they do kiss, eventually, outside the church – and don’t think that Konno Oyuki did that accidentally.

Now it’s true that these are broad examples of what appear to be similar tropes and easily refuted. But I am confident enough in Oyuki’s writing to believe that she knows Escalation and I am 100% convinced that “Escalation” was being directly parodied by Strawberry Panic as much as any other of the dozens of Yuri series it clearly parodied.

Ratings:

Art – 4
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 10
Service – 10

Overall – 7

So…when I read Escalation I had to take my hat off in respect for an elder of the genre.

Plus, as I said, it was pretty good for porn. ^_^





Yuri Light Novel: Strawberry Panic, Volume 3 (Japanese)

August 10th, 2007

When it comes to Strawberry Panic!, Volume 3, I really don’t even know where to begin. This book was so cracktastic, so chock full of utter randomness that went nowhere and did nothing that the only thing I can think of to start is this:

I believe in my heart that stories that take place at all-girl’s private schools for the daughters of the privileged that are not action stories, ought to include no more than 1(One) use of private helicopters. More just seems overkill. ^_^

You may remember that Volume 2 in the Strawberry Panic! light novel series ended with Amane and Hikari having run away from the school together and Nagisa having removed herself from both the Etoile-sen and her relationship with Shizuma.

Volume 3 begins with the crowning of the winners of the most recent competition for the Etoile-sen – Spica’s newly returned violin virtuoso Kusanagi Makoto and Lu Lim’s girl prodigy, Byakudan Kagome (sans bear.) This couple was so utterly “huh???” I read the passage about three times to make sure I hadn’t gotten it wrong.

Nagisa, still suffering from heart break and nervous strain from the pressure of the Etoile-sen, decides to leave Astoria forever. Tamao catches her packing and begs her to stay – even offering to enter the Etoile-sen with her as partner. Nagisa relents and decides to stay, but doesn’t reenter the contest.

Momomi and Kaname notice one another for the first time. Woot.

Shizuma’s friends Mizuho and Hitomi admit to one another that they probably had something to do with Nagisa’s breakdown. In an attempt to reassure Nagisa, they told her the absolute truth about Shizuma and Kaori – that Shizuma never loved Kaori at all. In fact, it was Hitomi who was in love with Kaori, but since Kaori admired Shizuma so much, she introduced them. Kaori instantly fell under Shizuma’s spell. Shizuma didn’t want to be cruel, and she didn’t want to hurt the person Hitomi loved so much, so she stayed by Kaori’s side right to the end. This brings no solace to Nagisa.

Shizuma, under cover of contemplative internal monologue bares Miyuki’s and Yaya’s deepest secrets; Miyuki’s arranged marriage to some man her family had chosen and Yaya’s dislike of men, due to her father’s neglectful and abusive behavior.

For no reason at all, we learn Makoto’s secret, that she is illegitimate and that her her half sister is the “legendary” Etoile, Kusanagi Masaki. This fact is totally random, and never really given relevance and the fact that a whole new character arrives in the story to tell us this (a character who appears in the story primarily to be sexually harassed by Shizuma then does nothing else) makes the whole thing extra random. It also serves to show us that Shizuma, while in every other scene is genuinely kind and worried about Nagisa, when stuck in the bathroom behaves compulsively. (No, what it really shows is that painstakingly developed characterization will be thrown to the dogs for the teeniest, most pointless bits of service.)

Meanwhile, Amane and Hikari have run off to Amane’s family’s summer home. After getting wet in the surf, they return to the house to shower. Amane is overcome and begins to kiss Hikari. In a moment of utter, complete FAIL, as Amane begins to move down to her chest, Hikari says Yaya’s name. Amane stops and asks why, naturally enough. Hikari tells her about her and Yaya’s night in the pool. In a stunning display of self-control, Amane realizes that Yaya, poor bitch, is really in love with Hikari, and that if she, Amane, is ever to have Hikari for herself, she needs to return to Astoria, win the Etoile-sen with her, and rub Yaya’s nose in it but good. But she says it in a nicer, more cool and gracious way. ^_^

Lots of meaningless running around and angsting goes on. Yaya has stopped caring about life and is sleeping through class and haunting the halls of the dorm at night. When she does fall asleep she dreams sexually suggestive dreams about Hikari. In nearly every portentous scene, Chikaru appears, like some kind of omen of misfortune. In reality, she isn’t, it just seems that way. She also gets a random dress-up party with the Henshin Club for no reason at all. During this scene, Kagome admits that she doesn’t like Makoto, who made fun of her teddy bear.

Shizuma determines to leave the school, to return to her family and whatever marriage they have arranged for her.

The Principal of St. Miator, who likes her attendants in suits and sunglasses, suddenly appears in the story and also appears to find all of the drama fascinating.

The three Student Council Presidents meet to figure out what to do about the aborted Etoile-sen. Miyuki says that, since Miator is already holding the position, it should continue to do so. Shion objects for several reasons – Shizuma is graduating, and possibly leaving before that, Spica’s couple won the first petite crown and one half the second, so Spica should hold the position. But Chikaru regretfully says that Kagome has asked to be removed from the contest, since Makoto’s a big doodyhead. All three schools are without major candidates.

And then the first helicopter shows up.

Everyone – and I mean *everyone* – runs to the top of Spica’s big tower, the penthouse of which is the Student Council room, where the helipad is. (Yes, I am laughing as I type this.) The St. Miator private helicopter lands, disgorging Amane and Hikari, the sight of whom makes Shion burst into tears. (It’s hard to imagine if all you know of Amane is the anime version, but everyone at Astoria is in love with Amane’s good looks, her charm, her overwhelming charisma, etc.) Amane proclaims that they have returned, even though having left in the first place, they will probably be expelled. At which the Principal of Miator arrives and says that if Spica expels them, Miator would accept them. Chikaru chides the Principal, who is also her mother, for her recklessness. Learning that her family is an old Miator family, it makes perfect sense that Chikaru is attending Lu Lim.

Yaya has heard the rumors and rushes off, not to the helipad (snort) but to Spica’s Principal’s office where, when Amane and Hikari arrive, Hikari leaps into her arms, begging forgiveness. Seeing Amane and Hikari together kills all of Yaya’s unhappy thoughts and in a giant moment of satori, she realizes that she does love Hikari, but does not need to possess her. In her heart, she gives Hikari up to Amane, who accepts her happily.

Meanwhile, Nagisa suddenly realizes that she desperately wants to see Shizuma. Horribly, desperately. She runs around trying to find her, only to learn that Shizuma has already left the school. So, in a giagantic handwave, Tamao offers her *family* helicopter to go to the airport and stop her from leaving. Nagisa runs up just as Shizuma is climbing the stairs to the plane. They reunite with an embrace and kisses.

And they all live happily ever after.

The End.

So. I wasn’t really able to express to you in this review how much “wtf”-ness was contained in this book. Clearly the author thought the series was going to go on for longer, as she added in several characters that ended up doing not much of anything. I also think that at about the mention of the first helicopter, she had finally gotten a look at her paycheck for this job and thought, “well, screw that.” ^_^;

Both Amane and Yaya come through the series with actual personalities. Hikari fails massively as a person, but as a couple, only Amane and Hikari are at all interesting. Everyone at Miator was a bore and Chikaru was all foreplay and no payoff. And five years from now, when all the main players are gone, I have no doubt that Kagome and her teddy bear rule the school with an iron fist.  And, in my heart, I hope Kaname and Momomi have lots of hawt lesbian secks.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 6
Story – 10 for sheer wtf-ness
Yuri – 8
Service – 5

Overall – 7

I cannot wait to see this thing translated, really. It was so…yeah.





Yuri Light Novel: Strawberry Panic, Volume 2 (Japanese)

July 17th, 2007

Extra long review today because I’m heading out for Otakon (Yuri Panel Sunday at 1pm! All ages!) later this week and will probably only post in teeny, non-review chunks for the next few days. Before I start today’s review, I wanted to share this with you. It is a *real* honest-to-god email I received. I have altered it in no way, except to cut out the “Hello Erica” part:

i just wnated to tell you i love youre book strawberry panic so much well i didnt read the book i watched the show and i want more episodes that series made me depressed for a weak and im still not over kaori :'[ make mroe episodes :[

…

Moving right along.

In a surprise move, the Light Novel Strawberry Panic!, Volume 2 was actually pretty entertaining. LOL

As you know, Seven Seas has licensed the LNs. I am reading the series in Japanese first, because I wanted to see what the original sounded like before I read the translation. And, because I enjoy it.

Quick Overview of the Series and Story So Far

(If you know all this, skip to the New Bits):

Strawberry Panic! was a parody series in which many recognizable characters, concepts and whole episodes/scenes from other Yuri anime and manga series were taken and put into a blender, creating the anime version of a Long Island Ice Tea – tasty, intoxicating and not very good for your brain.

The story is as follows: Aoi Nagisa transfers into the elite Astoria, an academy that consists of three different schools – St. Miator, St. Spica and St. Lu Lim. Miator’s strength is academics – it is the oldest and most traditional of the three schools. Spica excels at sports and Lu Lim stresses club life and creativity.

Immediately, Nagisa is singled out by the “star” of the three schools, Hanazono Shizuma, who is known to be a playgirl. Shizuma is the “Etoile” (star) of the schools and is going to graduate this year, but decides to run for Etoile again with Nagisa as her partner.

Competing with Shizuma and Nagisa for the position is the “Prince” of Spica, Ohtori Amane, and another transfer student, the angelic Kotohana Hikari.

In the first Light Novel:

Amane and Hikari win the first contest of the competition, a very silly horseback race to “save” the younger partner from a tower.

Just before the second contest – a showy vow of love and fealty by the elder partner (Ane) to the younger (Cadet) – Nagisa learns that Shizuma’s former partner, and her first love, Sakuragi Kaori, died a short time after they were made Etoile.

At the end of the book Amane and Hikari are given the “petite crown” for winning the first contest, and Shizuma admits her history with Kaori, but swears that her vow to love only Nagisa for all eternity was completely the truth.

New Bits

The first novel basically followed the continuity of the Strawberry Panic! manga, which I have previously reviewed. (Volume 1 and Volume 2) Volume 1 included most of most service-filled scenes from the first half of the anime, as well…I’m convinced that the author was required to include those by the editor.

Volume 2 completely digresses from both manga and anime storylines. It begins with a letter being delivered to Russia (HAH! Bet you didn’t expect that!) to one Kusanagi Makoto, a former Spica student. Upon learning that her beloved Prince Amane is running for Etoile with a no-name transfer student, Makoto leaves her training as a violinist and runs back to Spica to “save” it from the horror.

Meanwhile in Miator, Student Council President Rokujyou Miyuki comes up with a plan so clever that if you stuck a tail on it you could call it a weasel. Amane, it turns out, was dead against this whole women-loving-women thing that went on at Astoria. She had previously proclaimed that she was not interested in such lesbian goings on……then she met Hikari and fell head over heels. As a result, she’s basically overwhelmed and on fire for her newfound love. Miyuki changes the second contest from a tennis doubles match to “The Devil Without a Face” in which the Ane and Cadet are not allowed to see one another for two solid weeks. Many a potential couple had broken under the pressure – either they couldn’t stand the strain and had cheated, or one partner had decided that they *could* do without the other. Two weeks is long enough for doubt and distrust to creep in….

Before the contest begins on St. Meriadoc’s Day (June 8, if you care) the schools are gathering together for large meals each night at one of the school dining halls. Into one of these comes Makoto, who showily commands the attention of everyone by declaring her love for another student – without saying who it is. Neither Amane nor Hikari are in the hall at the moment, conveniently.

Also that night, Lu Lim Student Council President Minamoto Chikaru shows up and plants in Nagisa a seed of unhappiness about how wonderful the late Kaori was and how much Shizuma still misses her.

Before the contest begins, Shizuma meets Nagisa in secret. Before they part for two weeks, Shizuma gives Nagisa a hickey to remember her by. On the same night, Amane and Hikari sneak out together. Hikari kisses Amane before they part.

Chikaru meets up with Makoto, who is so focused on Amane that she does not kiss Chikaru when the opportunity presents itself. Chikaru asks Makoto for a favor…

Hikari’s roommate Yaya is her number one fan. Yaya is absolutely in love with Hikari, but isn’t going to stand in her way – in fact, she’s her biggest friend and supporter against the other students who have been bullying Hikari quite a bit. But on night 10, Yaya takes Hikari out to look at the stars and her heart breaks at the way Hikari is trying to be strong in her loneliness. She embraces Hikari, and they fall into the pool. Overcome by Hikari’s beauty, Yaya strips her roommate and strokes her skin under the moonlight.

While they are apart from their beloved Ane, both Nagisa and Hikari are practicing for the dance competition. Kenjou Kaname, who resents Hikari deeply for taking “her” place at Amane’s side, finds that she is starting to understand what Amane sees in this girl, who looks so much like an angel. Nagisa, in the meantime, is filled with a dark desire to know more about Kaori.

Shizuma has a dream, in which Kaori comes to her as an angel and tells her to be happy.

On the next to last night of the contest, Makoto holds a concert. The whole school attends. Amane and Hikari meet up in secret and later that night, they sneak off to be together. They are immediately discovered by, who else, Makoto, who brings one of the nuns and the three Student Council Presidents as witnesses. Amane and Hikari are disqualified.

One the last day of the contest, Nagisa can’t take another second – she finds Shizuma and demands to know more about Kaori. As Shizuma tells her what she wants to know, she is filled with the certainty that Shizuma is still in love with Kaori – and that their relationship is a sham.

The Spica Student Council is determining who will be their replacement for the dance contest when Lu Lim President Chikaru shows up and admits to being the one who sabotaged both sides. Spica President Toumori Shion asks why, since Lu Lim didn’t want the title. Chikaru explains that Lu Lim *did* want the title. In fact, the “Henshin Club” (the cosplay club run by Chikaru) was a front for her real plan – to turn her harem of underclassmen into school idols and future Etoile. The cosplay was all part of teaching them different roles and responsibilities and to promote them around the school.

As the third and final competition, the dance contest, begins, Amane and Hikari quietly leave the school together, and Nagisa officially pulls herself from the Etoile contest.

The dance contest starts, with Makoto and Student Council Secretary Tsubomi representing Spica and Chikaru’s protégés Remon and Kizuna representing Lu Lim.

End of Book.

I thought that the author did a pretty decent job of adding depth to most of the characters, changing several for the better. Amane and Hikari particularly, were given actual personalities; Yaya’s pain was given some depth; Miyuki continues to be far snarkier and funnier than her anime incarnation; and Nagisa’s behavior makes actual sense. Chikaru, while gaining depth, is also really creepy throughout the novel. I really liked how her cosplay obsession was made into part of the plot (her’s and the book’s.) Extra points to the author for that. :-)

Shizuma remains undeveloped if, perhaps, a bit sweeter and less manipulative than the anime version. Shion took the biggest hit in this novel – she sort of loses all personality and just spends the book being stunned and shocked. Kaname becomes a nasty temper on the hoof – I quite liked her, but I wish she’d stop obsessing about Amane. It’s getting tired.

Lastly, Tamao. I am not in alignment with most of Yuri fandumb in revering her anime incarnation. But I do not find sexual harassment appealing – whether it’s done by a woman or not. In the novels, she’s just annoying to me. Nagisa’s clueless – despite having been at school for several months now – and Tamao steadfastly provides no useful information. Their conversations look like this:

N: “Meowmeow? What’s that?”
T: “Oh, that’s right, you wouldn’t know about it. Oh well, you’ll find out. Tee hee!”

Every time the two of them had a conversation, the book ground to a halt in my opinion.

Overall, while less servicey than anime, manga or the first novel, I think that this book is really quite entertaining. There’s a genuine attempt by the author to imbue these characters with some real dimension and the plot with some real oomph.

Ratings:

Art – 6 (one point off for so often illustrating things we don’t want to see and not illustrating the ones we do)
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 5

Overall – 7

Last comment: EVERYTIME Hikari appears, she cries. Every time. No exceptions. It would make a good drinking game – drink when Hikari cries. You’d be blotto by page 50. It’s a 300+ page book.





Yuri Light Novel: Strawberry Panic, Volume 1 (Japanese)

March 21st, 2007

One of the many reasons I began teaching myself Japanese was because I resented having to rely on translators’ interpretations. I know that in translation one is always balancing “feel” and “sense” and I wanted to be able to read things in the original in order to be able to grasp both, without someone making my decisions for me.

So, since Seven Seas will be coming out with a translation of the Strawberry Panic light novels, I wanted to read them first in Japanese, so I could better appreciate how they were reproduced in English.

Let me give you this piece of background info, that should help you appreciate my feelings about this novel:

On average, it takes me three months to translate a 200 page Maria-sama ga Miteru light novel. If I am reading for myself, without translating, it takes me about a month to read, with the assistance of at least two dictionaries and a translation tool.

…It took me *4 days* to read this 300+ page novel.

With one dictionary.

If you can’t appreciate the significance of that, let me add this piece of information: the amount of furigana in this novel was astounding. There was so much furigana that I’m tempted to think that their target audience is 12 year olds. Tops. Comparatively, there is very little furigana on any given page of a Maria-sama ga Miteru novel. As Tsutako explains to Yumi in an interesting metaconversation in Ibara no Mori (translated here by Erin Subramanian,) the audience for the book is really adults, although it is ostensibly a book for teens.

Strawberry Panic, Volume 1 (and I am still linking to the Japanese edition here, as that is what I am reviewing. When I review the English edition, I’ll link to that) is about the happenings at Astoria, an old, tradition-laden campus that is composed of three distinct schools: St. Miator, St. Spica and St. LuLim.

Miator is the oldest and, in many ways, the most powerful. Spica is the second oldest, and sort of “mod” to Miator’s “traditional.” LuLim is the youngest of the three, and “eclectic” in comparison with both the other schools.

The events and characterizations in the novel follow the manga closely – this one novel pretty much covers the events in the two manga volumes (Here are the reviews for Volume 1 and Volume 2.) Much of the clunkiest, most derivative junk that mucked up the anime has been shed, which is good. So, no memory loss, no global warming, no angsty avoidance. And much less open rip-offs of memes from other Yuri series. (Just one, other than the whole “Catholic schoolgirls misbehaving” thing.)

The opening of anime, manga and novel are almost identical, as we meet playgirl extraordinaire Hanazono Shizuma as she breaks up with her most recent paramour, and proceeds from there to meet – and be enchanted by – incoming transfer student Aoi Nagisa.

Early on, Shizuma determines that she will run for the school’s star positon, the Etoile, with Nagisa. This is unheard of, since she is in her final year at school, and cannot possibly hold the position for more than a few months…and her chosen partner is a transfer student who barely knows anything at all.

Her only real competition for the position is the junior year Prince of Spica, Ootori Amane. Their battle for the position is just about identical to that in the manga.

In Spica, the way Amane and meets her partner for Etoile, Konohana Hikari, differs strongly from manga and anime – and it makes a lot mores sense. So does the fact that they fall in love just about instantly without much fuss.

The first third of the novel is almost identical to the manga, with the creepy, servicey almost-kisses between Shizuma and Nagisa. But from there, the author seems to shed a lot of the less good stuff the story had piled on it, and manages to do a halfway decent job with what is left.

Which is not to say that this is a good story, but more on that later.

Here are some of the main differences between the versions.

We learn a LOT more about the individual schools and how they work. St. Spica, particularly, has some weird rules – all new transfer students live by themselves for two weeks. When you enter the Spica side of the dorms (and there is no free movement allowed between the three sides, so sneaking around for those midnight tea parties is really awkward) you have to ring a bell and announce your name. Even if, especially if, you’re a Spica student.

Hikari and Nagisa are both transfer students. So the first usual test for the younger partner in the Etoile, which is an exam on Astoria history, is canceled completely, as neither has had time to be able to compete fairly.

Nagisa is, as long as she isn’t speaking out loud, pretty much okay. Once, she’s so distressed that she forgets to refer to herself as “Nagisa” and instantly jumps up a notch in my estimation. She’s not nearly as stupid or whiny as the anime Nagisa was.

The vow-taking ceremony for Etoile couples is not held in the church, but in front of a replica of the Roman “Mouth of Truth”.  They get points on style, as they did in the manga. Spica council President Shion still tries to sabotage Shizuma, and fails.

Tamao is in love with Nagisa, but all her pervastic behavior is disappeared, leaving a very intense girl with a crush on her roommate. It was such a relief, let me tell you.

Shizuma tells Nagisa early on about the Etoile position and how it works. After she tries to seduce Nagisa in the library and fails, Shizuma backs off until, on the way back from the grand tour, they meet Chiyo and Tamao. When Tamao claims Nagisa as her “vitamin Nagisa,” Shizuma goes cold and serious and vows to run for Etoile with Nagisa. From that point on, the playboy seduction ends, and she really opens up to Nagisa, and tries to be a reasonable partner. Her expressions of interest in and like for Nagisa certainly seem much more trustworthy.

Miyuki is much, much snarkier in the novel. I liked that.  ^_^

Amane is less hesitant, and completely able to fight off Kaname’s desire to run for Etoile with her. Kaname is the boyish, dark-skinned Kaname of the manga, not the Evil Psycho Lesbian of the anime, so she and Momomi do not appear to be a couple at all. Kaname is interested only in Amane, and Momomi just likes drama. ^_^ We get a fair amount of time in Amane’s head, too, and we really learn just how much she hates being the school star and being idolized by all these girls. It’s not that she hates herself, or that she hates them, she really just doesn’t understand why they think she’s attractive, since she’s so boyish, and feels burdened by their idolization of her and the resulting celebrity she has to deal with all the time.

Hikari isn’t a stuttering ass, Amane isn’t a non-verbal freak. They are so much more likeable here where they are just *together*. Hikari is very lonely in the beginning, mostly because of the isolation rule. She’s contemplating leaving the school when she meets and falls for Amane. She is not nearly as much of a pushover as she is in either manga or anime.

Here’s some things that were the same:

The horseback race/rescue from the tower is still one of the Etoile tests for the elder partner – Amane and Hikari win, and Amane is really pretty showy and fun about it. (Not the acutely embarrassed Amane of the anime, for sure. And phew for that!)

Nagisa still refers to herself in third person.

Chiyo is still an annoying crybaby.

The midnight tea party in the center grounds of the Ichigosha dorms at the end of the manga is the same as well. With a slight difference. The midnight tea party in Nagisa and Tamao’s room is the same – but because we follow Yaya and Hikari there, through the really strict halls of the Spica side of Ichigosha, we get to see what kind of risk they take getting there.

And here are some things that are significant, and help make the novel better than the manga and a whole different class than the anime:

Nagisa does, yes, receive a note that leads her to the library, and to information about Shizuma’s late Etoile partner, Kaori. In the novel we get Nagisa’s thoughts on all this, which are (quite sensibly) that she feels as if Shizuma is using her, Nagisa, as a replacement for her dead lover. This was completely left out of the anime, so that long, (quite tedious,) arc after Nagisa learns about Kaori, in which she and Shizuma avoid one another, is never explained. This reaction was simple, realistic, logical and not overly prolonged. Nagisa ends the book by asking straight out about Kaori, and Shizuma responds straight out by telling her.

Through Shizuma’s thoughts we learn about Kaori very early in the novel, so we *know* that there’s more to Shizuma than just being a playgirl. We also know why she feels that she can never commit to someone like that again…and we see that blown away early on when she meets Nagisa.

The two girls who follow Shizuma around in the anime? Remember them? They are always behind her in the greenhouse. The *appear* to be the other Miator Student Council members…well, they’re actually Shizuma’s closest childhood friends, Hitomi and Mizuho. I very much liked the fact that Shizuma had some close friends.

And lastly, here are some of the things that are either relics of the anime/manga and had to be done, or just didn’t work.

At Miator, the wind is blowing. Fuu— Fuuu—, and the flowers swirl around. Swirl…dance….. If they took out *half* the references to the wind (Fuu–) and the flowers (swirling, swirling!) the book would be 20 pages shorter.

At Spica, they wear miniskirts. Did you know they wear miniskirts at Spica? Yes, miniskirts. Really. By the fifth or sixth mention I was fairly well-informed on the miniskirt situation and really, really didn’t need to be told again. But that didn’t stop the point from being made a few more times.

The utterly pointless scene in the library, where Yaya (who otherwise in the book is perfectly normal and kind of funny/nasty as she refers to Amane’s fanclub as “Amane wannabees”) sexually harrasses Hikari seems incredibly out of place. Shizuma trying to get a kiss from Nagisa feels slightly less absurd, but the whole scene had a sense of “the editor thinks this is sexy, so keep it in or else”. The same was true for the bath scene with Shizuma and Miyuki. The conversation could have been anywhere…and the service felt very forced and incongruous as Shizuma had already abandoned her playgirl persona by then.

All of these things had the distinct feeling of things that the author was *told* to include. None of them make the least little difference to the story, and most of them are very tiresome. They are all in the first third of the book. Starting at about halfway, the book seriously decreases in service, increases in character development and gets a fair power up in the not sucking utterly department.

The last scene, at that “secret” midnight tea party in the central garden of Ichigosha, (to which the entire school comes, but it’s still, somehow, “secret”) where Nagisa confronts Shizuma about Kaori (and Shizuma admits that she wasn’t going to tell Nagisa, and hoped that she wouldn’t find out) was handled as well as one could expect in this series. Amane and Hikari are given the Petite Crown for winning the horseback race contest…and the Etoile-sen continues in the next volume.

I really feel bad for the person working on the novel translation because, although this novel is miles better than the anime, and yards better than the manga, it is whole continents away from being as good as even the worst of the Maria-sama ga Miteru novels. In short, it pretty much bites. The author did a brave job with the material, but you can only do so much with…well, crap.

Ratings:

Art – 7 (light novel, it has pictures, remember?)
Story – starts at 3 and manages to claw its way to a 6 by the end
Characters – 3, except for Amane, who comes in at a surprising 5
Yuri – 9
Service – 9

Overall – 5, but only because the author really, REALLY worked at it.

I’m just dying to see how the English language version does! Because really, anyone who get past that wind, and those flowers deserves an award. ^_^; I really don’t envy that translator and adapter… That all having been said, this is light years better than the Drama CDs, which were service for the sake of service and not much more.





On Light Novels

February 9th, 2007

This past summer I had the pleasure to be asked to participate in the creation of a manga encyclopedia. The editor and writer, Jason Thompson, asked me to do some reviews, interviewed me for the “Yuri” article and eventually had me write a short article on “Light Novels” for the book.

Manga: The Complete Guide, is now available for pre-order on Amazon. It is, alas, without my article on Light Novels. Due to time/space/existential issues, it was left out. I hold no hard feelings, these things happen. But it was a *good* article and I worked hard on it. As the Light Novels (LNs) that got me into reading LNs, and that I have been reviewing here for some time are the Maria-sama ga Miteru series, and those I have yet to read are also Yuri, I thought I’d share the article with my readers here. Let me just note quickly that the translation of Tsutako’s quote from Ibara no Mori was done by Erin Subramanian. The full passage can be found on Erin’s Livejournal.

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LIGHT NOVEL (ライトノベル)

Light Novel is a term used for short novels, typically with illustrations, written for and marketed to a teen/young adult audience. Light, or non-serious, novels average around two hundred pages, and are smaller in dimension than “literary” novels. The phrase Light Novel came into use in the eighties and early nineties in the Japanese Science Fiction community – the term, originally “karui noberu” or “non-serious novel,” was coined by a Japanese SF/Fantasy online forum. Light Novels were heavily influenced by anime, manga, games and other youth culture staples in Japan. In return, many Light Novels are now being turned into anime, manga, games, etc. One of the earliest Light Novels, Mobile Suit Gundam, helped expand the famous dynasty of anime, manga, games and model kits. Vampire Hunter D was another early Light Novel that has remained popular in many media.

A wide variety of Japanese publishing companies are involved in the production of Light Novels. These include classic book publishing houses, groups that also publish manga, mixed-media publishers and software houses, such as Kadokawa, Mediaworks, Shueisha, Kodansha, Square Enix, Hobby Japan and many others. Each publisher may have several imprints that range over a variety of genres.

In the west, the interest in Light Novels has been driven by manga translation and distribution companies. In 2004, Tokyopop developed their own imprint for Light Novels, which they call “Manga Novels.” Other western publishers such as Viz Media, Seven Seas, DMP, Dark Horse, and CMX (DC Comics’ manga imprint) have already entered the field, and Del Ray has announced their interest in doing so. ALC Publishing has published an original English-language Light Novel, Shoujoai ni Bouken.

Although they were first created to increase interest in Science Fiction, it is not uncommon to find Light Novels for Fantasy, Mystery, Horror and Historical genres and, of course, Romance, which includes “Boy’s Love” (see: Yaoi) titles. To distinguish the different genres publishers will use differently colored covers so readers can quickly identify their genre of choice.

Illustrations are one of the key features of Light Novels, marking them as “young adult” reading. The illustrators for Light Novels are not always the artists for those series’ manga, but may be (or become) well known in their own right. As Tsutako, a character herself from the untranslated Light Novel “Maria-sama ga Miteru: Ibara no Mori” says, “…the illustrations serve as a clue to what the books are about…. Even if they’ve never heard of the author, they might pick up a book if they have a good first impression of it based on the illustrations.” (Oyuki Konno, Cobalt Shueisha, 1999.) However, not all Light Novels are written for a YA audience and not all Light Novels are illustrated. Novels written to appeal to an older audience and Boy’s Love novels – although intended for a teen audience – often have no illustrations.

In Japan, interest in Light Novels is fueled by Internet fandom, reference books about the genre and by anime and manga based upon popular titles. The increasing interest in Light Novels has spurred the creation of a Light Novel Festival, held annually in Tokyo since 2004. (http://www.light-novel.com). Here in the West, as manga fans look for the source material for popular anime and manga, readership is certain to grow as well.

Sources:

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ライトノベル
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_novel
http://www.j-lit.or.jp/e/programs/newtrends/takashi_ogawa_en.html
http://shinkan.main.jp/
Light Novel Festival
Tokyo International Anime Fair
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sinden/20030919
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/4367.html

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Just as a coda, of interest to Yuri fans specifically, will be the upcoming Seven Seas translation of the Strawberry Panic Light Novels and of course, ALC’s Shoujoai ni Bouken: The Adventures of Yuriko.