Archive for the Light Novel Category


Yuri Light Novel: Strawberry Panic!, Volume 1 (English)

March 16th, 2008

…A pure world within the walls that was reserved only for young ladies. A world of classes, sports, friendship and love, as well as mental and emotional bonds and passionate physical aches.

All of it existing only between girls.

Or, as that last line might be reinterpreted by the fandom:

“All of it existing only between ******girls*******!!!!!!!!111111111111one”

LOL

First, many, many thanks to the fabulous folks at Seven Seas for the opportunity to review the first volume of the Strawberry Panic! Light Novel series in advance. I previously reviewed the Japanese edition of this novel, and Volumes 2 and 3, as well and, by the time I was done with them, I was *dying* to get my hands on a copy of the translation. And now that I have, I can say that Seven Seas has not let me down one single bit. This translation was just about perfect. Not a single moment of eye-popping absurdity has been altered.

It was the uniform of the venerable St. Miator Girls’ Academy, which every single girl desperately wanted to attend.

(Was that every single girl in the world – or every *single* girl? I think the interpretation’s up for grabs. lol)

The overall tone of voice – that pretentious, overformal, precious tone, favored by moe fans everywhere, was captured perfectly. My kudos to the translator and adaptor.

Hikari came off as fragile, Amane as admirable, Miyuki as snarky, Shion as raging against the machine, Shizuma as a playgirl, and Nagisa as…Nagisa. Tamao isn’t as pervy as she is in the anime, Chikaru seems to be written by two different people – the one who acts like she’s pulling the strings and the one who thinks she’s barely interested, and Kaname…is nuts.

Kaname drew a red rose seemingly out of nowhere and offered it to Amane.

“Please give up; this is our fate. It’s all right. It only hurts in the beginning….”

And the Etoile competition is, to quote Tamao, a “festering pile of trickery.” She’s right, too. ^_^

I enjoyed every second of this novel, for the amusingly over-the-top tone, the heavy beating with the Yuri stick, and the fact that while I thought it hysterical, I am sure to get many emails and comments on how “beautiful” a story it is. My answer in advance, is to once again quote from the book:

Of course, most of the young ladies used their judgment when they heard those legends. But there were some who really believed them. …And yet those same young ladies grew into fine women.

Ratings:

Art – 6 (I’ve revised this down, because it’s too cute for some of the characters, who are supposed to be seen as sexy, or sensual, or masculine.)
Story – 6 (I’ve revised this up, because I’m no longer weighing this series against anything I take seriously)
Characters – 7 (Ditto)
Yuri – 9
Service – 8

Overall – 7

Translation – 9
Adaptation – 9

Strawberry Panic! is stellar as a comedy. Fans who don’t see that will find it to be stellar as a Yuri novel, because it is indubitably Yuri and therefore must be excellent. ^_^





Yuri Light Novel: Shiroyuki Gakuen Oneesama Itadakimasu!

March 6th, 2008

I wasn’t planning on doing a review today at all, but as long as I could keep it short, I thought I might manage one. Of everything on my “to review” pile, the thing I have the least to say about is Shiroyuki Gakuen Oneesama Itadakimasu!.

This light novel is about Kuramoto Yuuri, and her next door neighbor who admires (and desires) her, Takanawa Seiro. Yuuri is the perfect onee-sama; classic beauty, smart, all the girls adore her, etc. For her part, she enjoys the adoration, surrounding herself with blushing young beauties and playing with their feelings. Little does she know that she is *so* perfect that there is a group of evildoers out to get her. Seiro arrives on the scene fortuitously and saves her. The whole truth comes out – Seiro is actually an alien and the enemy is a group of aliens (who wear silly catgirl costumes) called the Black Cat somethingorother and who are out to get Yuuri for her DNA.

The rest of the book is basically all the characters having sex. Seiro and Yuuri are actually in love, so their sex is consensual and kind of sweet. The rest of the sex is either punishment, coercion or non-con.

…and that’s all there is to say and about this book, really.  ^_^

There’s pictures, it is a Light Novel after all. There’s nothing at all to say about them.

The only thing left to say, really, is that after I read it, I noticed that the author has a website listed so I went to visit it, expecting to find a hack like myself who wrote this for a paycheck. But no…this is a professional author who (according to his author’s note) intended this book to be a science fiction novel. When I stopped laughing I said to the wife, “You know, just saying that the girl is an alien does NOT make a story science fiction.” ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 2 unless you look at it as a comedy, then 3
Characters – 3 we know *parts* of them very well
Yuri – 10
Service – 10

It dawned on me that the Service rating is really a tremendously crucial thing – other Yuri bloggers are all male and don’t discriminate between stuff like this and stuff like, say, Love My Life. Sure they are both Yuri, but there’s Yuri and there’s this. ^_^





Light Novel: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Kira Kira Mawaru

January 14th, 2008

On my first day in Tokyo, I went to the Manga no Mori in Ikebukuro, walked into the store and was confronted by dozens of Yumi faces, all laid out dozens deep. The newest Marimite novel was on sale. ^_^ I’m only sorry that I couldn’t get a picture for you, because there were *a lot* of books in those piles. And I saw those piles in every manga store I went in to. It made me smile every time.

Of course I nabbed a copy – and decided to read it without dictionary or anything. Just read it, like a book.

Sure, I missed stuff, and some conversations were kind of hard to follow. But you know it felt so good to just pick it up and start reading and be able to follow enough of the story that I can report back to you.

Kira Kira Mawaru comes after a massively climactic novel in which many important spoilers occur, so it’s pretty fluffy bunny light. And, as a result, I almost stopped reading it as soon as I began. Because you see, I have a written statement in my house in which I posited the premise of the final book of the series – and this was it. So I opened the book, read the first line, and closed it in panic. ^_^

This definitely *could* be the last book in the series. It ends in a way that if Konno never wrote another word, the series could end handily right there. Which depressed me no end. I won’t be happy until the next book comes out, proving that there is a next book. ^_^

In any case, Kira Kira is about a day at the amusement park. Yumi and Sachiko are joined on their date by Yuuki and Kashiwagi, Rei and Yoshino, Noriko and Shimako, Tsutako and Shouko and eventually Touko and Kanako. The main plot of the book is that everyone (except for Touko and Kanako, but that’s a different story) arrives late for various reasons and in a bad mood. The reasons why they are late and why they are all out of sorts is pretty much the plot. And in every case, it’s pretty minor. Except…

Shimako and Noriko’s reason for being out of sorts is a massive spoiler which I will not share. I will tell you this – it changes nothing. It’s just a fact. But it is a massively spoilery fact. (If you *do* know what it is, kindly keep your mouth shut. Thanks.)

On the other hand, I will share with you Yumi, Sachiko, Kashiwagi and Yuuki’s reason for being late. You know that red sports car Kashiwagi drives? It’s not really his, it’s his grandfather’s. (That’s not the reason. Wait for it…) So Kashiwagi and Sachiko arrive at the Fukuzawa house and when Yumi and Yuuki get in the back seat, Sachiko complains that all the streets in the area are narrow, which struck both Yumi and myself as a really odd thing to complain about. After driving for some time, they stop at a gas station and after some back and forthing, the seating arrangements are changed – Sachiko will be driving. In fact, the sexy red sports car they are in is hers. Her grandfather bought it for *Sachiko.* O_O ORLY? Yumi immediately begins to fantasize about sitting in the front seat next to Sachiko driving, only to be harshly yanked back to reality when she realizes that Sachiko is a petulant driver and Kashiwagi is “helping”. Yumi is glad that she’s in the back – she and Yuuki stay very, very quiet for the rest of the ride. ^_^

Give Sachiko some time, Yumi – she’ll grow into the car and fulfill your dreams of sexy red sports car potential. I’m sure of it.

In terms of Yuri, Yumi and Sachiko are hand-holding fools the whole day. At one point as they get onto the Haunted House ride, Yumi holds Sachiko’s hand, enjoying the romance of it and briefly wondering if the boys are behind them also holding hands. Then she white-noises her brain so she won’t think about that ever again.

Noriko and Shimako are practically joined at the hip. I don’t think they let each other’s hands go from the moment they arrive. While waiting on line for the ferris wheel, a couple in front of them kiss and a pack of young boys behind them start jabbering about it. Noriko wonders how they are seen as they stand there and hold hands. As sisters Friends? Something more? (The concept she uses is as close to “friends with benefits” as I’ve ever seen used in Japanese.) She really doesn’t care, and continues to hold Shimako’s hand.

Yoshino and Rei arrive at the place not speaking to one another. But when Yoshino gets sick from overdoing it on the tea cup ride – a pretty painful scene, actually. I was totally ready to slap Yoshino to the moon – Rei rescues her in the most gallant and magnificent way. Rei 10, Yoshino, 0. They make up, of course, before the end of the book.

And Shouko is the winnah on Yuri longing. She doesn’t just watch Tsutako – she *watches* her. She is so overtly gaga over Tsu that it’s a bit embarrassing. But she gets some really good quality Tsu time – even a few personal insights. If there was a couple in this book where I wanted to see one turn and kiss the other, it would be them. Tsu, you dolt. Kiss the girl already. (The wife suggests a great AMV idea – “Kiss the Girl” from Little Mermaid, and all the moments in Marimite where they *should* *just* *kiss* already. Feel free to make this AMV and send it into Yuri Studios.)

By the time they find Touko and Kanako, and are all are together to watch the fireworks, Yumi is surrounded by shiny happiness. The lights around her are sparkling – kira kira mawaru. And definitely, positively, there will be many more days of happiness like this.

The author’s afterword was very intriguiging. She comments how this series has been called many things – among them “soft Yuri” – but what she sees it as is “fantasy.” Not sword and dragon fantasy, but “girls private school” fantasy. These novels are contemporary, but Konno specifically mentions the lack of cell phones in the book as one of the fantasy elements. She points out (as have we all,) that perhaps the school does not allow keitai on the grounds, but that doesn’t explain why they don’t have and use them away from school. She’s very funny about that – for one thing, she says that this is one of the “fantasy” elements in the story, you just have to take it for granted that they do not have cell phones. It’s a handwave you must accept. Secondly, she comments that, you know, when she was in school there *were* no cell phones and somehow she survived. I hear ya, sister. ^_^ The point of all this is – 1) no, they don’t have cell phones and 2) she knows the series is seen as Yuri. That is all.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8, except for Yoshino who was a 5 and Shouko who was a 9
Yuri – 5
Service – 3

Overall – 8

Even the wife wonders about my scoring – no, the overall score is not an average of the scores above it. Each score is taken on it’s own on a scale from one to ten. So, a story could, potentially,be high on everything, but if I simply hate it, get a low overall, and vice versa. In case you wondered.

 





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.