Archive for the Hatsukoi Shimai Category


Yuri Manga: Hatsukoi Shimai, Volume 1

December 6th, 2006

“Schoolgirl week” continues here on Okazu!

Imagine my surprise when I realized I had not reviewed the first volume of Hatsukoi Shimai, when I reviewed the first wave of manga from Yuri Hime. Particularly surprising, as I’ve been following the series since it was nothing more than a couple of pieces of cover art and a few paragraphs of story. :-)

Once again, to get you up to date with the story, Hatsukoi Shimai began its life as the cover images for the first three issues of Yuri Shimai magazine. Inside the covers were short text stories about the cover couples – just little vignettes, nothing more. The three couples pictured were Chika and Haruna, Akiho and Touko-sensei, and Miyu and Kirika.

The first two couples were brought to life in the two Koi Shimai Drama CDs, both of which I have reviewed previously. (Here are the reviews for Koi Shimai 1 and Koi Shimai 2) and eventually, after Yuri Shimai folded and was resurrected as Yuri Hime, the series was resurrected as Hatsukoi Shimai, now with longer short stories (does that even make sense?), a manga and the Hatsukoi Shimai Drama CD which, this time, included our third cover couple as well. The manga is so far based on the events of the first two Drama CDs, with some slight alterations.

The manga, while based on the character designs by Hibiki Reine (illustrator for Maria-sama ga Miteru) and the original Drama CDs, is clearly a work by committee. There are a whole host of names for the art, writing and production.

I will assume, as I always do for collected volumes, that you have not read my summaries of the individual chapters. So, we begin.

Hatsukoi Shimai is primarily the story of Matsusato Chika who, when she visits the very hoi-poloi girls’ school, known as “Tsunojo”, meets up with cool upperclassman Kanzaki Haruna. During their day together touring the school, Chika falls in love with Haruna and determines that she will study very very hard and get accepted. Also during the course of the day, she trips and falls. Haruna uses her handkerchief to clean the wound and Chika, moved by Haruna’s gentle care, promises to return the handkerchief in the spring when she enters school.

Time passes and despite the odds, Chika does get accepted into Tsunojo. She meets a classmate, Kanzaki Akiho, with whom she becomes quite friendly. Akiho learns about the handkerchief and encourages Chika to return it. But…when Chika finally finds Haruna, she is coldly rebuffed. Confiding in Akiho, Chika is shocked to learn that Haruna is Akiho’s older sister!

Despite Haruna’s disinterest, Chika persists, and eventually finds Haruna in her “secret place” – a sunny glade by a pond. Chika returns the handkerchief and is gratified to see Haruna acting more the way she remembers. Naturally cheerful, Chika drops by every day to see Haruna.

One day Haruna confronts her, hostile and confused, demanding to know why Chika is following her. Chika plainly and simply confesses to being in love with Haruna.

Depressed because Haruna has once again rebuffed her, Chika’s grades drop. When she does poorly on mid-terms, Akiho sets her up with Haruna as a tutor. Able to be with Haruna at last, Chika works very hard and aces the makeup exam.

But.

Their class president, Teshigawara Chiyo, is a very unpleasant sort and is always on Chika’s ass. When Chika’s makeup exam is scored, she and some of the other girls accuse Chika of cheating. After all, failures don’t turn into A students that easily. Akiho hears the accusation and runs off to find her sister – the only person who can confirm that Chika simply studied hard. (In the CD, Chika was forced to take a retest, as Teshigawara didn’t exist.) Haruna runs up and shields Chika from the others and, for the first time, calling Chika by her given name. After an honor student upperclassmen tells them they’re dirt, the girls all back off – except Teshigawara, who has other issues, primarily a raging case of jealousy.

The volume ends at a cafe, where Haruna gives Chika a barrette as a present for doing so well. Chika promises to treasure it always, and points out, a bit coyly, that Haruna called her “Chika-san” when she defended her. Haruna is mortified, because she is just a formal and stuffy kind of person. She and Chika share their souffles and, in a complete reversal of personality, Haruna licks a crumb from Chika’s cheek, which makes Chika explode in a really cute SD panel. ^_^

End of volume.

The book, like all the other Yuri Hime Comics, has been given a high-quality treatment. Color pages are reproduced and the cover and inside cover art is cute. The book cover includes several 4-panel comics, two of which actually made me laugh out loud. And the book comes with a small insert pamphlet with rough sketches by the manga artist, with commentary (in Japanese, of course.)

Where Strawberry Panic is filled with tons of fanservice, this series almost runs to the other extreme, with not only no service, but hardly anything happening at all. No horse-racing, falling off towers or library seductions here. Instead, the narrative is primarily character driven, with lots of doki-doki moments and small moments of almost tortured intimacy. If translated into English, Hatsukoi Shimai would not be nearly as popular as Strawberry Panic, by virtue of having no related anime and not being created expressly for appreciation by the Lowest Common Denominator.

Ratings:

Art – 6 (still a little on the young side for my taste)
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 6
Service – 1

Overall – 6

Even for me, Hatsukoi Shimai a tad tame (but we must remember it began in the pages of Yuri Shimai which constantly erred on the side of chaste romance.) That having been said, slight insipidity is superior to a charge of tedious trashiness. IMHO. (Note the entirely unintentional, yet remarkably clever, repetition of consonant sounds that makes the former sound classy and the latter junky and crass. Aren’t I a clever girl.)

Update: I joked about “no library seductions” but I belatedly realize, I lied. The text story that introduced Akiho on the inside cover, actually takes place between Akiho and her eventual lover….in the library.





Drama CD: Hatsukoi Shimai, Volume 1

March 13th, 2006

Whee! I am so happy to be able to review the first Hatsukoi Shimai Drama CD, Tenshi no Present!

There’s more positives than negatives, so let me get the negatives out of the way quickly. For one thing, it’s too short. I don’t know how long it is, exactly, because there’s no total on the disk, liner notes or product info, and I never bothered totaling up the tracks, but even it had been three hours long, it would have been too short. There wasn’t enough Touko/Akiho and Haruna *still* hasn’t said she loves Chika – at least to her face.

04/14/06 Note – upon relistening to the earlier Koi Shimai Drama CDs, I realize I have been a bit harsh on Haruna. She’s more expressive than I originally gave her credit for, calling Chika her “important person” in the first CD. And, in the second CD when Chika said it would be nice to be Haruna’s sister and be with her always, Haruna replied that she cared for Chika alot, but NOT like a sister – more than that. Chalk it up to my insufficient Japanese comprehension the first time. That having been said…Haruna still does not say she loves Chika directly to her face.)

That about covers the negatives.

Right from the beginning, the language used on this particular CD, like that of the original Koi Shimai CDs, is basic. If I were fluent, this would be a negative. As I am not – and am thrilled to be able to follow much more of the story than usual – this is a definite positive. If you’re learning Japanese and want a fun and Yuri-ful way to practice your listening skills – this is just what you are looking for!

Let’s start with the cast:

Matstusato Chika: Nakahara Mai (Mai from Mai Hime/Mai Otome)
Kanzaki Haruna: Chiba Saeko (Natsuki from Mai Hime/Mai Otome)

Hiiragi Touko: Park Romi (Maki from Air Master)
Kanzaki Akiho: Nonaka Ai (Konoka from Negima!)

Kirika: Satou Rina (Tsutako from Maria-sama ga Miteru)
Miyu: Ohara Sayaka (Alicia from Aria/Layla Hamilton from Kaleido Star/Ezra from Vandread)

Not too shoddy, huh?

Okay, so let me back up two steps. If you recall from my four million times explaining this, the characters all originated as character designs from the covers of Yuri Shimai, Volumes 1,2 and 3. The couples above are listed in order of their appearance. The character designs are by Hibiki Reine, the artist for the Maria-sama ga Miteru novels.

The stories of how Chika met Haruna and Akiho, and how Touko-sensei interfered with them and ultimately ended up with Akiho, are all told in the Koi Shimai Drama CDs, and the first bit will be Volume 1 of the upcoming Hatsukoi Shimai manga.

(I always feel a little breathless discussing this series, because of its fractured history.)

Miyu and Kirika, the third couple have only appeared on the cover of Yuri Shimai 3, and in the little story inside the cover. Until now.

So, here’s the story of this CD:

Haruna and Chika are living in blissful oblivion. We get a whole scene of them enjoying cookies together. Whee! We also get a really nice scene between Akiho and Touko, where they meet at a cafe, ostensibly so Touko can check Akiho’s English homework. Touko spends a little time flirting with the waitress, and getting Akiho jealous – and she is quite surprised when Akiho really *does* want her to check her homework!

Miyu asks Kirika to please, please come to her birthday party. Kirika agrees, but is mortified that she has no present for Miyu. Miyu insists that Kirika coming is all the present she wants.

One day, Chika, on her way to meet Haruna, accidentally runs into another student, who drops the doll she is holding. It’s a glass (probably porcelain?) angel and it smashes as it hits the ground. The student, Kirika, tells Chika to fix it – to put it back the way it was. This is, of course, impossible. So Chika decides to make a beaded kimono as a replacement. Haruna helps her – more bliss. But Kirika rejects that as well – Chika was the one to break the doll, she has to replace it by herself. Kirika insists that Chika find an actual replacement – and do it herself. And as a penalty, she can’t spend time with Haruna until she does.

After Chika says she’ll do it and leaves, Haruna asks Kirika if the angel had been a present. Kirika says yes, for the person she loves. And she asks Haruna if she loves Chika. Haruna says she does, totally.

Miyu finds Chika and asks what’s up. Chika has no clue who she is, but Miyu tells her about the birthday party, and how she and Kirika have been together forever – and she goes off more than a little annoyed at her lover’s behavior.

Chika heads out to the shops, but has no luck – which is not surprising, since Kirika bought it off the TV. As she wanders looking for the angel, Touko roars up on her bike and offers Chika a lift. Touko also says she has an idea where to find the angel.

Haruna comes home, depressed and missing Chika, and wanders into Akiho’s room, where she finds her little sister online. Akiho has hunted down the glass angel and sent Touko off to find Chika and get her to it.

Chika and Haruna go off to locate Kirika to give her the angel, and finds Miyu giving Kirika what for, because she (quite rightfully) feels that Kirika was a jackass about the whole thing. Chika is totally honest and tells her that Touko helped. Kirika accepts the doll – shocked that Chika was able to find it at all. Haruna prompts Kirika to give it to Miyu, who is quite overwhelmed. And to boot, Chika gives her the beaded thing she and Haruna made too.

Epilogue:

Haruna and Chika, are making beaded phone straps for each other. (Haruna, btw, is a total maroon about this, and keeps dropping beads). Little by little, Chika tells us, like beads being added on to the strap, she and Haruna grow closer.

Akiho is on the phone with Touko, who tells her several times how much she likes Akiho. Akiho plays, to my dismay, hard to get, but does ask if they can talk a little more.

And we all live happily ever after.

There is a bonus track, in which the seiyuu all discuss gift failures, which was funny, as was to be expected.

Along with the original voice cast and art by Hibiki Reine, the other thing that migrated whole from the original CDs is the musical theme. It’s so silly a thing, but I was kind of glad when I turned on the new CD to hear the same piano theme in the background.

The cover of the CD is reversible – a new picture of Haruna and Chika, and the cover of Yuri Hime 2 with Chika and Miyu. And a postcard.

Ratings:

Story – 5
Characters – 7
Yuri – 8
Music – 7

Overall – 7

The *best* thing (other than Touko’s sexy voice) was how NOT stick-up-the-butt Haruna is in this new incarnation. I totally approve, even if it has made my fanfic for the series obsolete.  ^_^

 





Drama CD: Koi Shimai 2

June 15th, 2004

It seems only moments ago that I reviewed the first Koi Shimai Drama CD, but actually, it was already over a month ago.

The second CD picks up where the first left off. A new student teacher has come to school – Hiiragi Touko. As befits a good anime/manga lesbian, she arrives on a motorcycle and has an indescribably sexy voice actress. In fact, Hiiragi-sensei is voiced by Park Romi, the seiyuu that so brilliantly voices Aikawa Maki in Air Master.

Haruna and Chika are happy enough being together, but they have never really talked about their feelings. When Touko-sensei shows an obvious, and wildly inappropriate, interest in Chika, Haruna withdraws into herself and watches Chika pull farther and farther away from her.

Touko-sensei flirts with Chika, takes her for rides on her bike – she’s openly dating Chika and doesn’t hesitate to tell the girl that she finds her attractive. Chika can’t help herself; Touko is too sexy to ignore. She confides in her friend Akiho that she is concerned because Haruna isn’t fighting for her and seems to be creating distance between them.

Akiho confronts Touko-sensei about the situation. She accuses Touko of trying to break Chika and Haruna up, but Touko only responds with a counter-accusation, that Akiho is really jealous of Chika, of the attention she gets from Haruna, because she wants Chika for herself. Akiho is just projecting that jealousy onto her, Touko. Because this strikes close to home, Akiho is sobered, but she still feels that Touko-sensei should leave Chika alone.

Crisis looms when Chika spends a quiet moment with Touko-sensei. When Touko begins to seduce her, Chika can’t stand the pressure and runs away. She falls down a small cliff and twists her ankle, until Haruna comes running after her (egged on by Akiho) and slips down beside her. While waiting for help, the two girls have a honest talk – about how Haruna was feeling jealous, but powerless, and how Chika doesn’t want anyone else but Haruna. By the time Akiho and Touko-sensei find them, the two are reconciled.

After Chika politely rejects Touko-sensei, Akiho confronts Touko again and Touko tells her this story: When she, Touko, was in high school, she fell in love with another girl. They spent time together, but never really discussed their feelings, so she lost her lover when they graduated. As soon as Touko saw Haruna and Chika, she knew that they were exactly the same – and she didn’t want them to lose each other they way she had lost her lover. So she forced the issue. Akiho rightly thinks that Touko’s full of crap and lets her know it in no uncertain terms, at which point Touko asks Akiho out. ^_^ Akiho concedes so far as to “allow” Touko to hang out with her while she’s substituting at the school. I kind of like to think of the two of them as a couple – just because. ^_^ (My gut sense was spot on, as we learn in a third drama CD, Hatsukoi Shimai.)

Meanwhile, Chika is spending the night at Haruna’s and Akiho’s house, in Haruna’s room. Akiho very matter-of-factly enters and basically tells them to just sleep together already, but they argue about who will sleep where, eventually, awkwardly, deciding to share the bed. While laying in bed, holding hands, Chika asks Haruna directly what her feelings are. Haruna, in a stunning display of stupidity, says that she loves Chika like a sister, but more than that (from which the whole series draws it’s name – Koi Shimai, i.e., “love sisters.”) Chika seems happy with it, but I thought it was a copout. And no goodnight kiss. Bleah. I’ll just sit here and imagine Akiho sneaking out afterwards to go out riding with Touko and end up making out in a quiet spot somewhere. ^_^

On the whole, it was a well-done CD, and Park Romi is sexy as hell as Touko, but the ending was, IMHO, lame. A real kiss wouldn’t have killed them.

On a more amusing note, as a bonus track, all the seiyuu discuss their school years – about half went to all-girl schools and talked about same-sex crushes they saw or experienced, but the common thread was that they couldn’t think of anything to say – it was actually pretty funny. :-) The seiyuu for “Girl C” was excellent – telling all the girls who were listening who loved another girl to go for it and not give up! Yay “Girl C”! ^_^

The ratings are basically the same as the first CD – there were some sexy moments with Touko, but then end was a bit naff, so we’ll drop the overall down a point to a 7. But the Yuri definitely stays up at a 10 for this one.

In conclusion – a nice addition to a Yuri-focused Drama CD collection and very well voiced. ^_^





Drama CD: Koi Shimai 1

May 4th, 2004

Drama CDs are all the rage these days (well, actually, they’ve always been the rage at my house) – not only does every anime have a few floating around, but many more games and manga which have never been made into anime do as well. Of course, there’s a Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD (which I will review later this week.) And now, from Sun Publishing, the people who brought you Yuri Shimai, comes Koi Shimai, the first “Girl’s Love” drama CD.

Koi Shimai is the sound drama of the first story of the first volume of Yuri Shimai, the tale of Haruna and Chika and how they met and fell in love. (This story was the printed story in the first volume – not the first manga. The cover is an illustration of Chika and Haruna.) Their story is melodramatic and predictable – pretty much like all the stories in Yuri Shimai, but as it had pretty color pictures, I have to give it a thumbs up.

The CD begins with Chika, as the new kid in school. She’s feeling a little out of her depth when cool upperclassman Haruna shows up and offers to help her. It turns out that Haruna has been sent to find Chika and take her on a tour of the grounds. They get along really well immediately, so Haruna takes Chika to a quiet, pretty spot that she knows. Of course, Chika falls pretty hard for Haruna while sitting with her in this romantic place. So, when Chika falls and Haruna bandages her with her handkerchief, Chika’s in seventh heaven.

But, when she tries to give the hankie back, Chika realizes that she likes Haruna, but the older girl isn’t sure of her feelings. When Haruna offers to tutor Chika, the younger girl thinks things are going well – but her score on the test is so high that she is accused of cheating! Haruna tells Chika that she believes in her – that Chika is her most important person…

The voice actors are pretty good – fairly typical of their kind. Cute girly voice for Chika, polite sweet voice for Haruna, kiddy voice for Haruna’s little sister Akiho (and one of Chika’s classmates) and a deep, cool voice for Hiiragi Touko, the plot complication for the next CD . ^_^

If you can understand basic Japanese – and I mean *basic* – you’ll be able to understand this CD. It’s that predictable.

Nonetheless, how many Drama CDs do you know that are girl/girl romances, with a kiss scene and everything? For that reason alone, Koi Shimai is totally worth having. ^_^

Ratings:
Story – 7
Yuri – 10
Characters – 8
Voice Acting – 8
Music –

Overall – 8