Archive for the Maria-sama ga Miteru Category


Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD 11: Cherry Blossom

February 11th, 2008

Is there any one among us hard-hearted enough not to swoon when Noriko relates her first sight of Shimako under the sakura tree, looking like Maria-sama come to life? Not me, certainly.

Maria-sama ga Miteru: Cherry Blossom Drama CD set was lovely. Simply lovely.

For the plot, please take a look back at my notes on Part 1 and Part 2 of the novel. (I had not yet begun translating the books at that point, so these are notes/synopses not full translations and therefore still available on Okazu.)

The first CD in the set recounts “The Sakura Among the Gingkos,” the portion of the novel in which we meet Nijou Noriko for the first time, and she meets Shimako. Incidentally, we also meet Matsudaira Touko, but I’ll get there in a bit.

“Sakura” follows Noriko as she meets Shimako and deals with some mild bullying because of their developing relationship. (The latter is only partially true, but she doesn’t know that.) The story climaxes during the Maria-sai, as Shimako is forced to out herself as the daughter of a Buddhist priest.

The Drama CD of this part was fantastic. Noriko, a transfer student from a co-ed school, has always seemed to me to be the most grounded of all the characters in the series. She comes off here as so *normal* it almost takes one’s breath away. Confronted in the beginning of the story by Touko and two other classmates and their positively Baroque formal Japanese, it’s really no wonder she feels disoriented and alien at Lillian.

Noriko’s meeting with Shimako is related very prettily. Noriko’s happy obsession with Shimako is instant and very much *right* on that line between friendship and love. It’s powerful – and mutual. The “outing” scene was horrific. From Noriko’s point of view, it can only be seen as heavy-handed…at best. When Shimako admits to being the owner of the juzu and Noriko bursts into tears for her – it was very moving. Once again, the Marimite cast is superlative.

The second disk of the set, “Background Noise,” covers the same circumstances from Yumi’s point of view. We see the concern Shimako’s friends in the Yamayurikai have for her, and how much they are, really, trying to help. However…to her credit, Yumi spends the entire story thinking that they are handling it really badly. They are, and I’m glad Yumi recognizes it. Itou Miki’s over-acting Sachiko is both hysterical and really cringe-making. As I listened to the scene in the church, I kept thanking the universe that I was no longer a teenager. ^_^

The other half of “BGN” is the introduction of Touko who, if you will please excuse the language, is a total twat. Kugimiya Rie is spectacular as the entitled, manipulative Touko. I’ve grown so used to her – and she has changed *so* much in the course of the novels, that I had completely forgotten what a slappable little creature she is when she first arrives en scene.

Listening to her snipe at Yumi, a thought suddenly hit me. Rainy Blue is coming up. I’m going to have to sit through those DCDs. Ugh. Ughughugh. I don’t know if I can do it. Oh well…I have Kohitsuji no Kyuuka to look forward to, after that whole thing is over. I’ll just grit my teeth and cope.

In happier news, we get a little Sei-service, when Yumi visits her, and after the Maria-sai.

For the first time, there is a bonus track where we get some very amusing comments and a lots of “natsukashii”s and “hisashiburi”s by the voice actresses. I was very glad for the bonus track. It’s about the only time we hear what the seiyuu have to say for themselves – it is immediately apparent that this group feels *very* comfortable with each other at this point. And that they’ve got a load of in-jokes. Also, I found it amusing to hear several of them refer to the series as “Marimite.” ^_^ I don’t know why, it just tickled my fancy.

The one physical extra is a postcard of Hibiki Reine’s art of Noriko. Pretty, as always.

Ratings:

Story – 7
Characters – 8 for Noriko and Shimako, 4 for Touko, 7 for everyone else
Yuri – 5 It worked a bit better visually, with those long, lingering “just kiss her” moments
Service – 8 who else buys these other than us obsessive fans? ^_^

Overall – 8

This is me, grasping at the Touko of Bara no Hana Kanmuri and trying to forget the Touko of Cherry Blossom, signing off.





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.

 





Maria-sama ga Miteru News, Yuricon News

December 2nd, 2007

Many of you will have already read this, but for those of you who have not, Pizza Hut and the makers of Maria-sama ga Miteru have announced a co-promotional campaign. Fans can get Marimite themed pizza boxes with series-related goods, and enter a contest to win other items. For more details, you can read the Anime News Network article here.

Marimite is hardly the first to do a Pizza Hut campaign in Japan – the product was notably placed in Code Geass, but it does seem a really unlikely one at first thought, doesn’t it? It’s difficult to imagine the ladies of Lillian eating Pizza Hut, although not at all hard to imagine their hordes of fanboys doing so. lol

I also note that there will be a Winterket special DJCD which I’ll be darn sure to try and nab for myself while I’m there!

***

This is sort of anti-news, but I want to let everyone know that I’m pulling the RSS newsfeed from the Yuricon website. I haven’t had the time to keep it up to date at all, and I’m more likely to post here. So, as of today, Okazu is the official outlet for Yuri news for Yuricon.

While I’m on the topic of the Yuricon site, I also want to mention that we have a project that we’ve just started to translate chunks of the Yuricon site into Japanese. It’s in the very first stages now, but going forward into 2008, you can look for “Nihingo” links to the Japanese-language versions of the home page and inwards from there. :-)

I promise, an actual review will be forthcoming today as well. :-)





Maria-sama ga Miteru DJCD 3

September 11th, 2007

As I mentioned in my review of the first two Marimite DJCDs, these CDs are compilations of the web radio shows from the Animate TV site. DJCD Volume 3 is, like the previous two volumes, general chitchat between the seiyuu, question and answer sessions relating to the characters, and incredibly silly radio dramas that are done with tongue firmly in cheeks.

Of the various questions asked of the various voice actresses, two seemed notable to me – who would you live with, and who would you borrow money from. The live with question elicited some interesting answers. Noto Mamiko, thinking as Shimako, said she’ want to live with Noriko, since they were so close – or failing that, Yumi, so they could do silly girly things together. Ikezawa Haruna, speaking for Yoshino said Rei, with no hesitation. The “borrow money question” elicited a “anyone other than Sei” from me, so I thought it funny when Noto Mamiko said she’d borrow money from Sei-sama. Ikezawa Haruna said that Yoshino would make a cute face and Rei would give her anything she wanted. ^_^

The dramas were pretty long this time. One of them dealt with Sachiko’s introduction to that promotional thing where you crank the ball roller and get a prize based on the color of the ball. Sachiko keeps getting tissues as a prize and gets a little obsessed with winning a real prize.

The last drama wasn’t very exciting, but for Sachiko x Yumi fans, there’s a sweet ending where Yumi thinks to herself that she really, really loves Onee-sama.

The DJCD has a slightly strange piece of art for the cover, not as cute as I’d hoped, but the inserts are two fantastic cards – one, a “game” card for “Magical Girl Shimako” and the other a character card for Yumi as Lilian Sentai Ranger “Chinensis Red” – both gags from the earlier two DJCDs.

These DJCDs were great filler between seasons, goofy fun, a nice mix between talking with the seiyuu and talking with the characters. Since we’re getting a fourth season of the anime, we probably won’t be getting more of these anytime soon but, as with all the drama CDs I listen to, they are a very satisfying way to kill time in a car and practice one’s listening skills.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 1

Overall – 8





Maria-sama ga Miteru OAV 5, Ciao Sorella

August 5th, 2007

I’m back after a few days of refreshing and recharging. It’s a beautiful summer day outside and I will have some important news later today. “God’s in his Heaven – All’s right with the World,” as Robert Browning wrote. :-) (The wife reminds me that this quote actually originated with Cervantes, but I’m using the Browning version today.)

While I was relaxing, I was able to watch the 5th Marimite OAV, Ciao, Sorella (this link leads to to the Collector’s Edition. Click here for the DVD-only editon) with seiyuu commentary, and incidentally give my office an overdue cleaning while I was at it. While not as Yuri-ful as the previous OAV, Ready, Go!, of all the novels I have read, it seemed to me to be the most suited for adaptation to an anime. I have not posted my notes here, but I *have* already read Ciao Sorella.  Most of the novel is travelogue; descriptions of all the normal tourist spots and doings that one would cram into a week school trip in Italy. From Yumi’s unique perspective, of course.

Let’s start with the important bits – the goodies inside the collector’s edition. I was close with my prediction for the gimme. I had predicted a marble-patterned pad – it was a marble-patterned photo album (similar to the one that Sachiko received.) So, close enough.

Postcards were, as usual, appealing, and the character design booklet that comes with the DVD included Yumi, Yoshino and Shimako in regular clothes, their teacher Katori Maki (who has been in several of the stories in the novels and although she had no major screen time here, I was glad to see her) as well as important characters like “shoulder bag” and “airplane seats.” ^_^ And Yoshino’s magic cloth.

Also included was a one-sheet flyer with a picture of Yumi and Touko on the front and some seiyuu comments on back, with a notice about the upcoming fourth season of the anime.

The OAV was, as I had hoped. The animation was significantly better than Ready, Go!. Without all the detailed description of the buildings, the story is rendered down to a few key scenes that worked perfectly well. What was cut was in no way crucial to the story. And they kept in pretty much every good scene.

I think they nailed the scene with Shizuka singing – kudos to the sound mixers. They really captured the sound of Shizuka’s voice reverberating and blending with itself in the high ceiling.

I listened to the DVD with seiyuu commentary which is, as always, amusing, when I can follow it. This time it was the seiyuu for Yumi (Ueda Kana,) Yoshino (Ikezawa Haruna,) and Shimako (Noto Mamiko – who, when she forgets to be breathy, has a surprisingly deep voice.) They commented at one point how they’d like to have a lover like Rei. No, really, they did. ^_^ At the end of the anime, instead of a next episode teaser, there was a one-line, “4th season is coming.”

Here are the two best scenes, IMHO. At the Vatican, Yumi comes across Shimako standing in from of the “Last Judgement” crying, beautifully of course. Shimako says she can’t make the tears stop. Yoshino joins them and says, “don’t you think Jesus is a little fat?” And Yumi, standing between these two thinks, these are my best friends. ^_^

The other great scene was truncated, but as its the punchline in a long joke, I’ll just say this – when the bird speaks, *really* pay attention to what it says.

As for Yuri…well, this novel had already proved to me that Sachiko and Yumi are definitely, positively not gay, even if they are indeed incredibly lovey-dovey and romantic. At the end of the story when Sachiko confronts Yumi about the postcard, it was a *very* sexual tension-filled scene in the novel. But they do not kiss, and Yumi does not even think about kissing Sachiko. So, while it’s a great scene – and works well in the anime, better even, because we can’t hear Yumi’s thoughts – it seals the deal that they are totally not a couple. More’s the pity. It’s still very sweet, though.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 9
Story – 8
Yuri – 2
Service – 4 (bath scenes, some implied nudity – each instance of which Ikezawa Haruna points out in the seiyuu commentary. “That’s service.” No, really? ^_^)

Overall – 8

Nothing to do with this DVD, but when I watched Ready, Go! with seiyuu commentary (Yumi, Kanako and Touko’s voice actresses) and Sachiko walks up in gakuran, Ueda Kana says, “Gakuran is nice, huh” is a very wistful and wishful voice. The other two respond, in stereo, “very nice” equally as wistful and wishful. It was funny as hell.