Notes on the Ninth Maria-sama ga Miteru Novel, Cherry Blossom
Part 2

BTW – these notes are dedicated to Sean Gaffney, who whined like a 5-year old until I typed them up. I tried to get them done quickly *just* so I wouldn’t have to listen to him. :-)

Back Ground Noise [sic]

For the second half of the book, we return to Yumi’s point of view. Most of this part of the novel was merged into the Cherry Blossom arc, which was a shame, because it lessened the impact of both. So most of this was shown in the anime, but was still a little different in the novel…

***

Yumi is *so* out of it that’s she’s in homeroom, looking around for Shimako, who is a different class and can’t remember why Yoshino is standing there. The day before, she had accidentally gone to her first-year classroom.

As they speak, Yumi realizes that Yoshino has really already become Rosa Foetida en bouton.

To Yumi’s dismay, Mami, Minako’s (Pres. of the newspaper club) soeur is in her class.

Yumi’s problem is that her impression of Rosa Chinensis en bouton is Sachiko and in everyway she feels she has to live up to it.

Mami’s hairdo, Yumi think, allows her ears to catch more sound – Yumi has a bad feeling about having the reporter in her class.

Tsutako is now the president of the photography club, takes Yumi’s photo, saying that she’ll call it “Rosa Chinensis en bouton’s melancholy.” It’ll make a great exhibition.

Yumi grumps that there obviously will be no privacy in 2nd year Pine Group.

***

Yumi and Yoshino are in the bathroom. Re: cleaning – “In a girl’s school, the bathroom mirror received more attention than the blackboards.”

***

A pair of eyes, dressed in “civilian clothes”, are drawn to the sakura tree from across the hedge….

(How mysterious! Except it’s not, really.)

***

Yumi did not originally intend to look for Sei. She just found herself randomly wandering the University grounds. She didn’t think she’d be able to find Sei, in any case – all she had was a name and a department. She could hardly wander the grounds calling a name. And Sei might not even have been on campus. A kind student brings her to the student center. If she didn’t get to see Sei, oh well. But there was Sei, after all.

Sei presents Yumi with a cup of coffee, made the way she likes it. Yumi thinks Sei looks like a grownup – it’s hard to imagine that only a month ago she wore the same school uniform.

Yumi also thinks that it’s unfair that Sei has moved into a new life while Shimako is left behind, their relationship suddenly and completely terminated.

Sei, before she leaves to go to class with her new classmates, tells Yumi that she’s barking up the wrong tree about Shimako, that she should stay neutral.

***
Rei suggests using artificial flowers for the Maria-sai. This way they can be reused and they aren’t so difficult to care for. Sachiko is incensed and Yumi is relieved. Shimako actually teases Sachiko a little – so gently that Yumi isn’t quite sure if she really did or not. “So, that’s one vote against?” Yumi votes for real flowers
because they make her happy. Shimako admits that she did not notice the flowers at all, because she was too busy “admiring someone.”

***
It’s not so much that Touko is a problem – the problem is Sachiko’s behavior towards Touko. Touko acts entitled, as befits a spoiled brat and Sachiko *does* correct her, but also doesn’t seem to notice how her behavior affects Yumi….in Yumi’s opinion.

Yoshino warns Yumi that Touko is gunning for soeur. Yumi doesn’t comprehend at first, thinking that she means Shimako. Yoshino clarifies – if she’s your soeur, she’ll have free access to Sachiko.

Yoshino convinces her that Sachiko will ask for the rosary back and give it to Touko. They both decide to look for an assistant for Shimako for the Maria-sai, so Touko won’t be needed. They ask Tsutako, but she’ll be busy taking pictures. They think about asking Katsura and suddenly…Mami is there. Mami says that she’ll do it for the promise of an article. Yoshino and Yumi are skeptical, but Mami states that she is *not* like Minako. They find it a little weird that Mami is so willing and able to see her onee-sama so truthfully. Yoshino negotiates terms – they get to review any article Mami writes, and Mami gets a scoop on the elections. Provided the Rosas agree to all this, of course.

***
Sachiko opines that Sei always guarded Shimako’s heart so no one could force it open. Sachiko believes that they are the only ones who can safely open her heart and that Shimako desperately needs that…and to be the friends they want to be, so do they. In effect, she wants them to do an intervention.

When Yumi tells them that Sei said Shimako was a wolf without a pack, Rei wonders if she means a husky or a Chihuahua…Sachiko tells her to not digress, please.

It turns out that Rei told Sachiko about Shimako’s family at the time of the elections.

Sachiko, as she justifies why they should intervene with Shimako is “full of fighting spirit’ – she tries to crack her knuckles but no sound comes out.

Yumi wonders why now, Rei says that the time is ripe.

Rei and Sachiko actually plan for the confrontation to be newspaper worthy and public. They believe (accurately) that Shimako is punishing herself uneccesarily. By doing something big, they can save her from her self-imposed torment.

Rei muses that they don’t have enough shogi pieces on the board.

Touko says that she has the necessary piece – surprising them all, because she made *no* noise at all coming up those squeaky stairs.

Yumi is quite appalled at the idea of outing Shimako in front of all the first-years, but Sachiko argues that the Maria-sai is really the perfect situation, because the only people there are the Yamayurikai members and the new students – no teacher, administration, family or outsiders.

***
Yumi checks Noriko out: shag haircut (or maybe a long bob) and straight bangs. Reminds of her of a doll…nothing special. Actually, Yumi admits, she saw her at the front gate. More accurately, she saw her yesterday by chance and followed her off the bus. But yesterday was completely by chance. As a result, she saw Touko hide Noriko’s shoes, which upset her, but she didn’t try and stop Touko…or return the shoes to the locker.

Yumi tries to find commonalities between Noriko and Shimako. She wonders out loud if Noriko’s family also lives at a temple. A voice says, no, her father is a public official and her mother is a teacher, but she lives with a distant relative. Yumi jumps when she realizes that Touko has once again arrived without warning.

Touko calls her Yumi-sama. Objectively, this is fine and proper, but Touko upsets Yumi on principal – and in particular. Touko says that if Yumi is interested in Noriko, then she has something to show her. Yumi agrees, because her interest overwhelms her aversion to Touko, then she asks Touko why she’s at school early. Touko replies that she has something to do and Yumi wonders what she’s up to now.

Touko points out how Noriko is always like this – not even looking up from her book when other students approach. But after school and at lunch, she shows another face.

(BTW, Yumi sums up Noriko’s nature/behavior as not being the kind of girl that classmates invite to go to the bathroom together. lol)

When Yumi finally sees Noriko and Shimako interact, she’s shocked. Not only does Noriko have a different expression – Shimako looks different than Yumi’s ever seen her. For the first time since she’s known Shimako, Yumi sees her looking relaxed, unrestrained. This distresses Yumi, because she thinks that the Yamayurikai may have failed Shimako. Yumi is also distressed by Touko’s quite adult understanding of Noriko and Shimako’s relationship.

In general Yumi finds Touko stressful, because the younger girl possesses the self-confidence she herself lacks – although she has not yet come to realize this, it becomes more and more obvious throughout the book.

***
During the scene where Sachiko holds Yumi in her arms in the Rose Mansion, Yumi is thinking of Shimako (it’s this that made her cry in the first place – nothing Sachiko did or didn’t do – nor anything to do with Touko, either.) Yumi wonders if Noriko is Shimako’s savior.

Everytime Yumi is around Touko and the younger girl does something inappropriate, bratty or plain wrong, Yumi thinks “someone ought to do or say something”. But she never does anything herself.

Even as Touko tells them about her plan to take the juzu from Noriko’s bag, she’s justifying it as the act of a close friend – yuushin – but Yumi can see that she’s feeling pretty guilty about it.

Touko has, quite literally, created a script for the intervention. Rei stomps that down, saying that it would seem odd if Touko took charge of the whole affair. Rei takes the script out of Touko’s hands, rolls it up and bops her on the head with it.

Yumi grows increasingly uncomfortable with the whole plot, as they develop it.

Shimako comes into the council room, mentioning to Sachiko that the organ feels a bit stiff. Sachiko jokes that if Shimako can’t play it for the Maria-sai, they could always fall back on having the three second-years doing a talent show. Yoshino and Yumi both protest loudly, thinking back to the talent show for the graduating Rosas, and they all laugh.

Ultimately, its Rei who develops the scenario they use for the intervention.

***

Yumi begins to think the word “yuushin” as a sort of spell to make her feel better about the whole thing. When she comes into school the next day, Yumi can’t look Mary in the eye.

Yumi’s job at lunchtime is to stand at the first-years’ shoe lockers and keep an eye out for Noriko. Student after student greet her. She’s impressed that they all know who she is – and how polite they all are. She does keep an eye out for Noriko, but never sees her, until she turns around to go back. Her eyes are drawn to Noriko as if “her uniform was made from fluorescent paint and lame’.”

Yumi is in the hall when Sachiko and Rei give Noriko the once over. She can tell, even from the back, that they both approve of the girl. She also thinks that they both get carried away with their performance.

***

On the day of the Maria-sai, Yumi and Sachiko are in the church, waiting. Sachiko starts to say something to Yumi, but stops. Yumi can see that Sachiko’s hand is shaking.

A few moments later, Yumi feels suddenly uneasy, and turns to look at Sachiko which makes her feel more relaxed. She says (out loud) “Onee-sama, you’re very lovely,” and takes Sachiko’s trembling hands in her own, then says, “Because I want to look at you properly,” to explain her actions. Sachiko smiles at Yumi’s use of her own, oft-repeated words.

Tsutako snaps a picture of them with a “I’m personally interested in the Rosa Chinensis sisters”, more than to fulfill Mami’s request for good pictures of Shimako and Noriko together.

To keep Shimako from meeting Noriko (and hearing about the juzu) Yoshino hid the music Shimako was going to play – they “help” her look for it, until all the first-years are lined up.

***

Touko’s accusation moves the intervention forward and it approaches its climax, (during which Yumi is mentally urging Shimako on to make her confession, while Rei and Sachiko watch, smiling at Noriko’s protection of Shimako) Yumi hears a dry scratching noise from behind her, Mami is taking notes.

When Noriko begins to cry, so does Yumi.

Cut scene:

When it is all over (after which Shimako says that she feels – and she clearly looks – much relieved) Yoshino, Rei, Yumi and Sachiko leave the church to find Sei standing outside waiting for them.

Sei says that she had wanted to get there earlier, but class just let out. She can tell they were successful from their expressions, and offers to treat them to something. Rei and Yoshino pass, they have a family thing tonight. Sachiko also passes, stating that she and Yumi have plans to make plans for this Sunday….Yumi boggles – this is the first she’s heard of this! She wonders if it’s just an excuse to get rid of Sei.

On the way back to the Rose Mansion to get their stuff, Yumi mentions that they didn’t do anything for White Day, and that her birthday is coming up. Sachiko is a little surprised, but suggests another half day date, to which Yumi agrees happily. Sachiko asks her where she’d like to go – Yumi replies with the amusement park. Sachiko thinks about it for a moment then agrees on one condition – she won’t go on the jet coaster. Yumi agrees to this, because she knows that the condition is Sachiko’s way of saying that it’s really okay with her. :-)

End of Cherry Blossom/BGN

Notes from the 9th Maria-sama ga Miteru Novel – Cherry Blossom
Part 1

Seventeen pages of notes this time. We lost quite a bit of Noriko’s internal monologue in the anime, which is a shame, since she’s the most normal brain we’ve encountered so far. She’s refreshingly free of strangeness (sort of the healthy mutt among the highstrung purebreds…)

In comparison with the last novel, which took me almost two months to read, this one took about two weeks – a new record for me. This is partially because, post-Onna! I was free to sit and do nothing at night (and unwilling to do much, to be honest) but also because this book in general, and especially the first half, was a fun read. ^_^

Cherry Blossom

The uniforms were a real problem. Everyone looked the same – at least in part because no one even attempted to individualize the uniforms…and no one seemed to object, which drove Noriko nuts.

Three girls approach Noriko: Atsuko, Kazuko and Touko. They know her – they are in her homeroom. She has no idea who they are. Even though they are friendly, she can’t keep them sorted in her mind.

They ask which club she’s interested in – what accomplishments she has. None.

Atsuko (maybe) says that the culture club invites famous lecturers. Noriko thinks that that is to be expected from an ojou-sama school. Atsuko (maybe) then goes on to say that Touko is in theater club and she and another girl are in Bible Study club – won’t you join us? This surprise attack leaves Noriko speechless. Oh sorry, she manages finally, today’s not good. She berates herself for ending it that, way – they might try again tomorrow, but luckily, Atsuko back off pleasantly. Noriko thinks that the idea of reading Bible scriptures doesn’t thrill.

She bails and tries to find somewhere to go where no one else is, to fill her time. She thinks of herself as a “secret Christian” like the Christians of Edo period who had to hide their religion. Everywhere is very crowded with people recruiting for clubs and joining them. As she walks, she thinks that she has no intention of joining anything. She’s doing her three years, and then she’s out. All she needs to do is do her work, get herself to a university and her life back on track.

She can see the sakura from a distance and is drawn to it. When she finds it among the gingko, she thinks of it as a “shrine among churches”.

“Underneath it, stood Maria-sama.”

She had heard a story that a corpse was buried under the tree (a fairly common folklore thing in Japan…my guess is that it’s supposed to be the reason for the pink flowers)- but not that a Mary stood there. She thinks it’s an optical illusion, that she’s standing at the crossroads in front of the statue of Mary.

With her wavy hair, fair and pale face, Noriko thinks that the school uniform suits her – like a blue-eyed antique doll’s dress.

Shimako says that the sakura calls out to her – she says that she thinks it does for Noriko, too. Her guess is right.

As she’s pulling the petals from Shimako’s soft hair, Noriko’s heart skips a beat at the sight of the pale neck visible in the open sailor collar of the uniform. She thinks it “captivating.”

***

Noriko at home, pulls off her socks and tosses them, then sprawls on the sofa. She lives with her great aunt on her father’s side, Sumireko, who calls her “Riko.”

When faced with a decision to live in a dorm or with a distant relative, Noriko chose the latter and is glad she did. She feels very comfortable with Sumireko.

Noriko sends letters home saying how normal school is and how healthy she is. ^_^

She turns on the computer and prints out an email from another Buddha image enthusiast. He wishes her well at her new school. She responds to the email – Thanks. It’s thrilling living like an opposite of a “secret Christian.” She doesn’t regret missing the entrance exam to see the Kannon (a goddess also known as Guan Yin or Avalokiteshvara) statue, but she has decided to get into a top-class university to regain her honor.

Sumireko comes into her room, sees Noriko reading the letter and makes fun of her – if that was a love letter, you wouldn’t go around visiting temples, you’d be out on a date.

Noriko responds, “Sorry, but any person I’d like goes around visiting temples too” and sticks her tongue out at the older woman.

***

Touko decides to take Noriko under her wing – to tell her about the Maria-sai. Noriko really wants to be left alone, but Touko surprises her by beginning to cry, so she feigns interest in the festival. After hearing what the Maria-sai entails, Noriko accidentally muses out loud that class would be better, Touko protests that she’ll be cursed. Touko describes the ceremony as being crucial for all devout Christians.

***

Noriko’s interest in Buddha statues really is a fetish. She’s as excited to see this particular statue as if she’s about to meet a favorite idol.

Noriko’s friend, Takuya-kun, not only shares her enthusiasm, he helps her out with information and on occasion by obtaining permission for her to see a specific image.

As Noriko eats lunch at a fast food place outside the station, she sees a familiar figure, but she can’t be sure. She can tell the person is wearing a plain kimono, but then thinks she must be imagining things. Of course, she was not…she did see Shimako.

When Noriko and Shimako actually meet at the temple, their meeting is likened to an omiai (marriage meeting) – the first words they trade will color their relationship forever. Unfortunately, Noriko had only seen an omiai once, on a TV drama. lol But – Shimako was not really an omiai partner and Noriko was not about to spout cliche’d lines like, “shall we go for a walk?”

While Shimako talks about the statue, Noriko is watching her fingers, her arm, watching the way they move – she’s much more interested in Shimako than the statue, and she comments on that to herself.

As they walk to the bus stop, Shimako asks Noriko what she wanted to be when she grew up, when she was a kid. Noriko replies, A Buddhist image artisan. Shimako thinks that’s rather unusual, but then says that she wanted to go to a cloister. At 12, when she told her parents that she wanted to become a nun, she asked that they disinherit her.

(And to answer the obvious question – no, we never learn whether Shimako *still* wants to become a nun.)

Sitting at the bus stop bench, there is no shower of sakura petals, as there is in the anime. When the bus comes, Shimako gets up and Noriko somehow feels that she might be leaving the school….

***

Next morning Noriko goes to the sakura tree, just on the off chance that Shimako will be there. She isn’t. Noriko reflects that, it’s not like they had made any promises to each other. As she asks herself, “what if she was there?” Shimako shows up. Shimako asks why she’s there, and Noriko replies that she wanted to see Shimako again. Shimako says that that was why she came too.

Noriko tells Shimako that she’d been thinking about her, about her concerns, and she (Noriko) thinks that Shimako is not committing a sin by not telling anyone that she’s from a Buddhist household. Not saying is *not* lying.

Shimako meets her eyes as she says the above, and Noriko looks away. When it’s a statue, she can look directly at it, no matter how holy it is, because the gaze is one way. With this “peerless beauty”, it was simply too much like “onna doushi”.

Noriko explains how she ended up at Lillian, Shimako puts her arms around Noriko’s neck. She assures Noriko that she’s not planning on leaving – “yet,” and that she came to tell Noriko the same thing, to ask her to not leave the school.

Noriko feels weak at this…she didn’t need to say all that pompous crap, but then she thinks about that “yet”. Because Noriko believes that Shimako can follow Christ’s teaching anywhere, and the thought of her leaving school is upsetting. Noriko almost tells Shimako that she doesn’t have to be alone in her worries, but doesn’t say it.

***

Sumireko asks Noriko about school – she complains that the girl never really tells her anything.

Noriko notes to herself that she seems to get along best with older people: Shimako, Sumireko, Takuya-kun. She wonders to herself what, exactly, her and Shimako’s relationship is – sympathy, compassion – neither of those things.

She settles on shinyuu, but doesn’t think that that words has the proper nuance. Because she likes Shimako, wants to be next to her, to comfort her…

Sumireko teases her about worrying about trivial things. Noriko asks, quite suddenly, “How would you help a Christian who felt that they were betraying their god?” Sumireko asks if Noriko’s worried about herself, but Noriko bluntly denies being Christian.

(And it begs the question – Shimako is betraying her god how? By being part of a Buddhist family, or by not being open about her family at her Catholic school?)

***

Noriko sees Shimako in the hallway – Shimako calls her “Noriko” with no honorific, then apologizes for not being around much. Noriko tells her that she understands, Shimako is busy. They part with reassurances. Noriko turns to see Touko and the other’s peeping around the corner at them.

Totally cut scene:

In sewing class, Kyouko compliments Noriko on her sewing, and Touko gets pissy, because she’s doing nice work too. Kyouko defends herself by saying that Noriko is close to Rosa Gigantea, so she wants to be nice to her. Everyone asks what Noriko and Shimako talked about – as Noriko replies, she calls Shimako “Shimako-san” which causes an absolute uproar in the class. Noriko is immediately aware that the environment has changed – she is absolutely *grilled*. She is on the verge of drowning in a sea of humanity, as Kyouko explains that the Rosas are so popular, so of course if someone is favored by one of them, everyone wants to know…. The rumors begin to fly, then, that she and Shimako must have known each other, or that they are soeur – Noriko has no clue at all what the girls are talking about. Her classmates explain about the Rosas and the soeur tradition, which gives Noriko a raging headache and another reason to get out of this creepy school. She thinks Lillian is a horrible place. Touko loses it and tells everyone to return to their seats, and they scatter.

***

Someone steals Noriko’s shoes from the shoe box. She finds them, hidden.

She tells Shimako about the episode, musing out loud that it should have been tacks in the shoes. Shimako doesn’t understand what she means, so Noriko asks her if she’s ever read any shoujo manga. Noriko herself had a cousin who collected manga and one summer she read the entire collection, which concluded with her going off shoujo manga forever.

When she returns to her desk, Noriko finds that someone has drawn a Doraemon on it, in chalk. She doesn’t want to erase it, because it’s quite good. She does, however, fear that these pranks will escalate.

***

The Maria-sai Inquisition

We see the scene with Rei and Sachiko inspecting her from Noriko’s point of view. Sachiko, especially, seems haughty, Rei seems to be laughing at her.

When she returns to her chair and finds the juzu (the Buddhist rosary Shimako lent her) gone, she thinks it’s more teasing/bullying.

***

For the Maria-sai, the kindergarten children all dress as angels and all the statues of Mary are decorated with chrysanthemums (in a stunning combination of Pagan and Christian symbolism, IMHO, since chrysanthemums are the Imperial flower, because they represent the sun, and therefore the Imperial descent from the sun goddess Amaterasu. But I digress…)

There are roughly 200 first-years students (so about 600 or so in the Lillian HS).

***

Noriko is bored and irritated through the entire ritual. She’s understandably upset about the juzu, she feels oppressed and doesn’t give a damn about the medal. (They don’t get rosaries for this ritual, like they showed in the anime – just a medal, presumably of Mary.)

***

Because we’ve only seen all the events prior to it from Noriko’s point of view, the “outing” scene is much more emotional and difficult than it was in the anime, where we knew something was being planned.

***

As Touko holds the juzu up, light streams through the stained glass and lights up the juzu in a million ways.

When Noriko puts Shimako behind her, to protect her, Sachiko comments that she has a good heart. Noriko looks over at Sachiko and suddenly realizes how exceptionally beautiful she is.

Noriko, when confronted by the question of the juzu’s ownership, would have been perfectly fine with lying in front of – or even swearing by – Mary, if it was to protect Shimako.

Shimako’s confession, when it comes, is much more powerful than in the anime, where it seemed a bit anticlimactic (because we knew that the rest of the Yamayurkai knew….)

When Shimako confesses to being the owner of the juzu, Noriko throws herself on Shimako and starts to cry like a child.

Sachiko rebukes Shimako gently – did you *really* think we would think less of you? and smiling, accuses Shimako of being stubborn.

And here’s the one *real* surprise:

Rei tells Shimako that her grandfather is a patron of your parent’s temple, did you think we didn’t know? She informs Shimako that quite a lot of the parishioners know that she’s going to Lillian – we kept waiting for you to mention that your family runs a temple. In fact, Rei’s grandfather and Shimako’s father have a running bet as to when Shimako would confess.

Sachiko declares that Noriko’s and Shimako’s “punishment” is to clean the church after the festival.

When it’s all over, Noriko thinks that the Buddha is nice, but that Mary is beautiful too. As she thinks that, the Mary she wants to be next to – the one in the uniform – turns and smiles at her and says, “Next time, let’s go look at the Buddha together.