Archive for the Maria-sama ga Miteru Category


Notes on the fourth Maria-sama ga Miteru Novel: Rosa Canina

May 13th, 2005

Rosa Canina
Part 1

Wahhh! I thought I had posted this weeks ago, but find I did not. Oh well.

Before I say anything else, I want to say this – the anime did *such* a disservice to Sachiko. She is, without fail, THE most romantic character I’ve come across in a years. She is always touching Yumi, caressing her, snuggling her, and generally doing unbelievably romantic things. (like the hair ribbon in the last book….)

The anime failed to communicate that well – not because of any flaw in Sachiko, but because we see it through Yumi’s eyes and she feels so unworthy that she doesn’t take note of it. She sees Sachiko’s attention as being corrected, when it really means that Sachiko simply cannot take her eyes (and hands) off Yumi.

Sachiko’s only real fault is that she doesn’t want to burden Yumi with her own worries…and of course, that’s what blows up in their face in Rainy Blue…but I digress. In any case,I am now, officially, a Sachiko fan. ^_^

Notes on Rosa Canina, by Konno Oyuki

Once again there is suprisingly little change from the anime or the manga) with about three small scenes cut from the anime altogether. The election arc takes about half the book, while the New Year’s arc is the other half – so there wasn’t as much detail lost in the translation to anime as I feared. The changes to the New Year’s Day arc in the anime were sort of odd, but the manga has remained much closer to the novel.

1) The “Cast of Characters” at the beginning of the book is presented as snapshots by Tsutako. I really liked that. ^_^

2) At the beginning of term ceremony, Yumi watches for Sachiko while waiting for all the older students to be seated. She’s so obsessive that, as she drifts off into a nap, Yumi dreams that she has “Sachiko-itis” and that Sei is a doctor who tells her that she’ll have to take medicine after every meal.

3) Shimako acts “uncharacteristically” throughout the whole novel…which leads me to believe that Yumi doesn’t really understand Shimako’s character at all. (Shimako bursts into the Council room, she runs after the bus waving her arms and calling for it to stop, and later cries in Sei’s arms.)

4) And how is it that Yumi has never heard of the school elections or how they work?

5) On the bus that afternoon, Sachiko asks Yumi to sit close and leans on her. They huddle for warmth and space. Yumi, who has been feeling very distant from Sachiko is thrilled, but also still feeling distant.

6) The reason Yumi thinks that Rosa Canina should be a black color, is that black is the traditional color for villains.

7) Tsutako comments that Yumi has a natural charm, and Yumi misunderstands her to mean that she is a natural goof. (We also get several mentions in this novel of Yumi’s low-self-esteem/self-abhorrence from Yumi herself.) Tsutako tells Yumi that that is NOT what she meant, and we get a teeny little glimpse into a Tsutako that is just a teeny little jealous of Yumi and Sachiko.

8) In the classroom, Shimako is standing in front of a window with mist on it, and Yumi thinks it makes her look like she has wings. This prompts a thought in Yumi’s mind that white is definitely angel-like Shimako’s color, at which Tsutako (who has clearly had the same thought) turns to Yumi and jokes that as she’s a member of the Red Rose family, she’s going to have to blush every day. :-)

9) Initially, a big part of Yumi’s stress factor over the school elections is the concern that Shizuka may supplant Sachiko as Rosa Chinensis. She isn’t really aware that Shizuka poses the biggest threat to Shimako until it is pointed out to her. (The other half of her concerns – the part that blows up in Yumi’s face over and over is that both she and Sachiko sort of feel that they ought to be able to intuit each other’s needs, and thoughts and moods. Since neither really knows what the other is thinking, they base their actions of what they *think* the other is thinking and get upset when that doesn’t seem to be working. This will be a theme that comes back over and over…)

10) No one really remembers Shizuka, because at the school festival, her hair was long. It is rumored that Shizuka cut her hair to mimic Sei, since she was (so the school newspaper reported,) a leading candidate for the position Sei’s petite soeur. When this rumor is revealed, Sachiko wonders if Shizuka is anything like Shiori, while Rei says that Shizuka seems like the kind of person who deserves to be at the Rose Mansion.

11) Tsutako is the one who reveals Shizuka’s information to Yumi, not Yoshino, as in the anime.

12) In the library, after Yoshino explains that Shizuka, aka Rosa Canina, is the nice librarian who helped Yumi, Yumi notices slips of paper marking pages in the books she is holding. One after the other, they mark the pages with pictures of Rosa Chinensis. The last one marks Rosa Canina. Yumi and Yoshino think that it must be a message from the enemy.

13) Shimako confesses to Yumi the one of the reasons that she is not running is that she has never really had a chance at “normal” student life, because she was brought into the Yamayurikai almost immediately upon entering. She expresses a desire to become friends with Yoshino and Yumi. (Later we learn that one of the reasons Shizuka considered running for the Yamayurikai is that she’s been in chorus as a soloist from
the beginning and she wanted to be in a “normal” club. Sei points out, rather sarcastically, that being a member of the Student Council is hardly “normal” student
life.)

In the manga, we get foreshadowing of Shimako’s later arc, with comments inside her head like, “Every day I am here, I’m committing a crime.” But those are not in the novel.

15) When they hear Shizuka’s footsteps on the stairs, Yumi thinks it must be Rosa Chinensis, because the footsteps are soft and even, like Youko’s or Shimako’s. She notes that her footstep ID is getting better, although not as good as Sei’s.

16) One thing not really captured in the anime or manga is that Shimako is really cold, and almost rude, to Shizuka when she comes to the Rose Mansion to make her offer. (It’s done well in the Drama CD, though.)

17) In the manga, when Shizuka meets Yumi in the hallway, Yoshino is with them. In the anime and novel Yumi is alone with Shizuka, until Sei joins her and Shizuka leaves.

18) Youko confronts Yumi about her role as imouto, not on a bench outside, but immediately outside the Rose Mansion door. She brings Yumi inside the storeroom on the first floor, puts her up against a wall, puts both hands on her shoulders and talks into Yumi’s face.

In the anime, Youko never touches Yumi, until she is about to graduate. In the manga, Yumi is once again on the bench, and Youko has brought Sachiko with her, instead of sending Yumi up to her. The manga also cuts out the lecture Youko gives about how, as she’s the little sister, it’s not Yumi’s job to worry. She should simply support her onee-sama and be cheerful for her. It’s the older sister’s job to be responsible. As the chapter is called “What is a little sister?” I was sad that they cut the speech, since it answers half of Yumi’s concerns.

18) When Sachiko sees Yumi again and realizes that they have both been worried about their onee-sama, she tells Yumi that what she wants most from Yumi is that when she is down, for Yumi to hold her hand.

When Sachiko goes to give her speech, Yumi kvells at her from the wings. (“Kvelling” is a yiddish word for when you’re so proud and happy that you want to burst.)

19) Cut scenes:

Shizuka’s supporters, wearing Rosa Canina headbands and shouting her name at the assembly.

Shizuka asks Sei to meet her after the elections, regardless of the outcome. (Very well done in the Drama CD, though. This request is part of what sparks Sei’s genuine interest in Shizuka.)

Yumi, Sachiko, Rei and Yoshino in the Rose Mansion, waiting to get the results of the election. When they go to learn who has won, Sachiko asks that Yumi and Yoshino stand with her and Rei. Shimako comes late because she was at a committee meeting; Shizuka never even shows (she’s busy meeting Sei and, in any case, as she says, she’s not really concerned with the outcome.)

20) Sei meets Shizuka, as requested. The scene is pretty much intact in the anime (with the exception of Shizuka’s reasoning for wanting to run.) Since we originally saw this scene without having seen Sei’s arc, we lack a little crucial information – Shizuka is, IMHO, coming on rather strongly to Sei. “I wanted to see my reflection in your eyes just once.” Go home and try that. You have to be darned close to see your reflection in someone’s eyes. Shizuka admits that she doesn’t want to be Sei’s soeur…and Sei understands, I think, and gives her a kiss as a “going away present.” It’s an *incredibly* sexy scene between them.

21) Yumi, who has been eavesdropping, thinks to herself that if she ever saw Sachiko kissing anyone, on the cheek or forehead, she’d freak. So she promises Sei she won’t tell Shimako, but Sei can’t understand why.

22) After Yoshino and Rei leave (and my, isn’t the interaction between them really suspicious! Yoshino comes running up, grabs Rei’s arm and the two of them hustle off, “Got to go! Bye!” and they practically run off together….uh-huh, she says, knowingly…) Yumi sees Shimako crying in Sei’s arms. Sachiko and she leave and Yumi asks Sachiko if she can do anything for her – anything at all. She’d bungee jump, eat glass, whatever. ^_^

Sachiko just asks if they can go back to the Rose Mansion and eat the lunches they couldn’t eat earlier out of nervousness. “Seeing your face has suddenly given me an appetite.”

The End of Part 1





Notes on the Third Maria-sama ga Miteru novel

March 9th, 2005

The “extra chapter” of the Ibara no Mori novel, is really a whole second section. As Tsutako mentions in the first part of the novel, this section has no illustrations – apparently Girls’ Love is the same as Boys’ Love in the publisher’s eyes. From my own perspective I have learned that it is *a lot* easier to publish gay love/sex in print than in graphics. Words have to be focused on and understood and are, therefore, safer. Pictures are a whole ‘nother issue.

On the Yuricon Mailing List I received a lot of questions about this section, so let me answer them right off – no, Sei does not think about that fact that this was her first kiss, or that it was with a girl. Nor does she reflect on what it might mean to “be gay.” You’ll see, she does acknowledge that that she might have homosexual feelings for Shiori, but the thought that she might “be gay” isn’t really relevant.

Let me interject my own experience and understanding here: I think that, if Sei and Shiori had run away together and found themselves alone and with the opportunity to have a physical relationship, they would have done so. I’ve seen this before – up until a young person kisses another person, they are, like Sei, unsure of just what it is they’re wanting to do. After that kiss – it’s less confusing. ^_^ So I don’t think Sei is being ingenuous. Nor do I think she “is gay.” She may well decide she’s a lesbian at some point in her future (which based on reading future books, she does), but I’m pretty sure she’ll have to fall in love with another woman for it to be something she considers. After all – she’s been going to an all-girl school since she was a child. It stands to reason her initial affinity is for another woman.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think she’s gay. ^_^ For one thing – she has gaydar!

And on that note…onto the notes!

Shiroki Hanabira

1) It was an accident that Sei was there to meet Shiori – she had woken up too early that morning and was at the school too early. Sei tells us that she was not a very social person – she was aloof and anti-social, spending most of her time reading novels by herself.

The first half of this chapter is almost identical to the anime and manga. They cut out only minor descriptions. In fact – very little was changed or cut out of this chapter. I was pretty impressed.

2) In the greenhouse, as Shiori sits by Sei in the warm air, Sei is overcome with the desire to do *something* but she doesn’t know what. Her heart is beating, her body is shaking and all she can think of is that she wants to be in one body with Shiori.

This scene was brilliant, btw – the descriptions of Sei’s reactions and need were, to be blunt, exactly the mirror of my own at that age, in that situation. It was, not surprisingly, a very powerful and sexy scene.

3) The one chapter that was cut out in its entirety was basically a monologue in which Sei recounts her growing infatuation with Shiori:

After the greenhouse, she is obsessed with the need to understand what these feelings are. She couldn’t be sure whether or not it was romantic love – she knew she loved Shiori’s soul, her spirit, but she felt that Shiori’s body was just decoration for the inner self.

Sei reads a lot of love novels, to try and see if this is what she’s feeling – the only thing she learns is that she really comes to hate love novels. ^_^

So, Sei starts looking at books about homosexual love, but she finds nothing that really reflects what she’s feeling. (Again, this jibed with my personal experience – interestingly, *this* novel is quite realistic, which bucks the trend and once again points out that Konno Oyuki is a really good writer.)

Finally, she turns to textbooks on reproduction to figure out why she felt this way, and determines only that something in her is broken – but she’s no closer to understanding what it is, or why.

4) During the planning for the school festival, Sei asks her onee-sama to dissolve their bond, because she has no intention of taking Shiori as a soeur. This scene is in the manga too, not the anime. Her onee-sama says that she did not take Sei as soeur to have Sei take a soeur, she took Sei as her little sister to be by her side until she graduates. I think that this scene very neatly characterizes the White Rose family as we see it, since Sei has a similar situation with Shimako, and Shimako with Noriko.

5) When Shiori rejects Sei’s kiss in the church, her reasoning is that “Maria-sama is watching.” Sei goes cold and walks away, but not before thinking that she had lost to a 2000 year old ghost. This was in the anime and manga…but the next line, that Maria-sama was nothing more than a stone statue, while she herself was living flesh, was left out of the anime. I thought that line was pretty great.

6) As her grades slip, she is called into the teacher’s staff room and asked why, Sei fantasizes about saying, “Because Kubo Shiori broke my heart, what are you going to do about it?”

7) Sei is called to the Guidance Office during the break after exams (her exam results were the worst score she’d ever gotten.) Sei figures that its about the grades and absences, but when she sees that both her homeroom teacher and Shiori’s homeroom teacher are there, she feels sick, because she knows that her relationship with Shiori will come up.

When she’s confronted with the relationship, she turns, not to her homeroom teacher (who brought it up) or her mother (who is quite hysterical by this point) but to the Principal, because she knows that Shiori has stayed with her, and because Sei assumes that she knows that Shiori is a good person.

At the end of the scene, as she’s leaving, the Principal’s final shot about not being part of the people and activities around her is lonely, Sei realizes that, of all the people in the room, only the Principal knew – really understood – what the real relationship between Sei and Shiori was. Obviously, from our perspective, we know why…but Sei doesn’t – all she knows is that her feelings were completely transparent to this woman, and it terrifies her.

8) On the last day of school for the term, a Xmas Eve service is held at the church. Although Sei hasn’t seen Shiori for weeks (and she tells us that although she had put distance between the, her yearning to be with Shiori grew with everyday they were apart), Sei assumes that Shiori will have to attend the service. She’s right – and she sees Shiori there, looking well, and is at peace for a moment.

Later, of course, she wanders back to the church, in hopes of running into Shiori, only to find Shiori waiting there for her. (The scene of Sei and Shiori kissing and planning to run away together is exactly the same in book, manga and anime, with the exception of it taking place behind the church, instead of in front as in the anime.)

9) While waiting for Shiori to show at the train station, (she waits more than 6 hours….) Sei is approached by a drunken guy and an OL who ask if she’s all right. Sei feels tears well up, but she ruthlessly holds them in. The OL and guy hang around and she thinks to herself that this is a special punishment…. (Which, btw, brings me to a difference in manga and novel. In the novel she doesn’t ever equate her feelings for Shiori with punishment for her scoffing at god.)

10) When the third term begins, her onee-sama keeps Sei very busy, so she can’t brood. Sei sucks it up, because she knows that she had slacked for the last two terms.

Sei cuts her hair, because looking at her own long hair makes her think of Shiori’s long hair, so she gets rid of it.

11) Sei finally reads the letter Shiori left her in mid-February, a month and a half after Shiori left her. Afterwards, she thinks about Shiori’s words, and comes to the conclusion that, if they *had* run away, they probably would have had no other choice but to kill themselves, that they really didn’t have a bright future. Sei feels that Shiori has some kind of premonition of that when she came to the station and saw Sei, so she felt she couldn’t go. In retrospect Sei believes that it was better that they both lived.

Interestingly, the book, manga and anime all end this story arc completely differently.

In the anime, Sei joins Yumi as they head to the Xmas party at the Rose Mansion, telling us that it’s her “Happy Birthday.”

In the manga, we see her thinking about all this, and about her parting with her onee-sama who tells her that she will have a soeur of her own…then we see Shimako greet her with “onee-sama” and Sei looks a little surprised, then smiles and greets Shimako.

In the novel, Sei thinks about her onee-sama’s words, about how the “future heals the past” and we are told that, as Sei stares up at a blue sky between the sakura tree’s branches, she has come to believe that those words are true.

(This ending struck me as really poignant, but odd too, because I ended a Marimite fanfic with almost the exact same sentiment before I read this book. How weird is that? )

And there you have it. ^_^





Notes on the Third Maria-sama ga Miteru novel, Ibara No Mori, Part 1

March 8th, 2005

I’m incredibly busy with work, Onna!, Yuricon in Tokyo and ALC Publishing stuff, so I will be posting this entry almost exactly as it was sent to the Yuricon Mailing List. I hope to catch up a bit in the next few days, but please forgive me while I cheat a bit.

My first thought upon reading Ibara no Mori, (Forest of Thorns) was that Sei’s thoughts – and therefore her sentence structures – are significantly more complex than Yumi’s. (Of course, the irony is that, if this had been written in English, it would have taken me maybe 2 hours to read – it’s really not a long book and I’m a very fast reader.)

I took approximately 10 pages of notes as I read this – really too much for the few changes that were made, but there were so many scenes that were worth noting that I got carried away. ^_^

My initial overview is this – the anime, with some really minor exceptions, was very faithful to the book. The manga was slightly more faithful, but also had changes. One change was in both and I am still slightly perplexed as to why it was made…but I digress.

Was anything major cut out? One scene – one monologue – from Shiroki Hanabira, was. It wasn’t major, really, but it was significant. But other than that, the changes were mostly minor. All in all, the anime (I’m assuming that few of you have read the manga) was pretty much a decent retelling, and captured the story quite well. But after my write up, you can decide for yourself. I’ll do this in two parts, because I have *a lot* of notes. ^_^

When I finished the novel, I thought three things. One, Konno Oyuki is a really good writer. My belief in that grows with every novel I read. She may be writing light novels, but she is no lightweight as a writer. Two, this was NOT an easy novel to read. The second half is really raw, and not at all “light.” I think almost anyone who had a tragic love affair would sympathize with this story…but I’m betting gay and lesbian kids all over Japan who read it were crying their hearts out – this book should be on school’s reading curriculums, I swear. Three, I thanked the gods once again that my story didn’t end the same way as Sei’s – after I finished reading, I went upstairs and kissed my wife and thanked her for not making my first love a tragic one. ^_^

***

I. Ibara no Mori/Forest of Thorns

1) The beginning of the novel is really stark. After the usual history and description of Lillian Academy and the happy Christmas season, the book begins with a really harsh excerpt from the novel “Ibara no Mori” in which the protagonist talks about wanting to die. It’s really effective and shocking.

2) Yumi’s classmate Katsura shows herself to be a full-blown gossip-monger in this novel. She’s been prominent in the background of the other two…but in this one, we can see that she’s really a nosey parker. ^_^

3) Tsutako – Tsutako is *clearly* the author’s favorite character…and she’s rapidly becoming mine, as well. Tsutako has the clearest grasp of human nature of everyone in the book. Because she is outside all the usual connections, and a voyeur, she sees what’s going on around her…because she is a smart cookie, she understands the bigger picture. She was the one who called all the copycat soeur dissolutions “playing at being Yoshino”. She’s your go-to for important exposition.

In the beginning of the book, Tsutako gives Yumi a wonderful meta-discussion tutorial about the world of teen novels, (all of which explains things that happen in the novel we are reading.) For instance, she discusses how often there are novels that are ostensibly teen novels, but are really written for adults. That different genres get different color covers, and that stories with Boys’ Love don’t have illustrations (which later explains why there are none in the Shiroki Hanabira section.) This was a BRILLIANT bit of expository writing.

4) We’ve seen this before, but it’s made plain that, when Yoshino gets excited or angry, she completely falls out of Keigo, (the formal speech level that is used at Lilllian) and calls Rei, “Rei-chan” in public, instead of “onee-sama,” among other slips (BTW, one of the reasons Yumi is always hemming and hawing is because she sucks at Keigo and is hesitant when using it. Also, btw, Sei doesn’t speak in Keigo, unless she’s being ironic.)

5) While discussing the rumors going around the school with Sachiko, Rei and Yoshino, Yumi watches Yoshino go all pouty at Rei. Yoshino complains that Rei never tells her anything, Rei becomes placatory and Yumi thinks, Hey now, you two…this isn’t the time for flirting (sharing sweet nothings). Then Yumi wishes that she could get all pouty at Sachiko. Sachiko then catches her eye and Yumi is mortified (because we all know that her thoughts show on her face….)

6) In a scene that was left out of the anime and manga, Sachiko and Yumi go into the bookstore to buy “Ibara no Mori” – Sachiko accosts a store employee, addresses him in Keigo and asks him to, basically, lead them to the right section, get the book for them, and generally assist them. Yumi wonders if this guy has ever been treated like this before and laughs when the guy starts responding in Keigo – she bets he’s *never* done that before! Yumi spends the scene marveling at Sachiko’s ability to handle “the help” and her general wow-ness.

7) Ah hah! Yuuki, Yumi’s brother, tells Yumi that “a sempai” (we can bet that it’s Kashiwagi, I’m thinking) told him that he looks like a Tanuki (raccoon-dog supernatural thing. You see lots of fan art of Yumi as a Tanuki) and that he is a “natual fool”(in the sense of a jester-type fool.) Yuuki basically lays it down that Yumi and he are the same in that respect…so that’s where the whole Tanuki thing comes from. (Later, Tsutako is, naturally, described as a fox/kitsune.)

8) Yoshino comments to Yumi that Rei told her that last year Sei was a pretty scary person, so she was really surprised to come to school and find that she was different.

9) Sei, on being called into the Student Guidance Room sees Yumi and says, “Oh, I guess we’re being called in about our illicit homosexual relationship?” which is obviously ironic considering the circumstances of the year before. Yumi is, of course mortified, because the entire first-year student body is huddling in the hallway and hears this. I think this line was in the manga, but I’m pretty sure they cut that line out of the anime! ^_^;

10) Sitting at the Yamayurikai meeting just before Sei tells Yoshino and Yumi about Shiori, Yumi is daydreaming, mostly about Sei and the rumors and why there’s a connection at all. She gets hit in the forehead with a balled-up chocolate foil wrapper and looks over to see Sei grinning at her. Sei makes a gesture of 10 fingers, crosses her hands at the wrists, then does 10 again, then touches her face. Yumi is totally confused until Sei writes it down… 10 x 10=100. 100 faces – Hyakkumensou. In other words – everything Yumi is thinking is showing on her face again. Yumi gets all indignant and and draws everyone’s attention to herself by crying out. Of course no one noticed Sei, and she’s hysterical as Yumi gets nailed for misbehaving. ^_^

11) Sei reads 1/2 of “Ibara no Mori” while Yumi and Yoshino are cleaning the council room. When she gets to, presumably, the parts that are going to be more difficult for her to read without reacting, she sends them away. This makes more sense than just sending them away right off. She sends them to the college cafeteria to get ramen. The college cafeteria is pretty far away, and it will take a while to get and eat ramen, so she’s giving herself a good hour or so to read the rest of the book. (Yumi is amazed she can read that quickly at all…but Japanese teen novels aren’t very long and, we learn later, Sei spent *a lot* of time reading when she was younger and less social, so she’s a fast reader.)

This is Yumi’s and Yoshino’s first time eating in a cafeteria, (as opposed to getting food from their milk hall and eating it in their classroom) so it’s like an adventure.

12) After Sei’s confession, Yumi thinks to herself that Sei’s love is like a burning flame, and that Sei must want to stay away from Shiori to keep her from getting burnt.

13) Yumi is filled with a desire (non-sexual – the author bothers to TELL us that) to see Sachiko. Sachiko actually seeks Yumi out and gives her a ride home in her big, black car. Uncharacteristically, Sachiko comes right out and asks Yumi what Sei told her, then interpolates from Yumi’s silence (Yumi is uncomfortable telling Sachiko without Sei’s permission.) Sachiko tells Yumi, again, surprisingly straightforwardly, that she didn’t *know*, but she guessed what was going on. She was Shiori’s classmate, after all and knew that she and Sei were friendly. Then, after Shiori went away, not only did Sei cut her hair, she grew “thin and empty.”

As Sachiko fixes Yumi’s hair ribbon, Yumi decides that she really enjoys the “skinship” Sachiko has with her.

14) During break, when Yoshino invites Yumi over to figure out who “Suga Sei” really is, Yumi watches Yoshino bully Rei into cooperating and comes to the conclusion that Yoshino is “a lion at home and a mouse abroad.” Poor Rei – someone should have told her that the femmes always get their way!

15) And there is an actual *reason* that Cosmos wasn’t giving out the Suga Sei’s bio. Kasuga-san had two reasons for hiding her identity: 1) She is the president of a company, and it wouldn’t really do for her to be writing this book under her real name, and; 2) She was concerned that the readers wouldn’t want the image of an old lady as the author, since it’s obviously a teen angst novel.

Here’s the one thing that was changed for the anime and manga and it REALLY bothered me – in the book Yumi figures out that Kasuga-san is Suga Sei. She just puts two and two together, which makes all the daydreaming about it worthwhile. In the anime and manga, the secret is given away by someone else, which really annoyed me.

16) Finally, for this section of the novel, as Yumi watches Kasuga Seiko and Satou Sei walk away together, she thinks to herself that she is actually *seeing* Yoshino’s time machine – two women, separated by decades, with amazingly similar experiences.

17) This was in the manga, but not the anime, and it was a separate little illustrated manga that ran in Cobalt Shueisha, as well:

After Yumi leaves Sei to walk Kasuga-san to the Principal’s office (and how creepy would it be if you suddenly realized that your school principal, who is a nun, had tried to commit suicide because of a tragic lesbian love affair when she was your age???) Yumi meets up with Sachiko, who gives her a Christmas present of a handkerchief. Yumi is upset because she has nothing to give her onee-sama, but Sachiko tells her that it would be nice if she could have one of Yumi’s hair ribbons – which she takes from Yumi’s hair and ties it into her own. (You gotta give Sachiko credit for being uber-romantic there…)

Yumi and Sachiko walk off to the Rose Mansion hand in hand and Yumi thinks that she is so happy that she almost wants to cry.

And there you have it, my thoughts on the first part of Ibara no Mori.





Notes from the Second Maria-sama Ga Miteru Novel

January 13th, 2005

For a brief, shining moment, I was not swamped at work and managed to finally finish up reading Kibara Kakumei, aka Yellow Rose Revolution Konno Oyuki’s second Maria-sama ga Miteru novel.

As with the first novel, nothing significant from the second novel was left out of the anime and/or manga. Most of what was left out were little details that, for me, make everyone that much more 3-D and human. (This will probably not be the case so much with the fourth novel, Rosa Canina which was handled in a single anime episode – I’m sure that we missed quite a bit. The manga hasn’t yet begun, so I have nothing to compare the anime with as of yet.)

While I was reading Kibara Kakumei, I took notes of things that were left out, or mostly, just interesting, so I could share them with those of you who are unlikely to read the novels in Japanese. Here are the things I thought interesting enough to jot down:

Yoshino’s bedroom – this is described as looking like a old man’s library, with floor to ceiling bookshelves in dark wood, with “incongruous” flowered curtains. In fact, the room *was* a library previously, and it seems to suit Yoshino well. :-)

We get to actually meet Yoshino’s mother for a very short scene, and we can see that she’s one sharp cookie. Even though Rei says nothing to her, Mom knows instantly that something has happened between Yoshino and Rei…and she ends her scene with an incredibly complex pun about Rei’s family and the stew she’s cooking which revolved around the word, “sweet”. Basically she was, in one sentence, commenting that Rei’s family has their own way of seasoning the stew and that they are too nice for their own good.

Tsutako, as she snaps pictures of girls in the martial arts clubs in various states of (un)dress, thanks God for being born a girl, so she can do things like this! LOL Minako, the newspaper club president, is suitably scandalized. :-)

The most surprising scene in the book begins with Yumi repeating the words, “Bumper crop?” LOL Shimako has returned to the classroom carrying a vinyl bag full of stinky gingko nuts and chortling to herself. Apparently, Shimako had muttered the phrase as she passed Yumi. I admit – it’s put a whole new shade of weird on doll-like Shimako for me.

In the scene after Yumi finds Rei standing in the greenhouse, grieving, and Sachiko pulls Rei back to the Rose Mansion, Sei and Youko have a scene in which, even as they are explaining why they really can’t do much, are doing amazingly much. Their competence is quite stunning. They tell an incensed Sachiko that they can’t interfere, but then Sei turns around and asks Shimako to report. The younger girl promptly replies that she can’t find Rosa Foetida, and then details what’s going on it the school quite coherently. Sei and Youko then go onto explain how the relations between the rose houses work to a still-incensed Sachiko.

Yumi is momentarily jealous of Rei and Yoshino’s closeness and wonders, bitterly, if she were to leave, would Sachiko even notice, much less grieve.

In the novels, Katsura-san is a much more active gossip-monger than in the anime, where she is just one of many. Katsura also is named to be one of the girls in Yumi’s class who breaks with her grande soeur, as a way of imitating Yoshino. All in all, some five girls *in Yumi’s class* return rosaries…so you get a better idea of just how much of a ripple effect Yoshino’s actions are having.

Sei also explains, in the discussion with Yumi about Eriko’s behavior *why* Rosa Foetida’s nature has any bearing on this situation. In a nutshell, someone like Eriko, who always knows what’s going to happen as the outcome of her actions, wouldn’t do anything to interfere with Rei and Yoshino – because she would find this unpredictable, and hence, fascinating. I don’t think the anime made this connection, quite. It helped me understand Eriko a little more – and also explains why she chose Rei as her soeur.

One of the scenes that was entirely cut out consists solely of Yoshino pacing in front of the hospital and we get to see how really, she’s terribly frightened of the surgery – and feeling very alone. I liked this short scene alot – I think it gave Yoshino a depth that had, until that moment, been lacking. I’ve said it before, but it remains true, that I sympathize with Yoshino most of all the characters – and I *totally* knew how she felt while she tried to be brave enough to do what she had to do.

Yumi comments intelligently that, with all the fuss going on at Lillian, Yoshino doesn’t even know about any of it…and she’s probably be appalled to find out. But it’s Yumi that accidentally lets Yoshino know…and she finds it all hysterical.

During the scene when Yoshino is telling Yumi about the mistakes in the newspaper survey; again, we get the sense that Yoshino is very alone. (We know from an earlier conversation with Katsura, Yumi’s classmate, that Yoshino has no friends in her class because she’s out so often. And we learn that although Yoshino and Yumi have both been attending Lillian since infancy, they really haven’t ever been in a class together, so Yumi is not really familiar with Yoshino – or how her health affects her and the people around her. Katsura describes in lurid detail what one of Yoshino’s seizures look like.) As Yoshino tries to explain her relationship with Rei – and the flaws in it, we get the feeling that Yoshino is desperately reaching out to Yumi so that someone, somewhere, understands her. It’s the first sign that she and Yumi will become real friends, which is nice.

When Rei finally has her meltdown – in the arms of a teacher – she uses exactly the same phrases to describe her relationship with Yoshino as Yoshino did to Yumi…which heightens how much denial she’d been in.

Ultimately, at the end, when Yoshino shows Rei the scar (and gets yelled at by the nurse afterwards for doing so) Rei says it makes Yoshino look like a pirate – so that explains THAT doujinshi! LOL

Last thing. Sei eats REALLY strange stuff. Yumi comes to the Rose Mansion and find Sei eating a taromasalata and mayo sandwich and drinking green tea, while Youko is eating onigiri and drinking black tea. Yumi thinks that they should switch drinks for consistency. :-)

Taromosalata sandwich???? Yumi thinks that that’s the kind of thing that only a die-hard fan would eat. As a dip for pita, taromosalata is *excellent*, but I kind of agree with Yumi…a sandwich of it would be odd. :-) I assume that this choice of food was meant to heighten Sei’s “strangeness” and foreign qualities, which becomes important in the next novel.

I’ve just started to read the next novel, Ibara no Mori/Shiroi Hanabira, the Forest of Thorns/White Petals, and already some of the above trends are repeated. I promise to report back on the things we missed as soon as I’m done!





Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD: Ibara no Mori

October 19th, 2004

The fourth Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD set, Ibara no Mori! Whee!

This two-CD set covers the third novel of the series, Ibara no Mori/Shiroki Hanabira, which correspond to Episodes 10 and 11 of the first season of the anime – in other words, Sei’s lesbian angst arc.

I now have a complete Yamayurikai set of dolls on my desk at work. I feel better about that. ^_^ (Youko has a really strange look on her face, like she’s about to say something…Sei just looks smug, like she’s gotten away with something and you’ll find out later – to your chagrin.)

The first CD in the set is Ibara no Mori, aka Forest of Thorns. There’s a fair bit of conversation that was left out of the anime and Yoshino is WAY over the top a few times, but the manga is closer to the drama CD than the anime was. There’s STILL stuff missing from the manga, but nothing important. Nonetheless, the Drama CD makes a nice addition to the level of detail, as always. The voice performances are, as expected, very good, but…

The second CD is Shiroki Hanabira, which means White Petals. This is almost exclusively voiced by Toyoguchi Megumi, as Sei narrates the story of how she fell in love with, and lost, Shiori. To say that she does a superlative job is a wild understatement. I was simply breathless during some of the scenes. In fact, I think I can say that this Drama CD may well be the best voice acting I have ever heard *ever* in any medium.

Shinohara Emi was simply amazing as Youko – much better than she was in the anime, and the Former Rosa Gigantea was voiced by one of the most skilled seiyuu in the business, Takayama Minami. She was superb. Nakagawa Akiko was much better in this CD as Shiori than she was in the anime – I expect it’s because she has a bigger part, and we get to know her better. My jaw was hanging open all through the second CD of this set. It was simply brilliant. This was 10’s all the way around.

The *only* complaint I can even find to have on this set was the Foley. The sound engineering was simply awful, especially in the second CD. I don’t know if they were so enamored of the voice acting that they forgot to do it until the last second or what, but I have honestly never heard such bad Foley outside an incredibly low budget kung-fu flick.

Ratings:

Character – 10
Story – 10 (to be fair, teen angst doesn’t *usually* appeal to me, but done this well…)
Voice Acting – 10
Yuri – 10
Overall – 10

If you can understand even a little Japanese, you should get this CD set. This is *the* must-have Marimite item so far.