Archive for the Maria-sama ga Miteru Category


Maria-sama ga Miteru: Are You Ready?

April 10th, 2011

Last November, it was my great honor to be able to see the Maria-sama ga Miteru Live-Action movie when it opened in Japan.

As part of the commemorative ticket package (thank you Komatsu-san for picking that up for me!), I received a spiffy clearfile with the Hibiki Reine character designs of Yurmi and Sachiko on one side, and the live-action Yumi and Sachiko on the other, postcards, signed photos and, of course the commemorative ticket itself.

The package also included a little pamphlet with a bonus story by Konno Oyuki-sensei called Maria-sama ga Miteru: Are You Ready? (マリア様がみてる Are You レディー?)

This story takes place during the Sports Festival of Yumi’s first year. This is just before preparations for the School Festival would begin, so, a prologue to the first novel.

During the Sports Festival Yumi who, as a student in the Peach class is on the Pink Team, can’t take her eyes off the Green team area and one student there in particular. Katsura asks why she doesn’t just confess her feelings to Sachiko-sama, but Yumi has no intention of doing that.

When she sees Sachiko’s oneesama, Youko, Rosa Chinensis, Yumi is captivated by the two sisters together. And Tsutako, ever sensitive to Yumi’s moods, captures a perfect moment between the two of them, with Yumi in the frame, but apart.

The epilogue of this little short follows Sachiko’s much later discovery of the print, and ends with the narrative voice mentioning that in only a few weeks, Yumi’s life would change forever. Are You Ready, Yumi? the author asks, as it draws to a close.

The pamphlet is only 16 pages, but it gives us a glimpse of Yumi as she is at the very beginning of the series – a fan of Sachiko but, as she reminds the Rosas after she turns Sachiko down, she has fan’s pride and will not, in her own way, let that pride be trampled – thus setting into motion the completely remarkable retraining of Ogasawara Sachiko.

No, Yumi was not ready, but she was the perfect choice. ^_^

Overall – 9





Light Novel: Maria-sama ga Miteru ~ Step

March 2nd, 2011

This week’s theme appears to be “some series never die.” We started off the week with a look back at Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon was just re-licensed in Germany, and I have another re-tread planned for later this week. And, today, we’re taking a look at one of the most recent volumes of a series that has lodged itself firmly in our hearts, Maria-sama ga Miteru. There is one massive spoiler ahead, be warned.

Maria-sama ga Miteru ~ Step (マリア様がみてる ステップ) tells the story of two girls, Katsuki and Ritsu. They are second-years in high school at Lillian and they are the very best of friends. They’ve been together so long that they are practically like sisters.

So, when Ritsu tells Katsuki that she’s seeing a boy, it comes as a shock – not because she’s seeing a boy so much, but because she’s *been* seeing him for a few weeks, and she never mentioned it. Katsuki is hurt, but honest about it, so they separate for a little while, then take it slow to repair the tears in their bonds carefully and neatly. But, as Katsuki points out in her interior monologue, once a person has taken that step up the stair of life, they can never really go back to being the person they were, even if they want to.

In the meantime, Katsuki has herself, through an accidental, somewhat silly, circumstance met a guy she thinks she might be interested in and, when she learns through another completely accidental circumstance that he is Ritsu’s brother, *she* keeps it secret from her best friend. Katsuki had somewhat complicated things a little by lying to “Ken-san,” the nickname she created for the guy she met, about her own name.

Then comes the day Katsuki encounters Ritsu’s boyfriend and her hurried confession the next day to Ritsu that it was another incredible coincidence and nothing else. But, Ritsu says, it doesn’t matter – she’s already broken up with Kouta. In fact, Ritsu knew that Katsuki had met her boyfriend…and the problem was not that she was jealous of Katsuki for being with Kouta, but that she was jealous of Kouta for being with Katsuki.

During the school trip, Ritsu “confesses” that her break-up with Kouta was because she likes Katsuki more. Katsuki thinks about it and asks if Ritsu would like to kiss her. Ritsu replies, “Sure, I guess,” to which Katsuki says, “Right – you guess.” She calmly points out that she really doesn’t think Ritsu’s gay and she’s fairly sure she might have noticed by now if she was and Ritsu pretty much agrees that she’s the same.But they agree that they love each other very much.

Katsuki is now sure that Ritsu does want to go out with Kouta (who she knows is a nice guy) and she kind of wants an excuse to see Isao, Ritsu’s brother, so she calls him to ask him to bring Kouta to the school festival. There is a little tension, but Kouta does come, and he and Ritsu head off to the Sakuratei cafe together. In the meantime, Katsuki meets and is instantly recognized by Isao as the girl he met in the park….despite her makeup and costume as a monster for the haunted house. Woops.

In the end, the two girls have frank talks with their prospective partners about their feelings for them and for each other. Kouta tells Ritsu that he also has a bosom buddy he feels that close too, Isao. And Katsuki comes to realize that Hasekura Isao is a genuinely nice guy.

The author’s note begins with the most obvious question ever – can you guess Kouta’s family name? I could and did. Can you?

One of the questions I’m asked most on #marimite_spoilers @rizon.net is “when” the book I’m discussing is. Yumi’s first-year or second or third? This one was impossible to peg until we were given that single hint. Once we got that, it was obvious “when” we were.

As with many of of Konno-sensei’s books, the plot here took a long time to develop. It was  a bit tiring at first, with all the “boyfriend this” and “boyfriend that” but, as the story developed it picked up some speed. And there were a number of small, but interesting features. Ritsu’s and Katsuki’s frank discussion about their affection for one another was one, Kouta’s admission of affection for Isao was another. But of all the interactions in the book, the most interesting to me was a conversation Katsuki had with another classmate, Watako.

Katsuki asks Watako if she had a lover, to which Watako replies, “not at the moment.” Katsuki and I both naturally interpreted that to mean that she had had one previously and expects to do so again. In this way, on top of the shocking idea Konno-sensei introduces in this novel that Lillian girls may have (*gasp!*) boyfriends, Konno-sensei introduces the even more shocking idea that some of them may have had lovers. Two steps out of the garden of maidens in one shot. You go Konno-sensei. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – starts at a 5, but ends up an 8

The key thing to making this book work as well as it did was that both Kouta and Isao really are nice guys.





Maria-sama ga Miteru Manga, Volume 9

December 24th, 2010

Spring at Lillian brings change. The beloved older classmen leave, moving out of the soft embrace of their Alma Mater to join the real world. New underclassmen arrive, changing everything.

In Maria-sama ga Miteru, Volume 9: Cherry Blossom, Nijou Noriko, the unlikely mutt among the purebreds walks into Lillian Academy and fills the hole in Shimako’s heart caused by Sei’s graduation. Shimako, who once thought she’d leave the Yamayurikai when Sei graduated, is now Rosa Gigantea, but the distance between her and the others has – if anything – increased.

Yumi’s noticed this and when she consults with the others, learns two surprising things – Shimako’s got secrets that she’s hiding and one of them is a first-year student who can make her smile. Yumi also meets and has to cope with the manipulative, selfish and supremely entitled new student Matsudaira Touko, who turns out to have a prior relationship with Sachiko.

“Cherry Blossom” follows the tale from Noriko’s perspective, as she enters this retro school and is confronted with Maria-sama herself beneath the cherry tree. The tale of how Noriko and Shimako meet, become close and how their friendship forces Shimako to “out” herself as the daughter of a Buddhist Temple, is awkward and sweet.

The same story is told once more in “BGN” (Background Noise) from Yumi’s perspective. Once again we’re made to squirm as Sachiko and Rei overplay their roles and as Touko is an immature jerk at Yumi. But I’ve read the rest of the novels, and it touches me less harshly than it did knowing that, however mortifying all this was, everything and everyone turned out okay. Better than okay. And I think if you asked Shimako a year later what she thought of all this, she’d tell you that it was probably the right thing to do, considering.

This Volume 9 of the Maria-sama ga Miteru manga originally ran in The Margaret magazine, and was not-at-all-coincidentally timed with the release of the live-action movie. It appears that the manga, having served its promotional purpose, is once again on hold. Which is both good (not sitting through “Rainy Blue”…again….) and bad (not getting past “Rainy Blue”…again….) Also, I’d have liked them to at least get through “Drops of the Rosary,” but that’s the romantic in me talking.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 1
Service – 1

Overall – 9

Wow, it’s been a year and a half since the last volume of manga. I’m glad they brought it back, especially as this story focuses on Shimako and Noriko, who are such a great souer couple.





Tales of Osaka

November 7th, 2010

Time to back up to the beginning.

So, as you know, Bruce and I arrived in Tokyo, stayed in our nice room in Shinagawa, which is becoming an increasingly bad idea, as the hotel is so nice, every other hotel is awful in comparison.

The next morning, we hopped the Shinkansen out to Nagoya. On the way there, we failed to see the life-size Gundam that is in Shizuoka, (I thought they had dismantled it already!) and I’m very annoyed at myself that I didn’t look for it. ^_^;;

We arrived in Nagoya and managed to be found by William Flanagan, whom you may know as the translator of Lucky Star (the good one, that took over halfway), Tsubasa Chronicles, Code Breaker and many other manga. It was our pleasure to have met Bill last spring at Tokyo Anime Fair and he was nice enough to ask us to drop by for some local specialties if we were in the area. A local specialty happens to be katsu and it also happens to be one of my favorites meals, so when the stars aligned we had a really nice lunch, thanks Bill!

We eventually made it to Osaka, where we found that the hotel did not have our reservation. Always a good feeling. The hotel found us a room, where we tried to spend as little time as possible. The only reason I picked the hotel was its proximity to the theater and that was, in the end, the only good thing about it. ^_^;

We met up with Komatsu-san, who took us on a tour of Osaka, including the geek district. I really like Osaka, there’s a lot of energy and a LOT of food everywhere. But then, I finally crashed and burned and we went back to our rooms without even eating dinner. I had one rice ball and fell asleep by 9:30.

The next morning was the big day! Of course Bruce and I were awake very very early and we sat outside at the mall where the theater was. Eventually we were joined by Komatsu-san and we waited for the mall to open. Originally, we were first on line, but then two VERY motivated otaku came up and basically cut everyone off to be first. I didn’t fight them. It wasn’t worth it, so I was the #3 ticket. Now that we had tickets, we relaxed and went for a walk – to see the Heartcatch PreCure movie! Marimite was only being shown twice that day and the first showing was at 3:45, so we walked a bit to another mall (which had a very southwestern canyon look about it) and stood in line with a bunch of 4 year olds and their mothers (and a Dad or two). The girls got a little flashlight and a PreCure visor, I was apparently too old for such things. ^_^

Bruce, who is not watching PreCure, described the movie as a “High decibel fruit salad.” It takes place in Paris and while it had no original elements, it was still fun. Of course we all had to lend them the power of our heart flowers to help PreCure beat the bad guy. And in case you consider trying to be clever, no my heart flower is *not* a lily. So there, nyah. Bruce didn’t lend his power, because, he said, if all of Paris wasn’t enough to help, he didn’t think his would matter. What a meanie he is – we might have been destroyed because of him!

We had a ramen for lunch, with a side of fried garlic and happy, full and ready to be disappointed by the movie we made our way back to the theater. The two motivated Fanboys were first in line and they were let in first, then me, Komatsu-san and Bruce. The one Fanboy changed seats like three or four times, then sat there and fidgeted in a really creepy way, thus fulfilling every creepy otaku stereotype possible. The audience was split about 60/40 men/women, and mostly everyone was normal, with only about a half dozen really creepy otaku types. The two guys sitting next to me were both young and seemed kind of unlikely an audience. There were a number of younger women, as well, so overall, I was impressed with the crowd. Then the movie began….

…with an absolutely hilarious animated short voiced by Itou Miki and Ueda Kana about things we should not do while the movie is on. Yumi explained that we should not use our cell phones, take pictures, eat food loudly (illustrated by a picture of a bowl of ramen, because you know you might eat that in a theater…) or give rosaries to your soeur. Then Sachiko recapped and it was time for the movie.

Which was…really fun! They rewrote some bits, but I think it worked. The beginning was a scene in which Yumi comes into class and finds Miyuki crying tears of joy because she received a rosary. You remember Miyuki, right? She was one of the first Yoshino-wannabees in Yellow Rose Revolution. Total drama queen. This gives Yumi a chance to “explain” the soeur system to us. Also kind of fun was that *every time* Yumi comes into the school, she says the “walking slowly is preferred here” bit. Like she’s mentally preparing herself, or something. Oh, both Bruce and I loved the fact that the floors squeaked in the school. Like old wooden floors do.

Yumi and Sachiko actresses did a much better job than any of us expected. And then it started to dawn on me – every actress was picked for a specific reason. Yumi, because she could make her eyes big, Shimako for her smile. The voices were all very good, so the casting people were very mindful of what we wanted to hear and what we were used to. Kashiwagi was the worst choice, his body language was terrible, but his voice was really good. So, they were obviously thinking about it hard.

The rewrites were small, didn’t affect the major plot points, gave Yoshino lines she might otherwise not have had (poor Yoshino!) and by the end, all of us were right there with Yumi and Sachiko as Yumi and Sachiko.

In the end, Bruce, Komatsu-san and I all gave it a 9 out of 10.

Then we made Komatsu-san take us for okonomiyaki, because we were in Osaka and since neither Komatsu-san nor I like takoyaki, we had to do *something* typical! Dinner was delicious (of course,) then we went on a nice, wandering long walk around Osaka Shinsaibashi/Nihonbashi area. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful night and the company was pleasant. It was perfect.

The next morning we met up for breakfast (a little challenging on Sunday AM) then we parted with many thanks. I know I thanked you many times Komatsu-san, but once more – thank you so very, very much for everything! We both had a wonderful time. Here’s a link to the pictures I took, which include some of Komatsu-san and Osaka.

The train ride to Tokyo was long, the subway ride to Ikebukuro was long, the walk to the hotel was long, but here we are! Today, we meet up with my commanding officer, Ana, and do some shopping! See you later!





Marimite Movie (and PreCure) movie report – short version

November 7th, 2010

Sorry I was offline the last few days, the hotel in Osaka kind of sucked. BUT! The movies were great.

PreCure movie was a long, random episode with way more explosions than I would expect. And I think the French government might have issues with Mont St Michel being leveled that way.

Totally related to that last comment, but inexplicable until you see the movie, the trip mascot this time is clearly Loup Garou. I’ll explain later.

The Marimite movie was unexpectedly excellent! I really enjoyed it, and I felt that the actresses did a much better job than I anticipated. Hardly any explosions, though.

Many, many thanks to Bill Flanagan and to Komatsu-san, for shepherding us through the first half of our trip and to Himekawa Akira-san, for the lovely books, thank you all so very much!

Tonight we are handing over ourselves to the care of two of the most evil women I know. If you don’t hear from me for a few days, it’s their fault. ^_^