Archive for the Maria-sama ga Miteru Category


Maria-sama ga Miteru: Premium CD, Volume 2

August 3rd, 2010

Maria-sama ga Miteru Premium CD, Volume 2 jumps right into the drama. By which I mean the drama of Yoshino and Rei coming to terms with the fact that their relationship will have to change forever.

In “Kibara Panic,” a date with Nana becomes a race to see who Rei’s omiai partner is. Yoshino learns that Nana is disturbingly like a former Yellow Rose that she knows well….and is at least her equal in every way.

Yoshino is forced to come face to face with her feelings about Nana in “Kibara Shinken Shoubu.” Yoshino begs Rei not to let go her as she tries to ride a bicylce, but when Rei and Nana cross swords in the dojo, it’s Yoshino ends up casting the past aside to embrace the future.

Both of these were brilliant, funny, emotional dramas. Yoshino and Rei, the bickering couple of the Yamayurikai, cannot go on as they have. For Yoshino to grow, Rei has to let go, something she doesn’t really want to do. Yoshino also has to stop being grasping, but she knows she’s cheating by having someone else to lavish attention on. In the second drama, Yoshino has time to recognize that her love for Rei is obsessive and has been in many ways, suffocating to her beloved cousin.

Nana is a wonder. She’s Yoshino’s equal on every level, and has more than just vocal similarities to the former Rosa Foetida. She likes interesting things, is up for an adventure and no matter what Yoshino throws at her, she’s right there to stand by Yoshino’s side. Using Nabatome Hitomi was a stroke of genius, because it does give Nana more than a little of that slightly “hrm…this sounds familiar” feeling.

The final track is a bonus talk by Ueda Kana selling us all the current Marimite goods and reminding us to follow the Oshaka-sama mo Miteru series (about Yuuki and his life at Hanadera  and which I have been reading and may just review at some point, because the last book had a great ending.)

Ratings:

Overall – 9

A really lovely CD if you like the Yellow Rose family. Which I do.





Drama CD: Maria-sama ga Miteru Winter Special 2009 DJCD

July 19th, 2010

Champagne for New Years’ Day, sandwiches and a lot of giggling start off the Maria-sama ga Miteru Winter Special from 2009.

Shimizu Kaori (Noriko) still calls Noto Mamiko (Shimako) “Onee-sama” for our entertainment, and we learn important things like Noto-san likes roast beef and Shimizu-san is really good at janken pon.

Since we have the White Rose sisters in the house, it’s not that surprising that the drama this time is “Shirobara no Mono Omoi,” in which we and Noriko learn the tip of the iceberg of Shimako’s complicated family situation and Noriko finally meets Sei. As Noriko and Shimako discuss what a calm and peaceful souer couple they are, Shimako is dragged off by a man who pulls up in a car. The situation is unlikely, but Noriko’s got a steel trap mind even under stress, and guesses who Sei is on her first try (her image is different than she expected but 1) She refers to Shimako as “Shimako” – no honorific and 2) Noriko saw her at the kendo match and she guesses that she’s a Lillian U. student when she first sees her outside the gate.) Noriko apologizes for figuring it out so quickly and not giving Sei a Yumi-esque reaction.

Sei…is Sei. (I’m still/again amazed at Sei’s speech patterns. I don’t think I’ve ever heard/read someone is so all over the place in the way she speaks, from super casual to formal in three words.) And Noriko, after talking to Shimako that night says what anyone might say – “Is that *really* your Onee-sama?” ^_^

The whole segment is actually pretty funny. It’s the first time we see that Shimako is a steady ship who has a whole family of stormy seas – and it’s only going to get stormier.

The only negative of the Drama part was that the Foley was pretty intrusive. I really didn’t need to hear the swallowing that clearly. ^_^;

The final segment tests the actresses’ memory and art skills and they are both better and worse than you’d expect. The CD insert amusingly includes all three of their attempts at reproducing the Lillian logo, so you can have a good laugh.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

All in all, another excellent hour spent with “old friends.” Unfortunately, this CD appears to be sold out on Amazon JP, so you may have to resort to finding it elsewhere.





Maria Watches Over Us Anime , Season 4 Disk 3 (English)

July 9th, 2010

In Disk 3 of Maria Watches Over Us Season 4, we turn our eyes towards Touko and, for the very first time, take a good, long look at her.

Until this moment, Yumi (and hopefully we,) have had our opinion shifting so rapidly that we’re really hard put to know just *who* Touko is. And, despite her best intentions, Yumi finds that she doesn’t really understand her at all.

Like Sei, Touko has a secret. Like Sei, Touko has learned to hide it in a way that distracts people from even realizing that there is a secret that is being hidden. And on Christmas, like Sei, Touko does something that changes lives. Interesting, when you think about it that way, huh? ;-)

As I read the novels, what really moved me was Noriko’s reactions to Touko. Her innate understanding of her unlikely friend brings tears to my eyes even now. I swear Noriko cries more on Touko’s behalf than for any other reason.

Disk 3 would be impossible to watch without knowing that Disk 4 was there. But it is. Phew.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 10
Story – 10
Yuri – 2
Loser Marimite Fan – somewhere between a million and a billion

Overall – 9

There are so many kinds of love touched upon in this series. And, like Sailor Moon, it holds a special place in my heart, because I love so many things about it.

Oh, and, by the way – can you *believe* that I am reviewing the English-language version of this series? How freaking cool is that? I’m going to send chocolates to RightStuf next Valentine’s Day, see if I don’t. :-)





Maria Watches Over Us Anime , Season 4 Disk 2 (English)

July 2nd, 2010

You know you think a story is good when you know perfectly well that everything will work out, and you *still* get tense watching it all crumble.

On Disk 2 of Maria Watches Over Us, Season 4, we’re in a carefully suspended moment before several things start to crumble.

And with some deft writing by Konno Oyuki-sensei, not only are we allowed to enjoy that precariously suspended moment, we’re given an opportunity to laugh until our stomachs hurt – even knowing that soon our stomachs will hurt for an entirely different reason.

I am, of course, talking about the Kendo shiai, and the introduction of Arima Nana. After the Souer Audition tea party, Yoshino has to fess up to her rash promise made to Eriko. And now the chips are down and she doesn’t have a soeur to introduce to her! So, Yoshino does what anyone might in that situation- she lies bravely and tries to make a run for it. :-)

But after the laughter, we’re set up for tears. The series turns – rather reluctantly, it feels like – to the issue of Touko and Yumi. Because there is *so* much between them and because so much of it cannot be expressed by either of them, those of you who hate Touko will see only what is on the surface and will continue to hate her. There’s nothing I can say to make you look beyond that. So – hate away, my friends, because it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

Here’s to clenching our fists and watching over them, until the logjam breaks. And break it will. But for now…we have to watch it all crumble before it can be built up again.

Art – 7
Characters – 10
Story – 10
Yuri – 2
Loser Marimite Fan – slightly more than a million, and climbing
Overall – 9

More Sei, Youko and Eriko. More, more!





Maria Watches Over Us Anime, Season 4, Disk 1 (English)

June 25th, 2010

In Maria-sama ga Miteru, Season 4, it’s time for the Lillian school festival and once again, the Student Council, known as the Yamayurikai, is putting on a performance. This year, because of the unusual resemblance Fukuazawa Yumi has to her younger brother Yuuki, the play that is chosen is the Torikaebaya Monogatari, a play that deals the with two siblings who switch gender roles in the Heian court.

But Yumi is only half worried about the play, because it comes to her attention that Touko has had some trouble with the Drama Club. In typical Yumi fashion, she resolves the issues by being irresistibly sincere. And to top it all off, Yumi and Sachiko finally learn the truth of Kanako’s issues with her father. The story is both much, much more horrible and much, much less horrible than we could have imagined.

Yumi and Sachiko don’t celebrate their one-year anniversary, for perfectly good reasons, but I still think Sachiko ought to do *something* nice for Yumi.

And Sei and Youko make an appearance that reminded us of just how wonderful they are. I’m glad to have been able to read the novels to enjoy all of their future appearances. I also admit to having been fascinated with the way Youko’s blouse was drawn. There was a lot more attention to detail in the way that buttoned shirt lay against her than probably was warranted. :-)

At the end of the disk, Yumi, having been commanded by Sachiko to find a soeur and Yoshino, pressured by a rash promise made to Eriko, set out to hold an “audition” for the open positions. This is, possibly, the novel most chock-a-block filled with zOMG amazing plot points, that the anime couldn’t hope to do more than scrape the surface, but damn that surface is awfully busy. :-)

The one striking this about this 4th season to me was that there was no way you could start with the first disk of this season, and start to watch. Quite often with anime series that continue for a few seasons, the first episode summarizes what has gone before, at least enough for a relative newbie to sit down and watch it. Not so for this. If you had no idea who these people were or why they were doing the things they were doing, it would be a slightly befuddling story. And, of course, the real in-jokes would be lost. There would be no way to appreciate just *how* much Sachiko had changed when she proposes the double gender switch for the play if you did not know what kind of person she had been. As a staunch obsessive fan, it kind of felt good. This anime is not for the off-the-street, “who is this? what’s going on?” person. It’s for *us.* :-)

The DVD includes the “Maria-sama ni ha Naisho” and liner notes as extras. The physical extra for those pre-orderers among us is a fetching writing pad.

Art – 8 for Youko’s button-down shirt
Characters – 10
Story – 10
Yuri – 1
Loser Marimite Fan – slightly less than a million

Overall – 9

In this life that I have created that focuses so much around anime and manga, this series, Maria-sama ga Miteru, along with Sailor Moon, has profoundly affected my life. I really just want to say thank you to Nozomi/RightStuf for allowing me the pleasure of seeing this series in English.