Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Light Novel: Strawberry Panic, Volume 1 (Japanese)

March 21st, 2007

One of the many reasons I began teaching myself Japanese was because I resented having to rely on translators’ interpretations. I know that in translation one is always balancing “feel” and “sense” and I wanted to be able to read things in the original in order to be able to grasp both, without someone making my decisions for me.

So, since Seven Seas will be coming out with a translation of the Strawberry Panic light novels, I wanted to read them first in Japanese, so I could better appreciate how they were reproduced in English.

Let me give you this piece of background info, that should help you appreciate my feelings about this novel:

On average, it takes me three months to translate a 200 page Maria-sama ga Miteru light novel. If I am reading for myself, without translating, it takes me about a month to read, with the assistance of at least two dictionaries and a translation tool.

…It took me *4 days* to read this 300+ page novel.

With one dictionary.

If you can’t appreciate the significance of that, let me add this piece of information: the amount of furigana in this novel was astounding. There was so much furigana that I’m tempted to think that their target audience is 12 year olds. Tops. Comparatively, there is very little furigana on any given page of a Maria-sama ga Miteru novel. As Tsutako explains to Yumi in an interesting metaconversation in Ibara no Mori (translated here by Erin Subramanian,) the audience for the book is really adults, although it is ostensibly a book for teens.

Strawberry Panic, Volume 1 (and I am still linking to the Japanese edition here, as that is what I am reviewing. When I review the English edition, I’ll link to that) is about the happenings at Astoria, an old, tradition-laden campus that is composed of three distinct schools: St. Miator, St. Spica and St. LuLim.

Miator is the oldest and, in many ways, the most powerful. Spica is the second oldest, and sort of “mod” to Miator’s “traditional.” LuLim is the youngest of the three, and “eclectic” in comparison with both the other schools.

The events and characterizations in the novel follow the manga closely – this one novel pretty much covers the events in the two manga volumes (Here are the reviews for Volume 1 and Volume 2.) Much of the clunkiest, most derivative junk that mucked up the anime has been shed, which is good. So, no memory loss, no global warming, no angsty avoidance. And much less open rip-offs of memes from other Yuri series. (Just one, other than the whole “Catholic schoolgirls misbehaving” thing.)

The opening of anime, manga and novel are almost identical, as we meet playgirl extraordinaire Hanazono Shizuma as she breaks up with her most recent paramour, and proceeds from there to meet – and be enchanted by – incoming transfer student Aoi Nagisa.

Early on, Shizuma determines that she will run for the school’s star positon, the Etoile, with Nagisa. This is unheard of, since she is in her final year at school, and cannot possibly hold the position for more than a few months…and her chosen partner is a transfer student who barely knows anything at all.

Her only real competition for the position is the junior year Prince of Spica, Ootori Amane. Their battle for the position is just about identical to that in the manga.

In Spica, the way Amane and meets her partner for Etoile, Konohana Hikari, differs strongly from manga and anime – and it makes a lot mores sense. So does the fact that they fall in love just about instantly without much fuss.

The first third of the novel is almost identical to the manga, with the creepy, servicey almost-kisses between Shizuma and Nagisa. But from there, the author seems to shed a lot of the less good stuff the story had piled on it, and manages to do a halfway decent job with what is left.

Which is not to say that this is a good story, but more on that later.

Here are some of the main differences between the versions.

We learn a LOT more about the individual schools and how they work. St. Spica, particularly, has some weird rules – all new transfer students live by themselves for two weeks. When you enter the Spica side of the dorms (and there is no free movement allowed between the three sides, so sneaking around for those midnight tea parties is really awkward) you have to ring a bell and announce your name. Even if, especially if, you’re a Spica student.

Hikari and Nagisa are both transfer students. So the first usual test for the younger partner in the Etoile, which is an exam on Astoria history, is canceled completely, as neither has had time to be able to compete fairly.

Nagisa is, as long as she isn’t speaking out loud, pretty much okay. Once, she’s so distressed that she forgets to refer to herself as “Nagisa” and instantly jumps up a notch in my estimation. She’s not nearly as stupid or whiny as the anime Nagisa was.

The vow-taking ceremony for Etoile couples is not held in the church, but in front of a replica of the Roman “Mouth of Truth”.  They get points on style, as they did in the manga. Spica council President Shion still tries to sabotage Shizuma, and fails.

Tamao is in love with Nagisa, but all her pervastic behavior is disappeared, leaving a very intense girl with a crush on her roommate. It was such a relief, let me tell you.

Shizuma tells Nagisa early on about the Etoile position and how it works. After she tries to seduce Nagisa in the library and fails, Shizuma backs off until, on the way back from the grand tour, they meet Chiyo and Tamao. When Tamao claims Nagisa as her “vitamin Nagisa,” Shizuma goes cold and serious and vows to run for Etoile with Nagisa. From that point on, the playboy seduction ends, and she really opens up to Nagisa, and tries to be a reasonable partner. Her expressions of interest in and like for Nagisa certainly seem much more trustworthy.

Miyuki is much, much snarkier in the novel. I liked that.  ^_^

Amane is less hesitant, and completely able to fight off Kaname’s desire to run for Etoile with her. Kaname is the boyish, dark-skinned Kaname of the manga, not the Evil Psycho Lesbian of the anime, so she and Momomi do not appear to be a couple at all. Kaname is interested only in Amane, and Momomi just likes drama. ^_^ We get a fair amount of time in Amane’s head, too, and we really learn just how much she hates being the school star and being idolized by all these girls. It’s not that she hates herself, or that she hates them, she really just doesn’t understand why they think she’s attractive, since she’s so boyish, and feels burdened by their idolization of her and the resulting celebrity she has to deal with all the time.

Hikari isn’t a stuttering ass, Amane isn’t a non-verbal freak. They are so much more likeable here where they are just *together*. Hikari is very lonely in the beginning, mostly because of the isolation rule. She’s contemplating leaving the school when she meets and falls for Amane. She is not nearly as much of a pushover as she is in either manga or anime.

Here’s some things that were the same:

The horseback race/rescue from the tower is still one of the Etoile tests for the elder partner – Amane and Hikari win, and Amane is really pretty showy and fun about it. (Not the acutely embarrassed Amane of the anime, for sure. And phew for that!)

Nagisa still refers to herself in third person.

Chiyo is still an annoying crybaby.

The midnight tea party in the center grounds of the Ichigosha dorms at the end of the manga is the same as well. With a slight difference. The midnight tea party in Nagisa and Tamao’s room is the same – but because we follow Yaya and Hikari there, through the really strict halls of the Spica side of Ichigosha, we get to see what kind of risk they take getting there.

And here are some things that are significant, and help make the novel better than the manga and a whole different class than the anime:

Nagisa does, yes, receive a note that leads her to the library, and to information about Shizuma’s late Etoile partner, Kaori. In the novel we get Nagisa’s thoughts on all this, which are (quite sensibly) that she feels as if Shizuma is using her, Nagisa, as a replacement for her dead lover. This was completely left out of the anime, so that long, (quite tedious,) arc after Nagisa learns about Kaori, in which she and Shizuma avoid one another, is never explained. This reaction was simple, realistic, logical and not overly prolonged. Nagisa ends the book by asking straight out about Kaori, and Shizuma responds straight out by telling her.

Through Shizuma’s thoughts we learn about Kaori very early in the novel, so we *know* that there’s more to Shizuma than just being a playgirl. We also know why she feels that she can never commit to someone like that again…and we see that blown away early on when she meets Nagisa.

The two girls who follow Shizuma around in the anime? Remember them? They are always behind her in the greenhouse. The *appear* to be the other Miator Student Council members…well, they’re actually Shizuma’s closest childhood friends, Hitomi and Mizuho. I very much liked the fact that Shizuma had some close friends.

And lastly, here are some of the things that are either relics of the anime/manga and had to be done, or just didn’t work.

At Miator, the wind is blowing. Fuu— Fuuu—, and the flowers swirl around. Swirl…dance….. If they took out *half* the references to the wind (Fuu–) and the flowers (swirling, swirling!) the book would be 20 pages shorter.

At Spica, they wear miniskirts. Did you know they wear miniskirts at Spica? Yes, miniskirts. Really. By the fifth or sixth mention I was fairly well-informed on the miniskirt situation and really, really didn’t need to be told again. But that didn’t stop the point from being made a few more times.

The utterly pointless scene in the library, where Yaya (who otherwise in the book is perfectly normal and kind of funny/nasty as she refers to Amane’s fanclub as “Amane wannabees”) sexually harrasses Hikari seems incredibly out of place. Shizuma trying to get a kiss from Nagisa feels slightly less absurd, but the whole scene had a sense of “the editor thinks this is sexy, so keep it in or else”. The same was true for the bath scene with Shizuma and Miyuki. The conversation could have been anywhere…and the service felt very forced and incongruous as Shizuma had already abandoned her playgirl persona by then.

All of these things had the distinct feeling of things that the author was *told* to include. None of them make the least little difference to the story, and most of them are very tiresome. They are all in the first third of the book. Starting at about halfway, the book seriously decreases in service, increases in character development and gets a fair power up in the not sucking utterly department.

The last scene, at that “secret” midnight tea party in the central garden of Ichigosha, (to which the entire school comes, but it’s still, somehow, “secret”) where Nagisa confronts Shizuma about Kaori (and Shizuma admits that she wasn’t going to tell Nagisa, and hoped that she wouldn’t find out) was handled as well as one could expect in this series. Amane and Hikari are given the Petite Crown for winning the horseback race contest…and the Etoile-sen continues in the next volume.

I really feel bad for the person working on the novel translation because, although this novel is miles better than the anime, and yards better than the manga, it is whole continents away from being as good as even the worst of the Maria-sama ga Miteru novels. In short, it pretty much bites. The author did a brave job with the material, but you can only do so much with…well, crap.

Ratings:

Art – 7 (light novel, it has pictures, remember?)
Story – starts at 3 and manages to claw its way to a 6 by the end
Characters – 3, except for Amane, who comes in at a surprising 5
Yuri – 9
Service – 9

Overall – 5, but only because the author really, REALLY worked at it.

I’m just dying to see how the English language version does! Because really, anyone who get past that wind, and those flowers deserves an award. ^_^; I really don’t envy that translator and adapter… That all having been said, this is light years better than the Drama CDs, which were service for the sake of service and not much more.





Yuri Anime: Maria-sama ga Miteru OVA 2, Operation OK, For Short (Provisionally)

March 20th, 2007

I’ve linked the picture on the left to the Deluxe Edition of the 2nd Maria-sama ga Miteru OVA. Should you not want the collector’s edition, here is a link to the regular DVD on Amazon JP.

So, Ryakushite OK Taisakusen (Kari), or Operation OK, for Short (Provisionally), is abstracted from the novels Manatsu no Peeji and Satsusatsu Suzukaze, primarily those scenes focusing on getting Sachiko over her dislike of men enough to meet with the Hanadera Academy Student Council. I’ve linked to my notes from the pertinent novels, so you can go back and grab the basic plot from there, allowing me to gush without having to do tedious things like tell you what I’m talking about. ;-)

This is a wonderful OVA. It has lots of Sachiko-liciousness, with some yummy Yuminess. I find myself grinning, yet again, like a loon as I watch, because it’s just so damn fun.

For fans of the series, one of the most important factors has got to be how Yumi and Sachiko interact in this OVA, now that all the Rainy Blue misunderstanding is behind them. This Yumi (and even more so in the sports festival OVA to come) handles Sachiko softly, with a deft touch, but without having to compromise her own values – something that Sachiko comments on. For her part, Sachiko is able to accept that moving past her limitations is important not only for her, but for the rest of the Yamayurikai…and her frank discussion of her own temper was truly magnificent.

In short, this story is about Sachiko being magnificent, and about Yumi enjoying that magnificence, and polishing it to an even greater shine.

There’s more than enough funny for anyone’s taste, but the greatest scene has got to be Yumi calling Yuuki her brother “for the time being” (or “Pretty much, as Lililicious translates it) followed by Yoshino stealing the gag. A brilliant scene, and really well animated, because we can see the differences between boys and girls right there, in a nutshell, as they all laugh.

In terms of Yuri, the best moment has to be when, as Yumi and Yuuki wait for the bus home after meeting with the “unpalatable” Kashiwagi, Yuuki decribes his perfect type as someone who sounds awfully like Yumi, while Yumi’s description of her type, as Yuuki points out, sounds suspiciously like Sachiko. ^_^

But really, what this OVA is about is Sachiko being magnificent. If you are not a rabid Sachiko-hater (and you shouldn’t be, but the first season of the anime did make it hard to like her) you will also grin like a loon as you watch this. If you are already in love with Yumi and her onee-sama, you will find this time more than well spent.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 2
Service – 1

Overall – 8

This is such a terrific story. Just watch it and learn to love Sachiko and Yumi properly.





Yuri Manga: Read or Dream, Volume 3 (English)

March 19th, 2007

The fantastic and wacky happenings in Read or Dream, Volume 3 have not been altered from when I originally reviewed the Japanese edition, so please click that link for an overview of plot, character, and random references to Betty Davis…and now that I look at it, Kojak, as well. ^_^

So, as the story hasn’t changed, let’s focus on the reproduction to English. In this and this alone, the volume takes a pretty bad hit. The original has a dust jacket, underneath which is a short story on the cover of the book proper. As there is no dust jacket in this version, that story is reproduced in the book in black and white. Not deadly, but…the lack of color pages means, no cool Paper Sisters mini-poster page, which I very much like, and more importantly, the lovely color reproductions of the novel covers are turned into a totally skanky black and white page which is hard to see. It sort of killed the joke, too. I liked it better when we were allowed to make the connection ourselves between those shockingly shoujo novel covers and the ROD The TV anime series.

Let me try to explain why I feel so strongly about what is, in reality, one stupid color page.

In the anime, the one single thing that fills the entirely of the first 13 episodes is that Yomiko is NOT there. Her absence is a constant presence, if you will.

In the manga, in *this* volume particularly, there is also a person whose non-existence sort of fills up the empty spaces. That person is famous author Sumiregawa Nenene. In this volume, the fact that the beginning of the anime is reproduced almost exactly, but that the author is NOT Nenene pretty much shapes the whole story – and the story to come in the next volume.

So the color page with those novels by Nishizono Haruhi instantly brings to mind the fact that she was the author that debuted right after Nenene, won the same award as Nenene, and constantly pops up in the anime to be a thorn in Nenene’s grumpy side. Those covers also bring up memories of Haruhi’s irritating little sister pimping her sister’s books in Anita and Hisa’s class. In other words, those novel covers are memory markers. They provide a link to key moments and people in the anime. And those novel covers are reproduced in the *beginning* of this volume of manga, where they can ping those memories before you even start reading what will turn out to be a cool alternate universe reading of those very same situations and characters.

In the English edition, those novels are reduced to a comment that these are some novel covers drawn for the anime by the artist for this manga and placed in the back of the book. Thus losing every bit of tension, of anticipation, of memory that they stimulated.

I am just about 100% sure that no one but me cares, but I really think Viz blew it on that. That color page may not have been intended to be the stimulant it was…but I like to think that Japanese artists, writers and publishers *are* that intelligent. Sadly, Viz was not. Boo on them.

Ratings:
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Art – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 7 (lots of ass shots…what’s with *that*? Maggie in a suit.)

Overall – 7 (one point off the original score for Viz missing a great opportunity to up the quality of their reproduction and get the point of that page.)

This and Volume 4 make great reading. I really enjoyed the direction the story takes here, and I don’t think it gets weaker in the next volume. Another enjoyable afternoon read.





Yuri Anthology: Gokigenyou

March 15th, 2007

After all that nastiness in my ears yesterday, I decided to cleanse my soul with a little Maria-sama ga Miteru today. It’s especially fitting as, after all, Strawberry Panic is not much more than a trashy parody of Marimite.

You may remember that I picked up an inordinate amount of Marimite doujinshi anthologies while in Tokyo this past January (and if you didn’t remember, now you know.) Today’s reviewee, Gokigenyou, Volume 1, is one of those many. I previously reviewed another anthology, Maria’s Wink, Volume 2. which I liked very much. If anything, Gokigenyou is better.

The first several dozen pages of Gokigenyou are 4-koma, four panel comics, each focusing on one of the Rose families of the Lillian Student Council, the Yamayurikai.  Each of the comics are printed on paper that corresponds in color to the Rose in question: i.e., The Chinensis family comics are on red paper, Foetida on yellow and Gigantea on white. It’s a cute touch.

The stories that follow are a wild mish-mosh of gag and romantic stories, leaning towards the gag side. There’s a series of stories about Eriko’s taste in comics which is very amusing, and a howlingly funny and deeply disturbing series of stories in which Noriko is portrayed as the Ichimatsu doll she’s usually described as looking like in the novels. These last are so creepy and so *funny* that opening the book and looking at one panel starts me laughing all over again. Probably my favorite gag in that whole series comes after Yoshino and Yumi have grown a little used to Noriko’s monotone speech and creepy doll face that never moves (except to spin all the way around.) As they walk along with Shimako, Yumi comments pleasantly that Noriko sure looks like an Ichimatsu doll, doesn’t she? Shimako smiles blandly and replies, “Ah, you mean her hair?” It’s quite brilliant and awful. As is the moment that Yumi comes up from behind Noriko and slaps her smartly on the back to say hi, only to have Noriko’s head fall off.  Touko’s only comment, “Be careful, Noriko”, while Yumi disappears to a corner to shiver.

Following these are a series of stories by a circle called Bonnie Bonny that I like very much. They do cute and sweet in a way that doesn’t make me feel icky. (Kinder, gentler moe.) The first of the Bonnie Bonnie stories is one of my personal favorites, Yoshino and Rei and Sachiko and Yumi out on a double date. There’s a bit of out-of-character stuff, but it’s harmless and the story is really very nice, with a high Yuri rating. It also contains an incredibly unusual and interesting moment between Yoshino and Sachiko, who find themselves alone for a bit.

For that story alone, the collection would be worth it, but there’s plenty more than just that. There’s lots of quality time with Sei and her women: Shimako, Youko and Shizuka – and an emotional Shiori retrospective. And there’s another Rei and Yoshino story in which Yoshino wishes that they could become lovers; it ends with them on a date to the beach in winter, and Yoshino thinking that the way they are is fine.

The last story is Yumi thinking about saying goodbye to the former Rosas, and how hard it will be for her to say goodbye to Sachiko when she graduates.

So, again, not heavy duty with the Yuri romance, but what there is is excellent and the gag comics are actually really funny, which is kind of unusual. And the one Bonnie Bonny story more than makes up for the lack of romance, as it’s just chockful of Yuri love-love.

Ratings:

Art – Variable 5-7
Story – Variable – 6-8
Characters – well, duh. 10
Yuri – 6 (with a boost to 8 for the one story)
Service – 2

Overall – 8

What makes it better than Maria’s Wink is just how funny the funny stuff is. Another great way to enjoy a variety of Marimite doujinshi without the time and expense of digging out individual circles and books.





Yuri Drama CD: Strawberry Panic Lu Lim Hen

March 14th, 2007

While I did not find the Strawberry Panic Drama CD Lu Lim Hen: Oneesama to Maid Soudou to be the same kind of aural assault that occurred when I listened to the Mai Otome Drama CD, I did feel that another little piece of my soul has been sucked away by it…especially as the second time I listened to it, it bothered me less than the first. ^_^

As a quick flashback, let me remind you that the first Strawberry Panic Drama CD covered the great underwear mystery at St. Miator and the second CD in the series, the physical examinations at St. Spica.

This, the third Drama CD based on the Strawberry Panic franchise, focuses on the doings in Lu Lim Academy, the youngest, and strangest, of the three schools that make up Astoria.

The one defining characteristic of Lu Lim (other than bad French) is that the students are encouraged to not only take part in club activities, but go ahead and make as many new clubs as they want. This fact I gleaned from the Strawberry Panic light novel, which I’m reading in Japanese.

So, the CD begins as Kizuna starts a brand new club, one that doesn’t include Lu Lim Student Council President Minamoto Chikaru. The “Renai” (romantic love) Club is going to talk about all *sorts* of things related to love. Only, neither Kizuna, nor fellow club members Lemon or Kagome, or even Kagome’s stuffed teddy bear Percival, has anything to say on the subject. The three wonder what kind of person Chikaru-oneesama would fall in love with.

Chikaru comes in and starts the meeting of the usual “Henshin Club”, which if you’ve seen the series, you know is Chikaru playing dress up with her three dolls, erm girls. The Henshin Club is running a “Charity Maid” event, where people will bid on the services of a maid to help clean up around the school. They decide to design a maid costume for the event, but no one has any good ideas so…and I’m sure you saw this coming a mile away…Chikaru flips a switch in the wall, which turns the classroom into an elevator that drops into a huge sub-basement full of maid outfits.

O_o

Kagome is outfitted in classic Victorian style, Lemon gets the standard maid cafe treatment and Kizuna gets an ultra-sexy miniskirted, thigh-high-stockinged outfit which sends Chikaru into absolute paroxysms of ecstasy.

It was this scene that led me to my conclusion that “good” Yuri can be differentiated from “bad” by simply substituting a guy for the girl in question. Should we have been subjected to a male character in the throes of sexual excitement while looking at Kizuna at that moment, we would have been disgusted. As, indeed, I was.

And things only get *better* as Chikaru then decides they need to prowl the school’s secret spots to determine what outfit would suit the event best. So, for the next few tracks, we are subjected to a series of incredibly service-y Yuri-ish scenes to wank to.

In the Library, Nagisa and Chiyo are doing *something* and it sounds horribly intimate, but in fact they are just trying to reshelve a book that’s high up. (Honestly, this scene made me bang my head against my steering wheel, it was so cringe-makingly awful.)

In the Greenhouse, Shizuma toys with Miyuki’s affections, which ends with her sucking Miyuki’s finger a lot more than a simple cut could account for.

In the Church, Yaya is about to confess her feelings to Hikari (and seriously, how stupid does Hikari have to be to not have figured it out…?) when a noise interrupts them. Lemon and Kagome run away, trying to not get caught.

Having used all other places in the entire school where service could have taken place, we retire to peep a little in the bath. In the end, just about every single member of the cast except for Amane ends up in that bath. Shizuma, Chiyo and Tamao squabble over who gets Nagisa, ostensibly to scrub her back. (Oh and by the way, in case you missed in in the anime, because that was a little subtle, Kagome *also* has a crush on Nagisa.)

When one of the nuns discover the Henshin Club members all hanging around the bath in maid costumes, she demands to know what’s up. They say that they’re there for a bath, duh, and jump in. But she thinks they are up to something, and since they are in maid outfits, she assigns them all to clean the church as punishment. Chikaru thinks it’s a great way to play maid and they are all happy about it, which utterly confuses the Sister.

At the next meeting of the Renai Club, a new member enters – it’s Chikaru! Surprise! They ask her to tell them a story of love and she responds with this unhappy tale of a girl, just like themselves, a second year middle school student:

Girl C, we’ll call her, although Chikaru gives no names at all, is lost in the woods somewhere between schools when she runs into what looks like a boy and a horse! She got the horse part right, but in fact, it’s another girl – a girl that is, like herself, a second-year, and who wants desperately to be a horseback rider. Girl A. as we’ll refer to her, is apprenticing with the horse riding club. It’s her job to exercise the horses.

Girl C and Girl A end up meeting every day at the creek where they first met and, as time goes on, they start to wonder why they want to see each other SO much. It’s obvious that love is flourishing between them. They share hopes and dreams as they meet in the woods every day, despite their duties – Girl A with the horseback riding club and Girl C with the many, *many* clubs she’s in. Girl C dubs Girl A a “prince” for wanting to ride on a white charger.

One day, Girl C comes running to their meeting place, only to be met by the President of the Riding Club. The President tells Girl C to stop seeing Girl A. She has great plans for Girl A, and plans on making her a champion rider. But to do that, she needs to be able to focus on her riding, and not be distracted. Girl C makes the President swear to make Girl A a rider if she goes away, which the President does. So, in order to fulfill Girl A’s dream, Girl C leaves and finds a place to cry her broken heart out. When Girl A arrives at their place, she’s met not by Girl C, but by the President, who tells her that Girl C said she can’t come anymore. The President tells Girl A that she’s being promoted to rider. Girl A is thrilled, but begins to cry anyway, as she realizes that she really won’t have time to see Girl C anymore.

Chikaru ends the story, as all the club members sob happily at this tale of unfulfilled love. As Kizuna, Lemon and Kagome go back to their room, Kizuna wonders why Chikaru looked so sad as she told the story. (Erica looked sad, too, but not for the same reason. I was just concerned that all three of the girls – even Lemon, for whom I had some hope in the beginning of the CD – were so dense.)

Once back in their room, they wonder who they might fall in love with. Lemon admits that she wants to fall in love with Kizuna, but Kizuna is already asleep and misses the big confession. Kagome falls asleep wondering what kind of person Percival would fall in love with.

The messages from the cast track had one or two good moments, my favorite being when Amane’s seiyuu, Kaida Yuko, apologizes to Hikari’s seiyuu. ^_^ (If you missed why, read Chikaru’s story again. Get it this time.)

The bonus track is a little story of life at St. Miator, as Nagisa slams into one of the nuns and knocks her down. After being scolded for running in the halls, Nagisa offers to deliver the mail the sister was carrying. As she visits all the principals at St. Miator (Tamao, Chiyo, Shizuma and Miyuki) she barges into their rooms to deliver the mail, only to find them each writing a letter. What she doesn’t know is that, in each case, the letter is being written to *Nagisa’s* parents, each from the uniquely insane perspective of that character. When Nagisa returns to the nun, she is scolded for never writing her own parents. The Sister muses that her parents are probably worried that they never hear about Nagisa at school. Ha ha.

The final bit is an advertisement for the first of the three SP Drama CDs, with Shizuma commenting cooly that she’s interested not in Nagisa’s underwear, but on what’s inside.

Ratings:

Art – N/A
Story – 4
Characters – 6
Yuri – 8 but largely service and double entendre
Service – 10

Overall – 5

I took a moment to read the reviews over at Amazon JP for this Drama CD and I have to admit, the level of moe was high. *Very* high. I really was surprised at how many people thought this Drama CD was the best of the three, and how many people just thought it so incredibly wonderful in general. One comment even said that it was worth buying just for Chikaru’s story. Really? Okay, whatever.