Valentinusu no Okurimono (Valentine’s Gift Part 1)
Part 2

1) The second part of the novel, which takes place entirely on Valentine’s Day, begins with Yumi’s thoughts, “If anyone had red eyes that day, it wasn’t from crying. If so, a great calamity had had befallen up to a third of the entire class.”

Obviously, most of the girls had, like Yumi, stayed up late making chocolates and finishing hand-made gifts.

2) The day begins with Yumi overhearing all her classmates talking about their chocolates, about giving it to onee-sama in front of Maria-sama, or not being able to give it until after school, etc.

3) Yumi thinks, after being told by one of Sachiko’s classmates that they were all rooting for her in the treasure hunt, that for the 2nd-years the treasure hunt is much less urgent or desirable. After all, who wants to go out on a date with a friend whose desk you push against yours every day for lunch? Yumi thinks that she feels pretty much the same way about winning the ticket for a date with Shimako.

4) AGAIN we find Shimako’s behaving strangely, as Yumi find her coming out of the first-floor storeroom, with her face all red. Yumi assumes she was hiding her card.

This was in anime and manga, but I want to make the point that, Shimako isn’t so much acting unusually , but that Yumi *thinks* that she is. I point this out, because in every single novel so far, at least once, usually twice, we’ve seen Shimako doing something unusual, “mezurashii”. I’ve become convinced that this is the author’s way of pointing out that Yumi hasn’t a *clue* what kind of person Shimako is (much the same way she really didn’t know Yoshino at first), but more that no one – not even we the readers know the real Shimako yet. We know that we will, later, learn more about her and find that she really is hiding a secret, etc, etc, but right now, it’s just a thing here and there that makes her enigmatic.

Which makes me wonder how mortifying all this card hunt for a date must be to Shimako. All she ever wanted was to be a normal, unexceptional student, and here she is, an en bouton as a first-year, Rosa as a second year, super-famous star of the school, with people vying for a date with her. Poor Shimako!

5) Yumi asks Sachiko to meet her in the greenhouse after everything is over that day. Sachiko agrees, but has a “complicated” expression. (We will learn that the reason for it is, of course, that she buried the red card there, but neither we nor Yumi know that yet.)

6) When the time comes for the searching for the cards to begin, both Yumi and Yoshino are held back in the Rose Mansion to help clean up (and search the premises, subtlely).

When Yumi gets away, she finds herself being followed by a group of students and ends up climbing through a window to escape them. All of which was in the anime. What wasn’t in the anime was that she was caught by her classmate, of all people, Kagura the busybody, who immediately wanted to know what was up. Yumi lied and said that the door to the bathroom (the window led to a bathroom) was locked. To ensure verisimilitude, Yumi goes back into the bathroom, locks the door, then climbs back out the window. ^_^

7) In the case of a tie, i.e., several people finding a card at the same time, the rules provided for a Janken Taikai – that is, a rock-scissors-paper tournament – as tie breaker. This is needed for Rei’s card, as it happens. Three students found it at the same time.

They found it because the newspaper had reported Rei and Yoshino’s interests reversed. Rei had hid the card in books that Yoshino liked (while Yoshino looked in books that Rei liked.) But because the newspaper had switched their interests, the other students thought Rei liked samurai novels and found the card. ^_^

8) When Sachiko and Minako head to the greenhouse to show where the red card was buried, they are accompanied not only buy Yumi, but about 10 disappointed Sachiko fans.

9) It is Tsutako who proves that the card was reburied. Sachiko has no clue how deep she buried it, but Tsutako had (for photographic record) measured the hole with a school notebook. The notebook had not been completely buried when she took the photo. Now, as they find the card, the notebook is completely underground.

10) Sachiko smiles at Yumi when she tells her that she believes her story of the other girl in the greenhouse, and Yumi wishes that time would stop, so she can just look at that smile forever.

11) It’s not stated in the anime (although there is a short manga by Hibiki Reine for Cobalt Shuiesha that tells of Yumi making “surprise chocolates” for Sei), but Yumi puts things like umeboshi (pickled plum, which are actually  salted apricots…) and tuna in the centers of Rosa Gigantea’s chocolates. ^_^

The remainder of the book is the resolution of the Yellow Rose family’s chocolate issues, as seen through the eyes of all three girls. This is totally, completely different than the anime. And a lot funnier.

6:50 PM – It begins with Eriko, staring at the box she had just received from Rei, who had bicycled through the snow to give it to her. Eriko has not opened the box, but is sure that she has received the wrong box based on the size. It was much too large. Last year Rei had made bittersweet chocolate truffles and Eriko had adored them and asked for the same this year. But this box was the size of a shoebox and couldn’t possibly have truffles.

After about 30 minutes of staring at the box, waiting for Rei to call and explain that she had given Eriko the wrong box, she hides the box (to keep it safe from her brothers and “tanuki father”) and goes to dinner.

7:18 PM – Yoshino stares at the box she had received from Rei, sure that she has received the wrong box. Surely this giant shoe-box sized thing was destined for Eriko? Yoshino’s thoughts are consistently the most convoluted and difficult for me to read, but in this case, her thoughts are meant to echo Eriko’s almost exactly.

Yoshino feels that her deductive abilities must be failing, because she can’t figure out what is in the box, and she wasn’t able to guess where the yellow card was hidden. She decides that her biorhythms are low. She also thinks that she wants to open the box, because her father is running late and they hadn’t eaten dinner yet. But what if the box isn’t hers?

7:30 – God, poor Rei! Not only does she have school and kendo club and her duties for the Yamayurikai, but when she gets home, her father expects her to train at his dojo, as well.

We learn that several years ago, unbeknownst to her father, Rei started giving his youngest students sweets on Valentine’s Day. Eventually, as the years passed, he learned about it and by this time it was just a tradition. He’d say to his students that his daughter made too much and so save face. (Dad’s a really traditional guy.)

Dad compliments Rei on her chocolate chip pound cake for this year’s handout, but when she offers to make it again, he says that if she has time to make more cake, she should spend it practicing. ^_^;

(We get this massive fanservice scene of Rei taking a bath while she does her thinking. I make this point, because when I got to that point in the book, I was not at *all* surprised to find a “naked Rei in the bath, looking impossibly bishounen” picture.  I’m telling ya – this scene was TOTALLY fanservice.)

Rei thinks that, as she’s used to midwinter practice, bicycling to Eriko’s in the snow was no biggie – but it was a tad lonely. She ponders how annoying it is that they don’t have a shower, and we learn that she sneaks over to Yoshino’s house to use the shower, especially in the summer, when she doesn’t want a hot bath.

We learn that Yoshino did give Rei chocolates. Not *quite* handmade. She bought commercial chocolate, melted it into molds and gave Rei those. Rei is totally happy at this because, despite the fact that it’s not really home-made chocolate, it’s a step towards them and it shows that Yoshino cared enough to try. So she’s terribly pleased with them. Yoshino, for her part, handed the chocolates over with the romantic line, “Baka.” 

At which point, Rei’s brain “melts into miso” from the heat of the bath and “an intoxicating sense of  accomplishment.”

11:00PM – Eriko

She stares at the box a little more and caves, since shortly it won’t be Valentine’s Day anymore, so she’d better eat it now. And she’s hungry from studying for exams anyway. Inside is a chocolate chip pound cake, which Eriko decides must be something Yoshino likes. She considers asking Yoshino what she got, in the morning, to see if there really was a mix-up, but then what? So she just eats a piece of cake. The flavor is sweet, (Yoshino’s favorite?) but really delicious. All she says about it is, “Hunh.”

11:PM – Yoshino

The first few sentences of this section are word for word the same as Eriko’s. ^_^

Once she starts to eat the cake, she’s annoyed as hell that she can’t stop. She finds the fact that it’s so delicious extremely vexing. She snaps the box with her fingers – exactly as Eriko does at the same time. She eats another piece and says, “Hunh.”

11:10 – Rei

And here we get the punch line to all this. As she’s lying down to go to sleep, she vaguely remembers that Eriko wanted truffles again. The truth was – she had *completely* forgotten to make anything for anyone, until that morning when she arrived at school and saw girls exchanging presents in front of Maria-sama. She called home and asked her mother to pick up chocolate chips and flour, ostensibly for Dad’s students, and after the treasure hunt RAN home, made six pound cakes, bicycled over to Eriko’s, gave Yoshino her cake and finally got home to go practice at the dojo and give the kids there their cakes.

As she falls asleep, she thinks that Eriko probably forgot anyway, and collapses into unconsciousness.

The last few lines of the novel extol the soeur relationship and how well soeur understand each other. LOL

The End.

Conclusion? I worship Konno Oyuki, she’s a hoot. 

Valentinusu no Okurimono (Valentine’s Gift Part 1)
Part 1

Ta-da! The “Cliff Notes” for the fifth Maria-sama ga Miteru novel have arrived. :-) You can find all the notes I took on the first four books on past Okazu:

Notes on the First Novel: Maria-sama ga Miteru.

Notes on the Second Novel: Kibara Kakumei

Notes on the Third Novel(Part 1): Ibara no Mori.

Notes on the Third Novel(Part 2): Shiroki Hanabira.

Notes on the Fourth Novel (Part 1): Rosa Canina

Notes on the Fourth Novel (Part 2): Nakaniyo

These notes assume you are familiar with the story and has spoilers galore. If you haven’t watched it, then do – it will help to understand what I’m talking about. :-)

I want to start with the very, very end of the book � the author’s notes, in fact – because I really wanted to share this. Sean Gaffney once commented that “Saying Sei is your favorite character is like saying the sky is blue.” I was talking to my friend Masako-san, (who arrived at my hotel in Tokyo toting Soeur Audition, the latest Marimite novel, lol) and she said that she likes Sei best, too. Just for the record.

Well, in the author’s notes, Konno Oyuki mentions that she got a lot of letters asking if she had any intention of sending Sei off to school in Italy, assumably to follow Shizuka, with whom she “might have become good friends.” (So, that pretty much confirms my belief that Shizuka was coming on pretty darn strong!) In any case, Konno-sensei says, no way! She plans on Sei going to school at Lillian University because she loves her best and can’t let her go. LOL So there you go. Sei is *everyone’s* favorite character. (I can even tell you why…. She is not just a happy-go-lucky lesbian; she’s also the most complex character of the bunch, shifting from goofy dirty-old-man mode to insightful and deep thoughts in mere seconds. The most subtle thinker of all the characters. The second deepest thinker, btw, is Yoshino. I’ll talk about that later in part 2.)

Okay, and with that somewhat bloated intro � here we go with the Notes:

Because the fifth novel has not yet been made into a manga (except in small part) and I have not had time to rewatch the anime, there may be bits that I comment on that *are* in the anime. I’ve ceased to think of these write-ups as just “here’s the differences” but more of a “here’s the salient points” � just like cliff notes, in fact. You’ll have to excuse me, I was a Comparative Literature major in college and
I cannot help myself. ;-) That having been said, there *are* some differences � notably the entire end of the Yellow Rose family situation. I will elaborate on this as we get to it.

For the record � 10 pages of notes…again.

1) As she ponders the expense of Valentine’s Day chocolates, Yumi thinks how, even though she goes to a rich girl’s school, there’s a HUGE difference between herself and Sachiko’s world.

2) I don’t think anyone else has ever commented on this…in a school with uniforms right out of the turn of the 20th century, the students wear gym uniforms and play sports that are exceptionally unladylike. Just struck me as odd. :-)

3) In this novel, we see the third-year Rosas all manage their soeur all at once, for the first time. We’ve seen little of Eriko or Sei managing their soeur, but when they do, it’s a doozy! Each one of the Rosas has a completely different technique, which is entirely based on the personality of their little sisters. Youko, having been accused of meddling by Sachiko, invokes the one thing Sachiko is helpless in front of � Yumi’s happy, smiling face. Eriko simply overbears poor, henpecked Rei and *totally* disses Yoshino. Sei just tells Shimako to “gambatte” and Shimako caves. LOL Yumi thinks that Sei should have said that when Shimako was running for the Yamayurikai. Shimako caves in so quickly, obviously, because as an one-sama Sei doesn’t ever ask her to do anything, or ever get in her way of doing something. With such an onee-sama, how could Shimako resist a direct request?

4) When asked by Yumi for advice, Tsutako suggests that Yumi make chocolates but, if Sachiko is in a bad mood on Valentine’s Day, not giving them to her. Instead she can share with Tsutako, later. LOL

Yumi briefly considers asking Tsu to be there for mental support when she braves Sachiko’s wrath to give her the chocolates (remember, Yumi thinks Sachiko hates V-Day chocolates,) but decides she doesn’t want her rejection by Sachiko documented.

5) Rei gives Yumi the recipe for the chocolate by pretending that it is something she wants Yumi to deliver to Yoshino.

6) When Shimako sees the recipe, Yumi has a sudden realization that, although Shimako is an en bouton, she’s really only a first-year and still responsible for such things as serving the upperclassmen tea and cleaning. All of a sudden Yumi realizes how terribly busy Shimako must be, with the environmental committee and the Yamayurikai.

7) Yumi meets Shizuka in the music room. Shizuka comments that all of her, Shizuka’s, classmates are jealous of Yumi because she is close to Sachiko and should be able to find the red card easiest. But…the real prize, the half-day date, hadn’t been announced at that time, so everyone is just assuming that the prize is a card or chocolate from Sachiko.

Initially, Shizuka isn’t terribly interested in the treasure hunt. She jokes about setting up a crystal ball booth and selling potential hiding places. But she does suggest to Yumi that she, Yumi, should think about where *she* might hid the card, if it were her, which might lead to realizing where Sachiko would hide it.

While talking to Shizuka, Yumi comes up with the idea to give chocolates to the older girl and also has a brief thought of making chocolates for Sei.

8) Shizuka explains to Yumi that, even as a first-year, Sachiko received many presents of chocolate from her own age group and even some of the older students, which might explain why she doesn’t like them, Shizuka suggests that it was a very lonely experience for Sachiko.

Shizuka also tells Yumi that Sachiko is kind *because* she rejected all of the chocolates last year.

9) Sei finds Yumi in the Rose Mansion, and leads her out with a really odd discussion of how Yumi looked very self-satisfied and how she was like a kid who visits a lot of temples and shrines to pray for something. Yumi listens, but is pretty much confused by it all. Sei seems to ramble on about depending on one’s preferences, bathing in cold water and then eating a hot meal is nice. Sei is not rambling, of course � she’s trying to tell Yumi a few important things, in her own
way. One, that she had been seen going to everyone for advice (visiting shrines and temples) and two, that depending of the circumstances something that sounds bad, might be good (Sachiko’s dislike of Valentine’s Day chocolates.)

Shimako shows up and Yumi is much relieved to end the conversation which confused her.

10) We get to see that Shimako really *does* understand Sei. Sei turns to her soeur and says only, “Success” and Shimako understands immediately and congratulates her. Yumi follows up with an extended train of thought that gets her to the right conclusion � that RG has passed her university exam.

11) After the fight with Sachiko, Yumi goes to the greenhouse and tells the Rosa Chinensis plant how much she loves Sachiko and yearns to be with her, but she’s sure that Sachiko hates her now.

12)Sei finds Yumi in the greenhouse. (Interestingly, throughout the novel Sei keeps being described as a “shadow.”) She apologizes to Yumi for walking out, leaving Yumi and Sachiko in the middle of a fight. She says it seemed like the thing to do at the time, but afterwards, it left her with a nasty taste in her mouth.

RG goes on to say that the fight reminded her of “back then” and tells Yumi that, although she doesn’t realize it, she is very much like Sachiko. They both keep close counsel, unlike say, Yoshino, who doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind. Youko had had to actually train Sachiko to speak up…. Sei mentions, causally, how Sachiko has still left the Kashiwagi affair unsettled, because of her dislike of speaking up. Sei goes on to tell Yumi that Youko and Sachiko had almost the exact same fight last year, in October. Because she, Sei, was preoccupied with someone else, she wasn’t paying attention to them much and didn’t know what set it off, but she was an eyewitness to the fight.

Yumi realizes that what Sachiko had probably been most angry with, was the reflection of her past self in Yumi, unable to speak up.

Sei excuses herself with, “Well, I’m going back. I dislike this greenhouse.” Shadows of Shiori, assumably.

13) At this point, even Yumi realizes how much Sei is acting like her onee-sama and throws herself at Sei to get a hug. She mentally apologizes to Shimako for “borrowing an arm” and wraps Sei’s arm around herself.

Yumi asks Sei if she, Sei, and Shimako are anything alike. Sei responds with “a little”. She goes on to say that she was a real pain as a first-year, while Shimako is much her superior. But she understands Shimako, which is why she doesn’t want to be interfering.

14) As they leave the greenhouse, Sei sets herself up for the nasty chocolate joke, by going on and on about how handmade chocolates by Yumi would be really good. They get on the bus together and Sei goes off on a monologue about chocolates and coffee, how she likes chocolates where the sweetness has been curbed, especially with liquor centers. Then she asks Yumi to make her chocolates and starts to chant, “Chocolate, chocolate” in her “oyaji mode” voice until other people on the bus start to stare. LOL

End Part 1.