Light Novel: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Kira Kira Mawaru

January 14th, 2008

On my first day in Tokyo, I went to the Manga no Mori in Ikebukuro, walked into the store and was confronted by dozens of Yumi faces, all laid out dozens deep. The newest Marimite novel was on sale. ^_^ I’m only sorry that I couldn’t get a picture for you, because there were *a lot* of books in those piles. And I saw those piles in every manga store I went in to. It made me smile every time.

Of course I nabbed a copy – and decided to read it without dictionary or anything. Just read it, like a book.

Sure, I missed stuff, and some conversations were kind of hard to follow. But you know it felt so good to just pick it up and start reading and be able to follow enough of the story that I can report back to you.

Kira Kira Mawaru comes after a massively climactic novel in which many important spoilers occur, so it’s pretty fluffy bunny light. And, as a result, I almost stopped reading it as soon as I began. Because you see, I have a written statement in my house in which I posited the premise of the final book of the series – and this was it. So I opened the book, read the first line, and closed it in panic. ^_^

This definitely *could* be the last book in the series. It ends in a way that if Konno never wrote another word, the series could end handily right there. Which depressed me no end. I won’t be happy until the next book comes out, proving that there is a next book. ^_^

In any case, Kira Kira is about a day at the amusement park. Yumi and Sachiko are joined on their date by Yuuki and Kashiwagi, Rei and Yoshino, Noriko and Shimako, Tsutako and Shouko and eventually Touko and Kanako. The main plot of the book is that everyone (except for Touko and Kanako, but that’s a different story) arrives late for various reasons and in a bad mood. The reasons why they are late and why they are all out of sorts is pretty much the plot. And in every case, it’s pretty minor. Except…

Shimako and Noriko’s reason for being out of sorts is a massive spoiler which I will not share. I will tell you this – it changes nothing. It’s just a fact. But it is a massively spoilery fact. (If you *do* know what it is, kindly keep your mouth shut. Thanks.)

On the other hand, I will share with you Yumi, Sachiko, Kashiwagi and Yuuki’s reason for being late. You know that red sports car Kashiwagi drives? It’s not really his, it’s his grandfather’s. (That’s not the reason. Wait for it…) So Kashiwagi and Sachiko arrive at the Fukuzawa house and when Yumi and Yuuki get in the back seat, Sachiko complains that all the streets in the area are narrow, which struck both Yumi and myself as a really odd thing to complain about. After driving for some time, they stop at a gas station and after some back and forthing, the seating arrangements are changed – Sachiko will be driving. In fact, the sexy red sports car they are in is hers. Her grandfather bought it for *Sachiko.* O_O ORLY? Yumi immediately begins to fantasize about sitting in the front seat next to Sachiko driving, only to be harshly yanked back to reality when she realizes that Sachiko is a petulant driver and Kashiwagi is “helping”. Yumi is glad that she’s in the back – she and Yuuki stay very, very quiet for the rest of the ride. ^_^

Give Sachiko some time, Yumi – she’ll grow into the car and fulfill your dreams of sexy red sports car potential. I’m sure of it.

In terms of Yuri, Yumi and Sachiko are hand-holding fools the whole day. At one point as they get onto the Haunted House ride, Yumi holds Sachiko’s hand, enjoying the romance of it and briefly wondering if the boys are behind them also holding hands. Then she white-noises her brain so she won’t think about that ever again.

Noriko and Shimako are practically joined at the hip. I don’t think they let each other’s hands go from the moment they arrive. While waiting on line for the ferris wheel, a couple in front of them kiss and a pack of young boys behind them start jabbering about it. Noriko wonders how they are seen as they stand there and hold hands. As sisters Friends? Something more? (The concept she uses is as close to “friends with benefits” as I’ve ever seen used in Japanese.) She really doesn’t care, and continues to hold Shimako’s hand.

Yoshino and Rei arrive at the place not speaking to one another. But when Yoshino gets sick from overdoing it on the tea cup ride – a pretty painful scene, actually. I was totally ready to slap Yoshino to the moon – Rei rescues her in the most gallant and magnificent way. Rei 10, Yoshino, 0. They make up, of course, before the end of the book.

And Shouko is the winnah on Yuri longing. She doesn’t just watch Tsutako – she *watches* her. She is so overtly gaga over Tsu that it’s a bit embarrassing. But she gets some really good quality Tsu time – even a few personal insights. If there was a couple in this book where I wanted to see one turn and kiss the other, it would be them. Tsu, you dolt. Kiss the girl already. (The wife suggests a great AMV idea – “Kiss the Girl” from Little Mermaid, and all the moments in Marimite where they *should* *just* *kiss* already. Feel free to make this AMV and send it into Yuri Studios.)

By the time they find Touko and Kanako, and are all are together to watch the fireworks, Yumi is surrounded by shiny happiness. The lights around her are sparkling – kira kira mawaru. And definitely, positively, there will be many more days of happiness like this.

The author’s afterword was very intriguiging. She comments how this series has been called many things – among them “soft Yuri” – but what she sees it as is “fantasy.” Not sword and dragon fantasy, but “girls private school” fantasy. These novels are contemporary, but Konno specifically mentions the lack of cell phones in the book as one of the fantasy elements. She points out (as have we all,) that perhaps the school does not allow keitai on the grounds, but that doesn’t explain why they don’t have and use them away from school. She’s very funny about that – for one thing, she says that this is one of the “fantasy” elements in the story, you just have to take it for granted that they do not have cell phones. It’s a handwave you must accept. Secondly, she comments that, you know, when she was in school there *were* no cell phones and somehow she survived. I hear ya, sister. ^_^ The point of all this is – 1) no, they don’t have cell phones and 2) she knows the series is seen as Yuri. That is all.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8, except for Yoshino who was a 5 and Shouko who was a 9
Yuri – 5
Service – 3

Overall – 8

Even the wife wonders about my scoring – no, the overall score is not an average of the scores above it. Each score is taken on it’s own on a scale from one to ten. So, a story could, potentially,be high on everything, but if I simply hate it, get a low overall, and vice versa. In case you wondered.

 

Posted in Light Novel, Light Novels, Maria-sama ga Miteru | 18 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime S, Volume 3

January 13th, 2008

I was happy to pick up Yuri Hime S, Vol. 3 while I was in Tokyo and scan through it one evening at my hotel. Now, after a more thorough re-read, I have to say that it was a slightly mediocre issue. One of those issues between this one and that one, when plots are still developing and some of the stories are shortchanged as others get more page count – you know how it goes.

Iwami Shouko’s “Flower Flower” starts off the magazine with color pages and more of Princess Nina’s tsundere ways. Shuu continues to be sincere and lovable, and for a moment we think Nina’s thawing, but no, she’s just drunk. Hopefully this story will do something soon, because “I like you, no I don’t” doesn’t really count as a plot to me.

And *speaking* of twincest, “Himawari Saita,” by Kuromasa Shisei is a story drawn in that drippy-wet style, about twins. One twin, Himawari, is desired by an obnoxiously persistent sempai who will not take no for an answer. But Himawari does not want to be severed in any way from her beloved sister, Nasuna. Nasuna has a brain cell, however, and explains patiently to her older twin that its a good thing that she find someone else who loves her, differently than she can. Nasuna gives her blessing to Himawari to find love, and walks off thinking that she also ought to find a nice person for herself. This was quite possibly the first twincest story I’ve ever actually enjoyed, mostly because of Nasuna’s emotional maturity. The art all made them look wet, though.

Kurogane Kenn hit his stride with the completely characteristic “Konohana Link” which appears to be the first chapter of a series. Two stories parallel each other. In one, a student confesses to her sempai, in the other, new student Suzuki Chieri comes to the school. The two girls are kissing when Chieri sees them, as she walks around the school. But, as she watches them making out, she can’t help but notice that one of them is looking back at her! Kurogane does slick PWP work, but the salaciousness factor on his stuff is high. I wonder if he can manage to make his characters 3-D enough to satisfy a female audience….

“Cassiopeia Dolce” continues to be a typical Takagi Noboyuki story with lots of underwear, maid outfits, bathing, Yuri and doll-faced characters. His art has always left me cold and this chapter doesn’t move the story forward at all. In it, newbie Anna stresses about the many girl-girl kisses that are going on here at the store. Olga seems to be okay with all the kissing, but Elza seems to have selective memory – worse, Anna’s starting to fantasize a bit about Elza. And she does a day’s work, too.

Finally! A Hakamada Mera story I *liked*. It had to happen one day. “Kaichou and Fukukaichou” was cute. The Student Council President is gaga over her Vice President, but the feelings may or may not be returned. In the meantime, it’s up to the Fukukaichou to keep the flaky Kaichou on track. The characters almost looked their ages and for some reason, I just liked this story. ^_^

Koumei Keito’s “Hana no Yurina-gumi,” which is probably meant to spoof “Asuka no Hana-gumi,” I pretty much skipped. It’s one of those stories with a shrieking hysterical “cute” munchkin of a creature that dogs the steps of normal looking characters. I just couldn’t do it. I’ll never be able to.

“Tainai Kaiki” by Yoshitomi Akihito managed to be fetishy and still not suck. Two girls are in the school pool when it begins to rain. They end up in the curtains in the multipurpose room. Mayu had previously confessed to Akami, but had been rejected as a lover, although not as a friend. But for some reason, Akami is moved to kiss Mayu today as she sleeps. Mayu wakes up, asks if she was kissed and when she is told yes, takes control of the situation. They kiss until the heat inside the curtains is intolerable and when they go outside, the walk on the water in the schoolyard together.

“Nanami to Misuzu.” Another skip. Something about sleeping arrangements.

Kaori has fond memories of a girl she knew when she was younger – and she remembers the day she gave that girl a pair of earrings. Imagine her surprise when Ayabuki shows up at her school in Kurata Uso’s “Pierce.” On the night of the school festival, Ayabuki arrives at Kaori’s fortunetelling booth with a guy she likes and Kaori falls apart. But Ayabuki pursues her and at least they can be friends…and maybe more?

“Girls Love” by Morishima Akiko is a series of 4-panel comics about Hana-chan’s not at all secret crush on Kaori-chan. Every single person in her art class knows – including the very enabling teacher. Everyone except for the seemingly clueless Kaori. And of course Hana doesn’t have the guts to tell her.

There is nothing wrong with “Minus Literacy” per se. I just can’t figure out what the hell it’s about. But hey, I’m not alone, because Iinchou is still figuring it all out. If Matsudaira is the head of the household, why does it seem that her maid, Miharu runs the place? And what on earth is going on with the girl with mad miko skills? I’m kind of on Iinchou’s side on all of the madness.

“Gretel” by Sudou Kaoru opens with Yuu waking up to find herself sharing a bed with a provocatively clad Nagi and Mari and her brain full of memories of kissing them both deeply and fighting off monsters. Mari wakes to find Yuu in the middle of a puddle of nose blood, in front of Nagi’s prominent breasts. Then we shift scene to get some exposition about the Formika and magic use at the school. At which point our resident Goth-Loli girl shows up in cat paws and ears so thems as who likes that can squeal or whatever.

And finally, Tsubaki Asu’s “Honey Crush” is a few pages of reaffirming by Kyouko and the ghost that they think the girl they like is worth pursuing, even though she isn’t.

In retrospect, I’m not sure that the volume was really mediocre, just that I had hoped that “Gretel,” and Kurogane Kenn’s story would have been given more pages – I’m not loving “Flower Flower”. And I was disappointed that there was no “Otomeiro Stay Tune.” So let’s revise mediocre to vaguely dissatisfying. :-)

Ratings:

Overall – 6

The next post will be my 900th. Huh. How ’bout that. That’s a lot of anime and manga. And btw – 263 posts in 2007. That’s about two every three days.

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Yuri Hime News and ALC Publishing News

January 12th, 2008

Two quick things of note:

I will be doing a book signing of 100% Yuri from ALC Publishing on Wednesday January 16th at 6:30 PM at Jim Hanley’s Universe in Manhattan, as part of a Prism Comics night. I’ll be joined by authors JD Glass and Abby Denson.

JHU is located at 4 West 33rd St. on 5th Avenue, just across from the Empire State Building.

If you are in the NYC area or can get there for the event, I’d love to see you there!

***

Ichijinsha has announced that Comic Yuri Hime is being made an independent entity from Ichijinsha’s popular comic magazine Zero Sum. Akiba blog reports that to celebrate, the 11th volume, on sale on Jan. 18th, will include the Petit Yuri Hime extra, which is a collaboration of artists from Yuri Hime, Yuri Hime S and Yuri Hime: Wildrose. (If you read the announcement on Comipress, they misreported YH as an add-on to Zero Sum – it wasn’t. It was financially dependent upon it and now it’s paying for itself. Also, since this isn’t their area, they didn’t realize that the “Petit” extra was the collaborative effort. FYI, in case you were going to write in ask why the discrepancies.)

This is excellent news, but I can’t help still being worried about the salaciousness of the magazine. More and more of the stories are moe/loli and the “Petit” extra has traditionally been pretty high on the service scale, based on the authors. (The first two volumes were offered as Comiket extras. I do not have either, but have seen Vol. 2.) I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and offer my congratulations to Ichijinsha for making “Yuri” a profitable category!

Posted in ALC Publishing, Comic Yuri Hime, Yuri Network News | 3 Comments »


Yuri Anime: Candy Boy

January 11th, 2008

Note: I did not like Candy Boy. Not the short original episode, not the longer version, not the first “full-length” ONA – or any of the episodes that followed. If you liked, loved, zOMG! Candy Boy and will be made upset by someone who found it to be a total bore, please be aware that I found it to be a *total bore.* Stultifyingly dull – and ever more so with each episode. If you want to read further, by all means, but no matter how many people tell me it was good, it will not change *my* opinion. Thank you for understanding the concept of a “review.”

***

I had a hard time coming up with a first line for today’s review. So, here’s a few choices – pick the one you prefer.

1) Does it sound weird if I tell you that I want to sleep with my sister? It sounds weird to me.

2) Incest in Yuri and Yaoi – why is it so popular?

3) What is WRONG with you people?

These opening lines all lead to the same place – Candy Boy was a fabulous indicator of people with whom I will not agree on what constitutes “good” Yuri. The best thing about it was that it short, 8 minutes or so, so I didn’t waste much of my life on it.

The “story” – as we’ll refer to it for discussion’s sake – is that there are two sisters, Yukino and Kanade, who love each other very, very, *very* much. When one thinks that the other likes another (non-related) girl, she gets all upset, but tries to let her sister go. The other sister was actually hanging out with the third girl because that girl wanted to get close to the *other* sister. How ironic! How O. Henry! Oh, the humanity!

In the end, they run into each other’s arms and as the scene fades they are all love-love. Phew. That’s over. As with so many incestuous couples in anime, I like to think they stay together forever, thus removing them from the gene pool.

The story is a joke, the animation is shown through a Vaseline lens, the scenes choppy and the dialogue is disjointed. I kept waiting to learn that the anime was really a piecing together of animated scenes from some mediocre h-game. It’s sold as a “romantic school comedy” which completely befuddles me. And poor Nabatame Hitomi, who got stuck voicing Kanade in it. Meh, I guess it’s a paycheck.

Seriously, what is it with incest in Yuri and Yaoi? Am I alone in finding it to be a complete buzzkill? I already know I’m weird for liking my Yuri characters to be adult, competent women who actually like and desire one another. Am I to suppose that I am a complete freak for wanting them to not be related, too? (This is me rolling my eyes.)

I was hanging out at NYAF with the Drama Queen folks and picked up one of their BL books that looked pretty cool. Nice art with two men who looked almost like actual males…. Started to read it and was instantly hit by the massively abusive relationships – not just rape, but emotional and verbal abuse, too. Then Isabel said, “Oh that one’s great – they’re uncle and nephew” and I closed it right there and then. Yep – great. Abusive family relations, how sexy. Ugh.

Ratings:

Art – 4
Story – 2
Characters – 3
Yuri – 6
Service – 8

Overall – 3

Can y’all do me a favor? I’d like every single person who wrote in to tell me how fabulous Candy Boy was, to go to the nearest mirror right now. Take a good look at the face you see there and slap yourself as hard as you can. Thanks. I appreciate that. I had already seen it by the time you all emailed me, so at least I had no expectations. Thank heavens.

Posted in Yuri Anime | 58 Comments »


Yuri Drama CD: Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu: Gyakushuu no Akazukin-chan

January 10th, 2008

There is a difference between people who read manga or watch anime and “fans” of anime and manga. Fans want more than just to read or watch – we want to interact with the work, to spend more time with the characters, to be more *involved.* In part, this is why fans create parody art, fiction, comics, games, etc., of their favorite series and characters.

In fact, Umberto Eco defines literature as works that have escaped the bounds of their original text and have taken on new lives and iterations. Think of a few of your favorite series, not just anime, but books, movies, any media. Sherlock Holmes comes to mind for me – a character that has been reborn and re-envisioned every generation since his actual conception. Or how about Jane Austen, a writer who not only has spawned any number of reinterpretations of her own work, but has inspired legions of Regency romance writers as well, and who has now been reimagined as a detective.

As a fan, I know that when I encounter characters I find appealing, I want to spend more time with them. This is why I write fanfic and it is why I listen to Drama CDs. The Drama CDs I enjoy most are not only a chance to spend more time with the characters, they are a chance to get more information, enjoy new adventures, get more detail about those characters. My favorite Drama CDs contain original stories that are not in manga or anime, like the Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to and the El Cazador DCDs. There are also Drama CDs that add a layer of complexity and life to material that is already in the original text, like the second Hayate x Blade DCD. In the case of the Marimite DCDs, we get more of the text from the novels than is covered in either manga or anime and we get to enjoy the 3-dimensionalizing effect of the voice actors, giving actual life to mere words on a page.

All of this is to explain why I found the Drama CD of Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu: Gyakushuu no Akazukin-chan (Red Riding Hood’s Counterattack) to be a disappointment.

It’s true that the characters are brought to life by the seiyuu, but…. The mini-DCD that came with the manga covered the first chapters of the story in which Akiho and Haruka and Fuyuka and Natsuki meet and develop their relationships. As I have mentioned in my reviews of that mini DCD (which also lists the voice actresses involved) and the manga, these were the weakest and least pleasant chapters of the story, making the DCD of those chapters something I have no intention of listening to again.

I had hoped that the full DCD would include the “First Kiss” arc that dealt with the teachers Reiko and Ayano, but no luck. This DCD also does not include the final chapter where the four girls take an overnight trip to the beach. What we do get is a retelling of the chapters where the four meet, Fuyuka pursues Natsuki and is rebuffed, the crisis that Akiho engenders when she declares that she is in love with Fuyuka and Fuyuka and Natsuki’s reconciliation.

None of this is particularly awful, it’s just – we’ve been there already. It’s nothing new, no extra information, no extra detail. In fact, the DCD is pretty much word for word from the manga. Not even an extra non-manga scene to fill any of the characters out. Since I was not enamored of the story in the manga, I found it no more enchanting this time around. And I still maintain that, as much as I like her, Noto Mamiko was not the right choice for Fuyuka’s voice.

Given that the other Yuri Hime Drama CDs were different than the original texts (and especially as the MikoMajyo DCDs were *so* fabulous,) I had hoped for more than this. However. If you LOVED the original manga and can’t wait to hear it performed by well-known and talented actresses, then you will not be disappointed. In that aspect, it was very good.

There was one random thing that completely puzzled me. In the cast comments at the end, Kawakami Tomoko, who played Reiko-sensei, comments that this was her first time playing a Girls Love role. Really??? Has she looked at her credits recently? In case you don’t remember, like she apparently doesn’t, she played Utena in Shoujo Kakumei Utena and Kris Kristopher in Battle Athletes and Battle Athletes Victory. I know all the arguments for Utena not being a Yuri character, but you will never ever convince me that Kris is not. (Or Sayuri, from Kanon, or Satsuki from Uta-Kata, etc….) Or maybe I was half listening and it was someone else who said that, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.

Ratings:

Story – 5
Characters – 5, except for Akiho, who is a 7
Yuri – 9
Service – 7

Overall – 5

Better than the mini DCD, because we’ve left the heavy-duty sexual harrassment behind, but without the “First Kiss” arc and the final manga chapter, kind of weak. If you love the story and the seiyuu, then go for it. Otherwise stick to the manga and save your money for a better DCD.

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Drama CDs & Audiobooks | 4 Comments »