Notes on the fourth Maria-sama ga Miteru Novel: Rosa Canina

May 13th, 2005

Rosa Canina
Part 1

Wahhh! I thought I had posted this weeks ago, but find I did not. Oh well.

Before I say anything else, I want to say this – the anime did *such* a disservice to Sachiko. She is, without fail, THE most romantic character I’ve come across in a years. She is always touching Yumi, caressing her, snuggling her, and generally doing unbelievably romantic things. (like the hair ribbon in the last book….)

The anime failed to communicate that well – not because of any flaw in Sachiko, but because we see it through Yumi’s eyes and she feels so unworthy that she doesn’t take note of it. She sees Sachiko’s attention as being corrected, when it really means that Sachiko simply cannot take her eyes (and hands) off Yumi.

Sachiko’s only real fault is that she doesn’t want to burden Yumi with her own worries…and of course, that’s what blows up in their face in Rainy Blue…but I digress. In any case,I am now, officially, a Sachiko fan. ^_^

Notes on Rosa Canina, by Konno Oyuki

Once again there is suprisingly little change from the anime or the manga) with about three small scenes cut from the anime altogether. The election arc takes about half the book, while the New Year’s arc is the other half – so there wasn’t as much detail lost in the translation to anime as I feared. The changes to the New Year’s Day arc in the anime were sort of odd, but the manga has remained much closer to the novel.

1) The “Cast of Characters” at the beginning of the book is presented as snapshots by Tsutako. I really liked that. ^_^

2) At the beginning of term ceremony, Yumi watches for Sachiko while waiting for all the older students to be seated. She’s so obsessive that, as she drifts off into a nap, Yumi dreams that she has “Sachiko-itis” and that Sei is a doctor who tells her that she’ll have to take medicine after every meal.

3) Shimako acts “uncharacteristically” throughout the whole novel…which leads me to believe that Yumi doesn’t really understand Shimako’s character at all. (Shimako bursts into the Council room, she runs after the bus waving her arms and calling for it to stop, and later cries in Sei’s arms.)

4) And how is it that Yumi has never heard of the school elections or how they work?

5) On the bus that afternoon, Sachiko asks Yumi to sit close and leans on her. They huddle for warmth and space. Yumi, who has been feeling very distant from Sachiko is thrilled, but also still feeling distant.

6) The reason Yumi thinks that Rosa Canina should be a black color, is that black is the traditional color for villains.

7) Tsutako comments that Yumi has a natural charm, and Yumi misunderstands her to mean that she is a natural goof. (We also get several mentions in this novel of Yumi’s low-self-esteem/self-abhorrence from Yumi herself.) Tsutako tells Yumi that that is NOT what she meant, and we get a teeny little glimpse into a Tsutako that is just a teeny little jealous of Yumi and Sachiko.

8) In the classroom, Shimako is standing in front of a window with mist on it, and Yumi thinks it makes her look like she has wings. This prompts a thought in Yumi’s mind that white is definitely angel-like Shimako’s color, at which Tsutako (who has clearly had the same thought) turns to Yumi and jokes that as she’s a member of the Red Rose family, she’s going to have to blush every day. :-)

9) Initially, a big part of Yumi’s stress factor over the school elections is the concern that Shizuka may supplant Sachiko as Rosa Chinensis. She isn’t really aware that Shizuka poses the biggest threat to Shimako until it is pointed out to her. (The other half of her concerns – the part that blows up in Yumi’s face over and over is that both she and Sachiko sort of feel that they ought to be able to intuit each other’s needs, and thoughts and moods. Since neither really knows what the other is thinking, they base their actions of what they *think* the other is thinking and get upset when that doesn’t seem to be working. This will be a theme that comes back over and over…)

10) No one really remembers Shizuka, because at the school festival, her hair was long. It is rumored that Shizuka cut her hair to mimic Sei, since she was (so the school newspaper reported,) a leading candidate for the position Sei’s petite soeur. When this rumor is revealed, Sachiko wonders if Shizuka is anything like Shiori, while Rei says that Shizuka seems like the kind of person who deserves to be at the Rose Mansion.

11) Tsutako is the one who reveals Shizuka’s information to Yumi, not Yoshino, as in the anime.

12) In the library, after Yoshino explains that Shizuka, aka Rosa Canina, is the nice librarian who helped Yumi, Yumi notices slips of paper marking pages in the books she is holding. One after the other, they mark the pages with pictures of Rosa Chinensis. The last one marks Rosa Canina. Yumi and Yoshino think that it must be a message from the enemy.

13) Shimako confesses to Yumi the one of the reasons that she is not running is that she has never really had a chance at “normal” student life, because she was brought into the Yamayurikai almost immediately upon entering. She expresses a desire to become friends with Yoshino and Yumi. (Later we learn that one of the reasons Shizuka considered running for the Yamayurikai is that she’s been in chorus as a soloist from
the beginning and she wanted to be in a “normal” club. Sei points out, rather sarcastically, that being a member of the Student Council is hardly “normal” student
life.)

In the manga, we get foreshadowing of Shimako’s later arc, with comments inside her head like, “Every day I am here, I’m committing a crime.” But those are not in the novel.

15) When they hear Shizuka’s footsteps on the stairs, Yumi thinks it must be Rosa Chinensis, because the footsteps are soft and even, like Youko’s or Shimako’s. She notes that her footstep ID is getting better, although not as good as Sei’s.

16) One thing not really captured in the anime or manga is that Shimako is really cold, and almost rude, to Shizuka when she comes to the Rose Mansion to make her offer. (It’s done well in the Drama CD, though.)

17) In the manga, when Shizuka meets Yumi in the hallway, Yoshino is with them. In the anime and novel Yumi is alone with Shizuka, until Sei joins her and Shizuka leaves.

18) Youko confronts Yumi about her role as imouto, not on a bench outside, but immediately outside the Rose Mansion door. She brings Yumi inside the storeroom on the first floor, puts her up against a wall, puts both hands on her shoulders and talks into Yumi’s face.

In the anime, Youko never touches Yumi, until she is about to graduate. In the manga, Yumi is once again on the bench, and Youko has brought Sachiko with her, instead of sending Yumi up to her. The manga also cuts out the lecture Youko gives about how, as she’s the little sister, it’s not Yumi’s job to worry. She should simply support her onee-sama and be cheerful for her. It’s the older sister’s job to be responsible. As the chapter is called “What is a little sister?” I was sad that they cut the speech, since it answers half of Yumi’s concerns.

18) When Sachiko sees Yumi again and realizes that they have both been worried about their onee-sama, she tells Yumi that what she wants most from Yumi is that when she is down, for Yumi to hold her hand.

When Sachiko goes to give her speech, Yumi kvells at her from the wings. (“Kvelling” is a yiddish word for when you’re so proud and happy that you want to burst.)

19) Cut scenes:

Shizuka’s supporters, wearing Rosa Canina headbands and shouting her name at the assembly.

Shizuka asks Sei to meet her after the elections, regardless of the outcome. (Very well done in the Drama CD, though. This request is part of what sparks Sei’s genuine interest in Shizuka.)

Yumi, Sachiko, Rei and Yoshino in the Rose Mansion, waiting to get the results of the election. When they go to learn who has won, Sachiko asks that Yumi and Yoshino stand with her and Rei. Shimako comes late because she was at a committee meeting; Shizuka never even shows (she’s busy meeting Sei and, in any case, as she says, she’s not really concerned with the outcome.)

20) Sei meets Shizuka, as requested. The scene is pretty much intact in the anime (with the exception of Shizuka’s reasoning for wanting to run.) Since we originally saw this scene without having seen Sei’s arc, we lack a little crucial information – Shizuka is, IMHO, coming on rather strongly to Sei. “I wanted to see my reflection in your eyes just once.” Go home and try that. You have to be darned close to see your reflection in someone’s eyes. Shizuka admits that she doesn’t want to be Sei’s soeur…and Sei understands, I think, and gives her a kiss as a “going away present.” It’s an *incredibly* sexy scene between them.

21) Yumi, who has been eavesdropping, thinks to herself that if she ever saw Sachiko kissing anyone, on the cheek or forehead, she’d freak. So she promises Sei she won’t tell Shimako, but Sei can’t understand why.

22) After Yoshino and Rei leave (and my, isn’t the interaction between them really suspicious! Yoshino comes running up, grabs Rei’s arm and the two of them hustle off, “Got to go! Bye!” and they practically run off together….uh-huh, she says, knowingly…) Yumi sees Shimako crying in Sei’s arms. Sachiko and she leave and Yumi asks Sachiko if she can do anything for her – anything at all. She’d bungee jump, eat glass, whatever. ^_^

Sachiko just asks if they can go back to the Rose Mansion and eat the lunches they couldn’t eat earlier out of nervousness. “Seeing your face has suddenly given me an appetite.”

The End of Part 1

Posted in Light Novel, Maria-sama ga Miteru | 2 Comments »


Mahou Sensei Negima Manga, Volumes 1-5

May 11th, 2005

Today’s entry is a guest review! Written by Sean Gaffney, none of the opinions in this review are mine *at all*. I have asked Sean to review Mahou Sensei Negima for you, because I utterly loathe all of Ken Akamatsu’s work with a firey passion. Love Hina so enraged me that I am incapable of even attempting to read or watch anything else by this man. Why? Because the characters were VILE. The lead character, Keitaro, is SO utterly, horrendously, stupid and useless that the idea of anyone, ever, falling in love with such a complete yutz makes me physically ill. And the endlessly unfunny gag of seeing girls half-naked over and over and over and over, and zOMG, this is so funny the way he accidentally catches girls half-dressed or falls on them, ripping part of their clothes off and they beat him up, let’s see it again! still makes me see red.

So, many thanks to Sean for writing this review. :-)

***

This review only covers the Negima manga released in the US to date:

Negima’s from the creator of Love Hina, Ken Akamatsu. The basic premise has been called “Harem Potter”, and that’s not far off. A 10-year-old prodigy wizard is sent by his Hogwarts-esque school in Britain to Japan, there to teach English to14-year-old Japanese schoolgirls at an all-girl’s school. There are 31 girls in the class (well, one’s a ghost and one’s a robot, but you know what I mean), and Negi has his work cut out for him – not only does he have to bring their grades up, but he can’t let them know he’s a wizard!

Being from the creator of Love Hina, yuri fans weren’t expecting much from this series. But there’s a lot to find here once you get past a few basic problems.

The first, and most obvious, is that a lot of these girls have crushes on a 10-year-old boy. There’s a lot of slapstick grabbing of his crotch, etc, and as with Love Hina there’s just scores of bath scenes. There’s a basic ‘ick’ factor in the main romance that’s difficult to get past, though it helps that Negi has no sexual desire for any of them, whatsoever.

Once past that, it’s a basic adventure story, with Negi getting to know a new classmate every 3-4 chapters and going through some sort of bonding. By the end of Volume 8, a good 13 of the 31 girls are aware he’s a wizard, so the secret thing? Not so much. But Negi is likeable in a genuinely likeable way, as opposed to Love Hina‘s Keitaro, who seemed merely hapless. And Akamatsu is genuinely trying (and succeeding a good 75% of the time) to make each girl distinct and separate from each other girl.

Anyhow, on to the yuri factor. Nonexistent for the first 3 volumes, it kicks into gear in the 4th Volume, where we meet our Repressed Swordswoman, Setsuna Sakurazaki. On the Kyoto trip, she is paired with Negi and several other girls, including Konoka Konoe, who seems delighted to be going with her. Setsuna, however, is reluctant and aloof, and avoids Konoka as much as possible.

In the 5th Volume, we discover part of the reason for this: Konoka is the heir to a huge magical school, and Setsuna was introduced as her friend/bodyguard when the two were small. However, one day Konoka was almost drowned in a river, and little Setsuna couldn’t save her. Setsuna vowed to make herself stronger, and also to become more detached, so she wouldn’t let friendship interfere with her mission to protect.

The problem is, as the two have grown up, Setsuna’s friendship has turned into a full-blown crush. Which is a big problem, as not only is Setsuna trying to remain detached and failing miserably, but she’s also been brought up to believe that feeling such things for another girl is wrong. It doesn’t help that, once their initial ‘I’m avoiding you’ difficulties are settled, Konoka is nice and sweet and glompy and basically doing her best to be lovable, if completely oblivious.

There’s more I could add, but I’ll wait till Volume 6 comes out in June to reveal the other big reason why Setsuna wants to keep herself separate from Konoka. It’s a doozy.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend Negima to the shoujo yuri fan. It’s filled with gratuitous nudity and slight shouta overtones. However, there is a good plot underlying this, and the Setsuna/Konoka pairing, while one-sided, is quite well done for both comedy and angst/drama, so for those who like shonen yuri, it’s a good one to pick up.

Ratings:

Art: 8 (Akamatsu’s a very good artist, and his fight scenes are actually easy to follow)
Characters: 7 (lots of girls, and with a few exceptions they’re each their own person)
Story: 6 (This may go up as more of the huge brimming backstory is revealed)
Yuri: 5 (Setsuna’s pretty much it so far, but her yuri arc is well handled).

Overall: 6.5. Not as bad as you might think, especially once past Volume 3.

–Sean Gaffney

Posted in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »


Yuri Manga: Ichigo Mashimaro, Volume 1

May 11th, 2005

Still playing “catch up”. Last month I tried, but failed horribly, to hate Ichigo Mashimaro. You can read about my shameful failure in the April 1, 2004 entry.

So, with tail tucked firmly between my legs, and lots of discretionary income to spend, I parked myself in front of the Dengeki Comics section of Mandarake in Nakano and proceeded to buy the first volume of this just too-cute-to-hate series.

My opinion has not substantially changed from the first review. I’ve got the hang of the story now, though. Basically, each chapter is about some totally normal and a little silly situation that, slowly and adorably, goes out of control until you’re giggling and feeling slightly foolish to be doing so at your age.

There is a definite, yet minor-key, rivalry for Nobue’s attention between Matsuri and Miu, but mostly on Miu’s part. Matsuri is too much of a baby to have a real crush on Nobue, while Miu’s desire to be noticed by her would be a teeny little pathological if it weren’t so damn cute!

The manga begins with Nobue at 16, as a blonde kogal with a nasty nicotine addiction, surrounded by her little sister’s friends who crawl in and out of the windows to their apartment like it was their own home. As the up-coming anime has Nobue at 20, I can only guess that Miu’s crush takes on a little complexity as time goes on. Future volumes of the manga will tell, assumably.

Even if there wasn’t Yuri in this (and I have to have the Yuri goggles turned up fairly high to see it, honesly) Ichigo Mashimaro is just too freakin’ cute to miss.

Ratings the same as the first time around.

If this manga can melt even my hardened little heart, the rest of the world will probably adore it.

Posted in Ichigo Mashimaro, Yuri Manga | 4 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl, Volume 1

May 9th, 2005

Back in March, I reviewed a random set of chapters of this manga. Well, I’ve backtracked and bought the first volume of the manga to fill in my missing knowledge. I’m not 100% sure I know what’s going on, even after having read it all. ^_^

Okay, so the first volume begins with a picture of Hazumu being kissed by Yasuna in the classroom, as Tomari walks in on them.

The story immediately backtracks to some weeks previously. Hazumu is your basic “nice guy” type boy. We, the audience, never see his face, but when he manages the usual full-body fall onto classmate Yasuna, she comments with a giggle that his face looks like a girl’s. He smiles and says he’s always looked a little girly. Shortly thereafter, he confesses his like to Yasuna, who responds by bursting into tears and running away, saying that she’s sorry.

Depressed, Hazumu wanders off on his own into the mountains.

Where he is taken up by an alien ship and transformed into a girl.

Seriously, after reading this bit three times, I’m still no clearer on the motivation here, except to say that, it’s a “hand wave” that we must accept.

Since the alien ship approaching was very public, everyone in the world hears the alien’s broadcast, and everyone knows that Hazumu has become a girl. For the first several chapters of the volume, the media are parked outside Hazumu’s house.

Back at home after waking up as a girl, Hazumu seems remarkably complacent about his change. His mother admits to always wanting a daughter, and his father becomes a tiresome pervert who is supposed to be funny. Reading Dad’s “funny” attempts to sexually molest his “daughter” has led me to decide that I will start to carry around a rolled-up newspaper to hit boys who think that kind of thing is funny over the nose until they are better trained.

The next few chapters are taken up with crucial stories like Hazumu’s first bra and which bathroom to use. Bizarrely, we are supposed to believe that Mom, while out buying fourteen million dresses, has somehow managed to forget to buy underwear for her newly-forged daughter. Only a man would write that, I swear.

Hazumu’s best friend Tomari protects her from the media, just as she protected Hazumu the boy from bullies when they were young. It is *this* that makes Tomari realize that she is in love with or, at least, is beginning to fall in love with, Hazumu.

In the meantime, Yasuna admits that she likes Hazumu – who is confused at the news because, as a girl, she feels obliged to not fall in love with other girls…although she’s kind of unclear how to do that. Tomari starts to realize that Hazumu still has feelings for Yasuna, just as she realizes that she herself has feelings for Hazumu.

Hazumu couldn’t get one girl as a boy, but as a girl, has two. What’s the irony level there? Snort.

Yasuna also admits that, ever since she was a child, she has a hard time *seeing* the faces of males, although Hazumu’s was beginning to become clearer to her over time, and she was, genuinely developing feelings for him. But now that Hazumu is a girl – she can see her clearly and is very in love with her!

Yasuna comes to the classroom where Hazumu waits for Tomari and kisses her, just as Tomari walks in, thus bringing us full circle in a story so full of hand waves and plot holes that, if it weren’t kind of sweet and cute and harmless, it would really, really suck. ^_^

But it does not suck. It’s just sort of silly and stupid and yeah. ;-)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 7
Story – 5
Yuri- 9

Overall – 7

Anyway, I guess I’ll *have* to get the next volume and see what happens, huh?

Posted in Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl, Yuri Manga | 6 Comments »


Ultra Sword Manga

May 5th, 2005

Right off, special thanks to Touko_no_doriru-san who gave me this manga on my last day in Tokyo. Sir, I have not forgotten your kindness and I am getting together a pile of things to send you as soon as I can!

Also, special thanks to Youko, who warned me away from this manga because it had some icky stuff in it, right after I had read and enjoyed it! lol Thanks for watching out for my poor, battered, soul, sweetie. :-)

This manga was drawn by my current fave Hayashiya Shizuru, author and artist of Strawberry Shake Sweet from Yuri Shimai/Hime and Hayate Cross Blade, among many other titles.

Before you get all excited, let me be honest – while there is Yuri in this manga, it’s all service. And the story is comprised of much violence and rape. If these things bother you, then you will want to avoid this manga. If they do not – read on!

Four girls – tough Rui, gay Yuki, horny Aoi and creepy otaku Tsubasa, are given swords and told that they must protect the victim who is the sacred bride from a demon infestation that will attempt to obtain her for their leader. Confused, but determined, they set off to find this victim.

Enter Mizuki, a girl who is being severly molested on the train. Tsubasa saves her, but shows no social skills in doing so. Later that day, Mizuki is attacked again, by a guy in the park and Tsubasa saves her once more – this time accompanied by the rest of the gang. They identify Mizuki as their victim and swear to protect her from the multiple rapists, molesters and demonic seducers that she will have to face in future chapters.

They are only marginally successful. ^_^;

That is, the sexual violence continues, not only against Mizuki, but pretty much involving every female character in the book – including the four themselves. But as that is the plot, and the manga is REALLY honest about it, I can hardly fault it.

The first seducer is a really sexy hermaphrodite gym teacher, and later Rui’s obsessed kouhai appears and rapes her (having been possessed by the demon-y side) and finally Tsubasa gets possessed and goes all demony. That’s about it for Yuri, except Yuki’s genuine expressions of desire for Mizuki which are beaten down VERY forcefully by Rui.

If you prefer sweet lesbian love, really, take a pass on this manga.

If violence and rape don’t bother you or, like me, in context you can deal, then go ahead and brave this super-strange eromanga adventure.!

Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – /coughcough/
Characters – 6
Service – 10
Yuri – 6

Overall – Honestly, *maybe* a 6, but I liked it anyway!

Really – I think it’s just Hayashiya-sensei’s art. It made the horrible, constant sexual violence seem kind of…fun. -_-;

Posted in Hayashiya Shizuru, Hentai | 5 Comments »