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| Another peaceful night at Tokyo Tower and some fountain-y setup. |
Room with a view
Maria-sama Watch Over Me
So, I’m off. o(o^_^) (^_^o)o o(o^_^) (^_^o)o <–Me doing a happy dance.
For the next week, I will be running around two of Japan’s finest cities, with a host of characters accompanying and/or meeting me. (*_*) <–Bruce (^ ^) <–Komatsu-san (~_^) <–Ana (^_^)b <–Rica
I very much hope to update you all as I go, but no promises, because I may be busy having fun without you! Wish me a safe journey, or you won’t get to see my pictures!
Bye! (^_^)/
Yuri Manga: Kaichou to Fukukaichou
Kaichou to Fukukaichou (会長と副会長: In Student’s Meeting) by Hakamada Mera, tells Story A all over again…but does it pretty darn well. President of the Student Council Fuji-kaichou and Vice President Nashizuka-fukukaichou are, without the other realizing it, attracted to each other.
There’s nothing specific keeping them apart, except the fact that same-sex desire is not the norm and therefore is accompanied by a lot of soul-searching angst.
The first chapter introduces us to the couple in question – and the situation between them – from the perspective of Fuji-kaichou. But the bulk of the book takes place from the point of view of Nashizuka-fukukaichou, who is a smart, competent, driven and very serious young woman. She struggles daily with her attraction to the President, tortured by her lack of context or role model, and by the fact that the President is very popular among the other students in the school. “She doesn’t love me,” Nashizuka thinks to herself at some point in the story, “Why would she?” I thought that line neatly captured the second hurdle anyone who has ever found themselves attracted to someone has to get past. We’ve acknowledged our feelings…but what reason, really, do we have to think that those feelings are returned?
For her part, Fuji-kaichou is torn between a complicated family life and a pleasant school life that she uses to bolster her peace of mind. When her family life begins to leak out of the box she’s put it in, it causes some crises in her school life. But through all of it, she’s convinced that Nashizuka is the one person she can turn to.
Ultimately, it’s the forthright President that pushes the issue, by publicly proclaiming that Nashizuka is *hers,* dammit…in front of the entire student body, teachers, administration and guests, at the school festival. And then there’s just enough time for a sweet wrap up and the volume comes to a close.
For a story that had such small crises, there were a lot of tears. I remember friends in high school who seemed to cry rather often about relationships, so, that’s pretty realistic. The characters were also fairly real – no wildly out of proportion skills or powers or situations.
Kaichou to Fukukaichou is about a girl who likes another girl who likes her back.
Ratings:
Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 1
Overall – 8
You’ll notice that I didn’t mention Hakamada’s trademark giant carnival heads. Either the heads were smaller or I’m getting used to them, or the story was good enough that I didn’t notice or something else.
K-On! Manga, Volume 4
K-ON!, Volume 4 (けいおん!) is full of the kind of sweet-sad tears that people just adore. Those fleeting moments of happy times with friends, that youth that can never be recaptured, those intense emotions over absolutely nothing. The smell of flowers, the taste of tea, the sound of an aquarium.
Reading this volume gave me the opportunity to once more ponder important questions like, why are people sentimental about high school? And what sad series of circumstances makes a person able to believe that if two girls hug they obviously want to get into each other’s pants? Most importantly why is it so important to us to see our 2-dimensional friends happy? They are cartoons, after all. They aren’t real. So, why do we cry if they cry?
K-ON!, Volume 4 is filled with exactly the same kind of stuff every high school slice-of-life 4-koma manga is filled with. And yet, I care. Because the characters resonate with me for whatever reason, because they fill some need I had, whatever. I am the least nostalgic person I have ever met, so as soon as we get to the sad, tearful farewell to our beloved alma mater, I usually check out of the story. Not that I had a bad high school experience. I think it was probably pretty average to maybe slightly better than average. I was just glad to leave and have never once looked back. But, watching Yui, Mio, Ritsu and Mugi, I can get a glimpse of what it must be like to be one of those people who walk away from high school just knowing that that may have not been the best years of their lives, but it was really, truly, damn good.
I enjoyed the heck out of K-ON!; I think the manga was fun, the anime was excellent and I’ll look forward to the movie.
And I don’t really care that when Yui hugs Azusa, there’s some very, very sad person out there thinking, “Oh, yeah! Yuri!”
Ratings:
Art – 6
Story – Same 8 as before
Characters – 10
Yuri – 0
Service – 6
Overall – 9
Synchronicity strikes again: The day after this book arrived, Yen Press sent me an advance copy of their translation of the first volume of K-ON!. I won’t get to review it before I leave for Japan, but I just want to say…go get it.
Yuri Manga: Sasamekikoto, Volume 7 (ささめきこと)
Years ago, when Ranma 1/2 dominated the world of anime/manga – related fanfic, authors quickly discovered something critical about writing comedy. Writing farce was impossibly difficult, as it relied heavily on visual gags. And, if authors took the other road and went all serious with the characters, they instantly encountered roadblocks like sustainable characterization and the drama of emotions.
Everyone knows that tragedy is easy, comedy is hard. It is especially hard when the comedy morphs into a drama, and things that were funny when it was a comedy now have to be integrated into a serious plotline. Someone switching genders as a comedy might be a hoot and a half…as a serious character point…do you go all maudlin and self-retrospective with them? Or do you deal with everyone else’s reactions? Or do you delve into the emotional life of not knowing who or what you are?
All of which brings us to Sasamekikoto, Volume 7, (ささめきこと). As I mentioned in my review of Strawberry Panic!, there comes a time when, as a writer, you have to just write, dammit. Comedy, potboiler episodic standardized whatever all have to be tossed out so you can make a strong story which characters that are real…or the readers will simply stop caring. (In reality, some will stop caring when you try to make your characters real, too, because they *liked* the two-dimensionality of the characters, but if you’re a writer, those people are an acceptable loss when weighed against your sanity and pride.)
Unexpectedly, Volume 7 begins with a look at Ushio’s brother and his lack of a life – and the choices he made that put him in that position. This story sets the tone for the rest of the volume, as the underlying theme is surely “choices made have consequences.”
We also meet a new “couple” – Koi and her friend Mayu, whose story somewhat echoes Sumi and Ushio’s, with a slightly different outcome. Their story segues into the story of the big Karate match, and Ushio joining the team as manager. Victory is not ours, but that’s all right, as not winning is a far more real experience for most than winning. Another indication to me that this series has shifted focus away from fantasy-comedy.
And finally, we are allowed some time alone with Sumi and Ushio…and we can see that having finally acknowledged their feelings for one another are the same, they are not jumping into bed, but are dating. Another sign that this series is taking itself rather more seriously than it was.
And then, reality…seriousness…*drama* strikes.
Sumi has decided to run for the student council. As class representative, a good student and excellent athlete, she’s a natural – her striking figure and height only help to sway the boys to feel that she is almost one of them. Until one of her opponents takes the low road and outs her as a lesbian. She and Ushio had not been hiding their relationship…it had never occurred to them to do so. Now Ushio, who remembers what it was like to be ostracized in middle school, says she’ll back off Sumi and the rumors will stop. After all, Ushio says, Sumika is the one “normal” member of the Joshibu. Sumika doesn’t know how to respond to this, and allows the moment to pass without comment.
In a misguided attempt to promote Sumi’s heterosexuality, Akemiya-kun is chosen as a beard for Sumi. He accepts happily because, as we remember from earlier chapters, he likes Sumika.
In the wake of the deaths of LGBTQ and other youth in part due to bullying, I can’t help but feel that this will not go well…not the author’s fault, per se, but I guess anything written about anyone being bullied or mocked for a sexual or gender identity right now will push that button.
For the first time, I find myself considering the next volume with trepidation. I realize that Sasamekikoto is still largely a comedy. But the possibility for comedy (in the classic sense of living happily ever after) is significantly lower than the possibility of tragedy (in both senses.)
Would I like Sumika to stand up in front of the student body and admit to liking Ushio and tell them to vote and be damned? Yes, of course I would, but I’m not delusional and I don’t *expect* it to happen. I want to trust the author to take that rein and tell the “right” story, the story about being whoever you are is okay…I really want to trust him.
What will happen?
I don’t know.
That’s why I keep reading.
Ratings:
Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 9
Yuri – 7
Service – 1
Overall – 8
Thanks be to Okazu Superhero Mari K. for her generous sponsorship of today’s review!
