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.

Posted in Light Novel, Strawberry Panic | 6 Comments »


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.

Posted in Anime, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Yuri Anime | 2 Comments »


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.

Posted in English Manga, R.O.D., Read or Dream, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Scape-God

March 17th, 2007

I wasn’t going to review anything today. In fact, I was supposed to be on the way to my sister’s wedding. But the universe decided to cover my immediate area with snow and ice and instead, I am here at an ungodly early hour writing about crap.

So, first, although she will likely never see this, let me wish my sister and her husband a life of joy together. I hope they have as much fun playing house as I do with my wife.

Secondly, since I’m pretty much ready to destroy the world myself after a series of really wretched weeks, I think Scape-God suits my mood perfectly.

This “sci-fi yuri violence action divine romance” begins with two things.  An introduction to the existence of “Extraneous” beings; gods and demiurges and other creatures that inhabit the universe – and who wouldn’t mind destroying all humans, and; a confession of love from one girl to another. The recipient is very apologetic and gentle as she says that she’s honored, but has to refuse – she likes a guy. The confessor walks away from school, disappointed, and walks right into an attack by the “extraneous” god Anubis, and his hordes of vicious dogs.

The girl is knocked over in the ensuing rush and finds that she’s just too scared to move. As an ugly death becomes closer, a ram-horned girl pops up and in a stunning display of power takes out Anubis with a giant sword to the chest.

The human girl, Makihara Midori thanks the creature and, in return offers a place to stay, eat and get refreshed. The creature has no name, but Midori dubs her Hitsuji on account of the horns. Hitsuji immediately makes herself at home with Midori.

Almost immediately new extraneous beings pop up, this time bearing with them the head (sans body) of the girl Midori confessed to earlier.

Midori, who is not particularly convinced that humans *should* be saved, decides that if Hitsuji is determined to save them, they ought to make a buck doing it. So she opens the website “Hitsujiya” and offers Hitsuji’s powers for sale.

In the US, Hitsujiya piques the interest of the President and his three closest advisors. They send operative Blake Newman to gather info. What she finds, mostly, is that both Midori and Hitsuji are slobs, and crappy neighbors. On her last night in Japan, forced to listen to the two of them argue – again – about there being no food, she brings over some stew and offers to share. As it hadn’t escaped Midori’s notice that her neighbor is a hot American blonde, she decides to help herself to a little souvenir of some sex with Blake. The next day, Blake is a little regretful, but glad to be going home, when a plane comes crashing into the terminal of the airport with an “extraneous” on it. She calls Midori, and Hitsuji comes to a very public rescue.

The next two years are filled with fame and fortune for Midori and Hitsuji…and their top employee, Blake Newman. Life is a fun-filled romp of adventure and money, until one day it all comes to a crashing end. The US government took Blake’s info and has crafted a creature that looks like Hitsuji, if she looked 20, not 10, and has all the same abilities. She is the “anti-extraneous” and she takes on Hitsuji in every way, from battling extraneous deities to photo shoots and album recording.

When all the extraneous beings have been eradicated by Hitsuji and Hitsuji, the US version turns on the other, announcing that there’s only one extraneous to go. The battle is cataclysmic, but our Hitsuji prevails.

With no reason to stay, Hitsuji tells Midori that it’s been fun, and they part – but not before Hitsuji give Midori a bottle of godhead to drink, so she can have Hitsuji’s child. Hitsuji also leaves behind her big-ass sword, which Midori carts off as a memento.

Meanwhile, back in the US, the President’s advisors are all chuffed that their mission to remove all extraneous has worked and that both Hitsuji are gone. At which they reveal themselves as the deities Bastet, Nike and Valkyrie. Joke’s on the President, now, isn’t it?

The final chapter takes place 17 years later. Yo, Midori and Hitsuji’s kid (get it?) is gorgeous, princely and is ready to take on the world. And so she will. Her three closest friends reveal themselves as Bastet, Nike and Valkyrie, and Yo wakes up as the ultimate god. She brainwashes the entire plant to be her sheep (get it?) and ultimately commands all the humans to die. Which they begin to do. Until her loving mother drives her father’s big-ass sword through her chest.

They part tearfully, and the manga ends as Hitsuji returns the world to normal and joins Midori for more who-knows-what-adventure.

This is not great literature, by any count, but it’s not as trashy as it starts off. The author clearly had no idea if it was going to continue from chapter to chapter, but once the plot gets started, it was actually quite good. The end was a bit reset-y, but totally palatable.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 7 (non-consensual sex, lolicon, bathing, gratuitous breasts)
Violence – 9

Overall – 8

The violence quotient is quite high, so if large gouts of blood and beheading don’t appeal, you might want to skip it, same if bathing loli scenes, or random drunken misbehaving desperate lesbians bother you. But then, if that’s true, why are you reading Okazu? ^_^

Posted in Yuri Manga | 6 Comments »


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.

Posted in Maria-sama ga Miteru, Yuri Anthology, Yuri Doujinshi | 2 Comments »