Lovely Complex Episode 6

Synopsis:
The previous episode ended during the sports festival. Koizumi admitted her feelings for Otani to herself, while dragging him to the drag-filled gym.

Koizumi-Otani a match made in... strike that

Episode 6, “A Maiden's Determination! Love-Love Confession Plan!!”[1], jumps to summer vacation. The Lovely Com crew visits the beach for a day of fun and games. Risa is also there for an Umibozu concert. Nobu admonishes her to keep her eye on the birdie, which is Otani. At this point, Risa hasn't told Nobu that she likes Otani yet. Nobu forces her to come clean, and Risa admits it.

Nobu confronts Risa

The crew minus Otani gathers at a blanket. Nobu asks them to give Risa time alone together with Otani. They readily agree. Risa freaks. Encouragement comes from all around for our tall heroine. Risa is embarrassed and tries to stop them. Otani's appearance puts a stop to the fuss. His zebra striped trunks and tied hair, makes one think that Seiko-chan (AKA the Trap) may not have been a bad match.

Encouragement from a Love-com Love-in

Risa and Otani to play in the ocean while the peanut gallery stares, chants Cthulu-style, and generally makes Risa self-conscious. This awkwardness builds, until she snaps at Otani who is oblivious as always. His horseplay and laughing face win out and she joins in a wave fight. Misfortune strikes when she steps on a shard of glass.

More encouragement from the peanut gallery

Chiharu gives Risa first aid back on land. Risa doesn’t want to hold them back from having fun, while she sits out. Nobu entreats Otani to keep her company. Nakao assists on the serendipity play over Risa's protests. Otani agrees. He wants to get a tan, which dovetails with Risa’s immobility.

Risa tells Otani that she'll be fine alone and that his scrawny body wouldn't improve with a tan anyway. The comment hits a nerve. He drags Nakao and Suzuki, away from their women, to the sea after threatening Risa with a lawsuit. Nobu scolds Risa for blowing the perfect setup.

A little later, Risa sits on a blanket, shrouded from the sun. Otani approaches from her blind side and pretends to hit on her. He bears drinks, though he teases her before giving her a can. He claims that he’s just messing with her in retaliation for the tanning barb. He even puts on her Deep One face.

Old Ones in Osaka

Risa stops the exchange and simply thanks him for the drink. Otani asks if she's just being quiet or if it's the wound. After she chooses choice B, Otani offers to go for some medicine. The offer is refused out of awkwardness. He takes her refusal in stride, while the rest of the crew watches the non-action in anticipation.

Risa tries to break the impasse by telling Otani that he's a good guy, then offers a hypothetical situation where she likes him. He's breaks into nervous laughter, which she joins. Otani flatly orders her not to gross him out. She's shocked.

Risa reacts to rejection.

Otani brusquely attempts to change the subject. Risa calls him a midget. Her casual insult rebounds with twice the force: "Don't get your hopes up about ever finding a boyfriend, Amazon." The harsh words reduce Risa to tears.

Nobu & Co. to the rescue

To him, this is a schoolyard trash talking match. To her, it's the cruelest rejection. Nobu leads the cavalry to the rescue. Otani doesn't understand why Risa is crying. Nobu yells that Risa is emotional, because she's in love. The cat is unintentionally out of the bag or so they think.

Otani immediately asks who the lucky guy is. They are shocked and awed by his density. Risa gets their sympathy, while Otani feels left out. Remember, everyone knew that Risa liked Otani for a while now, except for our hero with a Gundanium skull.

Words fail them.

Day gives way to dusk and the Umibozu concert. Otani asks about Risa about her foot. After hearing that it's OK, he turns the subject to her love life. She refuses to tell him who it is. He then concludes that she fell for a shorter man, which was why his Amazon insult hit home. Otani then surprises Risa by encouraging her to ignore the height difference and steam ahead.

However, he finishes his heart-felt talk by bugging her again for the name of who she likes. He doesn't like being left out of the loop. Risa replies "you'll know soon enough." She stops him in his tracks with a smile, then takes their picture with the camera that she brought for the concert. Risa masks the picture’s intent as a punishment for making her cry.

Risa takes his words to heart and resolves to steam ahead in romance.

Otani begins to get scared

It’s another day. Otani and Nakao play a basketball game in the gym, while Risa chats with Nobu on the sidelines. Otani has been bugging Nobu for the identity of Risa’s love. Nobu scolds Risa that she should make her move during the summer break, before any love rivals appear. Risa freaks, again. She’s told that she must be direct and tell him directly. Symbolically, Otani tosses in a clean shot.

After the games, Nobu continues pressing the direct strategy onto a doubtful Risa. Nobu even pulls out the shojo flower power in demonstration. Risa is extremely nervous even by the idea of getting him alone. Nobu’s coaching is a combination of instruction, bad cop, and fire breathing. Risa relents and begins to record Nobu’s recommended confession. However, Otani and Nakao show up at that moment.

Risa screams in surprise. Otani is annoyed, because Risa is being secretive again. Nobu tries to get her to confess. She draws away Nakao, leaving All Hashin-Kyojin alone. The stage is set. Despite her stage fright, Risa bravely follows Nobu’s game plan and begins her confession.

Rafflesia arnoldii AKA corpse flowers

Otani is nearly moved to bowel movements by her grotesque performance. Risa goes into offensive mode. Nobu stops her with a flying knee to the right kidney.

Coach Nobu’s flying knee

Otani recovers from her frightening performance and tells her that he has something to say. They head to their usual hang-out at the Ikebe diner. He repeats his question: who does she like? Considering that he just countered her confession, she has some justification to be upset. He complains that he’s only one left out the secret. In her mind, she slams down her palm before boldly declaring that Otani is the one. In reality, she grabs her head in frustration, while Otani tries to get her attention.

Risa hits her limit break and gets ready to declare it. Otani, who’s been calling her for a while, jumps up to demand the name. Spooked by his demeanor, she falls back on Nobu’s game plan, which turns into poorly muttered mumble-jumble.

Love confession round 2: No hits below the belt, keep it clean.

Risa’s self-consciousness gets the best of her again. She fails. Otani tells her that he’s honestly concerned and wants to help her. As proof of their closeness, he reminds her that they are All Hanshin-Kyojin, which was the extact wrong thing to remind her of. As she’s clutching her head in despair, he asks her if she likes him that much. She answers yes. His questions continue. She confesses that he’s an idiot, but a good guy. He’s shorter than her, but sweet.

Otani realizes that she might be coming to basketball practice to see him. Risa thinks that Otani has finally realized that he’s the one. Mr. Gundanium does not disappoint, well, he doesn’t disappoint us viewers. He guesses that Risa’s sweet a freshman and feels quite proud of his powers of deduction. Risa takes another critical hit. She tells Otani to drop it, and that she’s on the verge of tears. Otani backs off.

The setting skips to Risa’s room, where the three girls are having a low key celebration of Risa’s birthday. Chiharu cheers up Risa by giving her a pink bunny faucet for her bath. Otani calls her up; he learned about Risa’s b-day through Nobu. Otani asks if she’s free. The girls tell her to go. He invites her to the top of a building and asks her to wear the same kimono from the summer festival (see Episode 2).

A dolled-up Risa comes to the windy rooftop. Otani gives her an autographed Umibozu CD along with the collector’s badge, but his main gift is watching the fireworks show together.

Romantic fireworks display.

He wants to cheer her up with the invite, since she’s been so touchy lately. Moved by his concern, she confesses her feelings to him. Otani doesn’t show any reaction. Risa is left waiting for an answer as the episodes ends.

The gauntlet is thrown.

Commentary:
At this point, the series enters into the classical shojo mode, where the the heroine overcomes her fear of rejection. Confession leaves nothing to doubt, it leaves the confessor vulnerable. This also begins Risa's laborious struggle for Otani's attention.

I'll keep the commentary light for this episode and have a sum up at the end of the arc.

[1] Fansubbed by Kiss Sub.

Hip-Hop Irony

On an earlier post, I commented that women enjoying yaoi is like suburban white youths rolling down the street blasting hard core hip-hop out of their stereos. After reading Thomas Sowell's "Black Rednecks & White Liberals", there is a richer irony in that perception. According to Sowell's research, there could be nothing more white than the mentality espoused by the worst of gangster rap. The glorification of touchy honor and ready violence, coupled with the apathy to education and work, traces its roots to the boonies of Britain and was transmitted to black Americans during their enslavement.

Sowell writes about difficult subjects without the difficult language. I highly recommend his book; there's plenty to learn regardless of the side of the aisle that you sit on.

Kappa Ball - Eva Link

Momoe from Oofuri Anime Eps. 6

As a follow up to the Kappa Balls post. The coach Momoe looks to be casted from the same mold as Misato-san.

Oofuri anime & Shion no Ou - impressions

The Oofuri anime [1] is close to the manga, but is nicely
paced and the animation is well done. There are bits
'n pieces that are nice additions like the Mihoshi
Academy boys paying homage to the Nishiura younger
manager. It does well in retaining the alternatingly
goofy and dramatic scenes of the manga. Like when Abe
went looking for Mihashi right before the practice
game, there was just enough super-deformed and tension
breaking lines to make that scene work.

The Shion manga [2] was well drawn and I liked the overall
feel. The anime [3] kept close to the original, but I felt like the
director sleep walked through the adaptation except
when he transformed Shion into a lollicon. The
manga had a clean presentation that was lost in the
animation, especially when it came to the color
palette. Shion herself was made more scruffy with her
hair and her unbuttoned navel button. Where the manga
had a more cool and eerie air to her character design,
these subtleties were entirely lost on the animator
who gave her reddish, doughy cheeks a la Kamichu. Ugh.

Shion manga, I give a read rating. To the Shion anime,
I would say skip except when bored.


[1] fansubbed by Entropy & Saizen (watched up to eps 4)
[2] "Shion no Ou" scanlated by Hanashi (Vol 1 & Vol 2 ch 7-9) and Xiphias (Vol 2 ch 10-11).
[3] "Shion no Ou" anime episode 1 fansubbed by Live Evil, who did a good job, but I just didn't like the source material.

Recommended Scanlations: Kappa Ball & an Inverted Aunt

Today, I have two recommendations from manga scanlations. The first is Higuchi Asa's "Ookiku Furikibatte" [1] or Oofuri. It's been made into an anime series already. The quickest description would be: what if Ikari Shinji played baseball? The main character's actual name is Mihashi Ren.

Ren loves baseball. He is caught looking in on the baseball team during practice and is dragged into the team meeting by the manager Momoe. Once Momoe learned that he was a pitcher in Jr. High, she tries to make him the ace. Strangely enough, he refuses. Ren confesses that his teammates hated him in middle school, because he was put into the position by his grandfather who owns Mihoshi Academy. They also lost every game with him at the helm.

The catcher tests Ren and finds out that he lacks power, but has incredible accuracy. The first roadblock to Koshien is Ren's insecurity stemming from his previous team's ostracizing him.

Ren (bottom) in action confronting his old junior high team.

Hisaguchi is effectively at creating and growing her characters, which takes Oofuri beyond just-another-baseball-manga. It's a human journey with lots of weird and quirky travelers. The artwork is effective, the action is well paced, and the writing is skillful, making Oofuri a standout work.

Ren in Kappa-deformed mode

The second recommendation is Unita Yumi's "Usagi Drop", which was scanlated by the relatively new group J-sis. J-sis, Josei Shoujo Independent Scans, specializes in older shoujo and josei, which is a welcome change of pace from the dominance of shoujo and shounen.

The story starts with 30 year old Daikichi who is attending his grandfather's funeral service. At the memorial, he runs into a quiet girl named Rin. He is shocked to find out that Rin is his grandpa's illegitimate and unwelcome daughter. Little Rin is actually his aunt.

After the memorial, all of his relatives want to pass off Rin and even talk sending her to government services. At that point, Daikichi becomes disgusted and rashly offers to take her in.

On the surface, "Usagi Drop" is reminiscent of "Baby and Me" [2], "Aishiteruze Baby" [3], or obliquely of "Asatte no Houkou" [4]. However, the snarky Daikichi and silent Rin gives it a very different atmosphere from these other works. Unita manages to connect the characters through the deceased grandfather with feeling, without resorting to sentimentality. The quiet main characters are also well served by Unita's clean dark lines.

Daikichi & Rin share a quiet moment.

Another well placed element is Reina. The other adults favor her energy. She also repeats and reflects the opinions of the adults, which are conventional and spiteful. Both of these aspects annoy Daikichi.

Daikichi spending a less quiet time with his niece Reina.

So far Daikichi comes across as a stand-up guy, who isn't popular because of his honesty. He is a sympathetic and realistic. "Usagi Drop" has a lot of potential, much of which depends on what Daikichi decides to do next.

The character designs are also fresh and well drawn. We can hope that more character driven works like Oofuri and "Usagi Drop" get brought over in the near future.

[1] Volume 1, most of 2, and parts of 3 scanlated by Entropy. The end of Vol 2 to 6 scanlated by Raep Time as of this entry.
[2] "Baby and Me" features a boy that takes care of his little brother in the absence of a mother. Featured in Shoujo Beat by Viz.
[3] "Aishiteruze Baby" has idiot, bishounen Kippei become a surrogate parent for his adorable cousin Yuzuyu. This one has a lot of heart. The anime is more focused than the manga. I count the lead female's unusual voice acting as a plus. The manga is available in the US an a takubon under the Shoujo Beat imprint.
[4] "Asatte no Houkou" starts with a man taking care of a young relation Karada. Karada makes a wish with her guardian's ex-lover and manages to switch ages with her. Things become awkward in a hurry.

English Adaptation/Proofing

I just finished proofreading my 2nd assignment for Ivy Scans. From what I've seen, scanlations are usually broken up into 4 roles: scan, translate, edit/typeset & proof/QC. Scanning is the transfer from paper to digital copy.

Translation is usually from Japanese or Chinese to English. The first one that I worked on Desert Storm Story 3 passed from Japanese to Chinese to English. The second "Hana Saita" is directly from Japanese to English.

Editing seems to focus on visually cleaning up the scan. I've seen the raw scans and realize how much work goes into a cleaned up version that you see on their website. Typesetting transfers the translation onto the digital image. In a one-otaku show like Janimes, one font fits all. The Ivy Scan team has its own standards, I was impressed when I first saw it. They're more organized than my workplace when it comes to presentation.

What is called proofreading by scanlators is known as English adaptation to professional translators. In theory, the translator should be able to skip this step. In reality, there are precipitous gaps between languages and a wide gulf between readable English and enjoyable English. An example of a gap between East Asian languages and English is the "identifier". I'm not a linguist, so my explanation may be off, but in Japanese and Chinese there are words that specify a round object or a machine or tool.

For example, we say "three sheets of paper". Sheets identifies the paper as a flat, thin object. The difference is that objects take on identifiers the majority of the time, also there are a bunch of identifiers. We don't say "six machines cars" or "three round-objects balls". A common Chinese joke is the kid that mixes up the identifier and object. Now imagine trying to translate that. In construction, we often say "it is what it is" when it comes to prices. The same tautology gives a reality check in languages.

As for the gulf between muddling through a story and liking it, I will paraphrase a business writing teacher and say "we work hard so the reader doesn't have to".

Quality control is the final check of the cleaned up and text set scan, ready for public consumption.

Anyway, I've always thought that Ivy Scans produced high quality scanlations, so I'm happy to be contributing and hope that I can keep up.

03/22/08 Addendum: Innocent Dragon Chapter 1a is out, it's the first work that I contributed to. I was excited.

Fancy Lala: Bits and Pieces

In the shadow of Cardcaptor Sakura lies a maho-shoujo series called "Fancy Lala" [1]. Unless you've had a strong dose of shoujo in the past, I recommend staying away from this series. Otherwise, please read on.

The TV series opens in the neolithic era where a young girl meets a strange middle aged man and then escapes an attack from a pair of towering saurian monsters. The attack becomes dream for a dreamy third grader named Shinohara Miho. She draws manga and dreams of fame. In an early scene, Miho buys screen tone, which is cut out and glued to a drawing as shading. The young protagonist also bears an uncanny resemblance to Fukuzawa Yumi from "Maria-sama ga Miteru" or Mihama Chiyo from "Azumanga Daioh".

Miho & Lala

Miho meets the strange man from the neolithic era again and receives a pair of plush toys as a gift. Once home the plushies come to life and give the girl a magical board that can create clothes for her and transform her into her older alter ego Fancy Lala. Lala is discovered in a fashionable sector of Tokyo by a talent agency and begins her adventures in the world of show business.

My first, second, and third reason for watching this series were (ranked in order of importance)

1. TAKADA AKEMI
Lala again

2. TAKADA AKEMI
Ayukawa Madoka from "Kimagure Orange Road"

3. TAKADA AKEMI
Painting called Moon on her Pierrot website

Her character designs captured a following during the eighties with "KOR" and "Maison Ikkoku". Her depictions of women are often beautiful, sometimes sensual [2], but always evocative. In "Patlabor", her designs brought the misfits of the SVII to life.

As for the series itself, the first episodes are spent setting up the series. While they look quite good, the plot and dialogue do not stand out. The end is open and leaves the audience with a sense of loss. The middle episodes have some gold nuggets.

During a publicity shoot, Lala's gay make-up artist [3] tells her that adolescents on the cusp of growing-up can become sensitive to what they loose by leaving childhood behind. A later episode explores this idea when she remembers a teddy bear that she discarded as a child. These scenes are directed at the adults and contrasts Miho the child and Lala the grown-up. They remind me of the theme of growing-up in Pokemon, when Ash let Pikachu choose whether he wants to evolve to his next stage or not. There are other instances when Ash bucks the conventional wisdom other trainers and let his Pokemon grows-up the way that they wanted, which is a metaphor for children growing-up. In both series, the moments were sparse, but welcome.

The clock episode, the student teacher, and some of the other episodes display noteworthy animation with creative camera angles and direction. However, the overall series does not rise much beyond have good scenes and episodes to appeal to a larger audience. If you want to see old school character designs and animation, this is a good one to check out. Give this one a pass otherwise.

As a side note, the Italian opening [4] is ridiculously good.

[1] summary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fancy_Lala
[2] As opposed to the loli trends that are in demand these days.
[3] I am not making Komi-san up.
[4] The Italian versions are sung by Christina Avena.

Ashita no Ou-sama (Tomorrow's King)

The fan group Wingtip Cafe recently translated Yachi Emiko's "Ashita no Ou-sama". This work dates from 1996 [1] and follows a Japanese Literature student Sasaya Yuu. Yuu is a country bumpkin and stands out from her modish classmates. The story starts out when Yuu sees a live theater production for the first time, which ignites her passion for drama.

The art work is distinct from most of the character designs put out today, but doesn't feel dated. The author also has a great eye for detail. Yuu wears neat and conservative clothes. She also uses the postal system [2] instead of credit cards. I've read up to volume 1 chapter 3, which is all that's out, and this is a well paced and well drawn series with an appealing main character.

My older brother made some observation, which I am fleshing out.

1. There parallels between Yuu and Kitajima Maya from "Glass Mask" [3]. Yuu is a hick [4] and Maya starts out as dirt poor. Her mother is a helper at a noodle shop in the Yokohama Chinatown. During the early part of "Glass Mask", they board in the upper level of the noodle shop. Both young woman are strangers in a strange land in modern Tokyo.

Maya's passion for drama ignited when she saw a professional production of "La Traviata". Yuu similarly started by going to the theater. Yuu also shows an uncanny talent for drama, though she is more of a theoretician to Maya's acting talent. With their passion ignited both women also take the next step toward acting: joining a troupe. Both naive women stumble, uninvited and derided, at the doorstep of major troupes.

The structures of the stories sharply diverge as Yuu helps out at a small amateur troop. It seems to be more modest than Maya's frontal assault on the national stage in "Glass Mask".

They also come into the acting world cold and attempt to apply to experience acting troops that are way out of their league. Where Maya is discovered by the mysterious Tsukikage, Yuu starts out modestly in a small acting troupe.

The parallels are noticeable, but do not detract from the story. As an outsider, it is actually refreshing tag along with a fellow outsider into Tokyo college life.

2. "Ashita no Ou-sama" is also a throwback to mangas when shoujo heroines strove for a non-romantic goal like contemporary shounen heroes. More shoujo stories seem like Lovely Complex, where Risa pursues Otani and gives little thought to her own future. In "Glass Mask" and "Swan" [5], the passionate protagonists pursue their life dreams.

Compare this to "Fushigi Yuugi" (FY) and "Marmalade Boy" (MB), where the boy pursuit takes up most of the story. In Saboten no Himitsu", the main character changes her entire appearance to attract a boy and the pursuit takes up most of the story.

This theme of pursuing a goal (versus a guy) also marks the NHK anime series "Princess Nine" (baseball) and "Twin Spica" (astronaut). The trials usually leads to a stronger and distinct female lead than say Miaka (FY) or Miki (MB) and is a refreshing change of pace. My brother has a harsher opinion of the contrast.


I almost skipped this manga, because of the strong parallels to "Glass Mask". The similarities don't detract from "Ashita no Ou-sama", which stands well on its own two feet. I look forward to reading more of this quality work.

= = = =

[1] http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=11368

[2] Before the reforms being rolled out by the Diet in 2007, the Japanese postal system also stored and transferred money like Western Union and private banks in America. This will be broken into several companies, including what will become one of the largest banks in the world.

[3] Miuchi Suzue's classic manga that started in the '70s about girl who gave up everything to be an actress. http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=260

[4] Since Yuu is so out of touch with fashion, she is probably from inland Tohaku (think Kikuchi Yume from Someday's Dreamers). Shikoku is another area with a hick reputation, but is associated with fishers and the sea, which do not appear in Yuu's background.

[5] Ariyoshi Kyoko's manga about an aspiring ballet dancer. This also from the 70s. It is released by CMX. http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=2419

With the Light - "Hikari to Tomoni"

Impressions from the first few pages.

What would the genre be called? Josei is for young woman, but is there an ouk-san [1] category? Tobe Keiko's "With the Light" initially feels like Lifetime in still life. The artwork is clean. The initial set up is familiar; a cute woman pursues a handsome guy, beats out rivals, and gets her man. He's successful, they live in a spacious apartment, and she has some fellow young mothers in the neighborhood. That's just the summary of the first few pages, but in the afterglow of josei romance, the husband behaves coolly towards our protagonist Azuma Sachiko and sides with his mother.

Part of the Lifetime feeling comes from the introductio, which focuses on her as opposed to meeting the Azumas all at once. The blurp says as much, which focuses on the young mother who raises a child with autism. Then again, having the Japanese husband mixing up with the family would have lost most of the audience.

[1] a way of addressing a married woman

Heptagon: A Life Relived

A quick recommendation of a scanlation. The scanlator group Dragon Voice brought over the first three chapters of Hijiri Chiaki's "Heptagon" [1]. It's about a 24 year old girl named Nana who takes a hit to the head and wakes up in her 14 year old self. The older Nana drifts by in life, writing checks from M&D Bank [2] for a living. By contrast, her middle school self is insecure and immature, but also full of energy.

I've heard this question posed several times: "If you could go back to you teenage years, would you?" Most people answer that they would take back their youth if they could bring their knowledge and wisdom. Though Nana is not a particularly wise character, she takes her baggage with her on this trip through time. Hijiri creates a medley of complex relationships, and I'm looking forward to her answer to the musing on a life relived.

Update:
I read the ending for the second time. The first time was minus a few too many hours sleep and didn't make that strong of an impression on me. It seemed to convenient. It's kind of like Borges-lite. He had written a story about a man who had two pasts. In one, the man was a coward who ran from the battlefield. In the other, he had fought bravely.

Absolving Nana of her past regrets seemed a little overdone. A more nuanced and longer ending would have worked better. 7 chapters would have been perfect to close this Heptagon.

[1] Published by Margaret Comics.
[2] Mommy & Daddy Bank.