Manga: Otomen

Otomen by Aya Kanno
Published by Hakusensha/Hana to Yume
Serialized in Betsuhana
2006- Present, up to 9 volumes with new chapters every month
Demographic: Shojo

I am not a fan of Shojo, I don’t run out to buy the next newest romance as they are published and I certainly don’t go for the typical stories. When I get my shojo, there is something unique about it. Before this particular manga, you might not have heard me admit to reading shojo, with the exception of Fruits Basket. Why is this manga different from the other shojo? It isn’t typical drama.

Asuka Masamune is the greatest jock at his school. Every sport he participates in he excels, he is a manly man and the apple of every girl’s eye, the hero glint in every guy’s fervor…What would they all think if they discovered that he liked shojo (manga geared toward young ladies), cleaning, cooking, arts/crafts and was afraid of scary places and the dark?

When Asuka was young, his father ran away from home because he wanted to become a woman. His mother, afraid Asuka would do the same thing, began coming down hard on his girly ways. Asuka packed up his stuffed animals and cute things and began becoming a manly man. While in High School, while his mother is away, he cooks and cleans for himself and makes sure everything is spotless. When he discovers his mother is coming home, he quickly roughs up the place and creates an artistic manly mess… which reassures his mother.

One day, Asuka is confronted by Juto, a classmate. He claims he’s been watching Asuka for a while now and promises not to tell if he lets him hang around. When Asuka falls for Ryo, a girl who is oddly masculine in demeanor, Juta enthusiastically encourages the romance. Meanwhile, Juta is secretly taking all the scenes and writing his wildly popular new manga–Love Chick–under a well-known nom-de-plume. As it so happens, Asuka is a huge fan of Love Chick… who’s main character is a girl named Asuka who wants to have a romance with a guy named Ryo. .. and he remains clueless.

Hilarity and obfuscation ensues. As Asuka gets more comfortable around Juta and Ryo, he begins to slip and soon his secret is slowing being revealed….

Ok, do you see why I find it interesting? Well, mebbe not. This could be construed as a ‘typical shojo’, but there is enough goofiness, silliness, and just randomness to keep it fun. Every few chapters Asuka lets his girly nature loose at an odd time, depressing himself and someone who depends on him, only to redeem himself with his manly reflexes or abilities.

Here’s an example: Ryo asks Asuka to help at a daycare where she volunteers. He comes in and plays ‘manly’ games with all the children, who end up getting bored, until he takes the eggs Ryo was serving as the snack and makes a lovely board for the children. When they all leaves, one boy remains behind who has ruined a doll display. Asuka shows the boy how to make new dolls with the egg shells and they enjoy their time, but the boy insists that Asuka isn’t a man. The next day the boy has a fit when the other kids go to play with egg dolls, as he is having his fit, he accidentally throws a doll out the window then jumps after it to save it. Without a thought Asuka jumps out after him, rescuing him in a ‘manly’ style. It is amusing, the boy later calls Ryo his papa and Asuka his mama.

I am half reading the stories in Japanese and half in scanlation… though the first volume I read was in English. I ran across the series after I was introduced to Vampire Knight via a cosplay performance by Alone Together at a Kinokuniya Bryant Park event. I was deciding that perhaps I would give shojo a try and this one seems to shown me that all shojo isn’t just drama and soap.

I picked up a magazine this weekend and found that there was an announcement for a live-action drama based on this series that was to begin in August 2009. That would be interesting to watch! I’d love to see how they portray the characters.

Tags: manga, otomen, shoujo

Anime: Last Exile (w/ sound!)

This week I’ve been watching Last Exile. Originally, I ran across it via an AMV I saw at NYAF 2008 and finally I got around to raising it in my Netflix queue.

In my opinion, the story started out slow. It’s about two vanship partners. A vanship is a sort of airplane. Claus is the pilot and Lavie, his best friend from forever, is the navigator. We follow them around learning about the world they live in. It is science fiction fantasy and steampunk-ish. The art is beautiful, but the story doesn’t really pick up until the team encounters the Silvana, a non-Guild ship roaming the skies, and its Captain, Alex Rowe. The two get pulled in the war that is happening in the skies.

After a while it feels like a World War II anime, though it is obviously not. If the fuel called “Claudia” didn’t give it away, or the fact that there are no props on the ‘planes’ didn’t hint at it, they are in fact on a different planet than the one we know. Where our heroes have been living, they have to live on filthy water and any amount of clean water is extremely valuable. As a matter of fact, at one point they go to a floating tavern at one point and try to buy a pint of water and nearly fall over at the cost of the freshest and cleanest in the world.

Lady Delphine, the Maestro of the Guild, the people who control almost all flight in the world, lowers herself to chase down her brother, who all this time has been hiding on the Silvana because of his obsession with Claus’ flying ability. By the time we are finally brought into Lady Delphine’s world, we are well aware of the difficulties of being a land dweller, and the unique problems of being land dwellers who desire to fly. When she brings her brother ‘home’, she invites Claus and he learns how she and the Guild live.

I have been thinking about it and the theme song keeps playing in my head, so I thought I would share. For those who can’t or won’t play the widget, one of the first things you hear on this is the sound of bagpipes, and then it goes into song, mostly Japanese but with English thrown in off course. The TV version is shorter, but I think I like this version better.

Tags: Last Exile, music, soundtrack

Language: Practice with your Teacher

I am learning Japanese at the moment. Japanese has a lot of formalities and politeness. It’s true that other languages also have formal or polite forms, but it seems like it is very easy to offend in Japanese. I was listening to a lesson on polite Japanese and I remembered an encounter I had this week when I was talking with another teacher at the Japanese Language Center. I was offering him New Year’s Greetings, which I had learned only an hour before. “Agemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu! Kotoshi　yoroshiku onegaishimasu!”
あげまして　おめでとう　ございます！ことし　よろしく　おねがいします！

I was being formal-ish in speech so he indicated I should say the whole greeting… which I really mangled and skewed. A classmate hit me and told me to try it again. When I finally finished the phrase, this time correctly, we laughed and joked about it.

While I was listening to the lesson, I realised only a teacher or a classmate or a close friend would excuse such mistakes. In Japan, first impressions are everything, so if you want to make good first impressions, practice with a teacher who can correct you before you offend accidentally.

Tags: japanese, language, short note, study