Hanamonogatari: Flower Tale

Leave a reply

By NISIOISIN and VOFAN. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Daniel Joseph.

First off, I can’t help but notice that I haven’t been crediting VOFAN in my reviews of the Monogatari series. This may not be surprising – Monogatari is not a “light” novel per se, and there are no interstitial illustrations – we get cover art and one large piece at the start of the story. But the art is not only gorgeous but can also be a signpost as to what type of story we’re getting. Kanbaru here – be it in the original cover or the one VOFAN did for the North American release – is looking very serious, not at all like the suggestive and leering girl we’ve seen in previous books narrated by Araragi. And sure enough, as we get a book written with her narration, we see that she is at heart an overly serious and earnest young woman, and that most of her banter with Araragi is a facade. “Playing the fool” is something she’s actively called out about. Even worse, this book takes place in her third year, so she can’t even count on her (now graduated) friends.

That’s right, we’re jumping forward in this book, as Hanamonogatari takes place sometime after the events of all the other books in the series. Araragi, Senjogahara and Hanekawa have graduated and moved on – though Araragi does play a small role here, mostly to give Kanbaru emotional support. Which she desperately needs. Her friend Higasa knows nothing of aberrations. Kaiki Deishu shows up, oddly enough, claiming to know her mother, and is actually quite helpful, but given his behavior regarding Senjogahara, Kanbaru wants nothing to do with him. And then there’s Ogi (and believe me, that romanization pains me as much as it does you). I hadn’t mentioned Ogi in my review of Kabukimonogatari – she showed up at the start to harangue Araragi about stoplights, and seems to hold him in contempt. Now Ogi is a male student – this is lampshaded a few times in case we don’t get the gender switch – and haranguing Kanbaru, though there seems to be less venom in his tone this time around. Ogi is clearly a puzzle that we’ll have to solve in future books, but for now let’s just go with ‘annoying underclassman’.

As for the main plotline, you won’t be surprised to hear it has to do with Kanbaru’s main issues – her “devil’s hand” and basketball. An old middle-school rival, Roka Numachi, has shown up, and like Kanbaru she’s injured and doesn’t play anymore. Also like Kanbaru she seems to be somewhat fluid in her sexuality, though this book indicates that most of Kanbaru’s happy “I’m a lesbian!” to Araragi was part of her front – her experience is near zero, though there’s definitely sexual tension with Roka. As with a lot of the Monogatari series, the plot itself seems to be laid out in a couple of long expository monologues – if you get bored easily, this is not the series for you. The resolution works well, though, and seems to point to Kanbaru maturing and moving forward, made explicit by her cutting her hair short again at the end (it has been growing longer as the series has gone on, as anime fans no doubt noticed.)

Anime fans, speaking of which, may be surprised to see this book coming so soon – this was the original Japanese release order, but the anime delayed its production till after the next three books were adapted. If you like Kanbaru it’s essential, and even if you don’t it’s still a good volume of the series, mostly as it lacks the “filter” of Araragi’s narration. Next time we’ll move back a few months and see why Sengoku Nadeko is this series’ most polarizing character.

The Irregular at Magic High School: Reminiscence Arc

Leave a reply

By Tsutomu Sato and Kana Ishida. Released in Japan as “Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei” by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Prowse.

Last time I was feeling a bit grumpy about the all-consuming black hole that Tatsuya was, removing moments of characterization from others in order to betetr serve the dramatic battle scenes. That’s not an issue with this volume, which flashes back three years to show us Tatsuya and Miyuki in middle school. Sure, there are battles, and endless numbers of dead magician mooks, but the thrust of this book is to show us how Miyuki’s feelings for Tatsuya changed into what they are at present, and also show us their relationship with their mother (who is dead in the present series, I believe) and their aunt (who is very much not dead). It does a good job at the latter, but unfortunately the former doesn’t quite work as well. I get that we’re supposed to see how Miyuki notices what Tatsuya is suffering through every day, and what he’s doing for her sake, but it reads more like “I finally saw him really fight, and he’s so cool!”.

The book is interspersed with moments from just after the last book, with Tatsuya reporting to Maya and being asked to leave school and Miyuki. (He refuses – no surprise there.) The bulk of the book follows Miyuki’s viewpoint, though, as a typical pampered 12-year-old who is mostly pissed off at her brother because she doesn’t understand him. We see Tatsuya fight off a bunch of military brats, hear about him getting injured fighting someone while Miyuki was sleeping, and then see him really break out the whoopass once Miyuki is almost killed. Miyuki is also informed by her mother about the essential lobotomisation that was done to Tatsuya when he was young, and the fact that he has no strong emotions other than “loves Miyuki like a little sister” as a result. Miyuki is understandably horrified, and this is what has led us to our current situation of Tatsuya and Miyuki trying to push back against the Yotsubas as much as they can.

The most interesting part of the book is probably the last short story at the end, which goes back still further to show us Miya and Maya as 12-year-old girls. Sadly, it’s not a happy time when they’re playing cutely together. Maya was kidnapped by (please hold your surprise in) an evil Asian organization, raped, and experimented on for three days. (We thankfully do not see this ourselves, just hear about it.) Maya is broken by this, and the family ask Miya to fix it using her own powers. What follows is what led to the rift between the two sisters, as well as, to a degree, the main plot of the series – my guess is that a lot of the machinations we’ve been seeing are related to Maya’s trauma and her attempts to deal with it. It explains a lot, and makes compelling reading, but, much like the battle Tatsuya gets into as a middle schooler, it’s not particularly fun to read.

Like Tatsuya, I felt a bit emotionally dead after reading this volume. It’s well-written, and I want to see what happens next. The fights are nice provided you don’t mind knowing there’s no way they’re ending in anything but Tatsuya winning handily. But the reason that we stay with the high school and the students within it is to have their emotional center, which Tatsuya lacks – and Miyuki to, to a large degree. Thankfully, the next three books are a big arc that takes place at the school. Till then we have this, which basically says that brother-sister incest is the least of this family’s troubles.

Sweet Blue Flowers, Omnibus 4

Leave a reply

By Takako Shimura. Released in Japan as “Aoi Hana” by Ohta Shuppan, serialized in the magazine Manga Erotics F. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by John Werry.

The final volume of Sweet Blue Flowers shows off all the strengths and weaknesses of this particular series. Akira and Fumi make very good leads, and there are some deft story touches in this book, particularly in how their breakup is conveyed wordlessly – we’re not actually seeing it straight on, but obliquely. And yes, there’s a breakup, but don’t panic, yuri fans. Just as the reader was meant to be very wary when Akira suggested dating while she sorts out her feelings, so the reader somehow knows that the breakup isn’t going to be permanent. It is interesting, given how negative and toxic the feeling is in so many other manga out there, that it’s Akira feeling jealousy of Fumi possibly seeing other girls that makes her realize “oh, I *do* love her like that.” She also looks so much better with her hair cut it’s not even funny. Their story was the main reason to read the series, and it’s worth the read.

This does leave the rest of the book and the rest of the cast, and I was sort of up and down about that. I still say that, even if the cast list is somewhat helpful, a lot of Shimura’s characters look and act too similarly, especially the giant pile of younger students. More than that, though, at times when the narrative was focused elsewhere I felt like I was drifting through the book like at a party, catching fragments of conversation about events that should be important but don’t have time to grab me before we’ve moved on. Now, to a degree this can be refreshing. It’s clear that every girl in the cast has things going on besides what we see on the page, and I like characters with full, rich lives. But I sometimes wish the manga had more focus – its desire to flit from cast member to cast member made me feel like I was reading though a gauzy haze.

Overall, though, I’m very pleased we finally got to see this series come out in North America. It’s girls in school falling in love, yes, but the diffuseness I mentioned above also helps to separate it from the series that followed in its wake, many of which we saw here first. I also enjoyed the odd serious moments of melancholy, such as the backstory with Kyoko and her mother, which was sad and depressing without making the reader feel angry. And the teacher was a highlight of the entire series, and we saw that her own attempts to come out more publicly had both its ups and downs – I’m not sure if she’s in trouble at school, like so many plotlines in this series it gets carefully examined and then we move on – but it was great to see her imagining a double bride wedding. I do think this series ended at just the right length – it would have been exhausting to carry on for 3-4 more volumes. In the end, Sweet Blue Flowers had its bittersweet moments, but the end showed that sweetness can win out.