Shoujo Vice

It looks like I have a vice - shoujo anime (and manga occasionally). Given that my last post was about the shoujo anime I watched in the past months, this shouldn't be a big surprise, given my viewing habits this month as well. So far I've finished watching Special A, and now I am in the middle of the currently airing Hanasakeru Seishounen.


My thoughts about Special A - just another story about elite high school kids, with the lead girl completely oblivious to the feelings of her first-ranking classmate and rival. Quite aggravating, but for some reason, I couldn't stop watching it. The style reminded me of Ouran High School Host Club, but while I liked Ouran, Special A wound up feeling completely trite. At the same time, I can't say that Ouran is my style. Anime that I really like and display on my shelves are generally more serious and 'epic'. And then I found Hanasakeru Seishounen. Which has similarities with Saiunkoku Monogatari, given it's highly political nature, but I wouldn't say I like it as much. The lead female character (Kajika) is a little too good. On the other hand, Shuurei from SaiMono might be considered the same way, so...I think I should hold off till I finish watching the series, which might take a while since all the episodes are not out yet.

While shoujo is my vice, I definitely have a deeper appreciation of things that are...do I need to say it? Epic. I watched Cirque du Soleil's KÀ live in Las Vegas, and it was something I would definitely want to see again (and even pay the highest price for). This was my first Cirque du Soleil experience, and I LOVED every minute of it.

October/November Shoujo Season

Pretty much what the title says: I've marathon-viewed a grand total of four shoujo anime series within the past couple of months, and started on one that is currently airing. And I am presenting my brief thoughts on each. The series are, in the order of viewing, Lovely Complex (Love*Com), ToraDora, Saiunkoku Monogatari, Itazura na Kiss, and the currently airing Kimi ni Todoke. I believe that I might have gotten my shoujo fix. Or maybe not, because my masochistic self has just prompted me to start the live-action Japanese dorama of Itazura na Kiss.

Ah, where to start? Well, I would say that the anime that stands out in excellence (and is possibly now one of my favorite anime for all time) is Saiunkoku Monogatari or The Story of Saiunkoku (Country of the Colored Clouds). Best example of a female empowerment Japanese animated series I have ever seen. And of course, it has a heavy dose of fantasy politics - definitely my thing. For those who don't know, it's about a young woman called Shuurei, in a country that is sort of a fantasy version of old feudal China (or the Japanese interpretation of it), who has ambitions of entering court politics. The way she starts out is highly shoujo reverse-harem style, by winding up as the Consort (in name only) of the supposedly gay emperor, and other shoujo elements include having half of the men in the series fall for her, particularly the Emperor Shi Ryuuki (who winds up not being gay, *sigh*). Here begin my spoilers.

Shuurei. Some people might think she's too perfect. She can cook, she's smart, she's pretty (if not gorgeous - in comparison to all the lovely men around her) and she has ambitions that exceed all of this. Love is never any sort of priority (or even given any consideration) for her. Strong woman, right? But what I like about her are her flaws, which might not be seen as such. For starters, she's inexperienced and naive - to be expected for being the first female governor. But what really touched me is what she felt for Sa Sakujun, as opposed to Ryuuki. She halfway fell for the bad guy. I've read a lot of blog posts that had major issues with Shuurei for this, but I think it's realistic. Feelings of attraction have nothing to do with reason, and thankfully Shuurei is not so 'strong' character that she's immune to it. In fact, what really makes her strong is her ability to move beyond it - even though it haunted her considerably.

Ryuuki was not my favorite choice of partner for Shuurei in the first season (and I believe she agrees with me), but I think I'm a supporter of the pairing after season two, when the man finally gains some sense of maturity. In fact, I entertained the idea of Shuurei and Kouyuu together, but in the light of the ending, it's ShuureiXRyuuki all the way.

And the politics! Here is a series that is almost as good as Juuni Kokki (Twelve Kingdoms).

The other anime I watched during this time period pales in comparison to Saiunkoku, but some of them were worthwhile. Lovely Complex, a romantic comedy about a tall girl falling for her shorter guy-friend was definitely fun to watch, if slightly frustrating at times. While I say it was frustrating, it's not really because the characters were flawed. I admire Risa for having the balls to tell Otani that she liked him, and while Otani was blunt and clueless most of the time, he was a good guy who really cared about his friends. It takes a year for him to have feelings for Risa in return, but it's rewarding to see them together. Compared to this, Itazura na Kiss was absolutely aggravating in that Kotoko, and equally strong heroine as Risa (though I prefer Risa, who's a bit more of an individual) falls for an absolute jerk. And continues to like him even when he says things like "I hate dumb girls like you" and so on. Honestly, I really feel that Kotoko must have had serious self-esteem issues since she didn't even TRY to get over him. The series became more tolerable after they get married (yes, they do - the jerk Irie has some sort of revelation that doesn't unfortunately stop him from being a jerk)...it's interesting to see a portrayal of married life. But seriously...Kotoko, you were a bit of an idiot when you were young.

Toradora - oh dear, the tale of masochism, honestly. With this girl liking that boy, and the other boy liking this girl, and then everyone changing their love interests...in the end, I feel sort of sorry for Ami, who knew exactly what was going on at all times. True, she was a bitch in the beginning, but she had a sense of maturity that other people didn't have. And yet another anime that ended up with long-term implications (I'm a little surprised at the frequency at which marriage, if not an event but a discussion at least, comes up for high-schoolers and college kids in these anime).

Kimi ni Todoke...still airing, and the main character is a little hard to swallow...but it's cute.

I guess out of these anime, my rankings for preference would go something like this (leaving out KnT) -

1. Saiunkoku Monogatari
2. Lovely Complex
3. Toradora
4. Itazura na Kiss

That's all.