S.Q. Eries's Blog, page 55

Research Ramblings: Spartan Women Part 5

As noted in my January 9, 2014 post, the lives of Spartan women were completely unlike those of their Greek sisters, and I’m continuing my series on these differences with today’s fact:

Spartan women had a public life.

Spartan women were not chained to their homes. They’d go out to exercise and inspect property, and they could interact with men. According to one reference, jeering girls provided a kind of peer pressure to discourage cowardice among boys.

In contrast, Athenian society relegated women to the home. They could only leave for certain religious functions and were forbidden to interact with men other than relatives.  Except for perhaps midwifery, a woman could not have any occupation outside her home. All of which meant they were entirely dependent on men for their livelihood. If a woman lost all her male relatives and was so desperate as to take a job outside the house, she had really hit rock bottom.

Tune in next week for more about the Spartan women!

Hello Kitty: Delicious! Comic Review

When it comes to the Hello Kitty franchise, Sanrio seems very open to licensing her image to others. (Hello Kitty Swarovski crystals anyone?) One of its latest partnerships is with Viz Media, which has been granted permission to create graphic novels featuring the iconic cat. They’ve recently released the second of these books entitled Hello Kitty: Delicious!

The Review

Hello Kitty: Delicious! is the second of Viz Media’s Hello Kitty comic book series. Three contributors from the first comic, Fashion Music Wonderland, are joined by a few new artists. Along with Chabot’s classic-style drawings and McGinty’s less conventional renderings of Hello Kitty, we get Buscema’s 1950s inspired art and Monlongo’s illustrations, which, like Chabot’s, stick closer to the Sanrio standard.

As in Fashion Music Wonderland, the stories within Delicious! are created by different artist/writer teams and have no written dialogue, which make them ideal for small children (though they might need help with sound effects and signs like “Mummies of Ancient Egypt”). Unlike Fashion Music Wonderland, there’s no specific Hello Kitty design used for the stories. In fact, she’s not the central character in every story; in Banana Split, the monkeys Tim and Tammy share the spotlight. The only common thread is that food figures into every plot. Delicious! also features a wider cast, which makes the book more fun. And for anyone unfamiliar with Hello Kitty’s lesser-known companions, Delicious! includes the illustrated guide “Family and Friends.”

The book contains seven stories. There’s no cutout paper doll like Fashion Music Wonderland, but interspersed through the book are three 1-page shorts written and illustrated by Buscema. Chabot’s contributions – Hot Stuff, Banana Split, Very Big Problem, and Piece of Cake – are cleanly drawn and easy to follow. Cute humor figures into all of his stories although some youngsters might possibly find the giant chasing Hello Kitty scary. McGinty’s artwork for Food Fright is definitely on the scarier side with mummies and illustrations turning black and white when the power goes out. Food Fright’s storyline is also a bit confusing as is the one for Sweet Dreams, Hello Kitty’s dive into a psychedelic candy Wonderland. As for Monlongo’s Martian Munchies, it blends cute with gross with a space alien’s version of pie.

In summary

Viz delivers seven food-themed tales and three shorts featuring beloved Sanrio characters. As in Hello Kitty: Fashion Music Wonderland, these are stand-alone stories, but each one is cute, fluffy fun. Combined with the artists’ colorful drawings, they’re perfect for youngsters.

First published in the Fandom Post.

Research Ramblings: Spartan Women Part 4

As noted in my January 9, 2014 post, the lives of Spartan women were completely unlike those of their Greek sisters, and I’m continuing my series on these differences with today’s fact:

Sisters of cowards could not be married.

In Sparta, as in other city states, several factors could lead to a maiden being deemed unsuitable for marriage, but this reason is particularly Spartan. Cowardice was the ultimate disgrace in Sparta, and that particular shame dishonored not only the individual but his entire family. One commentator suggests that those famous anecdotes of Spartan mothers exhorting their sons to choose death over cowardice were fueled because they didn’t want their families burdened with unmarriageable daughters.

Tune in next week for more about the Spartan women!

Manga Review: Summer Wars Vol. #01

Summer Wars is an award-winning 2009 science fiction anime directed by Mamoru Hosoda. At the same time as the film’s release, a serialized version of Summer Wars came out in the manga magazine, Young Ace. Now, Vertical has released an English translation of the manga compilation, and you can read on for the review of Volume 1.

Back Cover Blurb

Kenji Koiso is a high school student with a crush on a kendo club beauty, Natsuki Shinohara, and a knack for mathematics. His aptitude with numbers earns him a part-time working maintenance on the global virtual reality world, OZ.

One day, right before summer vacation, Natsuki asks Kenji to do her a favor -accompany her to her great-grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration deep in the Japanese countryside. As Kenji tries to find his footing amongst the boisterous and tightly-knit Jinnouchi clan, receives a mysterious email with a long code and the message: “Solve me.” Little does Kenji know what solving that code could lead to…

The Review

This manga is based off the 2009 Summer Wars animated film. Though I have yet to see the anime, I was able to follow and enjoy the manga version without any problems.

The story is a blend of cyber battle, romance, and coming of age. Seventeen-year-old Kenji Koiso, after failing to make the Math Olympics, gets an unexpected chance to accompany his secret crush, Natsuki Shinohara, to her great-grandmother’s ninetieth birthday celebration in the country. But when he receives a mysterious email with a long code attached, he finds himself plunged into an international crisis involving the world’s largest social media site and members of Natsuki’s family.

According to the anime director Mamoru Hosoda, the manga adaption includes scenes and footage that were cut from the film due to time constraints. He also states that the manga, in contrast to the film, focuses more on Kenji and Natsuki’s relationship, and indeed, it’s the relationships that drive the manga. While OZ, a combination of souped-up Facebook and MMORPG, is interesting with its Pokémon-like avatars, it’s really the character interactions that draw you in. Granted, the premise for Kenji being with Natsuki is utterly contrived shonen fantasy, but once you make that leap, Kenji’s awkwardness among the Jinnouchi clan and the family drama that erupts are completely absorbing.

Sugimoto-sensei does an excellent job of portraying Natsuki’s relatives, from the bratty younger cousins to the boisterous great uncles to the bossy eldest aunt. I came from a large extended family, and the complex family dynamics along with Kenji’s bewildered efforts to keep track of everyone hits very close to home. That, however, is one difficulty with reading this manga. With so many Jinnouchi folk, it’s difficult to keep track of them. When Natsuki introduces them to Kenji, she uses a handwritten family tree, and I had to keep flipping back to that page as I read.

The pacing is excellent. Sugimoto-sensei keeps up a nice stream of new challenges, characters, and bits of information to keep readers hooked throughout the chapters. There are times, though, that character reactions are a bit extreme. Unlike Sword Art Online, OZ is not an immersive environment but experienced through a keyboard and screen. So when Love Machine goes on his rampage, no one’s physically affected, but the way Kenji and his friends react, people might as well have been actually “eaten.”

We also get engaging character development with Natsuki and Kenji. Although Kenji does have actual talent in math, he has no confidence and starts off as your run-of-the-mill introvert geek. Meanwhile, Natsuki’s the super-popular, confident, athletic and beautiful upperclassman. As the story progresses, Natsuki’s issues come to light, and we get to see Kenji man up to support her in her weak moments.

Regarding the artwork, real-world events are drawn using a sketch-type style while the illustrations for the happenings within OZ are very clean and look digitally rendered.

Extras include the first page, title spread, and table of contents printed in color, four pages of Chapter 5 printed in color, special messages from both the Summer Wars director and character designer, and a Summer Wars Character Rough Sketch Collection. Its $14.95 retail price makes it more expensive than most manga, but the extras, slightly larger pages, and length (280+ pages) justify the additional cost.

In Summary

Although some of the opening plot details are weak, Summer Wars delivers a captivating story. The online crisis of OZ lends it a sci-fi flavor, but it’s ultimately a tale of family bonds and the struggle to belong. Its engaging artwork and well-paced plot makes for a fun read, and I’m looking forward to the next volume.

First published at the Fandom Post.

Research Ramblings: Spartan Women Part 3

As noted in my January 9, 2014 post, the lives of Spartan women were completely unlike those of their Greek sisters, and I’m continuing my series on these differences with today’s fact:

Spartan wives did not live with their husbands.

Or at least they didn’t for the first several years of their marriages. Although most men married in their 20s, the military minded Spartans required their male citizens to live in the barracks until they were thirty. And while they were living in the barracks, they weren’t allowed to interact openly with their wives. Instead, couples were to orchestrate clandestine meetings, which supposedly increased their passion for one another and led to more vigorous offspring. So it was quite possible for a man to have fathered several children before he could be seen in public with his wife. This also meant that wives had quite a bit of autonomy in their households.

As you can probably guess, this was not the case everywhere else in Greece.

Tune in next week for more about the Spartan women!

Manga Review: Voice Over! Seiyu Academy Vol. #02

For hard core manga and anime fans, the voice acting world has the same kind of glamor and mystique as Hollywood. So it’s no surprise that the world of Maki Minami’s manga Voice Over! Seiyu Academy portrays it as such. Viz Media has just released Volume 2 of the series and you can read on for the review. (For the review of Volume 1, click here.)

Back Cover Blurb

Hime Kino’s dream is to one day do voice acting like her hero Sakura Aoyama from the Lovely Blazer anime, and getting accepted to the prestigious Holly Academy’s voice actor department is the first step in the right direction! But Hime’s gruff voice has earned her the scorn of teachers and students alike. Hime will not let that stand unchallenged. She’ll show everyone that she is too a voice acting princess, whether they like it or not!!

The Review

Quirky characters are par for the course for the series, and Minami-sensei expands the zaniness with first-year Visual Arts student Ume Ichijo. Actually, Ume got introduced at the very end of Volume 1 as the head of the AQUA fans. As it turns out, she’s not just a rabid fangirl, but an amazingly talented animator whose creative ability is powered by her passion for her crush.

Winning over an adversary is a common storyline in shojo manga, but while the befriending of Ume had potential, especially when she starts crushing on bad boy Takayanagi, it ultimately makes little sense. The Stragglers’ ultimate goal in this arc is to do well in their second lunchtime broadcast, and they turn to Ume in hopes of using her material. Somehow, this turns into a desperate quest to create a new original anime for the broadcast. At one point, Ume quits, leaving the Stragglers frantically drawing frames on their own, which is rather silly considering anime footage isn’t required (their first broadcast didn’t have video) and they’re being judged on sound, not video. Even Mizuki points out, “You want to be a voice actor, so you don’t need to draw!” Also, Ume’s self-perception as an outcast toward the arc’s end doesn’t mesh with the way she is depicted in previous scenes.

Having scored another victory for the Stragglers, the story then shifts back to Hime’s career. Producer Yamato, who is unduly fascinated by Hime, offers to officially sign her on. However, Minami-sensei attaches strings to the bargain that are purely for the sake of thrusting Hime into an extreme situation. Given that voice actors are heard and not seen, Yamato’s condition that Hime “become a boy” is nonsensical. In the midst of Hime jumping at her big break, we get a glimpse of her family life. Her mother’s disapproval is meant to stir sympathy for Hime, but it feels overly contrived, especially when Mrs. Kino tells Yamato to disregard Hime as a voice actor.

Extras include embedded author’s remarks, translation notes, and another mini-Mitchy manga.

In Summary

Voice Over! continues with the Stragglers once more impressing the school with their lunch broadcast performance, and Hime getting a major break in her budding career. Unfortunately, the actual details of the story leave you scratching your head rather than drawing you in. Minami-sensei is setting Hime up as an unlikely heroine, but she’s not one I’m interested in cheering on.

First published at the Fandom Post.

Research Ramblings: Spartan Women Part 2

As noted in my January 9, 2014 post, the lives of Spartan women were completely unlike those of their Greek sisters, and I’m continuing my series on these differences with today’s fact:

Spartan brides cross-dressed and had their heads shaved.

Sticking with the subject of marriage, wedding ceremonies in most Greek city states involved things as such as sacrifices, feasting, wedding hymns, a procession accompanying the bride from her father’s house, and a walk around the hearth at the groom’s home.

Spartan weddings were very… different. Like other Greeks, female friends and relatives would help prepare the bride, but they did so by shaving her head and dressing her in men’s clothing. They would then leave her alone in a dark room with a pallet. Sometime later, the groom would come sneaking in. They would consummate the marriage, and he would sneak back to the barracks before light.

Sounds pretty bizarre, doesn’t it? One commentator states that this custom was to ease the groom’s wedding jitters by making his bride look like one of the guys. But Spartan warriors were supposed to be the bravest of the brave, so I don’t really see them admitting that kind of weakness.

Tune in next week for more about the Spartan women!

Manga Review: Oresama Teacher Vol. #15

Mafuyu is a high school delinquent who wants to turn over a new leaf. So when she transfers schools, she thinks she’ll finally be able to live the life of a normal girl. There’s just one problem: her teacher  Mr. Saeki is a bigger delinquent than she is!

Oresama Teacher is a shojo manga that offers humor of the silly variety. Volume 15 has recently been released, and you can read on for the review. (For those who are interested, you can click here for my reviews of earlier volumes).

Back Cover Blurb

Mafuyu is really happy to be a normal student going on a normal school trip. In her delinquent past, school trips were all about beating up on hooligans from other schools, so she’s excited at the chance to relax and enjoy the activities. But it turns out her old rivals from West High are in the same town on their school trip! Will Sakurada ruin her cherished taste of normalcy?!

The Review

With Midorigaoka having its first class trip in years and Takaomi taking all precautions to protect the school’s image, I thought the trip would wind up the backdrop for another Student Council scheme. As it turns out, that’s not the case at all. The participating Student Council officers are as intent on making the most of the newly reinstated school trip as everyone else so Mafuyu gets a rare chance to enjoy herself. That is, until she runs into an old West High rival on his own class trip. These chapters wind up being much like the very beginning of the series, with Mafuyu absolutely delighted to play the part of a normal student while trying to shake a persistent element from her delinquent past.

Not to say the Student Council is completely inactive during the school trip. With the second-year students gone, Akki’s left to represent the Public Morals Club (and sub as dorm RA), and that’s when Student Council Officer Komari Yukioka takes action.

Of the Student Council schemes so far, hers is the least malevolent. That’s because her plan to seduce Akki to gather intel on the Public Morals Club is just a front. She’s really interested in Akki himself. Like fellow officer Ayabe, she’s got a quirky obsession and a seriously quirky ability to go with it. But despite her adorable looks and overbearing telepathic power, Akki’s hypersensitivity to girls’ feelings cause all her plans to backfire. As it turns out, both have major communication issues with the opposite sex, and Komari’s single-minded pursuit of Akki takes on the flavor of a romantic comedy.

Extras include lots of 4-panel comics interspersed throughout the book.

In Summary

Lighthearted humor abounds in Volume 15. The normal high school outing Mafuyu’s always dreamed of keeps getting interrupted by her delinquent past in the form of old rival Sakurada. Meanwhile, back at Midorigaoka, Student Council Officer Komari targets junior Public Morals Club member Akki, but she’s more interested in his hot body than any club secrets he might have to spill. While the Student Council remains the enemy of the Public Morals Club, it’s difficult to take them seriously after this installment.

First published at the Fandom Post.

Research Ramblings: Spartan Women Part 1

Recently a new member of my online critique group made this comment about my manuscript:

Your [unmarried] main character is seventeen, but weren’t girls that age usually married with kids in ancient Greece?

The answer is a resounding yes–if she was Athenian. Those girls wed early, around twelve years of age. But my heroine is from Sparta, where girls didn’t marry until they were eighteen or nineteen.

Actually, I’m surprised no one commented on my heroine’s marital status sooner. Most of what is taught as ancient Greek culture is actually ancient Athenian culture, partly because Athens was so dominant in ancient times and partly because Athenian sources provide so much of what we know about that period. But customs varied from one city state to the next, and the one most unlike the rest was Sparta, homeland of my main character.

Even then, other Greeks thought Spartans were different (to the point of weirdly different). Stands to reason that included the way they treated their women. In the case of marriage, Athenians married off their daughters at the beginning or even before puberty while Spartan girls stayed unwed until they were pretty much done. Why? Spartans were big on producing healthy warriors, and they figured their chances of strong sons were better if the mothers bearing those children were physically mature. In contrast, Athenian men were more concerned about getting brides still impressionable enough to mold into the kind of wives they wanted. That meant a lot of Athenian girls got pregnant while they were in their early teens and sadly many of them died in childbirth.

This is only one of the ways the lives of Spartan women contrasted with their Athenian sisters. Over the several weeks, I’ll be posting more intriguing and sometimes bizarre facts about the women of the military city state. Please look forward to it!

Asian Live Action DVD Review: Mulan: Rise of a Warrior

When Disney released Mulan in 1998, I can’t say I was too thrilled with it. Mulan always struck me as a heroic figure so it rubbed me a bit the wrong way to have the story presented as a comedy.

As such, I was really curious to see how the Chinese would handle a film with Mulan as a subject. After all, she’s a Chinese legend and her story concerns their history. Not surprisingly, Mulan: Rise of a Warrior  has an entirely different feel than Disney’s Mulan.

Back Cover Blurb

When the emperor of China issues a decree that all families in the Northern Provice must defend their homeland against the barbarian hordes, Mulan, a young girl from a military family without a male heir, disguises herself as a male soldier rather than expose her aging father to the horrors of the battlefield. As the invading armies close in, her remarkable courage and insight elevate her to the position of a true leader, who will sacrifice everything to defend her nation and bring honor to her family.

Audio

The DVD language options are English and the original Mandarin in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround with English subtitles. The Blu-Ray language options are English and the original Mandarin in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 with English subtitles. For the Blu-Ray extras, the audio is the original Mandarin in Dolby TrueHD 2.0 with English subtitles. I noted no issues with the actual film audio, but the sound levels for the Interviews with Cast and Staff were inconsistent and included a lot of background noise. Also, the subtitles for the Interviews with Cast and Staff contained a number of typos.

Packaging

The front cover features Mulan standing in armor among those killed on the battlefield. The back features Mulan on horseback with her army in the backdrop, a few screen shots, and the series summary. The cardboard sleeve has the same design as the DVD cover. No DVD related inserts are included inside the case.

Menu

Various stills from the film are used for the DVD menu backgrounds. The Blu-ray menu selections take up the lower part of the screen while a sweeping excerpt from the score and various scenes play in a continuous loop. There are only a few options so menus are easy to follow.

Extras

Extras include the Making of Mulan; Interviews with Cast and Staff; original trailer; and previews for various Funimation live action Asian films. I should note that the Making of Mulan is presented in Mandarin with yellow English subtitles placed above the original white Chinese subtitles, which looks kind of clunky but still legible. The lengthy Interviews with Cast and Staff is poorly edited and looks like the rough footage for the Making of Mulan video.

Content

Most Americans are now familiar with Mulan, thanks to the Disney film, but for the Chinese, Mulan has been a national legend for generations. As such, Jingle Ma’s Mulan: Rise of a Warrior, a collaboration of mainland Chinese and Hong Kong talent, strives to be epic.

The film accomplishes that epic feel on a number of fronts. The cinematography is gorgeous, with dramatic views of the northern Chinese desert, and the battle scenes, especially the final massive showdown against the vicious Rouran prince, are thrilling. The costumes, from the Rouran royals’ garb to the Wei military uniforms, are a treat for the eyes, and the film includes a lot of nice little details like the soldiers’ dog tags and Mulan’s bronze mirror.

However, there are two places where the film falls short. The first is that Mulan, who’s passing herself off as a man, is clearly feminine. Not to say she’s a wimp. She’s definitely strong and capable and demonstrates that clearly when she breaks up a brawl between fellow soldiers with her superior martial arts skills. But when she’s making her rallying speeches to the troops, she sounds and looks like a woman, even in full armor. A major part of the plot is the romance between Mulan and her commander Wentai so she can’t be too masculine, but Zhao Wei, who plays Mulan, is so pretty you have to wonder if the entire Wei Army is blind not to notice her true gender.

The other major issue is the film’s pacing. There’s a huge rush in the beginning with the Rouran invasion, Mulan going to war, Wentai discovering Mulan’s secret, Mulan distinguishing herself in combat, and her and Wentai shooting up the ranks all in quick succession. Then, after Wentai gets ambushed by the Rouran, everything slams to a halt as Mulan falls into a lengthy depression. When she finally snaps out of it, the film shifts back to a hurried pace, glossing over events spanning several years until we wind up at the final confrontation with the Rouran hordes.

Those issues aside, Mulan offers a compelling portrayal of the harshness of war and a soldier motivated not by glory but the desire to protect those she cares for. An image which the film returns to time and again is the dog tags of the fallen and Mulan’s grief for those who have been lost. Though her staggering military accomplishments are duly noted, the story focuses not on the renown Mulan gains but the desires she must sacrifice and suppress to survive.

Although the film is about warriors and includes many battle scenes, it’s definitely a woman’s film (though you can hardly call it a chick flick). That’s not just because the main character is female nor because of the romance element. Although Wentai is Mulan’s superior in the ranks and socially, he is very much the “man behind the woman.” And when peace ultimately gets negotiated between the Wei and Rouran, it’s brokered by Mulan and the Rouran princess using a Wei prince as a bargaining chip. Still, there’s enough swordfights and martial arts action to keep male viewers from getting bored.

In Summary

No talking dragons or happy, catchy songs here. Jingle Ma’s Mulan is dramatic with a strong but angst-filled heroine. Though the battlefield and barracks dominate the backdrop, the film’s focus is Mulan’s inner turmoil as she watches friends fall and sacrifices her own passions to save her country.

First published at The Fandom Post.