Again, there has been a long gap between blog posts. Lately, I have been in a slump, and thanks to writers’ block (I don’t consider myself good at fight scenes, and episode 18 happens to include a fight scene), episode 18 of Innocence Seekers: April Light was delayed. However, I’ve nearly completed it, and plan to publish it over the weekend. But anyway, this post will be another discussion post on anime and manga. A word of warning: there will be spoilers. If you don’t want spoilers, turn back now. Also, if you find GL (girls’ love, i.e. yuri) objectionable, turn back now.
It is hard to determine the general popularity of an anime at this point in the season. The usual metrics (DVD/Blu-Ray sales and pre-orders, merchandise sales) aren’t often available or relevant at this point, so other measures need to be used. In the English-speaking fandom, there are sites such as MyAnimeList that allow users to note every anime they have watched or plan to watch, and each time they note a particular anime, they become a “member” of that anime. The useful metrics from such sites are the number of “members”, and the drop percentage (the percentage of members who had dropped the anime). However, the Western fandom isn’t the focus of this section of the post; rather, I will look at the Japanese fandom.
I have yet to find a Japanese equivalent to MyAnimeList, so I look to other possible metrics. A good metric is the number of Twitter followers an anime’s Twitter account has; however, this applies globally (although the majority of followers would be Japanese, as the accounts themselves post in Japanese). Of the two anime I’m watching, Sakura Quest has under 24k followers, while Hinako Note has around 18k. In comparison, Magic of Stella has just over 20k followers (I really liked this anime/manga; I just wish more people would have a look at it), Sakura Trick has a bit under 44k, Kiniro Mosaic just under 92k, New Game! over 100k, and Is the Order a Rabbit? has close to 230k followers. Note that all figures are as of writing, and will obviously change over time.
Another possible metric is the amount of fanart on Pixiv. While, like Twitter, Pixiv is available globally, and in many languages (though not as much as Twitter), the vast majority of users are Japanese (it is a Japanese site, after all), and the majority of tags, including most anime-related tags, aren’t automatically translated (meaning some knowledge of Japanese is expected). As it takes effort to draw even a bad piece of fanart, I feel that this shows the dedication of fans better than simply clicking “Follow” on Twitter.
An easy way to find out how much fanart is there for each anime per season, one can simply search the Pixiv encyclopedia (note that there is also an English version, but it has far fewer pages than the Japanese version). For example, one can do a search for “Spring 2017 anime”, and note the numbers indicated by “作品数” (lit. “number of works”). Of all the anime airing this season which aren’t sequels or spinoffs (I didn’t include them, because, well, one has well over 130k works; I’ll leave it to you to guess), only one has breached the 1k work mark (Eromanga-sensei, with nearly 2k, which does not surprise me one bit), and most have under 200 works (interestingly, Hinako Note has just over 200). Again, all figures are as of writing.
Like the previous discussion post, there will be no reviews (and I won’t be giving my thoughts on Sakura Quest until episode 5, anyway, since it is going to be a 2-cour show, although I wish a happy birthday to the main character, Yoshino Koharu). However, I’ll give my thoughts on Hinako Note, now that I’ve watched the first three episodes. I can say that I have thoroughly enjoyed what I have watched.
Based on the manga by Mitsuki, the story follows Hinako Sakuragi, who enrols in a high school in Tokyo to join its theater club, so she can get used to people enough to avoid freezing into a scarecrow position out of nervousness at the first sign of interpersonal interaction. I can actually relate to her (as I am a bit shy myself in real life, and I have quite severe stage fright); interestingly, I can relate to characters such as Hinako far better than any male character, which is partially why I prefer female characters. One of the quirks of Hinako’s friend and classmate Kuina Natsukawa (who also resides in the Hitotose building) is that she eats books (yes, you read that correctly), although by the third episode, it has become a “blink-and-you-miss-it” background quirk (I hope I wasn’t the only one who noticed the partially-eaten book). There is also another Hitotose resident, Mayuki Hiiragi, who works at the Hitotose café (Kuina works at the Hitotose used book store, opposite the café; both establishments are on the floor below where the girls reside). Like many girls in other schoolgirl series, Mayuki is older than she looks; she is in her second year of high school (which confused Hinako, as she though Mayuki was an elementary schoolgirl). Then you have the landlady, Chiaki Hagino, who thought of the idea of forming a troupe as the club was in hiatus.
Overall, I find the anime to be quite interesting. This is ultimately a story about a girl from the countryside who wants to be able to communicate better with others, and it follows her as she moves to the city to join a school theater club. Her first attempt didn’t go very well (she literally froze in the class introduction, and literally could not do anything when the teacher asked), and her classmate Yua Nakajima (who is a fan of Chiaki) covered for Hinako every time, in an attempt to prove that she’s more suited for the theater society (remember, the club was in hiatus). However, the second half of the third episode showed that Hinako can, indeed, communicate via ventriloquism (right after a lost girl asked about her talking to a bird).
I also like the other characters, in particular, Mayuki (while I do find her cute, it may be due to the fact that I’m a fan of her voice actress). Mayuki tends to act a bit childish, but can also be somewhat mature (at one moment Hinako says that she resembles an older sister in her behaviour, then the next moment she’s all excited that she was given a discount).
Some people noted similarities to other moe series. On Pixiv there are no less than four works tagged “HinaCocoa”, due to Hinako’s resemblance to Cocoa Hoto of Is the Order a Rabbit?, not to mention they were both born in the same month. Kuina’s resemblance to Konata Izumi of Lucky Star is also noted. A minor detail I noted was that Mayuki is the same height as Alice Cartelet of Kiniro Mosaic (an unusually short and underdeveloped high school student, especially given that she is English), at 139 centimetres.
Anyway, since I haven’t done this in a long time, here is a cast list:
- M.A.O as Hinako Sakuragi (桜木 ひな子)
- Miyu Tomita (富田 美憂) as Kuina Natsukawa (夏川 くいな)
- Yui Ogura (小倉 唯) as Mayuki Hiiragi (柊 真雪)
- Hisako Tōjō (東城 日沙子) as Chiaki Hagino (萩野 千秋)
- Marika Kōno (高野 麻里佳) as Yua Nakajima (中島 ゆあ)
- Yūri Yoshida (吉田 有里) as Ruriko Kuroyanagi (黒柳 ルリ子)
Anyway, to the next section. While I won’t be talking about manga specifically, I will talk about yuri manga (and anime), specifically those noted in “Yurimate” (Animate’s yuri club; Twitter account is here). It is a showcase of all things yuri, and of course it wouldn’t be complete without possibly the most notable yuri anthology magazine (Comic Yuri Hime), which features YuruYuri (one of the most successful yuri works in recent years), Citrus (which is getting an anime adaptation) and Netsuzou Trap (which is also receiving an anime adaptation). Also featured is the anime adaptation of Asagao & Kase-san.
The yuri genre was never one to receive widespread popularity. While, theoretically, yuri appeals to the majority of the manga-consuming demographics (specifically, shōjo, seinen and josei), these demographics expect different things, and it is very difficult to appeal to all of them a the same time (this is in contrast to BL, which is actually split into two genres, each with their own demographics). In fact, Comic Yuri Hime was originally two magazines, one aimed at girls and women, the other aimed at men (the one aimed at men was the younger magazine). The popularity of YuruYuri compared to other yuri works is also an example of people expecting different things with yuri; YuruYuri is primarily a schoolgirl series where most of the main and supporting characters happen to be lesbian, and places as much emphasis on typical schoolgirl series material as it does on character relationships (not to say that the relationships aren’t important; there’s Chinatsu’s love for Yui, the long-lasting relationship between Kyōko and Yui, Kyōko’s advances on Mirakurun Chinatsu, Ayano’s tsun-tsun behaviour with regards to Kyōko, Chitose’s (Ayano with Kyōko) and Chizuru’s (Ayano with Chitose) fantasies, Sakurako and Himawari’s constant bickering, Tomoko’s Akane obsession, Akane’s little sister obsession, etc.; Akari is left out since she’s, well, unimportant).
While yonkoma have largely been neglected (although just recently, the Yurimate Twitter account retweeted this tweet by the Comic Cune Twitter account, showcasing a new work by Wakame Konbu (who authored Dreaming Prima Girl! in Manga Time Kirara MAX)), the Twitter account had shown some works published in Manga Time Kirara Forward, beginning with the second and final volume of Tachi’s Futakaku Kankei (which is basically a love triangle story with twins). A few days before the release of the June 2017 issue of Manga Time Kirara Forward, the account showcased five comics from the magazine: Jizai Nyoi’s Harukana Receive (a sports story revolving around beach volleyball), Akino Miyabi’s Nadeshiko Doremisora (a high school girls’ band story based on traditional Japanese music), Mountain Pukuichi’s Tamayomi (a sports story revolving around baseball, by an established yuri artist), Kayou’s Chotto Ippai! (a work comedy following high school girls doing part-time work at a restaurant), and Mizuki Sakurai’s Itsuka Watashi wa, Kimi o Uragiru (I don’t know much about this). Note that none of these works have Wikipedia articles, and only the first two have entries in the MyAnimeList database. Only one of them has been scanlated, as far as I know.
All five of these works feature significant relationships between pairs of girls. While I haven’t read all of them, I can identify some couples in these works. From Nadeshiko Doremisora, there is the pairing of Miya Nekoma (the main character; plays the shamisen) and Hiyo Takemi (the very girl who got Miya into the band; plays the shakuhachi), as well as the pairing of Kano Togawa and Ema Tsurumi (both play the koto). There is a contrast in the relationships between these two pairs; Miya and Hiyo became friends almost overnight, while the friendship between Kano and Ema goes all the way back to their childhood. But nevertheless, both friendships came about due to love of Japanese music. Interestingly, I can assign each of the four girls a temperament, and each pairing represents opposite temperaments together (Miya is melancholic, Hiyo is sanguine; Kano is phlegmatic, Ema is choleric).
In Chotto Ippai!, there is one main couple, that being the pairing of Momiji Miyahara (the main character) and Nagisa Aikawa (I may be wrong with the readings; furigana wasn’t usually applied to family names in this manga). While it’s tempting to pair off the other girls (Chiyuri and Satsuki might be one), I haven’t found any reason to do so. Anyway, like the above two couples, this is a couple of opposites: Momiji is a fairly optimistic, happy-go-lucky girl, while Nagisa hardly smiled at all. Eventually, Momiji gets Nagisa to open up, and Nagisa heads to the Koharu restaurant of her own volition, where Momiji and her workmates cook up a meal for Nagisa (after dealing with a live octopus that stuck itself to Momiji’s arm; also Chiyuri repeating “it’s already dead”) after the last customer leaves.
I would say more, but I’ve gone over 2,000 words. To close, I’ll leave you with this. (Yes, that is Yui).
Edit (28-04-2017): The Manga Time Kirara volume releases for June have been put up. The Kirara Forward manga volumes to be released in June include the ninth volume of Sō Hamayumiba’s Hanayamata, the second volume of the manga version of Sakura Quest adapted by Iroha Kohinata and the second volume of the above-mentioned Tamayomi. The yonkoma volume releases include the third volume of Kaori Hanzawa’s Comic Girls, the sixth volume of Shōtarō Tokunō’s New Game!, the sixth volume of Yū Tsurusaki’s Hakoiri Drops and the fourth volume of Yuiko Tokumi’s Slow Start.