(L) Ai Yori Aoshi manga discussion

[CrowKenobi]

Volume 17 is out!!
...and wraps up the story pretty nicely, IMHO.

[mdauben]

Originally Posted by CrowKenobi

Volume 17 is out!!

In anticipation, I went back and re-read the other 16 volumes over the last couple week. I just picked up my copy on the way home today, and after dinner sat down and read the whole thing. Twice.

I'm a little sad it's actually over now. Ai Yori Aoshi is one of my favorite anime/manga, and was actually the first manga I started reading. Still, its very nice to finally get the ending of the story, after wanting to know for so long what happened after the end of the anime.

Spoiler for Vol 17:

In one way, I found the final volume just a bit anticlimactic. After all the tension in the last couple volumes, the blow-off came right away, and was over almost at once. (And Kaoru didn't even get to punch out his younger brother!) Most of the volume is actually devoted to Kaoru and Aoi's "first time" and the final parting of all the members of the harem "family". That was all very nice to see, though, and I enjoyed reading it, so I can't really criticise the way they wrapped things up too much.

Oh, and one more thing...

Spoiler for End of Vol 17:

The grown-up Chika and Mayu are both hot!

[Jiji]

A couple of months ago, I put vol 17 on an amazon order with some other stuff that isn't going to be available until the end of this month. At the time I did that, I thought it'd be okay, I could live with it. But now seeing you guys talking about it, I'm just DYING here, and I won't get mine until the first few days of Nov.! T_T

Not that it matters, much. I already own the Japanese versions and pretty much know what happens. I wanted to say again a bit of trivia I mentioned pages ago in this thread about the very last pages:

Spoiler:

In the final scene, we see Kaoru in the sarariman uniform, but with an important little twist: in his lapel is not the Japanese flag pin of a civil servant, but the chrysanthemum pin of the Imperial Household Agency. You always hear about how graduates of Todai who go on to civil-service jobs are set for life, but if there's one place to work that's higher in status than the Government, it's the Imperial Household. Kaoru is excellently suited to a job like that, I'd think.

Now that it's finally done, the hunger for MOAR makes me wonder what Kou-sensei is doing for his next project?

[Vexx]

I suppose I should amble over to B&N and snap it up...... urk, I've spent a lot of money on anime/manga this week.

[mdauben]

Originally Posted by Ueda

Spoiler:

In the final scene, we see Kaoru in the sarariman uniform, but with an important little twist: in his lapel is not the Japanese flag pin of a civil servant, but the chrysanthemum pin of the Imperial Household Agency. You always hear about how graduates of Todai who go on to civil-service jobs are set for life, but if there's one place to work that's higher in status than the Government, it's the Imperial Household. Kaoru is excellently suited to a job like that, I'd think.

So that's what that is! I noticed it when I read the manga, but I didn't realize the significance of it. Good work, Kaoru!

[rooboy]

Originally Posted by Ueda

Now that it's finally done, the hunger for MOAR makes me wonder what Kou-sensei is doing for his next project?

I've been wondering this for a while as well. I read somewhere that he was going to have a one-shot, and then nothing since then.

[mdauben]

Originally Posted by Ueda

Now that it's finally done, the hunger for MOAR makes me wonder what Kou-sensei is doing for his next project?

Good questions. I'm supprised we have not heard anything yet, given that the Japanese run of Ai Yori Aoshi ended over a year ago now.

Checking in wiki, the entry for Kou-sensei says:

His current work is Umi no Misaki, serialized in Young Animal Magazine starting 5th issue of 2007.

I can't find much of any informtion on the series, however, other than this picture:



If it became available in english (either through scanlations or licencing) I would pick it up in a second, just based on how much I liked Ai Yori Aoshi.

[Jiji]

Snooping around on the Young Animal site, I found out that the first tankoubon has been released of this series.

海の御先
ウミノミサキ
■出版社： 白泉社
■著者名： 文月晃
■ISBNコード： 9784592144816
■判型/頁 ： Ｂ６判
■定価： 530円（税込）
■発売日： 2007/09/28

I'll post again if I find out more. ^_^

[Alexandrite]

The B&N in my town finally stocked it. Why this one was shrink-wrapped when some of the others in the series, and some other series entirely were not, I do not know.

Spoiler:

The meeting of the brothers had far less impact than I was hoping for. Disappointing, but I'm sure part of that was because I wanted to see Kaoru beat his brother into the floor.

The girls' kissing attack on Kaoru made me chuckle. Poor Kaoru looks so confused, and Aoi's in the background losing it.

Seeing the cast four years later was also a nice touch. I love how Chika turns out, but seeing Taeko with that short hair just... seems weird. Though it's apparently true that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Though I was kind of hoping to see some kids from Aoi and Kaoru...

Parts of this volume would have struck me as very odd if I were one of the people that had caught up with the serialized version of it. Almost three chapters devoted to their lovemaking, and chapters for reminiscing without going too far forward. I suppose that since Young Animal is released twice a month, it's not so bad, but it seems to me that reading the full volume helps the ending better overall.

That said, I believe it wraps up the story quite nicely, and I liked how the meaning of the title was presented in chapter 139. Touching. ^^

Looking back, it has been quite a few years since I started collecting this series, and it's been about $170 in total for all of it. This only helps remind me that time flys by rather quickly and that I spend quite a bit on my hobbies. I say it's worth it though - this is definitely one of my favorite series. I hope to see more of Kou Fumizuki's work in the future, so I'm eager to see a license or scanlation of Umi no Misaki in the future.

And thus, another series is completed on my wall of manga. Good times.

[mdauben]

Originally Posted by Alexandrite

Why this one was shrink-wrapped when some of the others in the series, and some other series entirely were not, I do not know.

Spoiler for Shrinkwraped?:

I would imagine it was due to the fact that Koaru and Aoi were explicitly having sex in this volume. Despite the fact that there was a fair amount of fanservice and nudity through the whole series, this was the first time they showed anything like that.

Or maybe it was just to discourage grazing by the "manga cows"?

Spoiler:

The meeting of the brothers had far less impact than I was hoping for. Disappointing, but I'm sure part of that was because I wanted to see Kaoru beat his brother into the floor.

That was pretty much my only complaint. The way the rest of the book wrapped up the overall story was just fine with me, but the resolution to that particular story arc was a bit disappointing. I was just expecting a more exciting climax there.

Spoiler for Aoi's Father:

Although it isn't really a complaint about the story, I guess I was a little disappointed in Aoi's father. Right to the end he kept grumbling "I don't approve of him" even after Aoi told him she would walk away from the family before giving up Kaoru (and despite the fact that his wife even was supporting Aoi's decision) he still would not relent. I guess maybe I was spoiled by the somewhat happier father/daughter resolution at the end of the first season of the anime and was hoping that it would finally sink in that Kaoru was the one for her, and that he and Aoi would not end up estranged.

Spoiler:

The girls' kissing attack on Kaoru made me chuckle. Poor Kaoru looks so confused, and Aoi's in the background losing it.

Hehe! Yeah, I liked that too. A nice way to mark the end of the harem.

[Vexx]

Particularly the Chika "attack" ... full on as usual.

Anyway... simple nudity doesn't/shouldn't evoke shrinkwrap (especially in a nonsexual context).

Spoiler for for those who haven't read it yet:

However, in this volume several chapters of obvious lovemaking definitely rates it even though it was pretty much tasteful. I thought the camera angles on Aoi first undressed were pretty odd and somewhat unattractive but whatever... basically, look at the shrinkwrap as "protecting the parents" ... we must protect the parents and their naive ideas (long laughter)

The resolution of the family dilemma seemed "too easy"? And I suspect there were some nuances lost in translation concerning Aoi's father.

The only real complaints I had was that I read the whole thing in about 10 minutes. There was actually very little dialog and the thread closures seemed a bit pedantic.
I was disappointed in the artwork for some of the last scenes (e.g. Chika's friends got sketched rather than drawn).

The epilog was pretty nice with a lot of little hints of "life goes on" and some things are never quite resolved.

This is probably the longest duration manga read I've encountered in my adventures with manga (most of the other series were near completion so I just snapped them up). However, now I have several obviously-going-to-be-long-run manga in progress. AYA was the first though. Love Hina was the first long manga series I read but it was mostly done when I joined in.

[mdauben]

Originally Posted by Ueda

Snooping around on the Young Animal site, I found out that the first tankoubon has been released of this series.

I guess my real question would be, does anyone know what this series is about? I would guess that it's probably another romantic comedy, but what is the basic story?

[Jiji]

Originally Posted by mdauben

I guess my real question would be, does anyone know what this series is about? I would guess that it's probably another romantic comedy, but what is the basic story?

snooping further produced this:

東京から遠く離れた南海の孤島に一人で来た少年、後藤凪はそこで可憐な少女、鳴海雫に出会う。彼女はこの島 に伝わる「龍神伝説」を彼に話したが、その伝説は二人の運命を大きく変えるものだった…。純愛漫画の傑作『 藍より青し』の文月晃が贈る、南の島での新たな恋愛物語の始まりです。　2007年9月刊。

A man comes alone to the solitary islands of the south, from Tokyo. There Gatou meets an innocent sweet girl; Narumi Rei. The girl has a role on that island as the means of handing down the "Folklore of the Dragon King", as she tells him, however, this folklore would forever change the two's fate on a grand scale...
This is a masterpiece of a manga of pure love, created by Fumuzuki Kou, creator of "Aoi Yori Aoshi". The fresh new love story about the island of the south, coming Sept 2007.

For the interested, both my recent posts came from here:
http://www.s-book.com/plsql/com2_det...=9784592144816

[Tri-ring]

One thing I like to clarify concerning Kaoru's occupation.

Spoiler for Kaoru's occupation:

The badge on his lapel is a dandelion not a chrysanthemum meaning he became a lawer. A chrysanthemum badge is for member of the diet(statesperson).

As for synopsis for Umi no Misaki, I posted here.
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...9&postcount=96

[UPR]

Originally Posted by Tri-ring

As for synopsis for Umi no Misaki, I posted here.
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...9&postcount=96

very interesting and defenitly something worth checking out.

[Tri-ring]

Originally Posted by UPR

very interesting and defenitly something worth checking out.

If you want to know more here is the overview.

Spoiler for Overview of Volume 1:

Nagi transfering to the local school meets Shizuku again and greets her fondly but to his surpirse she answers back that she had never met him before and not to talk to her again.
Karin after class pulls Nagi where they can talk privately and starts warning him as a new comer he needs to understand and obey customs of the land when Soyogi steps in demanding to know the relationship with Nagi and Shizuku. Soyogi then whispers to Karin if she had explained to Nagi the situation that encapsulate the three female protagonists. Nagi not understanding the situation pulls Karin by the shoulder demanding what this is all about when Soyogi twists Nagi's wrist into submission. Nagi pleas Soyogi to stop with no use when Soyogi notices Shizuku staring at the whole ordeal from a distance.
Soyogi cools her temper understanding the silent warning by Shizuku that Nagi as an outsider does not understand the customs and calls Karin to follow leaving Nagi alone.
The same day after school Nagi is asked by Rinne, baby sister of Karin, to take a stroll with her where she leads her to Karin at the beach in which Karin was cleansing herself in preperation for the secret ceremony.
Karin noticing Nagi's presence asks him if he believes in god. Nagi jerks in caution as a sign to Karin that he has no interest in dubious religious cults. Karin answers back that that would be the normal response and then further explains that as an outsider of the island he may not understand the customs but he will gain a glimpse if he attends the ceremony.
Somedays after before sunrise, Ms. Kisaragi teacher at high school wakes Nagi to join her to attend the Ryushinsai, an ancient ceremony off-limits to outsiders without special permission. On their way she tells Nagi that she majored in ancient folklore at college and that she always wanted to attend this ceremony. She also asks him if he had ever heard of the Ryujin(Dragon god) legend about the dragon god falling in love with a female of this island. Then she point out a shrine that that is the place they worship the dragon god and that there is a priestess that attends to serve the god.
At sunrise with the bellow of a drum Shizuku presents herself in front of the crowd in her priestess attire. Everyone bows before her.
Kisaragi noticing Nagi empty faced, forcefully grabs his head into a bowing position and explains that she suspected Shizuku to be the priestess then points out that the priestess has two roles, one being a servant of the dragon god and the other to be offered as sacrifice in case of a natural disaster. Therefore revered secret next to god.
Then the drum bellows again, this time Karin and Soyogi appears in the same attire as Shizuku and the ceremony comes to an end where all attendants individually steps foward to Shizuku to give her their blessings.
Lastly it is nagi's turn where as the one before him had done bows and touches her hand with their forehead when she whispers to him why had he agreed in becoming one of the islanders which caught him off gaurd.
As he was about to leave the premises Rinne asks Nagi to come to the shrine again tonight. Nagi thinking he was ask to help her clean up agrees and comes again that night. Rinne welcomes Nagi and asks to change into these robes. Changing his clothes, he notice that the robes Rinne past to him looks similar to the priestess's robe in which Shizuku had wore that morning, when he noticed Rinne had grabbed his hand and was greeting him in the same posture he made that morning in greeting Shizuku.
Continues...

[UPR]

Originally Posted by Tri-ring

If you want to know more here is the overview.

Spoiler for Overview of Volume 1:

Nagi transfering to the local school meets Shizuku again and greets her fondly but to his surpirse she answers back that she had never met him before and not to talk to her again.
Karin after class pulls Nagi where they can talk privately and starts warning him as a new comer he needs to understand and obey customs of the land when Soyogi steps in demanding to know the relationship with Nagi and Shizuku. Soyogi then whispers to Karin if she had explained to Nagi the situation that encapsulate the three female protagonists. Nagi not understanding the situation pulls Karin by the shoulder demanding what this is all about when Soyogi twists Nagi's wrist into submission. Nagi pleas Soyogi to stop with no use when Soyogi notices Shizuku staring at the whole ordeal from a distance.
Soyogi cools her temper understanding the silent warning by Shizuku that Nagi as an outsider does not understand the customs and calls Karin to follow leaving Nagi alone.
The same day after school Nagi is asked by Rinne, baby sister of Karin, to take a stroll with her where she leads her to Karin at the beach in which Karin was cleansing herself in preperation for the secret ceremony.
Karin noticing Nagi's presence asks him if he believes in god. Nagi jerks in caution as a sign to Karin that he has no interest in dubious religious cults. Karin answers back that that would be the normal response and then further explains that as an outsider of the island he may not understand the customs but he will gain a glimpse if he attends the ceremony.
Somedays after before sunrise, Ms. Kisaragi teacher at high school wakes Nagi to join her to attend the Ryushinsai, an ancient ceremony off-limits to outsiders without special permission. On their way she tells Nagi that she majored in ancient folklore at college and that she always wanted to attend this ceremony. She also asks him if he had ever heard of the Ryujin(Dragon god) legend about the dragon god falling in love with a female of this island. Then she point out a shrine that that is the place they worship the dragon god and that there is a priestess that attends to serve the god.
At sunrise with the bellow of a drum Shizuku presents herself in front of the crowd in her priestess attire. Everyone bows before her.
Kisaragi noticing Nagi empty faced, forcefully grabs his head into a bowing position and explains that she suspected Shizuku to be the priestess then points out that the priestess has two roles, one being a servant of the dragon god and the other to be offered as sacrifice in case of a natural disaster. Therefore revered secret next to god.
Then the drum bellows again, this time Karin and Soyogi appears in the same attire as Shizuku and the ceremony comes to an end where all attendants individually steps foward to Shizuku to give her their blessings.
Lastly it is nagi's turn where as the one before him had done bows and touches her hand with their forehead when she whispers to him why had he agreed in becoming one of the islanders which caught him off gaurd.
As he was about to leave the premises Rinne asks Nagi to come to the shrine again tonight. Nagi thinking he was ask to help her clean up agrees and comes again that night. Rinne welcomes Nagi and asks to change into these robes. Changing his clothes, he notice that the robes Rinne past to him looks similar to the priestess's robe in which Shizuku had wore that morning, when he noticed Rinne had grabbed his hand and was greeting him in the same posture he made that morning in greeting Shizuku.
Continues...

well it looks good. I hope the author keeps it light-hearted like he did with Ai Yori Aoshi.

Spoiler for part of I did not like:

The part with serving the god, and the god fall in love with a person from the island i really did not like that part. Especially the falling in love part. I hope it does not lead to something bad (hope you understand what im trying to say, with that part)

[Jiji]

Originally Posted by Tri-ring

One thing I like to clarify concerning Kaoru's occupation.

Spoiler for Kaoru's occupation:

The badge on his lapel is a dandelion not a chrysanthemum meaning he became a lawer. A chrysanthemum badge is for member of the diet(statesperson).

After looking at the page for Japan's law association, I am forced to admit that Tri-ring might be right. It's hard to tell from the drawing, but it doesn't look definitely like a chrysanthemum. Either way, Kaoru is doing okay for himself and his family.

I agree with Vexx when he said that there were probably nuances in Aoi's interaction with/rebellion against her Father that were lost in translation (and more to the point, "localiziation" that TP does). I think the anime might have captured the formality and nuance a *little* better in those last scenes.

I think that when you consider the audience for this manga in Young Animal, a disapproving father-in-law is probably a fairly familiar trope to the readers, at least a portion of them, which is why there's no tied-up happy ending so far as Kaoru and Sakuraba-sama are concerned. Still, the more I think about it, the more I think that the ending is one of the few things the anime did better than the manga.

Umi no Misaki: I guess I just can't get a feel for this one yet...maybe once someone (please, please oh please) scanlates it. :P

[mdauben]

Originally Posted by Ueda

Either way, Kaoru is doing okay for himself and his family.

I think this was supposed to be shown by the apartment, too. Just judging from the illustrations, and from the way Tina was checking everything out, I got the impression that their furinishing were all high-end stuff, which would also argue he is doing okay financially.

Still, the more I think about it, the more I think that the ending is one of the few things the anime did better than the manga.

I kind of agree with that sentiment. After all, Aoi's mother seemed to accept things fairly early one (judging by her reaction when she and Miyabi confronted Aoi at Kaoru's old apartment early in the series) so it seemed like Aoi and Kaoru were going to all these lengths to hide there relationship mainly to appease her father. The fact that they went through all that for literally years and in the end she still ended up estranged from her father kind of made all they went through pointless.

[Vexx]

Hmmm, not entirely pointless ... Aoi finally decided that the charade and the consequences were just not worth it - particularly if her father had *anything* to do with the deceit engaged on her. It isn't stated but I think *I* would be suspicious of my father at this point. Aoi-dad doesn't seem to be willing to cross Aoi-mom directly though (despite her calibrated "submission" to his wishes) but such is the fun of a powerful family household.