Mori Kaoru - Shirley (Chi. trans.)
Thu, Mar. 1st, 2007 11:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterLike Emma, this is set in Victorian England. There are four short stories about Shirley Madison, a 13-year-old maid, and her employer.
Since I read this in Chinese, I have absolutely no idea what her employer's name is. The scanlations said "Cranry Bennett," but I'm pretty sure "Cranry" is her last name, not her first. Anyway, I guess I'll refer to her as Ms. Cranly.
Ms. Cranly owns a small coffeeshop; she's single and self-employed and decides to take on Shirley despite Shirley's young age. They have a pseudo-familial relationship: Ms. Cranly gives Shirley a doll, Shirley watches over Ms. Cranly.
Part of me had small squidges related to the fuzziness of the master-servant relationship and the power differential, but really, the stories are so small and sweet that I didn't want to be too grumpy.
I adore Mori's art and her panel layout so much. I found out that Emma, and presumably Shirley, was published in a seinen magazine (? because of the maid fetish thing?), which explains the boxier panels and the more structured layout. But there's this great little sequence where Shirley gets her new maid outfit. She stands in front of the mirror, than slowly discovers the swirly skirt, and a small smile starts to blossom on her face.
It's about two or three pages, all wordless, but you know exactly how she feels.
There are two other maid-related short stories in this volume, "Mary Banks" and "Nellie and I," but my favorites are still the Shirley ones.
Since I read this in Chinese, I have absolutely no idea what her employer's name is. The scanlations said "Cranry Bennett," but I'm pretty sure "Cranry" is her last name, not her first. Anyway, I guess I'll refer to her as Ms. Cranly.
Ms. Cranly owns a small coffeeshop; she's single and self-employed and decides to take on Shirley despite Shirley's young age. They have a pseudo-familial relationship: Ms. Cranly gives Shirley a doll, Shirley watches over Ms. Cranly.
Part of me had small squidges related to the fuzziness of the master-servant relationship and the power differential, but really, the stories are so small and sweet that I didn't want to be too grumpy.
I adore Mori's art and her panel layout so much. I found out that Emma, and presumably Shirley, was published in a seinen magazine (? because of the maid fetish thing?), which explains the boxier panels and the more structured layout. But there's this great little sequence where Shirley gets her new maid outfit. She stands in front of the mirror, than slowly discovers the swirly skirt, and a small smile starts to blossom on her face.
It's about two or three pages, all wordless, but you know exactly how she feels.
There are two other maid-related short stories in this volume, "Mary Banks" and "Nellie and I," but my favorites are still the Shirley ones.
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Fri, Mar. 2nd, 2007 01:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Mar. 2nd, 2007 01:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Mar. 2nd, 2007 01:08 am (UTC)