Tsuda Masami - Kare Kano, vol. 21 (Eng. trans.)

[oyceter]

WTF?! WTF?!

GAAAAAH!

*chucks book at wall*

WTF?! ($*&%)(*@#$*&#@!!!!!!!!

GAH! EW! EW! EW!

Just... GAH! WTF?!

Right, whole sentences. Just.. but... WTF?!

*sputters*

I could not even really read the whole thing, I was THAT DISTURBED! I just scanned! Tsuda! WHAT THE HELL?!

EW!

EW!

EW!

*sputters*

So there are ways to get out of the strange homosexual tension between two guys, even if both aren't gay and one is happily married to his pregnant high school girlfriend (and to think I thought it couldn't possibly get more GAH than that). I would like to say that having one guy essentially raise his friends' daughter and fall in love with her and have her confess she loves him back... when she is in TENTH GRADE... and he is FIFTEEN YEARS OLDER than her.... I would like to say that this is most emphatically NOT THE BEST SOLUTION.

ALLCAPS OF RAGE AND DISGUST.

Also, this is minor compared to that, but, wow, so everyone ends up wildly successful except Yukino?! WTF?!

Also also, not just Yukino and Arima get married out of high school, step siblings Tsubasa and Kazuma do too?! I was sort of ok with them as a couple at first, but not anymore!

GAH!

Wow did this series jump the shark, and how. I am also irritated that the series summary in the beginning has one paragraph on Yukino, two on Yukino and Arima as a couple, and then three long, involved paragraphs on Arima's traumatic past. Note to Tsuda: I liked this series because of Yukino. I liked her because she was spazzy and ambitious and not your standard shoujo heroine.

In conclusion: OMGWTFBBQ WILL NEVER READ TSUDA AGAIN.

*runs to scrub brain out*

ETA: Perfect summary of how I feel (spoilery). Though I like Tsuda's asides. And I whole-heartedly disagree with the last panel.

Comments

[ginny-t.livejournal.com]

*pets* Yep, me too. So oogy. I have problems with teacher-student relationships, and this is miles beyond that. *twitch*

I was freaked out by that throwaway "Arima's dead so I married Asapin", too.

At first, I didn't mind that Yukino was a mediocre plastic surgeon (nice choice of careers, Ms. Not-what-you-think-I-am!) - I saw it as her allowing herself to relax. But considering that she wasn't the main force in raising her kids, then where'd all her drive go? Someone who reviewed it (possibly the person who did that comic) grumbled about it being an argument for genetic determination. In that light, it is pretty awful.

But yeah, the series definitely went beyond its "sweet spot". Much to far beyond it. :/

[oyceter]

ZOMG SO DISTURBING.

I could see it coming from the beginning (also, why in the world end the last volume of a series about Arima and Yukino with the love life of a supporting character?!) and hoped against hope that it wouldn't happen. Alas, in vain.

I was so pissed off about the "Arima's dead" joke. At that point, I had completely lost faith in Tsuda and figured she might actually do that.

I saw the note about genetic determinism as well... really disturbing.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Wow. Maybe I won't bother reading any farther in this after all.

[oyceter]

How far are you? It's actually still pretty good -- I think once you get to around v. 16, it goes into Arima's past and his father and etc., which was interesting but also annoying because for once, I want a series to focus not on the angsty hero, but on the heroine. Damnit. And then v. 20 throws in the stupid, stupid, stupid pregnancy/let's get married! thing. And it doesn't so much go downhill as take a direct plunge into the lowest circles of hell.

[octopedingenue]

So glad I stopped with the anime so I can fond memories of the canon sex and the popsicle stick episode.

[oyceter]

I now wish I had just watched the anime too.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'm really glad I returned all the Kare Kano's to the library unread. Where's the brain bleach when you need it, eh?

[oyceter]

The really sad thing is that it was a great shoujo series with pretty good characters in the beginning too!

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I believe I literally screamed when I got to the throwaway joke about Yukino marrying Asapin. It all went downhill from there.

I now feel bad because I recced the series to a few people back when I was still on volume 8 or so.

[oyceter]

*froths at mouth* I could see it going downhill from the opening chapter (WTF Tsuda? I don't care about Asaba ending up with his soul mate! People can be happy even if they are single! I know it is hard to believe!) and saw the squickiness coming from "She'll be a girl. I know it."

*scrubs brain out*

I wish I could go back and have never read this.

[shati.livejournal.com]

Oh, woe! I really love the first few volumes (which is all I've read). And most of that is because Yukino is an awesome character. Maybe I will, um. Pretend that's all there is.

I can't stop giggling over this, though:

In volume 15 you had a mother stabbing a four year old with scissors and in your freetalk section you said "I've come to realize that I'm really into cloth." WTF?!!

Cloth is pretty nifty!

[oyceter]

The first few volumes are awesome. In fact, it continues to be awesome pretty far down the line. I would, however, avoid the last two volumes like mad, and I personally think I could have lived without the "Woe Arima has angst!" storylines that come up in the latter volumes.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

If I was to start, where should I stop?

[oyceter]

It's still pretty good all the way up to 18 or so, possibly even 19. But honestly, I might just watch the anime. I've heard it comes to a dead stop in the middle of stuff and has no conclusion, but really, no one needs a conclusion like this one.

Also, Insane!Yukino from the first two episodes will never cease to amuse me (and there is an EVA parody, hee).

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

I'm one of the -- admittedly few, but just to air a differing opinion -- people who think the anime ended nicely. It wrapped up the current (important) storylines. Yes, there was a sense of things to come, that this wasn't the be-all-and-end-all of these characters, and there were interesting futures ahead of them -- but I think that worked nicely with the themes and the setting of high school.

But then, I'm also one of the people who think the ending of Shoujo Kakumei Utena was perfect. So. *shrug*

[oyceter]

Oh no, that's good to hear. I only ever got halfway through the anime, so all the stuff about the ending is based on hearsay anyway.

Utena! Utena did have the perfect ending!

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Did you see the cutouts-on-popsicle-sticks episode, at least? Because I can't imagine going though life without those images in my brain. ;)

Utena totally had the perfect ending.

[oyceter]

I only saw bits, when my friend ran over and flapped her hands at me and squeed something incoherent about sticks! Puppets on sticks! But it was awesome! I want to finish watching the series again just for that!

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

I want to finish watching the series again just for that!

And a cartoon cameo of Anno Hideaki in the same episode. *g*

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

1 -- That comic "summary" was awesome, thank you for the link. The line "Is this because you're Japanese?" had me laughing out loud.

2 -- I feel like there should be a name for this kind of thing -- "Jumping Tracks" syndrome or something. Whenever a long series takes an abrupt turn for the worse/confusing, I suspect the author discovered they were becoming bored with the idea they'd originally committed to and just started writing a new one without, um, switching titles. (I see this happen in books, too, but it becomes more obvious with manga.) There was a distinct point in Kare Kano where I felt like Yukino had become a side character, which irked me. A lot. The new story wasn't BAD, just... not what I signed up for.

Volume 21 sounds bad, though.

[oyceter]

Yeah... I agree with you re: #2. It irks me even more because I've already read several shoujo series in which the heroine gets shoved further and further to the sidelines in order for the hero's angsty past to be resolved or something, and then she ends up just being the prize for him, or the magic wand that makes healing possible, as opposed to her own person.

Siiiiiigh.