Nishikata Mai - Venus Capriccio, vol. 01-05 (Chi. trans.)
Wed, Aug. 19th, 2009 10:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterHabara Takami and Sasaki Akira are childhood friends, and Takami has always thought of Akira as her little sister because he's so feminine and delicate while she's not. Akira, however, has decidedly non-sibling-like feelings for Takami that mostly go unnoticed by her.
I picked up this series largely because I was interested in the older girl/younger guy set up (she's two years older) and the possible gender play, but was mostly disappointed in that respect. Although the series does have some romance in it, most of it is about Akira's piano playing. Takami plays piano as well, but he's the genius while she is mostly the muse that makes him play with emotion, as opposed to mechanically.
Although there are a few good moments throughout the series re: Takami taking the lead in certain aspects, the series largely falls prey to the standard shoujo problems of making the heroine the warm shoulder for the hero to lean on, prioritizing the hero's angst over the heroine, and making the hero's story and development the main narrative.
Added to that, there are a few moments of "let us have Takami wandering about in a possibly tempting fashion to make Akira's control break and do the whole 'you are a girl and you must remember guys cannot control themselves' thing to further the romantic plot." I am not picking on this series in particular, as it is in a ton of shoujo and romance novels, but it annoys me because it feeds into the rape myth that men cannot control themselves when aroused, that women are responsible for controlling that, and that this is a good method to demonstrate romantic regard.
Some of me was disappointed in less romance, especially because I think the mangaka could have put in more gender role play there. Some of me might not have been so annoyed by the focus on piano had it not all been on Akira's piano playing and Takami as inspiration, along with the frequent assertion that Takami was just not as good.
Overall, the focus on the music is nice, but the series has too many episodic bits and in the end, it doesn't distinguish itself from many other shoujo series for me.
I picked up this series largely because I was interested in the older girl/younger guy set up (she's two years older) and the possible gender play, but was mostly disappointed in that respect. Although the series does have some romance in it, most of it is about Akira's piano playing. Takami plays piano as well, but he's the genius while she is mostly the muse that makes him play with emotion, as opposed to mechanically.
Although there are a few good moments throughout the series re: Takami taking the lead in certain aspects, the series largely falls prey to the standard shoujo problems of making the heroine the warm shoulder for the hero to lean on, prioritizing the hero's angst over the heroine, and making the hero's story and development the main narrative.
Added to that, there are a few moments of "let us have Takami wandering about in a possibly tempting fashion to make Akira's control break and do the whole 'you are a girl and you must remember guys cannot control themselves' thing to further the romantic plot." I am not picking on this series in particular, as it is in a ton of shoujo and romance novels, but it annoys me because it feeds into the rape myth that men cannot control themselves when aroused, that women are responsible for controlling that, and that this is a good method to demonstrate romantic regard.
Some of me was disappointed in less romance, especially because I think the mangaka could have put in more gender role play there. Some of me might not have been so annoyed by the focus on piano had it not all been on Akira's piano playing and Takami as inspiration, along with the frequent assertion that Takami was just not as good.
Overall, the focus on the music is nice, but the series has too many episodic bits and in the end, it doesn't distinguish itself from many other shoujo series for me.
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Wed, Aug. 19th, 2009 03:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Sat, Aug. 22nd, 2009 04:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 19th, 2009 04:05 pm (UTC)Speaking as a guy heading into middle age, the older I get, the more impatient I am with the idea that guys can't control themselves. When I was young, it just befuddled me -- now, I waver between "grow UP" and "real men don't make excuses". With varying degrees of irritation or anger, depending.
---L.
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Thu, Aug. 20th, 2009 11:01 am (UTC)When I was young, it just befuddled me -- now, I waver between "grow UP" and "real men don't make excuses".
I wish more guys thought like that! (ETA: and women too, since I keep seeing it perpetuated in books/manga written by women for women and girls!)