tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5114353219480265259.post6665658593919224901..comments2024-01-07T14:25:51.724-08:00Comments on Sgt. Tanuki's Lonely Hearts Club Blog: Saimon Fumi: Tokyo Love Story (1988-1990)Tanukihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00010917992146986329noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5114353219480265259.post-82630075815105712682011-08-29T16:53:33.604-07:002011-08-29T16:53:33.604-07:00I read "Dokyusei" quite early in my read...I read "Dokyusei" quite early in my reading-Japanese career, so early that I don't remember much of it (and properly understood even less, no doubt). Maybe I'll give Asunaro Hakusho a try.Matthttp://no-sword.jp/blog/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5114353219480265259.post-22292700061643953672011-08-29T07:22:40.057-07:002011-08-29T07:22:40.057-07:00Good point about Rika being a wish-fulfillment fig...Good point about Rika being a wish-fulfillment figure for ossan and otaku. I mean, I think I can make a case for why she's attracted to Nagao (it has to do with the somewhat forced comparison of Ehime to Africa), but even so, you have to ask (in the immortal words of Joe Jackson), is she really going out with him?<br /><br />Actually, while I still find her a positive and satisfying character, I have to admit there's been a lot of discussion of her around here lately, since we both read the manga. (The missus had only seen the TV series before - which she, too, speaks highly of - I have to check it out.) Mrs. Sgt. T points out that for all the positive spin on Rika's international background, she's still a stereotype of kikoku shijo, and an influential one. Mrs. Sgt. T happens to be a kikoku shijo herself, and having spent some of her formative years outside of Japan and the rest of her life being called unJapanese because of it, this is something of a sore point with her.<br /><br />You're right about Nagasaki. I thought she was just another one of Mikami's bimbos, but she ended up being an effective echo of Sekiguchi (thus revealing what it was that Mikami saw in her) and then an individual in her own right (incidentally lending some diversity to the manga's depiction of Tokyo, as well: it's not all exotic Pixie Dream Girls).<br /><br />There's just too much to love about this manga. Have you read any of Saimon's other work? I haven't yet. I feel like Asunaro is the next place to go, although (because?) I hear it's very similar to Tokyo Love Story.Tanukihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00010917992146986329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5114353219480265259.post-3439934733671567432011-08-28T17:12:35.147-07:002011-08-28T17:12:35.147-07:00I also love this one. Did you ever watch the TV se...I also love this one. Did you ever watch the TV series? Definitely worth checking out if the period detail in the manga was your thing. Cheesy, but totally iconic.<br /><br />Re the character of Rika, I have to say that while I agree with your analysis, there's something unsatisfying about her character. She's very close to what the hip kids these days call a Manic Pixie Dream Girl: a beautiful, supernatural young woman who appears out of nowhere, inexplicably fixates on some schmoe, teaches him to love and to wonder, and then vacates the scene so he can return to his normal life (and normal girlfriend) a better person. (Oh, and she's also supernaturally good at her job.)<br /><br />She does have that non-pixie back-and-also-ongoing-story that comes out eventually (which is, tellingly, cut down drastically in the TV series), but even that is almost 100% about another nonstandard romantic relationship. By contrast, Nagao, Sekiguchi, and Mikami are mostly concerned with romantic entanglements, but they still feel like they came from and are going somewhere real. <br /><br />I will grant though that painting Rika as a mysterious and rootless (tied in with the kikoku shijo thing, for sure) ambassador from the Planet of Freedom helps make her part in the Tokyo/countryside contrast theme very clear.<br /><br />I also want to give a shout-out to Nagasaki, who I thought was an excellently drawn character -- at first you think she's basically a prop, but that's not how it ends up, even if the plot points she is involved in are a bit cliched.Matthttp://no-sword.jp/blog/noreply@blogger.com