/jp/ - Otaku Culture

I managed to collect a few things I have to say about the first novel, since I finished it last night. Since there are translations available, I'm not going to focus on differences necessarily, but things that jumped out at me.

It was nice how at first, when people are coming to try and get a look at this 'Fukuzawa Yumi', her classmates cover for her by saying she's stepped out. It stood out to me as an ideal example of social responsibility to a member of one's community... because Yumi is part of their class (admittedly, the fact that it's Yumi is also probably a factor), they try and protect her.

I was surprised at hyperaware Yumi is of Sachiko's physical presence. That isn't something that I felt was conveyed in the anime. I suppose I underestimated quite how much of a fangirl she was, I didn't realize that physical proximity to Sachiko made her quite that squirrely. It's rather cute. I'm also surprised that the author chose to have Yumi directly compare her reactions to Sachiko and her reactions in similar situations with other characters as much as she did. It really emphasized how important, and how unique a presence Sachiko is in Yumi's world. I find it interesting that while the west has a pretty distinct line between 'homo' and 'hetero', Japan has this convenient little box called 'admiration' that they shove all the grey areas of intense fangirling into.

I thought that the encouragement and motivation Yumi gained from Sachiko boasting about her (not really how I should phrase it, but roughly equivalent) was touching. It was well reflected in the amount of extra practice that Yumi put in on her own time.