The Bones of Pride & Prejudice: Why It Has Lasted

On Votaries I discuss how much my mom loved Jane Austen. 

Here I am reposting from 2019 why Austen's most celebrated novel, Pride & Prejudice, has lasted.  

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There are many reasons why Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice has lasted, and some of them are unrelated to the actual writing. However, I think the actual writing should get a substantial amount of credit.

A modernized M/M romance version of Pride & Prejudice: Out, Proud, and Prejudiced by Megan Reddaway illustrates why.

Reddaway adapts the locations and characters, specifically the Bennett family, to modern life. The "sisters" are now male friends/roommates sharing a house in a small college town in England. Bingley (Tim) and Darcy (Darius) arrive in the town, where Tim plans to buy an art gallery. The Elizabeth character, renamed Bennett (first name), is attending the local college, where he is majoring in hospitality.

Darius's family home, Pemberley, is now part-family home and part-wedding/convention center. His aunt runs the place (but is not the owner). Darius himself is a lawyer. And the Wickham character is a swarmy guy who attaches himself to a reality cooking show camera crew in order to pick up dirt on people.

Reddaway sticks to the plot points. She also sticks to the character's motivations. Bennett is ticked at Darius for being a jerk in their initial meeting (at a dance club). He acknowledges later that he may have misread Darius's dryly sarcastic comments. He regrets his misreading of Darius's character and his mistaken trust in Wickham. He holds his poor judgment (pride and prejudice) to account for that misreading.

Bennett does engage in an excursion to Brighton (Rosings) where he and Darius go rock-climbing together and begin to form a tentative friendship. It backfires when yes, Darius does separate his friend Tim from Bennett's friend, Jamie, who is romantically holding out for a big wedding day. Jamie's reserve and lack of easy emotional connection make it easy for Tim and Darius to doubt his intentions. (Jamie later forgives Tim in a manner that Bennett considers way too accommodating; Bennett then shrugs his shoulders and allows that both Jamie and Tim will have to figure their relationship out on their own.)

Bennett's friend Charlotte does in fact marry a waffling guy, Callum, who owes Bennett money.

Bennett does visit Pemberley--to work. And he does meet Darius's sweet, quiet brother. And he does begin to question what he actually knows. And yes, Darcy's aunt is a bossy, single-minded dragon lady.

Wickham does try to take advantage of non-brothers Kofi and Leon (Kitty and Lydia). However, in one of the book's hilarious twists, although Wickham's smutty movies (with bad editing) put Bennett and his college advisors at risk, Kofi and Leon are entirely indifferent to what people think about them.

However, the targeted characters are forced to consider how much money to pay out to stop Wickham. Darius does, behind the scenes, help the police get Wickham pulled in on other charges.

And the aunt, Catherine Brackenbrough, does try to get Bennett to promise to never date Darius by offering him a potential internship that he truly needs. Bennett naturally refuses, which naturally gets back to Darius, which naturally results in Darius showing up at the roommates' house.

All the same elements. I concluded that the reason they work--even updated, modernized, and turned into a M/M as opposed to M/F romance--is because Austen's series of events are organic. They may seem contrived when written out separately (oh, sure, Elizabeth/Bennett just happens to show up at Pemberley) but they really aren't. The world of gentry folk was not that big--people did keep running into each other. The world of hospitality--caterers, hosts, etc.--is not that big either, not for a newly graduated college student looking for a job.

Austen created a realistic series of events that still surprise and delight us without crossing the line into pure melodrama and gaping plot holes. Her characterizations support events and events support characterizations. Although we can see how foolish Lady Catherine is to challenge Elizabeth--and then tell Darcy--Lady Catherine is exactly the type of person who cannot see that she is shooting herself in the kneecaps. She misjudges Elizabeth/Bennett. Her sense of offense leads her to reveal how "rude" Elizabeth/Bennett was to Darcy/Darius, who accepts the information as a sign.

Pride & Prejudice truly is a fine work of art. The many, many adaptations--from awful to great--reveal its core strengths. Out, Proud, and Prejudiced takes advantage of those core strengths to produce a worthy tribute. 

Appearance & Identity in Manga and Other Works

In the manga series, His Favorite by Suzuki Tanaka, Sato was once a short, fat kid who got mocked by his peers (and defended by Yoshida). After time abroad, he returns tall, svelte, and handsome. 

Tanaka captures a basic truth with Sato (which Bronte also captures with Rochester). Whatever his appearance, he still thinks of himself as THAT kid. In fact, as far as Sato is concerned, he IS that kid. 

Sharyn McCrumb explains the psychology here in Missing Susan. Elizabeth MacPherson is on a tour with a woman, Susan, who had a great deal of cosmetic surgery and physical therapy. Susan is entirely exasperating (and is repeatedly nearly murdered). Fellow tour members explain why to Elizabeth:

"I don't think she's used to interacting socially," says one.

Another states, "She hasn't learned how to stop acting like a wallflower. She's only pretty on the outside; she doesn't believe it yet." 

Years ago, a reality show on television had people get plastic surgery. The plastic surgery was inevitably accompanied by therapy. And truth was, people really didn't change. In one episode, 3 sisters had plastic surgery to remove a genetic inheritance, what the sisters themselves referred to as turkey neck. After, the sisters went on a cruise.

And the one sister who was already straight-forward and confident behaved straight-forward and confident. And the other sisters, who were far less confident acted...exactly the same as they did before. 

With Sato, Tanaka captures a true inner issue: self-esteem honestly has little to do with appearance...unless appearance has been incorporated into a person's identity at a much earlier age. Yoshida is a short kid in high school, but he was the tallest in elementary school and still retains those leadership qualities.     

Assumptions as Disguise; Revelation as True Knowledge

In romance, a lovely version of disguise based on assumptions is when assumptions are set aside and the couple make a connection. Darcy and Elizabeth, of course, are a classic example. Elizabeth especially--since so much of the novel is told from her perspective--sets aside her assumptions about Darcy (based on her own ideas and Wickham's insidious suggestions) to figure out the guy as he is, from his housekeeper, no less! 

In yaoi/MM romance, Winterbourne and Wataya are two great examples. In Joanna Chambers' Introducing Winterbourne, the secondary hero, Adam, realizes that his host for the day, Lysander Winterbourne, is not like his father. His blond good looks and careful tact are not the looks and actions of a self-entitled brainless profligate yuppie (the 19th century equivalent) but those of an insightful and kindly man who would rather be looking after an estate than meeting people in parlors. 

In Cherry Magic, Tsuge originally sees Wataya as a "punk." His magic allows him to see that Wataya is actually a pretty responsible and straightforward guy--who likes cats! 

The "reveal"--the disguise tossed off--happens mentally. It is just as satisfying as a cloak being removed.  

Sato: Transformation to Normal Teen

One of the most fascinating transformations in manga is Sato in His Favorite. 

Sato starts out as a not atypical manga/yaoi/shojo figure: the tall, handsome, aloof, sarcastic, slightly sadistic, intelligent guy who finds ordinary mortals somewhat perplexing. House, MD--but younger. He starts out, in fact, as a kind of non-changing Sherlock Holmes. 

He doesn't stay that way. As he dates Yoshida, he becomes more and more teenager-ish. He gets enthralled by the school trip. He enjoys fireworks. He gets upset and jealous over everyday spats. His peers begin to interact with him more naturally, so that at one point, they defend Yoshida when Sato tries to tease him! Sato even has his own "clique" in which he comes across less as the "pretty boy" and more as a gangling, normally awkward guy who gets invested in the group's various ups and downs and interests. 

The transformation here isn't a mistake. Although His Favorite is one of the funniest ongoing pastiches and spoofs of teenage manga tropes, Sato's transformation from a somewhat nihilistic, indifferent young man to a regular teenage boy is applauded by Yoshida and the author. At one point, the teenage girls bemoan that Sato has lost his superior edge, the "suave" behavior that made him so initially attractive. Sato is disconcerted--but his transformation is already too far gone. He can't go back.

No longer a budding sociopath but a teenage boy with a "favorite," Sato--due to honest, say-it-like-it-is, down-to-earth Yoshida (with whom he has normal fights)--has joined humanity.

Maturity in What Did You Eat Yesterday

On Votaries, my latest A-Z list tackles characters who transform, often carefully and slowly over time. 

One of my favorite slice-of-life examples of this type of change comes from What Did You Eat Yesterday?, namely Shiro's relationship with his parents.

At the beginning of the series, Shiro and Kenji have been together for about 3 years. Shiro has a normal age-40ish fond-but-exasperated relationship with his parents, specifically with his mom. He loves them but...

Consequently, he complains to Kenji about going home for New Year's (which in the U.S. is rather like complaining about going home for Thanksgiving PLUS Christmas).

To Shiro's surprise, Kenji is miffed (see panel). Startled (since Kenji is normally a happy-go-lucky kind-of guy), Shiro agrees to "go be good to his folks." This one-time agreement turns into several years of Shiro spending New Year's at his parents' rebuilding their semi-aloof relationship (they were never estranged, simply not close).

When a later New Year's visit to his parents with Kenji doesn't go well (Shiro's parents request Shiro not to bring Kenji the next year), Shiro decides that he needs to commit more to Kenji--he should be spending his New Year's with his long-term partner. He should invest (see post on Ross and Rachel) in the relationship that will probably see him into old age.

He informs his parents in a calm manner of his decision. He is blunt but not angry or blaming, and he assures them that he will still visit to help them with cleaning, hospital stays, and such.

Here's where Fumi Yoshinaga truly excels: although Shiro apologizes to Kenji for leaving him alone for so many New Year's, Shiro was not in fact ready at the beginning of the series to make the decision that he ends up making. His "I don't want to spend New Year's with my parents" at that time was childish (as Kenji recognized). His decision several years later is thought-out and mature.

The outcome might be the same but the thought process, the growth, is completely different. It is a remarkable instance of character building and proves, moreover, that non-melodramatic character growth can be as profound and interesting in its own way as a million soap operatic moments.

Aquariums in Manga and Live Action BL

It is becoming standard to send characters in manga and live action to aquariums.

It happens with such regulatory in Thai BL, I suspect that a particular aquarium is rather like a house in my grandmother's neighborhood in Pasadena. Though it may have burnt down since, the house was one of the places our family would walk past when we visited in my childhood. Someone was nearly always filming there, usually scenes that were supposed to take place in New England (the house has/had that look) complete with fake snow on the ground.

Interestingly, this use has passed from "hey, the aquarium lets us film on their premises!" to a standard date for BL characters, even in manga. That is, the aquarium date has become a trope, much like amusement rides and haunted houses! In the Japanese BL series, Stay by My Side After the Rain, the characters visit an aquarium for their first date after they meet again (since high school).

There is something quite inviting about fish. And the set-up is perfect for action-while-talking. Sitting in a theater is too static. Dancing is too noisy. The aquarium is perfect!

The below is from one of my favorite short manga stories: "Lover's Pledge" by Kae Maurya. The nervous main character and alpha Darcy-like character get to know each other on "innocent" dates.

Shakespeare's Couples: Romeo & Juliet, Part II

Alex Beecroft's M/M Shining in the Sun is a good example of a Romeo & Juliet (or, in this case, Romeo & Romeo) tale working. The main characters, Alec and Darren, come from different social classes. How do they overcome internal and external pressures to part?

Beecroft's answer is for Alec and Darren to acknowledge the stressful differences. When Darren has to meet Alec's well-to-do, Lady Catherine-like mama, he resents being "put on display" as well as the subtle ways in which the mama and the waiters at the fancy restaurant make him feel uncouth. Likewise, when Alec goes to meet Darren's grandmother, he is appalled by the woman's poverty.

The latter scene is fairly brilliant. Darren wants Alec to meet his grandmother; Darren himself has always been impressed by how clean she keeps her tiny house; how hard she works to wear matching slacks and pullovers. Then he sees his grandmother through Alec's eyes. The house is clean but shabby (and lacking in basic amenities). His grandmother's dress is presentable yet threadbare (and Walmart cheap, not haute couture). He resents Alec for this new perspective.

A Juliet and Romeo who seem to 

know what they signed up for.

Both Alec and Darren have to overcome their judgments and resentments in order to move forward. 

Without an acknowledgement of their differences, Romeo & Romeo or Romeo & Juliet or Juliet & Juliet (and so on and so forth) will stall and disintegrate, leaving the reader with the awful instinctual knowledge, "This relationship is doomed--even if nobody dies."

Shakespeare's Couples: When Romeo & Juliet Work, Part I

Despite generations of heart-sick teenagers taking Romeo & Juliet as a blueprint for "success," Shakespeare likely meant it as a cautionary tale--directed more at the parents than the teens.

The Romeo & Juliet trope rests on the premise that two people from opposite sides of the tracks meet and fall in love. Maybe their families are enemies. Maybe one is a liberal and one is a conservative. Maybe one is poor and the other is rich. Maybe one is royalty and the other is an obscure non-royal (Cinderella). Maybe one is a spy or con-artist and the other is the mark.

The tension arises from (1) outside forces stating, "You must not be together." And (2) inner forces stating, "I don't really get you."

Sometimes the tensions are resolved in accordance with the tale's most celebrated example: lots of death. Sometimes it ends with sacrifice and acceptance (Casablanca). Sometimes it ends with an utter lack of realism. And sometimes, if handled correctly, it ends with a sweet, romantic resolution.

The first two are not the focus of this post (despite Casablanca being a great movie). The focus is the last two: what separates the positive romantic unbelievable ending from the positive romantic believable ending.

The difference lies in acknowledgement of the accompanying problems.

In Frasier, Niles meets Daphne's lay-about

brothers and still wants to marry her.

Unrealistic Romeo & Juliet tales focus only on (1) the external forces rather than accepting that (2) internal qualms will have impact.

Internal qualms count because people cannot be magically stripped of their familial/cultural/monetary expectations. There is a reason that most people do, in fact, marry within their "class" (even in America). One reason Austen is so popular even now is that she verbalizes issues that have become taboo in our own culture (every culture has, as Tom Wolfe argued, its own Victorian Gent).

Truth: money and background impact relationships.

Elizabeth can argue fiercely with Lady Catherine de Bourgh that she equates to Darcy since she is a gentleman's daughter. Yet Austen never allows any of her heroines to contemplate marrying a farmhand or a minor clerk in an office. Love conquers all within a specific social milieu.

Austen was not being naive or prejudiced; she was being realistic. Money, where people want to live, how people want to live, their friends, their families, their social settings: all these things are factors in a relationship. To pretend they are not is to leave the door open for worse problems.

Austen perfectly encapsulates these "worse problems" in Sense & Sensibility. At the end of the book, Willoughby--who married for money--regrets that he didn't marry for love. Elinor wisely reflects that if Willoughby had married her sister, he would have ended up resenting their mutual poverty.

So how does a Romeo & Juliet tale end without the couple, in the long run, hating each other's guts because "you estranged me from my family...you buried me in poverty...you forced me to live in a horrible city/country/town...you prevented me from accomplishing what I could have accomplished..."?

Romeo & Juliet Part II

What Makes This Manga Different: Sweet Room Romance

I mention the omniscient lover in a previous post. Sweet Room Romance has a sort of omniscient lover. In truth, thought, Albrecht simply has very good staff. He determines to make Haruto his boyfriend, but that determination originates in his personality, not in "I know best" assumptions. And he is often stymied by Haruto's rather wistful playboy act.

However, what makes the 2-volume series unique isn't the pursuit--though it helps that both men have distinct personalities. What makes it unique is the "hobby."

Granted, in this case, the "hobby" is work. However, for some characters--like Adachi and Kurosawa--work is simply work. They do their best because, well, why not?

For Haruto and Albrecht, however, the hotelier business (as well as travel and interior design) is something they both care about, find interest in. It's a great example of characters bonding over their passions. And it creates opportunities for them to relate to each other.

Consequently, one of the funniest sequences is when Haruto--convinced that Albrecht will be horrified by his choice--takes him to a love hotel in Japan. But Albrecht is fascinated by the "erotic cultural heritage" and starts objectively pondering how the concept of meeting customers' needs could be transferred to fancier settings. 

One of the most touching sequences is when Haruto buys Albrecht cufflinks from the pottery maker who supplies elegant work for the flagship hotel.

I happen to love staying in fancy hotels, when I can afford it. So the series not only works well, I can relate to the protagonists!

Transformation and Disguise in Palace of the Omega

Ilia, an omega, is sent to Hanu to marry the young king, Khalid. The young king is 10 years old but forms a friendship with Ilia and determines to eventually make him his consort. 

The plans are derailed when the king's brother Zayn carries out a coup. Both Khalid and Ilia are presumed dead after one is supposedly killed on a journey and the other jumps from a cliff.  

They find each other 8 years later and they have naturally undergone changes. Khalid's fundamental serious and charismatic character hasn't altered, but he is older and much taller. 

Ilia undergoes a change not in personality--he is still somewhat sarcastic and a bundle of concentrated intent--but in attitude. Though he starts out cynical and indifferent, he grows attached to Khalid for his youthful and innocent earnestness, for his devotion to Hanu, and for his total acceptance of Ilia as his consort and equal. Ilia becomes a believer in something. 

The character development is quite believable since it takes place over time and after personal interactions. 

The series also includes a disguise--namely, Khalid becomes the leader of the rebels without telling others his identity...except they aren't that surprised when he reveals himself...which amuses Ilia to no end. 

Good couple in a story with decent external and internal arcs! The transformations--quite a lot of them--make sense, and the characterizations remain consistent.  

 

Frenemies as Lovers

Black Sun's protagonists start as as enemies. In fact, Leonard is the prisoner of Jamal, a trope that many publishers and readers shy from. I find it at least more honest than some frenemy arrangements, in which the "hostage"-taking is purely emotional (one member of the couple feels indebted to the other). 

However, this type of frenemy relationship works best in historical romances. The current trend of plots where modern-day protagonists form relationships with sociopaths, I admittedly find a tad nihilistic. 

I prefer my frenemies to be rooted not in emotional enthrallment but in personality differences. Leonard and Jamal are different but complementary. In a more modern setting, so are Minato and Shizuma from Therapy Game Restart. 

Minato in the "tacky" shirt

Shizuma bought.

Minato is smart, sharp-tongued, wary, self-aware, uncertain, quick-tempered, and dogged in his commitment. Shizuma is mellow, easy-going (despite being a hard-working and dedicated veterinarian), understanding, and easily romantic. 

Although their relationship is far more fraught with ups and downs than the brothers' relationship (Minato's brother is dating Shizuma's brother), it has grit--and believability. 

Frenemies in romance is best not as a state of continual uncertainty--but as a state of continual negotiations.

Uki Ogasawara's Black Sun

I am reviewing romance "paperbacks"--that is, romance books that do not fall into the "acceptably literary" tradition. 

I love Austen and Heyer and Bronte. 

But I also love romances that don't necessarily fall into the category of so-called Great Literature.

I've reached "U" authors, and I admit to being somewhat stymied. Not many "U" authors at all, let alone in romance! 

I gave myself permission to go with first names as well as last names and to go to manga (which generally speaking, I have been reviewing separately). 

Black Sun by Uki Ogasawara is one of my favorite yaoi manga. One reason is that the characters have distinct personalities and retain those personalities through the 2 volumes. (One problem I note with romance is when characters become instantly "cute"--and follow a script--the moment they fall in love.) 

Below is character analysis from one of my earliest posts on this blog:

Jamal and Leonard's seemingly unlikely compatibility in Black Sun is highlighted by their easy physical "banter."

Character development plays a role here. Despite his spiritual and idealistic nature, Leonard is more than capable of keeping up with Jamal physically. Leonard may have a sweet and ethereal disposition; his desire for touch, for affection, has been a fundamental aspect of his personality from childhood. 

Jamal's larger-than-life persona at first evokes hero-worship from Leonard. But Jamal doesn't want to be set on a pedestal (it's so boring). He provides Leonard with a down-to-earth reality that Leonard never anticipated and finds incredibly restful.

At the end of Black Sun, Leonard still retains his quiet, Gilly-like nature. But he has learned to gently and cleverly tease Jamal back.  

The Disguise of Enaga in Punks Triangle

My latest A-Z List on Votaries looks at character who transform, either internally (they change into better people) or externally (they adopt or shed disguises). The character of Enaga or Ai in Punks Triangle is a great example of the external change.

The trope of external change carries with it loads of problems--in particular, will the disguise truly fool anyone? There's a hilarious scene in Lois & Clark where Tempus teases Lois by mimicking Clark and taking his glasses on and off. How galactically dumb was she?  

The "disguise" of Enaga or Ai, however, rests on something that Agatha Christie uses and that I find quite valid: 

• First, human beings are actually quite awful at recognizing faces. 
• Second, the disguise here is that Enaga not only gives off a different persona in his non-model persona--he is in a different location and behaving in a different way.

Enaga

Chiaki is so sure that his idol exists at a distance that he doesn't see what may seem obvious until it is obvious. 

The manga is quite enchanting, in part because it falls into the same category as Metalhead, a manga about vocations or hobbies. While I don't mind the enormous number of "romance in the office" manga out there, a change in setting is nice!  

Ai

Will Stanton and Barney Drew: Possible Couple

I mention in my review of the Dark is Rising series that I would get Will and Barney together in the future. (In the world of romance, I also think Jane and Bran from the same series would make an interesting couple.) 

The reason isn't only because I think the current ending--Will as the only remaining Old One and character who knows the truth--is rather sad and pointless... 

I also consider it dull.  

Barney is the youngest of the Drews. He is also an artist (like his mother). In the books, he is portrayed as possibly ten or younger. That is, he doesn't appear to age between the first summer and the final denouement. In character, he is entirely insouciant, being one of the few people on the train at the end who is entirely caught up in the moment. He is also, going back further, fascinated by King Arthur and makes some of the earliest, valid connections between clues and quest. 

Possible Barney

I decided that Barney grows up to be a tall, insouciant, happy artist. He never loses his interest in King Arthur. He may even end up on a couple of archaeological digs, and he would, of course, admire the show Time Team. 

Subsequently, he has always wondered if more was going on in Wales than what he and his sister and brother technically remember. And he has always wondered if there is more to Will Stanton than meets the eye. 

(In the books, he is initially the most reluctant to accept Will into their group. He is later, however, the most willing to follow Will's lead.) 

Grown-up Barney does some research in Cambridge or Oxford (a la Gandalf doing research in Minis Tirith), connects Will to the Old Ones, and tracks him down. 

Possible Will

In the books, Will's father is a jeweler/trader in unique antiques. Since I am not a fan of "I have all this knowledge--oh, the angst" personalities (one reason I like Elementary so much is that neither Sherlock nor Joan give Sherlock a pass because of his "special" burdens). I think Will would adjust to everyday life. He would use a background in antiquities to locate interesting pieces for his dad. 

So when Barney finds Will, he finds him at an estate, hunting up a rare item. He informs Will of what he has figured out and then sticks with him. 

The positive here is that as art/antiquity experts, Barney and Will could have their own series as they figure out historical mysteries and/or fraud-theft mysteries! Their differences--Barney is impulsive, artistic, and extroverted while Will is reserved, supposedly Mr. Ordinary, and ironic--would make for a more than decent and interesting partnership, romantic or otherwise. 

Trips to Shrines in Romance Manga

Trips to local shrines on New Year's are more common events in manga than couples spending Christmas together. Many times, couples do both. 

The shrine trip is less romantically charged than Christmas. Like with Hallmark movies, the Christmas moment carries a strong expectation of something outside of everyday life. In comparison, the shrine trips are more likely to evoke complaints about the weather, the crowds, the time of day as well as, with certain manga, worries about school. They are more likely, too, to supply jokes. The romance slides in unexpectedly as part of everyday life. 

While I enjoy some sentimentality, a little goes a long way. Ultimately, I find the everyday life romance somewhat more enchanting. I will grant that part of that enchantment could be the cultural uniqueness (for me). 

But even there, I rather like how cultural uniqueness is treated as "Hey, this is life!" 

 

What Makes This Manga Different From Others: Snow Fairy

It's the season for snow in the Northeast! 

Below is a review of a manga that celebrates this time of year in Japan.

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On the surface, Snow Fairy by Tomo Serizawa is a classic romance plot without frills. It offers an uncomplicated story (which adjective isn't a negative) without frills. 

Despite the simplicity, once read, the manga stays with the reader. It is memorable for several reasons:

1. It takes place in the boondocks, specifically Hakkaido, a nice change from the usual setting of Tokyo. 

Tokyo is to Japan what London is to Britain, which means, there's a very good reason so many stories take place around Tokyo. Still, the boondocks, specifically the boondocks with snow, is a great variation. The characters get snowed in at one point!

The main character's parents died in a car accident. Some extended family members think he should leave the area, but he feels entirely connected to his community. As he states to his lover, "In such a small town, even one person's absence can be a burden."

2. The characters don't automatically assume that separation means a lack of love. 

I recently watched the Thai drama, The Boss and the Babe, which I enjoyed, but I got irritated by the idea that a few weeks--even months--separation somehow meant that the characters didn't really love each other or that other people were unfairly separating them or whatever. Just wait until the internship is over! 

I went along with the premise since it was intelligently tied to other factors, including Cher's deep-rooted tendency to put on a "clown's" face for others rather than to admit to any negative feelings. 

But. Still. 

The wonderful aspect of Snow Fairy is that Narumi and Haruki's relationship will not falter should Narumi take another journey for his photography. They both have lives that absorb them. They can survive separation, especially since Haruki offers a home base. 

A grown-up relationship!

3. The outdoor/indoor scenes are lovely. 

Growing up, one of my favorite experiences was drying off/warming up after being outside: swimming in a pond during the summer or playing in the snow during the winter. Of course, one had to go outside to come back in and dry off/warm up, so going outside was pleasurable too. 

Snow Fairy captures that sensation: the wonder of being out in crisp, cold air surrounded by heaps of snow and the coziness of coming inside to a warm room and lots of blankets. 

Christmas Together in Manga Romance

A very common trope in Romance Manga is the couple spending Christmas together. New Year's, of course, is the bigger holiday. However, New Year's is rather like Thanksgiving and July 4th and family camping trips rolled into one. 

Christmas has a more private, one-on-one connotation. A kind of optional extra. So the "will we spend Christmas together?" question comes up more than once with couples. 

In Yamada's No One Loves Me, reserved Katushiro takes a leap in his relationship with Masafumi when he brings Christmas chicken. 

In Fake, Dee shows up to Ryo's apartment with his teeny tiny tree! 

In The Metalhead Next Door, baker Soshi invites Kento to share a yule log with him. 

In 10 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 40, the male protagonists have an actual lovely run-to-each-other moment (but not in an airport!) when they decide to spend December 24th together.  

Romance is all about fragile hope--appropriate for the season, which is so often associated with a single birth, a winter solstice, a candle in the window, a space of warmth in snowfall.

The Snow Queen in Manga

On Votaries, I discuss fairy tale characters that change--or don't change (such as Cinderella). 

One fantastic fairy tale retelling in manga is Allure by Yuri Ebihara, based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen." What makes it especially effective is that main character, Dr. Hizuki, undergoes an internal transformation. 

At first, Dr. Hizuki seems to be the Snow Queen figure who lures away Kay or Kai to Norway. In the original tale, the Snow Queen is a constant, a force. She doesn't change because she isn't meant to change. 

Dr. Hizuki starts out as cold and aloof since he is still suffering from the death of a lover a number of months earlier. After he performs eye surgery on Kai, Kai falls for him. Eventually, Kai follows Hizuki to Norway. A sweet-natured, extroverted, confident young man, Kai is undemanding yet also unapologetic in his motives. He is there to keep Hizuki company!

Kai's ex-fiancée, Miharu, supposedly the Gerda figure, shows up to fetch Kai home. 

Here is where the manga turns the tale on its head. For Miharu may appear to be the Gerda figure but her reasoning is more like the Snow Queen's--she wants an unchanging, seamless (like a blanket of snow) existence. Kai must return to his designated role as her fiancé. If he does, everyone will pretend he didn't behave so oddly, breaking his engagement and running off the way he did. He needs to abide by an unbreakable order. 

Even Hizuki is temporarily convinced by Miharu's argument. In a world where lovers don't die in car accidents and love is impervious and methodical, the boy would marry the girl who nursed him and of whom his family approves. Isn't that the proper, perfect ending? Hizuki should give Kai up to the correct tidy (non-messy) resolution. 

Until Hizuki remembers a passage Kai read from "The Snow Queen" about "an ice-puzzle for the understanding" or a "mirror of reason." In the original story, Kay keeps trying to rearrange the puzzle pieces to create the word "Eternity." He can never arrange the pieces correctly--until Gerda comes and warms him. The pieces of a broken mirror fall from his heart and his eyes and form the word he could not create on his own. 

Hizuki takes the passage as a sign. He runs after Kai and brings him back. He is even willing to make a non-seamless messy "spectacle" of himself to convince Kai he is serious.

In this way, Hizuki becomes the Gerda character--but also the Kay figure who needs to be warmed. 

In Allure, Andersen's thematic resolution is turned on its head while also honored. In the original story, the shards of broken mirror corrupt human's sight. But in the manga, the shards--related to the surgical "cuts" by Dr. Hikuzi--challenge Kai's assumptions. They are not all that different from the irritating "monkey conscience" in Shadow of the Moon. 

That is, when Kai regains his sight, due to Hizuki, he comes to realize how much Miharu and his family have controlled his appearance, his wardrobe and perhaps, even, his thoughts. He doesn't entirely recognize himself until he sees Dr. Hizuki.

The shards consequently could also be the (entirely unintentional) "corruption" of Kai's true self by family and friends when he was blind--in which case, once again, Miharu becomes the Snow Queen, trying to lure Kai back to a time when his sight was damaged, first through social pressure and then through freezing contempt. 

Allure is a emotionally resilient rendering of "The Snow Queen" and also a retelling or re-imagining. Heroines become villains. Heroes take on double roles. 

A product of his time, Andersen may have been alarmed by a couple that echoed his own feelings--or he may have appreciated the sentiment. In any case, "The Snow Queen" clearly crosses borders! 

In connection to the new A-Z list on Votaries, Dr. Hizuki is a fantastic character who transforms (warms) steadily yet surely over time. 

A-Z Romances: Cat Sebastian and Independent Heroes

My favorite book by Cat Sebastian is You Should Be So Lucky. I love it so much, I usually read it in less than a day (so I have to set aside a day to read it). 

For this list, I read Two Rogues Make a Right. The book belongs to the Seducing the Sedgwicks Series. Of the nineteenth century historical romances, I prefer Sebastian's Turner Series. But one purpose of this list is to read what I don't usually read--or don't read that often. 

Two Rogues Make a Right is one of those books, rather like McCall Smith's Mma Ramotswe mysteries, that I can read a little bit, then put down, then read a little more. Sometimes, this approach backfires (I forget to pick up the book again before I have to take it back to the library) but sometimes, as with McCall Smith, the little bit gives me something to look forward to over a few nights. 

Sebastian is a very good writer and can create gentle, slice-of-life moments within a larger plot. She is also quite skilled at creating damaged characters in which the plot is not about how damaged they are. 

I've discussed elsewhere the problem of tying violence (even remembered violence) to romance. The characters in Two Rogues are not meant to save or fix each other. They can't. The past can't be undone. Certain conditions can't be cured (in the nineteenth century). But they can meet each other halfway. 

Will and Martin are a little different from other such characters since they are both, being rogues, willing to burn down the world for each other. But that burning-down-the-world doesn't extend to riding inside someone else's skin. Love--as I point out often on this blog--is about accepting a person where/who that person is, not trying to mold them into something else for their own good. (I separate "interventions" over drug addiction from "but I wish you had a different career"--see below.) 

There is a line (as when Martin is too sick to make decisions) and Sebastian honestly tackles that line as well as honestly tackling the problem of status and money. Like KJ Charles, Sebastian doesn't present love as so grand, lifestyle disappears as a factor. It must be tackled directly. 

Martin accepts that his skills and health only take him so far. He also learns, however, that he can live on £50 a year (historical "salaries" are incredibly difficult to figure: £50 a year is about $5,000 - $10,000, so not a great deal but more than enough for someone living in a cottage who doesn't have to pay rent for the cottage itself and who spend that same amount on buy 7 bushels of wheat, which is equivalent to 30 bags of flour. And since he is living with Will, who may bring in about the same amount, they will do fine! 

But they had to learn they could, not assume they could.   

Hobbies in Manga: Heavy Metal

A common container for romantic manga is hobbies. The romantic partners in yaoi bond over various non-academic, non-work-related interests. 

One of the most delightful is The Metalhead Next Door by Mamita. Two neighbors meet when Kento's apartment heater breaks down. Soshi takes him in and feeds him. 

They bond when the more extroverted young man, Kento, learns that Soshi loves metal music. They don't share the interest, but Kento embraces Soshi's interest and learns more about Soshi through his interest. 

The hobby here is perfect for several reasons:

(1) The metal music loving neighbor, Soshi, is quite shy and diffident. He isn't loud and crass and drug-using. That is, he isn't the cliche. In fact, he struggles to communicate, thinking at one point, "I'm not acting. I'm really bad at expressing my thoughts through words."

(2) The manga exhibits knowledge of sub-cultures within metal music, including the Heavy Metal Knitting Competition, which I am not making up! 

The sub-cultures also address that there are different forms of metal music, which I knew from watching Bones. As I will say about classical music and romances and mysteries and, well, everything: the further one gets into a genre, the more differences and strongly held stances one will find. Two people WITHIN a field will have louder arguments than an insider with an outsider.  

 (3) Most of the main sequences take place in winter, which I find quite captivating. Many of my favorite manga, including Snow Fairy, take place in a winter environment. Kento and Soshi get to know each other over three winters. Primary scenes take place during cold weather, in snowfalls, at the tail end of winter. The emphasis is on indoor scenes with a few seminal outdoor moments, and the atmosphere is quite lovely.