Oscar's First Love Pt. 1 translation & CONTROVERSY (ETA: now with Pt. 2)

[indigozeal.livejournal.com]

I've posted a translation for part one of "Oscar's First Love" (again, manga viewable here until 10 a.m. April 4th Japan time); I should have the second half posted by the end of next week NOW. (Late; sorry.)

Now, the first time I read this, I kind of skimmed over the last part. It turns out I really shouldn't have done that, as there's a bit near the end that might be...problematic, to say the least. I've included a discussion of it at the bottom of the translation. I really don't want to think that the authors suggested this...but the story makes it hard not to draw that conclusion.

(That scene aside, considering that Anastasia's character design is ripped almost directly from Utena in her eponymous movie, I can't help but be struck that the attitude this story takes is almost exactly as if the Utena TV show concluded after ep. 11 that Touga was completely right.)

Comments

[darkheart54.livejournal.com]

Well now...

I agree with you on your stand of their willingness to make Oscar a closet pervert - I really, really would not like to see his character dragged through the mud like that. I understand that some people are into weird stuff, but Angelique is supposed to be a series that holds love at its core. They even have it in their tagline, for heaven's sake. What the hell is wrong with this writer? Just... just, no.

I will say this much about their obvious misogynist undertones - based upon the setting of Oscar's story he's in some type of high school/college setting. A lot of the attending members will be young and inexperienced or stupid. It's unfortunate, but it's to be expected to an extent in a setting like that. TO AN EXTENT. That said, we obvious overstepped that line in a (very bad) attempt to over-emphasize Oscar's arrogance. It's probably to show how radically he changes between seventeen and twenty-two, but that's just wrong.

It really, really annoys me that they can’t seem to have a strong female character without trying to make the men look tougher in response. I’m sorry, but not every woman has to be some airheaded bimbo that flutters her eyelashes and giggles the moment a guy looks her way. Like you said, it probably would have done Oscar’s character better to meet a woman who won’t put up with his bullshit and put him in his place, rather than the other way around. Why does Oscar need to “shut her up with his sword” to make himself look better? What the hell? Not to mention the fact that they devalue women as a whole and in only 40 pages at that. I’d be impressed if I wasn’t so pissed.

This is just disrespectful to women as a whole, and considering that the vast majority of Angelique’s readers are probably women, I’d say it’s a very bad idea.

That said, I’d like to point out (however disturbing this may be) that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Oscar’s moment of moral deliberation. I don’t know how well received I’ll be in bringing it up, but in the Beloved Angel Angelique TV series we actually see a similar instance between Oscar and Ange. In episode 8 of When Hearts Awaken, Ange is unconscious and Oscar actually makes a move to kiss her before stopping himself. Nowhere near as serious as rape, granted, but it definitely falls under sexual assault considering Ange isn’t awake to give her consent. Could it be considered romantic? Sure, especially considering Koei’s target audience of teenage girls. Is it still kind of creepy? Oh yeah.

I’m not sure what they’re trying to do here, but I’ll admit myself pretty disturbed. I’m not sure how this is supposed to drum up publicity for the game short of making it a raging firestorm on the internet. Like I said, I understand that some people will be okay with this, but I’m definitely not. It makes me very uncomfortable. That’s all I want to say.

[indigozeal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree with you that a certain amount of stupidity is to be expected given the setting - the manga can show stupid stuff without condoning it, of course. I could have also overlooked (or at least silently rolled my eyes at) certain elements individually - of course, Oscar's gonna have a cheering section; of course, there's going to be a moment where the tough instructor has the equivalent of the scene in all teen movies where she takes off the glasses and her hair falls to her shoulders and she gets swept off her feet by Oscar's charm. But then some of the stuff goes over the line - the whole "Anastasia collapses from exhaustion from dueling Oscar" is pretty bad - and the apparent climactic rape deliberation kind of pulls everything together into one pervasive theme. Plus, it makes it looks like the manga is countenancing not only the bad behavior in the climax but, in part, the stupid stuff elsewhere (though the lack of understanding in the bedroom scene is by far the biggest sin).

The kicker is that, as you've discussed, the story would work without anything like the rape consideration - Oscar is a skilled swordsman, but has yet to adapt a knightly code of conduct; he meets the one woman who doesn't instantly fall for him & isn't impressed by him; he redoubles his efforts to become a physical powerhouse and win her over/prove her wrong for taking him lightly; though he succeeds in his physical conditioning, a look into the effort the woman, who takes her job seriously, puts into her work makes him realize what truly makes a knight. Everything works perfectly well without any sort of rape consideration.

Ehhh. Here's hoping the next manga serves Julious better than this did Oscar.

(Ah; I haven't seen the scene you're referencing from the TV anime. I attempted to go through it a few years ago, but there was one scene in about ep. 5 or so where Zephel, Randy, & Marcel were being so badly characterized that it kind of derailed the attempt. I would hope that Retour would aim for better writing than what I've seen of KST, at least.)

[darkheart54.livejournal.com]

It makes me wonder if in some convoluted way they're trying to humanize Oscar by giving him a moral dilemma. They failed majorly (most people wouldn't even consider rape at any time) but it could be an attempt to give the readers a glimpse into his still-weak moral code. There's really no excuse for it, but it's a thought.

I kind of want to know how people reacted in Japan. Did they catch onto the implications as well? It would be interesting to watch the fallout from that. I'm not sure if Miko Mitsuki just did the art or if she also wrote out the manga, but I'd think a woman would have a little more tact than that, especially when your manga is targeting teenagers. The kinds of messages she's sending are really not okay. You'd think the editor would catch it and say no, right?

I'll admit, the TV series is pretty bad. There's at least one scene in each episode that makes me want to bang my head, but what are you going to do, right? Until they actually release one of the games outside of Japan (and I'm not talking about Neo Angelique, because for some reason I never liked it as much) I gotta get my Ange fix somewhere. Art books and subbed TV series are about it for me.

If they do something like this to Julious I'm going to be very angry. He always struck me as the most honorable of the group and I can't see him doing anything near this bad. Plus, he's going to be a kid in his section; hopefully they're not going to be throwing emotional trauma into the mix.

... What the hell am I talking about? Emotional trauma is practically a theme in this series. Everybody's got something.

[btamamura.livejournal.com]

First, thanks for the translation!

Now, my thoughts...

This was...disappointing, to say the least. A strong female written into a weak woman? Airheaded soldiers-in-training? Oscar contemplating raping Anastasia? What were they thinking?! Definitely bad messages being sent across here.

Ugh. I thought the art wasn't quite up to standard (I know, I suck at drawing so I have no room to talk, but seriously, it makes me cringe), but this?! No. A new game is coming out, they need to do sttuff to AVOID turning people away, especially the newer gamers!

Oscar as a playboy, fine. Oscar as a potential rapist? Nope! I just...I can't.

Oh...I am now in fear of the stories for everyone else now...

[beldarius.livejournal.com]

Mm... are we sure this person will be writing for the actual game? Since if the Retour game keeps Oscar the same way he used to be in the past, then we can just ignore the manga and its author completely.

Now, each time I read about Oscar, I keep thinking about Irm from Super Robot Wars. The two have the same voice actor, and they're both playboys who flirt with anything female. XD ...It doesn't help that Irm is actually quite a looker. ...And he doesn't try to 'feminize' women - he treats them well just like past Oscar does, and his former girlfriend (they still have feelings for each other) is a tough badass mecha pilot lady. Yoink (http://40.media.tumblr.com/9bca419adcb8764394b0a44b661b85fb/tumblr_mnz83nNS3T1rub484o3_1280.jpg) (Irm) and yoink (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/RedWingnut/Ring4.jpg~original) (Ring, the girlfriend). Ring is about as strong and masculine as Anastasia was, and IIRC Irm never tried to change her~ Oscar needs to take lessons.

I kind of wish there was a crossover where Irm and Oscar met. ...They should really go bar hopping / girl-seeking together. XD