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REVIEW: St. Dragon Girl GN 2-4




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here-and-faraway



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 1529
Location: Sunny California
PostPosted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 12:13 am Reply with quote
Casey, I always enjoy reading your reviews. Anime smile
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vashfanatic



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 3495
Location: Back stateside
PostPosted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:44 am Reply with quote
To step up in defense of a manga I love, the "saint" in Saint Young Men is a translation of "sei" 聖, which actually is used for the prefix Saint or St. and means "holy, sacred, pure," which is what the word "saint" also means in English (being derived from "sanctified"). Jesus and the Buddha are using it as their family name while vacationing incognito in Japan. A better translation of the title than the Engrish one provided would probably be The Saint Brothers or something like that.

Anyone who knows anything about religion and doesn't mind irreverent (though remarkably inoffensive) humor about it, should read this manga. And send a little prayer to Jesus, the Buddha, or both that a company here has the guts to license it.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2657
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 7:38 am Reply with quote
I have to say, this read a bit more like a rant than a review.
Surely there was more to the plot than possibly imagined slights and prejudices? I thought this was a fluffy fantasy story.
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championferret



Joined: 15 Jan 2004
Posts: 765
PostPosted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 10:53 pm Reply with quote
Princess_Irene wrote:
I have to say, this read a bit more like a rant than a review.
Surely there was more to the plot than possibly imagined slights and prejudices? I thought this was a fluffy fantasy story.


I'd have to agree with this. I haven't read the manga in question, although if Casey thinks it's crap then she thinks it's crap. She does touch on some reasons for thinking it's crap, which I accept.
What is hard to swallow is that a good deal of these reasons are these 'possibly imagined slights and prejudices'. i.e the 'dragon girl' rant.... You know, I'd never even heard of the 'dragon girl' that Casey is talking about. And I'm going to hazard a guess and say that it isn't exactly japanese terminology either. So I don't think it's fair to read it in that light, even if the manga isn't good.

It'd be like me starting a review of Full Moon o Sagashite by saying 'why didn't Arina Tanemura realize the word 'sh*t' is in 'sagashite'!? (for lack of a better example)
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 9902
Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC
PostPosted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:36 am Reply with quote
championferret wrote:
What is hard to swallow is that a good deal of these reasons are these 'possibly imagined slights and prejudices'. i.e the 'dragon girl' rant.... You know, I'd never even heard of the 'dragon girl' that Casey is talking about. And I'm going to hazard a guess and say that it isn't exactly japanese terminology either. So I don't think it's fair to read it in that light, even if the manga isn't good.

Dragon Lady (stereotype)

For people who grew up in East Asian cultures, there's absolutely nothing wrong with "dragon girl." In fact, birth rates in years of dragon (astrologically speaking) are always higher than years of the other eleven signs. I can assure Casey that less than 1% Asian people outside American-superhero-comics-reading community (which is less than 1% as well) have ever heard of this "dragon lady" stereotype.
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championferret



Joined: 15 Jan 2004
Posts: 765
PostPosted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 8:29 am Reply with quote
Thanks for that, dormcat, I wasn't entirely sure...so yeah, just as dormcat says.

I dont mean to sound like a total jerk to Casey or anthing (I try), but I think this is just another case of her seeing/jumping on 'sexism' when it isnt there. Judging from some of her past reviews...this tends to happen alot. She wounds up getting a little too...preoccupied with the alleged 'sexism' sometimes. And it's particularly odd here considering the connotations of the term she finds so insulting do not exist in Japan.
I think the rest of the review was decent, but the feeling I got from it was that this (the term 'dragon girl')was the thing that offended Casey the most...when it really should only have been the (apparently subpar) artwork and writing.

EDIT= Also about the chinese people living in Japan thing.... it feels weird to single out this manga for it because there are HEAPS that have stuff like this. I mean, beloved Cardcaptor Sakura's Syaoran is from Hong Kong. In my experience 1 in 5 'school' manga will have an 'exchange student' character. I don't know if I can give commentary for whether portraying them as 'like everyone else' is 'right' or 'wrong'.... I'm just saying it seems weird to single out Saint Dragon Girl as though it's the only one that has a chinese character in a japanese school.
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