Kaori Yuki?

Well since Kaori Yuki has her own page and everything I figured someone on here must have read some of her stuff besides me.

Now I made an Angel Sanctuary thread a few months back but I was thinking about trying out some of her other work.

Just wanted to see what others here think of her.

I like her works well enough. Angel Sanctuary is definitely my favorite, though.

The Costume Porn in Godchild is very yes. Almost makes up for all the bad faith mysteries.

What do you mean by "bad faith mysteries"? I know what you linked to but how does what you said relate to the ending being obvious?

Also I think I'm gonna start my run through of her other works by reading Ludwig Revolution.

edited 25th Nov '10 7:18:31 PM by Nikkolas

Presumably, she means mysteries that do not match those standards of fair play, making them impossible for the audience to try to figure out.

Godchild is a mystery series that frequently employs magic, previously undiscovered/unmentioned poisons, creepy foreigners, clues that Cain does not immediately reveal to the reader, secret passageways, and god knows what else, I've only read the first three volumes. Oh, and at least once Cain is the murderer through criminal negligence.

Ninja'd.

And when did I say anything about the endings being obvious?

edited 25th Nov '10 8:25:35 PM by FurikoMaru

I glanced at the trope page you linked to and what it said came off as being the same as the ending is obvious.

The clues and hints are all there for you to solve. You don't need anyone to tell you the answer to it all hence it's obvious.

Then again, i'm going on 3 hours of sleep and just got back from spending all Thanksgiving with family. So just ignore me. I'm dumb.

I guess I'll read Godchild after Ludwig. I'm just glad to see other Kaori fans. Her work seems really popular but it's nigh impossible to find people to talk to about it on the forums I attend.

edited 25th Nov '10 8:57:38 PM by Nikkolas

Clearly you've never read a well-written fair-play whodunnit. Just because you have all the information it doesn't mean the ending is obvious - in some cases it means exactly the opposite, because you have all the information, even the useless parts. The point is that rather than being just along for the ride while the detective solves stuff, you're actually encouraged to think the whole thing through yourself.

What I meant by calling Godchild a bad faith mystery (the opposite of which is good faith, which this wiki calls fair play) was that it is utterly impossible to figure out what the twist will be, because frankly the author clearly doesn't want to put in the effort necessary to write a truly complicated piece of detective fiction when her main goal is to write aristocrat-cheesecake for the loli-kei set.

edited 26th Nov '10 12:02:30 AM by FurikoMaru

Loli-kei?

And I've never heard of that trope before. I was just going off what I read via quick glance while half-asleep.

Anyway, fair enough. Getting back to your costume porn comment, if Angel Sanctuary is any indication, Ms. Yuki is a really good artist and the diversity of well-designed outfits on Rosiel alone was stunning.

edited 26th Nov '10 5:50:25 AM by Nikkolas

I love Kaori Yuki, as a guilt read. Her characters are beautiful and fun and sometimes quite awesome, but agreed, her plots aren't the most mind-blowing, engaging, admirable literatey achievements people look to discuss. Still, her stories never fail to entertain, and, I believe, that's what's important in art.

One sleepless night years ago I went through the entire Fairy Cube series... I can't even remember the main character's name now, but I do remember every 5 pages I'd have to stop and squeal because he in kid form was just sooooo adorable. <333

I don't think one has to feel guilty just because they're entertained by a less-than-masterpiece story.

Unless you were just trying to say in a nice way that her manga have awful plots.

I thought AS' story was decent enough. Good characterization and the story's progression was logical. The ending was quite the twist and not in a bad way IMO.

edited 26th Nov '10 3:07:11 PM by Nikkolas

Loli-kei = Lolita style. Teenaged girls who liked the elegant trappings of Victoriana and Disney movies and decided to build a fashion around it.

It's also a bit of a reaction against the current trend towards sexualizing teenaged fashion more every year; aside from the erololi girls (bare shoulders, oh my!), theirs is not at all a revealing look - no cleavage and all skirts are to the knee or longer, with few exceptions.

Rather unfortunately, English linguistic drift in Japan is nearly completely divorced from the language as she is spoke here or in Britain, meaning the word lolita, while deriving from the book you probably think of when you hear it, has become a generic term for a little girl or someone who emulates the look of one. This is why it can be used for both animated porn and a decidedly prim-and-proper G-rated fashion whose adherents get livid when you suggest they dress as they do in order to attract fetishists.

The Elegant Gothic Lolita subsection of the style are exactly the type of girl that Ms.Yuki's body of work is aimed towards.

Well I happen to be a fan of gothic lolita. (22-year-old male here) Plus Mana is one of my favorite Japanese musicians. So it's not just teenage girls who go for this kind of art or dress.

Though since her work is shojo, it makes sense it's aimed at teenage girls.

I still have yet to read Godchild but from what I can remember reading on its wikipedia page, they mention Ms. Yuki actually traveled to England to visit various areas and research the history of the Victorian era.

Maybe it's not reflected in her work but I thought that meant she was trying to get some accuracy and not just go for style over substance. I guess I was wrong.

Anyway, I'm gonna be starting Ludwig tonight. So I guess I'll post my thoughts on that later.

edited 26th Nov '10 3:58:44 PM by Nikkolas

edited 8th Feb '13 1:07:25 PM by CompassionateSadist

Has anyone here read Fairy Cube? It seems to me that Ms. Yuki's most popular works are AS, Godchild and Ludwig Revolution. Oh and I think one of her one shots..Boys Next Door maybe?

But she's such a niche mangaka that even those aren't too talked about. Fairy Cube is one of her lesser known works so I've heard practically zilch about it.

Also I ordered the second Angel Sanctuary artbook. You can get all the pictures online easily enough but I wanted to read the official story and character stuff along with the included interview with Ms. Yuki.

edited 3rd May '13 1:31:09 PM by Nikkolas