In the Rose Garden / The World Exists For Me ~by Be-Papas

Perfect Verse · Back to Top

Has anyone read this newly translated manga by Be-Papas? It's illustrated by Chiho Saito again, and it's pretty similar to Utena. It has themes again about witches, and characters a lot like Utena and Akio. I've only read the first volume, but I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It's probably all the time travelling and a lack of a slow introduction like the Utena manga has.

http://www.tokyopop.com/S-1477/ said:

When the 'S' and 'M' join, the Devil R is blessed again with almighty power ...

To survive a fatal train wreck, Sekai Maihime is thrust back in time where she discovers she has hidden powers that are connected to a doll, 'S.' She is both aided and limited by 'S's' vague (but kind) guardian, Sovieul, who is the cause for Sekai's presence in 17th century France. Sovieul vows to protect Sekai, but offers little information as to why these strange events are happening.

Unfortunately, they encounter Machiavello (also referred to as the Devil) who looks a lot like Sekai's childhood friend and love Midou. Machiavello covets the powers shared by Sekai and 'S' so he may obtain the power of the Devil R. Sekai only wants to find Midou and return to her time, but she's constantly hindered by her conflicting desires with 'S' and by Machiavello's attempts to obtain her body. To find Midou, Sekai must cooperate with 'S' and Sovieul to traverse through time while avoiding Machiavello

-----------------------

It's being published by Tokyopop if you couldn't tell by the URL. Two volumes are on the shelves now.

Edit: Quote does not work like on the Something Awful forums.

Last edited by Perfect Verse (10-16-2006 10:45:36 PM)

Imaginary Bad Bug · Back to Top

I am in the process of reading this, actually. I have about half of the second volume left.

To be honest, I find it hard to separate it from Utena in my mind at times, between Saito's art style and the storyline. emot-keke That's not necessarily a bad thing though. I really need to finish it so I can talk about it! I do like it, so I'm not sure why I'm waiting so long to finish it. Suspense maybe? And you can only read it for the first time once.

Giovanna · Back to Top

Perfect Verse wrote:
Machiavello (also referred to as the Devil)

emot-mad How unsubtle.

I remember when this came out. Actually, I had a website for it. This was back when Empty Movement was on the unmei.nu domain, I had a translation project for the manga but it just didn't take off, partially because the translators (not many) dropped out, and partially because as we went along, interest just plummeted. I think we were all hoping for SKU, and SKU it was not. emot-frown (I was a visionary dammit! This was before scanlations became popular.)

That said, I'd be willing to check it out now that it's nice and easy and I can read it while sitting in Borders.

Did you get the evil overlord vibe from Machiavello and the irrationally good girlyhero vibe from Sekai? Personally, I found Saito's version of the story of SKU a little light on the characterization, and what we did translate of World of S&M seemed to kinda be leading in that direction.

Oh god memories of the image editing. emot-gonk

For some reason I don't have a copy of the site. This is very, very strange since I always keep old stuff. I had awesome scans of the artwork, too.

SleepDebtFairy · Back to Top

I read it a while back, but I was disappointed in it. I guess that means I won't enjoy the SKU manga much, either. emot-frown (I have all of the volumes except one now, so I plan to read it soon) There were a lot of character designs and other things that reminded me of SKU, but it didn't really interest me much. Question: Did it stop at two volumes, or is it still going on? If it's still going on I might want to read more, but I wasn't sure if it stopped or not. \:

Giovanna · Back to Top

SleepDebtFairy wrote:
I read it a while back, but I was disappointed in it.

My my. Honestly I don't know many people that liked the Utena manga, especially as compared to the series. The Utena manga is kinda...well...it's shoujo. The series is shoujo with lots of metaphors and sex and weird weird weird. It's kinda like people watching Evangelion and then finding RahXephon or Gundam disappointing.

It feels premature to pass judgement on this so quickly, but I do wonder why Saito chose such odd names. emot-confused

Perfect Verse · Back to Top

I agree with the manga characterization in the Utena manga being light. Actually, it should probably just be called Utena Lite. XD However, the movie manga is pretty good, not that the actual movie is hard to outdo.

That said, I probably won't buy another volume of TWEFM since I didn't really enjoy it as much as Utena. It just seems like a boring, more European Utena.

I think there's seven volumes out in Japan or something like that.

Giovanna · Back to Top

Perfect Verse wrote:
I think there's seven volumes out in Japan or something like that.

Seven? Wow, that's longer than most of her stories, isn't it? Utena only came in at 4.5. Still, the reception for this one seems kinda crummy...

To be honest, I wasn't particularly hot on Saito. The manga is the series if you remove everything I like about it. I'm not sure what role she played in things aside from the manga, I think she did the character designs? (Which Ikuhara then changed all the colors for, thank god.)

From the way everyone's talking about it, this is definitely a read-for-free-at-Borders. But it is Saito, right? Not be-Papas? (They did Shounen Ou, which I think sounded a lot more interesting.)

BakaElf · Back to Top

Giovanna wrote:
Perfect Verse wrote:
I think there's seven volumes out in Japan or something like that.
Seven? Wow, that's longer than most of her stories, isn't it? Utena only came in at 4.5. Still, the reception for this one seems kinda crummy...
...
From the way everyone's talking about it, this is definitely a read-for-free-at-Borders. But it is Saito, right? Not be-Papas? (They did Shounen Ou, which I think sounded a lot more interesting.)

Huh, I had thought it was only two and then it mysteriously stopped, for some reason. o.o; I don't know -why- I thought that, mind.

And I -think- it's Be-Papas, because I -think- I said to myself that if it were just Saito, I wasn't going to bother.

Apparently I fail at Be-Papas, because I've never heard anything about Shounen Ou.

Perfect Verse · Back to Top

Oh, I'm not sure where I read seven. It must be wrong, because there's only 2 volumes on the Japanese Amazon released in April and June last year. Sorry.

silentscream · Back to Top

There are two volumes, but the story definitely doesn't stop there.

I don't think it's really fair to compare The World Exists For Me to the Utena manga, because the Utena manga is already always being compared to the anime. And everything is pale in comparison to the anime.

That being said, I really liked the series. The characters seem kind of lame, but I like how it embraces its roots in Rose of Versailles and all that. It really is like they took all of the themes and aspects of Utena, put them in a blender, froze them, chopped them up, and then used half of them.
But what I liked about it was... Utena felt like it had a big martyr theme going on, but it was never addressed with any direct-ness. (I was exeedingly dissappointed that they never put on armor and rode up to the castle in the sky.) But in the second volume of TWEFM, they pretty much imply that Sekai is a reincarnation of Joan of Arc, or something to that effect. I have to tell you - I absolutely love Joan of Arc, and anything with her in it is going to get my attention. So it was volume 2 that got me to like the series.

I also really like how clever the title. It's different from the Japanese title - which was The World of S&M. But the American title has a neat pun in it. The World Exists For Me and Sekai Exists For Me. (For those not caught up on their Japanese, the main character's name, Sekai, mean "the world.")

Giovanna · Back to Top

BakaElf wrote:
Apparently I fail at Be-Papas, because I've never heard anything about Shounen Ou.

Don't be too bothered. It got very, very little press, especially in the US. This is all there is about it:

Dirty Hands: http://www.planetkashira.com/shounen/

I would say it's much more the kind of thing I'd expect from the makers of SKU.

http://www.planetkashira.com/shounen/images/2-a.jpg

Yep.

http://www.planetkashira.com/shounen/images/10-a.jpg

They're both guys.

I would dearly love to know more about this thing. emot-frown

Ikuhara also did something after SKU called Schell Bullet with Mamoru Nagano. Don't know much about it except that there was a CD made for it that I bought, now it's in Yasha's possession. It involves pictures of Ikuhara in BDSM gear.

http://www.geocities.com/ayamehimura/schell.html

Both Schell Bullet and Shounen Ou are illustrated novels. I'd love, LOVE to do a translation project with either of them (I don't think Shounen Ou's was finished, they just translated the first of two.) if I could find the interest and funds, but unfortunately not too many Japanese speakers are around and up to doing such a thing. A shame because I find both of these fascinating.

Actually this is a derail, perhaps we need a thread just for post-SKU work by its creators...

As for Sekai, I scanned the amazon.com comments, and everyone agrees the second book is a vast, vast improvement on the first. I'm guessing it's continued in Japan past the two volumes, but with the way the anime/manga industry has cleaned up its act in recent years, I'm sure the rest will come stateside just fine.

SleepDebtFairy · Back to Top

Wait, so it is continueing? In just Japan, or in English too? If it's still going on, I might check out more of it, but I doubt I'll buy more. Like Giovanna said, it's worth a read in the book store at least. XD;

azuresquirrel · Back to Top

Giovanna wrote:
http://www.planetkashira.com/shounen/images/2-a.jpg

Yep.

http://www.planetkashira.com/shounen/images/10-a.jpg

They're both guys.

emot-aaa

Just when I think I've finally gotten used to anime and manga's strange ideas of how to depict gender . . . they go and throw me off yet again. Bravo.

Imaginary Bad Bug · Back to Top

Giovanna wrote:
But it is Saito, right? Not be-Papas? (They did Shounen Ou, which I think sounded a lot more interesting.)

Only one way to settle this! ::grabs a volume from the floor next to my bed and flips open the front page::

Be-Papas Presents
"World of The S&M" [sic]
Manga by Chiho Saito Story by Kunihiko Ikuhara
and Seinosuke Ito [not sure if this goes with the 'manga' or 'story' credit]
Associate Costume Designer: Kiwa Takado
Distributed by Kadokawa Shoten
"The World Exists For Me"

So there's the credits. school-eng101

Giovanna · Back to Top

Imaginary Bad Bug wrote:
Giovanna wrote:
But it is Saito, right? Not be-Papas? (They did Shounen Ou, which I think sounded a lot more interesting.)
Only one way to settle this! ::grabs a volume from the floor next to my bed and flips open the front page::

Be-Papas Presents
"World of The S&M" [sic]
Manga by Chiho Saito Story by Kunihiko Ikuhara
and Seinosuke Ito [not sure if this goes with the 'manga' or 'story' credit]
Associate Costume Designer: Kiwa Takado
Distributed by Kadokawa Shoten
"The World Exists For Me"
So there's the credits.

Thank you! emot-keke

I never did get a grip on exactly what Be-Papas is supposed to be... But I'm thoroughly unsurprised to find there's an associate costume designer, because Saito's clothing designs look nothing at all like what you see in Sekai.

Imaginary Bad Bug · Back to Top

Giovanna wrote:
I never did get a grip on exactly what Be-Papas is supposed to be... But I'm thoroughly unsurprised to find there's an associate costume designer, because Saito's clothing designs look nothing at all like what you see in Sekai.

I've always been under the impression that Be-Papas is an artist collective, much like CLAMP.

More quotes from manga credit pages follow! This time from the back page of Volume 1 of the 1st edition (the larger (flipped emot-mad ) books) of the Utena manga:

school-eng101

Be-Papas:
A group of highly creative people founded by director Kunihiko Ikuhara (Sailor Moon, Schell Bullet) and includes such storied members as master manga artist Chiho Saito (Kakan no Madonna, Lady Masquerade) and animator Shinya Hasegawa (Evangelion). Their collaboration produced the Utena TV series and the movie, Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Adolescence of Utena, and recently they have produced a new work called The World of S&M.

The top of the page that's from also has a cute little chibi self portrait of Saito. emot-biggrin

Last edited by Imaginary Bad Bug (10-18-2006 08:08:04 PM)

Giovanna · Back to Top

So I got the Wayback Machine to spit out (sorta) my translation project's site. (If you're curious to see it, it was at unmei.nu/sekai.) It refused to give me the artworks I'd scanned, WHICH PISSES ME OFF because HOLY CRAP those were no small feat of Photoshoppery back in those days. It did, however, let me grab a couple wallpapers. So here!

You know what, I know that first one was split down the middle and made from multiple scans and now I can't see where I stitched it back together. I'm good. emot-dance

Ragnarok · Back to Top

Does anyone know if there is (or going to be) a Volume 3?

Is Tokyopop just being lazy with releasing the rest, or does it 'end' at 2?

Persephone · Back to Top

Yeah, I saw a preview for it, unfortunately it wasn't on sale *cries* I NEED IT! sorry about post the other thread, I'm such a tard.

A Day Without Me · Back to Top

Does anyone know is any of the other stuff by Saito or the Be-Papas has been released in America?

Heh, or, if not, does anyone know where there are scanlations for any of their other series? ^^; I've been trying to find one of Waltz in a White Dress (yes, even I occasionally need a bit of a shoujo fix...)

Rebel Prince · Back to Top

Giovanna wrote:
Don't be too bothered. It got very, very little press, especially in the US. This is all there is about it:

Dirty Hands: http://www.planetkashira.com/shounen/

I would say it's much more the kind of thing I'd expect from the makers of SKU.

:0 Eccentric SKU-ish pictures = amazing. Love the girl servicing the revolver. The main kid looks like Anthy-Saionji offspring, and there's a girl that looks to be about the same from Juri-Shiori. I'mmmm a shameless patternseeker.

I keep my hopes up for Akio cameos in these projects, I love the art regardless. emot-dance

Yasha · Back to Top

Giovanna wrote:
http://www.planetkashira.com/shounen/images/2-a.jpg

That man looks to be just the kind of guy I like. Pretty, long silky hair, and, err... cocksure. emot-biggrin

As for S&M no Sekai, I would like someone to critically evaluate it for me. I was not a huge fan of the SKU manga, and while I appreciate it, I've heard S&M is more of the same. I'm not interested in that. If someone can provide a critical opinion of the stuff they've read, I might like to take a look.

Decrescent Daytripper · Back to Top

Am I the only one who really got into this series? Some great character bits, not to mention the humorous, swoony, or traumatising scenes. Really, even in the first part of the first book, there's that 'I want more rewards' bit from Midou. Is it perfect? Nah. But I found it entertaining as all hell. And everyone's so cute, with great clothes, classic Be Papas bliss-faces and tears. I do think Saito's 'Utena' manga was her worst outing that I've seen, with this as possibly her best.

I'm just surprised that nobody was as enthused with it as I was. Anywhere online that I've seen.

The usual complaint is that the characterization isn't there, but in terms of how possessiveness, how submission and dominance, and how power operates, I think it's covering quite a bit of ground. The characters, to be fair, aren't much as characters, but as relationships, they're fabulous, intense, and layered. It's really painful in parts, which is lovely, almost a paen to unnecessary martyrdom.

#1 | Back to Top10-16-2006 10:44:18 PM

The World Exists For Me ~by Be-Papas

#2 | Back to Top10-17-2006 06:38:39 AM

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Perfect Verse wrote:

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SleepDebtFairy wrote:

#6 | Back to Top10-17-2006 09:17:15 PM

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#7 | Back to Top10-18-2006 06:19:15 AM

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Perfect Verse wrote:

#8 | Back to Top10-18-2006 09:07:37 AM

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Giovanna wrote:

Perfect Verse wrote:

#9 | Back to Top10-18-2006 10:23:20 AM

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#10 | Back to Top10-18-2006 10:45:21 AM

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#11 | Back to Top10-18-2006 11:49:40 AM

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BakaElf wrote:

#12 | Back to Top10-18-2006 02:38:21 PM

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Giovanna wrote:

#14 | Back to Top10-18-2006 04:10:05 PM

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Giovanna wrote:

#15 | Back to Top10-18-2006 04:18:26 PM

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Imaginary Bad Bug wrote:

Giovanna wrote:

#16 | Back to Top10-18-2006 08:07:22 PM

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Giovanna wrote:

#17 | Back to Top10-22-2006 05:54:27 PM

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#18 | Back to Top10-22-2006 07:00:46 PM

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#19 | Back to Top02-18-2007 06:31:30 PM

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Giovanna wrote:

#22 | Back to Top03-22-2007 08:57:31 PM

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Giovanna wrote:

#23 | Back to Top04-09-2007 02:14:25 AM

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