CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Upon picking up the beautiful February 2007 edition of Shojo Beat, I noticed that it contained a '43-page preview' of The Gentlemen's Alliance by Arina Tanemura. According to Amazon, the first volume in English doesn't come out until March 6th. So, for all of you Tanemura fans out there, I would suggest stopping by your local bookstore and grabbing a copy of Shojo Beat. ^^

From what I've heard of this series, I probably won't be interested. Apparently, there's some level of shounen-ai in it, which is enough to keep me far, far away. XD I'll wait 'til Tanemura's next series, I think. XD

WHAT?!?! *weeps bitterly* WHY, TANEMURA, WHY???

Man....I should really do my research on these things next time....

PigtailsJazz wrote:WHAT?!?! *weeps bitterly* WHY, TANEMURA, WHY???

Man....I should really do my research on these things next time....

Yeah, I know, I was disappointed, too. XD I'm hoping she's just temporarily dipping in these things, though. Here's hoping for a next-to-spotless Tanemura series on the horizon in the near future, though. XD

Radical Dreamer wrote:Yeah, I know, I was disappointed, too. XD I'm hoping she's just temporarily dipping in these things, though. Here's hoping for a next-to-spotless Tanemura series on the horizon in the near future, though. XD

It is true that Gentlemen's Alliance had a lot more objectionable content (IMHO) that many of Tanemura's pervious series. However, even her past series have had some substantial issues. Oshige's affair and some of the tame nudity in FMoS, comes to mind for example.

PigtailsJazz wrote:WHAT?!?! *weeps bitterly* WHY, TANEMURA, WHY???

Man....I should really do my research on these things next time....

Yeah, there's one character who's openly gay, a character who crossdresses, and a female character who messes around with male characters in the nurses office. And that was just in the first couple of volumes.


I must say, though, I'm ashamed to be so woefully behind on Tanemura news if this means that Gentlemen's Alliance has been licensed. I must find out when this happened. . .

Maybe there's... like.... meaning behind all those characters? I'm probably prejudging, but the fact it says "Gentlemen's Alliance" means to me that there's some major character who straight, heterosexual, calm, and smooth gentlemen-like qualities.

But I don't know for sure XD Maybe I'll check some of it out later.

The reason such a staunchly "clean" Tanemura is switching to something racier is because the whole theme of the series is "love"--Tanemura is trying to explore all sorts of relationships: friends, heterosexual couples, and homosexual ones. There's also some hints at possible incest, and teacher-student relations. I think she wants to find out if there's anything that's really "off-limits" or "wrong."

Personally, Gentleman's Alliance (or ShinCross, as I've heard it referred to) is my least favorite of her series, and not just because of the shounen/shoujo-ai. A lot of that could be just fluff anyway (i.e. characters pretending to be gay for a rise) but it's also quite confusing storywise and a little bland. You're better off, I think, sticking to her more mainstream stuff.

Mangafanatic wrote:It is true that Gentlemen's Alliance had a lot more objectionable content (IMHO) that many of Tanemura's pervious series. However, even her past series have had some substantial issues. Oshige's affair and some of the tame nudity in FMoS, comes to mind for example.

Well yeah, that is true. And of course, there's the religious aspect that keeps me from fully checking into KKJ just yet, too. Another thing, though, is how sparse the content is. If the series is riddled with objectionable content, that's one thing (as far as I'm concerned, at least XD), but if there's only a mild spattering of things that show up once or twice in a few volumes, that's much easier to handle (depending on what those "spatterings" contain, of course XD). I guess it all boils down to what any one person is comfortable with reading.

KKJ SIDETRACK!

there's the religious aspect that keeps me from fully checking into KKJ just yet,

As it should. I did a review on this title a while back (https://www.christiananime.net/manga_reviews.php?display=179), so maybe that would help?

In my opinion, the twist on Christianity is not meant to be offensive. I think she uses it for the imagery and for a loose backdrop the way we would use a Greek myth. And having taken some classes on Shinto and Buddhism, it's a typical Japanese way of looking at God. However, the religion shouldn't be the ONLY thing keeping you en guarde with KKJ...there is a near-rape scene and some implied "other" things.

Just thought I'd help you clear it up. If you have more questions feel free to PM me.

</KKJ Sidetrack>

Ashley wrote:KKJ SIDETRACK!



As it should. I did a review on this title a while back (https://www.christiananime.net/manga_reviews.php?display=179), so maybe that would help?

In my opinion, the twist on Christianity is not meant to be offensive. I think she uses it for the imagery and for a loose backdrop the way we would use a Greek myth. And having taken some classes on Shinto and Buddhism, it's a typical Japanese way of looking at God. However, the religion shouldn't be the ONLY thing keeping you en guarde with KKJ...there is a near-rape scene and some implied "other" things.

Just thought I'd help you clear it up. If you have more questions feel free to PM me.

</KKJ Sidetrack>

Oh yeah, I definitely understand that. It's mostly because I can just imagine my mom deciding to randomly flip through a volume of it and happening upon the worst page in the book or something. XD It happens often (it happened with Furuba, at least), and I'm never informed enough to clearly explain why it is the way it is. XD The review should help a bit though, so thanks!

Shinshi Doumei Cross (as I know the title) is very...interesting...in a kinda weird completely confused about what's going on kind of way. It does have a slight shounen-ai theme in it that appears right from the beginning, but if you've gotten that far, as far as I remember, it doesn't really get too much worse. From what I remember, there's one character who's gay, one who's bi, and then the friend who is always in the doctors office *cough*. Each chapter only comes out once a month so I haven't read a translation in ages, but other than the weird creepy stuff that made me want to burn it, I found the story interesting. I kinda find the whole figuring out which character did what to be fun, as there are so many twists in the story that you'll be completely lost at times.

Radical Dreamer wrote:From what I've heard of this series, I probably won't be interested. Apparently, there's some level of shounen-ai in it, which is enough to keep me far, far away. XD I'll wait 'til Tanemura's next series, I think. XD

Oh know , this was totally on my to buy list, I guess I'll try Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne next.

Huh... My friend was telling me that Arina Tanemura had a new manga coming out soon, and I was excited and really wanted to buy it, but now I'm not so sure... XD What's it rated?

I wish I had found this thread before purchasing this book...*siigh*

It was wrapped in plastic because of a poster inside...so I didn't get a chance to flip through it...

I thought that Tanemura's previous titles are alright that maybe this was okay too...DARN IT!


10 bucks down the drain...though since Doe Johnson's post made it sound a little better I might give it a try, as to buying further volums I probably will not.

[spoiler]The guy that says he's gay isn't really gay. He's just pretending to be gay so girls will leave him alone.[/spoiler]

*O* Ohh that makes me feel better XD

Yeah, I was kind of freaked out at first, too. XD I bought it, and then was like "Hmm... I don't know about this..." But decided to finish the first volume, and see if it got worse, and then I'd stop reading it if it did. But then I got to the end and realized that it actually wasn't as bad as it seemed... XD

Hey that's cool. Maybe if the first volume itself is OK I'll get it for the poster XD

Well...I might be making it sound better than it actually is. I dunno, I found it interesting, but still quite offensive.

Well, I would caution everyone not to get their hopes up. I haven't finished this series, but I have read quite a ways into it, and well, it doesn't get much better. Teachers having affairs with students, students' sexuality being questioned, even cross-dressers are in abundance.

Tanemura-sensei said in an interview about this title that she wanted to explore "love." She wanted to bring in all aspects of love, too, so that's why there's so much questionable content. I don't know that it will get better, but I thought I'd give you guys a heads up.

in that case it won't get better. Once an artist has dedicated himself or herself to exploring certain aspects of life through storytelling, only God can stop it. Especially since the author sees nothing wrong with it.

ohhh I see...=_=' sounds kinda scary...I will probably not continue it then...BOO TANEMURA!

Welcome to Japan :/

I read the preview chapter and didn't like it at all, and not just because of the shonen-ai aspects of it. :-\