krpalmer: (anime)
krpalmer ([personal profile] krpalmer) wrote2007-11-20 06:27 pm

One Pizza, Extra Subtext

I was incredibly amused by one tidbit of anime news I saw recently, but I can think my way through to understanding how others might be a little offended by it and am therefore putting it behind a cut.

There's an anime series called (in transliteration from the Japanese) "Maria-sama ga Miteru," which is set at an all-girls school, and of which most of the "draw" seems to be the classy subtext that all the girls are falling in love with each other. (Anything explicit is left to dirty-minded fan artists.) It's available only as unofficial "fansubs" over in North America, which I haven't seen; while I'm not offended by the mere existence of the show (and the theme is not unique in anime...), I suppose I'd just feel weirdly, uncomfortably guilty of succumbing to "fanboy bait" watching it. Still, it seems to be popular... and then I noticed an anime news piece that in Japan, Pizza Hut is starting a tie-in campaign featuring the show. Other anime series have been involved in similar promotions before; I was just particularly amused by this particular juxtaposition!