Summary:

Or: "Who ARE these old women?"


WARNING: The graphic genealogy (flickr com/photos/57989880 N00/48784113908/in/dateposted/) has MAJOR spoilers for the entire story. It's best to only look at the period you're reading about, and then only if you're confused. For reference, the story begins in Showa 23, the year 1948 in the West. Some small references will be made to the Matsudairas in Taisho 12 (1923).

Maria-sama ga Miteru: This 1997-2012 series of light novels for girls by Konno Oyuki, published by Shueisha, some stories and manga in Cobalt magazine, dealt with a Catholic girls' K-12 academy, patronized by well-bred families. The series is commonly nicknamed 'Marimite." Lilian's, the school that is the setting for the series, is a sort of hothouse/finishing school meant to produce high-class brides for well-off, high-status men to marry. Marimite is a classic "Story S" series, referring to a "light" girl-girl romance genre that started in Japan in the Taisho era (1920s). It mainly deals with Yumi Fukuzawa, the daughter of an architect, who in the context of her school is actually in a lower class socially than most of her peers. She has a Story S romance with the princess of the school, Sachiko Ogasawara, and that romance ties the entire series together.

Heisei 8 (1996): This is the approximate date the main story of Marimite begins. In that year, Sei Satou has a disastrous affair with Shiori Kubo, a pious underclasswoman, Yoko Mizuno picks Sachiko to be her "little sister," and Eriko Torii does the same. This leaves Sei without a successor, and sets up the events in the first book, Maria-sama ga Miteru. Most of the books occur in only a few years after this date. This is an era where Japanese prosperity is past its peak, but things are still relatively comfortable and tranquil.

Showa 23 (1948): This is the other important era in Marimite. It is when the foundations for the series were laid: the Yamayurikai, the Roses, the Rose Mansion, the Soeur system, and so on. It also featured two events that had repercussions in Yumi's era. A disastrous love affair between students Seiko "Suga Sei" Kasuga and Uemura Saori that mirrors the Sei/Shiori debacle, and a falling out between Ikegami Yumiko and her "big sister" Saiko, Sachiko's grandmother, that was so terrible they didn't speak to each other for almost sixty years, when Saiko was on her deathbed. Their relationship in some ways paralleled that of Sachiko and Yumi. This is the main era of this story. The big leap my story makes is that one event influenced the other, which is a reasonable speculation. This was an era of profound social upheaval, comparable to the Meiji era transition. Lilian's was possibly an island of calm in a raging ocean of chaos for most of the characters. The depictions of people going hungry, and of some girls going wild, forming gangs, playing "games" as young girls like "robber and victim" or "prostitute and customer" are reflective of the era.

Yamayurikai and Roses: Unlike a normal student council, Lilian's student government is run by a troika. They tend to pick their successors when they select their "little sisters." Outsiders can in theory win one of the three seats, but in practice too much tradition is involved. The three Roses are the White, Red and Yellow.

Soeur System: Discipline is largely carried out by mentors called "grandes soeurs," one for each girl. Misbehavior by the mentees, or "petites soeurs," can reflect on the status of their "big sisters." The relationship is both sisterly and romantic, and the process of choosing a sister is very romantic.

Families (Showa era and after): The Matsudairas are an old and respected family. There are elements in this story about Matsudairas in the early twentieth century. The Ogasawaras are an up-and-coming family of only mid-rank status, but they are rich and getting richer, and well-connected. The Saiki family are not rich, but are related to the family of the Emperor.

Touko's complicated ancestry: Yumi's little sister Touko's biological maternal grandfather is the brother of Sachiko's maternal grandmother, Saiko, making Touko and Sachiko second cousins. Her adopted paternal grandfather, he of the hospital, is the brother to Sachiko's paternal grandmother (who died before any of the events in Marimite began). So either legally or biologically, she is still Sachiko's second cousin. Moreover, her biological mother and adopted mother were classmates and casual friends. Touko's history is almost as important to the series as Yumi and Sachiko's romance. Suguru Kashiwagi and Sachiko are first cousins and ex-fiancees. Touko and Suguru are legally 2nd cousins, but not blood related. The fact that a certain amount of stress is still laid on blood relationships in the better families has an impact on Touko in the series, and it will have an impact on Yumi and Sachiko in this story.

The Dot: You will notice lines leading from Yumiko and Shigeru (Saiko's brother) to a "dot." That dot is the mother of one of the main characters in Marimite, but it would be too spoilerish to label who it is!