Shoujo Sensei & Memorable Manga Moments: Cultural Day

Shoujo Sensei/Memorable Manga Moments: Cultural Day

November 2, 2012

Every year on November 3rd, Japan celebrates national Culture Day. Culture Day is to promote arts, culture and scholastic endeavor. In manga often we see students celebrating this day with a school wide cultural festival. The festival is to display the artistic and cultural endeavors the students have been learning at school, which is why you see plays, music performances, and class booths that require students to combine arts and Japanese culture.

This is one of the biggest cultural phenomenons witnessed in almost every school-centered shoujo manga. Mangaka tend to use the cultural festival as a plot point in every relationship most likely because it’s when girls and boys at school spend the most extra-curricular time together. I sat down to compile a list of the most memorable moments and I immediately came up with at least 10 different scenes.

1. Maid-Sama – Usui’s Confession

Usui and Misaki

After spending the day as a couple at the festival, Misaki admits that she’s confused about her feelings for Usui because of his mixed signals. He sexually harasses her but acts like it’s a joke. She doesn’t know if he really has feelings for her. She asks him to stop confusing her. When Usui hears Misaki’s emotions, he confesses that he teases her to watch her reactions, because he loves her. Then we get a memorable kiss with fireworks in the background.

2. Cardcaptor Sakura – Cross-dressing Almost-Kiss

Sakura and Syaoran

Sakura’s class is putting on a gender bender version of Sleeping Beauty for the cultural festival. When Sakura arrives as the prince to awaken Syaoran playing the princess, Yukito and Sakura’s elder brother Toya panic as the elementary schoolers almost kiss. They get interrupted by a Clow card. This is fairly early on in the series, before Sakura likes Syaoran, but he’s embarrassed by the situation none the less. I love Toya and Yukito’s reaction!

3. We Were There – Yano’s Confession

Yano and Nana

I think this is one of the most favorite moments of the series. The evening of the cultural festival the students have a bonfire and confession time. Although Yano has been avoiding Nana lately, he seeks her out to return a ring that she lost. When he fixes it and places it on her finger he mentions wedding vows. Nana responds with an “I do”. Embarrased she still continues on, saying that words are not enough. She would ask Yano to please “break my fingers”. Stunned, Yano tells Nana to listen as he’ll only say it once, then he confesses “I love you”. Nana cries and Yano kisses her.

4. Fruits Basket – Princess Yuki

Princess Yuki

For the culture festival Yuki and Tohru’s class decide to sell rice balls. As an exhibit, the girls in class ask Yuki to dress up like a girl, knowing all the girls at school would want to see him cross dress. Yuki’s not happy about it and Kyo rubs salt in his wound. When Momiji and Hotaru show up to check on Yuki, Yuki about dies from embarrassment. But he sacrifices himself to the girls when Momiji hugs Tohru and turns into a rabbit in front of everyone. Way to take one for the team, Yuki!

5. Ai Ore! – Dark Mizuki

Dark Mizuki and Neko Akira

Aikra’s classmates decide to use him as an exhibit at their cultural festival as well. They dress him up in a cat suit and have others pay to get pictures or favors. When Mizuki finds out what’s going on, she barges over to chew Aikra out. Only…she sees the cat ears…and they’re so damn cute. She turns to Dark Mizuki and demands that Akira lick her fingers like a cat. Akira being the pervert he is goes for it. Mizuki ends up giving Akira numerous hickeys, and she doesn’t even remember it happening.

6. Gakuen Alice – Jealous Natsume

Natsume, Mikan, and Luca

Looks like Higuchi-sama took a play from Clamp’s playbook, and decided to go with the reverse gender, Sleeping Beauty, almost kissing scene. The somatic class is performing for the Alice cultural festival and Luca-pyon is cast as Sleeping Beauty. Because of an accident with some props Natsume’s hand gets glued to one of the performers and he ends up dressed as a forest animal to disguise himself for the play. Meanwhile the main girl playing the prince has too many others stuck to her to perform. Mikan ends up playing the prince, and comes to the part where she is suppose to awaken Sleeping Beauty with a kiss. Mikan would have to kiss Luca. Natsume reacts by grabbing a sponge off of a table and throwing it at Mikan. This stops her from kissing Luca, and Imai cuts the lights so that the scene can move on. Natsume looks shocked that he reacted like that.

7. Kimi ni Todoke – Sawako’s Confession and Kazehaya’s Response

Kazehaya and Sawako

Finally during the cultural festival Sawako and Kazehaya get their feelings across. Sawako confesses that she likes Kazehaya through the classroom door. She is crying because of her emotions, and when her confession comes out, Kazehaya grabs her and embraces her. They get interrupted before Kazehaya can tell her his feelings as well. The next day before the parade, Sawako confronts Kazehaya and tells him she wants to start a new relationship with him as her stronger self. In response, Kazehaya yells, “Kuronuma, I like you!” in front of everyone at school.

**8. Love*Com – Risa’s Curse**

Haunted Risa and Otani

For her birthday over the summer Otani takes Risa to an Umibozu concert and during the fireworks afterwards Risa confesses that she loves him. Otani is so dense that he thinks her confession is in friendship, and plays it off. The next scene occurs during the school cultural festival where Risa and Otani are helping out with their class’s haunted house. Risa is playing the ghost, while Otani is scouting out customers. Depressed that Otani is oblivious to her feelings, she curses him and others that walk through the haunted house making their event particularly scary. When Otani confronts her about the way she’s acting she finally is able to get through to him that HE is the boy she’s moping over.

9. W Juliet – Romeo and Juliet – S&M?!

Makoto and Ito

No, not really, just some handcuffs. For the school festival the drama club will perform Romeo and Juliet. Previously Makoto was Juliet, but this time around he’s playing Romeo. This performance is the one where Makoto must convince his father of his serious acting skill or he will be doomed to run the family dojo as his career instead of becoming an actor with Ito. Both Makoto and Ito are skillful actors, but due to circumstances, they end up handcuffed together for this final performance. They will have to gloss over stage directions and improvise some scenes as they go. They are able to pull it off until the key is uncovered midway through the performance. The fact that they are able to perform under such conditions only proves their talents.

10. Otomen – Ultimate Woman

Ryo the Ultimate Woman

Ryo Miyakozuna competes in the Ultimate Woman contest during the school cultural festival. Ryo has very few of the talents that are needed for the competition, such as tea ceremony, cooking, flower arranging, and makeup/beauty pageant skills. So Asuka employs the help of his Otomen friends to help train Ryo for the contest. While Ryo holds her own in the contest, managing to score points with the judges despite her floundering skills, she earns a rival determined to see her fail. When the girl sets up a trap for Ryo, her plan backfires. Ryo wholeheartedly wins the support of the judges when she kicks a falling stage light out of harm’s way, saving the rival contestant. Her strength and beauty earn her the title of Ultimate Woman, and that makes Asuka very happy indeed. The irony of Ryo winning is another of Kanno’s plays with gender expectations.

Any other moment come to mind? This list is not exhausted so if you agree with the scenes or would like to add another please fell free to share in the comments. Arigato!

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Laura

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Super mom and teacher until the kids go to bed, then romance manga addict and writer until the caffeine wears out! Specializes in the shoujo and josei genre of manga and anime.

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3 Comments

hello, is there a manga with number 10 ryo the ultimate woman? pretty please someone tell meee 😀 thank you.

alexandra Nov 14, 2016
- it’s called OTOMEN and it’s really good!
  
  Laura Nov 17, 2016
Great list! My favorites are also Yano’s confession in We Were There and Otani finally getting a clue in Love*Com.

starsamaria Nov 21, 2012

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