Talk:IC in a Sunflower/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Bobnorwal (talk) 03:25, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Overview

Overall, I think this is a well-written, well-sourced article that can, with a little improvement, become a GA. There are no dead links, no DABs. It seems neutral, broad in its coverage, and is most definitely not in the middle of an edit war. I have listed my concerns, organized by the section they concern, below. I am putting this article on hold until these concerns are confronted. Also, this is my first time reviewing a GAN, so I hope you'll be accommodating. And if you want a second pair of reviewing eyes on this, that's fine. Just let me know! Okay, here goes...

Lead

• The 2nd sentence is a little hard to follow. Perhaps splitting it in two would help?

Done. Kaguya-chan (talk) 17:43, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

• The fact that Tokyopop stopped publishing, years after this release, does not seem relevant enough to be in the lead.

Done. Kaguya-chan (talk) 17:43, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

• The 2nd paragraph... Honestly, I greatly question the wisdom of listing all the stories in this way, only to have them relisted in more detail right below, in the "Plot" section.

Open to suggestions. The lead is a summary of the article, and I consider the plot of the stories part of the article. ;) There's no other way to summarize the collection, as Mihara never mentioned a theme or connection between the stories. Some deal with the future and others do not. There is no common setting. Reviewers have mentioning various connections & themes, but I'd rather not emphasis one POV over another. Kaguya-chan (talk) 17:43, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

I'd say this is as good as you can get it, then. I still don't like it, but it's fine. It certainly doesn't break any rules.

Plot

• Most of the first paragraph looks like it would be better suited in a different section, probably "Style and themes".

That is actually were most of it came from. :) And back it goes. Kaguya-chan (talk) 17:43, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

• Some of the story synopses could use expanding. I have never read this collection and so have no frame of reference, but obviously... "Keep Those Condoms Away From Our Kids", for example. What happens -- exactly? And you need to make sure the other six synopses also answer that question. Wikipedia is not the place to worry about spoilers.

The stories are extremely short (~30 pages long) and have a dreamy tone to the whole set. Very little actually happens in some ("Rose Wire" & "Fish" & "Mineral"). There is no cast of characters, but a defined protagonist for each story. What you read is a condensed version of what happened without the inner monologues, and drawings. But I'll type up the summary of "Keep", which is essentially Mihara musing on the future. Kaguya-chan (talk) 00:48, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

I see what you mean now. Without having the book in front of me, I can't properly judge your renderings, but I definitely can get a good sense of the stories now. Your expansions were well placed, too!

• "Vanilla later appears in another of Mihara's manga, Doll, in which she is one of the nine prototypes.[3]" Hm. As above, maybe this would be better in another section. The Plot section is for summarizing what's in the book, nothing else.

Open to suggestions. Kaguya-chan (talk) 17:43, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

It is fine there, then. Honestly, I think that's where it fits best for now. In the future, if you wanted to create a (probably pretty small) "Legacy" section, this tidbit would fit in there perfectly.

Style and themes

• The first sentence seems awkward, with "...in IC in a Sunflower" just tacked on to the end. I think it should be reworded. Let me know if you need help with that.

Hopefully fixed. Take a look at it. Kaguya-chan (talk) 00:48, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

• The image (File:Lolita fashion ball-jointed doll.jpg)... I'm not sure it is very relevant. Wasn't there a scan of an actual page from the book up here earlier? I consider that a better fit. I understand the point you are trying to illustrate, but this article is about the book. And yes, the book did help shape the fashion, insofar as it a work by Mihara, but I get the impression that this book wasn't particularly influential in that regard.

The picture is there to give readers an example of Lolita fashion. There was never a scan of the book up, but perhaps you are thinking of this (File:Edmund Dulac - The Mermaid - The Prince.jpg)? I decided against that picture after a while, because it was unfair of me to emphasis one equal viewpoint over another. Sorry for being misleading with the picture.

I see... Yes, it definitely makes that you would swap out that generic mermaid image for something that relates to all the stories. However, it is still generic, and I'd still like to see an image from the book itself. But this is fine. It illustrates the point you're trying to make in that section just fine. The caption, though... I'd like to see it changed to something more relevant to the topic at hand. Something similar to the first sentence of "Styles and themes", in fact.

You're right about IC in a Sunflower not being all that influential, but I wanted to convey that Mihara is influential in Japan (where she is much better known) as an illustrator. I've shortened that section. Any ideas on how to improve this section, or is it improved now? Kaguya-chan (talk) 00:48, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Release

This section looks fine to me!

Yes! Kaguya-chan (talk) 17:43, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Reception

• "It ranked 8th..." Or is it "eigth"? Honestly, I'm not sure. And just how reliable is About.com?

The conductor of the poll, Deb Aoki, is listed as a reliable source by the Anime Wikiproject. However, I will remove the poll results, if you think it necessary. Kaguya-chan (talk) 00:48, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

• I would prefer the next sentence to say "Douresseaux praised the collection as 'easily some of [Mihara's] best...'" -- just to keep the author involved.

Done. Kaguya-chan (talk) 00:48, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

• "Mihara's short stories also went over well..." But isn't that what we've been talking about all along? Maybe "Mihara's story-telling..." is what was meant.

Done. Kaguya-chan (talk) 00:48, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

• "predicable" -- typo.

Nice catch! Kaguya-chan (talk) 00:48, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

• West could probably be delinked.

Thank you for taking the time to review; it is very much appreciated. I think I've addressed your concerns now. Kaguya-chan (talk) 00:48, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

I am passing this now, as it seems to meet all the criteria, and you have fixed all of my concerns. (I raised just one little thing about the image caption under "Styles and themes" but it's minor, and not essential.) And now I have to say -- and I mean this in the sincerest way -- please keep up the good work! I like to see new good articles of any kind, and I love to see ones related to manga. I admire your writing style, too -- which is something I rarely say. Congratulations, and maybe we'll see each other again soon, eh? :) Bobnorwal (talk) 03:18, 14 August 2011 (UTC)