about those school girl icons. . .
So, guys, I am here to talk to you about canon alternate universes. . . And how my canon is probably the best example of this done right.
Gakuen Kino features a young girl, Kino, in her first year of high school facing off against alien invaders with the aid of her talking cellphone strap, Hermes. When things start getting unusual around the school, she transforms into Nazo Bishoujo Gun Fighter-Rider Kino (Enigmatic Beautiful Girl Gun Fighter-Rider Kino) to save the school with the help of the mysterious White Knight of Justice, Samoyed Mask!
. . . No, I am not kidding. Keiichi Sigsawa rips apart the magical girl genre in the way that only he could with Kino making dry comments on the unbelievability of it all along the way. When she transforms, without a catch phrase as Sigsawa asks the reader to make-up their own, only the buttons of the pouches she wears changes. Kino says that everyone will recognize her this way until someone thanks the mysterious girl who saved them, not connecting Kino with. . . Kino. Other highlights include Shizu trying to act as the male love interest with Kino commenting that his speech is letting the monster get away and her later gunning him down to make him get out of the way.
Now, despite a small disclaimer in the beginning, this is actually vaguely related to the actual canon! A goddess asks Kino and Shizu to help save her world and both refuse to as they are not the type to go around saving worlds. Hermes then smartly asks why doesn't she save her own world. . . And this is why he is turned into a cellphone strap.
Sadly, there aren't any official or even fan translations as far as I can find. Such is the dilemma of Kino fandom, but there is a good synopsis of the first book here from Ming-Ling.
Gakuen Kino features a young girl, Kino, in her first year of high school facing off against alien invaders with the aid of her talking cellphone strap, Hermes. When things start getting unusual around the school, she transforms into Nazo Bishoujo Gun Fighter-Rider Kino (Enigmatic Beautiful Girl Gun Fighter-Rider Kino) to save the school with the help of the mysterious White Knight of Justice, Samoyed Mask!
. . . No, I am not kidding. Keiichi Sigsawa rips apart the magical girl genre in the way that only he could with Kino making dry comments on the unbelievability of it all along the way. When she transforms, without a catch phrase as Sigsawa asks the reader to make-up their own, only the buttons of the pouches she wears changes. Kino says that everyone will recognize her this way until someone thanks the mysterious girl who saved them, not connecting Kino with. . . Kino. Other highlights include Shizu trying to act as the male love interest with Kino commenting that his speech is letting the monster get away and her later gunning him down to make him get out of the way.
Now, despite a small disclaimer in the beginning, this is actually vaguely related to the actual canon! A goddess asks Kino and Shizu to help save her world and both refuse to as they are not the type to go around saving worlds. Hermes then smartly asks why doesn't she save her own world. . . And this is why he is turned into a cellphone strap.
Sadly, there aren't any official or even fan translations as far as I can find. Such is the dilemma of Kino fandom, but there is a good synopsis of the first book here from Ming-Ling.