A Little Lily Princess

[Lettow77]

 Languish may be familiar with A Little Princess, a charming turn-of-the-century novel. It is less likely Languish is familiar with its role in Japanese culture.

When Japan was looking westward, translations of Little Women and A Little Princess were a big hit, and helped sell the idea of a Lady in the western convention. More to the point, though, A Little Princess's depictions of platonic love between two girls in closed society was very influential in the Class S movement of Girls' Love literature, and continues to inform many characteristics of the modern Yuri genre, even if the audience no longer remembers the work from which the tropes originated.

A Little Lily Princess, then, is sort of a recursive work- A western developer taking the story and adding Yuri elements that it was itself instrumental in codifying.  Still, it is very cute.



The game is essentially a short visual novel, but has raising simulator elements- You select how often Sara has tea time, reads literature, or practices ballet, for instance. As her fortunes change this is replaced with more onerous duties, but they feel very tacked on to the game, with the stats gained being trivial to obtain and there being little real consequences for not having enough- in sharp contrast to the developer's previous game, Long Live the Queen

Unfortunately, the game is made by a modern Englishwoman, and runs afoul of some of what that might entail- Lavinia is made to be half-indian, for instance, a historical absurdity that drags down the tone of the work. The protagonist herself is hinted to be a quarter Indian. Elsewhere, and more excusably, an English gentleman is depicted as being unambiguously in a homosexual relationship with his Indian manservant. Mariette the French Maid is similarly inexplicably brown. It is a far cry from the original A Little Princess, in which India's role as an unspeakably exotic place was critical to the story itself, and the occupancy of the building across the street by an Indian servant was looked at as something verging on magical.

The writing borrows wholesale from the original novel for most of its content, and is the better for doing so; where it strays it generally falls short. The music, art, and romantic content for the various characters make it worthy of consideration even if you've read A Little Princess, though.

[garbon]

Do we not have mods?

[The Brain]

How does it compare to Panty Party?

[CountDeMoney]

Languish may be familiar with A Little Princess, a charming turn-of-the-century novel. It is less likely Languish is familiar with its role in Japanese culture.

No, Languish is not familiar with A Little Princess, because it's not nuttier than squirrel shit.

[PDH]

Does this have something to do with faux lesbian Texas porn teachers?

What, wrong thread?

[Lettow77]

 My mistake! I assumed a baseline of cultural literacy that included knowing the plot and characters of A Little Princess, or i'd have included a summary.

The protagonist, Sara Crewe, lives alone with her father, a soldier in India, until it is time to enter Miss Minchin's Select Boarding School for Ladies. As her father is quite rich and has no other dependents, she is showered in luxuries; her own room, with a live-in maid; expensive wardrobe and a porcelain doll clothed in custom-fitted children's clothes, with its own doll-sized tea service. She is quickly made the model student, and her favorable treatment only intensifies when news gets out that her father is investing in diamond mines in India, and soon to be fabulously wealthy. Her fortunes turn against her, however, and she ends up working at the boarding school rather than attending it.

The principal romantic leads in A Little Lily Princess-


Lavinia occupied the most prestigious position before Sara's arrival, and is a cruel, arrogant little girl with very strict ideas about what is proper for a lady. Her vulgar exposed forehead indicates she is a villain.


Jessie is a toady of Lavinia's, coming from a home of more modest means. Her parents mean to make a profitable marriage for her, and her education is to that end. She loves dancing and beauty.


Lottie is a younger girl who, like Sara, has lost her mother at a young age. She is very spoiled, and cries at the slightest provocation.



Ermangarde is a chubby and dull girl, who is bullied for her appearance and the difficulty she has with studies. She feels pressured by her father's intellectual expectations for her. She is fond of horseback riding, flower pressing, and her aunt in the country.


Becky is a scullery maid who works at the Boarding School. She is much abused, but bears it as cheerfully as she can.


Mariette is Sara's personal maid, and a very private person who is content to serve while saying as little about herself as possible.

[katmai]

Do we not have mods?

berkie has been slacking.

[11B4V]

What is this? 

[grumbler]

What is this? 

It's a parody of the Trump cabinet.  See if you can figure out who is who!

[The Brain]

Tell me more of the abused maid and the maid who likes to serve.

[Lettow77]

Becky, the scullery girl, has an imperfect grasp of english that bespeaks her poor breeding, and is easily awed. She thinks the world of Sara, the protagonist, and is probably the Best Girl, unless one prefers Jessie.

Mariette, the French maid, is suspicious of others and very reluctant to divulge anything or help others. She is cynical of the world around her and enjoys her occupation as a lady's maid, as it is the uppermost echelon of servitude, and she need not fear the advances of any male gentlemen. While, as the oldest available romance option, she would usually be given special consideration, her worldview and racial affliction are serious causes for concern. Her role is expanded the most between the novel and the game.

[Valmy]

Wait what was the platonic love in 'Little Princess'? The upper class chick and that servant? I remember thinking that it was weird that even at the end of the book, when the upper class girl got her money back, the lower class girl was still a servant just a well taken care of one now

Ah the British class system.

[Berkut]

I don't get it.

I also don't think I want to get it.

I guess it is nominally a game though...

[Ed Anger]

Can you rape the maids?

[Lettow77]

Wait what was the platonic love in 'Little Princess'? The upper class chick and that servant? I remember thinking that it was weird that even at the end of the book, when the upper class girl got her money back, the lower class girl was still a servant just a well taken care of one now

Ah the British class system.

This was a good opportunity to pick through the original text again. There are plenty of sections that would read very strangely to Japanese audiences of 1910.

Sara flew at her and hugged her. She could not have told herself
or anyone else why there was a lump in her throat.
"Oh, Becky!" she cried out, with a queer little laugh,
"I love you, Becky--I do, I do!"
"Oh, miss!" breathed Becky. "Thank yer, miss, kindly; it ain't
good enough for that."

"Oh, miss," she said under her breath. "Might I--would you allow me--
jest to come in?"
Sara lifted her head and looked at her. She tried to begin a smile,
and somehow she could not. Suddenly--and it was all through
the loving mournfulness of Becky's streaming eyes--her face
looked more like a child's not so much too old for her years.
She held out her hand and gave a little sob.
"Oh, Becky," she said. "I told you we were just the same--only two
little girls--just two little girls. You see how true it is.
There's no difference now. I'm not a princess anymore."
Becky ran to her and caught her hand, and hugged it to her breast,
kneeling beside her and sobbing with love and pain.
"Yes, miss, you are," she cried, and her words were all broken.
"Whats'ever 'appens to you--whats'ever--you'd be a princess all
the same--an' nothin' couldn't make you nothin' different."

Edit: The chastity of the maids is perfectly safe, because this is a british game. There are any number of proper Japanese games where you need not feel so constrained.