Let's Talk January: SuperBat Shoujo High School AU!

[mithen]

lady_peony asked "Your thoughts on SuperBat in a ridiculous high school shoujo manga AU(you know, cherry blossoms, senpai has noticed me, school uniforms with ties and blazers etc etc.)?" And I've been giggling about the idea ever since, even though--alas and ironically--I probably haven't consumed enough of the genre to do it justice!

Sadly, Clark and Bruce would have to be the same age for me, so no "senpai-noticed-me" moments between them in that way! But that doesn't mean there couldn't be a lot of blushing and stammering and "I don't like you, baka!" scenes. ^-^ I would imagine Clark and Bruce would be the cool upperclassmen everyone has a crush on, and everyone thinks they're totally tough and suave and with-it...but secretly Clark is a huge dork who's into some obscure television show and doesn't want everyone to know he's actually an otaku, and Bruce is secretly super-shy and has cultivated his aloof persona to cover that up. So the more "Batman" and "Superman" side of them is actually the public face in this AU, and the "Bruce" and "Clark" sides become the secret that they're hiding.

Maybe Bruce comes across Clark in Akihabara fanboying over his show and Clark is certain that Bruce is going to make fun of him, but Bruce says "If I don't tell anyone you're into this stupid show that I certainly don't know anything about, will you help me work on this speech I have to give at graduation, not that I have a terrible fear of public speaking or anything, baka.." And at some point while Clark is tutoring him (of course) he talks about his beloved show and Bruce slips up and reveals he's just as crazy about it as Clark is. :)

Annnnd, the Robins are totally underclassmen who worship Bruce and he's terrified of losing their esteem, and over the course of the story they come to realize he's not perfect and they do stop worshiping him so much, but Bruce-senpai also comes to realize that he'd rather they know him as a real person than idolize a facade, and probably at his big graduation speech he "comes out" as a fan of the dorky show Clark loves, and maybe comes out in other ways as well, and Clark blushes furiously in the audience and they decide to go into business together (making manga? running a fanzine?) and the end of the story is an image of the two of them on the cover of a magazine as "Japan's New Power Couple" with their arms around each other.

(I was not sure I could come up with something for this, but it ran away with me anyway!)

Comments

[tropicsbear]

Reading this brought to mind this BL manga called Soba ni Oitene. Even if it's BL, it's also kind of like a shoujo manga; Yuzu likens Icchan to a handsome prince and laments that since he's a really tall guy, there's no way he can be a princess for Icchan. In my head, Yuzu is Clark (but definitely not as feminine) and Icchan is Bruce (but maybe not as obviously affectionate).

Not sure who I'd cast as the predatory female upperclassman who's got her sights on Yuzu, though *rubs chin thoughtfully*

/not so subtly reccs the manga

[willow]

Uhm, wasn't there a Space Princess who wanted to marry Superman, who ends up running away w/ Lobo?

[tropicsbear]

I'm not familiar with Superman's storylines, so I dunno :(

[mithen]

Maxima, right? She actually ends up in some version of the League for a while, amazingly!

[mithen]

Ooooh, I might have to give that a try! If we could flip the roles Talia sounds like she'd be perfect as a predatory upperclassman, lol... But I'm cracking up at the image of a character being sad because he's too tall for his love, that's pretty sweet!

[tropicsbear]

Yuzu is very stereotypically feminine hahaha. He's a member of the cooking club, wants to be the princess to Icchan's prince, is afraid of gaining weight because Icchan will never be able to carry him if he's too heavy, etc.

[willow]

And here I thought Bruce would be the genius one year younger, who's in the same class. But that might more rightly be Lex. Smallville S1, S2 Lex.

Still, I giggle.

And OMG, the Robins as described make me think of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and those giggling women talking about Gaston. I could be wrong though, having never watched the movie; so y'know, just general pop culture knowlege.

[mithen]

Bruce as a genius who's a year ahead is a really good idea! Though I'd probably be more likely to make him the same age but jumped ahead a year, and so get to be Clark's senpai even though they're the same age. :)

And oh, Lex would have to be in there somewhere!

I'm also giggling at the image of the Robins as a flock of admirers! Much brief angst as they are disillusioned, but they would end up liking geeky Bruce anyway...

[willow]

Bruce would make being a geek; cool. A one man (perhaps unintentional) revolution on being yourself and liking what you like and sharing it with friends and just chillin'.

He'd probably have a rant somewhere about Samuri stories and folktales as the manga and anime of their time; with some people thinking they were useless compared to 'real work' and some people liking the inspiration and the morals. All very passionate but in an off the top of his head, full of citations, debate forum kind of way.

Y'know - once he accepted himself.

Also the Robin's with armbands in different colours, or w/ a bird in different colours - is now stuck in my head. Something so that anyone new to the school would go 'what club is that?'

And be told 'That's not a club. That's the Robins'.

'The bright sprites for Senpai-sama's (is there a male form of ouji sama?) dark intellectual days' :p

[mithen]

'The bright sprites for Senpai-sama's (is there a male form of ouji sama?) dark intellectual days' :p

Oh...My...God. *falls over in desperate giggles* Now I'm imagining all of them bustling around cheerily trying to brighten up Bruce's mood, and Bruce just wants. To be left. ALONE! (To work on his critique of "The Seven Samurai" as a parallel to the Gundam series...)

[willow]

I am now imagining the Robins trying to make Bruce a lunch that can beat Alfred's (the old family retainer) and creating these amazing, intricate, but maybe tiny things.

Like little dessert boxes, since Alfred feeds him so well.

And OMG, Valentine's Day. So much hand made chocolate from the Robin's.

[mithen]

I'm sorry, the image of all the Robins offering up their perfect adorable bento boxes has made me smile like a lunatic for days now. Also, Bruce wearing five different hand-knitted mufflers at once because he doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings...

[willow]

Hey.

He COULD wear one a day every week. But possibly the very first time he wears any; it's all at once. So no one Robin will have been 'First'. And after that he rotates who goes on 'Monday', all winter long.

[mekare]

Awwww this sounds lovely!

the Robins are totally underclassmen who worship Bruce and he's terrified of losing their esteem

<3 ;-)

[mithen]

I could actually see this really clearly in full-on Japanese manga style, it made me giggle. :)

[undomielregina]

Oh, this is brilliant and hilarious. I've had a similar thought experiment I toy with for Maiden Rose, which is a decidedly non-High School set BL series, and I love seeing other people toy with the same cliches.

Totally agree with willow's suggestion that Bruce should be advanced a year and so Clark's sempai (and maybe, IDK, he went to the US for a couple years after his parents' death or something and they bumped him ahead there, since I don't think Japan is big on advancing students by aptitude?)

[mithen]

Bruce studying abroad for a couple of years is BRILLIANT, of course he did! It would only increase his coolness quotient, too. :)

Heh, now I'm in the mood to sit down and read a gigantic glut of this kind of book, it's just fun...

[undomielregina]

And it stands in for all the years he spent traveling the world to build his skills in canon! Btw, you should totally read Maiden Rose/Hyakujitsu no Bara, although not when you're in the mood for froth. Based on other stuff you've mentioned liking in the past, I think you'd enjoy it.

I love stupid cliche high school manga, as long as it preserves forward momentum in the plot. It can get a little tedious when it bogs down in a zillion chapters of will they/won't they (*cough*Love Com*cough*), but otherwise it's usually pure light, frothy fun.

[willow]

And now I read some reccs, cause while yaoi is well I have trouble finding much I like. BL, where the most that happens is a kiss, often seems to deal w/ emotions and introspection...

And there's a sep name for it ending w/ an -ai that my brain flubs on right now.

[undomielregina]

If you're interested in Maiden Rose, I should mention that it's definitely explicit, and that the first volume, in particular, has some serious consent issues. The story opens in media res and the couple is not in a good place at all. Also, there's addiction and the setting is an alternate 1930's where a NATO equivalent was established after WWI and Japan is a Baltic state. I love the series dearly and think it actually handles the issues with surprising nuance and care, but there's no denying that there's a lot of heavy stuff in it. If you'd like more detail, there are a few good rundowns and discussions:

http://mab-browne.dreamwidth.org/263919.html -- quick rundown
http://fail-fandomanon.livejournal.com/27894.html?thread=122684918#t122684918 -- long detailed rundown with discussion of a number of the issues likely to put people off, but also pretty spoilery. On the other hand, a good way to get some information about how specific issues are handled.
http://fail-fandomanon.livejournal.com/43859.html?thread=199672403#t199672403 -- further discussion

[mithen]

And there's a sep name for it ending w/ an -ai that my brain flubs on right now.

Shonen-ai, maybe? Yaoi tends to be a little too focused on the sex for me, BL and shonen-ai (which has sex but tends to focus on the relationship more) hit the spot more along lines I like. :)

[mithen]

Looking at the links, I gotta admit that just for the epic declarations of loyalty under torture, dramatically swearing oaths of fealty in public and private I may well have to go find that! I generally give BL manga something of a pass on dubcon/noncon, as it's such a huge and unavoidable trope... Their discription of it as "idfic" sounds just about right...

[undomielregina]

I am not actually completely rational about this series, because it's such a direct hit to my id, but I love it dearly. I will say, one of the nice things about it is that the mangaka is very aware of the tropes she's using and does not play them absolutely straight. The whole mess is just a wonderfully awful knot of misery and obsessive love. And Klaus, the seme, hits much the same part of my id as White's Lancelot.

(There's also a bunch of sweet, creator-authored doujinshi, some of it set pre-canon and probably not AU, that I'd recommend very highly. I know they're up on mangafox and can be downloaded at nihonomaru, and if you want them untranslated and in hard copy experience shopping this spring suggests most Mandrakes will have some of the stories.)