Why why whywhywhyyyy was this not in the anime or manga!? I see Motoko's...creepiness wasn't exaggerated one bit. The poor Kirishikis, they can't seem to move in at all.
Comments:
- I've been trying to deduce in my mind who the driver is. I think it's either Seishirou or Tatsumi? In the anime/manga, Tatsumi was driving the car, but he also...wasn't in his early fifties (if that's really him, then his outfits in the a/m are even worse). But then again, the driver's eyes are described as listless, just like the Shiki brother's eyes in Seishin's book, which would suggest that he's also Shiki. But he could also be driving weirdly if he just got (you know, spoiler) anemia.
Sort of.
- How can Kanami even stand Motoko
This is getting to be a long comment but! I forgot to ask you something before and: Do you have any tips for learning Japanese? I'm still workin' on it, but I feel like I'll never be able to get the hang of it. Thread Reply to this Thread Hide 33 comments Show 33 comments no subject sinnesspiel 2013-08-13 07:57 pm (UTC)(link) Herp derp. Your translator knows jack about motor vehicles and their spelling. Fixed!
But are you sure Seishirou could be that unfabulous for his first appearance, Holmes?
Childhood friends in Shiki need at least one insufferable member. Ozaki's sass is delightful, but Seishin's something of a saint for putting up with him as long as he does. Puts his essay in the waiting room knowing it would annoy him, undermines everything he tries to contribute to the conversation about the hit and run, implying they're in a conspiracy to kill off old folks to his nursing staff...
Edit: As for learning Japanese, is there anything in particular you're having trouble with? The main thing I remember doing that was a pain was buckling down and practicing verb forms. I still do kanji flashcards with Anki to increase my vocab, then look for the word or phrase in contexts via Google or some such. I slap new grammar bits I learn in there, too.Edited 2013-08-14 11:55 (UTC) Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 32 comments Show 32 comments no subject airlynx 2013-08-14 10:10 pm (UTC)(link) To be honest, I don't really know much about cars either. I always mean to buy a car magazine or something because if it came to picking out a car for myself, I'd be stuck and wouldn't know what to look for other than if it looks cool! It was so much easier back in the day when there wasn't such a wide selection of cars to choose from, when it was either Model T or walking.
If you are an honest man, Watson, you will set these records against my successes!
Seishirou really is fabulous, but Tatsumi is even more so, and if the driver ranks so low on the fabulousity scale, then I can guess that it's neither of them. Let's see, the rest of the Kanemasa crew...Chizuru, Sunako, and Yoshie are out because they're not male enough to be a 50 year old man. There's also that Dr. Ebuchi, but I think he's out too for obvious reasons. So I'm guessing that they just hired a random guy to drive them to Sotoba and 'had lunch' with him. Unless that random guy IS Dr. Ebuchi? He sort of looks like he's in his early 50's!
Speaking of childhood friends, doesn't Shiki have a lot of them? Seishin and Toshio, Natsuno and Tohru (kind of), Kanami and Motoko, Megumi and Kaori - and Toshio, Natusno, Motoko, and Megumi are all insufferable to a certain degree.
Well, it's not anything in particular I have trouble with...it's mostly that no matter how much material I go through, I don't feel like I'm making any progress, like swimming upstream. I guess I was just asking of any tricks that you may have learned while studying it (flashcards are a good idea, though). Maybe I'm being a little impatient, I mean Japanese is a totally different language from the two that I know, and it'll obviously take some time. Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 31 comments Show 31 comments no subject sinnesspiel 2013-08-15 11:53 am (UTC)(link) I offer these suggestions, Sherly. Perhaps the cast is far less flamboyant in the novel and that fabulous flare is more of a machinations of the two more visual mediums? Also, in the novel, the funeral director is also a Jinrou... but might that be a red herring? Indeed, I find your reasoning of a random man to be rather reliable, as Jinrou never appear to be dazed and can at least say a word or two tob e social and blend.
Wait wait wait so there are like, three Jinrou in Sotoba, not counting Natsuno (he doesn't rise up in the novel though does he) and Seishin? So, Tatsumi and Yoshie and that funeral guy? SMH I thought they were supposed to be rare! The whole Jinrou situation is kind of shifty in general, like they can stand sunlight, can eat normal food...it's just like being human without getting older, lucky buggers. Can they still enter houses without invites, though?
Hmm, I think both ways would be able to accurately describe Toshio because you can back both up with evidence. I'm not a big fan of Seishin, so my interpretation would be more sympathetic towards Toshio and less sympathetic towards the junior monk, so I'd say that the relationship is one sided (Toshio appreciates Seishin and Seishin goes with it). I think that their situation is an interesting twist of a common storyline; you'd expect Seishin, who is all emo and hates the responsibilities forced on him, to gain strength from his more spirited childhood friend who accepts the responsibilities and does his job to the best of his abilities and works till the very end to save the village, or keeps on fighting. In this way, Toshio would have made him realize the joys of living and fighting destiny and...yeah. However, Seishin sticks to his own views and their conflicting ideologies break up a previously strong friendship.
Either way, Toshio's determination especially towards the end of the story is what makes me really like his character, so much more than Seishin's, even though the latter is the main character as you say. I don't feel positive empathy towards Seishin, either. I mean, resenting your responsibilities so much you end up betraying your species? Yeah, I can totally relate to that. Besides he never really does anything. He just thinks a lot and then goes go join the dark side.
I think everyone who's seen/read? Shiki can agree that the author can create phenomenal bromances! Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 27 comments Show 27 comments no subject sinnesspiel 2013-08-26 05:45 pm (UTC)(link) That would be hilarious if they could and Ozaki just never thought to do so.
I definitely think what you said is a key part; as much as everything is open to interpretation, that much as a chunk of the rift between them seems central. A part of their bond as children was based on both understanding the pressure of their roles forced on them, and with Ozaki seeming to embrace it, Seishin may feel even more isolated; he never does voice his thoughts when he realizes he would really rather the village die, when in youth they mutually acknowledged how much they hated their burdens. Seishin likely knows that if he brought that up now, he'd be met with an incredulous "now's not the time for that!" and shut down even by Toshio.
On the topic of Kyouko and Ono's Bromances, one thing I really liked about Shiki was how it shows that people's feelings are very contextualized. Someone you genuinely liked or even loved your whole life can be warped in your mind to be someone you've always hated under enough stress. Kanami and Motoko's relationship is really tragic, and Kanami's situation was the first and perhaps only time I was ever truly sympathetic towards the Shiki; but the real tragedy is that before snapping, Motoko cared for Kanami. Under that strain, though, she could dismiss all of that as if Kanami were just a propinquity based friend who she was jealous of for having her family returned to her. I wonder if Kyouko wasn't something like that to Ozaki; someone he found to be an agreeable partner, whose company he did enjoy, even if not perhaps romantically, pleasantly mutually using each other, only to suddenly lose all that when the time came to vivisect her. "Ah, she was always just an obligation, I don't remember what I saw in her." It's not a switch to hatred but... then again, the alternative is that he was just always like that to her. Maybe to a lot of people, really.
Even when Seishin first went to join the dark side, it seemed more like another suicide attempt than any move to help them; if he were serious about aiding them, he would have had a lot more pull. The only point at which he joined the other side was when killing Ohkawa to save Sunako, and even then it was simply crafting out his own side. I wonder how, in the aftermath, he'll handle Sunako's need to feed. Will he forbid or at least discourage any future drive she may have to make a safe place and force her to only feed once and move on, without ever killing? Will he encourage her the way Tatsumi did? Will she ultimately be the leader of him again, if he returns to his passivity?
Fuyumi Ono once said in regards to one of her unfinished works, when asked if a pair was going to become canon, "Sorry. I don't do happy endings." I wonder what that means for Seishin and Sunako, particularly since I got the feeling the anime was making them a romantic pair(not necessarily sexual, but definitely driven by spurious, personal, perhaps unrealistically/impractically infatuated feelings). There's the silhouettes kissing in the OP, the choice of music in the background of their scenes... I don't pair them off myself, but I couldn't fight that impression. There are a lot of canon pairs I don't personally like in fiction.
Some have mused that it was a romantic choice for Seishin between Ozaki and Sunako. If Seishin and Ozaki were meant to be seen like that then, no happy ending indeed. I can see it, but I can also see it as just a choice between friend Ozaki and romantic Sunako, or freedom, with Sunako just along for the ride because he doesn't want to be lonely or wants someone to witness him the same way writers want to be read, or even with Ozaki really not meaning that much to him after all, "high school left-overs" as someone I once knew described someone who was sincerely and deeply dedicated to him as a friend. While I question Ozaki's humanity in many regards, I can't see an argument for saying he doesn't sincerely like Seishin, but as Natsuno says of Megumi, don't just expect someone to return a sentiment out of obligation because you feel it strongly enough. Rather, it'd be thematic if Seishin didn't.
All that said, I still think Seishin liked him, and I could see him loving him before I could see him as indifferent, but that's ultimately my subjective reading of the character, and I can indeed see him all three ways as supportable across both mediums. I haven't read all of his novel scenes yet, so I'll withhold judgment on that. Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 26 comments Show 26 comments no subject airlynx 2013-08-30 09:12 pm (UTC)(link) I wonder what would happen if the Shiki was inside the house and then Ozaki uninvited it. Would they get vaporized? Imagine if when Tatsumi was going to grab Setsuko, Toshio would be like "you're un-invited" and then he would just burst into flames. That would solve so many problems for them! And Natsuno would have no company at the end when he *SPOILER* blows himself up.
Another thing is that Toshio has an outlet for his frustrations, and Seishin doesn't. Toshio is all rude and playful and he complains a lot, even if it's just superficial stuff. Seishin, on the other hand, is expected to be polite and a model priest at all times. In short, Toshio doesn't have to make his personality into 'the perfect doctor'. If Seishin went around complaining all the time, that wouldn't do at all. But perhaps if he did, he wouldn't be breeding as much resentment as he is. And if Toshio had to force himself to become a role model, he'd probably go insane and depressed as Seishin does. Well...I guess, his mom tries to make him, but he doesn't go for it. Toshio and Seishin are just really different, and them clashing is one of the main conflicts, and fascinating to watch. So alike, so different.
Human feelings are just volatile in general; it just takes one thing to set them off. I've experienced that myself, when someone I really like does something, or something happens and I start seeing them in a different light. Suddenly, everything they do starts to annoy me, even if their habits were endearing before. Most books don't show this, keeping character relationships the same and depending on interactions (A was mean to B, so they're not friends anymore). But it's so much more than that. The Shiki anime showed that pretty well, I can only imagine that the novel will do it even better. The mind has a way of fooling itself, too, so that could have been what Toshio did with Kyouko: "I don't want to make this traumatic for myself...well, I didn't even like her anyway so it's not a big deal." So he basically shuts off his emotions for that part, as is reflected by his listless expression throughout the operation, and the blank gaze he gives Seishin when he walks in.
I'd like to think that post-Shiki, Sunako encourages Seishin to enjoy life, and he does so, and uses his Buddhist priest philosophy to convince her of the value of human life. On the other hand, I don't think that's possible, because she's the one who's dominant in their (emotional! further than that...ick) relationship. He never really teaches her anything throughout the story, but She makes him feel a lot better about himself and in the end, they both gain the companion they both wanted to save them from the loneliness. In all likelihood, Seishin probably will be a passive little turd, it's not realistic to assume that his personality, which had been passive for years, to become assertive just from his experiences over the course of like half a year. Maybe he'd change over time? We'll never know, though. It's frustrating that the ending of Shiki is so open...but I don't think I want a sequel. Sequels rarely do the original justice.
I don't ship SeishinxSunako at all! I just don't have an interest in the pairing, I guess. But if I did, I'd say that it would be platonic, maybe closer than friends, but not in a romantic way. Just close companions, because that's all that both of them wanted; they had that one scene where they both said that the other was lonely--heck, Sunako initiated the Sotoba takeover because she was so lonely. So it's good that they found each other. And Toshio deserves better than Monk *sniff*.
Your take on translations, translate it as it is, is my philosophy, but unfortunately it's not one necessarily in common practice. As I said, I don't know whether to take that as translators who want something badly enough to legitimately not see the difference or intentional deception.
For example, in FMA there's of a pair of characters who, being single, attractive, male and female characters in the same age range, and with the female character having no other prospects due to a lack of on-screen interaction with anyone else, are a very popular fanon couple; the authoress received many letters asking why she didn't marry them off. The authoress's response was: "If they were to get married, military regulations would make it impossible to do due to being a subordinate and superior officer." This was translated by fans as: "The reason they aren't married is because they wouldn't be able to work together as superior and subordinate in the military anymore." I can see why someone whose mind is already viewing the two as wanting to marry as a matter of fact and who think only their professionalism is stopping them, would think that was a perfectly acceptable translation. Sky is blue. The problem is that was immediately extrapolated to "The only reason they aren't married is due to military regulations and their jobs coming first but would definitely be otherwise and are functionally married in every way but the formalities." The extrapolation makes sense based of the "the reason" translation. The problem is that the extrapolation does not follow the original text.
Given that a corrective translation was offered behind the scenes and dismissed out of hand as failing to read between the lines, I can only conclude that they are being intentionally deceptive.
On another line I publicly corrected the translation on ("You musn't sink to that" became "Don't go where I can't follow"), I had mixed responses from "Thanks. I wish they hadn't mistranslated it even if I do like the pair." to "/USES IT ANYWAY, JUST ACCEPT IT, THE PAIR IS CANON. READ BETWEEN THE LINES."
How convenient it is to talk about reading between the lines as an excuse for altering them.
I'm biased by too many bad experiences to always go with the most absolutely literal translation possible when it might somehow reflect upon any character's relationships. More so than with other lines. I fretted over whether to have Ozaki say "You're talking to me here." instead of "I wonder about saying that to me." It'd definitely flow more naturally, and he's a very casually speaking character so it's particularly important his lines flow compared to say Takami who I can let be a little weird and stilted since he's formal with occasional laid back slips, but with the potential for that to be read as "don't watch what you say, we're always open with each other, we are SPECIAL FRIENDS" into that line, I couldn't do it. I do believe that is a true sentiment in general between them, but that's just my reading, and the nature of the line was definitely more about his own poor nature than their friendship. "You're talking to me here" could certainly be read the given way, that he's the most improper of all, but I think the initial impression would certainly be different.
Creepier still was that the loli was the one pushing it, and since she also happened to be able to kill all the vampires with no risks or any of those pesky problems like convincing the rest of the village of anything, he ended up unpleasantly codependent on her. I like some dark, messed up twists, but "you might have been coerced into pedophilia" is not a direction I felt like taking Ozaki; especially since the only thing still making him fun to play (what with him eing irrelevant to his own canon and lost for much motivation for action or self-efficacy) was a character who he had arguments over their respective moralities with. I'm not about to throw "you might be a pedo" onto that morality train wreck and forget leading to the whole "is it rape if..." hot mess that THAT would have blown up into. Imagine other players he interacts with to having to deal with something as heavy as that. I wasn't going to tell the player, "No, you can't do that plot where your loli becomes sex crazed because I don't want to deal with it with Ozaki whom she lives with" but I was definitely writing myself an out. Edited 2013-09-16 23:30 (UTC) Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 18 comments Show 18 comments ITS FINALLY FRIDAY time to go on a replying spree airlynx 2013-10-11 11:41 pm (UTC)(link) It's also like "do something you love and never work a day in your life" but I don't think that's possible? Because not everyone likes to work hard, some people just like to be lazy or whatever, and there's not a lot of well-paying jobs that let you be lazy. Of course, a job's merit can't be measured by how well it pays, but it can't hurt not to be dirt poor too, right? I work part-time and I like my job sometimes...hm, maybe if I only worked, and not had to go to school too. I wouldn't mind doing that if I didn't have a mountain of homework to come home to. But I like having a job more than I hate staying up doing homework, so I just put up with it, I put in sooo much effort to get a job that quitting would be like spitting in my own face. Anyway, major tangent there!
I think the reason a lot of people dislike Seishin is because he's so infuriating. If you don't dig deep, he's just this lonely monk who is exasperated by all the needless death and is one of the only people who can see the Shiki as people and not parasites. But he does it in such a self-righteous and annoying way that it's hard to sympathize with him. His whole thing is 'everyone is a person, no matter how much of an asshole they are' and then he just turns on his own species. Uhhhh, what? In the end, we get this overall impression that through the whole story, he's acting for himself. Since he's a monk and he has all these pressures put on him, he always has to disregard his own feelings to help other people. It's okay to resent that, but doesn't that just show that he is a selfish piece of crap under that monk's mask? Doesn't he have his own selflessness? Selfish people carry connotations of being bad people, which is another reason why it's hard to sympathize with Seishin. His final acts in the story are also for himself: he's totally done with humanity and just wants to chill with his new loli BFF. For someone who is presented as outwardly understanding, he does little to understand the motivations behind Toshio's actions to save the village.
About translations though, I like there to be a balance, probably. Literal translations are great because you read it as it is meant to be read, but also I don't want my reading material to sound choppy and awkward, so embellishing a little bit for the sake of making the words flow a little better isn't a huge crime.
However like in the instance where you corrected that translation (which flowed well both ways), you definitely did right, because fans deserve to know the actual meaning. The fans that maybe don't care for shipping would be thankful, and those that don't can still interpret it as shipping if they so please; the connotation is still there. So everyone's happy. Changing a translation to fit your ships is so selfish and those who do deserve to be publicly corrected and embarrassed. They have tons of fans relying on them, like hello! They can't just make all the fans think the way that the translator does just because they prefer it.
Eh, I wish that the manga and anime were a bit more faithful to the book, although the anime was beautifully executed. However, there would be shounen-ai even if they didn't decide to add Natsuno/Tohru bromance. Shounen-ai is everywhere. Someone would probably have shipped AtsushixTakami. You can't stop shounen-ai, dude.
One hot, sultry summer night, Atsushi finds himself in petty trouble with the law yet again. It's high time resident officer Takami taught him a lesson, 'bout how things are done in Sotoba. Bow chica wow wow... Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 16 comments Show 16 comments 8D (Anonymous) 2013-10-19 02:22 pm (UTC)(link) I must have surprised you then, as Seishin's my favorite character here. I know few people whose favorite character is Seishin too. One of them analyzed a lot about Seishin, down to his suicide attempts and rescuing (and then "eloping" with) Sunako.
One of many reasons I like Seishin is because I feel like I can sympathize with him, to some extent. (we may even have the same MBTI type. Wooohooo) but then, I don't have characters I dislike in Shiki. (It actually has more to do with me not thinking that much about them to be able to hate them though haha) I have a thing for deep characters, though that doesn't mean I like them as a person. But with Seishin, I feel like I can understand him on a more personal level. (but even without this, I already like him)
On 'Seishin can pass as heroine': that reminds me. The first time I saw Seishin was when the Shiki manga made an appearance in our anime/manga magazine. And that time I actually mistook him for a woman. (I immediately became interested in this manga, and then I looked it up. Onemanga still existed, and it only had 16 chapters. Good times indeed) Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 4 comments Show 4 comments no subject sinnesspiel 2013-10-22 01:13 am (UTC)(link) Surprised in a good way; it's always nice when an unloved character can find someone to appreciate them, though it sounds like he actually has quite a few fans on your neck of the woods! I think the author meant for him to be the most sympathetic. I think the author would be glad people analyzed him and the story itself so much; it seems like the sort of story meant to make people think and talk.
In many series if I dislike a character it's because I consider them badly written or an authorial talking head or just bland and shallow (re: many shounen protags, the usual "genki boy" types--I'm sexist and think it's cute in plenty of girls...) or some such. I may think he's an idiot for his values but I can't call Seishin shallow and if he is the one the author means to be most sympathetic, she assuredly did not make anything black and white.
I love you, Ritsuko, but Seishin is the prettiest girl in the village. He manages to be graceful-pretty AND cute-pretty. That is his sin, Sunako. In some ways, that is more wicked than any horns or a tail could be. Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 3 comments Show 3 comments 8D (Anonymous) 2013-10-24 02:16 am (UTC)(link) Wow he may really be INFP this way 8D. I'm INFP as well and to us, our personal values are absolutely important. I'm also more of a feeling type than logic type... Seems like Seishin is like this too.
Seishin, Seishin. Not only he's awfully pretty (I don't know about the novel though, is there even a description of some sort about his facial features?) he's also... delicate, feminine and submissive and having a really dominant male best friend... it has already given some people ideas.
I find it real funny that in the novel Toshio may seem fonder about Seishin than the other way around, while in the anime/manga, people seem to conclude otherwise. But I can't see that Seishin completely hates his guts either. In the manga/anime it's also shown that he genuinely cares about him. It's only at the moment of the moral horizon that Seishin chooses to leave him, when he finds that their principles and values differ completely - going separate ways.
Post-Shiki though, I bet Seishin lives a more miserable and empty life than Toshio does. It isn't like he wants to be Jinrou after all. Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 2 comments Show 2 comments no subject sinnesspiel 2013-10-24 09:12 am (UTC)(link) I dunno, if Seishin really did bury his old feelings and duties, he may have moved on to be a new, happier, free person. I'm not so positive as to believe he could just set foot in the world and find happiness when we don't even know what, if anything, he wanted to do besides not Sotoba. But then, I don't get Seishin, so I wouldn't write it off the table for him to know himself better than I know him and to have found happiness.
No physical description of him... in Fujiryuu's initial character designs, he did draw Seishin as bald, but I think the fireman in the prologue would have identified a man driving off with a coffin as considerably more odd if he were in bloody clothes with such an exclusively monk-like hair style in the novels.
I've seen a doujinshi made back when Shiki was just a novel. They drew Seishin and Ozaki in fairly stock pretty-masculine yaoi guy fashion (think Mirage of Blaze, Zetsuai/Bronze, Yami no Matsuei). People had ideas before Seishin was made the prettiest girl in Sotoba, granted that means nothing, people also have ideas about Ozaki and Tatsumi (which is seemingly the second most popular pair, right behind Natsuno/Tohru; Ozaki/Seishin's a pretty distant third) and they met, what, once in the anime? Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 1 comment Show 1 comment 8D (Anonymous) 2013-10-24 12:37 pm (UTC)(link) BALD OMG (rolling on the floor lol-ing) Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent no subject airlynx 2013-11-02 01:01 am (UTC)(link) Well, as long as you love you job it's all good, right? Who cares what people think, it's probably a bangin' job. Me, my dream job is a lot more mundane (I want to be a doctor). Actually, Ozaki himself is kind of the reason for that! I mean I'm not stupid enough to watch Shiki and then be like "Yes...yes, this is what all doctors do. I need this career." Naw, I was already considering it, but he is just an inspiring character in general. He has a great work ethic, he complains all the time but still visits his patients and does a great job overall, go Toshio! He a strong independent Asian man who don't need no man *glares at Seishin*.
Eh, Seishin's so indecisive too, that's another thing that kind of puts me off. Mostly everyone has a goal in the novel:
-Sunako wants to kill off the village
-Megumi wants to leave the village with Natusno
But Seishin? What does he even want? I'm interpreting his in-between-ness in a negative way, but I guess it can also signify a well-developed character because most people in real life aren't so goal-oriented as characters in a novel. Everyone has mixed feelings, it's hard to make up our minds sometimes! Same with Seishin. Too bad for him, it's not so nice to watch on the screen.
I didn't find Seishin all that attractive, actually...I thought he looked kind of like an insect. I mean, those eyes...the hell, Mr. mangaka!??? They take up so much of his eyes (especially in the manga where it doesn't include color) that he could pass for a Shiki himself. Large green eyes, pale skin...he looks like an alien.
"Pedophile"
I really wish Shiki the novel was more accessible or at least well-known. Me, I like to read the book before I see the movie usually, but I just feel lucky that I get to read it at all. Shiki was also kind of the reason I wanted to learn Japanese, soooo!
The novel can't get a whole lot more accessible than available freely on the internet in the world's most commonly spoken language, in chapters updated weekly if not more often. (Well, yes, I guess available in full would indeed be more accessible, but that's gonna be take another two years, at the current pace...)
It will be the most popular Shiki pair ever. Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 9 comments Show 9 comments no subject airlynx 2013-11-08 05:33 am (UTC)(link) Oh, yeah, nihilist!Tatsumi from the manga. Is he like that in the novel as well? Or did they totally make that up? Because if they did...it kinda fits. If it wasn't for that aspect of his personality though, I'd say that Tatsumi is the one having the most fun in the village. He gets to go out and vandalize shrines, tie up little kids, beat up subordinates, and seduce married women...it's Atsushi's wet dream.
That treatment of Seishin probably makes it even worse for him. I mean, the dude's already ostracized for being part of the temple and for being single, so being treated weird because of his suicide attempt is probably painful for him. They always say that sick people should be treated like they're just like everybody else so that they don't feel so apart from the crowd. I think the manga art really helped the delicacy, just Seishin's poses: dramatically throwing his arms in the air and looking mysteriously into the distance whilst pondering the meaning of life.
Okay, then 'accessible' is down...now we need 'well-known'! Well, the party is just getting started, so there's plenty of opportunity for that, plus like you said when you're done you can probably spread the word pretty effectively. I kind of like a chapter every few days, it's like tuning in to watch a favorite show. Take as long as you need!
Step aside, TohruxNatsuno, it's time for a new ship to replace your old steamboat. Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 8 comments Show 8 comments no subject sinnesspiel 2013-11-09 04:59 am (UTC)(link) Yup, his nihilism is straight from the novels. I assume he is in the anime as well, he just doesn't monologue about it; his behaviors are the same, after all.
It's hard to top Seishin's delicate "almost fainting" maneuvers for delicacy, such as when Ozaki first brings up vampires or when he's at Setsuko's grave and chews out Seishin for trying to discourage him. They certainly captured the aura the townspeople have of him; refined, reserved, respectable, but with a heart made of paper. His voice actor is great, too; he's masculine and firm, sounds educated, but he still also has a softness and vulnerability to him. The glasses are a nice touch, even though I don't think he's ever mentioned to have them in the novel. Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 7 comments Show 7 comments no subject airlynx 2013-11-10 09:14 pm (UTC)(link) Ohhh, I'm guessing he has monologues in the novels then as well? Except not in the ending probably because when him and Natsuno are impaled on the spikes in the manga, that's manga-only since they went with the novel ending for the anime. I'm always excited when we get parts that aren't in the anime or manga but original to the novel; it's kind of like getting a whole new perspective on the story. And when I watch the series next time, I'll have all that extra novel knowledge and maybe get more out of it!
He should really carry around some smelling salts with him. Another thing about him I think is that he seems strained, like he's trying to keep up appearances when he's so brittle on the inside and sometimes that ruins his facade. The anime has ruined him for me so much that I can't imagine him /without/ glasses! He looks like a kind librarian. Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 6 comments Show 6 comments no subject sinnesspiel 2013-11-11 05:22 am (UTC)(link) I've been screen shotting the anime to make a character map; Gotouda Fuki was just a flashing dead old gal in a rush of dead old fogies when I watched/read, and now she's a real character. It's nice how they all play into each other! Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 5 comments Show 5 comments no subject airlynx 2013-11-13 03:39 am (UTC)(link) Yes! Was Fuki the one lady at the beginning who had a fly land on her *shudder* open eyeball? I remember reading it in a translated chapter too and being like "aha! I know this scene!" but I forgot if it was G-ma Gotouda. Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 4 comments Show 4 comments no subject sinnesspiel 2013-11-13 11:47 am (UTC)(link) Actually, that was Mieko! From the three deaths up in Yamairi. Seishin briefly mentions that after getting no response when trying to notify them about Shuuji's death, he came up looking for them. Seems Seishin didn't call Ozaki and get prompted into looking around more in the anime/manga. Everything from Fuki's son Shuuji's death to who was found dead and why is quickly swept up in the first few minutes, and Mieko's drug run mentioning Gigorou and her husband being spaced out with a summer cold isn't shown, but gets a very quick passing mention in episode.... 3 or 4, I think? Sadly, Shuuji's run-in at Yamairi and bloody futon before falling ill goes unmentioned, but no major characters are ever made aware of it, as mentioned in a sub-chapter end...
Quite a bit of the stuff cut does get a passing nod. I can see brushing over it as they're admittedly not major characters and they only have so much time to keep the story moving in a more pace-oriented medium.
Gotouda Fuki's still alive in the novel. For now?
I need to fix up the character tags; some characters have no tags, some aren't tagged consistently... At the end of part 1 (remember waaaay back when it was titled 'Crows'? It's two books in several 'parts' broken into chapters broken into sub-chapters) I'll put up a family tree of related characters, with links to their character tags, and try to map out where they live in Sotoba with the Sotoba map.
Part 1 ends with chapter 9, so we're close. Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 3 comments Show 3 comments no subject airlynx 2013-11-16 05:47 am (UTC)(link) Oh that's right, it was Mieko! I get the Sotoba grannies all mixed up!
At this point, personally what would help /me/ the most is just a map of the village. I know that it's roughly spear-shaped and I know what the parts are called but I have a hard time imagining those boundaries.
How many parts are there total? Thread Reply to this Thread from start Parent Thread Hide 2 comments Show 2 comments no subject sinnesspiel 2013-11-17 02:22 am (UTC)(link) Pacing is trickier in anime/manga/serialized media. Probably in that order; anime (or a movie) is the most sensitive medium for pacing, manga the second most, then serialized light novels are still actually fairly free, then for a complete novel published at once it's much looser. That's not to say it's negligible but it's much less sensitive. You can stop for an info dump or a joke in a novel without ruining the mood, you can put a chapter break pretty much anywhere you want to instigate a "mood reset" for another scene. They're "paced" as the reader reads them. I've got a lot of respect for those who do animated mediums where they have to set the pace and tone with much less input from the audience's imagination. There's a lot of tricks and techniques they employ in all aspects from the script, the continuity, the animation, the coloring, the sound... it's pretty interesting how many factors all have to go into making a production good and bad.
I see, well still, that's organized for RP'ing! Some would just wing it, so kudos.
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