Sinnesspiel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sinnesspiel) wrote2013-10-25 11:02 pm
sinnesspiel) wrote2013-10-25 11:02 pm
Shiki Novel Translations 7.2
2
"Mom, I'm going to Megumi's!" Kaori called to her mother in the kitchen.
"Oh, a get-well visit?"
Yup, Kaori nodded. "I have a book to bring back to her, too."
"I see. There are some grapes in the refrigerator, bring those with you."
"It'll be all right."
"You can't go empty handed. I bought them as an offering for the holiday, anyway."
As told by her mother, Kaori opened the fridge. Inside were a box of chilled muscat grapes. Taking them out and bringing them together with the book, Kaori put on the slipper by the kitchen door and headed out. In the cooling night wind, people could be seen here and there standing about after lighting the welcoming fires.
Love popped his face out from his dog house wanting to go along, but Kaori shook her head and walked along the roads at night. The tap tap of her sandals mingled with the voices of the insects behind her.
Night in the village were generally dark but that wasn't the case at all in Kaori's neighborhood. As soon as she left the house, there was the Ootsuka Sawmill lumberyard, and beyond that wide field was the national highway. The highway was between that plot and the Kusunoki Stand. The bright light from the gas station shone undeterred, lighting up the surroundings, much more reliably than any telephone pole street lights could have.
The cooling night air was very settling and calming. Easy going, she passed by the lumberyard when, illuminated by the light of the gasoline stand, she could see Ootsuka Yasuyuki pointing towards the lumber. Yasuyuki was already past thirty, much older than Kaori, but he felt like a big brother figure from around the neighborhood. Maybe it was because ever since her little brother Akira was young, he'd let them come over and lpay incessantly. That Yasuyuki was pointing to the mountain of lumber, talking to a figure beside him about something. Even though it's Obon, he's working this late, thought Kaori as her walking slowed, when she caught sight of the woman she had never seen before at Yasuki's side.
Yasuyuki was still unwed. He had a good temperament but the problem was that he was shy, so she had heard that the little old lady from Ootsuka Lumber had said. He was looking to be set up for a marriage with somebody but, with that said, the problem was with who? The age to be doing marriage interviews is in your twenties, so it's believed.
Marriage interviews and weddings, maybe it was because those talks still lingered in her mind, and because the woman was dressed in her best. She was in a white summer-knit one piece, and a transparent top over that. In white heels and a white bag, her hair was loosely put up. Her earrings glistened in the light.
(She's beautiful...)
Kaori's feet stopped. Of course her facial features were gorgeous; how to put it---she felt very sophisticated. Like an actress who would be on TV.
Maybe Yasuyuki noticed that she had been thoughtlessly just staring at them, as he turned towards her. He smiled shyly.
"Hiya, Kaori-chan. On an errand?"
"Going to Megumi-chan's."
Is that right, he said, almost blushing as he motioned to the woman beside him. "This here is the Madame of the Kirishikis. She says her name is Chizuru-san. You know, from Kanemasa."
"Heh? Kaori murmured. This was her? Then, Yasuyuki definitely wouldn't propose to her. With Yasuyuki seeming so completely flustered, she suddenly got the feeling it was a shame. It'd have been good if he could have gotten engaged.
"Good evening," Chizuru greeted. Something was coquettish about her, like a star who would be on TV, like she'd thought.
"I just met her over there a while ago. This seems to be the first time the Madame of the Kirishikis has seen a lumberyard."
Hmm, Kaori mused. When a smile rose on Chizuru's face as Kaori received her gaze, she was suddenly conscious of herself, in a childish T-shirt and culottes with an elastic waste-band. Somehow, it was very embarrassing.
"This girl is from the neighborhood, she's called Tanaka Kaori. Right now, she's in middle school."
As Chizuru's eyes narrowed, Kaori became more and more embarrassed. You could even call her timid. If she had at least put her hair up or something. As it was, she had barely just run a comb through it.
"She's a really good girl. --Madame, do you have children?"
"I have a daughter. She is in her first year of middle school but, unfortunately, her body is weak, so going to school is..."
"Oh yeah? That must be difficult."
"Thanks to that, she's very shy of strangers. If she's able to become more healthy here, it would be good if she could make friends, but." Saying this, Chizuru smiled towards Kaori. "If you'd like, please do come by sometime."
"Ah... Yes. Likewise. Thanks." Kaori said, chewing out a response, hastily bowing her head and leaving as if running away.
(...What a surprise.)
While running clack-clack ahead, she turned back to look at the lumber yard. Yasuyuki was, face red, talking to Chizuru about something.
There really are people like that, she realized. She was like a wife in a TV drama. And furthermore.
(Her body is weak...)
A first year middle school girl. The same age as Akira. She probably didn't go to school. She was really like the star of a TV drama.
Still flustered, trotting through the night streets, if she had gone any further she'd have went right past Megumi's family's house. She hurried her limbs to a stop, hurrying towards the entryway. Though she haf always gone around to the kitchen door, tonight for some reason or other she felt like visiting from the entryway. For what was practically the first time, she stood at the entryway, pushing the doorbell.
There was an immediate response, the door opening. Megumi's mother's eyes were wide.
"Oh my, it's Kaori-chan. I thought we had a guest."
Kaori felt herself blushing. She always opened the back door and called out. There were even times when she'd just call out and go on up on her own. So she herself didn't understand very well why she was in the mood to ring the doorbell.
"Uhm.... how is Megumi-chan's condition? This is a get well visit. Uhm, this is from Mom,"
Kaori presented the box of grapes. As Megumi's mother accepted them, she murmured in surprise. "Oh, well. Thank you. ....What's wrong, Kaori-chan, you're so stiff."
"Well... this is a get-well visit...."
"Well. It wasn't such a big deal. It was only anemia. Anyway, go ahead on up."
"Sorry for intruding," Kaori said formally, stepping into the entryway. She slipped off her shoes and, even while told to go upstairs, she nodded, and headed to the second floor. Was this always the kind of house she had, she thought while going up the steps.
Megumi's house was, compared to Kaori's, very new. The walls were mortar and plaster but adorned with wallpaper, and the floor was distinctly western in style. Megumi's mother, being a fastidious person, kept the house well cleaned, with flowers arranged in the entryway, and small trinkets lining the shelves. Kaori had always thought of Megumi's house like this, as a place that had felt very stylish.
And yet, tonight, it looked different. Megumi's mother didn't go as far as to wear casual night gowns like Kaori's mother but, she was indeed dressed comfortably and normally, and she had no makeup on. The inside of the house, too, if you looked closely, was already starting to show the colors of age, and the florists's decorations, too, seemed somewhat jumbled up.
With a complicated feeling, she climbed the stairs to Megumi's room, where there was a stuffed animal beneath the bedroom door nameplate, holding onto a dried flower but, something about that, too, seemed to have a layer of dust, as if it, too, were going terribly downhill.
She knocked ant opened the door. The truth was that Kaori had always admired the perfectly western room of Megumi's, overflowing with girlish little knickknacks and yet, tonight under the florescent lights, it seemed terribly washed out. It was a completely ordinary room. The only thing different from Kaori's old worn out room was just that it was filled with newer things, nothing more---
"Megumi-chan, how are you feeling?"
She entered the room and came by the bedside. It didn't seem like Megumi was asleep, her eyes were open, with a gloomy look.
"You're looking pale. Are you okay?"
Megumi gave a sluggish nod, but she might have just been half asleep.
Kaori pulled out a small stool that a stuffed animal had been sitting on, moved the stuffed animal out of the way and sat. Considering the strange lack of vividness in the room tonight, she looked at Megumi, thinking that this was what Megumi had been staring at all this time. Kaori had come to think of Megumi's room as just amazing but maybe to Megumi it had always looked to be these colors. So, she always went up and down that hill, always looked up to that house. Certainly there was no comparison to this house and Kaori's huose with that house at Kanemasa. Although, there was no doubt that the "something" that this home seemed to be faking was a "something" that house genuinely possessed.
The voices of the insects rode in on the wind through the open window. Kaori peered into Megumi's face, that seemed somehow so vastly far off.
"So, like, it was really amazing. Just now, who do you think I met?"
Megumi didn't answer. Still, her gaze, if only that, shifted towards her.
"They said their name was Kirishiki. The people from that mansion. I met the lady of the house. She's called Chizuru-san. She was such a pretty person!"
Megumi's shoulder had only a twitch of movement.
"It's the first time I'd seem someone put on makeup and earings, even though she was just walking through the village! But, it really suited her. It didn't feel flashy like, it was more what you'd call elegant, maybe?"
"I know...."
Eh, Kaori looked at Megumi. Megumi's expression seemed to possess a certain bite to it.
"I know... at least, that much."
Kaori blinked as Megumi wore a thin smile. Some part of her expression seemed to be scoffing at Kaori.
"She's beautiful.... so, very beautiful...."
Kaori tilted her head, watching Megumi's facial expression attentively.
8D
(Anonymous) 2013-10-27 02:22 pm (UTC)(link)Granted, he's indeed shown rather mad when Seishin just betrayed him. (his line which sounds apathetic to me is a scene for later, right? When he confronted Chizuru) but his being mad is expected, no surprise there. Granted, now I'm also thinking of something else... Maybe Toshio's actually still mad (and maybe sad) by Seishin's betrayal, but there's no wayyy he's gonna admit it to an enemy (Chizuru), so his apathetic line is his attempt at misleading the enemies by making them thinking that he doesn't particularly care about Seishin anymore, now that he's gone to different side. (who knows, if the Kirishikis know he still cares about Seishin, they might use him against Toshio in a way or another)
In the anime, it's also shown that Toshio's still shocked when he finally sees Seishin again, driving a car and collided it with Toshio and the gang's pickup, and them his gaze lingers on his direction for a while afterwards. So yeah, to say that Toshio's become fully apathetic towards Seishin sounds unlikely to me. In many ways, I think he still cares. If he doesn't have so much on his hands (hunting Shiki and all, be responsible as lead vampire hunter) I'm quite sure he'll be tempted to chase after Seishin, maybe to demand an explanation of some sort. But in a way, he's already let Seishin go, it seems. He can't be selfish forever, Seishin has a life on his own. Now it's gone back to 'to love is to let go' theme (I lol).
no subject
Or we can look at it another way and say that since he's decided to devote his near future to hunting Shiki. He sacrificed his wife, and now if he has to lose Seishin too it's like 'so be it'?
8D
(Anonymous) 2013-10-27 11:28 pm (UTC)(link)Btw, I'm wondering which of the anime and manga that's more faithful to the novel?
Spoilers for late in the series. Warning for pretentious film analysis.
I can only give my impression, as usual, all the more subjective based on acting rather than text. I'm going to go all film-school too, which I know really annoys some people for its potential to be reading way too much into things. Ozaki's seiyuu also happens to be my favorite voice actor, so I'm bound to attribute genius to his every delivery.
When he's called by Miwako once Seishin goes missing, his thought afterward is internal, so we know that isn't acting; "Seishin. This is the answer you've given?" sounds anything but apathetic. While it's an emotionally loaded line in terms of delivery, I'm not hearing anger. Maybe others do. I suppose one could hear it as impersonal, losing more and more support, given the hopelessness of the human side at this point is definitely the theme of the episode, but I chose to interpret it as an emotion more between them than situation based on (1) the fact that their relationship, however you chose to interpret it (I don't canonically interpret it as romantic, that's just my hobby), is central to the series and (2) he's not that apathetic about deaths that come after Seishin's defection in the same episode, and is in fact more emotional than we've seen him over a death in a long time.
While driving from the scene of Ritsuko's attack, Kanemasa is reflected in his windshield with his livid face, then we have a cut to Seishin sitting with Sunako in the mansion. No part of that scene nor anything around it seems to be to really establish Seishin's thoughts or setting, so I took the reflection and the subsequent cut to suggest that Ozaki was thinking of Seishin, or specifically 'this is the side he defected to.' Of course, I don't deny that his anger could have been 100% because it's Ricchan; I don't think they're a couple (only in my dreams) but I doubt anyone would deny she's a few steps above the average villager for him. Either way, that Seishin was on his mind at this personal time seems clear, making it hard for me to buy into apathy.
There's also the fact that it's still on his mind when Chizuru attacks him.
On the one hand, it's textually justified to believe he's acting here, making reading into most of his tones all the more hazy. He's already been bitten by Natsuno so whether his last-ditch interrupted attack on Chizuru is something real despite that plan or something he must do not to tip them off that he has a plan is unknowable. The eye-twitch does seem to suggest she did manage to hit a nerve with her comment about his activities as a doctor, which we know hasn't bothered him even a bit before (but we and he know Seishin has judged him for what he believed to be his best choice as a doctor). How much he's faking, we don't know, other than on his line about wanting to watch the village die out. That's the only line we know to be bull, as he has not given up. Another tip-off is his glazed, bland, half-rolled up dead fish-eyed Sakata Gintoki stare and the fact that as one normally getting that throaty, choked sound when talking tensely or emotionally, his monologue is fairly flat until we get to some cut-backs to when he's trying to give them an answer. To me, this suggests that he's actually able to drum up some vitriol the more he thinks about it, but that ultimately it's a recited set of lines. He's even just giving a kind of bland, nonreactive recitation while she's molesting his face. If definitely can't be attributed to lazy animation given the rest of the scene is so animate. If anything it highlights his uncharacteristic inexpressiveness.
A little before that when his attack fails and she cites Seishirou as the sniper, he asks why a human like him is helping them.
"Oh my, does it bother you?"
We get a much more despondent shot, from an above angle which suggests more vulnerable emotion to the viewers, saying: "No. I'm just asking."
When she mentions that he's doing it of his free will just like Seishin, he's surprised, but says that he thought he might have done as much. Given he has had a monologue line already assuming defection, and the reflection/cut above that suggest it was explicitly on his mind when Ritsuko got attacked, we know he isn't lying. So, his surprise is likely at least as much her reading into his reason for asking about Seishirou as it is having it confirmed. Hell, maybe even he didn't really know why he was asking to connect it to lingering thoughts about Seishin, himself.
All in all, I think he knows why Seishin left. They had no argument when he was found by Kyouko's body; Seishin left without a word. But, he knows how Seishin thinks. Even I know why Seishin sided with them, philosophically. Toshio and his sympathizers in the fanbase call it stupid, Sunako calls it romantic (in the literary sense). You can disagree and still understand it; it's a bit like being of one ideation while having a friend who's another. Despite what internet comment sections would suggest, most sane people can have Republican/Democrat/Libertarian/Catholic/Atheist/Gnostic friends and, while they may think their ideology is stupid, they don't assume they're actually evil and out to destroy the nation or world, or lacking in any rational thought train whatsoever. So, I don't think he'd have anything to ask Seishin, aside from, perhaps ironically, the "romantic" (artistic use of the word) question of "Can you really throw me away over this ideology?"
And I think he already knows the answer to that.
I think the series was excellently directed because I assume they used the medium for expression in these ways I read into it that text couldn't provide without being obtuse, and that Ohkawa Tohru (Ozaki's seiyuu) can do no wrong. Then again, you could decide they just mixed up the angles and shots a little to keep the scene from getting boring; this is commonly done in film and manga (which are like storyboards), and part of the reason the anime Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood stood out as so amateurish (the guy had only ever directed a few filler episodes of Bleach and some opening themes) was precisely because they kept opting to the same bland full front or full side shots over and over in an uninteresting, emotionally bland dry run through the narrative. You could say I'm reading too much into his delivery or attribute his change to pointedly inexpressive to be a matter of who was directing the episode/scene.
Then in the novel, a bunch of this is pretty different. For the most obvious example, Natsuno hasn't bitten him. We have no visuals. We have no vocal delivery.
Re: Spoilers for late in the series. Warning for pretentious film analysis.
(Anonymous) 2013-10-28 01:23 am (UTC)(link)Yeah, that's why I'm really looking forward to that scene in the novel, because Natsuno isn't there biting Toshio before. I think it'll be quite different. I'm also wondering if the scene with Ritsuko in the car exists, because I've heard some spoilers before from a person who also read the novel (my memories are a bit fuzzy tho): I remember she mentioned that there's no kidnapping of this other nurse whom Ritsuko wants to rescue, which means Ritsuko is bitten different way (and I think she also mentioned this too. Gotta read this again, I bookmarked it somewhere) the novel!Kirishikis are definitely much more discreet than in the anime -___- they have big mission here, surely they will not want to draw attention? Because the anime is shounen anime, it makes sense if the staffs wanted it to have more action. But according to her, the novel is definitely less flashy and way more logical. Because of this, I find myself not really want to rely on the anime/manga....
no subject
So we come to something else I think the anime did well as a visual, more action oriented media; while Ritsuko and the nurse's kidnappings were a bit more dramatized, the timing is also clearly a set up. The same night Seishin defects, they allow their victim to call for help. They call Ritsuko, who calls Ozaki; in the end, they get him out of the house to set up Chizuru's ambush (she's waiting for him when he comes back). Chizuru has been waiting all this time, but on that night, the night Seishin came to them, there's no more waiting. It seems almost like Sunako was simply waiting to have Seishin before dooming Ozaki. Later on she even comments that she shouldn't have been so easy on "his friend" and seems to take a sadistic delight on pointing out that he's on the side that's out to kill "his friend." It makes Sunako much less sympathetic, but much more interesting, and fits her loneliness drive well. Add in that I think the anime was pairing Sunako and Seishin romantically in a sense, and it really may support the 'Seishin is/was gay for him' theme. In the manga, Chizuru made a prior attempt on Ozaki and it wasn't as all well set out so it doesn't work out as suggestively in terms of Sunako being a delightfully villainous bitch.
So, while the novel is more low-key, because such things are better suited to writing and action is better suited to visual mediums, I still appreciate what each version brought to the table for its medium. I'd say the manga is the most outlandish, action oriented, twist-based of them all. And in some ways I like that; I like Ozaki in the pipelines. It makes him a little less sympathetic since the Shiki (or at least Nao-san) are the ones you empathize with there. But I like the take where it's Hirosawa and co., too; it is the story of the whole village, after all. The anime generally defaulted to the novel on scenes not finished yet in the manga for the ending.
8D
(Anonymous) 2013-10-28 08:25 am (UTC)(link)I'm actually very strict about canon, so that's why I don't really want to rely on the manga/anime. What comes from Ono herself is the most original, most canon, so for analyzing stuffs/taking conclusions or stuffs, I'll mainly refer to the novel. But she's awesome and all that jazz so I have faith that hers is the best. (though regarding Shiki, in the past I'd just take what I could get T.T I didn't even expect that it'd be made anime you know) but nowww we have the novel as well, thanks to youuuuu 8DD
no subject
I can appreciate being a purist at heart. I think the anime and manga add enough specific to their medium to appreciate independently, but as someone who can't accept dubs or "localized" translations (they don't bring enough unique to the medium to justify a complete erasure and unofficial reinterpretation of a substantial part of the media--namely, the original voice track or meaning. Though, if they change enough to be a full rewrite with its own creative merits that stand out independent from its base material, for example a parody, that's different.), I see where you're coming from in absolute loyalty to the source. I myself consider anything in the novels *not* contradicted in the anime/manga to be canon for the anime/manga, but not vice-versa.
So I assume Seishin does have a secret woodland path to Ozaki's house and that he's in the habit of letting himself in. I assume Mitsuo-san does know about Seishin's scar and that whispers of Atsushi or Seishin or Ikebe being behind Megumi's disappearance still happened, even though we see nothing to suggest this in the anime.
But I don't assume there were any whispers of Ritsuko dating Natsuno or Tohru in the novels, even though it's there in the first episode of the anime. I don't assume Anime!Ricchan has a boyfriend/psuedofiance, that anyone visited the Kanemasa house during the search in the anime (they did in the manga, but Tatsumi didn't join the search). I don't assume Kaori knew about Megumi's Natsuno Stalking in the anime (because how could she not think of that when teaming up with him? "I don't know why Megumi-chan's mad at me!" makes no sense when she's been so close with Natsuno for the last month). I don't assume Megumi knew or hung out with Tohru's sister or little brother (in the novels later it'll show she knows them) since she goes into their house with absolutely no thoughts beyond "I don't like this guy, he's closer to my love interest than me." Actually, I don't assume *anything* from the anime about the Mutous in the novel, with Tohru's drastic change... though, I can appreciate the purpose of those changes from a writer's standpoint.
I feel comfortable assuming a flow from the source to the spin-off, but absolutely not with the reverse. In a way you could consider that a way of establishing first and second tier canon in the mind. Of course it's most valid to assume absolutely no flow from the source to the spin-off, to make no assumptions at all... but as someone playing with the canon in roleplay (or fanfic, or doujinshi, or whatever people play with), I prefer to source anything I have to assume to *something* official other than making things up myself if possible. It feels more justifiable. Or is that a self-serving excuse not to be creative?
8D
(Anonymous) 2013-10-29 11:47 am (UTC)(link)Unfufufufufufufu. Given that I know several novel spoilers already, I know what to come. Fufufufufufu I'm really looking forward to thaaaatttt.
no subject
I'd still say they're their own canon if there's enough variation that stands on its own independent of its base; Shiki is a Japanese adaptation of Salem's Lot, after all. Somehow, I don't think too many people would argue we should be calling Ozaki Dr. Cody or Seishin Father Callahan. Though you have given me a fantastic idea for an April Fool's update...
8D
(Anonymous) 2013-10-29 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)What kind of idea? Is it about novel translation?
no subject
I'm not sure which I like best yet of the three. Between the anime and the manga I swing sliiiightly towards the anime, but I really think the manga did some things excellently which can only be done effectively in manga. The anime carried the serious tone and atmosphere best, but in manga you can have a gag panel or face and not interrupt the mood as jarringly as one would if a sudden joke were thrown into the anime. And in the manga, raving lunatic Yuuki is funny and just a little awesome for how shamelessly shounen action hectic tense it was... in the anime, I think it'd be hard to have scenes like that in there without breaking the otherwise serious climactic doomed tension of things. This slow, gradual, absorbing pace that first sucks you into the village is also something I don't think would work as well in a serialized medium where fans expect to know what they're in for within about three episodes/chapters, but it's great in a novel, a medium for those with a little more patience.
Look forward to it in April. Kukuku.
8D
(Anonymous) 2013-10-29 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)woooo, April is still a long time. But I'll be looking forward to it! 8D
Re: 8D
Oh god I don't know if I should be scared or excited for April....