Sinnesspiel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sinnesspiel) wrote2013-08-09 10:50 pm
sinnesspiel) wrote2013-08-09 10:50 pm
Shiki Novel Translations 2.1
Chapter Two
1
Drawing arcs in the darkness, as if drifting, they travelled the land. A beckoning, invoked by the dead who rose from the grave, he who dispatched the will-o'-the-wisps.
The dead did not come after him. He but waited for him wherever he may go. Standing on the frozen land, vacant eyes open, he watched over him from his side as he struggled along that earth. With an ashen white face having lost its vitality, he was clad in yet more white burial clothes. In the glow of the will-o'-the-wisps they were a melancholy blue.
He dragged his feet as if to stall for time, daring to slowly approach forward towards it.
Even when finally beside him, the little brother said nothing. He was simply there with neither an outcry nor a word of malediction, and naturally without breathing a single sigh. Of course neither did he raise a hand to strike him, and he cast no stones.
He only waited to receive him. He looked as he did when alive, but with the pallor of death over him. His literally lifeless eyes had no light in them, a color well suiting the caverns they were, drawing him in closer. His powerless body was stationed there covered in burial garbs, coated in the mud of his grave.
The dead did not come after him. He but waited for him wherever he may go. Standing on the frozen land, vacant eyes open, he watched over him from his side as he struggled along that earth. With an ashen white face having lost its vitality, he was clad in yet more white burial clothes. In the glow of the will-o'-the-wisps they were a melancholy blue.
He dragged his feet as if to stall for time, daring to slowly approach forward towards it.
Even when finally beside him, the little brother said nothing. He was simply there with neither an outcry nor a word of malediction, and naturally without breathing a single sigh. Of course neither did he raise a hand to strike him, and he cast no stones.
He only waited to receive him. He looked as he did when alive, but with the pallor of death over him. His literally lifeless eyes had no light in them, a color well suiting the caverns they were, drawing him in closer. His powerless body was stationed there covered in burial garbs, coated in the mud of his grave.
Seishin's pencil ceased as he briefly sunk into his thoughts.
Even if the little brother had no plans of revenge, the older brother himself must have naturally believed that revenge was the reason he appeared.
Without a doubt his little brother had come to pull him into the same purgatory as himself.
When he'd first seen and became convinced of his little brother's rise from the grave, he must have been wild with fear and fled his little brother. ---He probably did.
But, he couldn't run from the Shiki. Wherever he ran away to, his little brother was there awaiting him. After repeating that cycle, he came to at last realize he couldn't escape. Thus when he took in the sight of his little brother, he'd obediently walk on towards him but (he willingly continued to walk towards his brother but), he was always in fear that it would be this time that his little brother would inflict the wounds of vengeance on him at last.
(Revenge......)
Seishin pondered as he looked over the paper. What was the 'revenge' he was imagining? Was he expecting the haunting to death that was so common in Japanese ghost stories? Or maybe something more straight forward, doing as he had, taking up a weapon and attacking him. Or maybe he was still deciding on his means of revenge, with this land as the stage.
For a time Seishin gazed at his writing, thinking that he wanted revenge to take on a fitting form. Something abstract--something vague. He searched through his memories of all times and places but he couldn't call to mind anything of that nature. As he searched his memory, he thought about whether he had any reference materials of that nature but that search again came up empty.
Seishin breathed a soft sigh, looking up at the office blackboard. He withdrew his consciousness from the manuscript (from the frozen wasteland), suddenly aware of the afternoon sunlight filling the office, the artificial chill of the air conditioner, and noticing the sounds of the cicadas beyond the window.
July 27th. Wednesday afternoon, there were two appointments for the day, but they were to be handled by Tsurumi and Ikebe. Seishin gathered his writing paper and returned it to the drawer. Turning the paper face down he placed a paperweight over it, closed the drawer and stood. Just as he was stepping out of the office, Miwako came by carrying a large kettle.
"Oh, are you heading out?"
"I am going to the library for a bit. --Mother, would you like me to bring you anything?" Seishin asked, Miwako giving a smile.
"I will pass. Have a safe trip."
With a nod, Seishin turned towards the entryway. Stepping out past the dirt floor, the midsummer rays were dazzlingly bright on the compound. The voice of the cicadas descended on him. The shrubbery were a lively green, and the foot path's stone paving from the mountain gates to the main temple, to the temple office driveway, and continuing to the head priest's quarters' entryway, was baked white. They must have known he was going out; an uncounted number of the old folks about had given polite bows and salutations.
"Oh my, Junior Monk." The voice came from a corner of the greenery. The old woman by the Japanese box tree at the entryway bowed her straw-hat wearing head to him. "Are you going out?"
It'd been a while since he'd seen that face. Did she take the trouble of coming because it was just before Bon? Seishin returned her greeting. "It's been some time. Thank you for coming when it is so hot."
"It's nothing. This year is the thirteenth anniversary of Ojii-chan's death, so I'll be counting on you again."
"Yes. Likewise."
"How is the Head Monk's health?"
A year and a half ago, his father Shinmei had suffered a stroke. Since then he had been living confined to the bed.
"Well, thank you for asking. He's been able to talk quite a bit recently."
"That's right fine to hear," said the old lady wiping her face with the towel around her neck. "That's right; just lately, I saw something wrote by you, Junior Monk, in some kind of magazine. It was an essay wasn't it? It was a short one, came across it in the hospital's waiting room."
"Ah," said Seishin with a bitter smile. The director of the Ozaki Hospital knew that Seishin would hate it, so he went through the trouble of buying the magazine that had the article in it and sat it in his waiting room. Seishin offered no comment, replying only with: "Is that right."
"Oh my, and now I've kept you! Do take care," said the old woman bowing her head deeply. He returned her bow and went from the driveway entrance to into the garage where he got in the car. The library wasn't so far one would need to drive, rather it was the perfect distance for a walk, for a change of pace, but right then the sun's rays were raining down incessantly. Furthermore if he went through the village in mid-day on foot, he would be caught at each parishioner's house one by one and would never get anywhere. As he was in a mood to hurry, he used the car.
While driving he rolled down the windows and turned on the air conditioning to chase the hot air out. The elderly saw him off. He may have had a side job in writing literature but Seishin's profession was that of a monk. They were the village's chief temple and ever since his father had fallen ill, Seishin bore the weight of the temple's families.
Receiving the formal salutations from the elderly, he slowly passed through the grounds towards the belfry before getting onto the private road. The stone stairway path down from the mountain gate wasn't long but that of course was not possible for a car to traverse. Thus a private road was established by the belfry. Following it, the road came out at the lumber yard adjoined to the Maruyasu sawmill. The private road's concrete was baked white and the voices of the cicadas forming an umbrella over the path were dry. It was a quintessential seething summer scene.
There was unusually little rainfall this year and the heat was atrocious. The car drove towards the east, onto the village road that followed the river, where the water level was low and the riverbed's dry planes had grown as a result. The rainy season dawned as it was without a proper rain. The town of Mizobe had appropriately river-like rivers but this mountain stream was fed only by the Omi River. With a water shortage downstream, Sotoba drew out water from the river. There was damage from the heat. It had been a harsh summer.
Following the stream south, he went past the vicinity of the first bridge that went towards the shrine. On the other bank of the river was the grove of the village shrine so green it practically stung the eyes. Going further down the village to second bridge, to the urban heart of Sotoba, was the region between the second bridge and the third bridge. The third bridge was formerly known as the boundary of Sotoba.
Sotoba was originally a village settled on temple grounds, opened by woodworkers, and until the temple territory was split up, all of Sotoba was one neighborhood hamlet. Surrounded by mountains on three sides, the gathering of six neighborhoods, with an added scattering of houses in the northern mountain territory added as another territory, the seven were generally referred to as "the village of Sotoba." In recent years it was annexed into the town of Mizobe, all lumped together into one portion of Mizobe called "Sotoba," but the villagers and those surrounding the area still called it a village, and the post office designation still read village, so the seven neighborhood names lived on.
There were just under four hundred houses, and the population was only 1,300 people making for a very small village but it still had the assets from when it had been run with a village's structure, and it was maintained if only so that it could continue to keep up appearances as a village proper. The community Seishin approached held one of such maintained facilities.
Near the second bridge's vicinity came into view the old style building beside the village road, made of wood with a tile roof. This building that resembled an old fashioned school was once the village town hall and was now the community center. Since the village was annexed into Mizobe, the town hall was now being used as a community center, and one portion became a library. One might think it obvious to write off the collection of books as the meager collection expected of a country library, but in this Sotoba was extraordinary. The temple, the Ozakis, and the Kanemasas's predecessors had arranged for the donation of a rather large collection of books, and when the Kanemasas left the village, they had donated a large sum of books and archives that Seishin made use of. Of course, there wasn't much in the way of light reading material, so it wasn't very popular with the villagers.
He pulled the car into the community center lot, one turn after the Ohkawa liquor store, and entered the building. Inside the antiqued building was a small hall and meeting rooms for gatherings, where each association and business would hold their meetings. Through the wide open windows, the sound of playing children's voices was heard. Attached to the community center was a children's hall that housed a nursery school, another business within the community center. The costs of the hall's frequent maintenance fell upon the temple---on the Muroi, Ozaki and Kanemasa households. The households of Muroi and Ozaki, and the Kanemasa house had always continued to support the village thusly.
Paying respect to the acquaintances he passed, Seishin headed towards the old library. Sitting behind the counter that was like an old world relic was the librarian, Yuzuki.
"Well, Junior Monk, good afternoon. Are you researching something?"
"Sorry for the trouble. Please let me in."
The library's collection of books was spread across two depositories in the building. As they seemed to be the type villagers would generally have no interest in, including the old archives, they were kept in a non-self-serve section. There was a rule against entry, but none the less in Seishin's case it was overlooked.
With a nod of his white haired head, Yuzuki took the archive key out of the desk drawer. Just as he had taken it out, two children from the nursery school came rushing to the counter. Giving a broad smile, Yuzuki took the books they held out and processed them for lending. Yuzuki was a gentle man, with an introverted personality and a reputation for being loved by children. He knew what children liked and often looked after and talked to them, making him known and loved as the "nice old man at the library."
"As expected, it's busy once summer vacation starts," Yuzuki said to Seishin with a delighted smile. "If only it were always like this. Children today have so many more fun things than books."
As Yuzuki said such, he looked to compare the children's room to the open stacks reading room. "Still, it's better on the children's side. As for in here, guests are as rare as a cuckoo's cry."
There was nobody in the reading room lined with books targeted to adults. Seishin came to the library often but he hardly ever recalled seeing a villager in the reading room. It was more common to see someone who liked books taking them out, or on occasion he may see people taking notes, usually a group of high school students, though only sometimes.
"As for yourself, Junior Monk, how is your writing going? When can we expect a new work?"
"Who knows?" Seishin prevaricated with a smile. "I'm just now finally getting started on one."
"Is that right?" said Yuzuki with a smile, inviting him into the office and towards the archives.
The distinguishing characteristic of the archives was the presence of old books, something Seishin liked. Entering the storage room and turning on the desk lamp near the door, he scoured the shelves. The books were precisely stowed according to the classification system.
If one met an unnatural death at the hands of their elder brother, and if that little brother were to take up revenge against his killer, what means would he take? The little brother by no means wished for revenge but the older brother should have been in fear that he did.
All the same, the little brother would not take revenge on him. Neither cursing nor blaming him, he only accompanied him. Since the first night, reappearing every night since, he continued that pattern.
At first he was afraid, and then he became despondent knowing his little brother had no intent to inflict harm upon him.
If his little brother had come for revenge, how much better it would be.
That was, of course, a fearful prospect in itself but,
If he would inflict injury on him thusly, if in trying to take his life away his little brother would become another killer like himself, if he would take up such actions for him, he was likely to draw a tangible sense of salvation from that.
But, his little brother did not. The victim who would not try to inflict harm upon him made it clear there was no escape from his sin. His little brother was no killer. He was not a sinner. He was the only one who was a killer, a breaker of divine law.
(He...) Seishin thought as he turned the pages (may perhaps be in despair.)
He wanted his little brother to plot revenge and become the same repulsive being he was, to become a killer no different from himself. But, the little brother did not live up to his expectations. He knew he had no will to fulfill them by his little brother's empty stare. Unable to bear it he would lash out at his brother. ---He was sure to do that.
He lambasted him for being cowardly, unable to even take revenge, scorned him, even condemned him. And still
his little brother neither struck him nor lambasted him. He merely stood quietly by, his hollow eyes turned towards him.
His provocations had failed. He was only more stricken by this, and dropped to his knees before his little brother.
He prostrated himself in fear upon the earth, apologizing, clinging to his burial clothes and groveling for forgiveness.
----And all the while, his little brother's hollowed eyes only gazed at that spectacle.
He stared back at his little brother, until without knowing when, he averted his eyes. His head hung in shame, in order to avoid his little brother's empty stare, and he set out, further from the hill where his little brother should have laid buried.
There was nothing left he could do. He could neither run nor chase him away, he could do nothing but monologue about forgiveness to his little brother while traveling the wasteland.
With his head hung low, and without turning to look at his little brother under any circumstances, while neither acknowledging nor denying his little brother's presence at the edge of his field of vision in which he was ever aware of him, he continued to walk.
The will-o'-the-wisps crept over the land, fluttering in the dry winds as they drew their arcs, illuminating his and the corpse's path. Taking in the highs and lows of the land with his gaze and the soles of his feet, they walked in tacit silence. Always in the corner of his sight was his little brother's flickering form, shadowed by the faint smell of death's rot. It would not allow him the mercy of forgetting his sin and all that was associated with it, nor even the mercy of wearing it down.
And perhaps in its own way that was his little brother's means of revenge.
No, if this was not a part of his brother's revenge, it may have been another part of his curse, along with the hill that never grew further away and that splendor at its summit.
---Therefore thou art cursed, no longer one of the land, an eternal vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
The will-o'-the-wisps crept over the land, fluttering in the dry winds as they drew their arcs, illuminating his and the corpse's path. Taking in the highs and lows of the land with his gaze and the soles of his feet, they walked in tacit silence. Always in the corner of his sight was his little brother's flickering form, shadowed by the faint smell of death's rot. It would not allow him the mercy of forgetting his sin and all that was associated with it, nor even the mercy of wearing it down.
And perhaps in its own way that was his little brother's means of revenge.
No, if this was not a part of his brother's revenge, it may have been another part of his curse, along with the hill that never grew further away and that splendor at its summit.
---Therefore thou art cursed, no longer one of the land, an eternal vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
Rummaging through the books in the archive and taking down notes or just things that came to mind, by the time Seishin had left the archives, two hours had already passed. The summer sun's rays were beginning to fade to the hue of twilight.
"I'm sorry, about taking so long." Seishin called out, causing Yuzuki to turn from the children he was talking to.
No, no, he smiled, an illustrated encyclopedia of insects on hand, holding onto a paper sack the children had put a rhinoceros beetle into. They probably came to ask him what kind of bug it was.
It was a charming enough scene to bring a smile to Seishin's face as he returned the key to Yuzuki. He checked out three books. Just as he was saying his thanks, as Yuzuki told him to come by again at any time, there was a piercing, shrill noise. It was the sound of a car's breaks, then the sound of something tumbling.
Yuzuki's expression changed and he rushed to the window. Seishin followed after him, rushing, seeing the village road that was, due to a dip, at eye level with the window, and on the black car on that road. Lodged into its fender was a child's bicycle.
"Are you all right?!" Yuzuki shouted, a rare occurrence, his expression a rare one as well as he rushed out of the library. Seishin followed after him from the community center to the village road. Just as Seishin and Yuzuki came running, the driver had taken the bicycle in his arms and threw it to the side of the road.
"Is he hurt?!"
At the sound of Yuzuki's voice, three children that had been crouched at the roadside looked up. Catching sight of Yuzuki, they burst out crying. The driver didn't even bother to look to that scene, tossing the bicycle to the side of the street and moving back around the front of the car into the driver's seat. He seemed distinctly burdened by having to remove an obstacle from the car's passing.
"Hey, you!"
The one to come running out of the neighborhood liquor store was its shopkeeper, Ohkawa Tomio. Ohkawa's angry voice rang out as he rushed to the car, catching the driver's side door as he had tried to close it. A black Mercedes was a sight that had never been seen in the village. The driver was also an unknown face. He wasn't from the village. As if he didn't even realize the situation he was in, he stared forward with a glassy and emotionless expression.
"Anyway, get on out of the car."
The man gave no response to Ohkawa's demand. He appeared to be in his early fifties, and in fitting with the car he dressed as if he were influential and important, a man in good shape but never the less his eyes were muddled and lifeless. Seishin's immediate impression was that the man was dead drunk.
"You don't have half a mind to get out and check on the kid? Where the hell are you from?"
From what Seishin could see, the children weren't in critical condition. Even so, one was squatting and holding his leg, clinging to Yuzuki and wailing. Whether he was hurt or just surprised, if he could cry, then it wasn't a worst-cast scenario at least.
"What's wrong? Were you hit?" Seishin asked, and the child nodded. He was probably a lower primary school student. The bicycle thrown to the side of the road was a small child's sized one, and the back wheel was bent. As Seishin was taking in these details, there was the sound of the transmission releasing. As the car started moving, Ohkawa's angry voice raged out.
"Hey! You!"
Seishin was startled. The driver started driving with the door still open. With the door caught in his hand, Ohkawa, a man built like a giant, was being pulled along. The car kept on like that along the village road, swirving towards the river before pulling the door shut and speeding far off and away.
"Ohkawa-san, are you all right?!"
Ohkawa, who had been thrown into the roadside bushes made a face as he pulled himself up. With his rage clear in his expression he glared at the leaving car.
"Who the hell does he think he is!" Ohkawa snapped as if spitting out the words, turning to Seishin. "Junior Monk, did you see the plates?"
Seishin shook his head. It had all happened so fast that his mind hadn't gotten around to it.
"Didn't seem to be a villager, did he? Never seen a car like that. Damn it, bunch of good for nothings coming and going here lately." Ohkawa stared off in the direction the car had left, lamenting. "Anyway, we need to contact Officer Takami-san---" He suddenly said, turning as if he'd just remembered the crying children. "No, guess these kids come first. How're they?"
"It doesn't appear to be serious. But we should bring him to the hospital. I came by car, so."
Ohkawa breathed a sigh and crouched beside the children. "Now, no more crying. The Junior Monk's gonna take you to the doctor."
Agreeing with Ohkawa's words, Yuzuki comforted the children, patting them each one by one on the head.
"Damn, what a punk," Ohkawa spit out, turning to Seishin. "I'll leave the boy to you. I'll go to report to Takami-san."
Seishin nodded. The villagers must have heard about the fuss, as they started gathering.
The one who was injured was a child from Shita-Sotoba called Maeda Shigeki.
"Bruises and scrapes. He wasn't hit by the car, they're probably from falling off the bike," Toshio said looking at the X-ray. "The car itself couldn't have been going that fast could it? Doesn't look like he got any head injuries either, so he got off pretty light."
Seishin breathed a light sigh of relief. The local officer Takami who was looking at the X-ray from behind Seishin breathed a similar sigh. "That, it's good. --What a relief."
The only ones in the examination room were Toshio and Seishin, along with Takami. The family hadn't come yet. Seishin didn't know the child who had been injured. The boy himself gave his name and address, but when they called nobody was there. It was possible that they were out in the fields or the mountains. They had just contacted the neighbors to look for the family.
"Still," Toshio said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm not clear on what happened. You don't remember the car?"
Seishin nodded. "I don't think that it was a villager. I didn't know their face and such."
"Can you write it off that easy? You didn't know Shigeki-kun's face either."
"He isn't from one of the parish families, not that I know all of the kids of the parish either. At any rate, I think that car is a different matter. It was a black Benz."
"Ah ha," Toshio nodded.
Takami nodded as if thinking the same thing. "I see, I've never seen a Benz before. If we're talking about foreign cars in this village, only the Junior Doctor's wife's BMW comes to mind."
Toshio laughed. "Towada-kun from my office drives a Golf, and Nurse Shiomi-kun has a Mini."
"Whoops," said Takami, smacking his forehead.
"---But, well, it's true there're no Benzes around. If there was someone driving a car like that, the rumors would get around. But Takami-san, better look into it just in case."
Takami nodded. "Of course. It was a hit and run after all. And furthermore it shows ill will that they drove off dragging Boss Ohkawa by the door. But Doctor, there isn't anyone in the village who would do such a thing, either."
"Desperate times, desperate measures and all that jazz."
"But," Seishin interposed. "There was something off about the driver. I don't know how best to put it but... yes, it did seem like he was under the influence. And not as if he had been drinking alcohol but as if he had taken a drug."
Seishin recalled the driver's tired expression.
"That's, it doesn't sound like anyone from the village, does it?"
"Better not to make snap judgments like that, Takami-san. Seishin, have you ever even seen a drug addict?"
"I haven't, but he did seem to be drunk. Yet he didn't have the reddened face of someone who had been drinking. Ohkawa-san had said he didn't smell like alcohol either."
"Old man Taki said something similar," Takami said scratching his head with his ballpoint pen. "He said he had seen a car through the window at the water company. He didn't know the type of car but it was a big black one. It seems it was driving through the village weaving back and forth. Just when he'd wondered if they were drunk, there was that mess. He came rushing onto the scene, fussing that he knew there would be an accident."
"Hnn."
"If only the village had a branch office out here," Takami said with a huff. "He said it was going north, so if there were someone checking comings and going for the village, the way that car stood out, it would have been over before it started. Even though a call did come into the office, the patrol car rushing from there didn't make it in time. He's probably made his way around and escaped out of the village by now."
"Probably. And with a bruised and scratched up victim."
"That's right," Takami muttered, before seeming to realize something as he looked up from his memo pad. "Say, Junior Monk. That couldn't have been the Kanemasa house's family's car, could it?
Seishin blinked. "Kanemasa---what?"
"They're the kind of people to build up that kind of house, doesn't it seem like they'd drive a Benz too?"
"However, nobody has moved into that house yet?"
"But, hey, there was talk about a moving truck coming in during the mushiokuri."
"But we're talking about coming and moving in," Toshio interrupted. "Since then, I haven't heard anything about them moving in, and it doesn't look like anyone's moved in either does it?"
"Do you think they may have moved in in secret?"
Toshio laughed in amazement. "You think someone could get away with that in this village? Even without the layout, that house's under so much attention that if there was even a hint of someone having moved in there, the next day it'd be all over the village."
"That's true, I guess. ... Then, the people of that house may have come to see how things were or...?"
"If that's how it is, it's not impossible I guess," Toshio said looking to Seishin. "But you saw his face didn't you? Later on, when the master of the house does move in, you'll know him if you see him."
"Only if I were to meet him right away," Seishin answered. It was a sudden affair, so fast that he didn't even think to read his license plate after all, so he was sure to be a bit unreliable. He recalled that something was off with his eyes but, if asked about the other features on his face he wasn't as confident.
Toshio gave an exaggerated sigh. "All that's left is to try asking the old bags at Takemura then. You said he came on the village road, that bunch watches who comes in don't they? If we're lucky they might even remember the plates."
Seishin and Takami exchanged wry smiles. The old folks in the neighborhood all gathered around the Takemura stationary shop's shop front. It wasn't as if they were truly conducting surveillance, probably, but when it came to those coming and going from the village they were unsettlingly well informed.
While wearing that forced smile, Takami scratched at his close-cropped hair. "At any rate, I will at least ask if there were any who had seen the car. It's, if we don't handle this well the culprit may get away."
Just as Takami was saying that with a mix between a mumble and a sigh, a shrill sound came from the direction of the waiting room. Immediately Nurse Ritsuko's face appeared in the examining room door.
"Uhm, Doctor. It's Maeda Shigeki-kun's mother."
"For now bring her into the treatment room and let her see Shigeki-kun. She should calm down once she sees him. I'll be right there."
"Yes," Ritsuko said with a nod. Hurried footsteps carried past the examining room. There was the stampeding sound of someone entering the treatment room partitioned off with a single screen, then the sound of a woman sobbing out as if an emotional dam had been broken.
While listening to that hysterical voice scream Shigeki's name, Toshio approached the treatment room. Seishin and Takami followed. There was the boy lying on the bed, the middle aged woman holding him to her breast, and another woman of the same age watching over the scene. She was one Seishin recognized. She was Yano Kanami of the Drive-in Chigusa.
Kanami was the first to notice Toshio. She gently nudged the woman who appeared to be Shigeki's mother, and that woman lifted her face. Looking at the three men in the room and comparing them, she suddenly released the child and stood.
"Is that the man who ran over Shigeki?!"
Her glare was aimed directly at Seishin, to his bewilderment. It was a ghastly sight, maybe because she came rushing at him, her face covered in so much sweat it was as if a bucket of water were dumped on her, her tangled hair sticking to her pallid face. Kanami stopped the woman rushing at him with a wordless scream, and Takami rushed up seeming flustered himself.
"Ah, no! It wasn't him, Ma'am. He's just the one who brought your son here."
"Then where's the culprit?!"
The boy who had been abandoned by the shrill voiced woman looked afraid now himself.
"Well, that is, he ran away."
"You're lying, he ran him over, didn't he!"
"Motoko." The one who called out to the screaming woman was Yano Kanami. "This isn't the one. See, he's the Junior Monk from the temple. Your family isn't part of the parish so you might not know him but I'm very familiar with him."
At those words Motoko looked up to Kanami as if a switch was flipped. Kanami wore an awkward smile. "So, you see? You can calm down."
"Then----" Motoko looked between Seishin and Kanami. "Who ran over Shigeki?"
"About that," said Takami approaching Motoko's side. "For now, let me tell you what we know. It seems like the culprit wasn't a villager."
Just as he was explaining that, Motoko's voice rung out in another wordless shriek. Looking as if she could faint any moment she turned to Toshio.
"Shigeki--is Shigeki all right?!"
"As you can see, he's just fine," Toshio answered blithely. He was clearly more interested in Motoko's state. "Just some scratches and bruises. I took an X-ray just in case, and there's nothing abnormal. Tomorrow he'll be able to go do radio exercises and run amok."
Motoko blinked slowly, then, as if her body itself were not quite right, once again broke down crying. Toshio forced a smile and turned his eyes to Ritsuko, standing stock still with bewilderment. "If you ask me which is worse off, I'd said the mom at this point. Ricchan, calm her down and explain the state of his injuries to her."
"Yes," Ritsuko nodded. Toshio motioned for Yano Kanami, beckoning her to the examination room.
"You're Kanami-san from Chigusa, aren't you?"
"That's right. Motoko was working at the shop with me at the time."
"Ah, I see. The missus of the Maeda house seems a little distracted right now so for the time being I'll explain things to you. Later you can explain things to her if she doesn't seem to understand."
"Eh---yes," she said, then giving a smile to Seishin. "Junior Monk, I'm sorry about her. Motoko has been always neurotic about her children."
Seishin shook his head saying it was nothing as Kanami bowed her head. "You transported Shigeki-kun here, didn't you? I thank you very much. With Motoko in that state, please accept my thanks in her stead."
"No, think nothing of it. Motoko-san must be very distraught."
Kanami wore a troubled smile, as if to say 'really.' "Motoko's house is near the highway. I mean, there are a lot of accidents on the highway, aren't there? So, she can be prone to brooding sometimes about her children possibly being hit by an outsider driving down the highway or something like that. I really have no excuse for her."
"Ah," mumbled Seishin. Kanami had used the word "brooding" but for Motoko that may have been more of a fearful fixation. Once she heard her child was in an accident, her mind leaped to the worst circumstances imaginable, he didn't doubt.
"That is--Motoko-san must have been deeply worried."
"They're not any injuries to worry about at all. When he was first brought in, he was a little dazed from the shock but he calmed down quickly enough to give his name, address and phone number right and all. There wasn't anything out of place on the X-rays, so beyond the bruises and scrapes you can see, there's no outstanding injuries. Anyway, the victim himself was pretty surprised, and since he is a kid, he might not calm down for two or three days but he should be back to normal soon enough."
"Then, it really isn't anything serious is it?"
"Rather than saying he was hit by a car it'd be more accurate to say his back wheel was hit and that he fell over. He's a kid so it was a mental shock, I think he might have a fever from that too but it's nothing to worry about. If it does seem worrisome, I can prescribe a stabilizer if he's brought in for treatment."
"Yes," Kanami said with a relieved smile. "I'm relieved. I think Motoko will be relieved too."
"By the way," Takami interrupted. "Your place is right at the village entrance isn't it?"
"It is. It is but, what about it?"
"Well, you see, it's about the black Benz that threw Shigeki-kun off his bike, I was wondering if maybe you'd seen anything or..."
Kanami blinked. "A black... Benz, was it?"
"Yes."
"I saw it. Then, that's the car that got Shigeki-kun?"
"You did? ---Any chance you got the plates or..."
"No, I didn't. But a black foreign car going towards Mizobe did come into the parking lot."
"Towards Mizobe?" As Takami asked that, Seishin tilted his head in thought. The Drive-in Chigusa was at the intersection of the highway and the village, on the Mizobe side. If the car were going towards Mizobe and entered into the Chigusa parking lot, that would mean it had already been past the village road.
"Yes," Kanami said with a meek nod. "I heard a horn honk. And then, a black foreign car pulled into the lot from the highway bridge, grazing by a truck as it passed. Motoko had said 'what dangerous driving!' about them. That car turned around in the parking lot and went back towards the village. It was zigzagging as it drove..."
"Did you see the driver's face?"
"Yes. It was an unfamiliar face. I don't think they were from the village. I thought they must have overlooked the village road and gone past it. But he was driving so recklessly, the man driving himself seemed to be staggered or---" Kanami hesitated to speak. "Even though he was turning back, when he turned the steering wheel, his head lulled forward like this, tilting. I wondered if he was all right?" Kanami said, adding on uneasily: "It was an elegant car, even Motoko was saying that. That maybe that was someone from Kanemasa."
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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.
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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*.
I think that Seishin does care for Toshio, though. Maybe he does just go along with him because that's what he's used to doing, but he'd have to be a pretty cruel and empty guy to spend that much time around someone and not care about them, and I think that's Seishin's whole thing--he has a lot of depth. So in his own way, he probably considers Toshio a friend. I think that accurately summarizes their relationship: they care for each other, each in their own way.
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Seishin's only just now been seen even relaxing enough to speak carelessly (commenting "that's good" about three old people being dead and in a wretched state), and only alone with Ozaki who is so much worse he snarks at Seishin for saying anything about his own imprudence to him. Anyone else would certainly hold Seishin to his role; Ozaki can disagree with him without it coming down to "you're a monk!" You know, besides when wanting him to go check out a dead body. I took that as more "be a man!" than "be a monk!" myself. And Seishin can even allow himself to make faces at Ozaki for being the one responsible for him having to see Gigorou's corpse's state. Otherwise, we've seen narrative-only expressions of his frustration with everyone bowing to him, and him having to hold it in when the gossip at Shuuji's funeral gets to him.
The one line that makes me question whether Ozaki was always just quite bland on some people and Kyoko specifically is "I'm exactly this kind of person." Like he's known it all along. When she arrives he isn't concerned for her safety in the slightest. When she falls ill his thought is 'ah, come to think of it I haven't heard from her in a while.' He isn't bothering with an all night protection vigil and just lets Tatsumi finish her off. He also thinks that his first and last request of Kyouko is to rise so he can do it to her, implying that while things weren't antagonistic, there wasn't anything affectionate there historically. He could be convincing himself he never cared, but we don't see anything to make us question the narrative accuracy of that statement beforehand. Besides the common sense that there should be something between a married couple, but then, Ozaki doesn't do a lot of things he "should."
I don't ship SeishinxSunako in the slightest. Unfortunately what I like and what I think is canon rarely match up; I'd be a much happier person if I could honestly believe pairs I like are canon and ones I don't like aren't. Though I have seen people's inability to separate what they want and what they think lead to some bad translations... I'm still torn on whether to write many of those off as intentionally deceptive or honest mistakes based on wanting something badly enough to just be incapable of objectivity.
Still, even I'm not above a few self-placating extrapolations. My apologies to the Natsuno/Tohru fans who were hoping to make something of how pleasurable being bitten apparently is, but I'm going to tell myself that Sunako being a literal cold corpse means nothing raunchy being an option, because loli weirds me out. To the point where I once had to make two of my characters roleplay a fight scene with each other in order to get out of actually having to play a LolixOzaki scene (long story; but in general, playercest or playing your character off of your own other character is considered a faux-pas).
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Ooh, maybe that's another reason why Seishin sticks close to Toshio: because he's the only person he can be himself around. Maybe Seishin doesn't like Toshio as a person, and can't really empathize with him, maybe resents him for being able to have an outlet of his frustrations unlike himself. But he's been hanging out with Toshio basically all of his life, and of course you feel comfortable around someone like that. Plus, they have a lot of secrets together - like that one mini-flashback in the anime where they're wearing school clothes and Seishin is saying "there's more to life than just Sotoba!" or something. So maybe Seishin doesn't really like Toshio, but they know each other better than anybody else. Seishin's an (arguably) normal human being, and he needs to let loose sometimes, so he can be unconsciously drawn to Toshio.
I really prefer Seishin's interactions with people more than his inner monologues. Sure, the inner monologues let us know his feelings and thoughts while he goes about daily life, but how he acts also says a lot about him that can't be derived from just his thoughts. Like you mentioned with his polite language (and how differently he speaks with Toshio), which is regrettably somewhat lost in translation, but also what he does, or DOESN'T do for that matter. During the Shuuji funeral gossip scene, he could have stood up and been like "that's not cool y'all gotta mourn", but he held it together. I mean, that says something about his patience and self-control. If he had spoken up, his character would not be the same one that remained silent.
Another thing I feel that Toshio and Seishin have in common (but express differently) are their self-loathing. Seishin, of course, feels that he's being forced into a role, maybe feels unworthy, especially that suicide attempt. And Toshio is always self-deprecating and gives himself a lot less credit than he deserves. Maybe he acts so rough because he feels like he's a bad person and there's no use trying to pretend otherwise. Like with Kyoko, he probably knows that he's different from other people, and he probably hates himself all the more because of that. So instead of being normal and being like "I killed my wife, what kind of a man am I?" and being sad because of that, he's possibly sad because he knows a normal guy wouldn't do what he did. Maybe "She's my wife and I don't feel as bad as I should about it."
Well, the pairings are another thing that are left up to how one interprets the text. For instance, a NatsunoxTohru fangirl could see their interactions in a romantic way, even if the text is not explicitly saying that they have feelings for one another. She's reading between the lines and to her, that's what it says between the lines. For instance, if the text literally says "I don't want you to go." if you think you pick up romantic subtext, you could translate it as "I don't want to be apart from you", which definitely DOES have romantic subtext. Same with SeishinxSunako. So I think the best way to avoid writing something biased would be to just translate it as literally as possible without using words with connotations.
Yeah, touching something cold would definitely ruin the mood. I'm one of those people who likes to be too warm rather than too cold. Any faux-pas would be acceptable to avoid OzakixLoli. That sounds extremely creepy. I'm getting a Lovely Bones vibe thinking about it....//shudder
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We've talked a lot about Ozaki, but Seishin's probably harder to get a reading on. I don't think I've ever met anyone who prefers Seishin, which is interesting as the harder to understand characters tend to be more popular. He's also so damn pretty he could qualify as the heroine. I'm stumped on where to place him; is he ultimately inhumane and acting under societal compulsion, is that an excuse he's telling himself, is it the Tom Sawyer literature thing where he might like people and even his life until he feels forced into it? Was his sympathy just so strong for the Shiki side or were they a tool of convenience to get away from it all or both? Did he like Ozaki? Did he even like Sunako, or did he just not want to be lonely now that he's immortal? There's enough there to justify so many extremes and all those in between that I think I could read 10 different Seishins and find them all to be in-character in terms of motivation, yet he'd be a very hard character to play or get the feel right for. The external impression is at least as important as the internal ones when writing a character. I agree; I much prefer him acting and interacting. His actions are about as hard to take as stable as are his thoughts, but we get real hints of his humanity through action. I think I felt he was more human when he nabbed the broom and was afraid, when he made Toshio his first contact in an emergency that clearly has him legitimately terrified, than I did for most of the entire anime and manga. At first I thought that meant "Huh, he must like him after all" but now that you put their friendship into the impulse light, he might not like him as a person but still finds him the most reliable person he knows regardless of any fondness. He's not exactly gracious for him handling all the phone calls and rushing on site during a busy as hell day when they meet up.
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.
Creepiness of boffing a corpse aside, I don't think fans of Tohru/Natsuno need a translation massage to justify it. The anime and manga rewriting pretty much did the work for them on that. They made Natsuno the star to appeal to the male shounen audience but it seems evident they likewise catered the flavor of his added scenes to get the female shounen-ai audience. Whether it was just ratings bait without any real weight to the characters in the grand scheme is arguable (I suspect staff do not think about the characters loins even 1/100th as much as fans do), but that it's anything but intentional gay bait would be a harder position to sell.
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.
ITS FINALLY FRIDAY time to go on a replying spree
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.
Oh, of course, then, Kyouko didn't do it for Toshio because she wasn't a loli. Eeew! It's definitely best to avoid that direction. Thought of the day: If Sunako & Co. managed to get Sotoba, what the heck would they eat then?
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"Everyone is a person, no matter how much of an asshole they are." Suddenly his friendship with Ozaki makes sense. *rimshot* I think Seishin saw both sides as just doing what was necessary to survive, even if it meant killing, so he couldn't support or deny either. In the anime, it was when Ozaki crossed that boundary with proactively torturing one of them which majorly lead to Seishin's turn. In the novels, it's a bit different as he heads to the Kirishikis' to find out about his dad rather than quite so explicitly defaulting, then gets held there "captive" (read: stating absolutely 0 desire or effort to leave and just kind of chilling with Sunako and Tatsumi as a lunchbox, but told he can't leave because he knows too much). I'm not sure he makes any real "decision" that before the burning church scene.
As much as we dog Seishin for betraying humanity, if Ozaki had been the one to kill off Ritsuko who was holding onto her will and harming nobody, if he'd been the one to kill Kanami's mom, I think he'd be a little less fandom favored, but I personally don't hold a shred of doubt that he'd do it. I still like him. Seishin may be the prettiest in the land (which strongly factors into sympathies--draw Masao as a bishounen and I guarantee you he'd be shipped with Tohru-chan and seen as a sympathetic, surly outcast similar to Natsuno), but most of the well developed, sympathetic characters support the living humans. I wonder if those who read the novels first might be more fond of him? (Haha, nobody will ever find the novel translations without looking for them due to having enjoyed the anime/manga.) In the anime/manga, you get *three* sympathetic and appealing full time main characters (Ozaki, Natsuno, Kaori) struggling against Sunako, and Seishin gets down-graded to only really qualifying as a main character due to his connection to Ozaki and Sunako. If you don't feel anything positive for Sunako, the odds of you sympathizing with Seishin are probably slim. I hate her, myself. You can hate Ozaki for what he does to Kyoko and still sympathize with Kaori, Akira, Natsuno, etc.
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...
8D
(Anonymous) 2013-10-19 02:22 pm (UTC)(link)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)
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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.
8D
(Anonymous) 2013-10-24 02:16 am (UTC)(link)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.
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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?
8D
(Anonymous) 2013-10-24 12:37 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
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Eh, Seishin's so indecisive too, that's another thing that kind of puts me off. Mostly everyone has a goal in the novel:
-Ozaki wants to protect the village
-Sunako wants to kill off the village
-Natsuno wants to leave the village
-Megumi wants to leave the village with Natusno
-Tatsumi wants to...just be Tatsumi, I guess. But still in a goal oriented way!
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.
Your skin is snow white and ice cold...I know what you are...say it...out loud...
"Pedophile"
Yeah jokes aside though, I do think appearances matter a whole lot. Maybe not so much in books because you're free to imagine what everyone looks like, but in anime and manga, you can be the nicest, least judgmental person on Earth and still your perception will be influenced by how characters look. Like, I would not sympathize with Toshio maybe as much if he didn't look like a grungy hunk. Although there is no way to remove his obvious badassery.
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!
YES I WILL HAVE TO DRAW A FANART OF THAT SCENARIO! Hahaha, I'll include yaoi hands and everything!
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The next sub-chapter has the cast going on about how delicate he is and about how nobody's willing to push him into marriage and breeding as much as they all want to because the sensitive little baby's nerves might fray and he'll try to commit suicide again. Maybe FujiRyuu was trying to capture that delicacy. I still think he's the prettiest girl in Sotoba.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I often wish all this stuff was animated, but then I realize that it would be terribly hard to animate effectively. Most of the beginning that isn't animated is the POVs of various character and is mostly introspection and thoughts, which is hard to translate onto the screen. Also they probably wanted to make it fast paced?
I remember Fuki now, though! In the anime, when Tae comes over and finds her in bed and asks if she wants her to call the doctor AND THEN HER HEAD TURNS IN A CREEPY WAY and she's like "No. Anything but the doctor" in a possessed voice. I don't know how I could forget that because that was arguably one of the creepiest scenes!
How many characters are there anyway, like over 100 probably! I've observed the whole storyline several times already through the animanga and now novel, and I still don't think I have all of the characters. Plus all of the newcomers... a character tree would be absolutely awesome, but really a lot of work! You seem like a really organized person.
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?
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Just screen capping the characters who I know have made appearances so far (and a few others whom I know I'll need to make a proper set of family trees---like Kaori's dad, who doesn't actually show up for a while) I have over 50. I'm also missing some like Yuusuke, his dad (briefly at creole in an earlier chapter), and his grandma whom I don't think make any appearance in the anime at all... Overall I think there are about 170~ named characters. Mixing them up is very easy. I was in an unusual RP with Ozaki, one where he was still going through canon (in every other game, characters go to some specific made up world and are generally pulled out of canon, since how else can you get characters from different series to interact?) so I had to make sure I remembered people's names, death dates, etc. and had the feeling of putting a name to a face, so that former study to get the character right gives the illusion that I'm organized.
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I see, well still, that's organized for RP'ing! Some would just wing it, so kudos.
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(Anonymous) 2013-09-27 04:06 am (UTC)(link)Oh man, where did you hear this from?
Now I'm afraid for the incoming new Twelve Kingdoms novel.
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It was specifically about writing a romantic pair hook-up. She mentioned that she didn't have the strength to deal with fangirls who loved the guy hating on the girl or guys who wanted the girl hating on the guy and that if she wrote them into a happy end then it was just kind of over. She originally expected to write a happy end when planning the series out in full until around volume 3 when she was told to keep the series going.
In short: her statement was only about happy ends in the romantic sense. Anything else is free game! I know some works of hers have had happy general endings, such as Green Home.
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(Anonymous) 2013-09-29 11:27 am (UTC)(link)Better to say she doesn't write romance, ever. There are only bits and pieces of it, not full-blown romance subplot.
And God knows there are a lot of people out there who want some Youko/Rakushun or Youko/Keiki romance.
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"Thinking back, when I was drafting out the first volume, I really did have plans for a happy ending (and now it is revealed, the shocking truth). However, during the third volume, voices saying "Don't end the series. If you come to an end, keep writing after it." grew more and more prominent. When it comes to a series with Mai as the lead character, then the weaving of the story is ultimately about the relationship between Mai and Naru, and if the two came to a Happy End, then the story comes to a completely unsalvageable end, on Ono's part. (^_^;)
Even if I pushed to continue the series by force, Mai and Naru would never show up again. If they were to appear, it'd just be in bit roles and even that's a little... you know?
So you see, why, indeed, Ono frets!
Whether to write a happy end and never continue it or whether to give an unhappy end and continue to write! ---If I write something like that, I get the feeling it seems I'd hear many telling me to write a Happy End and then keep writing after that anyway. (^_^;)
There are girl readers who get heated up over Naru would get jealous of Mai, then on the other hand the boys who are after Mai kindle a jealousy over Naru, aren't there? But some say definitely at the very end their misunderstandings will be cleared and the scabbard can be returned to the sheath... I offer my absolute most humble apologies but, please spare me doing that much! (^_^;)
Ono does not have the physical strength to withstand that kind of tension (I did once and regretted it to death)! I have already told myself "Do not write a story where a couple reaches a happy end!" and am going with that, so, I'm counting on that, me!
So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen expecting a sweet romance. There's a world of romantic novels better than Ono's works out there! It's the truth!
---Well, lamenting about that in the end just gets me like this.... Forgive me (sulksulk). "
This was back in 1992, so maybe those wanting their Youko romance will get it; it has been over 20 years since she said this. Shiki was written afterwards, and for the many who consider Muroi and Sunako a couple, it could be stretched to fit the definition of a pair's Happy End... Depending how loosely you define Happy...