Oh, that's neat; I hadn't connect Gaiden to the Minus Wave in that way.
Eh heh heh, neither did I! I totally forgot that Nii's experiments with youkai magic and technology caused it! -_-;;.
But doesn't the exposition explicitly contrast human technology and youkai magic, and say that it's the hybridization that's forbidden?
Um, yes, you are indeed correct. I forgot that part and just remembered the image of two hands.
I keep coming back to that image of technology connected to things going wrong in Saiyuki. Like you, I don't know how much Minekura's worldbuilding can hold up to why it's forbidden or how or something, but she does seem to be drawing on that imagery. (and damnit, I don't think I've read the Homura-arc!)
And it doesn't seem like the hybridization itself is wrong, authorially speaking, even though it's taboo in the world. Gojyo and Goku esp. seem to fall on the ok side of things; there's not that sense of horror in their creation and/or birth. I think that may be because it is natural and that they are born of flesh, as it were -- Gojyo of human and youkai, and Goku of.. uh... rock. Again with the hybridization and/or taboo: Gonou and Kanan's relationship isn't really condemned, despite the taboo, and it's similarly got the whole flesh thing to it. Ditto with Jien and his mother. I mean, it's horrifying and sad and tragic, but I keep feeling like it's different from Nii's experiments or Li Touten's.
Ok, I'm not sure where I'm going either, except I'm using "flesh" as a substitute for "of nature" (with no value judgment attached).
The youkai themselves, while scary, also don't seem quite as horrifying. Obviously Hyakuman Maoh is awful and terrible, but even he's connected with images of rotting and decay and centipedes (ewwww), and Gonou's slaughter is bloody to the extreme.
Hrm. I do keep coming back to the whole science/technology thing, because that's what seems unnatural in Minekura's world. Again, I don't think that the creations of this science/technology are blamed; Nataku's clearly a tragic figure, as is Kou and his mother (despite the genocide, heh). But the creators and users of technology do seem to be particularly horrific and insane.
Goku-wise... I don't know. I keep feeling like there's a difference somehow between the careful manipulation of technology and wires and vats of liquid used to support and/or create life and the bloodshed and cruelty and bestial nature of the youkai. And I don't know if it's just coincidence from the book, but Hyukuman and Gyuu are centipede and cow and very animal. Also, there's Goku the monkey and Hakkai the pig (from the Chinese).
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Thu, Mar. 23rd, 2006 07:00 pm (UTC)Eh heh heh, neither did I! I totally forgot that Nii's experiments with youkai magic and technology caused it! -_-;;.
But doesn't the exposition explicitly contrast human technology and youkai magic, and say that it's the hybridization that's forbidden?
Um, yes, you are indeed correct. I forgot that part and just remembered the image of two hands.
I keep coming back to that image of technology connected to things going wrong in Saiyuki. Like you, I don't know how much Minekura's worldbuilding can hold up to why it's forbidden or how or something, but she does seem to be drawing on that imagery. (and damnit, I don't think I've read the Homura-arc!)
And it doesn't seem like the hybridization itself is wrong, authorially speaking, even though it's taboo in the world. Gojyo and Goku esp. seem to fall on the ok side of things; there's not that sense of horror in their creation and/or birth. I think that may be because it is natural and that they are born of flesh, as it were -- Gojyo of human and youkai, and Goku of.. uh... rock. Again with the hybridization and/or taboo: Gonou and Kanan's relationship isn't really condemned, despite the taboo, and it's similarly got the whole flesh thing to it. Ditto with Jien and his mother. I mean, it's horrifying and sad and tragic, but I keep feeling like it's different from Nii's experiments or Li Touten's.
Ok, I'm not sure where I'm going either, except I'm using "flesh" as a substitute for "of nature" (with no value judgment attached).
The youkai themselves, while scary, also don't seem quite as horrifying. Obviously Hyakuman Maoh is awful and terrible, but even he's connected with images of rotting and decay and centipedes (ewwww), and Gonou's slaughter is bloody to the extreme.
Hrm. I do keep coming back to the whole science/technology thing, because that's what seems unnatural in Minekura's world. Again, I don't think that the creations of this science/technology are blamed; Nataku's clearly a tragic figure, as is Kou and his mother (despite the genocide, heh). But the creators and users of technology do seem to be particularly horrific and insane.
Goku-wise... I don't know. I keep feeling like there's a difference somehow between the careful manipulation of technology and wires and vats of liquid used to support and/or create life and the bloodshed and cruelty and bestial nature of the youkai. And I don't know if it's just coincidence from the book, but Hyukuman and Gyuu are centipede and cow and very animal. Also, there's Goku the monkey and Hakkai the pig (from the Chinese).