Minekura Kazuya - Saiyuki Reload, vol. 04 (Eng. trans.)
Thu, Jun. 8th, 2006 05:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterThese are more random notes than anything else, given that I've already read it before in the Chinese trans. and written it up elsewhere (also as random notes).
Spoilers for Reload 4
Hazel has a southern accent! It's very odd, and I don't know what I think of it yet. It's also difficult because I don't exactly know what his accent is in Japanese, but I think he is fairly polite and using different sentence endings that somehow "sound" softer.
And I know this is a sort of odd point to get hung up on, but every time Hazel says a Japanese name and I know it's with a southern accent, I start giggling and my brain freezes.
Also, everyone already knows this, but I still love the TokyoPop translation so much! And grumpy Sanzo!
This is about the eighteenth time I've read the Burial arc, but that image of Sanzo's hand grabbing Goku's still kills me, as does Sanzo's little smile at wee!sleeping!Goku and his decision to let Goku sleep a little more. I think that may be the nicest I've ever seen Sanzo treat anyone.
And oh, the Gojyo and Hakkai chapters are even better with a good translation! I am greatly pleased by how the slang that Banri and Gojyo use sounds real and that the dialogue flows.
And yay to the start of "Even a Worm"!
And now, I go off into my long, convoluted thoughts on Saiyuki and race and how it could be read as a commentary on race (have absolutely no idea if Minekura intended it and seriously doubt that she did).
Still spoilers up till Reload 4!
So.. In which I am heavy-handed:
I reread vol. 4 last night, and while Hakkai's conversation with Banri always makes me feel nidgy, it made me feel even more so after an entire week of discussion on cultural appropriation and race.
So, the thing is, I keep reading youkai as minorities. There is, of course, the up front problem of reading demons as minorities, even though the beginning of the series stresses that Shangri-La/Tougenkyou is a place in which youkai and humans are supposed to live in harmony (ideal of a world without racism?). Then comes the Minus Wave and all the youkai go mad.
I keep thinking of Shangri-La as the ideal of a world without racism because of what Banri says -- everyone says it is a world in which youkai and humans are equal, but Banri feels that even before the Minus Wave, they weren't seen as equal.
Also, there's stigma on half-breeds, although there isn't the passing for someone of the other race and the entire tragic mulatto thing. But! You've also got the youkai limiters, which allow Hakkai and Goku to pass for human, not just in the way they look, but also in protecting them from the effects of the Minus Wave.
I dunno. Maybe I'm entirely on crack. It's just that Banri's comments to Hakkai saying that youkai shouldn't have to feel the need to "pass," that they should be accepted as they are, that struck a sore point with me.
Obviously, this comparison breaks into six million little pieces when you think that the youkai side of Hakkai and Goku are their stronger killing sides, but Hakkai's hatred of his youkai side is rather nidgy when read in this light.
And, of course, there's Hazel, who will take souls from youkai and put them into humans, but not the other way around, because who would want to save a youkai?
Again, yay for moral complications and world-building and for finally not taking the "Shangri-La as paradise for youkai and humans" at face value. On the other hand, it reminds me of Whedon's inadvertant comparison of vampires and demons to minorities in Angel.
Mely also pointed out that Gat is coded to be Native American, which completely passed me by.
Ahhh, Minekura, I love you, but I have Issues sometimes (the other Issue being severe lack of cool women, particularly undead, un-evil, un-big-boobed women).
Spoilers for Reload 4
Hazel has a southern accent! It's very odd, and I don't know what I think of it yet. It's also difficult because I don't exactly know what his accent is in Japanese, but I think he is fairly polite and using different sentence endings that somehow "sound" softer.
And I know this is a sort of odd point to get hung up on, but every time Hazel says a Japanese name and I know it's with a southern accent, I start giggling and my brain freezes.
Also, everyone already knows this, but I still love the TokyoPop translation so much! And grumpy Sanzo!
This is about the eighteenth time I've read the Burial arc, but that image of Sanzo's hand grabbing Goku's still kills me, as does Sanzo's little smile at wee!sleeping!Goku and his decision to let Goku sleep a little more. I think that may be the nicest I've ever seen Sanzo treat anyone.
And oh, the Gojyo and Hakkai chapters are even better with a good translation! I am greatly pleased by how the slang that Banri and Gojyo use sounds real and that the dialogue flows.
And yay to the start of "Even a Worm"!
And now, I go off into my long, convoluted thoughts on Saiyuki and race and how it could be read as a commentary on race (have absolutely no idea if Minekura intended it and seriously doubt that she did).
Still spoilers up till Reload 4!
So.. In which I am heavy-handed:
I reread vol. 4 last night, and while Hakkai's conversation with Banri always makes me feel nidgy, it made me feel even more so after an entire week of discussion on cultural appropriation and race.
So, the thing is, I keep reading youkai as minorities. There is, of course, the up front problem of reading demons as minorities, even though the beginning of the series stresses that Shangri-La/Tougenkyou is a place in which youkai and humans are supposed to live in harmony (ideal of a world without racism?). Then comes the Minus Wave and all the youkai go mad.
I keep thinking of Shangri-La as the ideal of a world without racism because of what Banri says -- everyone says it is a world in which youkai and humans are equal, but Banri feels that even before the Minus Wave, they weren't seen as equal.
Also, there's stigma on half-breeds, although there isn't the passing for someone of the other race and the entire tragic mulatto thing. But! You've also got the youkai limiters, which allow Hakkai and Goku to pass for human, not just in the way they look, but also in protecting them from the effects of the Minus Wave.
I dunno. Maybe I'm entirely on crack. It's just that Banri's comments to Hakkai saying that youkai shouldn't have to feel the need to "pass," that they should be accepted as they are, that struck a sore point with me.
Obviously, this comparison breaks into six million little pieces when you think that the youkai side of Hakkai and Goku are their stronger killing sides, but Hakkai's hatred of his youkai side is rather nidgy when read in this light.
And, of course, there's Hazel, who will take souls from youkai and put them into humans, but not the other way around, because who would want to save a youkai?
Again, yay for moral complications and world-building and for finally not taking the "Shangri-La as paradise for youkai and humans" at face value. On the other hand, it reminds me of Whedon's inadvertant comparison of vampires and demons to minorities in Angel.
Mely also pointed out that Gat is coded to be Native American, which completely passed me by.
Ahhh, Minekura, I love you, but I have Issues sometimes (the other Issue being severe lack of cool women, particularly undead, un-evil, un-big-boobed women).
(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 23rd, 2006 04:12 am (UTC)