Minekura Kazuya - Saiyuki Reload, vol. 07

[oyceter]

Lots of spoilers!

I keep writing up Saiyuki because I keep reading it in different formats. The first time I blogged the chapters that were to become vol. 7, I was reading the scans right off Zero-Sum, which meant that the art wasn't all filled in, and I was squinting at the furigana on the screen.

This time, I have the shiny volume in my hands, and oh, I stroke it for it is beautiful. Beautiful, I say!

Thankfully, vol. 7 is more fighting and less talking, which means I don't have to puzzle through quite as much Japanese.

Also, I am going to try to keep my reaction somewhat more coherent than my original reaction, which largely consisted of randomly typed letter, "eeeeeee!," "OMGOMGOMGOMG" and a whole lot of capital letters.

So.

Um.

Oh, who am I kidding? My reaction is still "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" even after reading it two or three times already.

I just... GAH!

The Gojyo-Hakkai interaction, from Gojyo deciding not to try and stop Hakkai from taking off his limiters, to Hakkai's flashback of Sanzo telling him that taking his limiters off would expose him to the Minus Wave. Youkai!Hakkai. Youkai!Hakkai. And, of course, Youkai!Hakkai.

And the expression on Gojyo's face when he finds Hakkai lying on the ground kills me. Just... kills me!

But despite the bulk of the volume being on the Seiten Taisei-Youkai!Hakkai confrontation, the part that I love the most is that it feels like the beginning of a good, meaty Sanzo arc. Because really, Sanzo totally lets down everyone in the ikkou in this volume, and even though everyone in the ikkou complains about Sanzo and questions his decisions, I don't think he's ever let them down like this before.

There was the bit in which he decided to go on without Gojyo, which was a let down, but I think it was less so than this. That time, it was Sanzo being Sanzo, grumpy and misanthropic. This time, Sanzo just freaks and loses it completely. He's not even reacting normally; he's shooting at nothing, he runs off because he thinks it's Ukoku's plot, he cannot let go of Goku even to let Hakkai treat him. I think Sanzo's brain just totally shuts off, because he can't deal with it.

And... I don't think he's ever done that before. He knows how to deal with the Seiten Taisei, he can deal with Gojyo being shot and etc. I don't know if it's the fact that it's Goku, or that it parallels Koumyou's death, or the flashback to crow feathers, but Sanzo just breaks.

And he leaves the ikkou! (insert much wailing)

And he leaves Goku.

And.... gah. That moment when Goku realizes that Sanzo isn't there when he wakes up? GAH. I don't think he's ever come back from being Seiten Taisei without Sanzo (or Konzen) there. And you can see he's still trying so hard to understand, to figure out why Sanzo left; he's still got faith that Sanzo will come back.

Then of course, there's the very interesting conversation between Sanzo and Hazel, in which Sanzo finds out that Hazel knows about Seiten Taisei and wants to know how.

Then the shot of Ukoku... dundunDUN!

I foresee much Sanzo angst in the future. I am so looking forward to this.

It's just... every time I think Minekura can't top a past arc, she does.

Comments

[hysteriachan.livejournal.com]

I SO want to see this with the art filled in. *twitches*

[oyceter]

It's so pretty. So, so pretty!

[evil-kat.livejournal.com]

I think Sanzo was largely in shock about Goku's sudden and apparent death--and the person who did it. I think it's a really good window into exactly just how much Sanzo actually cares about Goku--which is important, considering how much he likes to pretend that he doesn't.

And I think he leaves for two reasons. The first is the most obvious--to get out and find the person who would harm Goku. (And you have to admit, it'd be really shocking. There you are, talking with the person you've been friends with for so many years, and you're talking about ressurection and what not, and BAM. Suddenly speculation becomes an actual issue.)

The second is because he needs to get away from Goku and the rest of the ikkou and reflect on his feelings. I'm sure he's rather shocked to find just how deeply Goku's injuries bother him. I bet he hasn't admitted to himself that he cares about someone now as much as he cared for hsi master. (or more?) And I'm not sure he's prepared to deal with that realization yet. So he left. So yes, he's left the ikkou down, but I kind of think it's also because....

....Goku needs a chance to grow up, without Sanzo always there. Goku has been Sanzo's shadow for years and years, and as you said, every time he's awoken from Seiten Taisei, Sanzo has been there. But now, Goku's naturally maturing, and it appears his memories are slowly coming back, and I think Sanzo needs to not be there. A person can't grow if there's always a crutch there. I think Minekura deliberately took Sanzo out so that Goku can mature. In the arc (Burial?) Where Goku is separated and fights Kou after saving the village, I think we find him a little more grown up.

haha, sorry for my pontificating! Just thought I'd add my two cents. :P (You're the only other person I know who's gotten her hands on s. 7)

[oyceter]

Oh, I totally think Sanzo was in complete shock and very not in his right mind.

I didn't mean the whole "letting down the ikkou" thing as a criticism of Sanzo, oops! I meant it more as an indication of just how deeply Goku almost dying affected him, just how deeply it shook him. Gah. Minekura is so good at the angst.

I LOVE that Goku gets shot right after he says that nah, really, he'd rather not be reincarnated, because of course Sanzo is thinking that, and... oh, the heartache.

I think when Sanzo first runs off, he's less contemplated and reflecting and more just in sheer panic. In my lovely Sanzo/Goku world, it's because he has just realized how important Goku is to him and how attached he, muichi motsu guy, has become to this one person. And I think that totally freaks him out, and all he knows to do is to run away.

My personal speculation is that he keeps going with Hazel and Gat because he's still not up to confronting the ikkou again, especially not Goku, which would be a lovely parallel with Goku being afraid to confront Sanzo after going berserk in vol. 6 of Saiyuki.

I think it'll be a really cool thing for Goku (so much Goku love! SO MUCH!), and I have no doubt that he'll mature. Sometimes, I think Goku is actually the most mature of the ikkou, which is rather scary. And I think Sanzo will have to confront adult!Goku when he comes back, and it will be interesting.

But oh, the Sanzo angst potential!

Minekura is so evil, and yet, I love the pain so much.

[grendelity.livejournal.com]

Ah, I must comment here as well.

I'm still trying to come to terms with Sanzo in that bit. I think I really experienced a loss of faith in his character when I first read/saw what happened. And I just feel like he's sort of regressing, you know? Like, in his Burial chapter, he broke my heart when he raised his head to look at the Sansbutshin...his eyes were just so dead and blank and I wanted to give him a hug or something. I mean, I sort of understand his reaction, his brain shutting off, as you say, and that sort of breaks my heart too, but gah. He's always been so strong, and now....

*sigh* Little baby. Seriously. He needs a hug machine or something.

[oyceter]

Comments are always good! Even though I am woefully slow to respond!

OMG.... Sanzo. Just... gah! I wasn't actually disappointed in him, because I felt like he was sort of doing what Gojyo had done in the Kami-sama arc. And I have much faith that he will come back and be stronger and more emotionally stable (well... uh, as far as Sanzo can be).

It's interesting how you say how strong he is! I've always seen him as very strong; he holds the ikkou together by force of will, after all. And he's often the one who cuts through the chase to get to the real issue (I LOVE that scene with him and the youkai boy; that's quintessential Sanzo to me). But I always feel that his insight and his strength falter when it comes to himself and his own emotions, which is why I think he totally broke when Goku was shot.

I just... gaaah!!! I keep seeing it as Sanzo finally being forced to confront head on how attached he is to Goku and to the ikkou and the world, despite yelling at Gojyo and Hakkai for disdaining it. And while he can know that about other people, he's so bad at knowing it about himself!

Poor Sanzo... so deluded.

[grendelity.livejournal.com]

Well, I wouldn't say I was disappointed in him, per se. I just feel like...I didn't know his character as well as I thought I did. Granted, I never really imagined the scenario of Goku being, uh, keeled, but still. I think I definitely didn't expect him to run away. Maybe sitting there in a stupor until Gojyo smacked him or something, but never running away.

The one thing I keep thinking is, "How can he come back?" I mean, Gojyo obviously sees it as Sanzo being an unforgivable bastard. I'm not sure about Hakkai, but he has a tendency to accept Sanzo's antics more than Gojyo, so maybe he thinks Sanzo's a forgivable bastard. And Goku....I don't know. It was just such a betrayal to the ikkou.

On a slightly unrelated note, this (http://www.saiyuki.it/burial/febbraio%202006/1a.jpg) was the first raw I saw of the Even a Worm arc. Traumatized me beyond belief. I think it might have made me cry. XD

[stalkerbunny.livejournal.com]

I hope you don't mind me commenting out of the blue...It's a bit like going to talk to someone you've never met before, right? (whoo...scary, wouldn't personally dare to do that). I tend to lurk around, nice to meet you. Anyway, just wanted to say that I'm also a fan of Saiyuki. Sadly I don't really have anyone to talk about it with, thought I'm working on that, which is I'm pestering you now. I've always thought that my reactions while reading it are quite silly (such as, jumping up and down because I'm so excited after having read one chapter...cough). After reading the beginning of this (then I decided not to spoil myself, since I only just bought volume 5 of reload)...well, I'm glad to see I'm not alone. :)

[oyceter]

Not at all! It's always fun to find new Saiyuki fans!

I haven't gotten many new chapters lately, so I'm short on the squee, but I'm sure it will start up again once more Reload is released in the States and Gaiden gets translated!

Hi?

[youko579.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to figure out this whole LJ thing so please bear with me. It's been what, 10 months since anyone's posted on this and I'm not even sure if someone will with this one.

Goku's always been the one person/thing that Sanzo could count on not having to look after (from Requiem) I suppose Goku pretty much dead was all it took to put Sanzo over the top.

Also, instead of reviving two apparently dead topics ^-^, International Saiyuki Week is in March? Is that an official holiday for us fans or a brilliantly made-up idea?

^-^ I'd also like to ask you if anyone's heard news of Minekura and her medical issue? I haven't been able to find anything.

Re: Hi?

[oyceter]

Hi! I get comments via email, so I'll see them no matter how old an entry is.

I cannot wait until v. 8 comes out in English! I have the Japanese ed. on my shelf but I haven't read it yet because Saiyuki-level Japanese takes quite a bit of my concentration.

Intl. Saiyuki Week was sort of random -- I think several people on coffeeandink's flist had posted on Saiyuki in a week, and she mentioned it. Then rachelmanija jokingly posted that it was Intl. Saiyuki Week and people should chnage their icons and post on Saiyuki, and people actually did!

Re: Hi?

[youko579.livejournal.com]

^-^ well it's just that no one's been on that particular topic in awhile.

v.v June's apparently the release date on amazon.com so we've got awhile yet.
You're lucky you understand as much as you do already. I can't read a word.. or a character of it. Where does Vol 8 end in the anime? Just with Sanzo taking off with the fairy or is it after that?

Should I spread it around or is it kind of an inside joke? I wonder what the party hats should look like.

Re: Hi?

[oyceter]

I'm not sure where v. 8 ends.. I've never seen the anime.

I don't think anyone would mind if you spread it around!