Minekura Kazuya - Saiyuki, vol. 01-09 (Eng. trans.) (reread)

[oyceter]

Really, this is just an excuse to use my shiny new icon! Yay ikkou love! Yay Sanzo waving a gun around!

I noticed more random and fun things this time around! I adore Minekura and how she sneaks these little things in.

Spoilers for all of Saiyuki!

- Kougaiji rescues Yaone from being taken away to Hyakugan Maoh. Imagine, in another life, she might have met Kanan!

- I am totally amused that Kami-sama called Gojyo "Mr. Red," largely because Dokugakuji befriended Kougaiji because Kougaiji reminded him of Gojyo. And the "kou" in "Kougaiji" means "red." And Dokugakuji and Yaone both call him "Kou" (though I wonder how that works in Japanese).

- I love that the Gaiden references start out much, much earlier than I realized! Kanzeon calls Sanzo "Konzen" in vol. 2 after she sucks Gojyo's blood (um... yay?) and obviously feels some affection. I completely forgot about the Nataku bits. So... did he not quite kill himself? Huh? And I just love love love the one page spreads of Tenpou, Kenren, Konzen and Goku standing around when Kanzeon talks about them, or how she keeps watching over them. Ahhh, I am such a sucker for backstory!

- I also absolutely love that Goku looks exactly like Gaiden!Goku when he's in the cave, down the the exact same clothes.

- I wonder if Sanzo would have turned out much more like Konzen had Koumyou not been slaughtered in from of his eyes.

- Pretty much everything that has to do with Goku in a cave for 500 years, calling out for someone he doesn't even remember, completely breaks my heart. I especially love the small snippet of kid!Gonou freaking out the nun, kid!Gojyo feeling unwanted, kid!Kouryou being confused, and Goku realizing he's lonely after playing with the bird. And then... Kouryou says he'd never answer someone who called him, then he lifts his head, thinking he hears something. Gah. Me = reduced to incoherent wibbling.

- I also like that Yaone's name is "Eight Hundred Mice," which matches the eight in Hakkai ("hatsu" -- the "tsu" becomes a small tsu when combined and forms the double letter for "kai").

- I must have read the books entirely too quickly the first time through, because I didn't like vols. 7-9 as much as vols. 4-5. But now, I adore them, particularly Hakkai being silently pissed off at Sanzo for leaving Gojyo behind, the slamming of the coffee pot, Goku being sad that everyone is off, and all that. And of course, all of them beating the crap out of Gojyo when they finally do reunite.

And the mahjongg game!

- It was really fun rereading, because when I first read the books, I didn't really care about any of the characters until vol. 4, which is when I began to violently adore Hakkai. I just liked Sanzo because he's a pissy bastard. And I didn't really like Gojyo until vol. 5 and the Kami-sama arc. It took me forever to warm to Goku.

Now I feel like shaking my old self and yelling, "How could anyone not warm to Goku?!?!"

He's just so happy and undamaged, considering that he was locked in a cave for 500 years, and he's got his head screwed on straight, unlike the others. And he cares so much. I adore him getting out the mahjongg set and making everyone play, and that proud little smile he gives Sanzo when Sanzo decides he's not going to be beaten anymore.

- Saiyuki mahjongg! Man, I so, so, so wish I had the raws for the mahjong chapters in particular, because I really wanted to know what they were playing! I think I know most of the combinations they're talking about, but I'm not sure because I'm not familiar with the Japanese names (fannishly taught me the really cool complicated way of playing mahjongg, and I love it!). But Sanzo's final winning hand is indeed the highest you can get. I peered at the page and checked out all the tiles just to make sure. Ah, mahjongg! How wonderful you are! You even revitalize the spirits of sarcastic, cynical monks!

Oh man, this is bad. I now want to make everyone else talk about Saiyuki as well, or write fic, or something, because I am just that hooked.

Comments

[octopedingenue]

Yaone's name is REALLY "eight hundred mice"? ........WHY?

[oyceter]

I have no idea!

I wonder if it's for the Hakkai parallel? Or... maybe she's a minor character in Journey to the West?

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

She has the power to summon eight hundred mice, but we have not yet seen it because (unlike the power to summon, say, eight hundred centipedes) it is utterly useless.

Um, no idea. I like that she and Hakkai both have the character "eight" in their names, since they get along so well. (From the Japanese "ya/ttsu" "eight (physical objects)" in her case, I assume, rather than "ha/chi" ("(number) eight.") Perhaps eight has some symbolism that applies to both of them?

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Well, you can read Hakkai as meaning 'eight renunciations', which is amusing because one generally takes nine vows of renunciation upon joining some kinds of Buddhist order (and also fits well with his I-am-a-lay-monk sash). So you can sit there with a list going 'What didn't he give up? Sex? Drugs? Anger? Does it vary according to the phase of the moon?'*

I am however familiar with absolutely no symbolism involving eight, nine, eight hundred, or mice. Somebody really should check Journey to the West.

*Booze. He didn't give up booze. This crushed the soul of one of the people who was watching with me, because it means that he ought to be avowedly celibate. Unless, of course, it varies according to the phase of the moon.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Sanzo didn't give up alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, or anger (sex is debatable), so I wouldn't expect that Hakkai would be a perfectly observant monk either.

Maybe it means "eight renunciations I didn't make." Which would raise the question of which one he's keeping.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I regularly have to trot this explanation out for people; really it should be in a FAQ some place.

I asked my Chinese source the same question. Her answer:

...the kanji refers to the nine acts that monks renounce when they enter the order. No meat, no women, no killing, no drinking... there are nine forbidden acts altogether, which are symbolized by the
nine marks on a monk's head when they get their tonsure. But why eight forbidden acts instead of nine in Hakkai's name? Well, eight means "one act not forbidden".
And in classical Chinese, that's the same as saying "not even one act forbidden". (Hence the self-indulgent Pigsy of the novel.)

Same with Gonou. Go as it is written means understanding, meditating
on. But in Chinese it's also a pun on a character that means lacking, missing. So Gonou also means lacking ability, useless. Same with all the other character's names. Gojou also means messy, unclean.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

And in classical Chinese, that's the same as saying "not even one act forbidden".

That's great.

Is it literally the same "Go" in Gonou, Gojyo, and Goku?

[oyceter]

Yup!

I think in the original source, Triptaka (the Sanzo equivalent) names Gojyo and Gonou, though Goku gets his name from an Immortal (Taoist, I think?).

I get very confused when I read the Chinese.

[oyceter]

*snork*

Maybe Yaone took a vow to give up mice? Or to ... eat them? Or... something.

I wish my Chinese were good enough to read Journey to the West in the original.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

I think he gave up intoxication from booze-- and that's why he can't be drunk. THAT STILL LEAVES SEX!

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

She has the power to summon eight hundred mice, but we have not yet seen it because (unlike the power to summon, say, eight hundred centipedes) it is utterly useless.

Eight hundred mice rats are pretty scary when it looks like Yuki's summoning them in FB.

[octopedingenue]

Maybe she can turn into eight hundred mice, like the creepy centipede guy in season 2 of "Buffy"!

[cougarfang.livejournal.com]

Um, random wandering note:
(Sorry in advance for all the Traditional Mandarin characterage. And abuse of parentheses. ^^;;;)

Yaone = 八百單 = I'm actually not too sure how to translate this (though the last character is definitely not mice). The "800" part is correct, but 單 could mean "single"/"alone", or "list" as in menu or bills in a restaurant. o_o;; Though I kept misreading it as 彈 at first, which makes a lot more sense... 彈 as in bullets/bombs/deadly projectiles, and as in 彈藥, "ammunition", which fits with her occasional use of bombs in fighting. I don't remember her as being in the original 西遊記, however.

A bit of Google pokage turns up "八百獵" as an alternate name, 獵 meaning "hunt". A bit better, I suppose. And yes, the eight in her name matches the eight in Hakkai's ^^ Which is a nice touch.

Dokugakuji = 獨角兒 = Single-horned one, 獨 = single/one/alone, 角 = horn (or corner/angle, but that's not it here), 兒 = general appellate, mostly for guys (as in 兒子, which means "son") or as a dimunitive (as in "兒童", "child"). I think he was in the original, somewhere. _{I really should read it again, darnit.}

[cougarfang.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I'm working off the Taiwanese official Mandarin-translated Saiyuki manga. Just for the record. ^^;;

[oyceter]

Yeah, the one in the Japanese actually has the Japanese character for "mice" for Yaone instead of single/alone, and the "ji" in Dokugakuji is a "tu" character (for "sticking out") on top of "da." No clue what that is.

And apparently all of the Kou-tachi are in the original, but I haven't read up on Minekura's notes for those yet.