Re: Sai - Yeah. It's a hard volume to get through - it's *all* about Sai and Sai's sadness Sai's disappearance and Hikaru and Hikaru's grief and... ouch.
Nase getting demoralised about her future. Very different from how she's portrayed in some other parts of the manga which makes it difficult to guess what will happen to her in the end. (Just one of my characterisation struggles).
If she doesn't ace the pro exam she'll disappear. And she had two 'deadlines' for this: when she turns 18 she can't be an insei anymore and the you can only try for the exam until you're 30. If she keeps being in the middle bracket of players, she'll not make it through.
I, however, do think that all normal Go-pro-wannabees (Akira & Hikaru are NOT normal) do go through a depressed period. Like Ijima did and that Isumi is suffering also. And Waya, and Honda. Normal!
This part is why Ive heard so many people describe the series as heartbreaking.
It has a lot more impact in the anime. For one you can't control the rate its coming at you. There is much more pathos too, the music etc.
I tend to think that the disapearance of Sai and how fans react to this has generated more fanfiction than any other idea. People interpret it in different ways. I also find it pretty religiously ambiguous, which is probably wholly deliberate.
This is the ending of one of the two core plot lines. And this one ending with death/parting, is bound to make an impact. And yes, this is why I'm writing fanfic, and my HnG fanfics will always involve Sai; he had no chance here, nor in his living life. There are so many things I want him to do yet, he's just too young to die.
His disappearance didn't make proper sense to me until vol 17. Then it made profound sense, but only from Hikaru's point of view. So yes, I'm glad to read fics about Sai.
I am aware that writing a Sai-comes-back fic negates a large point of the canon plot. But in fanfic you can just write what was left unwritten, even changing the intent of the canon. IMHO.
Reappearance of the phantom soccer ball, strangely absent in the anime where Hikaru's room is a tad tidier.
There may be too many soccer AUs but I don't think its totally irrelevant: In 2002 the FIFA soccer world cup was co-hosted by Japan and S. Korea. It had to have been an exciting time.
isn't the hand and arm in the top panel also Hikaru's father? Seeing as the clothing pattern matches the trousers we see in the bottom panel? In which case Hikaru's father speaks!
Oh but he spoke in the last volume, a mere disembodied voice, so we already knew he speaks. It's nice that in this volume he actually said something (instead of just 'hi' and 'bye'). Who knows, someday he may grow up to be a real character!
(That part of the scene was left out of the anime, btw. So can't place a screengrab here, darn it!)
hahaha ^_^ It's also interesting that on the next page that Hikaru tells his grandfather that his dad said just a lot of junk was taken. I wonder if that's a statement about what Hikaru's dad is like or it's just a flip comment?
isn't the hand and arm in the top panel also Hikaru's father? Wow, I missed that. We almost saw him! I wonder if he looks like Hikaru. Perhaps he looks like Mr Obata.
In Innoshima we hear about Shusaku playing Go in a temple
I think that there is a lot I don't know about how Go is seen in Japan. Playing a game in a sacred place is kind of surprising for me. Does anyone know whether this is a Buddhist temple?
Japanese religion is quite different from western; playing Go in a temple is perfectly acceptable, it's a contemplative game after all and they do chase after the Hand of God.
Temples in Japan aren't like western churches (my only other comparison). I've been to temples that were holding events that looked like fairs and at New Years when everyone crowds in and sits inside and eats a mandarin and drinks this odd sake concoction (that I really didn't like and can't remember the name of). That was at a Buddhist temple, but the Shinto shrines I don't think are much different in terms of having fairs etc. I would image that they would have played at a Buddhist temple as they seem to have the large hall that they could play in (from the two local ones I went to). From remembering the Shinto shrine I went to I know that they didn't have a hall. I discounted the really large temples and shrines I went to as I don't really remember which were temples and which were shrines without looking up stuff.
Wow, thats really interesting. I'd heard about the mixture of Shinto and Buddism in Japan before but not anything about how things actually went on.
There are quite different beliefs about the afterlife too I think (which are relevant to HnG at this point): Does the spirit of the deceased remain among the living or go somewhere else? Or each in turn?
from what I understand the spirit passes on (I don't actually know where as I didn't have any interest at the time). Then during Obon week which is in August the spirits of the dead return and are eventually sent back using fire and smoke from incense/bonfires/candles etc. During the year I know that most people will get a Buddhist monk to come in to their home and at the family shrine he'll read certain Buddhist katra/scriptures which helps the deceased in some way (again never discussed this). Where I was living the family shrine was in the room next to me and I would often hear the monk in there chanting and chiming a bell.
I think it's believed that your ancestors will help you/look after you as when I was leaving Japan they invited me to pray at the family shrine. I know that my friend's Grandfather's name was also at the local Shinto shrine. I don't know why his name was kept there but she pointed it out to me when we went there once, so I'm really not sure what the belief is for the dead in Shintoism.
From both belief systems thou (I think but a lot from Buddhism) come stories of spirits that haven't passed on. A story I read was about a woman waiting for her husband to return, she is still there when he finally comes back but in the morning she's gone and he's informed by a neighbour that she died years ago. Stories like that are common as are ones like in 'Genji' where a departed spirit attacks a woman Genji is sleeping with b/c she was sleeping with him too but blah blah blah and she died angry and decided to take revenge or something. (I wasn't that interested when I had to read that excerpt from 'Genji'...) I think in Buddhist beliefs (Japan version) regrets tie you to this world and if you give up all your worldly desires you reach nirvana.
Hey I'm no church going anything either, but when I type up "bingo in church" in Google I get many hits that take it as a matter of course. Including this one: "MILWAUKEE -- Four people are in custody after police say they held up a bingo night at a local church. Saturday, August 14, 2010"
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 08:02 pm (UTC)So yeah, that was volume 15.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 09:07 pm (UTC)In the anime Ogata was almost falling down drunk and Sai looked positively sick!
Sai:
Why am I putting myself through this again? And twice too, what with the manga and the anime! *Boohoohoo*
Hikaru:
The five stages of grief:
1-Denial, check
2-Anger, check
3-Bargaining, check
4-Depression, check
5-Acceptance, not quite there yet....
Akira;
Self centered much?
Waya:
Nice shiny new pad, congrats!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 09:33 pm (UTC)Damn it
lifedeath is so unfair!no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 10:34 pm (UTC)with Sai visible to all... and Hikaru being polite!
New year video
no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 09:27 pm (UTC)with laundry and food taken care of by other people!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 10:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 09:17 pm (UTC)Then again, coupled with 19 it comes up the week running up to the blind go deadline!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-19 04:12 pm (UTC)http://pastebin.org/614043
Grabs!
Date: 2010-08-18 08:57 pm (UTC)59-2
http://onkoona.livejournal.com/39959.html
60-1
http://onkoona.livejournal.com/40266.html
60-2
http://onkoona.livejournal.com/40568.html
60-3
http://onkoona.livejournal.com/40737.html
Opening S3
http://onkoona.livejournal.com/41143.html
61-1
http://onkoona.livejournal.com/41410.html
61-2
http://onkoona.livejournal.com/41608.html
62-1
http://onkoona.livejournal.com/41786.html
62-2
http://onkoona.livejournal.com/42006.html
63-1
http://onkoona.livejournal.com/42371.html
63-2
http://onkoona.livejournal.com/42544.html
Re: Grabs!
Date: 2010-08-18 09:22 pm (UTC)Re: Grabs!
Date: 2010-08-18 09:24 pm (UTC)Re: Grabs!
Date: 2010-08-18 09:36 pm (UTC)S1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8XHlBUVDgI
S2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtUFYtMLmn4
Not going to look up S3's, it has nothing to do with HnG!!
Re: Grabs!
Date: 2010-08-18 09:45 pm (UTC)Re: Grabs!
Date: 2010-08-18 09:53 pm (UTC)If she keeps being in the middle bracket of players, she'll not make it through.
I, however, do think that all normal Go-pro-wannabees (Akira & Hikaru are NOT normal) do go through a depressed period. Like Ijima did and that Isumi is suffering also. And Waya, and Honda.
Normal!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 09:24 pm (UTC)It has a lot more impact in the anime. For one you can't control the rate its coming at you. There is much more pathos too, the music etc.
I tend to think that the disapearance of Sai and how fans react to this has generated more fanfiction than any other idea. People interpret it in different ways. I also find it pretty religiously ambiguous, which is probably wholly deliberate.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 09:41 pm (UTC)And this one ending with death/parting, is bound to make an impact.
And yes, this is why I'm writing fanfic, and my HnG fanfics will always involve Sai; he had no chance here, nor in his living life. There are so many things I want him to do yet, he's just too young to die.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 09:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 10:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 09:42 pm (UTC)There may be too many soccer AUs but I don't think its totally irrelevant: In 2002 the FIFA soccer world cup was co-hosted by Japan and S. Korea. It had to have been an exciting time.
Hikaru's Dad is back too, or at least half a foot and a bit of pyjama (bottom left)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-19 09:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-19 11:43 am (UTC)(That part of the scene was left out of the anime, btw. So can't place a screengrab here, darn it!)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-19 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-19 09:03 pm (UTC)Wow, I missed that. We almost saw him! I wonder if he looks like Hikaru.
Perhaps he looks like Mr Obata.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 10:18 pm (UTC)I think that there is a lot I don't know about how Go is seen in Japan. Playing a game in a sacred place is kind of surprising for me. Does anyone know whether this is a Buddhist temple?
no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 10:47 pm (UTC)But with 8 million Gods anything is possible....
no subject
Date: 2010-08-19 09:52 am (UTC)That was at a Buddhist temple, but the Shinto shrines I don't think are much different in terms of having fairs etc. I would image that they would have played at a Buddhist temple as they seem to have the large hall that they could play in (from the two local ones I went to). From remembering the Shinto shrine I went to I know that they didn't have a hall. I discounted the really large temples and shrines I went to as I don't really remember which were temples and which were shrines without looking up stuff.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-19 09:23 pm (UTC)There are quite different beliefs about the afterlife too I think (which are relevant to HnG at this point): Does the spirit of the deceased remain among the living or go somewhere else? Or each in turn?
no subject
Date: 2010-08-19 09:56 pm (UTC)During the year I know that most people will get a Buddhist monk to come in to their home and at the family shrine he'll read certain Buddhist katra/scriptures which helps the deceased in some way (again never discussed this). Where I was living the family shrine was in the room next to me and I would often hear the monk in there chanting and chiming a bell.
I think it's believed that your ancestors will help you/look after you as when I was leaving Japan they invited me to pray at the family shrine.
I know that my friend's Grandfather's name was also at the local Shinto shrine. I don't know why his name was kept there but she pointed it out to me when we went there once, so I'm really not sure what the belief is for the dead in Shintoism.
From both belief systems thou (I think but a lot from Buddhism) come stories of spirits that haven't passed on. A story I read was about a woman waiting for her husband to return, she is still there when he finally comes back but in the morning she's gone and he's informed by a neighbour that she died years ago.
Stories like that are common as are ones like in 'Genji' where a departed spirit attacks a woman Genji is sleeping with b/c she was sleeping with him too but blah blah blah and she died angry and decided to take revenge or something. (I wasn't that interested when I had to read that excerpt from 'Genji'...) I think in Buddhist beliefs (Japan version) regrets tie you to this world and if you give up all your worldly desires you reach nirvana.
Sorry for the long rambling answer... ^_^
no subject
Date: 2010-08-19 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-19 09:15 pm (UTC)Huh?!!
I seem to have missed this cultural development (which is not surprising as Im neither a church goer nor a bingo player).
Yes, Go seems more reverant. It might also be considered a spectator sport for the deities I suppose.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-19 09:23 pm (UTC)