Did I say I'd have that up in a few days?
Nov. 18th, 2003 01:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkan...because by 'days,' I really meant 'about a month.' And the sad thing is that it's spent that time sitting on my hard drive waiting for me to do something with it aside from ftping it to the temp folder of my webpage.
So, below you will find the Koori no Mamono no Monogatari Gaiden summaries. They aren't described at all seriously, and I will probably end up translating at least two of them because they really do deserve it. Did I mention that Sugiura Shiho and I will be one day happily married. But, anyway, the summaries. お待たせしました。
Story the First
The Witch of Kaaiiruu
Our first story opens with an arrow sticking out of a wall. As we turn the page, we're confronted by a scene in which a party of bandits attacks a caravan crossing a mountain pass. The bandits rob the caravan of its goods and the women in the group of their jewels, but depart without killing anybody, much to the confusion of the caravan members.
Later in the evening, the bandit leader (whose name is Rai) is trying on the stolen jewelry in front of his compatriots when a man who is bandaged about the head literally falls from the sky. The leader and his two croonies go through the man's wallet but find only a map. (I should probably mention appearances here. The leader has short blond hair and glasses, croonie #1 looks like Geib from Koori with dark skin and light hair, and croonie #2 looks like a slightly older Zaha with a scar running across one eye. But I digress...) As the three are debating whether the map is Just A Map or a Treasure Map, the man wakes and begs them to return it, as it's extremely valuable.
And thus we resolve the above question.
They ask him what he's doing walking around with an otherwise empty wallet, and he replies that it doesn't matter, because he's going to find some treasure, thus resolving the map question yet again.
The above slips (as well as a few following ones) earn Zed (for that is the name of our bandaged man) the nickname "Careless Zed" amongst the bandits.
Because the treasure can't be taken by the first person who sees it, the bandits tie Zed up, intending to take him along to look at the treasure first so they can steal it. Zed asks if they aren't afraid of any demons that might be lurking around the treasure, to which Rai replies that he isn't afraid at all; demons are much easier to kill than people.
Zed falls asleep while tied to a tree. Rai dreams of a beautiful woman who tells him, "Only you have beautiful golden hair. My children are all dark. And I'll favor them over you. Do you know why? Because you're a fake. That's what your name means." (There is no difference between the letters 'l' and 'r' in Japanese, so Rai's name could also be pronounced - you guessed it - 'lie.')
Rai awakes from the nightmare confused and protesting and freaks out his underlings in the process. Zed questions croonie #1 (named Rindou) as to why such a young guy is their leader. Rindou replies that Rai overcame their previous leader, and that they all like Rai better anyway because Rai doesn't ask them to kill people.
The group stops for the evening. Zed is tied to a tree. Croonie #2 (named Kagura) notices that he's mumbling something in his sleep. Rai's also having uneasy dreams. His dreams tell us that he was the illegitimate (and youngest) son of a wealthy landowner. After the man fell ill, his trophy bride brought Rai to her house to live with her legitimate sons. She's praised about the town for being so loving, kind, forgiving, and for her beautiful smile. But her appearance is just a farce - she's cold and cruel to Rai, although the townsfolk have no idea of this.
Rai awakes thinking that his stepmother would have done him a favor if she had just killed him on day one. He's once more overslept on account of his nightmares. Kagura takes him aside and mentions that he thinks Zed might be a demon - he was muttering in his sleep, after all. Rindou disagrees, as he doesn't detect any strange aura emanating from Zed. Kagura counters by mentioning that some demons are almost indistinguishable from humans.
"But aren't those demons inhumanly beautiful?" asks Rindou.
The three glance over at Zed with his grandfatherly appearance and bandaged head, and wordlessly agree that he is not one of those demons.
It's night and Rai is dreaming again. His father has passed away (or rather, was poisoned by his wife), and there's no reason for Rai to stay in the mansion any more. He tells his stepmother that he's leaving; he doesn't want any part of the family fortune either. She just smiles her chilling smile, and he leaves. The townspeople, however, are quick to curse him for being a heartless, ungrateful bastard who's forsaken the kind, gentle woman who took him in even though he was the result of her husband's infidelity.
Rai looks really sick and drawn the following morning, and his bandits are starting to worry about him.
We have another flashback dream in which a messenger corners Rai. Turns out the stepmother's sons both died in an accident, and she's sent the messenger to bring Rai back to the mansion, as he is her last remaining son.
What's actually happened is that the paternal grandfather has passed away, but, argue as his daughter-in-law might, he's willed half of his wealth over to Rai, as Rai is the last remaining offspring of his son. Basically Stepmom wants Rai back because that way she'll have access to all of the family fortune. Rai reluctantly returns, and his stepmom basically comes on to him. He's so disgusted by this that he takes a bow and arrow from the weapons hanging on the wall, and fires it at his stepmom.
Rai awakes from this nightmare to find Zed crouched over him, casting some sort of spell. "Who the hell are you?" Rai demands. "Are you a demon, to make me see these nightmares?"
Zed replies that he isn't a demon, he's the mirror in which Rai's past is reflected. "You didn't kill her, did you, Rai?" he asks. "You aren't a horrible person like that."
And then Rai remembers the memory he's been blocking - that he couldn't kill her after all, and shot the arrow into the wall behind her instead (remember our opening panel?). As he was fleeing from an open window, the stepmon called the guards, telling them that Rai is a robber, kill him. (Bitch to the last, that one.) Rai finally comes to terms with the fact that although he loved her, she never loved him back, that she could only love her reputation and money. And so our Mommy Complex and Abandonment Issues are finally resolved.
Zed slaps a pair of cuffs on Rai because guess what - he's really everybody's favorite priest Rauguru. Rai and his bandits are surrounded by priests. Rauguru tells them the map and his "head injury" were all a hoax designed to catch the bandits who've been plaguing the mountain passes. Rai and his gang can either go to jail or work for the temple, hunting demons. Rai and the bandits think it's a trap, so Rai slips his chains and holds a knife to Rauguru's throat, thus allowing his bandits to escape at his expense. Rai asks if he'll be put to death, but Rauguru says nope! You're definitely coming to work for the temple. You're an even better human being than I'd previously thought you were!
Upon hearing this, Rindou and Kagura materialise from behind some rocks. "What the hell are you doing here?" Rai demands. "I just risked my neck to let you escape."
Well, they answer, a temple job sounds cushy. Care to take on two more, priest? And besides, life would be boring without you, Rai.
The priests agree, of course. And another bandit pops out of hiding.
And so we discover how Rai, Rindou, Ruugisu, and Kagura became priests. The end.
Story The Second
The 150 Year Play: Act of the Puppet
The Toei demons are begging Nei to listen to reason - after all, Blood is probably dead. Nei, clearly upset, answers that Blood was dead anyway, but that he's got a spell to bring him back to life. We now flash 150 years into the past.
The Toei demons are worried about something. "Is 'it' still there?"
"Yup."
"How do we get rid of 'it?' Should we just collapse the cave walls?"
"No, because he's in there too."
"Touryou!" one says in surprise.
But it's Nei, not Blood, whom they're addressing by the above title. In high bitchy form, Nei tells them to talk about people behind their backs, if they must talk at all.
The demons attack him, but he fights them off easily. They beg him to let them at what's in the cave. He counters with, "If you can't even best me, how can you best a pure-blooded demon?"
Nei returns to the cave where - you guessed it - Blood is sitting. Nei spends the next several pages mooning over Blood, whom he's already calling Touryou. Blood ignores him.
The other demons are desperate to find a way to get rid of Blood. Blood is freaking them out because he isn't like any other demon they've ever met before, and that's frightening. They decide to make a composite demon out of all their blood, plus whatever demons' blood happens to be coating Blood's sword, which they've stolen. (PS: big mistake.)
We go back to Nei swooning with love. Blood asks Nei who Nei is, and if 'Touryou' is Nei's name for him. Nei tells him that he'll spend the rest of his life "under" Blood. (Hurrah for sexual double entendre!)
Nei leaves the cave and is taken aside by Geib, who asks if Nei's fascination with Blood is really that smart.
"But he's the only one who could kill me!" Nei replies gleefully, accidentally proving Geib's point. Nei pouts because Gieb isn't as wild over Blood as he is. Gieb points out that Nei went to a lot of trouble to assemble the Toei demons, and that no one really knows anything about Blood, so maybe they should check him out before falling unconditionally in love with him.
"But I like him too much!" Nei whines.
Five days after Blood's presence is discovered, Nei convinces him to appear before the other demons, who are awed by his Pure Demon goodness. Nei informs them that Blood is their new leader and if they don't like it, they can split. The demons respond by putting the finishing touches on the Mix 'n Match demon spell. Well, wouldn't'cha know the blood on Blood's sword comes from Kazaru, and the hybrid demon they've created is stronger than any of the Toei gang by far. They run like frightened rabbits, but Blood takes the hybrid out without batting an eye.
Ten days later, the Toei demons accept Blood as Touryou.
A year later, Nei asks Blood why he came to Toei.
"Because Wild told me there were incredibly strong demons living in Toei. I thought you might stand a chance at killing me, Nei. But you don't. I'm bored."
Two years later, Geib asks Nei what's up with Blood.
"He's still really bored," Nei says. "Maybe I should try my best to kill him. That might cheer him up, but it'd suck for me. Okay, I'll just pretend every day that I'm trying to kill him. But I couldn't do it for real. I'm really boring."
"No," says Geib, "I think you're plenty interesting." (BTW, there's a fair amount of punnage going on here. The word Nei uses for "boring" can also be translated as "stupid," and the word Gieb uses for "interesting" can also be translated as "You're stupid in an amusing fashion. I'm laughing at you now.")
We flash forward in ten year intervals as Blood, protesting all the while that he's really freaking bored, starts to feel true affection for Toei and its demons - or at least this is what Nei wants to believe is happening.
At 120 years after Blood arrives, we get the entrance of Zaha, which I'm translating in full below, because It's. Too. Damn. Cute.
Anyhow, 130, 140, 150 years pass, and Night realises that in all that time, he's never once seen Blood really smile.
Flash forward to Boold being captured by the priests. (Apparently, if a demon comes into contact with priestly blood, it becomes difficult for the demon to use his magic, and this is how Blood was finally captured - he killed so many priests he rendered himself defenseless.) The priests throw up a kekkai to prevent the Toei demons from aiding Blood, and Nei has an epiphany - Blood is a puppet, a doll. He may be strong, intelligent, beautiful, but he isn't really alive. The demons urge Nei to let them rescue Blood, but he refuses.
"But Blood may still be alive," they argue.
"He was never alive to begin with," Nei counters. Nei's overcome with hatred for Blood, with whom he's been infatuated for 150 years, and to whom he meant nothing. And because Blood was never really alive in the first place, Nei sees nothing wrong with magically creating a second Blood. But he doesn't stop there - he curses Blood as well:
If you're somehow still alive, I'll curse the rest of your existence,
So that somehow, your blood will flow,
So that somehow, your heart and body will be wounded, and your tears will flow,
So that the day will come when you'll be brought to tears there's nothing you can do,
You're cursed; it would be good if you're cursed,
Someone will bring that down on your head,
If next time, you taste complete despair, it would be good,
If somehow your body and soul were branded with it, if someone... someone...
If someone somehow gave life to that pitiful puppet,
If that happened, then that demon might be able to laugh with his soul, too...
Story The Third
In the forest, the dead people...: The Floral Tribute
Once upon a time, in a place far away, a very ordinary family was living...
A mother, father, older sister, and older brother, and ... Wild.
Who really hates being human because he finds it so dreadfully dull. But that's okay, because his family comes down with the plague and soon he's the only one left alive. Wild sells his soul to become a demon, in order to escape his pitiful human existence.
Or at least that's how explains it to 7-(ish)-year-old Rapunzel.
Later, Wild's walking through the forest when a hand rises out of the ground and grabs his leg. I don't know if you're a human, a demon, or a god of death, but I'm begging you to guide me. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die, it tells him.
"You seem pretty dead to me," Wild responds emotionlessly. (Ooh! I lurv him in this story...) Apparently the dead soul's wish to live was so strong it's managed to start reforming its body out of the earth. Wild tells it his name, tells it to call him "Master," and makes a contract with it - if it can reform its entire body, Wild will bring it back to life.
He heads back to his tower where Rapunzel greats him, telling him that a bird brought them a present, and in a while she can show it to him. "What happened to you today, Wild," he asks.
"Oh, the usual," Wild responds. "A dead person grabbed my leg."
Rapunzel freaks out and Wild uses the opportunity to remind him never to leave the tower.
A few days later, Wild's walking through the woods when he's stopped by the Memory, which has now reformed its head and half a torso. Wild had basically forgotten about it, but he figures if it's that persistent, it'll make a good servant. For it's part, the Memory keeps repeating, I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die.
This causes Wild to flash back to his final moments as a human. He's crawling across the cottage floor, coughing blood. "I'll be damned if I die here," he thinks. "I'll be damned if I die here. I can't die here."
He asks the Memory what it did during life, and it responds that it had a normal life - the sort of life Wild was only too happy to give up. Looking back on his family, he understands where the Memory is coming from.
He returns to the castle, but Rapunzel is nowhere to be seen. Wild finally finds him hiding under a table. He's sure Rapunzel was up to something, but decides not to pursue things.
"So what happened today, Mahou-tsukai-sama?" Rapunzel asks.
"Well, the dead thing that grabbed my foot the other day got a lot bigger."
"What? Him again?" says Rapunzel, looking rather cross. "How can a dead person grow?"
"It isn't a person anymore," Wild tells him. "I think it's interesting to watch it grow."
"I think it's interesting to watch it grow too!" Rapunzel chimes in, before realising he's said too much. "I'll tell you what I meant next time," he tells Wild.
The Memory's grown even larger the next time Wild sees it. It's still protesting that it doesn't want to die alone - this is actually one of the most chilling scenes I've ever seen in a manga. I had a family once, it tells Wild. A long, long time ago. I want to see them again. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. Mother... Father...
Wild is reminded of his own parents: their last moments, trying to keep his brother and sister alive. Then he remembers bargaining his humanity away in return for immortality, and worse yet - he bargained away the lives, blood, and bodies of his yet-living family as well. Obviously, once his fellow villagers realised what he'd done, they reacted as one might expect.
Wild heads back home to find Rapunzel missing again. He searches frantically, and finally locates him under a bench - with two potted plants. These were, of course, the "presents" the birds brought to Rapunzel, the things he thought it was interesting to watch growing, and of course, he'd planned to give them to Wild. One is for Wild to keep, and the other is for him to put on "the grave."
"Grave?" Wild asks.
"Yes," Rapunzel responds solemnly. "You told me that your family died a long, long time ago, so this is for you to put on their grave."
This stops Wild dead in his tracks, and his reaction freaks out Rapunzel. Wild can't tell him, but he's remembering how alive he felt as he massacred everyone in his village as they tried to protect themselves from him. He'd felt happy, alive, engaged with the world for the first time as he took their lives, but it's taken Rapunzel to show him that life itself can have meaning. Rapunzel misunderstands his reaction and apologises repeatedly for making Wild relive such sad memories. Wild's actually grateful to Rapunzel - until this moment he'd never realised how alone he was. He carries the second plant into the forest, but there's no grave for him to place it on - the bodies of those killed by demons are burned, not buried.
So Wild returns to the Memory, which has completely fabricated a "human" body from the dirt. The Memory begs to be transformed into a demon, using the same words Wild himself had used so many years ago. Wild asks if it likes flowers - it does. He gives the flowers to the Memory, which lays its spirit, even as it begs Wild not to do this to it. Wild reflects on how he'd never realised that flowers were beautiful, and apologises to Rapunzel for being too selfish to set Rapunzel free. He heads into town to buy some flowers for Rapunzel, and if Rapunzel likes them, he'll buy seeds the time after that. Wild's memories return to those of his older sister, asking to braid his hair - in the same way Wild now asks to braid Rapunzel's.
The usual notation applies:
Words in " " are spoken dialogue.
Words not in " " are internal dialogue.
Words in ( ) are character asides.
Words in {{ }} are Sugiura's asides.
Words in // // are actions.
~120 AB (Anno Blood)~
Geib: "Nei."
Nei: "Geib... Did you want something?"
G: He's really testy these days... "Not really. I just picked this up, and I thought I'd come let you know so you don't kill it."
N: "Picked what up?"
G: "Below me."
N: "Below you?"
{{Below him.}}
//We see baby!Zaha gripping Geib's shins.//
N: What the hell is that???
G: //to Zaha//: "(Hey. Don't climb me.)"
//to Nei//: "It looks like a human abandoned it. I don't have jack to do these days, so I thought I might as well try keeping it. It's mine, so don't kill it."
N: "Heh-heh. Since when did you start fathering children on human women?"
G: "Didn't I just tell you that I found it? Listen to what people tell you!"
{{Oh, he's been listening, all right...}}
N: "I suppose you got pretty lonely after I left you for Touryou."
{{Not only is he "listening" to Geib, he's playing him like a fiddle.}}
G: "THAT IS NOT IT AT ALL!"
//Meanwhile, Zaha has taken quite a shining to Geib//
N: "Look brat, it's your daddy!"
Zaha: "Dada!"
G: "Who are you calling 'Dada?'"
Onlooking demon: (Wow, it looks like Nei's buckling under all the stress...)
Z: //gives the cutest grin ever// "Wai~~"
//Nei smiles despite himself.//
G: "Look, he's really cute and he was abandoned by humans, okay. Don't kill him."
N: "Yeah, yeah." //Zaha grabs his finger and starts giggling.// "God, this kid sure smiles a lot... (Hey, what's so interesting about my finger?)"
So there we have it - Nei and Geib had a "thing" before Blood showed up, Zaha is half-demon/half-human, and he's Geib's kid. (Sorry, Geib/Zaha shippers!) And, um, {{cough}} these two pages were the cutest thing I have ever seen in my LIFE.
God, I love Sugiura Shiho.
That will be all.
So, below you will find the Koori no Mamono no Monogatari Gaiden summaries. They aren't described at all seriously, and I will probably end up translating at least two of them because they really do deserve it. Did I mention that Sugiura Shiho and I will be one day happily married. But, anyway, the summaries. お待たせしました。
Story the First
The Witch of Kaaiiruu
Our first story opens with an arrow sticking out of a wall. As we turn the page, we're confronted by a scene in which a party of bandits attacks a caravan crossing a mountain pass. The bandits rob the caravan of its goods and the women in the group of their jewels, but depart without killing anybody, much to the confusion of the caravan members.
Later in the evening, the bandit leader (whose name is Rai) is trying on the stolen jewelry in front of his compatriots when a man who is bandaged about the head literally falls from the sky. The leader and his two croonies go through the man's wallet but find only a map. (I should probably mention appearances here. The leader has short blond hair and glasses, croonie #1 looks like Geib from Koori with dark skin and light hair, and croonie #2 looks like a slightly older Zaha with a scar running across one eye. But I digress...) As the three are debating whether the map is Just A Map or a Treasure Map, the man wakes and begs them to return it, as it's extremely valuable.
And thus we resolve the above question.
They ask him what he's doing walking around with an otherwise empty wallet, and he replies that it doesn't matter, because he's going to find some treasure, thus resolving the map question yet again.
The above slips (as well as a few following ones) earn Zed (for that is the name of our bandaged man) the nickname "Careless Zed" amongst the bandits.
Because the treasure can't be taken by the first person who sees it, the bandits tie Zed up, intending to take him along to look at the treasure first so they can steal it. Zed asks if they aren't afraid of any demons that might be lurking around the treasure, to which Rai replies that he isn't afraid at all; demons are much easier to kill than people.
Zed falls asleep while tied to a tree. Rai dreams of a beautiful woman who tells him, "Only you have beautiful golden hair. My children are all dark. And I'll favor them over you. Do you know why? Because you're a fake. That's what your name means." (There is no difference between the letters 'l' and 'r' in Japanese, so Rai's name could also be pronounced - you guessed it - 'lie.')
Rai awakes from the nightmare confused and protesting and freaks out his underlings in the process. Zed questions croonie #1 (named Rindou) as to why such a young guy is their leader. Rindou replies that Rai overcame their previous leader, and that they all like Rai better anyway because Rai doesn't ask them to kill people.
The group stops for the evening. Zed is tied to a tree. Croonie #2 (named Kagura) notices that he's mumbling something in his sleep. Rai's also having uneasy dreams. His dreams tell us that he was the illegitimate (and youngest) son of a wealthy landowner. After the man fell ill, his trophy bride brought Rai to her house to live with her legitimate sons. She's praised about the town for being so loving, kind, forgiving, and for her beautiful smile. But her appearance is just a farce - she's cold and cruel to Rai, although the townsfolk have no idea of this.
Rai awakes thinking that his stepmother would have done him a favor if she had just killed him on day one. He's once more overslept on account of his nightmares. Kagura takes him aside and mentions that he thinks Zed might be a demon - he was muttering in his sleep, after all. Rindou disagrees, as he doesn't detect any strange aura emanating from Zed. Kagura counters by mentioning that some demons are almost indistinguishable from humans.
"But aren't those demons inhumanly beautiful?" asks Rindou.
The three glance over at Zed with his grandfatherly appearance and bandaged head, and wordlessly agree that he is not one of those demons.
It's night and Rai is dreaming again. His father has passed away (or rather, was poisoned by his wife), and there's no reason for Rai to stay in the mansion any more. He tells his stepmother that he's leaving; he doesn't want any part of the family fortune either. She just smiles her chilling smile, and he leaves. The townspeople, however, are quick to curse him for being a heartless, ungrateful bastard who's forsaken the kind, gentle woman who took him in even though he was the result of her husband's infidelity.
Rai looks really sick and drawn the following morning, and his bandits are starting to worry about him.
We have another flashback dream in which a messenger corners Rai. Turns out the stepmother's sons both died in an accident, and she's sent the messenger to bring Rai back to the mansion, as he is her last remaining son.
What's actually happened is that the paternal grandfather has passed away, but, argue as his daughter-in-law might, he's willed half of his wealth over to Rai, as Rai is the last remaining offspring of his son. Basically Stepmom wants Rai back because that way she'll have access to all of the family fortune. Rai reluctantly returns, and his stepmom basically comes on to him. He's so disgusted by this that he takes a bow and arrow from the weapons hanging on the wall, and fires it at his stepmom.
Rai awakes from this nightmare to find Zed crouched over him, casting some sort of spell. "Who the hell are you?" Rai demands. "Are you a demon, to make me see these nightmares?"
Zed replies that he isn't a demon, he's the mirror in which Rai's past is reflected. "You didn't kill her, did you, Rai?" he asks. "You aren't a horrible person like that."
And then Rai remembers the memory he's been blocking - that he couldn't kill her after all, and shot the arrow into the wall behind her instead (remember our opening panel?). As he was fleeing from an open window, the stepmon called the guards, telling them that Rai is a robber, kill him. (Bitch to the last, that one.) Rai finally comes to terms with the fact that although he loved her, she never loved him back, that she could only love her reputation and money. And so our Mommy Complex and Abandonment Issues are finally resolved.
Zed slaps a pair of cuffs on Rai because guess what - he's really everybody's favorite priest Rauguru. Rai and his bandits are surrounded by priests. Rauguru tells them the map and his "head injury" were all a hoax designed to catch the bandits who've been plaguing the mountain passes. Rai and his gang can either go to jail or work for the temple, hunting demons. Rai and the bandits think it's a trap, so Rai slips his chains and holds a knife to Rauguru's throat, thus allowing his bandits to escape at his expense. Rai asks if he'll be put to death, but Rauguru says nope! You're definitely coming to work for the temple. You're an even better human being than I'd previously thought you were!
Upon hearing this, Rindou and Kagura materialise from behind some rocks. "What the hell are you doing here?" Rai demands. "I just risked my neck to let you escape."
Well, they answer, a temple job sounds cushy. Care to take on two more, priest? And besides, life would be boring without you, Rai.
The priests agree, of course. And another bandit pops out of hiding.
And so we discover how Rai, Rindou, Ruugisu, and Kagura became priests. The end.
Story The Second
The 150 Year Play: Act of the Puppet
The Toei demons are begging Nei to listen to reason - after all, Blood is probably dead. Nei, clearly upset, answers that Blood was dead anyway, but that he's got a spell to bring him back to life. We now flash 150 years into the past.
The Toei demons are worried about something. "Is 'it' still there?"
"Yup."
"How do we get rid of 'it?' Should we just collapse the cave walls?"
"No, because he's in there too."
"Touryou!" one says in surprise.
But it's Nei, not Blood, whom they're addressing by the above title. In high bitchy form, Nei tells them to talk about people behind their backs, if they must talk at all.
The demons attack him, but he fights them off easily. They beg him to let them at what's in the cave. He counters with, "If you can't even best me, how can you best a pure-blooded demon?"
Nei returns to the cave where - you guessed it - Blood is sitting. Nei spends the next several pages mooning over Blood, whom he's already calling Touryou. Blood ignores him.
The other demons are desperate to find a way to get rid of Blood. Blood is freaking them out because he isn't like any other demon they've ever met before, and that's frightening. They decide to make a composite demon out of all their blood, plus whatever demons' blood happens to be coating Blood's sword, which they've stolen. (PS: big mistake.)
We go back to Nei swooning with love. Blood asks Nei who Nei is, and if 'Touryou' is Nei's name for him. Nei tells him that he'll spend the rest of his life "under" Blood. (Hurrah for sexual double entendre!)
Nei leaves the cave and is taken aside by Geib, who asks if Nei's fascination with Blood is really that smart.
"But he's the only one who could kill me!" Nei replies gleefully, accidentally proving Geib's point. Nei pouts because Gieb isn't as wild over Blood as he is. Gieb points out that Nei went to a lot of trouble to assemble the Toei demons, and that no one really knows anything about Blood, so maybe they should check him out before falling unconditionally in love with him.
"But I like him too much!" Nei whines.
Five days after Blood's presence is discovered, Nei convinces him to appear before the other demons, who are awed by his Pure Demon goodness. Nei informs them that Blood is their new leader and if they don't like it, they can split. The demons respond by putting the finishing touches on the Mix 'n Match demon spell. Well, wouldn't'cha know the blood on Blood's sword comes from Kazaru, and the hybrid demon they've created is stronger than any of the Toei gang by far. They run like frightened rabbits, but Blood takes the hybrid out without batting an eye.
Ten days later, the Toei demons accept Blood as Touryou.
A year later, Nei asks Blood why he came to Toei.
"Because Wild told me there were incredibly strong demons living in Toei. I thought you might stand a chance at killing me, Nei. But you don't. I'm bored."
Two years later, Geib asks Nei what's up with Blood.
"He's still really bored," Nei says. "Maybe I should try my best to kill him. That might cheer him up, but it'd suck for me. Okay, I'll just pretend every day that I'm trying to kill him. But I couldn't do it for real. I'm really boring."
"No," says Geib, "I think you're plenty interesting." (BTW, there's a fair amount of punnage going on here. The word Nei uses for "boring" can also be translated as "stupid," and the word Gieb uses for "interesting" can also be translated as "You're stupid in an amusing fashion. I'm laughing at you now.")
We flash forward in ten year intervals as Blood, protesting all the while that he's really freaking bored, starts to feel true affection for Toei and its demons - or at least this is what Nei wants to believe is happening.
At 120 years after Blood arrives, we get the entrance of Zaha, which I'm translating in full below, because It's. Too. Damn. Cute.
Anyhow, 130, 140, 150 years pass, and Night realises that in all that time, he's never once seen Blood really smile.
Flash forward to Boold being captured by the priests. (Apparently, if a demon comes into contact with priestly blood, it becomes difficult for the demon to use his magic, and this is how Blood was finally captured - he killed so many priests he rendered himself defenseless.) The priests throw up a kekkai to prevent the Toei demons from aiding Blood, and Nei has an epiphany - Blood is a puppet, a doll. He may be strong, intelligent, beautiful, but he isn't really alive. The demons urge Nei to let them rescue Blood, but he refuses.
"But Blood may still be alive," they argue.
"He was never alive to begin with," Nei counters. Nei's overcome with hatred for Blood, with whom he's been infatuated for 150 years, and to whom he meant nothing. And because Blood was never really alive in the first place, Nei sees nothing wrong with magically creating a second Blood. But he doesn't stop there - he curses Blood as well:
If you're somehow still alive, I'll curse the rest of your existence,
So that somehow, your blood will flow,
So that somehow, your heart and body will be wounded, and your tears will flow,
So that the day will come when you'll be brought to tears there's nothing you can do,
You're cursed; it would be good if you're cursed,
Someone will bring that down on your head,
If next time, you taste complete despair, it would be good,
If somehow your body and soul were branded with it, if someone... someone...
If someone somehow gave life to that pitiful puppet,
If that happened, then that demon might be able to laugh with his soul, too...
Story The Third
In the forest, the dead people...: The Floral Tribute
Once upon a time, in a place far away, a very ordinary family was living...
A mother, father, older sister, and older brother, and ... Wild.
Who really hates being human because he finds it so dreadfully dull. But that's okay, because his family comes down with the plague and soon he's the only one left alive. Wild sells his soul to become a demon, in order to escape his pitiful human existence.
Or at least that's how explains it to 7-(ish)-year-old Rapunzel.
Later, Wild's walking through the forest when a hand rises out of the ground and grabs his leg. I don't know if you're a human, a demon, or a god of death, but I'm begging you to guide me. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die, it tells him.
"You seem pretty dead to me," Wild responds emotionlessly. (Ooh! I lurv him in this story...) Apparently the dead soul's wish to live was so strong it's managed to start reforming its body out of the earth. Wild tells it his name, tells it to call him "Master," and makes a contract with it - if it can reform its entire body, Wild will bring it back to life.
He heads back to his tower where Rapunzel greats him, telling him that a bird brought them a present, and in a while she can show it to him. "What happened to you today, Wild," he asks.
"Oh, the usual," Wild responds. "A dead person grabbed my leg."
Rapunzel freaks out and Wild uses the opportunity to remind him never to leave the tower.
A few days later, Wild's walking through the woods when he's stopped by the Memory, which has now reformed its head and half a torso. Wild had basically forgotten about it, but he figures if it's that persistent, it'll make a good servant. For it's part, the Memory keeps repeating, I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die.
This causes Wild to flash back to his final moments as a human. He's crawling across the cottage floor, coughing blood. "I'll be damned if I die here," he thinks. "I'll be damned if I die here. I can't die here."
He asks the Memory what it did during life, and it responds that it had a normal life - the sort of life Wild was only too happy to give up. Looking back on his family, he understands where the Memory is coming from.
He returns to the castle, but Rapunzel is nowhere to be seen. Wild finally finds him hiding under a table. He's sure Rapunzel was up to something, but decides not to pursue things.
"So what happened today, Mahou-tsukai-sama?" Rapunzel asks.
"Well, the dead thing that grabbed my foot the other day got a lot bigger."
"What? Him again?" says Rapunzel, looking rather cross. "How can a dead person grow?"
"It isn't a person anymore," Wild tells him. "I think it's interesting to watch it grow."
"I think it's interesting to watch it grow too!" Rapunzel chimes in, before realising he's said too much. "I'll tell you what I meant next time," he tells Wild.
The Memory's grown even larger the next time Wild sees it. It's still protesting that it doesn't want to die alone - this is actually one of the most chilling scenes I've ever seen in a manga. I had a family once, it tells Wild. A long, long time ago. I want to see them again. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. Mother... Father...
Wild is reminded of his own parents: their last moments, trying to keep his brother and sister alive. Then he remembers bargaining his humanity away in return for immortality, and worse yet - he bargained away the lives, blood, and bodies of his yet-living family as well. Obviously, once his fellow villagers realised what he'd done, they reacted as one might expect.
Wild heads back home to find Rapunzel missing again. He searches frantically, and finally locates him under a bench - with two potted plants. These were, of course, the "presents" the birds brought to Rapunzel, the things he thought it was interesting to watch growing, and of course, he'd planned to give them to Wild. One is for Wild to keep, and the other is for him to put on "the grave."
"Grave?" Wild asks.
"Yes," Rapunzel responds solemnly. "You told me that your family died a long, long time ago, so this is for you to put on their grave."
This stops Wild dead in his tracks, and his reaction freaks out Rapunzel. Wild can't tell him, but he's remembering how alive he felt as he massacred everyone in his village as they tried to protect themselves from him. He'd felt happy, alive, engaged with the world for the first time as he took their lives, but it's taken Rapunzel to show him that life itself can have meaning. Rapunzel misunderstands his reaction and apologises repeatedly for making Wild relive such sad memories. Wild's actually grateful to Rapunzel - until this moment he'd never realised how alone he was. He carries the second plant into the forest, but there's no grave for him to place it on - the bodies of those killed by demons are burned, not buried.
So Wild returns to the Memory, which has completely fabricated a "human" body from the dirt. The Memory begs to be transformed into a demon, using the same words Wild himself had used so many years ago. Wild asks if it likes flowers - it does. He gives the flowers to the Memory, which lays its spirit, even as it begs Wild not to do this to it. Wild reflects on how he'd never realised that flowers were beautiful, and apologises to Rapunzel for being too selfish to set Rapunzel free. He heads into town to buy some flowers for Rapunzel, and if Rapunzel likes them, he'll buy seeds the time after that. Wild's memories return to those of his older sister, asking to braid his hair - in the same way Wild now asks to braid Rapunzel's.
The usual notation applies:
Words in " " are spoken dialogue.
Words not in " " are internal dialogue.
Words in ( ) are character asides.
Words in {{ }} are Sugiura's asides.
Words in // // are actions.
~120 AB (Anno Blood)~
Geib: "Nei."
Nei: "Geib... Did you want something?"
G: He's really testy these days... "Not really. I just picked this up, and I thought I'd come let you know so you don't kill it."
N: "Picked what up?"
G: "Below me."
N: "Below you?"
{{Below him.}}
//We see baby!Zaha gripping Geib's shins.//
N: What the hell is that???
G: //to Zaha//: "(Hey. Don't climb me.)"
//to Nei//: "It looks like a human abandoned it. I don't have jack to do these days, so I thought I might as well try keeping it. It's mine, so don't kill it."
N: "Heh-heh. Since when did you start fathering children on human women?"
G: "Didn't I just tell you that I found it? Listen to what people tell you!"
{{Oh, he's been listening, all right...}}
N: "I suppose you got pretty lonely after I left you for Touryou."
{{Not only is he "listening" to Geib, he's playing him like a fiddle.}}
G: "THAT IS NOT IT AT ALL!"
//Meanwhile, Zaha has taken quite a shining to Geib//
N: "Look brat, it's your daddy!"
Zaha: "Dada!"
G: "Who are you calling 'Dada?'"
Onlooking demon: (Wow, it looks like Nei's buckling under all the stress...)
Z: //gives the cutest grin ever// "Wai~~"
//Nei smiles despite himself.//
G: "Look, he's really cute and he was abandoned by humans, okay. Don't kill him."
N: "Yeah, yeah." //Zaha grabs his finger and starts giggling.// "God, this kid sure smiles a lot... (Hey, what's so interesting about my finger?)"
So there we have it - Nei and Geib had a "thing" before Blood showed up, Zaha is half-demon/half-human, and he's Geib's kid. (Sorry, Geib/Zaha shippers!) And, um, {{cough}} these two pages were the cutest thing I have ever seen in my LIFE.
God, I love Sugiura Shiho.
That will be all.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2003-11-17 03:23 pm (UTC):patpat:
ohhh man. great summary. i have so much love. and ha! i was right! (about geib and zaha). i always thought they had this kinda fraternal kind of relationship... closer to the mark than pam's theory of lurrrve between them.
i love the idea of nei and geib being ex-boyfriends... :grin:
so. much. love.
(especially for wild. i've always loved how ruthless he could be, and the way he can still be ruthless and *inhuman* even with rapunzel acting as a kind of buffer.)
no subject
on 2003-11-17 06:53 pm (UTC):patpat:
Dammit! DAMMIT! I knew that would happen. ::grumbles::
ohhh man. great summary. i have so much love. and ha! i was right! (about geib and zaha). i always thought they had this kinda fraternal kind of relationship... closer to the mark than pam's theory of lurrrve between them.
I know. I read that section, and all I could think about was, well, actually the sickening cuteness of baby!Zaha. Then I reread it, and said, "Huh?" It took three tries for it to all sink in, and then I laughed my ass off.
That scene was incredibly hard to translate, given that it's only two pages. But I wanted to make certain I was carrying Sugiura's humor into English.
i love the idea of nei and geib being ex-boyfriends... :grin:
Meeeeeee tooooooooo.
(especially for wild. i've always loved how ruthless he could be, and the way he can still be ruthless and *inhuman* even with rapunzel acting as a kind of buffer.)
Right, and the interesting thing is, he hasn't really changed much since he took Rapunzel in. To me, Rapunzel did more to cement Wild's innate ruthlessness & selfishness than not. The only difference is that Wild's focusing it on another person now.