KKM Novel 8, Chapter 4

[otonashi_diva]

<--Previous ChapterSorry for skipping a week!  I haven’t even responded to any comments yet ^-^;; I was celebrating Easter.  And by celebrating I mean using the holiday as an excuse to eat an obscene amount of Cadbury mini eggs while crashing at my mom’s house on the pretty side of the island XD  If it makes you feel any better, this is a much

Comments

[otonashi_diva]

Hmm... Well, if the author created Belal with a purpose like that, I think he's more of a contrasting character than an example of what Yuuri could have been. Like, he's there to show how incredibly different Shimaron is compared to The Great Demon Kingdom. Belal is the first real ruler and person that occupies the same social stratum as Yuuri that we've been introduced to. Flynn doesn't really count ;P As for why the anime Belal is different, I'm guessing that explaining everything would have occupied too much screen time for the story they planned for the anime. So, they just made him a more stereotypical evil dude. In the grand scope of the anime, he was actually a pretty minor character.

As for Adalbert, I've always liked him. I've never really had much reason to dislike him even though he was a villain for the first half of the anime. I think the reason is that he was never a douche, to put it bluntly. He teased Yuuri a bit, but he was never malicious or straight up evil. Adalbert was actually pretty amusing and then you learn his back story and everything makes sense. Not that his actions were justified, they just make sense.

To be honest, there are only two character I don't really like much:
1.) Nicola and Hube's Mary Sue of a son, but he's pretty much a filler character.
2.) Stuffel in the novel. All of his redeeming qualities seem to be anime only~

[kahfon]

Hmmm, Belal as a contrast. That is an interesting way to view it too, opening so many ways to interpret things in that universe~ I can't wait to see how Saralegui will be introduced and how he can be compared and contrasted to Yuri. Supposedly the whole story is very different than what happens in the anime, right? Spoil me if you can ='D I am so curious...
Wait, is Belal a minor character in the novel too? or is he given a little bit more of a role rather than token evil power's puppet king?

I don't usually find a lot of stuff about Adalbert, even his backstory is kinda fuzzy to me now. I did love how he told Yuri that not everyone will simply drop down scared when he goes Super Maoh Mode. I loved the short story you translated where he and Maxine was drinking. He seems more fleshed out in the novel. Although, you are right, the novel is capable of giving more time to explore character, unlike the anime. I wonder if we'll find out more about him and the reasons for his actions.

Does the Mary Sue of a son exist in the novel too? I can't even tell where and what in the anime is taken from the novel and what is not anymore. I mean, Hube barely woke up yet at this point of the novel, right?

I don't remember anything about Stuffel, ugh... More like, I know stuff, but I am not sure which came from the novel and which came from the anime. Did he meet Yuri and had an actual talk with him in the novel? (not counting the coronation ceremony where he was spirited away) I only recall times when people who have a lot of negative opinions of Stuffel shared their own thoughts(and a good reason too if what they say can be taken fully)

And I keep making long posts, I am so sorry. And I am sorry for my horrid English as well ='D

[otonashi_diva]

I can't really spoil you because at this point I'm reading as I translate. The best spoilers I can give you are from a few chapters past this point where I skipped ahead to read Adalbert parts XD So, I'm not entirely sure how large of a character either of the Belals will turn out to be. It's fairly obvious that Saralegui will be a much more major character though so I'm thinking that the focus will shift back to Small Shimaron.

The son is an anime only character. I'm sure that Nicola gave birth at some point, but she's living at the Grisela estate which is somewhere in Voltaire and Hube is sort of under house arrest there as well so they're not really in the story any more.

Stuffel himself is not in the story at all yet. The first and last time Yuuri had any interaction with him was in the first book when he got thrown off of Ao. He might pop up again because, judging from illustrations, that spinny chair from the third season where the Demon King meets with the nobles is from the novels. That being said, we get a lot more back story about what he did and how much of a douchebag he was. In the anime he just got turned into comic relief and they used Raven, also an anime-only character, to get some sympathy for him.

There's a Japanese fan artist who drew sketches of all the anime-only characters and made comments about them. They're mixed in with anime representations of characters that don't have illustrations of themselves in the novels, too. The page is in Japanese though XD Here's a link: http://kiro2.mods.jp/img/ma/080825.html If you look at the sidebar on the right, click on the link that says マニメの人々 which is the second from the bottom of the first group of links. She's got a lot of cool stuff and she draws the KKM world in a different fantasy style than what you normally see so I'd click around even if you can't read anything. Small warning: she's a Conyuu fan just in case that pairing weirds you out. I know some people are really against that pairing~

[youchikara]

Sorry to intrude, but this discussion is really interesting. About Adalbert, even if he's quite rude and maybe a little short-tempered, I don't dislike him and you can somehow relate to him once you came to know his past and his relationship with Susanna Julia.
Bacause I don'like plainly "good guy o bad guy" or simply flat characters I somehow like him. This is also why I like more novel's Yuuri then anime's, the same go for Wolfram and Conrand, even if, sometimes, Conrad (both anime's and novel's, pisses me of...). I 'm quite interested on Saralegui character. I've just viewed few episodes with him. Is he really that evil? What are his plans about the Maou? What are his real motives? Ok a lot of stuff ^^
And about Hube I never liked him a lot, neither the anime's soft version nor the novel one. Maybe it's because I don't full understand his motives? Or I can't relate with his personality?
Sorry for my ugly english ^^

[kahfon]

I was hoping someone will intrude~ I mean, I want to know what a lot of people think about these topics ='D So we can share away and have fun discussing it~

And now that you mention it, the characters are less good or evil and seem to be somewhere in the middle ground with enough good and enough evil. Well, the non-main cast anyways. Now is the time we find out that the main cast actually has an evil side too... I would love that~

[otonashi_diva]

Still can't say much about Saralegui. I didn't really think much of him in the anime even though he was voiced by one of my favorite voice actors~ I'm actually kind of hoping he's a little more evil in the novel XD

[kahfon]

You mean you skipped to read about Adalbert chasing Yuri and somehow getting injured? (if that is what happened, I could barely puzzle anything out) Where does that happen? How long will I have to wait to find out? ='D It was basically the part I really wanted to know, but no one seemed to have a translation of it, orz. Wow, now that I think about it, that was almost 2-3 years ago o_o" Finally the curse shall be broken and I'll find out~ yay~?

I can't wait to read the story, finally. How many of the novels do you have?

So Nicola and Hube seem to be out of the picture for a long time, eh? I don't know if I should be happy or sad, kinda liked Hube in the anime.

I remember once reading something along the lines of Conrart musing over who could have been behind the assassination attempt where he got the scar over his brow. I think he singled Wolfram's Uncle and Stuffel out as people who might be behind it? I really need to reread all the other novel parts, it has been so long~ So maybe Stuffel is coming back and we will finally find out his true nature? I can't wait~

That page, that art. Wow, they are wonderful! Thanks for sharing~ btw, did I misread it or does マニメの人々 have "Manime" insead of Anime? Or is it supposed to mean something completely different?

I have no problem with any pairings, up till the point when someone tries to prove to me why my pairings should not exist~ But thanks for the warning.

Oh, and a question I wanted to ask, regarding an earlier translated short story by you: what do you think of Maxine. He was semi-comic-relief-bad guy, but now I am not so sure how much of a bad guy he is and how much of a pawn in a large system.

I'll end up feeling sorry for every single character and want to hug them all in the end, am I right? orz

[otonashi_diva]

Yeah, that was the part. It's a few chapters away so not this week. There are only 9 chapters in this book though so I should finish it this month.

I only have up to novel 13 and the gaiden novels. I'm hoping the other books end up in epub format before I get to the ones I don't have because it's so much easier to translate if the book is on the same screen as the word document XD 14 is partly done, but it seems abandoned by whoever was translating that one.

Stuffel is racist against humans plus even though Conrad took his father's name, I think Stuffel is worried that Conrad might be able to steal his position or undermine his authority in some fashion because Conrad is still Cecilie von Spitzweg's son. He tried to get Conrad killed during the war so I wouldn't be surprised if he took the next step.

Manime is the Japanese fan term for the KKM anime. They call the series Maruma in Japanese because all of the novels have that マ in a circle (maru) so マ + アニメ = マニメ

Maxine.... Ever since I did that short story I think of Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump talking about how there was a man in his family that died in every war every time I think of Maxine XD I've never really thought about how much of a bad guy he is. I just saw him as someone who was overly devoted to Saralegui. He does some dubious things like choking that maid, but judging based just on that is kind of complicated because Gunter was ready to boil kittens in oil and even dismember Greta and scatter her remains about town for Yuuri and who knows what sort of shady stuff Josak gets into. I'm just going to see what he does in the future~

[kahfon]

Stuffel is racist against humans, but so is the majority of the demons, right? I mean, they don't outright discuss it, as far as I remember, but Wolfram used to voice it out. Many might simply not say it because they know Yuuri is not likely to take it well? Now that I think about it, if someone asked whether the main cast was racist against humans or not, I won't be able to point to an obvious case for each character.... hmmm...

Ooooh, so that is why it was Manime there~ thats a relief~

Maxine does seem rather devoted to Saralegui. Isn't that same kind of blind devotion to a leader something Adalbert is against? And you are right, Gunther too is blindly devoted to Yuuri. It all is a mess that could easily go so wrong. I actually can imagine Gunther doing something like opening one of the boxes if Yuuri really wanted it happen... I wonder if he really would though. At least Maxine seems to get more respect, or used to get more respect... Those two girls he "bought" (?) though, they weren't in the anime, right? I wonder what happened to them and if they are still somehow connected to Maxine. Eh, I really need to find time to reread everything orz

[otonashi_diva]

At the current point in the story I think Cecilie is the only demon I can confidently say is not at least a little bit racist - excluding half-demons, of course. Dacascos, Sizemore and Chevalier haven't really been put to the test enough to determine, but everyone else has shown anti-human sentiments along the way.

Adalbert isn't really against devotion, I don't think. He's more against corruption and the kind of backstabbing that led to Julia dying. And no, the girls were not in the anime. They probably just stayed with the other shinzoku children after the fire. Maxine said he named them so he might have had some sort of relationship with them outside of that little business deal, but I don't think that Jason and Freddy will have much to do with him after everything went down.

[kahfon]

Well, Yuuri, good luck trying to make peace between two racist groups. Hope he succeeds somewhat...

Oh, so the whole Adalbert not liking everyone's devotion to Shinou was anime only? The backstabbing part sounds more reasonable if I have to admit... And I hope the kids are alright though, they might just be sold off again after the fire. On another note, Maxine's taste in names sucks.

[otonashi_diva]

Well, so far it seems he's just against the demons because of the betrayal, but he might also be against Shinou in the novel as well. Not much screen time with him yet.

As for Jason and Freddy... I just had a thought that he might have named them that because little girls wouldn't have been allowed into the arena. Which would mean he just changed their names after he bought them. But that's just me thinking up random scenarios because the one girl was named Chucky, so... there's that.