Watase Yuu - Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden, vol. 01-02 (Eng. trans.)
I picked this up because both coffeeandink and rachelmanija mentioned that they liked it, despite me never having read Fushigi Yuugi. Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden is apparently a prequel of the events in the original FY, but so far, it seems to be ok that I haven't read the original yet.
Okuda Takiko is a young girl living in Taisho Japan (1920s). Her mother is sick, her father is lost in his world of scholarship and woefully neglects his family. Takiko seems pretty cool -- she learns naginata (some weapon that's a long stick with a blade on top) at school and doesn't seem too irritating. Anyhow, Taki basically feels abandoned by everyone she loves in the real world and ends up being sucked into a mysterious book that her father has translated from Chinese.
I have no idea how close this is to the original FY.
Regardless... Taki is apparently the mystical priestess of Genbu and needs to find the seven celestial warriors to save the world. I personally don't care too much about the prophecy plot/plot coupon type thing, but the warriors she has been finding so far are really cute.
Also, one of the warriors turns into a girl when he uses his powers! Ahh shoujo manga, how I love you and your on crack gender-bending devices!
So far all the warriors seem to be men -- are there ever cool girl warriors? Or does that completely defeat the point of having seven guys in love with Taki? I want a cool girl warrior, damnit, and warrior-who-turns-into-girl doesn't count.
I am also deriving great joy from the setting in Japan! It's not quite Meiji Japan, but it's close enough! I really like the little historical notes that Watase puts in the side, down to Taki's hakama and boots being historically accurate, along with her naginata classes. (I adore hakama. That was the best part about taking kendo.)
Only... obviously the majority of the story isn't going to be taking place in Taisho Japan, since it's in the Universe of the Four Gods. Oh well. It is one of my favorite historical periods though, just because it's so interesting seeing the blend of what's thought of as "traditional Japanese culture" and "Western culture."
I am completely confused by some of the transliteration. I get why they have given!name surname, as opposed to the opposite way around, but I have no idea why the extended "u" in Watase Yuu is spelled out, while it's indicated by a macron in "Yûgi" (or whatever that thing over the "u" is called). And then instead of using either a macron thing or a doubled letter for the long "o" in "Ohsugi," they spell it with "oh." No clue.
At least.. I'm pretty sure it's a long "o." That's the only time I've seen "oh" used in transliteration...
And then I was a little confused by the spelling of "Chamka" and "Limdo" and etc. because I was wondering at first why the "n/m" sound was being transliterated as "m" when it would sound like an "n" in front of the final "ka" and "do" sounds. Then I was thinking it was probably "chamuka" and "rimudo" to get the "m" sound and that it was being transliterated without the extra "u" because they were supposed to be foreign names (sort of like how "Alexiel" could be "Arekushieru" in katakana but is supposed to sound like "Alexiel"). Plus
I am just going to stick with that thought, but was trying to figure out what language it was and how they knew it was "L" instead of "R." I also figured that "Chamka" and "Limdo" were spelled out in katakana instead of hiragana, indicating that they are foreign names.
And then I got completely confused by all the pseudo-Chinese place names and people names that I didn't recognize. "Qu Dong" looks like Chinese transliteration, right? Pinyin system and all... But then, they've got all these funny accent marks everywhere, and I was trying to see if it corresponded with Chinese tones or whatnot and if I could recognize any of the names, but I couldn't.
Also, some of the tones don't seem to make sense, just because there were a lot of dippy tones (third tone, sort of goes down then up), and that's hard to say in Chinese. But then, they do have them, so I could be wrong.
And I was wondering how the translators knew which accent marks to use -- were they somehow indicated in the Japanese version? How? I've never seen accent marks in Japanese, that would be neat! Did they go from the kanji w/ katakana as furigana to indicate the Chinese pronunciation and just look up the Chinese?
Wah, this is now driving me crazy! I really want to see if I recognize any of the place names now!
On the plus side, they replicate the Chinese in the first page, and I can actually read it! Joy! I feel much more competent now! I will now happily tell everyone that I can substantiate that:
- "Seiryuu" (again the doubled vowel! Why? Or is it not that way in the manga and I'm totally remembering wrong?) means "green/blue dragon"
- "Byakko" means "white tiger"
- "Suzaku" means "red sparrow" (with the now-not-as-common word for "red")
- "Genbu" means "obscure warrior/martial" (I admit it, I cheated and looked up "gen" because I had no idea what it meant in Chinese)
I am so confused why Genbu is supposedly a turtle. Maybe that means "colored turtle" in classical Chinese and I am too dumb to realize. Also, I sort of figured everyone knows all this already, but I am just happy that I could read it! Yay!
Also, the Chinese used for "priestess" could potentially be translated as "witch girl" as well! Ok, maybe not in classical Chinese. But still! I thought it was funny.
Okuda Takiko is a young girl living in Taisho Japan (1920s). Her mother is sick, her father is lost in his world of scholarship and woefully neglects his family. Takiko seems pretty cool -- she learns naginata (some weapon that's a long stick with a blade on top) at school and doesn't seem too irritating. Anyhow, Taki basically feels abandoned by everyone she loves in the real world and ends up being sucked into a mysterious book that her father has translated from Chinese.
I have no idea how close this is to the original FY.
Regardless... Taki is apparently the mystical priestess of Genbu and needs to find the seven celestial warriors to save the world. I personally don't care too much about the prophecy plot/plot coupon type thing, but the warriors she has been finding so far are really cute.
Also, one of the warriors turns into a girl when he uses his powers! Ahh shoujo manga, how I love you and your on crack gender-bending devices!
So far all the warriors seem to be men -- are there ever cool girl warriors? Or does that completely defeat the point of having seven guys in love with Taki? I want a cool girl warrior, damnit, and warrior-who-turns-into-girl doesn't count.
I am also deriving great joy from the setting in Japan! It's not quite Meiji Japan, but it's close enough! I really like the little historical notes that Watase puts in the side, down to Taki's hakama and boots being historically accurate, along with her naginata classes. (I adore hakama. That was the best part about taking kendo.)
Only... obviously the majority of the story isn't going to be taking place in Taisho Japan, since it's in the Universe of the Four Gods. Oh well. It is one of my favorite historical periods though, just because it's so interesting seeing the blend of what's thought of as "traditional Japanese culture" and "Western culture."
I am completely confused by some of the transliteration. I get why they have given!name surname, as opposed to the opposite way around, but I have no idea why the extended "u" in Watase Yuu is spelled out, while it's indicated by a macron in "Yûgi" (or whatever that thing over the "u" is called). And then instead of using either a macron thing or a doubled letter for the long "o" in "Ohsugi," they spell it with "oh." No clue.
At least.. I'm pretty sure it's a long "o." That's the only time I've seen "oh" used in transliteration...
And then I was a little confused by the spelling of "Chamka" and "Limdo" and etc. because I was wondering at first why the "n/m" sound was being transliterated as "m" when it would sound like an "n" in front of the final "ka" and "do" sounds. Then I was thinking it was probably "chamuka" and "rimudo" to get the "m" sound and that it was being transliterated without the extra "u" because they were supposed to be foreign names (sort of like how "Alexiel" could be "Arekushieru" in katakana but is supposed to sound like "Alexiel"). Plus
I am just going to stick with that thought, but was trying to figure out what language it was and how they knew it was "L" instead of "R." I also figured that "Chamka" and "Limdo" were spelled out in katakana instead of hiragana, indicating that they are foreign names.
And then I got completely confused by all the pseudo-Chinese place names and people names that I didn't recognize. "Qu Dong" looks like Chinese transliteration, right? Pinyin system and all... But then, they've got all these funny accent marks everywhere, and I was trying to see if it corresponded with Chinese tones or whatnot and if I could recognize any of the names, but I couldn't.
Also, some of the tones don't seem to make sense, just because there were a lot of dippy tones (third tone, sort of goes down then up), and that's hard to say in Chinese. But then, they do have them, so I could be wrong.
And I was wondering how the translators knew which accent marks to use -- were they somehow indicated in the Japanese version? How? I've never seen accent marks in Japanese, that would be neat! Did they go from the kanji w/ katakana as furigana to indicate the Chinese pronunciation and just look up the Chinese?
Wah, this is now driving me crazy! I really want to see if I recognize any of the place names now!
On the plus side, they replicate the Chinese in the first page, and I can actually read it! Joy! I feel much more competent now! I will now happily tell everyone that I can substantiate that:
- "Seiryuu" (again the doubled vowel! Why? Or is it not that way in the manga and I'm totally remembering wrong?) means "green/blue dragon"
- "Byakko" means "white tiger"
- "Suzaku" means "red sparrow" (with the now-not-as-common word for "red")
- "Genbu" means "obscure warrior/martial" (I admit it, I cheated and looked up "gen" because I had no idea what it meant in Chinese)
I am so confused why Genbu is supposedly a turtle. Maybe that means "colored turtle" in classical Chinese and I am too dumb to realize. Also, I sort of figured everyone knows all this already, but I am just happy that I could read it! Yay!
Also, the Chinese used for "priestess" could potentially be translated as "witch girl" as well! Ok, maybe not in classical Chinese. But still! I thought it was funny.