Wordcount vs. fun [Furuba 101]
Only about 1100 words tonight, but the wordcount is taking second place to my geeky mood. The new Furuba chapter is out, as most of you who care already know. I haven't seen the ML this active since the Akito spoiler a couple of months ago. It's unheard of, in my experience, to get scans and a detailed summary so soon! (Hana to Yume doesn't even officially come out until tomorrow, does it?)
I may even make an ML post tonight, as well as commenting in the threads. First I'm going to go the stream-of-consciousness route here, and see if anything post-worthy comes of it. ^_^
I read the summary before the scans came out. I really am awful about Furuba spoilers, which is more than a little strange given how rabidly anti-spoiler I am in most cases. Maybe it's because I can only be spoiled for a single chapter at a time, rather than for long story arcs . . ? Don't know.
I was hoping that Rin would actually be in the chapter, but no luck. I think it's very likely that she'll be around next time, though, since Tohru went looking for her. Very surprised that Tohru went this long without seeing her, actually; Rin was a little harsh to her at New Year's--ok, fairly harsh, but she was trying to be good, after she realized--but that's never put Tohru off a Sohma before so I don't imagine that's it. I'm sure it's that she's been so preoccupied, but given how fierce she was about the idea of the two of them working together on the curse problem . . . it's weird that it took her so long to think of telling Rin about it. She's absolutely the obvious choice.
It makes me sad that Rin's classmates were surprised that she has a friend. I'm not *surprised* by their surprise, but . . . ;_;
Shigure and Akito's relationship is playing out very well. I think the emotional dynamic disturbs me quite a bit, but the fact that they had sex didn't faze me. Shigure having sex with Ren . . . ouch. I don't know what to make of that. Sleeping with someone's *mother* to get at them seems pretty low, even given what I've always assumed he's capable of. It explains so much, though. *So* much. It makes Akito's reaction to Rin sleeping with Haru make perfect sense, even though it's still horrible. (I wonder if Rin and Ren are intended to have any sort of family resemblance beyond the similar hair? And the similar sounding names, of course.)
We already know that Akito's been violent toward Ren; her reaction to Rin was probably a combination of rage at Rin's actual "transgression" and a projection of rage at Ren for sleeping with Shigure. Being able to hurt Rin *so* badly must have been intensely satisfying for Akito, even if it didn't necessarily make her feel better in the long run. To hurt her physically, with no one to interfere (as Hatori did when she attacked Ren); I suspect that the extent of the physical harm came about because of the projection. Akito may or may not have meant to injure Rin as badly as she did; the emotional attack seems very calculated, but the physical escalation . . . I don't know. It feels more like there was an opening and Akito took it. It may have been as simple and horrible as wishing she could shove her own mother out the window, and doing it to Rin because she *could*.
*laughs* Very Rin-centric analysis, but that's how I think. ^^ There's already been excellent Shigure/Akito analysis on the list.
I was very surprised that Akito ordered Shigure to leave the Main House. Didn't see that one coming at all. I wonder, now, how common the knowledge of *why* he was told to leave is. I wonder if Rin knew about it, and if that had any influence on her decision to try using sex to manipulate Shigure; if she knew that it was a way *he* manipulates, something he would comprehend. And I wonder if Shigure put the pieces together when Akito attacked Rin; wouldn't surprise me at all if he figured it all out quickly--the motivations, the way things played out.
I wonder if he rejected Rin partly because he felt indirectly responsible for what had happened to her. Guilt for having a hand in her injury, an attempt to protect her from being hurt again? (If he had slept with her and Akito found out, I wouldn't have been at all surprised if Akito had actually tried to kill her, assuming that's possible for the god.) Shigure has such a strange sense of honor that it's hard to say whether he turned her down only because he couldn't help her.
Shigure's feelings for Akito are really fascinating, even though their relationship is Messed Up. I think he really does love her--he's loved her since she was *conceived*, which is freaky but intense. That dream of her has been part of him since he was a child, and my impression is that he's devoted himself to her completely in his own, um, unique way. He knows how twisted she is, but that hasn't changed his dream. In addition to *having* to love her because of the Jyuunishi bond, I think he *wants* to love her, which is more than you can say for any of the other still-cursed Jyuunishi. The others are all reacting against their connection to her, and Shigure's embracing it. In its own way, that may be as powerful as Kureno's choice to stay with her despite his freedom from the curse.
It was neat to finally see Shigure's parents, but not very enlightening. He's obviously not close to them, but that's hardly a surprise--a Sohma, distant from their parents? Shock, shock. ^^ I did really like Mi-chan's appearance, though. She's always entertaining.
Not sure how much of that is postable, so I'll leave it (for now?).
I may even make an ML post tonight, as well as commenting in the threads. First I'm going to go the stream-of-consciousness route here, and see if anything post-worthy comes of it. ^_^
I read the summary before the scans came out. I really am awful about Furuba spoilers, which is more than a little strange given how rabidly anti-spoiler I am in most cases. Maybe it's because I can only be spoiled for a single chapter at a time, rather than for long story arcs . . ? Don't know.
I was hoping that Rin would actually be in the chapter, but no luck. I think it's very likely that she'll be around next time, though, since Tohru went looking for her. Very surprised that Tohru went this long without seeing her, actually; Rin was a little harsh to her at New Year's--ok, fairly harsh, but she was trying to be good, after she realized--but that's never put Tohru off a Sohma before so I don't imagine that's it. I'm sure it's that she's been so preoccupied, but given how fierce she was about the idea of the two of them working together on the curse problem . . . it's weird that it took her so long to think of telling Rin about it. She's absolutely the obvious choice.
It makes me sad that Rin's classmates were surprised that she has a friend. I'm not *surprised* by their surprise, but . . . ;_;
Shigure and Akito's relationship is playing out very well. I think the emotional dynamic disturbs me quite a bit, but the fact that they had sex didn't faze me. Shigure having sex with Ren . . . ouch. I don't know what to make of that. Sleeping with someone's *mother* to get at them seems pretty low, even given what I've always assumed he's capable of. It explains so much, though. *So* much. It makes Akito's reaction to Rin sleeping with Haru make perfect sense, even though it's still horrible. (I wonder if Rin and Ren are intended to have any sort of family resemblance beyond the similar hair? And the similar sounding names, of course.)
We already know that Akito's been violent toward Ren; her reaction to Rin was probably a combination of rage at Rin's actual "transgression" and a projection of rage at Ren for sleeping with Shigure. Being able to hurt Rin *so* badly must have been intensely satisfying for Akito, even if it didn't necessarily make her feel better in the long run. To hurt her physically, with no one to interfere (as Hatori did when she attacked Ren); I suspect that the extent of the physical harm came about because of the projection. Akito may or may not have meant to injure Rin as badly as she did; the emotional attack seems very calculated, but the physical escalation . . . I don't know. It feels more like there was an opening and Akito took it. It may have been as simple and horrible as wishing she could shove her own mother out the window, and doing it to Rin because she *could*.
*laughs* Very Rin-centric analysis, but that's how I think. ^^ There's already been excellent Shigure/Akito analysis on the list.
I was very surprised that Akito ordered Shigure to leave the Main House. Didn't see that one coming at all. I wonder, now, how common the knowledge of *why* he was told to leave is. I wonder if Rin knew about it, and if that had any influence on her decision to try using sex to manipulate Shigure; if she knew that it was a way *he* manipulates, something he would comprehend. And I wonder if Shigure put the pieces together when Akito attacked Rin; wouldn't surprise me at all if he figured it all out quickly--the motivations, the way things played out.
I wonder if he rejected Rin partly because he felt indirectly responsible for what had happened to her. Guilt for having a hand in her injury, an attempt to protect her from being hurt again? (If he had slept with her and Akito found out, I wouldn't have been at all surprised if Akito had actually tried to kill her, assuming that's possible for the god.) Shigure has such a strange sense of honor that it's hard to say whether he turned her down only because he couldn't help her.
Shigure's feelings for Akito are really fascinating, even though their relationship is Messed Up. I think he really does love her--he's loved her since she was *conceived*, which is freaky but intense. That dream of her has been part of him since he was a child, and my impression is that he's devoted himself to her completely in his own, um, unique way. He knows how twisted she is, but that hasn't changed his dream. In addition to *having* to love her because of the Jyuunishi bond, I think he *wants* to love her, which is more than you can say for any of the other still-cursed Jyuunishi. The others are all reacting against their connection to her, and Shigure's embracing it. In its own way, that may be as powerful as Kureno's choice to stay with her despite his freedom from the curse.
It was neat to finally see Shigure's parents, but not very enlightening. He's obviously not close to them, but that's hardly a surprise--a Sohma, distant from their parents? Shock, shock. ^^ I did really like Mi-chan's appearance, though. She's always entertaining.
Not sure how much of that is postable, so I'll leave it (for now?).