"Despite appearances, we're really men on the edge of survival."

[viridian5]

I picked up Saiyuki Reload volume 8 yesterday. I find that I retain plot points a lot better reading a book with translations in the balloons instead of waiting for my dial-up to load scanned pages with translations on the side.

Comments

[lady_ganesh]

Nii is always entertaining.

I'm also amused that Sanzo's bloodlust for Nii is strong enough to be sensed at a distance.

It's so logical! And yet a little surprising, still.

Gojyo and Goku fighting with brooms and mops like kids is still funny, though, as are their swings between collusion and trying to kick each other's asses.

Further thoughts:

Do Doku and Yaone manifest their weapons? And they're specifically called 'demonic' so maybe it's something youkai can craft, and the humans just want to keep them under wraps? Like Inuyasha's daddy's tooth/sword.

And I'm wondering if there's something about reflections and light going on with the moon symbolism-- the 'keep reaching for the light' keeps coming up. Maybe as close as mortals can get is the reflected light of the sun.

Between their interactions and Doku's occasional teasing of Kougaji, I think we get a good glimpse of Big Brothering with the Shas.

[viridian5]

Yaone's spear appears out of nowhere in Saiyuki volume 2, while Doku manifests his sword in volume 3.

I noticed that they were called demonic. Maybe some higher class youkai do manifest their own weapons but Goku isn't a regular youkai (more something born directly from the earth) and Gojyo is a halfbreed so they wouldn't have them on their own? Hmm.

It gives some ideas, but I believe that Doku is much more deferential to Kou for being his liege, even if he does tease.

[lady_ganesh]

Yeah, 'normal youkai' rules don't really apply to either of them. Hakkai's vines are apparently, er, natural, so it might indeed be different for full youkai.

Well, yeah. I think the fact that he does it at all says something, though!

[viridian5]

Hakkai's vines are apparently, er, natural

*snicker*

[lady_ganesh]

100% green!

[andmydog]

Do Doku and Yaone manifest their weapons? And they're specifically called 'demonic' so maybe it's something youkai can craft, and the humans just want to keep them under wraps?

We were just talking about this! We only ever see four people with summon weapons in all of Saiyuki, and it's Gojyo, Goku, Yaone, and Dokugaku. Now that we know that Jien never got to patch up little Gojyo when he first accidentally summoned a big ass stick Gojyo and Goku's weapons were essentially spells that the temple was storing, it makes sense that the reason Yaone and Dokugaku can summon is that they were given similar spells once they started working for Kougaiji.

[viridian5]

That sounds sensible to me.

[lady_ganesh]

Maybe Houtou Castle has a big storage room, like the room with guns they had at that temple Sanzo took off from.