Yami no Matsuei Picture Spam: The Devil's Trill, Part 1
A continuation of my Yami no Matsuei "episode discussion". This time we start with episode 4, a brand new arc.
This arc is special to me because it was the first arc of Yami no Matsuei I was able to buy. I foolishly bought it from Best Buy eons ago for at least 20-30 dollars. I have since got the rest of the series for $5 a DVD. But REGARDLESS, here we go! Hope you enjoy, and, as always, comments are welcome. ^^
This episode is extremely long, so I have cut it into three parts for you. ^^
This is a warning not to go out at night. At least not with a red moon
We start our lovely episode with this. The violin is apparently playing itself, which is pretty creepy. Creepier still is the shadow of the player in the background. It really kinda reminds me of these haunted dolls I looked up on the internet once. I could not sleep that night...
It's just a harmless violin, right?
Ugly font again. I wish they'd learn
Off to a much brighter world!
Can you see my hand?
We find ourselves in a hospital, where a man is pushing his hand onto the camera. Confused? Don't worry, everything will make sense.
We find out that the boy on the left is Hijiri Minase, a young high school student who just had a cornea operation because he, for some reason, was going blind in his one eye.
While the doctor's doing doctor stuff Hijiri looks out the window and sees two stalkers strange people watching him.
I told you they were strange
If you saw the last three episodes, then you know that the characters there are (on the left) Hisoka and (on the right) Tsuzuki. Tsuzuki and Hisoka are shinigami, or guardians of death. What they're doing here, however, is a mystery since it's obvious Hijiri is not dead.
Omigosh, I think I'm in love!
Hijiri is kind of shocked by the two men staring at him.
Regardless, the doctor gets his attention again by asking him if it hurts or anything.
Hijiri, feeling the need to mime everything revolving around violins, mimes his violin and exclaims how happy he is to be able to see because it means he can play the violin again. And you know, see stuff. That's kinda important, right? Right?
Anyway, I think Hijiri's doctor is a moron and I seriously doubt how the guy passed his exams. If you look closely, Hijiri's left eye, the one that was replaced, has a deformed pupil, making it look like a cat eye. Now, I don't know too much about eyes or anything, but I'm pretty sure that if I did surgery on a guy and his eye came out like that I would know I screwed something up. But his doctor is oblivious. I bet he bought his degree on whatever the Japanese Ebay equivalent is.
Stupidity must be contagious as we'll see in a bit.
Here Hijiri is asking if he can thank the donor for the cornea that enabled him to see again. Thank the donor. Wow. I was not aware that they had live cornea donors. I thought that was something you gave once you, I don't know, died? Not something you just give away to people, unless you have a cursed cornea that you got from making a pact with the devil, but surely that can't be it.
I love the doctor's pose here. LOL
The doctor tells him that, regrettably, the donor has passed away (duh), but he could go and thank the donor's daughter, Kazusa, who, by the way, is an orphan. JUST LIKE HIJIRI!
Way to be smooth, doc. Just remind the poor guy just how crappy his life is. Not only is his cornea donor dead, his entire family is as well. Nice going.
Anyway, Kazusa lives at some kind of Catholic church with a nun who looks after her. I have to admit that I feel for Kazusa here. She seems to be one of the few intelligent characters in this arc, and she's only a little girl. But since she's so little she has to live with an old nun. It's kind of depressing that she apparently had no one else to take her in, so the church had to do it. Where on earth is the rest of her family? Her mom? Her grandparents? Her relatives? Poor kid...
BACK TO THE TOPIC.
Hijiri looking for the Catholic orphanage, or whatever it is
Hijiri arrives at the church orphanage. Note the black dog in the background
FORESHADOWING!
Apparently hell-hounds are doberman pincers
Hello!
Hijiri's freaking out because a stuffed toy just talked to him. He's been watching too much YAS
Hijiri says hello to Kazusa, with the nun looking on to make sure Hijiri's not some underage pervert.
Now we meet Kazusa, the daughter of the man who gave Hirji his cornea. Hijiri feels kind of connected to Kazusa since they're both orphans and because, as he finds out a bit later, that Kazusa's dad was a violinist (how ironic.)
Hijiri introduces himself and Kazusa asks if she can call him "Hi-chan". Manga Corps., the publisher of this series in English, thought it would be cute to leave the "-chan" in there for the five weaboos who are watching this show in English. But as most weaboos do, they slaughtered the pronunciation of "chan" terribly.
But life goes on...
Hijiri apologizes for taking her father's cornea, as if he were the one who killed Kazusa's father. Kazusa, despite her age, hides her tears and tells him that it's okay, and she's glad that he was able to see again.
She makes him pinky promise that he'll play the violin for her. Hijiri is only too glad to accept.
"First you make a promise
And if you lie,
You'll have to drink poison,
and then you'll die!"
What a song to sing to a little kid. And in front of a nun, no less. And here I always thought "Ring Around the Rosy" was an awful song. It's good to know that Yami no Matsuei has the cryptic children's songs area covered.
After he meets with Kazusa he goes home and angsts for a bit about God knows what.
"I've been in a state of despair since then."
For what? Meeting with a little girl?
"My chest feels tight and sometimes it's hard to breathe"
Yes, Hijiri. That's when you go to the FREAKING DOCTOR. Geez, and I thought Americans were bad about not going to the doctor.
"I feel as though I killed Kazusa's father."
Yes, you totally killed a man that you've never even seen or had any contact with. Right.
"That night I felt guilty about my own existence for the first time."
As a continuously depressed teenager, my first thought was "welcome to the club, Hijiri.' Now as a sporadically depressed adult, my thought is, "The first time? Really?". You've NEVER felt guilty about your life before? Despite that fact that you're probably freeloading off of the government or your dead parents' money? Really?
Regardless...
BACK TO SCHOOL! SCHOOL IS ALWAYS GOOD
In trouble already, are we, Hijiri
But it turns out that, no, Hijiri is NOT in trouble. Quite the contrary.
The principal welcomes Hijiri back and asks him about playing the violin at an upcoming performance, sure that his "health problem" won't deter him from playing well. Sounds to me like the guy just cares more about this performance than Hijiri's health, but Hijiri is happy to accept. That's just how dedicated he is.
This is the principal. Why he looks this way we'll never know
Back in class, Hijiri meets with all of his friends.
Haiya, guyz!
For whatever reason Hijiri has his own personal fanclub, with both male and female members who are SO GLAD to have him back.
"Is your eye all better now?
"We're so glad to have you back. While you were gone we little people were pushed into a corner"
Something like that. I don't remember the exact quote. But come on, "we little people"? Who talks like that about themselves? Or anyone else unless you're talking about the munchkins from The Wizard of Oz or those wonkas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
"You know, those....umm...oz people....the little people?"
"You mean the munchkins, dummy?"
"Yeah....those."
I have yet to see the phrase "little people" used outside of contexts like that. I certainly would not expect a group of students to call themselves by that name.
REGARDLESS, the group is extremely happy to have the boss man back again.
Especially this guy, whose sole purpose is to nod in agreement to whatever anyone in Hijiri's group says.
Five minutes back at school and Hi-chan (as he will now be dubbed ) gets into a fight with one of the rich, pompous boys at the school.
I'm too sexy for my...hair? OR something
I am about 95% convinced that this guy has Joey Wheeler's voice from Yugioh, so it is very difficult to take him seriously. But anyway, he comes into the room with his three goonies and goes on to complain about how Hi-chan is the principal's pet and how HE should have gotten the part. Hi-chan argues that he only got into that school because of his dad who is wealthy and Joey Wheeler wannabe is PISSED. He tries to beat the crap out of Hi-chan, but Hi-chan is awesomely strong (for some inexplicable reason) and blocks his fist.
Hijiri: "Stupid idiot. You incompetent rich boys better stay out of this."
Joey wannabe's friends" "Hey, what did you say?"
Stay out of what? Studying the violin? O.o So only poor orphan boys can do that? Guess a lot of my students are in trouble, then.
And seriously, who talks like that? I don't remember the arguments at my high school, or even college, being as ridiculous as that.
Joey wannabe has a pretty awesome comeback though...
"Don't you forget this, Mr. Minase. I'll show you what happens when you come across me!"
He says as he storms out of the room with his goons. I can't say I remember the last time I met a bully who was polite enough to use the word "Mr."... And to be honest, with the weaboo nature of "Hi-chan", I'm kind of surprised he didn't call him "Minase-san" or even "Minase-kun" or something... Way to be inconsistent, Manga Corps.
While Hijiri is busy crowing at his victory, his eye decides to show him who's really boss..And bossly pain it does deliver.
Hi-chan's left eye starts causing him pain, which he attributes to a headache. All of his friends are freaking out, and Hijiri decides to visit the school infirmary to get some medicine.
Now I think Hi-chan is pretty lucky here. Over at my school there WAS no infirmary, so if you got sick you had to go to the main office where they glared at you for asking for aspirin because they were afraid you were trying to take it for something you didn't actually have (no lie). There was a rumored sick bed somewhere in the school, though I never saw it myself. So most students just sucked it up and dealt with the pain until they could go home. But Japan, and the rest of the modern world, are far beyond that. They even employ NURSES for their infirmaries.
Or they're supposed to, anyway...
Meet Tsuzuki, who's apparently filling in for the doctor who is out at the moment.
Tsuzuki, who also seems to have bought his degree from Ebay, tries to be helpful and give Hijiri medicine for a headache.
"Take this herbal medicine!"
"That's for the stomach."
Hijiri finds the right medicine and takes it (without water too. GAG) and leaves the infirmary, telling Tsuzuki to "get it together".
But Tsuzuki is too distracted by noticing how similar Hijiri looks to Hisoka.
"The resemblance is uncanny"
I am not digging the glasses, Tsuzuki.
Later on that day a strange person enters the music room.
Who could that be?
This arc is special to me because it was the first arc of Yami no Matsuei I was able to buy. I foolishly bought it from Best Buy eons ago for at least 20-30 dollars. I have since got the rest of the series for $5 a DVD. But REGARDLESS, here we go! Hope you enjoy, and, as always, comments are welcome. ^^
This episode is extremely long, so I have cut it into three parts for you. ^^
This is a warning not to go out at night. At least not with a red moon
We start our lovely episode with this. The violin is apparently playing itself, which is pretty creepy. Creepier still is the shadow of the player in the background. It really kinda reminds me of these haunted dolls I looked up on the internet once. I could not sleep that night...
It's just a harmless violin, right?
Ugly font again. I wish they'd learn
Off to a much brighter world!
Can you see my hand?
We find ourselves in a hospital, where a man is pushing his hand onto the camera. Confused? Don't worry, everything will make sense.
We find out that the boy on the left is Hijiri Minase, a young high school student who just had a cornea operation because he, for some reason, was going blind in his one eye.
While the doctor's doing doctor stuff Hijiri looks out the window and sees two stalkers strange people watching him.
I told you they were strange
If you saw the last three episodes, then you know that the characters there are (on the left) Hisoka and (on the right) Tsuzuki. Tsuzuki and Hisoka are shinigami, or guardians of death. What they're doing here, however, is a mystery since it's obvious Hijiri is not dead.
Omigosh, I think I'm in love!
Hijiri is kind of shocked by the two men staring at him.
Regardless, the doctor gets his attention again by asking him if it hurts or anything.
Hijiri, feeling the need to mime everything revolving around violins, mimes his violin and exclaims how happy he is to be able to see because it means he can play the violin again. And you know, see stuff. That's kinda important, right? Right?
Anyway, I think Hijiri's doctor is a moron and I seriously doubt how the guy passed his exams. If you look closely, Hijiri's left eye, the one that was replaced, has a deformed pupil, making it look like a cat eye. Now, I don't know too much about eyes or anything, but I'm pretty sure that if I did surgery on a guy and his eye came out like that I would know I screwed something up. But his doctor is oblivious. I bet he bought his degree on whatever the Japanese Ebay equivalent is.
Stupidity must be contagious as we'll see in a bit.
Here Hijiri is asking if he can thank the donor for the cornea that enabled him to see again. Thank the donor. Wow. I was not aware that they had live cornea donors. I thought that was something you gave once you, I don't know, died? Not something you just give away to people, unless you have a cursed cornea that you got from making a pact with the devil, but surely that can't be it.
I love the doctor's pose here. LOL
The doctor tells him that, regrettably, the donor has passed away (duh), but he could go and thank the donor's daughter, Kazusa, who, by the way, is an orphan. JUST LIKE HIJIRI!
Way to be smooth, doc. Just remind the poor guy just how crappy his life is. Not only is his cornea donor dead, his entire family is as well. Nice going.
Anyway, Kazusa lives at some kind of Catholic church with a nun who looks after her. I have to admit that I feel for Kazusa here. She seems to be one of the few intelligent characters in this arc, and she's only a little girl. But since she's so little she has to live with an old nun. It's kind of depressing that she apparently had no one else to take her in, so the church had to do it. Where on earth is the rest of her family? Her mom? Her grandparents? Her relatives? Poor kid...
BACK TO THE TOPIC.
Hijiri looking for the Catholic orphanage, or whatever it is
Hijiri arrives at the church orphanage. Note the black dog in the background
FORESHADOWING!
Apparently hell-hounds are doberman pincers
Hello!
Hijiri's freaking out because a stuffed toy just talked to him. He's been watching too much YAS
Hijiri says hello to Kazusa, with the nun looking on to make sure Hijiri's not some underage pervert.
Now we meet Kazusa, the daughter of the man who gave Hirji his cornea. Hijiri feels kind of connected to Kazusa since they're both orphans and because, as he finds out a bit later, that Kazusa's dad was a violinist (how ironic.)
Hijiri introduces himself and Kazusa asks if she can call him "Hi-chan". Manga Corps., the publisher of this series in English, thought it would be cute to leave the "-chan" in there for the five weaboos who are watching this show in English. But as most weaboos do, they slaughtered the pronunciation of "chan" terribly.
But life goes on...
Hijiri apologizes for taking her father's cornea, as if he were the one who killed Kazusa's father. Kazusa, despite her age, hides her tears and tells him that it's okay, and she's glad that he was able to see again.
She makes him pinky promise that he'll play the violin for her. Hijiri is only too glad to accept.
"First you make a promise
And if you lie,
You'll have to drink poison,
and then you'll die!"
What a song to sing to a little kid. And in front of a nun, no less. And here I always thought "Ring Around the Rosy" was an awful song. It's good to know that Yami no Matsuei has the cryptic children's songs area covered.
After he meets with Kazusa he goes home and angsts for a bit about God knows what.
"I've been in a state of despair since then."
For what? Meeting with a little girl?
"My chest feels tight and sometimes it's hard to breathe"
Yes, Hijiri. That's when you go to the FREAKING DOCTOR. Geez, and I thought Americans were bad about not going to the doctor.
"I feel as though I killed Kazusa's father."
Yes, you totally killed a man that you've never even seen or had any contact with. Right.
"That night I felt guilty about my own existence for the first time."
As a continuously depressed teenager, my first thought was "welcome to the club, Hijiri.' Now as a sporadically depressed adult, my thought is, "The first time? Really?". You've NEVER felt guilty about your life before? Despite that fact that you're probably freeloading off of the government or your dead parents' money? Really?
Regardless...
BACK TO SCHOOL! SCHOOL IS ALWAYS GOOD
In trouble already, are we, Hijiri
But it turns out that, no, Hijiri is NOT in trouble. Quite the contrary.
The principal welcomes Hijiri back and asks him about playing the violin at an upcoming performance, sure that his "health problem" won't deter him from playing well. Sounds to me like the guy just cares more about this performance than Hijiri's health, but Hijiri is happy to accept. That's just how dedicated he is.
This is the principal. Why he looks this way we'll never know
Back in class, Hijiri meets with all of his friends.
Haiya, guyz!
For whatever reason Hijiri has his own personal fanclub, with both male and female members who are SO GLAD to have him back.
"Is your eye all better now?
"We're so glad to have you back. While you were gone we little people were pushed into a corner"
Something like that. I don't remember the exact quote. But come on, "we little people"? Who talks like that about themselves? Or anyone else unless you're talking about the munchkins from The Wizard of Oz or those wonkas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
"You know, those....umm...oz people....the little people?"
"You mean the munchkins, dummy?"
"Yeah....those."
I have yet to see the phrase "little people" used outside of contexts like that. I certainly would not expect a group of students to call themselves by that name.
REGARDLESS, the group is extremely happy to have the boss man back again.
Especially this guy, whose sole purpose is to nod in agreement to whatever anyone in Hijiri's group says.
Five minutes back at school and Hi-chan (as he will now be dubbed ) gets into a fight with one of the rich, pompous boys at the school.
I'm too sexy for my...hair? OR something
I am about 95% convinced that this guy has Joey Wheeler's voice from Yugioh, so it is very difficult to take him seriously. But anyway, he comes into the room with his three goonies and goes on to complain about how Hi-chan is the principal's pet and how HE should have gotten the part. Hi-chan argues that he only got into that school because of his dad who is wealthy and Joey Wheeler wannabe is PISSED. He tries to beat the crap out of Hi-chan, but Hi-chan is awesomely strong (for some inexplicable reason) and blocks his fist.
Hijiri: "Stupid idiot. You incompetent rich boys better stay out of this."
Joey wannabe's friends" "Hey, what did you say?"
Stay out of what? Studying the violin? O.o So only poor orphan boys can do that? Guess a lot of my students are in trouble, then.
And seriously, who talks like that? I don't remember the arguments at my high school, or even college, being as ridiculous as that.
Joey wannabe has a pretty awesome comeback though...
"Don't you forget this, Mr. Minase. I'll show you what happens when you come across me!"
He says as he storms out of the room with his goons. I can't say I remember the last time I met a bully who was polite enough to use the word "Mr."... And to be honest, with the weaboo nature of "Hi-chan", I'm kind of surprised he didn't call him "Minase-san" or even "Minase-kun" or something... Way to be inconsistent, Manga Corps.
While Hijiri is busy crowing at his victory, his eye decides to show him who's really boss..And bossly pain it does deliver.
Hi-chan's left eye starts causing him pain, which he attributes to a headache. All of his friends are freaking out, and Hijiri decides to visit the school infirmary to get some medicine.
Now I think Hi-chan is pretty lucky here. Over at my school there WAS no infirmary, so if you got sick you had to go to the main office where they glared at you for asking for aspirin because they were afraid you were trying to take it for something you didn't actually have (no lie). There was a rumored sick bed somewhere in the school, though I never saw it myself. So most students just sucked it up and dealt with the pain until they could go home. But Japan, and the rest of the modern world, are far beyond that. They even employ NURSES for their infirmaries.
Or they're supposed to, anyway...
Meet Tsuzuki, who's apparently filling in for the doctor who is out at the moment.
Tsuzuki, who also seems to have bought his degree from Ebay, tries to be helpful and give Hijiri medicine for a headache.
"Take this herbal medicine!"
"That's for the stomach."
Hijiri finds the right medicine and takes it (without water too. GAG) and leaves the infirmary, telling Tsuzuki to "get it together".
But Tsuzuki is too distracted by noticing how similar Hijiri looks to Hisoka.
"The resemblance is uncanny"
I am not digging the glasses, Tsuzuki.
Later on that day a strange person enters the music room.
Who could that be?