flemmings | (no subject)

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saiyuki

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The return of Radio Free Banri is all happy-making, but the ep... Granted Sanzou's been in the wrong place at the wrong time and deserves Gojou's 'Got my hands full just now, can't knock your block off', still-- just why does he leave him to carry both Gokuu and Hakkai off to shelter? Possibly I don't understand the deep unspoken emotions of manly men, but he might have given him a hand at least as far as the inn. No, there is no romance in my soul. Why do you even ask?

So I fancy we're in for another epic bout of Sanzou-angst to rival even the Kami-sama arc. If it forwards the psychological action I suppose it's worth it, because I'll be seriously pissed if the only person to demonstrate any growth is Hazel.

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just why does he leave him to carry both Gokuu and Hakkai off to shelter?

Do you think Gojou would have let Sanzou help him though? That was a "touch us and die" look if I've ever seen one. The bit about the limiter was interesting too. I thought it had to be divine spiritual energy but apparently any old spiritual energy can do. Makes me wonder if Goku will ever be able to use his own spiritual energy to seal himself.

Sanzou could have picked Gokuu up first. I rather thought he might have. And I dunno- since when has Sanzou let Gojou's looks put him off anything, even when he's totally in the wrong? *Especially* when he's totally in the wrong: he'll cave for Hakkai but Gojou just puts his back up higher. Besides, Gojou knows that Gokuu belongs to Sanzou, no matter what Sanzou does or doesn't do. Gojou pissed I see. Sanzou caring that Gojou's pissed- and Sanzou letting Gojou declare territory (This monkey is mine!) seems- umph.

Suspiciously 'shippy of you, all this!

The joy of Saiyuuki is that one doesn't have to be shippy- Minekura does it for you. The emotional connections amongst the main four are canon, and while there are major and minor relationships, all the relationships are there. Mileage varies, but Minekura's way of doing it is just right for me- explicit enough for satisfaction, not so explicit as to be yaoi, and organic to the characters' psychology.

I just realized I'm no longer friended by RFB. I wonder if I did something wrong. ^^

You have to have "radiofreebanri" in your interests.

dur, "youkai world reclamation" rather.

At the same time, I cannot imagine Sanzo actually being able to make himself *help* in that way at that point, because he seems to be paralysed by shock over what has taken place, along with his realisation of his own misjudgment. So hopefully this points towards Sanzo-angst but with added personal growth. The whole episode must have repercussions for them all, not least Goku, who by this point must fully realise how dangerous he is.

Goku, who by this point must fully realise how dangerous he is.

Yes, but I think lux is on the right track up there. Gokuu may well find the spiritual energy to seal himself. Gokuu doesn't just grow physically stronger through the series, but emotionally stronger. Before he was all over the place thinking about what he'd done; now he may be able to deal with it emotionally and intellectually.

Having Gokuu acknowledge Seiten Taisei and be able to keep him under wraps seems to me to parallel Hakkai's ability to keep himself sane even in youkai form, even with the minus wave and all. Going from the all-to-pieces Gonou to Burial's bitter youkai-hater to the focussed ki-master Hakkai seems a similar progression in self-knowledge and self-control. It's just a difference of degree with Gokuu: an extreme difference, granted, but still the same process.

But if you're right we have Mr. Always In Control paralysed with shock and unable to act- and TTBOMR that's never happened before. Even with Kami-sama he was still trying to get up off the floor and go after him. Of course Sanzou's problem there and here was that he didn't think before charging off to do whatever. Maybe he's the one who needs to learn self-knowledge.

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Ya know, Sanzou has taken a step (three giant umbrella steps, maybe- or is that too NAmerican a reference?) backwards from Konzen. Konzen was blind but not deliberately blind, and perfectly happy to see the truth when it looked him in the eye. Sanzou is just- such a stubborn perverse rock-headed git. Hit *him* over the head with a fan as many times as you like and he *still* won't get it.

(And FTR I've totally blanked on which chldren's game that gives you umbrella steps. Mind says only Daruma-san ga koronda, which is the Japanese version. Where's my gingko biloba?)

now he may be able to deal with it emotionally and intellectually.

I hope so. He is so hugely determined to become stronger in both those ways. Also the entire Saiyuki arc seems to demand that, yes, at some point towards the end, Goku will be able to master Seiten Tasei or for perhaps his Seiten Tasei self when unleashed to have Goku's sensibilities.

Of course Sanzou's problem there and here was that he didn't think before charging off to do whatever.

That makes me think of him striding out to find that annoying voice in his head and kill it. Zero self awareness there, because of course he when he gets there he can't and perhaps if he'd been listening to it more closely he would have known that.

To me it seems that at this point Sanzo is going to be forced to acknowledge that his attachment to Goku is so powerful that it skews his judgement and that there's actually nothing wrong with this as long as he can rely on the others to help him, aka teamwork, which is a relatively new development for them all. Of course, in this chapter Sanzo abandoned them, charging off to do whatever it was.

Zero self-awareness at the age of- did they say in Burial? 18 or so?- one can half understand. But he never learns. Hey, charging off to shut voices up got him Gokuu, nothing wrong with charging off. Maybe he has to learn the Kami-sama lesson over and over again before it sinks in. Adaptable is what our Sanzou is not.

Heh. Definitely not adaptable. I don't know, it's like Nekonexus says below - Sanzo's actions in this chapter are very perplexing. He looks so confused. Maybe a certain someone *has* been messing with his head in some way - his confusion a happy side effect of the muten sutra, perhaps? He is there when it hits Goku, after all.

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there'll be angst and personal grow for everybody.

Optimist. ^_^ The lack of personal growth is what's annoying me just now. To be fair, the fact that people don't learn is a lot like life, but sheesh does it make for unsatisfying story-telling. To say nothing of manga publishing politics: when you have a popular series you keep the characters as they are, going around in circles, because change implies a future ending. Thus the 'haven't we done this before?' feeling.

I'd like to think that there's more to it than Sanzo just getting pissed and taking off to find the bastard who hurt Goku. Granted, that may be the impetus, but there's something about his expression/reaction when he "regains his senses" that seems to imply something has been messing with his head. Which makes me think of the Zakuro arc, and the fact that he figured out how to fight back against that illusion because there was a concrete behind. In this case, he doesn't find any concrete, and instead, Goku's screaming gets through to him. Maybe it's an effect of the Muten Sutra. I don't know. But there definitely seems to be something off about Sanzo there.

And at the end, when Gojyo's dragging the other two of, to me (maybe because I just re-read Reload 2 & 3) it echoes Against the Stream, except in a kind of reverse. AtS - the three of them tag team off while Goku collapses and rests. Here - two of the three are down for the count, Goyjo's getting them off the field, and trusting Sanzo to deal with Hazel, whom none of them trust. Yeah, he's pissed about Sanzo running off (who wouldn't be?) but at the same time, I get a vibe of "leaving this in your hands -- you clean up the mess."

But there definitely seems to be something off about Sanzo there.

*Yes*. I half thought that when I was reading and then thought No I'm just seeing things. This paralysis to the point of non-reaction seems a bit out of proportion to the event. He's seen Gokuu messed up before; he's used to the others dealing with shit while he's out, as in the Sandstorm arc. So what's happened now? The original storming off I thought was triggered by something connected to Ukoku buried in his subconscious that we'll find out about in the course of time. And of course- we don't know what did happen to him while he was away.

Ahh. Hazel. (sheepish) Forgot about him. He's been so blinking woolly lamb through these last two chapters I figured he was out for the emotional count. Definitely the man's lost sugoi points this time around.

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