(no subject)

[flemmings]

What a useful man Brust is, she says in pleased surprise. I find that I can occasionally mitigate the idiocies of Japanese in translation through a judicious application of Paarfi's style. "Before sipping, while sipping, and after sipping, his red lips floated their usual small smile" thus turns into "Before doing so, and after, and indeed in the course of the action itself, his red lips curved in their customary little smile."

Now if I could only do something about: 'His bent left knee had fallen to the side, the right knee stood up, and on that right knee he was resting his right elbow and on his right hand he was resting his right cheek." Yumemakura clearly always wanted to be a mangaka, but he didn't have the Latin.

Comments

[incandescens]

His left knee had fallen to one side; his right knee was still upright, and on his right knee he rested his right elbow, and on his right hand he rested his right cheek . . .

. . . no, I see what you mean.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

And he says it in practically every story. The upright leg I suppose I can deal with but the red lips call up appalling images: Okano Reiko's mostly. Not even Nomura Manzou can blot her brilliantined lounge lizard Seimei from my mind.

[incandescens]

"Hiromasa saw that once again Seimei had left lipstick marks on the winecups."

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Uh. Ohh. Oh dear. I do not like what I'm seeing here. Because the last time Okano did a fascinating ijiwaru Seimei-type hero (General Dragon Gem in Youmi Henjou (http://www.aestheticism.com/visitors/manga/youmi_henjou/index.htm)) she (lux'd for ENORMOUS Youmi Henjou spoilers should anyone be thinking of breaking their brains reading the thing) suddenly revealed in vol 3 that the General was a woman, a female Immortal with a couple of sisters who were playing some obscure game of Go that somehow affected the General's life down on earth. Possibly Yumemakura has no such thoughts- or aesthetic sense: *why* red lips, sensei?- but I wouldn't put a little gender-bending beyond Okano.

OTOH there's that Murasaki Sue of hers, so I suppose she's keeping him male after all. Possibly I'm relieved. On the other other paw there was that... interlude... in part 2 of the movie. And the movie had Yumemakura's input but not Okano's. Hmm.

[paleaswater.livejournal.com]

Wait, what? Okay. So I did not understand that third volume at all. I do wonder if she actually know what she was doing or if she was just making it up as she went along.

Yumemakura I think is a bit of a doujinshika at heart, and clearly has a crash on Nomura Mansai. These movies are practically doujinshi's of his work.

Btw, could you forward that email on the antithetical couplet back to me again? I didn't keep a copy. Thx.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Well AFAICS no one understood the last volume, including the Japanese. And I am all for her making it up as she goes along because she certainly seems to be doing that in later Onmyouji.

That, or she has a problem with gauging the opacity of her narration. Maybe she thinks she's being subtle when she's actually being moonless night in the countryside obscure.

[incandescens]

(twitches) That really wasn't what I had in mind. I was more thinking of that bit in the second Onmyouji movie where among other female apparel for that shrine maiden dance bit, I'm fairly sure we see Seimei rouging his lips. (I may be misremembering; apologies, if so.)

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

(twitch away) I'm sure he was rouging his lips. I don't know about Heian times but the common wisdom in schlock samurai TV land is that court nobles in Edo period wear make-up: white face and lipstick and certainly blackened teeth. You note none of the Onmyouji women has blackened teeth even though they should.

And now I can't remember whether men did or not.

[incandescens]

And the whole plucking-then-repainting eyebrow thing. (I have heavy eyebrows. This is not a piece of self-beautification I would enjoy.)

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Good lord. The hip bone's connected to the...leeeg bone....

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

...and the kneee bone's connected to the shiiin bone, and the riight hand rests on the riiiight knee, and the riight cheek rests on the riiight hand, now praise the name of the Lord.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Amen!