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I have gone over to the dark side
I want more hundred demons translations.
Possibly because I have the first five volumes or so only in eyesearing bunkouban and the wide-han format is so readable. But also because it opens up the series in an odd way, reading it in another foreign language. I doubt it'd go down so well in English. But, f'rinstance, I could never remember Ritsu's grandfather's name in the Japanese. Something-with-an-ox, I kept thinking. But in French I remember it no prob: Kagyuu. Equally Ima's 'show don't tell' manner of characterization can leave her characters seeming opaque or watercolour, depending. They grow more solid in a western language. The women in the family are different, because Ima does her social comedy mostly with women (or at least in this series.) But Ritsu is a conundrum that I never feel I have a handle on, and his youngest uncle is nearly as bad. I really want more translations of this series.
And I must say, I never found Ritsu's grandfather particularly likable or sympathetic. Without being a monster, his interests and specialties managed to screw his family up royally one way and the other. (A pity we don't see more of him as an actual writer.) But in this volume there's the only touch of humanity that I can recall. 'Takahiro was always serious and deferential and reserved around me, as an adopted son-in-law will be. He never once spoke his opinions out loud to me. But I always rather liked him. I thought eventually we'd reach the point where we could talk together over a bottle of sake. I guess I just didn't want him to die yet...'
Possibly because I have the first five volumes or so only in eyesearing bunkouban and the wide-han format is so readable. But also because it opens up the series in an odd way, reading it in another foreign language. I doubt it'd go down so well in English. But, f'rinstance, I could never remember Ritsu's grandfather's name in the Japanese. Something-with-an-ox, I kept thinking. But in French I remember it no prob: Kagyuu. Equally Ima's 'show don't tell' manner of characterization can leave her characters seeming opaque or watercolour, depending. They grow more solid in a western language. The women in the family are different, because Ima does her social comedy mostly with women (or at least in this series.) But Ritsu is a conundrum that I never feel I have a handle on, and his youngest uncle is nearly as bad. I really want more translations of this series.
And I must say, I never found Ritsu's grandfather particularly likable or sympathetic. Without being a monster, his interests and specialties managed to screw his family up royally one way and the other. (A pity we don't see more of him as an actual writer.) But in this volume there's the only touch of humanity that I can recall. 'Takahiro was always serious and deferential and reserved around me, as an adopted son-in-law will be. He never once spoke his opinions out loud to me. But I always rather liked him. I thought eventually we'd reach the point where we could talk together over a bottle of sake. I guess I just didn't want him to die yet...'
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(I promise not to put in all those Hikaru no Go volumes this time . . .)
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I wish also some of manga print be larger in the original language. It could just be age catching up though! Hee!
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(It has benefited from a good translation and use of proper words. Not all the French translations are as good, though as you know from my rambling, most of them are at least decent.)
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Age catches up with all of us, but it makes me wonder at the rash of bunkouban reprints. I mean, 100 Demons isn't that old and it's already out in bunko. These days you can't get the classics in any other form. And the Japanese boomers are quite as numerous and quite as myopic as our own, so how do they manage to read them?
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But 100 Demons is the opposite of Fruits Basket that way. The FB translation reads just fine to me but I can never remember anybody's name. Single kanji names like that absolutely require me to see the kanji in question or else all the characters might as well be called 'the.' Tohru I can remember because its unusual. Everybody else- forget it.
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Nine out of ten people here are myopic. All across the board. I am hoping that due to outside gene pool mixing, my children will be spared that. Having to wear glasses from age six is no fun I tell you!
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I'm sadly much better at remembering any names in fiction/manga/novels than I am in real life. It's most embarrassing.
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Even so, you do get a sense in the first volume that Grampa had twisted everyone's lives to dovetail with his own interests. However, as it continues and you sit in on more of Ritsu's everyday life, you see that he'd have had a truckload of problems *just because of what he is* if his Grampa hadn't intervened early with a little training and a lot of protection.
I mean, Ritsu is like his Grampa, in that both see the stuff that can't be seen -- whether they want to or not -- and Ritsu's mom also senses things to a limited extent. Tsukasa and her father apparently also can vaguely sense/see things in the same way as Ritsu's mom. So the whole family has this preexisting, inbuilt issue. Grampa attempted to impose some control over that situation; I dunno that this is a bad thing under those circumstances. The alternatives would seem to be learn to cope and work with it or become victim to it.
So, seems to me that that third story is a good illustration of their problem (in neat folktale format). His sister's power had gotten her into that situation; Ryou's power allowed him to put himself in a position to save her. But it was his smarts, not his powers, kept them all from becoming dinner. And their powers hadn't benefited either of their lives -- they were as much in debt as ever.
Anyhoo, it seems to me now that Gramps knew Ritsu was on the way (because he'd met him, after all), and he put his forewarned, forearmed to good use. Ritsu treats all of this writhing, slithering, slavering insanity as an everyday fact of life. Youkai floatin' in the tea? Ho-hum. Fish out, flick away, pour. Demon-possessed corpse of your dad wants to chat about making you the main course? Critique his table manners. Same old, same old.
You gotta love a manga where cannibalistic ghosts are forced to compete with Tsukasa's driving skills for the Most Alarming Threat award . . .
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