Asano's role and development: thoughts and discussion.

[Shokou]

As for the rockets or fireworks, I am 99% certain there isn't any. You'd think they'd learn how to use it since there are so many wise people such as Enho, but no.

[Nightheart]

Asano was clearly interested in Youko but there was a time in the Anime when he clearly fooled around with Yuka as well, anyone have any thoughts on that? Was he not the admirable person he seemed or do you think he might have had feelings for both?

[Shokou]

I think he wasn't romantically interested in Youko, just Sugimoto. He was just a sympathetic guy--which is a compliment. He wasn't a "wonderful person" or a "hero" or something like that, just a normal boy who treat life lightly. Sadly he couldn't things lightly after how things turned out for him.

[Jinx999]

He fairly obviously was in a mutual relationship with Yuka. Youko was a friend and had a crush on him, but it seemed fairly shallow. He fairly obviously knew, but she'd apparantly never brought it up and he didn't want to ruin their friendship by telling her that he prefered the school pariah to her.

[Shokou]

I wouldn't even call it a crush, just slight admiration or mere positive responses to good physical appearance. It's like that friend of the opposite gender you find attractive and chat well, but your reactions to him/her are friendly and not romantic.

[Nightheart]

Wow, I think I need to go back and re-watch the first few episodes because I read things completely differently. I thought that Asano had obvious feelings for Youko and Yuka had unrequited feelings for him. Yuka encouraged Youko to go after him despite the fact that she liked him too so there was a little bit of female love-competiton between them and jealousy on Yuka's part because Asano liked Youko and not Yuka (gosh I wish thier names were not so similar).

[Nightheart]

oh wow... yep, I was totally off about that. I pride myself on characteriazion and observation skills and I completely mis read that, I feel so sheepish.

[Shokou]

One doesn't view Juuni Kokki with pairing-bsessed eyes: it doesn't work that way. Ono doesn't care much about romance, and while romance can be good if done well, I also prefer romance to be ignored. There are more important things about oneself to focus on and Juuni Kokki understands this and does it very well.

[Nightheart]

I was looking at it more as "that's one of the reasons why Yuka is so jealous of Youko." I agree that is refreshing that 12k isnt a romance driven story but the interplay between the characters is always interesting to take note of.

[Shokou]

I think it's just sadly natural for people of the same gender and age to have feelings of jealousy and competition between them. Thankfully Sugimoto grew out of it.

[Nightheart]

I was thinking about Asano's relationship to Yuka in the show and its almost as if it doesn't show up at all. Maybe a little bit in the beginning, when he was clearly concerned about Yuoko and Yuka having to go alone, but once they separate there's no sign on either of thier parts (particularly on Yuka's part) that they're even worried about each other. He seems more concerned for Youko to be honest, and as for Yuka, it's like she forgets all about him once she starts working for the king of Kou. Aside of that, how does thier relationship even work? She's sort of this scowling, suspicious sullen girl and he's like "Mr. Refreshing!" How does that work? She seems like she'd eat him for breakfast. Anyway, sadly, it seems that being Mr. Refreshing! is not the way to go about surviving in 12k-land.

[Shokou]

Opposites attract! Maybe they were just friends, but I have to guess they were at least close. Perhaps he started thinking she was his girlfriend after he went insane and that affected his memories.

But the thing is he wasn't refreshing in Juuni Kokkiland, he was just lost much like Youko at first, and then he became insane, unfortunately so. There's no way he could have been refreshing in a world where he can't even comprehend the language...

[Nightheart]

that's true, his excellent interpersonal skills definitely suffered from the language barrier. It's hard to charm people into likeing you if they can't understand you. And I could also see how it might have affected him so very deeply too. It's clear the Ikuya Asano is a very social creature (unlike Yuka or Youko in fact) the language barrier would have crippled his ability to gain status by making the people around him like him. In addition, it would have been very isolating, which can take a grevious mental and emotional toll after a while.

[Shokou]

Yeah, though I wonder, maybe if he didn't meet Suzu and stayed with the shuusei for a longer time he'd eventually end up learning the language. I mean, hearing it day after day, he has to start getting an idea. We have the example of Heki-sensei from En, the kaikyaku who made an effort to learn the language and ended up becoming a respected man in his vicinity. Fate was sure hard on Asano: who'd think meeting a fellow kaikyaku would eventually lead to his death?

[Nightheart]

Ah dear suzu, we love the girl really, but she does seem like sort of a jinx sometimes... ^_^

[Shokou]

Awww, it's not her fault. If anything I bet she feels guilty for his death: I like that she lent him her sansui hping that he would escape from Shisui in safety. I don't think she could predict he would run exactly into Shoushiba, the only one who could tell the letter was false. But I feel sorry for her "jinx", a lot of tragedies seem to happen around her.

[Nightheart]

That's true, she has had it rough. Personally, I always sort of thought that if anyone deserved a long bout of self-pity it was her. I mean, at least she didn't go crazy about it. I wonder if Asano would have turned out okay if he had gotten picked up my an immortal... I mean, even if he'd been taken in as a servant he at least would have been able to interact with people instead of stewing in his own juices and gradually getting worse for it.

[Shokou]

It depends on the events that would happen to him eventually: if he was taken by Suibikun I fear he could have suffered sexual abuse, which would be worse than the moral abuse Suzu faced. But that could have eventually turned up into a good thing: I feel that Sai-ou would eventually interfere with Suibikun's abuse, sooner or later. Probably after she had stabilized her reign and gained more political power.

[Nightheart]

Was Asano's mental instability affected more by social isolation or by the disruption of his world view by being placed in such an unusual situation? Part of me wants to think that it's due mostly to social isolation; he's clearly a social creature, and not being able to interact with the people around him took a toll on him. However I don't think that that alone would be enough to cause such a serious mental imbalance, the more I look at it the more I think that it have to be the disruption caused by being a stranger in a strange land. He traveled with those performers for quite some time, he could have started learning the language if he'd wanted to. Back in the Age of Exploration, travelers who came into contact with unknown civilizations had to do the same. I think that being uprooted from the world he knew and placed in such a strange and precarious situation crippled his ability to perceive and interact with the world around him. The social isolation only exacerbated and already precarious situation.

[Shokou]

I agree: I think the disruption of his world view was decisive: he didn't think of himself as an explorer, and he was never an "escapist" like Sugimoto was. It was clear that he enjoyed the world he lived in, and he never imagined his entire reality would change so abruptly. The worlds' differences are also extreme: you know how you feel when there's a blackout and you're just lacking in electricity for 1 hour and it bothers you a lot? What happened to Asano multiplied that feeling by thousands.

[Nightheart]

I often sort of wonder if the people who did the TV show didn't somehow end up feeling like Asano was redundant after a while. They had a foil for Youko's spinelessness problem in the form of Sugimoto, sometimes the way he died just makes me feel like "they must have gotten tired of trying to find a place for him so they just ran him over with a carriage." If Youko and Sugimoto ever reunited and Youko had to tell Yuka the bad news about her boyfriend, I wonder how that conversation would go. Probably something like this...
YUKA: So did you ever find Ikuya Youko, last time we talked you said you;d try to send him home.
YOUKO: Um... Maybe you should sit down. I, uh... I found him alright. He joined a revolt in Wa Province.
YUKA: Ikuya Asano did? Wow, that um... that really doesn't sound like him. He's usually so Mister Refreshing all the time, it's hard to imagine him getting gung-ho over anything.
Yuoko: ((hoping to make Yuka feel better about his tragic demise)) Oh yes, he uh, he was very brave. Died a hero. Uh-huh. Very, uh, very brave.
YUKA: ((skeptically)) We are talking about the same guy, you remember Asano-kun right? Level with me chica, did he flip his lid? This place seems to have that effect on people from our world.
YOUKO: ((Relents because she cannot tell a lie)) He was run over by a carriage...
YUKA: That's more like it.

[Shokou]

Ummm...are you using carriage as a metaphor for stabbing? I guess it's possible, since Asano's killer(Shoshiba) was used to "running over" everything that Shokou and Gahou opposed? I don't think Youko would use a metaphor though: I think she would tell the truth and be sad and blame herself for it(perhaps unfortunately so).

But I never felt he was redundant: I mentioned many times in this topic what I considered his purposes to be and I think his death was part of what I built my points upon. Being killed for not kneeling down is a tragedy caused by cultural clash: Asano was not yet adopted to how much power authority has in the Juuni Kokki world, so part of his defying Shoushiba was due to that.

[Nightheart]

Then I totally had his death confused with another person. ((chagrined)) My mistake, I should go back and rewatch those episodes. But I can see your point, now days the attitude about social niceties is a lot more lax than it was in older days (across the board). Two hundred years ago, if you called even a business colleague by their first name people would look at you funny. And in the 12k world, the really really old-school rules still apply. It was one of the things that Youko had a problem with, people bowing over to her. I personally liked her first decree and her reason for doing so. She didn't get rid of the cow-tow because it made her feel uncomfortable, she got rid of it because she felt that everyone should have the right to treat and be treated with equal respect.

[Shokou]

The one who was killed by Shokou's carriage was Seishou: it was a very emotional moment and done really well in the anime: the music "Ruika" played after he dies sets the mood very well, and I liked how all important characters who were present at Shisui at the moment were shown reacting to his death in flashes.

As for Youko's decree, I find it correct because it doesn't forbid people to bow: she tells bowing and other niceties should be natural and not forced, and I like it because it's also how I think people should treat those who are closer and who they actually respect: sadly a lot of people nowadays think it's the other way around and that you can be rude to friends because "it's a joke".

[Nightheart]

I love the song ruika, I have it on my youtube playlist. Interesting point although I hope people wouldn't be rude to each other. I think the more lax standards of formality allow a greater measure of affection to develop naturally between people. When one must always be conscious of the line of formality it harder to develop a deeper measure of affection because the amount of allowable gestures is limited.