The Twelve Kingdoms Forum

Tentei favors Sou-Ou. Sou-Ou's reign has been 600 years, longer than En-Ou's, after all.

Nah, she just got there first. "Shouryuu, if you were only a better ruler, you could've been emperor a hundred years ago!"

Sou-Ou is female?

I guess the point would be, for En-Ou, not being a "better" ruler, but being born earlier.

I adore En-ou. Rakushun is cool and all, and I love him to bits, but in a very different way.

En-ou has a fantastic balance of wit and wisdom and confidence. Very much "my type"

...well...except for the hanging out at brothels thing. *scowls*

Lauren wrote:...well...except for the hanging out at brothels thing. *scowls*

Hmm. . . Tentei doesn't seem to disapprove.

(above title is for En-ou and Tentei ) Not having read the novels, sex for former other-worlders seems reduced to memories and simple comforting. Must be tough after 1 year nonetheless 500. I digress.

Easier to choose an unlikeable character than single favorite. In some cases, if you wait around, the one thought to be good/bad switches. Sign of a Buddhist influence on the storyline (stating the obvious?). I'm more a student of dynamics - what do people do when... and why... so the JK author's point is made about how when faced with Eden/Shangri-la it still isn't enough. Whoa, bit hefty input for a Monday morning. ^_o

JK Newbie wrote:Whoa, bit hefty input for a Monday morning. ^_o

I'm more confused by trying to figure out what that smiley is doing. "It looks like it's shocked, angry, and embarrassed all at the same time!"

on the note of the brothels, I guess that does settle the question of sex in the 12 kingdoms. ppl do have sex for fun, yes, En-ou is one of them, and yes, tentei supports the existence of brothels wholeheartedly. he's a regular customer. -__-;;

Although not explicitly explicitly stated, I thought it was obvious back in episode 4. . .

On a related note: do women spontaneously start lactating or do "newborns" simply not breast-feed?

garamir
Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2003 5:18 am    Post subject: Re: Old habits die hard
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JK Newbie wrote:
"Whoa, bit hefty input for a Monday morning. ^_o"
I'm more confused by trying to figure out what that smiley is doing. "It looks like it's shocked, angry, and embarrassed all at the same time!"
--- (I've been known to emote so, connotates topic/time-of-day/depth-or-lack-of all at once.)
 
rakucho
Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2003 5:47 am    Post subject:
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on the note of the brothels, I guess that does settle the question of sex in the 12 kingdoms. ppl do have sex for fun, yes, En-ou is one of them, and yes, tentei supports the existence of brothels wholeheartedly. he's a regular customer. -__-;;
----- (Not really. Brothels aren't just for sex. Besides, what is the affect of lack of need for physical reproduction on the drive for such? Mortality drives physical reproduction but in JK no need to bother, immortal or not. Didn't seem to be much physical association through E39 amongst anybody onscreen, except implied in a brief morning scene of En-ou. The presence of brothels does not in itself mean in JK what it means in our world.

Ostsol Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2003 7:16 am    Post subject:
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Although not explicitly explicitly stated, I thought it was obvious back in episode 4. . .
---- We read into the scenes what we ourselves would do/wish. Without more than an implication now and again, the author is avoiding the topic in favor of emphasizing the other themes. Perhaps it is Japanese modesty and/or the intent to not make JK just another sleazy anime. There were many opportunities for characters to be more familiar yet ... Seems being at a physical distance allows for more possible social and political outcomes, no one is bound to a person or obligation. Maybe, maybe not.

On a related note: do women spontaneously start lactating or do "newborns" simply not breast-feed?
---- See! Many missing bits of supporting backstory yet sometimes it is too much to expect an author to spell it out. So let's say a baby born into JK from an other-world human would be fed by it's mother, makes some sense. But what of Ranka, as you ask? Simple response, Tentei grants females with the function as needed (they do still have larger breasts and feminine bodies) yet why bother? Plant babies seem to be born more advanced as seen in the stylized drawing in the title sequence where a baby appears to crawl from the fallen Ranka.
Love between 2 native-born mortals isn't really required, just an agreement and nearby living. Enho mentioned marriage (not called that) for convenience was common and just as common was divorce. There just don't seem to be enough children shown to replace all the dead we've seen. We see a fair number of the higher education students and when the former princess of Hou returned, the one student could only emphasize her beauty implying a physical desire. Yet that may be beauty for beauty's sake such as when the sages were saying having a handsome emperor would be much better since people would respond to him better due to his looks. They were reprimanded by the other sage, probably for predjudicing young Taiki's choices. Perhaps this cultural trend to want good looking people around is a failing, as the woman general stated outright.
Someone else's turn. Time for breakfast.

You can use multiple quote tags in a post, y'know.

JK Newbie wrote:Perhaps this cultural trend to want good looking people around is a failing, as the woman general stated outright.

Selection based on sexual traits rarely has anything to do with choosing traits that are useful. In fact, in animals, it can be counterproductive. The flashiest male can be the first to be eaten.

All I can say is, you guys think too hard about stuff that doesn't matter to the story.

There were many opportunities for characters to be more familiar yet ... Seems being at a physical distance allows for more possible social and political outcomes, no one is bound to a person or obligation. Maybe, maybe not.

I think it's just that there's no reason to throw a lot of romance into the story right now. With all of the plots running, what's important to the story? Youko establishing her leadership and the other countries struggling back to their feet, or the character pairing of your choice necking on camera?

*throws tentacles at Tentei*

Go Tentei! Go garamir! There is a need to connect at a human level in any storyline or the adventures are meaningless. Yeah sure there is friendship, power, glory, but when you come home what was it all for? For Tentei it was for prOn (other discussion group reference) and therefore comfort unless you plan on a big family then that is when bonds of love and reproduction are as important to the big picture as kingdoms won and lost. Where do you get the next battalion of fighters from?

Of course, good escapist fantasy can do what it pleases. Just trying to see how well thought out this fantasy treatise is, how applicable is the moral tale(s) or should I just go along for the ride. Bothering with speculative forums becomes social only or at best an exercise in translation debates when the fantasy is there just for show and sale. Oh well, having been an old LOTR fan perhaps I am hoping for too much. I like to give new series a chance before moving on.

PS - sorry about the quotes, whenever I try to use (x)html codes I get them scrambled as I edit making a mess. Is there an instructional page for newbies?

My fav is prob Kantai

Too bad i have a feeling we won't see him again in the new arcs

Try the BBcode link on the left of the posting window -- it should explain the basic tags. HTML is disabled here.

I agree that a personal touch is necessary for us to keep caring about the characters. In fact, maybe it's even a big part of the second season, since we don't know what's coming, aside from the current arc. They haven't really focused on love and attachment since Rakushun left as a major character, and even then, they haven't really dealt with it directly since the first arc's Youko/Sugimoto/Asano dealings.

But... wacky kirin pairings and discussions of the biology of love in Juuni Kokki and Tentei's... interests...

garamir
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2003 6:53 am    Post subject: Re: Controversy!
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Try the BBcode link on the left of the posting window -- it should explain the basic tags. HTML is disabled here.

I agree that a personal touch is necessary for us to keep caring about the characters. In fact, maybe it's even a big part of the second season, since we don't know what's coming, aside from the current arc. They haven't really focused on love and attachment since Rakushun left as a major character, and even then, they haven't really dealt with it directly since the first arc's Youko/Sugimoto/Asano dealings.

But... wacky kirin pairings and discussions of the biology of love in Juuni Kokki and Tentei's... interests...

Domo for the BBcode info, I didn't even know there wasn't html used. Trying quote above for first time.
It is true speculating on the unwritten/implied character asides can (and will) stray into the bizzare rabid fan zone. So far the forum members seem more intelligent than that and use those asides for levity, and to post more for ranking. I give the topics a go since I AM a biology instructor and I can stretch my brain in a fantasy environment.
Although, being too rigid about character motivations and interactions can limit the experience and underestimate the author. At times an interchange has enlightened me to other intrepretations and enriched the JK view. Just hope the arcs get handled faster, many were created, few resolved.

Rakashun is da man! Err...mouse

Yoko/Youko is my favorite character. And that's not just because if you add an R at the beginning of her name it spells Ryoko like in Tenchi Muyo.

I would have thought staying away from her old world of Wa would have been harder on her. However, it all seemed to be played out well. Both the justification of her staying and becoming empress. In a way it was all Keiki's fault for her being in the 12 kingdom world. However, I think she saw the good in him and saw he acted as she might have. Perhaps she weighed her present life and the responsibilities that she would have to take on as empress and chose both pragmatically and with her heart. Her situation sucked on earth and in reality she didn't completely belong there. Even more so, her trials at the beginning in this new land probably taught her more valuable things than she ever learned on earth. Her being a natural leader with both dignity and nobility I think can be accepted being that she was chosen by the Kirin and is a Taiki. Those qualities both make her appealing, but I also like it when she attempts to relax and be more open.

My favorite is En-Ou (Shoryu) whatever you want to call him, because he's gorgeous and he rocks. However, I have a lot of respect for Youko -- she's grown so much and become so strong.

My favorite character is definitely Sairin. She is the most "kirin-like" kirin!

aww... does nobody here like Kourin? I really like her for some odd reason. Perhaps there's a bit of sympathy mixed in there for what happened to her and I also find her really appealing (appearance wise).

saiki
Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 3:33 pm    Post subject: Sairin-sama
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My favorite character is definitely Sairin. She is the most "kirin-like" kirin!Back to top

Her beloved name is Youran. She hasn't had much anime time, do the novels describe her more?

Shouryu rox I also like Tai-Ou Gyousou I'm curious to see what Tentei looks like but thats prolly blasphemous XD

- Shouryu