Van and Allen

In the course of everyday life, nothing's scarier than when the internet connection goes down. This weekend, though, thank goodness I had Okami (oh gosh this game is so gorgeous and so damned long) and Escaflowne dvds (up to ep23 screenshots now) to sustain me. While I was watching the series, I realized there were a few things I've missed from DS. Well, if you guys haven't called me out yet, I guess most ff readers won't, either, so I'll just keep quiet o_o;

Recently I've been quite bad and not working on ch5 ._. Instead, I've thought about the more romantic later chs, and also thought about Van and Allen's relationship. I guess they could have turned out like Allen and Dryden, if either Allen or Van were more outspoken and direct. Instead, they had an even more complex relationship than Hitomi and Millerna, Hitomi and Yukari, and Hitomi and Merle (sigh at Sagittarius women and their ability to attract men).

I think my favorite Van and Allen moment is in ep23: they are on Crusade, on their way to the airport in Rampant for war dispatch, and Allen tells Van he asked Hitomi to marry him. Allen's decision to tell Van and Van's response are both very characteristic of their relationship. I have some things planned for them in DS ;3

Also, I wanted to work a lot of guymelef fighting into DS, but there's only limited views at the moment. Remember when I said in a previous post about how the first Escaflowne-to-dragon transformation sealed my obsession to Van? Well, I give you the second time I almost cried (not "omg Van has the saddest kicked puppy eyes ever in ep20", but as in "omg touchdown from the 40 yard line"):

Japanese Continued

To clear up my previous stabs at language, I IMed one of my Japanese friends, and he says the -ue construction is a lot more archaic than -sama. (Apparently -sama was used until around 1950s but -ue was like 1700s. I only know the bare bones about Japanese history so I can't confirm its validity, but it seems consistent with period dramas.)

Celena does call Allen "oniisama" in ep26, so I guess it's consistent in the series that the men use -ue and the women use -sama. Although, why exactly? @_@a Maybe to give the feeling of samurai spirit and old values to the guys, since they're warriors? (Dryden, the only aristocrat, only referred to his father as "my old man" and never addressed him in the series.)

And my friend says "senmon" is a noun and therefore only form compound nouns, so Hitomi would use "pro". Excellent. Fits in with my evil plan very well. Mwhahaha.

As for honorific titles and such, the formal stuff will fit. They used a lot of -dono as address in political relationships. Kings were referred by their country; Aston continually called Van by "King of Fanelia" or just "Fanelia". (The only "Van-sama" uttered outside of Van's people were Voris when he asked Van to retreat for Temple Fortana. Crusade crew called Van "ou-sama".)

But for personal relationship titles (e.g. -san), I am of Chocolatelova's opinion that I'd like to have Hitomi call Allen and Dryden by -san.

In fact, the only people Hitomi did not refer to deferentially were Merle (understandable since she's younger) and Van. Her relationship with him was clear during her summary narration at the beginning of every ep--she referred to Allen as "ano hito", but Van was always "aitsu". They both mean "that person", but "aitsu" is rude :P Maybe it's because he was such a jerk in ep1, she got the habit to call him a jerk back all the time. And of course, Van used "aitsu" with her, as well.

Here's Van being his jerk self:


That was a rather dry post, so here's a link to the thumbnail theatre, always funny to read. My favorite line is Folken's "Of course. THIS IS ANIME™, and you're a Japanese high school girl. There's no force in the universe which can resist you." So true.

Japanese

In the filmbooks there was an interesting bit about when Hitomi offered to have Allen test her when he first refused her help in finding Van in ep4. I always thought Allen's particular look was surprise at her forwardness and persistence, as strongwilled women seemed scarce in the culturally uptight Asturia. But the filmbook says it's because Hitomi said "testo"--an English word taken into Japanese vocabulary, and one obviously foreign to Gaea.

So this would be perfect for some more communication confusion in DS (albeit with some notes at the end of the chs), except that I remember very little of the Japanese I learned ._. Well, actually, even if I did remember everything, my questions are pretty weird. Like, what's the difference in "haha-ue" and "okaasama"? They're both old honorific usage for "mother". But it's not a regional difference between countries, as Van and Allen (and Chid, I think) both say "haha-ue" while Millerna and Eries use "-sama". I suppose it could be gender. I'll have to rewatch the scene when Celena addresses Allen (ep24?).

Today's question: would Hitomi choose to use "pro" or "senmon" to say "professional" as an adj? I guess it depends on her vocabulary style @_@a

A Snob

First, a couple of ch progress notes:

1) Separate 文官 and 武官 divisions is too complicated. Fanelia is a small country, and beyond the literary ranks shown in opposing Goau's marriage and the coronation magistrate and his assistants, the screenshots for Van's coronation, Goau's death, etc. were all of armored men. And given Fanelia's stress on martial attributes (rite of dragonslaying, Van's coronation armor, Escaflowne as kingdom heirloom), it's likely that the chief vassals are a large part in Fanelia's political structure, opposite from Asturia and its more modern divisions (their military minister is only one of several other members on the high council).

There are still literary roles, though. Belian is the master recordkeeper, but his function is really the director of admin operations :P Hmmm, I just thought of this, but it'd be really cool if Leal and Belian were twins.

2) Chocolatelova's comments about having more Van's views in ch5 made me think about how exactly he'd see it. Since he'd avoid looking at his own feelings, he'd probably project them instead as Hitomi's feelings, but still with sort of a selfish, egotistical focus on himself. He'd think on external circumstances (dangers, rumor, awkward meetings), until the actual meeting with Hitomi to make him realize that's actually not what she thinks. And it'd be the same for Hitomi in ch6, but to a lesser degree. She's obviously much better at empathy, but it had been 10 years of trying to live like a normal Japanese adult.

A little convulted: projection of a projection. I'll try ._. At least I've finally clarified what ch5 should be.


Not sure if I've mentioned this in an earlier post, but recently I've felt like such a snob.

One example is food. I love both cheap food and good food. I'd happily eat McDonalds cheeseburgers (the 39 cent Tuesdays were glorious) or spend $14 on a pair of sushi. What I dislike is mediocre food for $20 a plate at these glorified family-themed restaurants, served on lukewarm plates and everything made to please the general tastes. Snob, check.

And then these couple of months I've begun to experience the duality of writing that perhaps all starting writers feel. On one hand, I feel that someone who calls himself a writer by merely putting words to a page is like someone who calls himself a chef because he cooks. On the other hand, I agree with one writer book that "universal writing" effectively eliminates half the population because they can't read, and then a greater part because we strive to be "literature".

Did you know that most people think they're better than average? Obviously, it's hypocritical of me to be snobbish--after all, writing fanfiction as literature is already a joke.

Maybe I'm thinking about DS too seriously. I'll leave you, then, with a picture of Van, who always seems to impart an air of happy feelings (oh how my tolerance level with internet kids increase when I have some Van music videos in the background). This is my favorite "this is how I roll" expression:

Film Books

The film books didn't really have information on the political structure of Fanelia. There are of course the chief vassals and generals, but the conductor of Van's coronation ceremony was labeled as a possible member of the "literature officials" or 文官 (a class of government opposite to the "martial officials" or 武官). The only other appearance of 文官 in the series was when they opposed Goau's marriage. I can't decide what role they should really play, beyond adminstrative functions. In China history, they were on an equal footing with the military heads, and both should be on the council.

Research and decisions on this makes me feel like Dryden in ep15:


I want to get film book 5 and 6, and today I saw the design record collection on Amazon.co.jp, but with the books and OSTs and my incoming Achewood zip hoody, I think I've spent enough this month for having no job ._. Oh, oh, there is also another Escaflowne treasure that's definately unattainable (it is listed infrequently on ebay for $199)--the Escaflowne fan book, a doujinshi from the designers. If anyone finds its scans, please let me know ; ; Here's a shot I've grabbed from the ebay listing.

Anyway, here are some interesting tidbits from the filmbooks:

• Van's outfit in ep 1--the armor, sword, shield, and crossbow--are used in the traditional rite of drayingslaying. Nowadays Gaea uses guymelef and melef to fight dragons. The rite for succession is also usually undertaken by Fanelian adult males around age 20, but Van went earlier because there is no king on the throne.
  
• The three swordsmasters of Gaea got their name in the past warring era, and are known for their superior strength that matches the power of a guymelef.
• Allen is famous in Asturia, one of the reasons is his post at the remote border (Castelo) when the other Knights of Caeli are guarding key locations.
• The roasted insects in ep8 are valued in Fanelia as one of the ultimate food for fighting in the wilderness. When cooked, they taste like shrimp.
• The wings of draconians are a creation of the power of their thoughts. Feathers from Van's wings cannot normally be seen, but Hitomi unconciously channeled her power to see them.
• The destruction of Atlantis led to the last ice age. (haha)
  
• Allen's sword is a gift from Balgus, named Dragon's Fang, 竜の牙.
• The big tree on top of Atlantis was a vision created by Van.

Progress Update 9

Bless Chocolatelova and her comments. It's so great to have someone who knows what I want to say (and get all my Escaflowne bits of trivia ;3) and let me know what's wrong with it. And she tears it apart so well ^^

The summary problems for ch5:

1. Characters. Half the ch was written in Leal's perspective; we get to see Belian (the master recordkeeper) and Cim (Basram's chief diplomat); meet Mu, Loet, and Kuon (the other 3 chief vassals); and mention the prophet Critias and Basram's president Crion. Cim needs to be more clearly defined, and the prophet should be estalished as a clear threat and mystery.
2. Vague allusions. Hiding too many things makes the plot and tension cloudy.
3. Establishment of Hitomi's importance to Fanelia.
4. Van's thoughts about Hitomi's new life.
5. Second part of ch5 is quite different from the first section. Will split up into 2 different chs. The transitional ch I had planned would merge quite well with the second part into a new ch6.

I don't know why I sometimes reply to reviews with projected time for the next ch, as I never post on time ._.;

Blog & Website

After talking with Chocolatelova about hew new blog design and looking at Sasha's site, I got infected with the redesign bug. I edited the original code from Blogger, placement design from Blogskins, and used my ch3 drawing. The star brush is awesome if anyone has Photoshop. This new look still needs more work--the image is a huge download, there are mismatched seams, the side bar should be darker--but I'm tired for the night ._,

Right now, my only ideas for an Escaflowne website are:
1. uncommon screenshots, scans
2. DS, Dragon stories, drawings
3. character analyses that rival college dissertations

So it's pretty much horrible site content so far ; ; We'll see if I can come up with something better.

edit: I've thrown some stuff together, will expand over next few days.
edit2: I, of course, promptly lied and spent 6 hours on jomiel.com, mostly on edits for drawings and comments.

Progress Update 8

As usual, I've been thinking about some things at the same time and nothing comes to fruition quickly. (Also unrelated to DS: I got a new game, cooked more often, and have an exam for tomorrow.)
1. revisions on ch5--this is taking forever. Really need to just sit down one night and stop thinking about other chs.
2. planning transitional ch between ch5 and original ch6
3. tempted to make new blog design. Fooled around a bit with them.
4. changing plot a bit for more tension and excitement

Oh, exciting news: I've just received my batch of OSTs and the first 4 film books from Klet. (She has an awesome cel collection on Escaflowne.) There's a little line of notes on each page and a whole section of designs in the back. I might look into getting the last 2 books after I'm done wafting through these. Good thing I read Chinese and know enough Japanese like a 3rd grader :P The only annoyance with the books is the writing style--every line attempts to be exciting. Oh well, it's a fault with all film books, I guess.

The drawings on Escaflowne is just fantastic. Maybe I'll see if the school has a scanner I can use, and post some Van pictures ;3

Another idea I had today was to make an Escaflowne website. Maybe with uncommon screenshots or my character analysis. I'm not sure yet if this is a good idea ._. I really love Escaflowne Compendium and Lizzard.net for their fantastic compilations on Escaflowne information found nowhere else, and it just seems like to make a site different from any other Escaflowne fan sites would require a wealth of special content.

Birthdays

Aww, too bad we just missed Van's birthday in DS (Day of Planting was white, 15th moon). That would have been fun :P

Anyway, today I was looking at my timeline again, and planning out more festivals and events. And I made a little birthday chart based on info from Escaflowne Compedium. With Japanese fascination with horoscopes, I thought the birthdays gave a pretty good summary of the characters:
* Van - white, 12th moon (Apr 12) - Aries
* Hitomi - Dec 9 - Sagittarius
* Folken - purple, 17th moon (Feb 17) - Aquarius
* Dryden - yellow, 25th moon (May 25) - Gemini
* Allen - blue, 3rd moon (Nov 3) - Scorpio
* Millerna - green, 24th moon (Apr 24) - Taurus
* Celena - red, 8th moon (Aug 8) - Leo
* Merle - orange, 30th moon (Jun 30) - Cancer

But I still can't figure out how their months work ; ; Lunar Chinese and Japanese calendars have 12 months, so Gaea calendar should be similar. But, both white and green are listed as April, and assuming the events are listed in chronological order, white>green conflicts with green>blue>white. Grr.

Maybe I shouldn't assume they are in chronological order. Then I can fill in the other half of the calendar:

1 - sepia
2 - purple
3 - ochre
4 - white, green
5 - yellow
6 - orange
7 - silver
8 - red
9 - vermillion
10 - gold
11 - blue
12 - indigo

It should be pretty obvious which ones I made up. It's hard when I can't use any normal Earth things, like lavender and coral.

Van's Allure

Tonight Danya watched ep9-20 with me (we did 1-8 before). She's one of my few friends here in the city, and my obsessive tendencies toward Escaflowne finally worked its insidious ways into us spending the whole evening over wine and fried chicken (mmm Popeyes) in front of the tv.

She thought it was actually cool to have the main girl character and the main guy character not be romantically involved with each other. Danya was bemoaning my romantic tendencies when she found out DS was V+H instead of adventure or other themes. Well, she hasn't finished the series yet, and she favors the unconventional more than my overly-girly ways (one of her friends call me "little lady" >x<; I used to be such a tomboy!), so that's part of the reason. The other part is that she considers Van to be always reacting towards something, instead of starting based on his own thoughts (which is very true, in some ways). Danya also thought Allen has a more interesting personality.

This made me think about why I like Van so much. Beyond his pretty boy bishounin ways, I think it comes down to Van trying to handle responsbilities, but ultimately still a young awkward boy in relationships--the allure of being an enigma between adulthood and boyish ways. And he's good, but not too good. He's closer in allure to Dryden than to Allen or Folken.


For DS progress, I've been changing the first part of ch5 from Chocolatelova's comments. I had been so focused on getting the horse exam completely right from a clinical perspective that it lost its narration power ; ; I've also been thinking again about what war should mean to Van. In ep17 Van seems to accept Balgus's reasons for fighting--to shoulder its burdens and its sorrows. But despite taking its pains in, he must still want to avoid another war, to avoid its costs upon Fanelia. Ugh, Van always says so little, it's hard work getting into his head >:(

Tarot

I broken down and bought a set of Merlin tarot cards. Today I decided to try it out, to see what the fates hold for my DS project. Dun dun dun~

And it's really creepy! =o=;
Celtic Cross spread for 10 cards. I'll only list the qualities for the upright cards. (Inverted cards are supposed to mean early stages, losing their power, blocked/restricted, incomplete/denied, inappropriate, or only present in appearance.)

1. inverted Justice - responsibility, decision, cause/effect
   
2. inverted 8 fish/cups - deeper meaning, moving on, weariness
   
3. inverted 3 fish/cups - exuberance, friendship, community
   
4. inverted Star - hpe, inspiration, generosity, serenity
   
5. inverted Lovers - relationship, sexuality, beliefs, values
   
6. inverted king fish/cups - wise, calm, diplomatic, caring, tolerant
   
7. inverted 5 fish - loss, bereavement, regret
   
8. inverted knight beast/pentacle - unwavering...stubborn, cautious...unadventurous, thorough...obsessive
   
9. inverted 9 beast/pentacle - discipline, self-reliance, refinement
10. knight serpent/wands - charming...superficial, daring...foolhardy, adventurous...restless, passionate...hot-tempered
    

Alright, so according to the cards:

• core situation, 1 & 2 - my decisions were incomplete, and thus the story's deeper meaning is unclear and making it hard to write.
• levels of consciousness, 3 & 5 - even though I've tried to build ties, the relationships are not working.
• time, 4 & 6 - my inspiration is flagging, and getting a little anxious.
• self and other, 7 & 8 - I shouldn't think of regrets, and should be more adventurous to other ideas.
• future, 5 & 10 - complete the romance, but beware of common traps.
• hopes/fears/guidance, 9 - needs more work on DS

Seriously, isn't it scary? The other spooky thing is that I draw a lot more fish/cups cards, which stand for emotions and relationships.

/runs off to bed to hide with my pillows

And what better screenshot to accompany today's post than:

Wings and Swords

One thing I never quite understood was why Van stood around waiting for Hitomi to see his wings at the end of ep8. He was so embarrassed and nervous to make sure she would accept them. Chocolatelova and I talked about this a few times, but it's just so mindbloggling to figure out why exactly he was standing there all the way into the night until Hitomi could wake up to see him. (Was a reflection of his emotional state? Did he think Hitomi would accept them and thus wanted to take the chance? Did he wanted to see if she would act like a damsel in distress and kiss him in gratitude?)

Our decisive conclusion so far is that he looks great with his wings against the starry sky.

Without spoiling anything, I can only say that Van's wings will appear again in DS ;3 It will be quite different from other fanfics' manifestations of his wings. And so exciting.

Anyway, in doing my quest to screencap almost everything of note in the series (finished ep8 today), I finally figured out where Van keeps his dagger (in his left boot, but I won't be correcting DS ch4 because it's already posted) and how his sword hangs. It's linked with one ring on the scabbard, then that locks on to 2 rings on both sides of his belt. Both the belt ring and the scabbard ring have release, making it possible to take off the sword with and without the belt.

Like this:


I don't know why Fanelia's royal sword has a ring on the end of the handle though. That's so cheap to me -_- Although, since the crest is on the inside, maybe the whole point to the sword is to make its kingly identity quiet.

The other thing confusing about swords--why do their swords make sound when they are just readjusting their hold or their position? That doesn't seem to make sense. There shouldn't be any parts to make the sound.

Tension

I now have a bit more idea about what I want ch6 to do. Well, not that I didn't know what would happen, but its general feeling and focus. Last week we read "Labor Day Dinner" by Alice Munro, and interestingly, the story didn't have any specific events happen really, but there was so much glimpses into character and tension that the story pressed smoothly on to the unforgettable ending. One amateur example is a good on-going fanfic I read last week--Bad Dreams. The trade agreement meeting has underlying currents of factions and motives.

So since ch6 is a starting place to gather for the next movement, and we have so many characters come together, I think it would be appropriate to play out the different levels of tension layered on each other. I drew out many today, but the real challenge will be to write backstories for these, and to identify each person's emotions on it.

The other thought today is on Van and Allen's relationship. They seem to dislike each other intensely at the beginning, but that changed in ep4 when Allen said the "never throw away your life rashly" speech, and then when Van flew Escaflowne to draw off Dilandau's group--that was the turning point of their relationship. Afterward, it didn't seemed to be muddled anymore, even when they were in the delicate 3-way balance about Hitomi. I'm going to be having fun with this, I think. It's so amusing to fool with their emotions.

In celebration in rewatching the series for probably the 12th time, here's the scene that decided my fate obsessing over Van: