Saiyuki and Death Note

[louiselux]

I watched more Gensomaden Saiyuki last night. I have to say, despite getting intermittently upset with things like Hakkai's got the wrong chin today! and why the hell has Kenren got that massive overbite in profile? I am managing to love it. Watching it actually helps me think about the canon in a lot more detail - I think it gives me a better overview, which I don't get from jumping between printed books and onscreen scanlations and translations. The different reading formats, scanlations particularly so, make the experience of reading the story less cohesive and quite physically tiring, which perhaps distract me from taking in the finer details. Whereas with the anime the activity of watching it is very linear and there's a nice, brightly coloured flow of information for me to absorb.


L isn't really a typical good guy, is he? No one has any authority over him, he doesn't seem to have to answer to anyone, he keeps people locked up for no legal reason. He's a ruthless person and for him the satisfaction for what he does comes from solving the puzzle, not defending justice. Whereas Light explicitly says that what he does is justice. L is very much after the Sherlock Holmes model of dispassionate crime-solver, or perhaps Columbo would be a better comparison? We don't get to see very many emotional displays from him, and those we do are analysed to death by Light and so introducing doubt in our own minds about their truth.

L still looks like a lemur.

Comments

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

L doesn't do the normal human interaction thing. I almost wrote "well" at the end of that sentence and decided "at all" might be more accurate-- subdivided has an interesting perspective/theory on him here. (http://www.livejournal.com/community/loadingdock/6258.html)

And yes. Lemur. Heh.

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

L still looks like a lemur. And that's (one) of the reasons why we love him. I like to think it's also one of the reasons why the team stays with him, in spite of the danger to their jobs/freedom and the whole illegality of what they do.

Oh yeah, part of it's because they reckon he's their best chance to catch Kira, but most of it's just not being able to leave L-emur. He's cute when he's freakish! More so than usual!

On a related note-- want me to pick up some Death Note doujinshi or junk? No joy on the Saiyuki Gaiden, I'm afraid.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that link!

He doesn't seem to have much comprehansion of personal space or privacy, either. The chaining together thing just avoids being blatant yaoi fodder because it marries so well with L's obsession with watching people, and it is an obsession. I mean, he stares at those screens for hours. Or just stares at people.

I always get the feeling that he's very separate from the world, like it's a fishtank and he's staring in. When he said Light was his first friend, it seemed very wistful, as if he wished he could join in with life normally. I don't think he ever will though.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

The lemur theory is catching on! *g*


DN stuff would be lovely, if there's any going! Do you want anything else apart from the foodstuffs? I'm sorry that I haven't sent them yet - I've been horribly disorganised on that front. But they're on the way!

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

The chaining together thing just avoids being blatant yaoi fodder because it marries so well with L's obsession with watching people, and it is an obsession.
And he's so matter-of-fact deadpan about it-- it's clear there's no particular charge there.

I love these characters so much, I really do. It's like wanting to hug porcupines.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

And he's so matter-of-fact deadpan about it-- it's clear there's no particular charge there.

I think you're right about the lack of charge in the sense that there's no obvious (or even much subtexty) physical attraction, but I think there's a huge amount of mutual intellectual fascination going on as they try to continually out-guess each other. That's how I could see them working as a pairing at least.

Maybe it's the intensity of their thinking that makes them both seem curiously unphysical - L seems to inhabit his body as if he's uncomfortable with it. Neither of them actually do much apart from sit around plotting and deducing. Killing doesn't take any effort and Watari acts as L's ears and eyes much of the time. Although L does have his sensual side as proved by the sugar addiction, and actually they do attack each other when chained up.

It's like wanting to hug porcupines.</i. I love that - you're exactly right!

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

Hmm, maybe Pet Shop of Horrors 10 (manga, published by Tokyopop).

And Branston's Sandwhich pickle. In a squeezy bottle, so it weighs less.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

Oh, the mutual fascination is absolutely there.

and actually they do attack each other when chained up.

That second fight was practically foreplay. For those two anyway. And Light certainly doesn't seem to be suffering from the fact his dates are chaperoned, when the chains are on-- it's almost a relief. He clearly doesn't see Misa in the same almost-equal light he sees L....

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

I say that L isn't a good guy at all. He's no better than Light, just situated on a different end of the spectrum. The very, very interesting thing about L's lack of emotional displays is that pre-investigation!L and post-investigation!L are like entirely different people (although I doubt this comes through very well in the scanslations). The language and phrasing he uses is as different as light and day. And watch for how his mannerisms change too.