Saiyuki vol 7 : Gojyo and Sanzo

[louiselux]

I keep looking at one particular bit of volume 7. Opinions welcomed, please.

Images under the cut:



Sanzo hits Gojyo and Gojyo just takes it because he thinks he deserves it.



His submission to Sanzo is very compelling (shut up) because on the surface it's very un-Gojyo-like. But there's more than just surface, because his ashamed, head down reaction to Sanzo's anger is an uncanny echo of his childhood, which we are shown only a few frames previously.



It's as though some deeply ingrained response has kicked in when Sanzo hits him, combined with the awful guilt from thinking he's responsible for Hakkai and Goku's death.  If you take the parallel further, then, alarmingly, this moment puts Sanzo in the place of Gojyo's mother,



who hits him



and leaves him feeling guilty and desolate.

I don't really know what to draw from this, but I love the layers. I think this makes their relationship even more interesting, because  Sanzo has some measure of authority over Gojyo as leader of the group, which Gojyo tacitly acknowledges by never challenging it. Sanzo is also, technically, a holy person. Even though both Sanzo and Gojyo are as far from holy as you can get, Sanzo still represents something unattainable to Gojyo. Perhaps in a spiritual sense, although I think Gojyo becomes more self-reflective as the story goes on, but more in Sanzo's sense of privilege and higher social standing and power.  We know that Gojyo was constantly ashamed as a child and felt terrible guilt. His adult bravado is partly a reaction to that and partly to being an outsider.

Comments

[scribblemoose]

I totally agree. And another reason Gojyo takes it - because he'd rather Sanzo hit him than the kid he was trying to protect.

Sanzo's very interesting here too, because on the one hand he's geniuinely angry at Gojyo, but he's also mad at himself. He hates to be reminded how much the others mean to him.

And in the end it's Sanzo that takes their interaction back to something like their usual snarky banter.

But mostly, Gojyo, yes, completely, and the layers. Oh my, the layers.

I reread the Saiyuki manga so often it's ridiculous, but I find something new every single time; a metaphor here, a subtext there, or a little expression on someone's face that makes me think of things in a new light. I've never found another series that I can the same for. And yet at the same time it can be enjoyed as outright fun.

*happy fangirl sigh*

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

because he'd rather Sanzo hit him than the kid he was trying to protect.

Yes, absolutely!

it's Sanzo that takes their interaction back to something like their usual snarky banter.

Yes, because Gojyo is so low at this point and Sanzo could really crush him if he chose, but he doesn't. He turns things away to their more normal interaction. I can't help but see it as Sanzo grudgingly caring about him.

What I love especially in this little scene is the way Sanzo looks away from Gojyo, as though he doesn't want to see or can't deal with Gojyo showing genuine distress. It's exactly how you'd think he'd behave, but perhaps there's something of care there too.

*happily fangirls alongside you*

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

I think Sanzo's angry at himself, too-- he almost never reacts out of genuine anger like that, I can't remember him doing it at any other time. It's an interesting contrast between his everyday irritation-born violence.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Me either. He has a shouting match with Hakkai later on, but there's no way on earth I can imagine him punching Hakkai the way he does Gojyo. Interesting that it's acceptable for him (from his pov) to take out his anger at everything so violently on Gojyo.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

His relationship is very different though-- he's Hakkai's jailer on some weird level and he's not an abuse-of-power kind of guy. He doesn't have any kind of responsiblity for Gojyo.