Latest Saiyuki Reload chapter

[louiselux]

Still coughing, still at home on the sofa. But I have cake and am hatching a sort of semi nano plan with emungere so that is nicely distracting.

I read the latest Reload chapter on radiofreebanri though. Mmm Ukoku.



So Minekura-sensei has taken a turn away from the main plot again (which you have to love her for ... and it's all about the journey, anyway, right? Yes. And does anyone really want it to ever end?). Anyway, she tells the tale of what happened to Hazel's beloved master all those years ago. What happened? Ukoku happened! Yes, it's all looking very familiar. There isn't a translation yet, so I can only really guess at what's going on.

Hazel and his master Filbert seem to have pretty much the same sort relationship as Koumyou and Kouryuu. One day Filbert brings home a stray sanzo priest he found wandering in the countryside, which in itself makes me wonder what Ukoku was doing in... wherever it is. I know Hazel has a southern US accent in the Tokyopop translations, but he seems to live in a small European town. I can only assume Ukoku's on a worldwide quest for more and better knowledge.

All through this story there are several frames of crows eating mysteriously dead bodies and other various gory dead things.

Hazel has almost exactly the same creeped out reaction to Ukoku as Kouryuu does, at first. But Ukoku seems to be invited to stay and he lies around on the couch (yes, Filbert has a nice comfy couch) reading, and also you can see him beginning to lead Hazel astray. Ukoku makes a little plant grow up fast just by waving his hand over it, but then it dies down almost instantly. I can't tell if he's invoking the Muten sutra or not, or if this is some other power he's developed, because he clearly has a wide repertoire of badness.

And then soon after Hazel and Ukoku find Filbert dead on the floor of the study. So I wonder if in the next part Filbert is actually brought back to life? Because when Ukoku and Hazel meet in Tougenkyou years later, Ukoku is surprised to hear the Filbert has died.

I don't really have any more thoughts on this, apart from that Ukoku is really very pretty and the art style of this chapter seems to be an improvement on recent ones.

Comments

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Me either! It's definitely his song.