Dressing up and Ukoku's brain

[louiselux]

puddingcat came to Reading yesterday to get fitted for her coat of many buttons, so in the afternoon I met up with her and her dressmaker friend Claire and landlady Laura. We hit up the John Lewis haberdashery and Fabricland and a couple of shoe shops and now I feel so enthused about dresses and fabric and shoes. I can't wait to see puddingcat's coat - she showed me the pattern and it's a sort of pirate frock coat with panels and huge cuffs.

I'm thinking of commissioning a dress from Claire too. I just have to decide on what I want: either something 60s style in a simple A-line/shift dress style, or a full skirted 50s style dress.

Also, when we were randomly chatting about stuff, puddingcat made a really interesting point about Nii - he's a sanzo monk, so can he really be so evil? Is he really going to suck Sanzo into his black hole of doom and destroy him, or is he just teaching Sanzo something, but doing it in a particularly nasty way? Maybe he is working to the greater good. Innnnnteresting.

puddingcat compared him to Kanzeon Bosatsu, who isn't exactly pleasant in the way she goes about things. She didn't have to let Goku be imprisoned in a cave for 500 years after all.

I like this idea, because it balances Ukoku's character somewhat. Also, I don't know if Koumyou was actually such a nice person. Discuss.

Comments

[devikun.livejournal.com]

Oh, but your thoughts inspired such a lively and interesting discussion!

And I think you're totally right about Sanzo getting too attached to non-attachment! I'm pretty sure there are like advanced user warnings in Buddhism about stuff like that...

[toscas-kiss.livejournal.com]

Very interesting discussion!
I don't really have much to add except to say I definitely agree with whoever it was said they thought there is no 'Big Bad' in the series (sorry, can't remember who), because this would necessitate there being a 'Big Good' to balance it out, which is a position definitely none of our heroes fit in. The varying shades of greyness of all the characters is one of my major points of fascination with the series.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Weeeel it depends on how Minekura's Heaven's run, which has never been particularly clear to me. In the Journey they're cast down, but again, the method isn't clear-- they do all remember who they used to be, though. (Except Tripitaka, who is just Tripitaka.)

Hahah. No!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Years and years and years of studying and reading about Buddhism hasn't brought me that much closer, honestly. Have you ever read anything by Mishima?

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I do wonder who the killing prince is now. Maybe they decided they'd do without one altogether, as they seem to be such trouble.

I wouldn't put it past him. Smart dragon, that Goujun.

[illusionary001.livejournal.com]

This is an interesting discussion. I find Nii/Ukoku a fasinating character, and for some reason, I don't see him as being evil. I see him as more of an opportunist who will do anything to get what he wants even if it costs. I also see him as someone who did everything, and had everything that there was nothing left for him to work for. Thus the the wanting to become a Sanzo thing. Even though he is a Sanzo, he has no spirtual belief. Everything is just ones and zeros for him, all calculations. Koumyouu, I think, was the only one who actually made him feel like he was worth something, and that there was more to just zeros and ones.

I do think there is jealousy where Sanzo is concerned. I think he blames Sanzo for causing the death of his friend. And I think it is very probable that Nii is teaching him a lesson. Not a very nice way to express that lesson, but a lesson non the less. To appreciate the things you have. Or it could be possible that Nii doesn't want Sanzo to exist so that maybe Koumyouu will still be with him. The death of his friend was too much for him, and wants him back.

Koumyouu's no innocent bystander either, there is something definately fishy about him. Kind of reminds me of Hakkai for some reason. But overall that is what I think. Nii is a complex character, so we'll have to wait and see what Minekura-sensei has in mind for him.

[katmaxwell.livejournal.com]

(although I personally believe at this time that Nii was responsible for that death in terms of trying to get the sutra away from Koumyou (and perhaps kill chibi-Sanzo while they were at it -- he just didn't think Koumyou would sacrifice himself)

The thing with that is, by the time Nii sent the youkai to the monastery (if it was indeed Nii who did), Sanzo was the one in charge on the sutras -- so he wasn't sending youkai after Koumyou at all. It would make sense that Ukoku would blame Sanzo for Koumyou's death -- and drive those feelings home when he's kicking the crap out of him -- because Sanzo was his only target.