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

[stalkerbunny.livejournal.com]

"he's a sanzo monk, so can he really be so evil?"
On the other hand, he was an unsanctioned sanzo monk, right?
There certainly isn't much proof of Kanzeon being a particularly nice character, no. I was just thinking yesterday about the heaven in Saiyuki, and how the supposedly enlightened (if I've understood the system right?) gods there don't seem particularly...well, the ones we've seen have acted pretty much like regular humans, I'd say.

I find Koumyou the only character harder to interpret in Saiyuki than Nii, which is pretty damn mysterious.
One theory I have is that all we know about him is basically through the memories of either Nii or Genjyo Sanzo. So I've also wondered how much we can trust their "testimony" on the matter. After all, Genjyo was a child who probably idolized Koumyou at least to some extent, whereas Nii...I'm not entirely sure what he felt about Koumyou. Reading the relevant Burial chapter once I wondered if Ukoku was actually a bit afraid of him, but I really couldn't tell for sure.
So, that's just my two cents. >_>;

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I think Ukoku was afraid of him. I think he's afraid, at least a little, of Genjo, or he wouldn't be thinking 'I should have killed Goku' in the latest chapters.

[andmydog.livejournal.com]

Either that, or he's disappointed in how easy Genjo was to drop, and he's thinking that, if he had killed the monkey, Genjo's rage would be mighty like a mighty thing, and he'd be all Hulk Smash on Ukoku.

...But he's probably afraid. Even when all you want is to die, after, what, ten years? It's easy to get attached to this whole living thing.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I don't think so, because Sanzo's clearly pulling on the "Sanzo-ikkou" thing.

And I think he likes winning.

[andmydog.livejournal.com]

Knowing that there's a bunch of guys who would be highly disappointed in you if you gave up is such an awesome boot-to-the-ass motivator. Every little bit helps!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Hell yes!

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Ha! Yeah, that would be so embarrassing, to get his ass kicked and have to be rescued, oh no! That alone will probably make him get his arse in gear.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting point - maybe Ukoku was afraid of him. He certainly didn't get Koumyou, or find him easy to understand. Also, Kouyou was physically stronger. These things seem to contribute to the fascination that Koumyou has for Ukoku, I think.

[stalkerbunny.livejournal.com]

*nods*
It is one of the most basic reactions to fear things you don't understand.
It's the same in that part in the end of Burial where Nii is looking at the full moon and says something about Koumyou still not being gone, I really can't tell what he feels about that either.
Especially if it was Nii that caused Koumyou's death, is Nii miffed because it ultimately didn't do him any good, or just dislikes admitting he succeeded. I suppose both could be true, anyways.

But what if we can't trust Genjyo's and Nii's estimation of Koymyou. Clearly they saw him as someone who was strong and...I'd almost say a bit godlike, in a sense. Genjyo perhaps more as a parent (althought at times a troublesome, embarrassing parent) and Ukoku would probably have a more cynical view.
But what if they both simply overestimated him?
Somehow that seems farfetched even to me thought, so I'll just throw it as an idea.

Sorry, I really can go on and on about things =_=;