December 20th, 2009 
AstroNerdBoy Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari OVA Ep. 08 Review
異世界の聖機師物語 OAV Episode 08 (Pay-per-view version)
Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar – 08
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Dagmyer’s forces quietly eliminate guards from various nations at Seichi to acquire the Seikijins for his male Seikishi to pilot. Babalun arrives at the entrance of Seichi in Babel, a giant tower that flies, and begins his assault on Seichi’s defense perimeter. Dagmyer’s people are discovered to have taken control of a command center and once the principle consults with Lashara, plans to evacuate Seichi are activated with Lashara taking charge to get as many people on board her Swan as possible.
Flora enters the fray with her armored train, the cars of which are armed with cannons. She opens fire on Babel, causing Babalun to return the favor. However, Flora’s efforts do not stop Babel from proceeding and ultimately reaching its objective. Meanwhile, Kenshi has been sent to help the students and finds Wahanly working on her mecha to get it armed. Kenshi borrows her other vehicle, which isn’t armed, since it will maneuver better. Dagmyer’s Seikishi have taken Seikijin and are attacking at will while the mercenaries assist, having taken over a command center. They are discovered and power is soon cut off to their location.
Kenshi rescues Aura and the two witness Aura’s two Seikijin overcome by sheer numbers, forcing the Seikishi to abandon their units. Lythia attempts to get into the fight by bringing a Seikijin to the surface but she’s prevented by Dagmyer’s forces. Kenshi saves her and Lapis before leaving them with the others. Kenshi then heads to the Seikijn as Dagmyer attempts to prevent this. Dagmyer fails and most everyone is astonished that Kenshi is a Seikishi and that his Seikijin is white. The principal sees the white light and remembers a prophecy.
Kenshi begins taking out Dagmyer’s Seikijin but they drive him to the arena, thinking they’ll have the advantage. Instead, Kenshi has an even greater advantage and to the dismay of Dagmyer’s Seikishi, their Seikijin are naught but prey for Kenshi. As Babalun reaches his objective, Mexiah-sensei is revealed to be controlled by Babalun and she turns into Doll, which horrifies Chiaia. With that, Doll enters the ancient Seikishin and destroys the arena to remove Kenshi’s advantage. However, Doll finds that despite having the superior unit, she cannot finish off Kenshi and suspects it may be because of her time with Kenshi as Mexiah-sensei.
Doll invites Kenshi to join her but he refuses and in turn, he invites Doll to join him. She has to decline since she was made to fight, having been originally found with the Seikishin when it was uncovered. The Seikishin is breaking down faster than Babalun expected as Flora takes her Maria, Yukine, and a little under 300 students safely in. Flora orders her main cannon to fire down to Kenshi’s location, feeling Kenshi will be safe. The shell forces Kenshi into a rubber cocoon state where he bounces out of Seichi and manages to return to Seikijin form in time to land on the surface of Swan.
Wahanly states that they need to consult Nawa, Chiaia’s father, since he requested to be notified when something made the Seikishin move. Dagmyer’s remaining Seikijin give pursuit to the Swan, so Flora proves cover by taking out the side of a cliff, which nearly hits the Swan (to Lashara’s annoyance) but does take out their pursuers. However, all of the students are evacuated as all ships escape as the looting of Seichi begins. A dejected Dagmyer receives reports of everything going to plan, including getting Emera on board Swan with the other evacuees.
Thoughts/Review:
Ah yes. THIS is what I’ve been waiting on since episode 1. Now, I find I need to rewatch episode one and grab things I missed the first time around.
For starters, the Lashara in this episode is the Lashara I love. Recently, her character had been seriously downgraded in petty crap such as trying to rig a race so as to make a big financial score or to bicker with Maria and the like. In this episode, Lashara returns to her smart self who’s very much in 
command of the facts and acts like a future ruler should. She doesn’t panic and she gives orders as she takes charge of the situation. The near miss with Flora which caused Lashara to lose it for a bit is very understandable though as it was set up with the “petty” stuff. So everything is playing out nicely.
People had been speculating that Neizai and Mexiah-sensei were in fact the same person. While I wasn’t sold on the idea due to lack of any real proof, I wasn’t really opposed to the 
notion either. I just wanted a bit more information. After this episode, I’m pretty sure that Neizai and Mexiah-sensei are the same person. (Update: I’m wrong about that.) That’s because the first appearance of Neizai was actually Dagmyer in disguise. After that, it was likely Mexiah-sensei/Doll in disguise. What I didn’t expect is that Doll would be Mexiah-sensei. Then again, there was no reason to suspect it.
Doll is almost certainly a bio-mecanical unit herself. Whether she’s along the lines of the D-units in Dual! or whether 
she’s along the lines of some ancient technology caused by the Choushin doing their thing remains to be seen.
Poor Chiaia though. She’s had two shocks in one day. The first was hearing from Lashara that the person responsible for the attack originally on the Swan and here at Seichi was Dagmyer. I have to believe that Chiaia suspected at some level but because she had feelings for Dagmyer (and why that is, I 
could not say unless it was because they were close as children), she refused to allow herself to see the truth. Lashara had suspected Dagmyer but likely out of kindness to Chiaia said nothing of her suspicions until they were confirmed. Now, Chiaia has to deal with reality.
Next is finding out her older sister is in fact not her older sister. That means that Mexiah-sensei was adopted by Chiaia’s family. It also means that Chiaia’s family may be involved in Babalun’s 
plot somehow. Either way, Chiaia gets a double whammy to have to deal with and that can’t be easy for her, though she shows strength in helping get people evacuated to the Swan.
Naturally, even in a serious story, Kajishima-sensei can’t resist fanservice. We didn’t have much but Lan had to lose her pants and panties. *_*
Kenshi again shows his talented self. His connection to the Choushin (no matter if it is one or all three) is likely the reason 
for the white light to appear when he entered the Seikijin. I still wonder if Kenshi’s pendent isn’t made up from a Royal tree (the casing at least). If so, we know that such artifacts can be filled with the power of a Royal tree and used. If ahou power is that of the Choushin, then such an artifact would stay powered. Further, if the gem in the pendent is one of Washu’s crystals, then again Kenshi could be getting a power boost from that. I mention this because it is only episode 8 and I can’t imagine that Kenshi will continue to just kick everyone’s keester. The hero always needs a moment where they are in trouble and right now, there’s not a lot to trouble Kenshi.
That said, I loved Kenshi kicking bottom and taking names. I really loved his Seikijin roaring as it did. Considering how Dual! was supposedly a parody of Neon Genesis Evangelion (at least at first), one wonders if the roaring with Kenshi in the white Seikijin is a tribute to EVA. Once Kenshi started destroying other Seikijin and going beast-like, I half expected the white Seikijin to open its mouth and start consuming the other Seikijin, ala EVA style. ^_^
On that same note, there was something delicious about the good guy being the monster for a change. I was thinking of the reverse nightmare situation we have here when Kenshi in his Seikijin started taking out his opponents. While Kenshi hasn’t lost himself yet, it is clear that the Seikijin responds to his negative emotions, thus making him a kind of monster.
I would say that Emera as a spy won’t do any good, but I think that initially she will do her job. Considering how no one detected Dagmyer’s mercenaries when they invaded Seichi, why would anyone notice Emera? I’m sorta hoping Kenshi does. Whether he does or not, eventually I expect her to switch sides.
Questions.
- Just what did Babalun unearth in Seichi?
- Schutreiyu is where the Seikishin was found and is Lashara’s country. Might that have been where Kenshi was summoned to from Earth?
- If Mexiah-sensei has always been Doll’s alter-ego, just how long has Babalun been planning all of this?
- When was Doll first found? Why did Chiaia’s family take her in as Mexiah? Did they know something since Chiaia’s father Nawa requested Wahanly inform him if anything made the Seikishin move.
- Now that Babalun has control of Seichi, what next?
- Babalun and Dagmyer won the battle by taking over Seichi, but what about the war? They seem to have taken some heavy losses with the destruction of so many Seikijin.
- If Doll is also Neizai, then what is her interest in Emera beyond Emera being one of Dagmyer’s close associates?
- I remember Doll not wanting to go up against Kenshi in the first episode. Why was that? Was the reason Doll couldn’t shoot Kenshi simply because of her memories as Mexiah-sensei or is there something else at play here?
- Why did the ancient Seikijin (Seikishin?) start losing its abilities so quickly?
- Kenshi in the white Seikijin has the bio-mecha unit roaring. Might Kenshi lose control before the series is over?
- Why did Kenshi cause the white Seikijin to crust over? What about his abilities caused this?
So, a REALLY good episode to be had here. As I mentioned earlier, I feel the need to rewatch episode 1 to put things into perspective and get a greater sense of the big picture.
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Yeah, you kept your word. I wanted to see what you had to say since this episode was plot focused.
I had to rush, but I did get it out. ^_^;;;
Odds and ends…
Actually, you’re mistaken about Neizai’s first appearence. Dagmyer wears a mask that resembles her mask, but he’s never appeared as her. Neizai’s first appearence was to spy on Doll as the latter returned Kenshi to Dagmyer’s ship. Neizai then informed Shirufon (i.e. the Dark Elf nation) about the presence of a foreign ship (specifically Dagmyer’s… hmm…), and watched as Aura saved Kenshi when he jumped to escape Dagmyer. She then sniped Dagmyer as the latter pursued Aura and Kenshi. The suspicion among viewers at the time was that Mexiah’s mysterious absence in the first episode could be explained by her being Neizai (who appears while Mexiah is missing), but of course we now know that the real reason that Mexiah was missing is because she had become Doll for a short while in order to bring Kenshi back to Dagmyer (which also adds some interesting bits to what happens when Mexiah and Aura go looking for the herb and Aura gets attacked by Doll).
So Neizai is not Doll/Mexiah.
In episode 1, Doll refuses to chase after Kenshi because she claims that without any weapons she has no chance of stopping him. I also suspect she feels a general sense of contempt toward Dagmyer and wouldn’t pass up a chance to ignore his orders. But we haven’t seen her enough to really know yet.
One item of note regarding the Seikishin – even when Doll first activates it it’s incomplete as one of the legs is broken mid-thigh.
There’s something important to keep in mind regarding the Seikijin – specifically, the strength of the unit depends on the pilot. We’re exposed to this in the first episode when Chaiai attempts to copy Kenshi’s fighting style (while fighting against Dagmyer and two of his pilots). Chaiai is able to successfully copy Kenshi’s movements (suggesting that she herself is an excellent pilot), but her Seikijin is unable to withstand the stress and ends up collapsing as a result. My best guess is that the amount of raw power and strength available to a Seikijin depends on the pilot, and since Kenshi is an amazing physical speciman his Seikijin is likewise amazingly overpowered. In fact, I suspect that the average Seikijin is unable to handle the raw power that Kenshi provides… and thus we end up with the unfortunate sequence at the end in which Kenshi belatedly discovers that he’s broken his Seikijin.
@Junior — this is exactly why I need to rewatch the first episode. I remembered seeing someone who looked like Neizai there and I remembered it being male and likely Dagmyer.
I tend to suspect that Neizai is someone we’ve been introduced or even know to but I could be mistaken.
When you mentioned the broken Seikishin, I suddenly remembered my EVA analogy and then had the thought that is sounded like the Seikishin ate part of the Seikijin to obtain its bubble cockpit. Is that how you saw it?
I am glad you mentioned how Doll and D from Duel are very similar as as soon as Doll origins were revealed I noted how similar they were. Given that Duel takes place in an alternate universe to tenchi/GXP/Isekai I wonder if there could be a “Zinv/Idol type” mecha somewhere on this planet with the second first generation jurian seed inside.
Moving on, as well as finding it interesting that Kenshi is a “light attribute” given his brothers ability to generate light hawk wings, I now suspect that there may be an RPG like correlation between colours of seikijin and their attribute which would probably make Chiaia a “fire attribute” and Dagmyer a “water attribute” given that they have red and blue seikijin respectively
The original likely suspect for Neizai was Mexiah, but I decided it wasn’t her fairly early on (specifically back in episode 4 when she appeared in the forest half-naked). I figured that she was so obviously being dangled as Neizai that it couldn’t possibly be her. Given that we now know for a fact that it’s not Mexiah, I can’t think of any other likely candidates – and in reality virtually everyone is accounted for at this point. During episode 8, Chiaia spots Ulyte and Mexiah standing next to the Seikishin, and we hear Neizai speak (with a closeup at the time on Mexiah’s eyes – initially this caused me to believe that Mexiah was indeed Neizai until we found out who Mexiah REALLY was :p ). At that point in time, I think we know the location of every single other important character – which means that Neizai is almost certainly someone whom we haven’t met before – or if we have then only briefly.
Also, I think that blue underneath her outfit might be her real skin… Given that we have Dark Elves in the series in addition to humans, it’s not impossible that there’s another humanoid race that we haven’t met yet. That might also explain her unusual invisibility powers.
As for the EVA/Seikishin analogy – I hated Eva. I started it, and rapidly developed such a strong contempt and disgust for it that I refused to finish it. So I’m not a good person to ask about similarities between the two series. Be that as it may, while the Seikishin did incorporate the cockpit from the Seikijin, it did so by placing it directly into the chest cavity as opposed to actually ingesting the thing.
Someone suggested at the AFC forums that Neizai might be Yukine. That does offer some intriguing possibilities but there were some issues with the two being the same person.
As to Seikishin, it sounding like it was consuming the Seikijin, but I couldn’t be sure.
ANB, if you’re a member at Animesuki, some people there could use some Tenchi lessons. Misaki killed Azusa and Funaho? Misaki is as powerful as Tenchi? Kajishima said so himself? WTF? I almost signed up there to bash some heads, but a well known Tenchi expert like you could probably convince them more easily than a no-name fan like me.
Nice review too. About time we got some real action. Can’t wait for more.
I didn’t see the post you cite but I’ll look. I know of nothing stating that Misaki killed Funaho or Azusa. In the distant future, they had died as had everyone else Misaki knew and she lost it.
As the Counteractor, whether or not Misaki is as powerful as Tenchi is unknown. She did challenge Tokimi and Tsunami quite successfully.
Thanks for setting them straight, ANB. You still missed the one about Misaki. “Nah she’s as powerful as he is it’s just that Tenchi can pull her out of the madness she’s suffering from, the author who writes the Tenchi stuff said there different faces of the same coin one light and the other darkness and She isn’t possessed:P”.
That’s total bs, I know he’s never said that because I know you’d have a major reveal like that in the FAQ and I’ve been reading all the new stuff in the FAQ whenever I’ve seen you update. Misaki may not even be as powerful as the Choushin, she just has a way to damage and maybe kill them. Being able to kill is not the same as having equal power. No freaking way is she on par with Tenchi whom even the Choushin can’t fathom. But hey let’s say I’m wrong and it’ll eventually be revealed that she is as powerful. It’s still not true that Kajishima has said this faces of the same coin stuff like this person claims he has. I really hate it when people act like they know something for a fact when it’s just some speculative bs they came up with. He’s right about one thing though, that possessed by the Devil bs by the other poster was even more out there.
Thanks for steering me to that discussion. The only forum I even visit on a regular basis is the FUNimation forums, and that’s more out of duty than anything. I just don’t have time to do forums like I used to. Heck, just visiting the thread you mentioned blew all of my time that I had planned to finish up a blog entry for FMA. *lol* Oh well, it was fun just the same. ^_^
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Someone suggested at the AFC forums that Neizai might be Yukine. That does offer some intriguing possibilities but there were some issues with the two being the same person.
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Can’t be, according to this episode. Yukine spends most of the episode with Maria, and wouldn’t have time to make Neizai’s brief appearence. You’d have to accept that she hangs out with Maria during the attack, runs off to have a brief conversation with Ulyte when Chiaia spots Mexiah standing next to the Seikishin, and then runs back with Maria just in time to reach Flora’s train alongside Maria. The logistics don’t work. And Maria would ask questions if Yukine were to suddenly disappear during an emergency like this.
And you cite one of the problems with them being the same person. ^_^
I just watched this and I’m glad to see Kajishima hasn’t lost it. Good action and some intruiguing plot twitst. Not everyone will agree but who cares about them? 😉
It’s funny how this episode shows WHY he decided to hire brigands… Out of all his male seikishi only ONE of his personal retinue shown aptitude and skill + 2 others were not shown so there is question about them. All other good showings and not some idiocy were from hired help.
Junior said : “Chaiai is able to successfully copy Kenshi’s movements (suggesting that she herself is an excellent pilot)”
Dagmyer seems to be an excelent pilot too, but in episode 6, he says to Chiaia that he can never win against her no matter how hard he try (even in a battle with cushions ^^).
I think Chiaia and Yukine are Top-notch warriors. Its only that Doll and Kenshi are just inhuman (is neizai at the same level ? perhaps).
Mexhia/Doll : do Chiaia suspect something? she seemed immediatly concerned to her sister when she perceives her disappearance, before the appearance of doll.
Maybe her sister had a bizzarre behavior in the past.
I was surprised that Chiaia indeed is Lashara and Dagmyer cousin.
Now that we knows that Mexhia is Doll, I wonder if she has not hypnotized Kenshi to do something other than massage : a keyword may possibly turn him into a murderer, for example. Argh…
We still do not know which side is Neizai.
In episode 1 she was willing to shoot Dagmyer to save Kenshi if Aura had not intervened.
She apparently comes from another world. When Kenshi pursued Emera, he erred in following Neizai, despite his well-developed sense of odora. I wonder if Neizai is a from-parallel-word double of Emera. it would explain why she so often protects Emera.
I noticed with interest that Dagmyer is really worried for Cordyline when she lets face Kenshi. It seems that his attachment to her became more than just a subterfuge.
Superb episode !
The only time we actually see Dagmyer fighting in a Seikijin against anyone other than the universally despised male seikijin, he uses numbers to beat his opponent (three-on-one against Chiaia in episode 1). So it’s difficult to evaluate his skill. The episode 6 comment may have just been him playing off of her emotions, which he seems to be aware of.
Chiaia’s concern in this episode regarding the disappearence of her sister can be explained through normal means. Mexiah is present when Kenshi climbs into the Seikijin. Chiaia knows that Mexiah is very interested in Kenshi, and the fact that she’d suddenly disappear when Kenshi is in a seemingly bad situation (i.e. having to go up against a dozen seikijin all at once) doesn’t fit her character. Also, despite the personality clashes there is a certain amount of affection between Mexiah and Chiaia, and you would expect Mexiah to not just disappear without a word. Finally, it’s pretty clear that Chiaia’s just as surprised as everyone else when Mexiah transforms into Doll.
As for hidden hynotic commands – I don’t think that we need to worry about that. In episode 1, Babiron describes Doll as being “asleep”. I think it’s safe to say that there was no trace of her during the period between when she contacted Aura’s dark elf field and when she emerged in episode 8.
Not sure why you would say that Neizai comes from another world. She asks Kenshi if he’s from another world, but there’s no indication that she herself is. Additionally, many of the comments regarding summoned people suggest that there’s only one specific world that summoned people come from – specifically Kenshi’s Earth. Lashara knows enough about it to realize that Kenshi’s memory of a ‘spaceship’ doesn’t fit. That doesn’t work if people are being summoned from multiple worlds. And the reason that Kenshi lost track of Emera is because Dagmyer lied to him and sent him after Neizai. If Neizai really does have blue skin (which appears to be the case, though we can’t be entirely certain), then there’s no way that she’s from Earth.
oy oy Junior. Did you post that only to demolish every bits of my ideas ? Are you the autor of the script of Isekai no Seikishi no Monogatari ?
“The episode 6 comment may have just been him playing off of her emotions, which he seems to be aware of.”
No, at this moment we can see through Dagmyer : he is a frustrated man, part of his actions are guided by his feeling of inferiority.
“Chiaia’s concern in this episode regarding the disappearence of her sister can be explained through normal means.”
She become worried very quickly. It’s not normal. She do not know the Doll connection, but I think that the behaviour of Mexiah
could have been sometimes “strange” in the past and it could explain Chiaia behaviour. When you look at Chiaia usual behaviour, she is more like a big sister than a little sister to Mexiah.
This is an assumption, of course.
“As for hidden hynotic commands – I don’t think that we need to worry about that. In episode 1, Babiron describes Doll as being “asleep”. I think it’s safe to say that there was no trace of her during the period between when she contacted Aura’s dark elf field and when she emerged in episode 8.”
An interresting theory , but I still think that hypnosis of Kenshi by Mexiah will reveal us some surprises.
“Not sure why you would say that Neizai comes from another world. She asks Kenshi if he’s from another world, but there’s no indication that she herself is.”
The reverse is also true : there is no evidence that she does not come from another world.
I think that the fact that she asks Kenshi his origins is still a hint. Moreover, it is so far the only person able to shake off Kenshi when he pursues her.
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She become worried very quickly. It’s not normal. She do not know the Doll connection, but I think that the behaviour of Mexiah
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Mexiah’s right behind her. Then a series of strange events occurs that Mexiah would want to watch and Mexiah’s not. And she didn’t even let Chiaia know that she was leaving despite the fact that there’s a major disaster taking place (i.e. Dagmyer’s attack). Of course Chiaia would wonder what was up. If you have siblings, then put you and your sibling in the same position as Chiaia and Mexiah. Pretend that a local dam just burst and is about to wash your town/city out, and some guy just literally flew in and is singlehandedly blowing (with his breath) the water back up into the reservoir while simultaneously repairing the dam by performing some incredible superhuman feat. And you turn around while all of this is happening and realize that your sibling isn’t watching this incredible thing. Mexiah’s disappearence is highly suspect.
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An interresting theory , but I still think that hypnosis of Kenshi by Mexiah will reveal us some surprises.
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Then it only has three more episodes to turn up. While there may yet be a hypnosis surprise, I’m confident that any such surprise will have originated with Washu…
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The reverse is also true : there is no evidence that she does not come from another world.
I think that the fact that she asks Kenshi his origins is still a hint. Moreover, it is so far the only person able to shake off Kenshi when he pursues her.
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Actually, there is evidence that she isn’t from another world. Specifically, it’s been mentioned multiple times that there is only one world that the summoned people come from. It’s never explicitly stated in such an emphatic fashion, but it’s indicated multiple times either due to people talking about customs in the “other world” (both Mexiah and Ulyte do this) or Lashara realizing that there are some oddities about Kenshi’s memory that don’t match up with what she’s learned about the other world. So there’s only one “other world”, and it’s Kenshi’s Earth.
The second point that’s relevant here is that the blue stuff showing under Neizai’s clothing appears to be skin (either that, or she’s wearing the world’s first gloves that show fingernails – they’re visible in a close-up back in episode 1). Since Kenshi’s Earth is similar enough to ours that there shouldn’t be any blue people, the obvious conclusion is that Neizai is not from another world. Instead she’s a local of a type that we haven’t yet seen.
She’d also have suspicions of Kenshi’s origins due to her link to Ulyte. Ulyte was probably tipped off about the episode 1 assassination attempt beforehand and provided with some clues that suggested that Kenshi was not a local.
[quote]oy oy Junior. Did you post that only to demolish every bits of my ideas ? Are you the autor of the script of Isekai no Seikishi no Monogatari ?[/quote]
If you care enough to post ideas, then you should care enough to back them up, right?
:p
“The second point that’s relevant here is that the blue stuff showing under Neizai’s clothing appears to be skin (either that, or she’s wearing the world’s first gloves that show fingernails – they’re visible in a close-up back in episode 1). Since Kenshi’s Earth is similar enough to ours that there shouldn’t be any blue people, the obvious conclusion is that Neizai is not from another world. Instead she’s a local of a type that we haven’t yet seen.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characters_of_El-Hazard#The_Phantom_Tribe
A little different, but perhaps close enough. Could be another one of those things Kajishima and Hayashi came up with together and he’s doing his own take on it now, or an homage.
Not sure if you’ve heard yet, but Hakubi has released the ninth subbed episode on their website (not for download yet) and claims that ten is pretty close to being finished as well! In case you don’t have it readily available this is Hakubi fansubs new site: http://hakubi.otakusden.net/
Thanks. ^_^
AstroNerdBoy, I have a stack of 600+ pages in need of typing into the computer, and I’m willing to pay you $500 for the job. That’s almost $1 per page, so I think this is a very lucrative offer.
Seriously, how could you possibly expect a professional translator to translate three 200+ page books from Japanese for $500, when typing in the translated text is probably the least of what they’d have to do? I have no translation experience, but thinking for a moment about what must go into producing a good translation makes it evident to me that it’d be insulting to consider $500 as adequate payment for such a big and obviously time-consuming task. You always seem to hold translators in high regard, but it now appears you really think that theirs is a menial job, designed to cater to our fannish whims without even getting minimum wage for their efforts.
I’m simply at a loss for words, to be honest. We’re all being spoiled by getting so many fun things translated for free on the Internet, but at least I think I’m doing a little better than you when it comes to distinguishing between hobbyist volunteer work and a real life job.
I’m sorry for bringing this up here instead of Hakubi, but I wanted to address you without dragging them into this.
you said:
> Well, unless we all chip in and cover the translation costs, monthly is the only way to go. A few years ago, I looked into having a professional translator provide translations for the three novels. The price I was quoted would make your eyes spin, and that was for just one book. At the time, I was making plenty of money and was ready to go as high as $500. The quote was for a great deal more money than that. ^_^;
For starters, let me say that I was willing to go as high as $500 per book, not for all three. ^_^; I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford a pro, but I asked one anyway and as I said, the quote was for considerably more — over $5000 for all three. ^_^;;;
This was a few years ago (start of 2005) and a friend of mine pointed out a couple of semi-pro translators who’d do it for considerably less. Unfortunately, they were both focused exclusively on hentai manga/doujinshi and they had certain rules about publishing that I didn’t want to be bound to. I believe one or both of them would have done the work for $500/book though.
(Don’t ask me the names ’cause I just don’t remember any more.)
Since then, I have taken Japanese classes and now understand how much work would be involved. However, my point on Hakubi’s post was to make others aware that since they are paying to get this translated, they should expect prices greater than $500 for “101” to be translated, to say nothing of whatever it is costing them to have this series translated. I’m hoping that maybe that would encourage some folks to donate to the cause. ^_^
Thanks for giving me a chance to clear that up. ^_^
So first thing I noticed was how choppy the animation was during the fight scenes. You could really see the lack of quality, and I was wondering where some sort of dramatic music was, it was way too quiet for that sequence.
Now my problem is I went into this series thinking Kenshi was Tenchi’s son and his behavior as a collection of all the girls, since I only have a vague recollection of Tenchi canon. So right now I’m still trying to wrap around how this half-brother thing came about. I’m guessing its being deux ex machina’d in really, but still would like to know the dialogue behind his existence. I am waiting for that Tenchi tie in though. Better be good.
In OVA 3, Nobuyuki married Rea. In GXP, it is revealed that Rea is pregnant. Then in one of the doujinshi, Kajishima-sensei shows a child Kenshi playing with Ryo-ohki (in young girl form) and surprising a “meditating” teenage Sasami. So that’s where Kenshi came from. He was planned out from years ago. ^_^
As to Tenchi, I’m hoping we get a cameo of some sort.
> For starters, let me say that I was willing to go as high as $500 per book, not for all three.
Ah, that sounds much better. I’m not at all surprised that they wanted $5000+ though, because a job like this wouldn’t be done in a day and them bills need paying.
Sorry for taking you to task for this, but the way you worded your comment before made it sound like it was $500 for all three. The entitlement mentality that runs rampant these days really irritates me, and it was an unpleasant surprise to see even someone like you leaning towards it. I’m happy to stand corrected. No hard feelings, I hope.
Sadly, sometimes when I write, I know what I’m saying but my fingers don’t quite get that message out. ^_^;;; For my blog, I do try to be better at that (when I’m not pressed for time) but I tend to not be as careful other places as I quickly type something and move on.
And no hard feelings. ^_^
Phantom Tribe – Yup, the similarity occured to me as well. Not only are they both blue-skinned, but Neizai seems to have a talent for hiding in plain sight (we see her Seikijin “cloak” using a cloak, and she’s frequently present in Ulyte’s office without others being aware of her) that somewhat emulates the illusion ability of the Phantom Tribe (and iirc, the head Phantom Tribe bad guy in El Hazard demonstrates the ability to turn invisible). Whether that’s a coincidence or not will hopefully be revealed before the end of the series.
:p
And the episode 9 fansub is up on Tokyo Toshokan.
I’m going to try to watch ep. 9 today, if I get a chance and have a blog up tomorrow.
Won’t get a blog up today about this (unfortunately) as I had too much work to do. I have seen episode 9 though (great stuff) and will have a blog up tomorrow, Lord willing.
i think neizai is the woman in ep 1 at 15 minutes. just speculation