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Saddletank
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I have a copy of Inu no Flanders but have yet to watch it. I'm expecting it to be a serious tear-jerker so I need to be in the right (stable/happy) mood.

I agree that we've had the family conflicts explained enough and we need to move on. I agree with Orphic that Benten is going to be a key character and that the oldest brother is FAIL.

Isn't there a traditional or stereotypic storytelling format where the go-between or neutral between two warring tribes/clans/nations/families is the one to resolve conflict? I feel sure Shakespeare has used such a device.


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husky51
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I believe that Yajiro (frog) is the elder brother and Yaichiro (in brown robe) is brother #2, then Yasaburo, then Yashiro...

This is what I've picked up from the dialogue so far...

-----------------------------------
In ep.5 there was an interesting possible connection between Momma and a Friday Club member...


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Post last edited by husky51 on 07.06.2014, 11:54 AM.

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Okay I'm all caught up! I feel much the same as everyone else where the last two episodes have been jolly good fun and everything but I still don't really understand the mystery at the heart of the story.

More Benten the better though, she's a very magnetic presence within the anime.

It seems pretty obvious to me that Hotei (I believe that was his name), the Friday Fellow who loves Tanuki, is obviously the professor that the mother referred to in the previous episode as saving her life. The relevance of this fact I'm still a little unsure on but it is always nice to weave some of these things together, even if in my mind it was done in a sort of paint-by-numbers way.

I'm still enjoying how creative and colourful everything is, but it feels a little insubstantial at this point, like junk food that tastes great at the time but doesn't really fill you up. Can only assume this will soon change.

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quote:
Originally posted by Orphic Okapi
lots of Benten



But ya I do agree this episode is far better than the previous. Sometimes you just want a moment where nothing amazing happens for it to be truly amazing.

@husky: "Possible" is an understatement, don't you think? It's pretty much a given that he was the guy who saved her, which all the more creates a state of confusion for Yasaburou. I mean, think about it: what should you be feeling about a bunch of guys who eat your kind (i.e. dad) just because of tradition instead of taste, and one of them even happened to be your own mom's saviour?

PS: IMO Benten is a heartbreaker. I mean really, she seems like the stereotypical girl who must have broken the hearts of several dozen guys by now.


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quote:
Originally posted by fenkashi
Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.

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Saddletank
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Like everyone else I feel Benten is a key... to something. I also have this theory that the Friday Fellows are not bad people who eat Tanuki - that's a scary tale Benten tells the Tanuki for her own purposes.

I think the Friday Fellows are doing something significant, perhaps they are capturing Tanuki but saving them somehow and their intentions are benign.

They might also be symoblic in that they are humans and the humans are a 3rd faction among the Tanuki and Tengu. That places Benten into the role of a diplomat from the human world into the Tanuki world - though obviously a very Machivellian diplomat.

We haven't yet found out how Benten can fly have we?


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She was taught the tengu arts by Akadama, wasn't she? I wish I knew what those were, I had always wished that if I had a power, it'd be flight. Think of all that convenience.

And savings from transport


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quote:
Originally posted by fenkashi
Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.

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Saddletank
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If so, that explains much because her ability to fly was really bugging me. However... if the Tengu fly with wings, why doesn't she have them? I notice she doesn't really fly but 'floats' or can jump really high and then smoothly drift down, as though her power is reducing the force of gravity. When she 'flies' its in a series of hops across rooftops and not Tengu flight with wings, so... I'm still curious about this.

I thought ep5 was brilliant, so much important dialogue and so much new stuff revealed. The man who saved the mother was interesting, despite his drunkeness. Truth is revealed when a man is drunk goes the old saying and he could be an ally of Benten and the Tanuki in time.

More of Benten was revealed. She has Tengu henchmen and I think more and more she's fond of Yasaburou and has no intention of killing and cooking him. The phrase "I could eat you all up" which she repeatedly uses implies the opposite - deep affection. We use it with babies and cute animals. Its used in the subtitles I'm seeing but anyone who knows Japanese can you tell us what phrase is being spoken there? He presumably doesn't get the subtelty of the phrase either because its a human idiom or, being Tanuki, he's a bit simple.

I thought the rooftop night time table for two with the cocktails served from an old dude in the window above was very cool and even romantic. Its something Benten does often, I wonder with whom? Unless she drinks alone. Who is her bartender? That whole rooftop scene was mysterious and magical and her sadness was quite affecting.


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As everyone has said, episode 5 was a good one. I feel like I understand better what it's about, which is something that was bothering me a bit. It's still very unclear, but getting the chance to actually meet the Friday Fellows was helpful.

Somebody mentioned a thing about a tanuki being hit in the crotch in an earlier episode and pointed it out as something particularly funny for a tanuki. I noticed in this episode a line where Yasaburo is told he's being very bold for a tanuki "with no balls". I thought that seemed like a very fitting put-down.

And Saddles - I don't know if she says it the same way every time, but I checked and at one point at least she said "tabete shimau". There is no implication of it being out of affection, but it can mean either "to eat completely", or "to end up eating". The second one has a negative nuance, so it fits with what she says about liking him. I think she's basically saying the same thing that Hotei says earlier.


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Saddletank
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Hm, okay. So the subtitles I'm seeing that say "I could eat you all up", would you say that's a poor translation given the sub-meaning that phrase has in English?


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I wouldn't say it's that bad. If you were to say that in English about something other than a person, it fits pretty well. And like I said, the other things she says along with it give the same kind of impression, so I think it's a decent translation.


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Saddletank
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Thanks, that helps. She is talking to a racoon dog of course so I think where I'm going with this line of thought still applies.

I'm going to stick with my theory that Benten is a good guy.


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Hmm, I don't see her as a villain either. Really, it doesn't seem like there are any villains in this story, just some characters we don't know as much about as others.


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So, when should we watch episode 6? By next week?


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Saddletank
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I just watched it. I think we are due another episode. I had a Road to Damascus moment while watching this.

The more this series continues the more I'm liking it. I think it could even be a work of brilliance. Ep4 was stuffed with slapstick, Ep5 introduced a more thoughtful pacing with the sensei who helped the mother and Ep6 was again full of a lot of slow-paced conversation and some moderately confusing philosophizing. Benten's past was revealed (I had been curious about the second screen in the closing credits, wondering who that was). Benten again was enigmatic and sensual, and more than a little sad in some ways.

I think I may have begun to understand what this is about.

The long conversation on the rooftop garden between Yasaburou and the professor about eater vs eaten, humans and their needs, and so on makes me think there's a lot of symbols in this story. Humans may represent powerful, thoughtless aggressive tendencies and the tanuki represent submissive, naturalistic and playful tendencies. The tengu are literally above it all and may represent conscience. Benten the human has changed from a child (literally plucked by events from innocence) into one who is above the concerns of the aggressive over the submissive. Her role is that of guide or one who teasingly hints at ways forward (assuming Yasaburou is the youth whose coming of age story this is).

I'm not entirely sure where my analysis is headed but so far this tenuously holds together.

Given how much information we were given about the father before he was eaten but we still weren't shown the act of him being killed I am more and more convinced he didn't go into a hot pot and that something has been/is being (symbolically) arranged to test his four sons.

The eldest has begun to fight back for leadership but lacks the backbone. He represents angry youth, refusing to back down. His fight with the Ebisugawa twins early on shows his angry strong side, but he's mentally not mature yet. He wants to be a leader but lacks decisiveness (when the mother was missing in the thunderstorm).

The second brother represents giving up and crawling into a hole. He sits and thinks a lot and has many wise ideas but is unable to convert them to action.

The third son represents the romanticism of youth. He's playful, curious, teasing and also besotted with sensual things (an adult woman). He makes progress by facing up to problems and can charm his way through them. He may not be wise but he can bluff his way out of situations.

The fourth son is simply innocence and powerlessness I think. Not sure about him, we haven't seen enough of him.

Anyone who knows Japanese folklore recognising anything in this yet? The four stages of youth or something like that? I feel that the son's names as numbers is meaningful too.

Where is Orphic when we need him?

Also - wallpapers anyone?


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Post last edited by Saddletank on 07.11.2014, 12:36 PM.

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I haven't watched ep 6 yet, but I still think that the frog is elder brother and that Yaichiro is in the position of being second brother forced to be 'elder' brother because of Yajiro's decision to become a frog...


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Hmm, I wouldn't think there's any special meaning to their names. It's just a common old-fashioned way of naming children, particularly from the days where families tended to be pretty big. And I don't know of any set of four things that the brothers would fit into.


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Saddletank
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Anyone else watched ep6 yet? I'm itching to go onto 7.


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Sorry for my absence, and for still not being caught up. I was suddenly diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes last week and spent the next several days in the hospital. It's been a bit crazy. I hope to be caught up by this weekend, though.


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Saddletank
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Oh wow. So sorry to hear that.


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Whoa! No need to apologise. I hope you feel better in some way very soon.


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