PERSONAL HERE: @minonow THIS BLOG IS NOW FOR ZESTIRIA OVERANALYZING ONLY
未乃 / Mino. Zestiria overanalyzer, as of now (since ca. 2015). I really like video games and fantasy. Sometimes I draw and translate too.
fedi: @mino (English most of the time)
twt: @astralmastery (mostly in Japanese now)
(Just tell me if you're adding on any of these, I will accept/follow back if we know each other.)
PERSONAL HERE: @minonow THIS BLOG IS NOW FOR ZESTIRIA OVERANALYZING ONLY
Hello. This post is purposed as the pinned post.
I have a general about me page, as well as an organized index for Zestiria-related translations and meta (for mobile users, you can check out this tag: #mino talks zesty, not including the pure translations, which I put on #mino translates instead, though lumped with non-Zestiria stuff too). Calling it meta perhaps is a bit too pretentious because it's, more often than not, a byproduct of me overthinking about a lot of things and pondering about them out loud. It's nothing special, really, most of the times they're even incoherent, but I'm glad if you enjoy them!
As such, you don't have to agree with my interpretations, as I am, just like everyone else here, just a fan. I don't have more authority on the game more than anyone else, I just like to scrutinize everything.
In the case of Zestiria analysis, aside from the original game canon itself (and Berseria, but that's included in the game canon), I mostly only take into account things that are supervised by the game director (Hase Yuuta, not Baba Hideo, by the way) (so basically the manga and the novel), or things that strictly try to adhere to the original game canon (e.g. Rays). This is because I personally love Zestiria for the themes and messages it stands for. No questions here.
Also, please don't try to blame Berseria's failing in consistency to Zestiria, that's Berseria's own fault. Make no mistake, I like Berseria, and the connections and parallels between the two games are one of the reasons why I enjoy both games, but sometimes, the difference in the creative staff (most notably, the director and some of the writers) shows.
I hope you enjoy reading this blog as much as I enjoy putting my brainrot here! (I still have a lot planned to come, btw, I can barely contain my own thoughts, lol.)
Other tags
Drawings: #mino draws (moved to my personal tumblr at @minononow)
Yappings: #mino rambles
Other socials
Twitter: @astralmastery (mostly in Japanese now)
Mastodon: [at]mino[at]blorbo.social (feel free to ask for invite to blorbo.social if you're a mutual)
Which of Sorey and Mikleo's exchanges leave the most impression on you?
KIMURA (SOREY): The fact that they fight too. That left an impression on me.
OHSAKA (MIKLEO): Like at the Aqueduct ruins right.
KIMURA: Yes, that! It's still the beginning of the game during that part, they're both still young too, so it wouldn't be strange for them to get into a fight. Sorey is generally mild-mannered towards people, though of course, he can get angry when necessary, but that wasn't the case here. They truly had a childish argument and ended up being apart, but they both each other knew what would happen next. I was deeply impressed by the strong bond between them, where their argument was because they cared about each other. They really did end up fighting out of their concern for each other, these two are really amazing.
OHSAKA: In the end, even though what they do may differ, they're looking at the same thing. It's like, even before the final battle, [Mikleo] doesn't say much because he knows everything about [Sorey] already. That's how they both are. Even though it might be short in time, they share many experiences during their journey, getting to know each other even more, and finally, they don't need to say anything to understand each other. I could feel that kind of bond with tacit understanding between them and it realy left an impression on me, it made me think "yeah, that's how they are."
From Kimura Ryouhei (as Sorey) and Ohsaka Ryouta (as Mikleo) quick interview as partners (one of the many interviews/other stuff that they have as Sorey and Mikleo). The [5th] question was "please give a message to your partner."
Kimura to Ohsaka (orange block): "I'm really glad that you're my partner. Even though we have a close relationship and we voice a lot of characters together, it always feels like you bring something new. Thank you."
Ohsaka to Kimura (teal block): "It was fun being your partner. Let's go play together again!"
I made a tool to convert English alphabet to languages found in Tales of Zestiria (so both Modern Glenwood language and Ancient Tongue) and vice-versa, hosted on my own Neocities here. It was something done quickly so it's definitely not the most optimized (not that it needs to be) and I haven't tested if there's any bug yet. Please do report any bug if you find any!
The Storyteller of Time in Zestiria is a person who watches over the history of the world and also passes on the truth.
(I also believe Sorey became one in the ending.)
But do you know that the Japanese term for it (刻遺の語り部) has a deeper meaning than just mere storyteller, dissecting from a Shinto perspective?
First off, let's get the first part (刻遺, which got translated as mere Time in English). I've explained this before, but the word "time" being written as "刻" has a specific connotation related to divisions of time and carries a sense of carving or engraving (for example, 刻む can also be used metaphorically to mean to engrave something deeply in one's memory or emotions), and as for 刻遺 in its entirety, it implies "abandoned in time" ("刻に遺される") or generally not affected by time = their long lifespan. They're also not allowed to directly interfere with history (time itself) and their existence is akin to a taboo, therefore basically making them forgotten by history itself despite the one being preserving it.
The Storyteller (語り部) part is actually more interesting that you might have thought, since Zestiria is very much inspired by Japanese history (I've talked a lot about this too), there actually exists a concept of kataribe (語り部) in ancient Japanese too.
In ancient Japan, kataribe serves as shokugyoubu (職業部), which were government-owned civilians belonging to the Wa royal authority (倭王権, Yamato kingship), engaging in social specialization with the special skills and techniques necessary for maintaining the kingship, however, they typically lead everyday lives as commoners, contributing periodically through labor or offering specialty products, in support of the royal authority; within the Shinabe (品部), a caste within the kingship. Kataribe's responsibility is to recite ancient traditions and present them during court ceremonies, during a time when written records, possibly using characters predating kanji (Chinese characters, which obviously were imported from China), were not well-developed too. They recite eulogies called yogoto (寿詞) during ceremonies that were associated with imperial rituals such as miare (御阿礼, advent of noblemen/kami) and minie (御贄, sacred offerings presented to kami).
One such kataribe member was Hieda-no-Are as mentioned in Kojiki (古事記, the oldest record text in Japan, I talked about it here). Interestingly, Hieda-no-Are is one of the instrumental figures of Kojiki, being that they were one of the compilers themself, yet very little was known about them, not even their exact gender, with their ancestry possibly tracing back to Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto, the kami of dawn and arts. Hieda-no-Are was a Shinto priest who served the Imperial House (this kind of priest is also known as 舎人, toneri/shajin), and at the age of 28, they were entrusted with the recitation and study of texts such as the Teiki (帝紀) and Kyuuji (旧辞) due to his exceptional memory. During the reign of Emperor Genmei (元明天皇), by imperial decree, Tai-An Maro (太安万侶) recorded Hieda-no-Are's recitations, leading to the compilation of the Kojiki.
The presentation of specific kataribe activities is also found in the Engishiki (延喜式), which notes that during the Senso-Daijousai (践祚大嘗祭, the largest festival ever held in an Emperor's life, as it is the first time after ascending to the throne that the Emperor dedicates new grains to the Tenjin, including Amaterasu, and partakes in the festival by consuming the harvest, a significant ceremony occuring only once in the reign of each Emperor), the Sukune (宿禰) of Tomo-no-miyatsuko (伴造) and Saeki-no-atai (佐伯) clans led eight members from Mino (美濃), two from Tanba (丹波), two from Tango (丹後), seven from Tajima (但馬), three from Inaba (因幡), four from Izumo (出雲), and two from Awaji (淡路) (btw these are all places in old Japan) to recite ancient verses (古詞, furugoto). The content is not explicitly detailed, but it likely involved traditions and legends spanning the origin and inheritance of spirits of the past Emperors.
With the introduction of foreign religions, the traditional kataribe evolved as well, and terms such as shukugo (祝詞, liturgical prayers) were used for traditional rituals in Shinto, while those that reached the common people transformed into saibun (祭文, festival documents), shichou (詞章, poems), and katarimono (語りもの, storytelling), each with different purposes. Nowadays, in the modern Japan, kataribe basically refers to people who carry out activities to pass down the lessons of history, particularly of disasters and incidents, and I feel all this is in line with how kataribe is also like in Zestiria, and another reason why Sorey ending as a kataribe is a fitting conclusion for him--the game is about turning legends and traditions into hope (伝承はいつしか「希望」になる is the tagline after all) and that history is more than just a record of a past, but something to learn from too.
I made a tool to convert English alphabet to languages found in Tales of Zestiria (so both Modern Glenwood language and Ancient Tongue) and vice-versa, hosted on my own Neocities here. It was something done quickly so it's definitely not the most optimized (not that it needs to be) and I haven't tested if there's any bug yet. Please do report any bug if you find any!
I made a tool to convert English alphabet to languages found in Tales of Zestiria (so both Modern Glenwood language and Ancient Tongue) and vice-versa, hosted on my own Neocities here. It was something done quickly so it's definitely not the most optimized (not that it needs to be) and I haven't tested if there's any bug yet. Please do report any bug if you find any!
incoherent srmk rambling, implied nsfw in text? I suppose? or not really
a twt mutual made a comment on this fanart I did that they imagined this would be between the Journey's End scene and before Artorius Throne, since both of them knew S would have to go sleep for centuries after this so might as well exchange warmth while they were still together.
I mean I did obscure S's expression in the second one since I liked the notion that S is actually hard to read despite his straightforwardness but M can read him but man I was reminded once again they did this kind of thing in the Journey's End scene where we couldn't see S's expression (and thus is "harder" to guess how he feels about his plan after the final battle).
I'm the one who drew this but I got destroyed by someone else making observations on things I didn't particularly realize but probably had done subconsciously LOL what went through their heads I wonder, especially M's, when they went through the time that only got shorter before S went to sleep... and even after S went to sleep, did M become afraid of forgetting how S was like? at times like this I wish I could write fics you know lol but sometimes I want supply from others too
I've talked about this elsewhere already but since my interpretation is that Sorey becomes a Storyteller in the epilogue, and since there's no stopping a Storyteller to become a vessel for seraphim (see Magilou), I imagine Mikleo would still need a vessel and that it'd be nice for him to be connected to Sorey that way.
what I'm trying to say here is that Sorey and Mikleo are married in the epilogue since the pact is called marriage (輿入れ) anyway. married in spiritual sense yeah but still. they're married in my head and they live forever.
this account isnt shadowbanned anymore by the way!
yesss I just got an email from support! finally. however will probably still use this only for Zestiria ramblings, everything else will go to @minononow now so 🤔 I should probably clean up this blog too...
it's super annoying and the faster way is to just move to a new tumblr I suppose
anyway I will keep this one for archive purpose (and for more rambly meta things too because my new one will be more personal and uhhh 雑多 however you say that in English) so feel free to follow me (or not lol) here→@minononow
again I will still post my "meta" posts here because a lot of non-mutuals that follow this blog used to follow this for the "meta" anyway so yeah lol. new one will have more reblogs and drawings, so if not interested then yeah don't have to follow lol.
take some time this week to archive online content you care about, it could disappear or get harder to find at any point! youtube channels, blogs, images, personal chat logs, you name it
PSA! gfycat.com is shutting down and deleting all content and data on the site on September 1, 2023. if you have any fav gifs hosted there, grab them NOW!!!!
