嗚呼… 優しさを生む 母は強さではなく 痛みなのだ
寧ろ 強さはその娘
"Ah… the mother of kindness is not strength, but pain
Or rather, strength is her daughter"
I’ve been wondering since the beginning regarding this line from Wasurena Tsukiyo, and has been quite perplexed to understand it’s meaning. Albeit, when you think about it, it’s a simple answer. However, I do not know if my answer is the definite answer to it or not.
Incoming from here is (maybe what people generally see as) ramblings, so please excuse me in advance.
A mother is (what we normally assume as) the one who gave birth to a child. So if pain is what gave birth to kindness, and kindness gave birth to strength, maybe it could be seen as...
By knowing pain from (what could be assumed as) unkindness, one can learn about kindness and be a kind person. Kindness in itself, gave birth to strength that gave you power over troubles (in a good way).
This is especially true shown by Elisabeth in Wasurena Tsukiyo, who by knowing pain after losing her beloved, being rejected by her husband and her brodad, was able to show kindness to the disabled children, and having strength to face the 'cruel' world she lives in.
Then again, Nein is a world fabricated by R.E.V.O., which all come from his own assumptions regarding the horizons created by the “lord”.
I preferred the Marchen Elisabeth, but after getting to know better the Nein Elisabeth, she has become a character that I admire more, albeit in different light.
Michele Malebranche is often seen as a big or great ‘god’ in the world of SH universe. Theories and evidences started and pointed from the Horizon of Zero, as well as her said existence in many horizons.
However, just however.
If Michele Malebranche is considered as the creator of all horizon…
What is Noel Malebranche?
As someone who creates the said ‘god’, what could possibly be his identity besides as a mystery novel writer?
And after thus is a super pretentious thought, but if Interview with Nöel is treated as Revo’s autobiography, and if you ask, ‘why did this guy is named Noel? It can’t be just as simple as just because he’s born near Christmas, right?’
We know of the many depth Revo has. Even when you look at it, even Vanishing Starlight is full with deep meanings and reflections on Japanese culture.
Couldn’t it be
At some point, Revo’s name is indeed is Noel.
The only one who can create such ‘god’ is the sole creator himself. We don’t have enough information on Noel Malebranche besides the fact that he is the writer of the Cage series.
Funny thing is, Revo at some times in the past, when he still often wrote blog entries at his personal website… often identifies himself as a writer, albeit under the name of ‘Kakumei-sensei’…
I don't do thoughts that often, but yeah, this episode is... something.
One thing that interests me most is the expressions of Ozpin, Glynda, and Ironwood. Not every episode they appears they seems to be very troubled. I like the gestures, the use of expressions on their face, it's just seems special compared to the expressions they used so far.
We often see general expressions from smiling, poker face, sad, to comedic ones commonly used by the main characters, but troubled is something we don't see that often, and I think what makes this really interesting is that they used more closed eyes expressions.
As far as I watched RWBY, the characters don't seem to close their eyes so much in talking/interacting. They don't even blink most of the times.
So yeah, I think the staffs are doing really great on using the closed eyes expressions for the troubled expressions we don't see often.
That aside, Zwei is something to be fully wondered. Like, there must be a reason he's there, and I wonder if he's going to play some part in the field trip. Also, I wonder if we're going to see Mr. Tai Yang Xiao Long and Qrow (Rose?) in the end of Volume 2?
And Team CFVY! A bit unfortunate that their screentime is very short, but I hope to see them more in the future, and that little interaction between Velvet and Blake is heartwarming. Something I don't... expect, but it's good.
I saw lots of people already speculating about Oobleck's ability. The girls seems disappointed, somehow. I wonder about his population in school. Seeing his hyperactivity, I wondered if at some point later they'll be separated. Also, will we one day see his eyes?
I guess given the way 95% of the RWBY fandom already knows that Penny isn't a real girl, I can say that for once, that I don't think the producers/animator/story writer makes that the revelation is the big issue for that scene. After all, they are very attentive to the fans and literally stalks us and most of our thoughts in most occasions.
The scene starts with Ruby chasing Penny and wondering why some Atlas soldiers were chasing her, and she protected Penny from her chasers and takes her away immediately. In return, Penny protects Ruby from the truck, which caused various reactions from people (mainly fears) and she ran away again, with Ruby. As for then, Penny's realized that Ruby's probably feeling the same thing after such event, but she is not and is willing to reach out for Penny whatever she is.
The whole point all along is Penny's trust in Ruby or Ruby's willingness to reach out and protect and understand Penny. They've been friends and will always be friends and this scene cemented that.
My only complaint for the opening is that I wish they would be more consistent. I know there must be a reason on why they chose rotoscope (not MMD, people that's Miku-Miku Dance), and that certainly is not for displeasing fans. The animation itself isn't quite bad (I really like the scene where Ayano twirls her scarf around the kids), but like I said, it lacks consistency. Although. I guess what upsets people most is the drawing =))
It gets repaid though (for me), somehow, with the jolly amount of beautiful art. At least if you're an art enthusiast you'll find better things to see with illustrations in Ayaka's notes.
And, the story progresses! That's what most important! We were told information on things we are yet to know, and we get something new that is yet in the manga or novel or PVs.
And regarding with my post about Kenjirou's power, now everything makes sense about him and his power o<-< Poor him, I guess it makes sense why he always feel so sleepy (at least in the novel). He never really went to sleep after all.
Interesting stuffs I picked up from Japanese lyrics
So right now, I am translating the entire single of Halloween to Yoru no Monogatari to my mother language (so far I've done only Hoshi no Kirei na Yoru's translation). Usually, if I translate stuffs, I would only look from the English translation that existed plus tiny weeny bit of Japanese. However, recently I thought, "Hey, since you are a Japanology student, you should check out the Japanese lyric more!"
Turns out, there's a lot of little notes from the original Japanese lyric that I found which weren't written down on some existing translations (the original word written in booklet that is different from the ones being sung).
These stuffs maybe are frivolous, but I'm going to share it anyway!
First of all, I need to say that my primary method of translating was first to translate the whole thing from existing English translations to make things less confusing to me (as I'm still studying Japanese and thus, my ability in Japanese are far from perfect), then to do rechecking to the Japanese lyric (as written in booklet) and made comparison with my own translation. All in all, I am using Defade's translation (all Laurants in the whole world should remember her name and be grateful to her) as my guide. The rechecking was done by me and my fellow Japanology student friend who is a laurant, too, with the help of a certain kanji dictionary, Google Translate, jisho.org and Mecab as well as JParser in Translation Aggregator.
So... here are things that I found interesting in Hoshi no Kirei na Yoru.
星の綺麗な夜
Hoshi no Kirei na Yoru
Starting from the title itself. Since the lesson of adjectives are still fresh in my mind... I'll have to make a little correction for Defade's translation, which is Night of Beautiful Stars.
Kirei (綺麗 - beautiful) in the title, was an adjectives that ties itself to the word yoru (夜 - night) using particle na (な), describing it. So Kirei na Yoru would mean something like Beautiful Night. On the other hand, I guess most of you already knows what does particle no (の) do, it signs ownership and connects noun to noun. In this title, it connects Hoshi to the Kirei na Yoru.
So, in my conclusion... the title... it should be something like this:
Stars of (a) Beautiful Night.
I don't have idea in the slightest bit how this is a big significance, as the lyrics are more inclined to the first idea. However, I'd like to think of this as a play of irony that Revo often pulled on us...
《明白なる天命》
Manifest Destiny
Those word was written in the place of "Manifest Destiny" in many part of the song. It's read as meihaku naru tenmei which means Obvious/Clear/Absolute Destiny/Heavenly mandate. I actually find it interesting that the word for destiny used here is tenmei, instead of the usual unmei like Revo's most previous works.
まさに「パンのあるところに祖国あり」
押し寄せた 移民の群れは 新天地に 夢を賭けた
Masa ni "pan no aru tokoro ni sokoku ari"
Oshiyoseta imin no mure wa, shintenchi ni, yume wo kaketa
Going forward to the unimportant one... there's this word 新天地 (Shintenchi) which actually means something like "new heavenly ground", or I concluded something like "the new paradise". Some translation write it as the "new world". There was strike difference, but I thought new world is a name for the America itself, so it could be a befitting translation(?) I am debating to myself regarding this part.
Then there's this word 《金鉱脈大盤振る舞い》 (kinkoumyaku oobanburumai) which in the song was sung as "gold rush". The entire word actually means something like "lavish feast of gold veins". I am not surprised it's untranslated because this is really confusing as heck and gold rush is a beautiful word already.
Anyway, gold veins is an interesting object to look for in Google especially if you don't have something's that close to the said term in your language.
流れ弾に当たり 膝を砕かれ
まともな職にも就けず 【退役した男】は流浪の酒浸り……
Nagaredama ni atari, hiza wo kudakare
Matomo na shoku ni mo tsukezu, otoko wa rurou no sakebitari...
まともな職 (Matomo na shoku) was translated as decent job, but matomo in itself can also mean honest. So matomo na shoku can be said as a honest job, too. Seamus did not get any decent job after retiring to have enough wages or money (as hinted later), but it probably can also mean he did an unhonest job. I was thinking that his later resemblance to the Fourth Mask also derives from this. The Fourth Mask (Abyss) was doing an unhonest job and he ended stabbed from behind. Was it the same for our nameless man, too?
Also, regarding the word in parentheses 【退役した男】... Those word was sung as otoko, but originally was written as "taiekishita otoko" which means "a man that is retired from military service". The fact that there is word specifically for military service retirement amuses me.
そんな【妹思いな男】にもやがて... 恋人が出来た...
月の様に微笑む... 気立ての良い《女性》...
Sonna otoko nimo yagate... koibito ga dekita...
Tsuki no you ni hohoemu... kidate no ii lady...
In the song where it mentions Diana. She was described as 気立ての良い《女性》 "Kidate no ii <josei/lady>". Kidate in itself means disposition or nature. While I look at the dictionary.com what disposition means it, it appears something like this:
The predominant or prevailing tendency of one's spirits; natural mental and emotional outlook or mood; characteristic attitude
Okay, that point might be clear for everyone, but I'm having a bit problem with the 良い (ii) part. All in all, ii means something like good/fine/pleasant/excellen/agreeable.
So... I'm making a conclusion that: Good disposition/good nature = good hearted
Also, translation to my own language says "kidate no ii josei" means that "a good-hearted woman". Diana, isn't for certain, a noble, unlike what I thought. This might be caused by different choice of word, but the indication whether she is a noble, or even noble-like or not is not clear. Or this is maybe my stupidity because I don't understand what disposition actually means that I jumped to conclusion that she is a noble. orz
こんな悲惨な夜なのに... 星はとても綺麗で...
遠くで無邪気な笑い声...
嗚呼... 今日は《万聖節の前夜》
Konna hisan na yoru nano ni... hoshi wa totemo kirei de...
Tookute mujaki na waraigoe...
Aa... kyou wa Halloween night——
万聖節の前夜 (banseisetsu no zenya) which sung as "Halloween Night" in the song actually means "the night before All Saints' Day" or "the night before All Hallow's Eve". First, All Saint's Day is a day in November 1st which is the second day of Hallowmas procession (Halloween/All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day and All Soul's Day) and is a holy day to honour all the saints and martyrs, both known and unknown. It is a possibility that Revo could mean it as the night before Halloween, but since that is highly unlikely (obviously one would celebrate Halloween on the day of Halloween, no?), I would go with the All Saints' Day.
Why would Revo choose to describe Halloween Night as All Saints' Day? Is there something significant on that day that goes with the whole story? There was saints to remembered, but why? Does it goes with the fact that there was St. Patrick to be remembered? Was Seamus/William reminiscing his origin too, before he passed away? It's still a big mystery to me.
祈りを幾度なく捧げてきたけれど 結局... 「第十の意志」は黙したまま...
Inori wo ikudo naku sasagete kita keredo kekkyoku.... Ten no shu wa moku shita mama...
Finally, there's 第十の意志 (daijyuu no ishi) which sung as ten no shu and translated as "Tenth Will". Unlike what I think all this time, the will (意志 - ishi) here actually means something like will that of intention and determination, not will as in letter you give to people before you die.
I think that is all stuffs I can gather and take note for now. The rest of the stuffs are quite obvious or has been written or mentioned already.
Thank you for reading up till this part! I hope my notes are useful for anyone who reads this. To me, the words I find and make note of, was quite important to me in my process of understanding HalloYoru. I can't say it's the same for everybody else, though.
Just like Revo said, everybody only believes in what they want.
Once again, thank you very much, and don't hesitate to ask or discuss if you have something to share!
Theory revamping and checklist. And beliefs. Mostly my thoughts regarding Hoshi no Kirei na Yoru and our man Seamus/William. I was about to write for the entire album, but I think I'll make a separate post for Asa Made Halloween/Oyasumi Lenny, specifically about Lenny and Kathleen since I made this one a bit long.
Since a lot of my past expectations and speculations regarding this single are going haywire, I'll just... well, do some rechecking and making new theories or speculation.
So, among my past speculations, the ones that are right were regarding Diana (Seamus or William's wife/lover) and her child. At least I were correct about her with noble upbringing and well... Johnny is definitely her child for all of his moon and star stuffs. Also, regarding the kid's activity, I wasn't so wrong with him being so active and has leader/curious/outgoing personality, seeing from how he acts around Lenny and his other friends.
The rest of my theories are just... meh (TOTALLY)... or unconfirmed.
So, new theories that I have weren't really much. Since I'm slow, a lot of people has made their theories and it became what I believe in at least.
Like Seamus/William reincarnates as Lenny and he would 'reach' or 'meet' Diana in place of her late lover by following the Halloween procession, but maybe fails because he's dead (due to his weak body) before reaching her at the night of the Halloween. That's why Lenny and the Night was so close or regarded as one because maybe-- they are actually one individual...
Those are kind of mix between mine and people's, and here comes some personal thoughts. I'd bold some parts that becomes my main point (what follows are just the explanation) so it'll be easier to follow.
I don't know Revo's reason for never telling our Nameless Man his specific name, and thus confusing us by giving two names. However, I kind of believe that our man somehow changed his name during the course of his life. I believe his name originally was Seamus Livermore. It is a common name in Ireland, and if my assumption was right that the one who moved to Ireland was his grandfather, he probably married with a local woman and gave birth to pure Irish descendant, thus the more Irish name. Our man maybe changed his name when he was already in U.S., and shortly before meeting Diana. I believe there is quite a long story as how they meet and eloped (he must be doing something really spectacular as a drunk vagrant to have a noble woman with good upbringing loved him), and during that time, I believed he changed his identity a bit to adjust himself to the American Lady or lifestyle. This is just me, though.
And now... let's go forward.
I can't shake off the thought regarding the part in HoshiYoru regarding the trip on the coffin boat from Irish to America. Translation goes to Defade.
Bearing <Hope>[dreams] in their hearts,
they become [The Second Prisoners][ones never to return]...
Out of 5 people, one of them is…
Gonna have <delusions>[dreams] while high on fever…
And they were gone far away…
I maybe can say that these five people are Seamus/William with people who are not his family. At least I thought so because he left his sister back in Irish, which implies, he still has some of his families back left beside his sister. If the whole family are going to move, her only sister weren't be left behind, right? Unless she is already married, but I assume her marriage is after her brother left, if you look at the timeline.
Also, the dialogue in the background implies that the one he went with resembles a family with a mother and little child, and I can't shake my feeling that their father is in the boat, too.
And on the lyrics, regarding the person who's high on fever, usually when people are having high fever, they tend to hallucinating or having delusions or vivid dreams. I just have this crazy thought about... what if the whole Halloween's story are just that person's dream or delusion? Just like how all stories in 2nd Story, Thanatos, are just the dreams and delusion of the purple haired girl?
Okay, maybe that is just too crazy-- that is a wild thought after all.
So, back to the people on the boat, there was this mysterious man named John who someone made promises to live and flourish together in US but apparently didn't survive. Assuming there's five people in question who are main the highlighted characters while on board, it can be said that there's Seamus/William, the mother, the child, and two other man. Assuming our man is alone, the rest of the four people might be related in some way. Probably the father and the other unknown man are good friends who wished to lived better but didn't survive. It could be Seamus/William's friend too who's dead. Either way who's passed away on the boat, this scene might be just adding much more to our man's life of misery. He may be just witnessing a man or a family losing their friend or father, or maybe he's just losing a dear friend who he made promises too.
Also the line: "And they were gone far away…" somehow implies a more sinister meaning for me. Literally, it can be seen that they were gone far away from their homeland to the New World. But to me, the place they were gone far away means that they are passing away while on the boat. After all, it is said earlier in the lyrics that the tickets they got could also mean liberty or death. The shabby boat and the spreading fever could kill many men or women on board, sending them far away from the world of the living to the world of the death (thus Thanatos being implied there, the people who's on board being his prisoner, never to return from death).
If you think Seamus/William's one of happy "Recollection" or time being able to survive all his long journey from Ireland to America, that is certainly, a true irony.
I won't talk much about the war and the gold rush since everything seems clear on that part, so let's head to the next confusing thing which is--
Whenever the era of frenzied uproar
People never ever stop their steps
Even though they had much contradiction
While he was messed around by severe fate
Where would the man drift to?
When the weak gather, they trample on ones even weaker
No matter how much you [follow the profound meaning of the Third][go with the flow], discrimination is abound
All humans are weak and cowardly, that's why they close their eyes
They don't want to look at [the Ninth Reality][the real world]
It is kind of weird that Revo suddenly decides to ignore our man a bit and talks some sense and what appears to be his deep thinking.
There are two reference here to another horizon, and I hope I can connect them well. One problem is that our 9th Horizon is still inside Revo's head and we can't talk much about it, so I'll make it brief later.
So this part of the song talks about contradiction and discrimination. I don't know much about American history, but from what I can gather, the discrimination talked about in here is regarding the slavery (which is still quite a hot thing on mid 1800s) and from the white men to men of color or maybe, simply immigrants. The white men who thinks they are 'higher' and more civilized gather and steps on the other kind of men, enslaving them, be it immigrants, Indians, or maybe African men. Seamus/William might be another witness, or a victim himself.
What I can connect from the reference to Lost, is that going with the flow is something heavily mentioned in Kioku no Minasoko from the said album. It has message for everyone to keep on going, following the current, despite if one is about to lost or suffer. So, the connection lays there. Even as our man keep on going with the flow, discrimination, darkness, and even all those bad stuffs, are abound. Well, this actually is in relate with what the Boy of Eternal said that:
As long as you want to『Live』
You won’t be able to escape from『Lost』…”
However, later he thought that he doesn't care if he died, so probably, that's how he managed to escape from his 'Lost' as a drunk vagrant?
Oh, and I just remembered that the weak that gathers and trampled can also be related with this
“You know, people subconsciously avoid exposing darkness.
But did you know that darkness, in the absence of light, would only grow gloomier and deeper?"
Both are from Eien no Shounen in Lost.
Now, I have no idea what could be implied with real world and 9th Reality. I kind of hope that the 9th horizon will have something to do with internet, and virtual life, so I won't speak a lot about its connection to our man Seamus/William right now.
So onward our man is having a big hard time because his knee is busted and he can't get a proper job (discrimination in effect?) and he became a drunk vagrant. However, as I said earlier, he might escaped from the 'Lost' due to his unwillingness to live. That is, quite another irony, is it? Nonetheless, he regained back his will because of his cute sister Kathleen.
Now, his meeting with Diana, as I have mentioned far above, is a true, true, true mystery and I hope there will be some explanation later (or let's give it into the hands of pixiv artists or fanfic writers). I was hoping a bit that I can incorporate my own past speculation that he finally secured a fine job for himself and get the lady admire him for it (I wanted Seamus/William to be a writer though).
The fact whether Seamus/William and Diana married already is another mystery, but I assumed they had done it since Diana appears to assume his family name and they lived in the same house.
The connection to Moira and Elysion are quite clear in here, so I won't mention a lot of things. The fact that he was killed here and "DIANA, MOU ICHIDO" also quite clear, I think.
His life was an endless <game show>...
but this is where everything truly begins...
Reading that, what enters my mind is that Marchen should open his revenge service once again and considers to give his service to the poor man.
It was a way to trap*...the woman he wanted a relationship with…
Defade explained in her translation that the original Japanese word used as trap was written in katakana, so it doesn't have a clear meaning and can mean other stuff such as "putting something into".
So... what if our killer "put something into" Diana? Despite the existing baby, who was Johnny's real dad? Why is Johnny blonde but none of his parents has blonde hair? It is a possibility, but I leave that in your imagination.
This is the unknown [Fifth Story][roman]...of the nameless <dying man>...
Seamus....or William....
They're all but tales of the past…
He offered his prayers time and time again,
but in the end…[the Tenth Will][Our lord in Heaven] kept its silence...
He had a somewhat happy [First Recollection][time],
but in the end...nothing good ever comes out of life...
Have you ever wonder why the man was credited as nameless one? One unimportant speculation is that the killer robs him and takes away his wallet with his identity inside (were such thing exists in 1850s?).
Prayers seems to be an important part of the story. Earlier our man was looking to they sky or heaven, and he even mentioned Jesus. What does The Lord in Heaven relate with a will is beyond me, but I speculate it's related to bible or certain divinely object or possession.
It is somehow related with the mention of Chronicle here. The appearance of both in the last verse makes me think that if Revo does intend to end the horizon in the 10th one, there will big connection between the 10th and the 1st Horizon... which is book. The book in Chronicle (2nd) is considered as a sacred and important thing, and if my hunch is correct about bible or sort, it would make the holy book as an important object in itself. Will it be true? Or will it be not? Nobody knows but Revo and God himself.
Now, here I end all of my thoughts and speculation regarding our man. Writing this is taxing and I should've been studying for my midterm test, regardless, I am happy I can releases most of my thoughts into words.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy it, and if you have another thought you want to share, please share it! I'll be happy to talk to you. :')
