Ivory Bridges: Background reading
May. 24th, 2010 12:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandrootI was asked for an entry pointing to particular episodes and issues that have to do with Kazuki and his harem, and contain the necessary background for the forthcoming Getbackers longfic. Here we are!
Kazuki and his style: episode 13 or Return to Infinity Fortress 7-8. (Be aware, there are translation errors in this, Akame is actually of the Western school; this will be important later. Also, warning for Himiko's clothes getting torn off, fortunately not nearly as extensively as usual.)
Kazuki v Juubei: episode 19 or Infinity Fortress 28-32.
Kazuki, Toshiki, Juubei: episode 48 (Note: the plot lead-up diverges a lot from the manga, but the basics are still there.) or Kami no Kijitsu 26-31. (Note: Kazuki has previously been mystically brainwashed by Toshiki, here, that's all the prep you really need.)
The anime ended after this point.
Kazuki's gang Fuuga: Voodoo Child 9-10.
Saizou's introduction: Voodoo Child 13-14.
Saizou's betrayal: Voodoo Child 24.
Saizou and Yohan: Get Back the Lost Time 1.
Kazuki as Prince of Terror: Lost Time 6-7. (Note: This is intercut with Ban and Ginji fighting Yohan's siblings Maiya and Yuuri, and Maiya is the personification of skeezy fanservice; I do use her character, so you may wish to have a look, but go in warned.)
After this, it's all text translations and raw scans. I highly recommend the middle of volume 33 and all of 36, for the pivotal fights between Kazuki and Saizou, and Kazuki and Yohan.
jk's excellent translation of vol 36, which Getbackers Respect does not have.
Yohan is Kazuki's younger brother, who was born with the stigma and apparently had full awareness even in the womb; he's insanely powerful. The stigma was a bad enough omen that their father wanted to have him killed, but their mother pleaded for letting him live among the Kokuchouin (this was not actually much of a favor, if you recall Maiya and Yuuri's backstories). He's bitter, more than a little crazy, and utterly fixated on Kazuki, the heir who had everything he wanted and might have had himself. While he may have initially attacked the main house to free the Kokuchouin from their miserable lot as well as revenge himself, he now feels that the world is nothing but pain and can only be improved by the death of all living things.
Saizou was defeated by Yohan, during the purge of Fuuchouin, and implanted with a black string "seed" at his heart before he escaped. Learning of this when it's activated later, and knowing he could be forced to betray Kazuki, he was about to walk off a roof when Yohan showed up and offered him a chance to save Kazuki and the rest--by defeating them in Yohan's service. If Saizou could do that, Yohan would let them live. Saizou, knowing Yohan's power, didn't think there was any other way to save them and agreed. When he is called back to Kazuki's side for the Queen's Cup he essentially brainwashes the rest of Fuuga, leaving only Kazuki free. He eventually fights Kazuki himself (volume 33, worth looking at even in raw) and is defeated. Even from under the curse seal, though, Sakura's spirit appears to tell Kazuki the truth about Saizou's reasons and the way he is bound to Yohan's will by the black thread, unable to disobey without dying. This means that, to free the rest of Fuuga from Saizou's string-based brainwashing, either Saizou has to die or Yohan must be defeated, freeing Saizou to free them. Knowing this, Saizou rips his own heart out himself, dying, at the last, in Kazuki's service as he wished to.
Kazuki goes on to face Yohan, aided by Juubei on the way (vol 36, really worth looking at). Juubei defeats the captured spirits of the Thirteen Strings, who were first among the Fuuchouin retainers, setting them free. He and Kazuki encounter Maiya and Yuuri next, and, in the end, Kazuki uses a healing technique to cleanse them of their black string "seeds" and declares that, having seen the grief and fear at the heart of Kokuchouin, he will face Yohan with compassion instead of vengeance. Yohan, who is totally off the rails by now, rips out Juubei's heart to make Kazuki berserk and test his resolve to show compassion. Yohan turns out to be stronger than Kazuki, even when enraged, and even counters the Fuuchouin's final technique, learning it instantly simply by seeing Kazuki perform it. Finally, having been told of Yohan's past, Kazuki regains his grip on compassion and performs a technique his mother taught him: the Phoenix, which resonates with the next world, allowing Yohan to perceive the forgiveness of those he's killed in his quest for revenge and annihilation. The experience of kindness and his brother's care erases the stigma and turns him down a different path.
In the end, Yohan stays in the Beltline to rule the Fuuchouin clan with Kazuki's blessing, and we see Kazuki, Juubei and Toshiki out in the city again, poised to move on with their lives. Saizou apparently stays dead, but considering everyone else who comes back to life I have no compunction about re-writing that.
Kazuki and his style: episode 13 or Return to Infinity Fortress 7-8. (Be aware, there are translation errors in this, Akame is actually of the Western school; this will be important later. Also, warning for Himiko's clothes getting torn off, fortunately not nearly as extensively as usual.)
Kazuki v Juubei: episode 19 or Infinity Fortress 28-32.
Kazuki, Toshiki, Juubei: episode 48 (Note: the plot lead-up diverges a lot from the manga, but the basics are still there.) or Kami no Kijitsu 26-31. (Note: Kazuki has previously been mystically brainwashed by Toshiki, here, that's all the prep you really need.)
The anime ended after this point.
Kazuki's gang Fuuga: Voodoo Child 9-10.
Saizou's introduction: Voodoo Child 13-14.
Saizou's betrayal: Voodoo Child 24.
Saizou and Yohan: Get Back the Lost Time 1.
Kazuki as Prince of Terror: Lost Time 6-7. (Note: This is intercut with Ban and Ginji fighting Yohan's siblings Maiya and Yuuri, and Maiya is the personification of skeezy fanservice; I do use her character, so you may wish to have a look, but go in warned.)
After this, it's all text translations and raw scans. I highly recommend the middle of volume 33 and all of 36, for the pivotal fights between Kazuki and Saizou, and Kazuki and Yohan.
jk's excellent translation of vol 36, which Getbackers Respect does not have.Yohan is Kazuki's younger brother, who was born with the stigma and apparently had full awareness even in the womb; he's insanely powerful. The stigma was a bad enough omen that their father wanted to have him killed, but their mother pleaded for letting him live among the Kokuchouin (this was not actually much of a favor, if you recall Maiya and Yuuri's backstories). He's bitter, more than a little crazy, and utterly fixated on Kazuki, the heir who had everything he wanted and might have had himself. While he may have initially attacked the main house to free the Kokuchouin from their miserable lot as well as revenge himself, he now feels that the world is nothing but pain and can only be improved by the death of all living things.
Saizou was defeated by Yohan, during the purge of Fuuchouin, and implanted with a black string "seed" at his heart before he escaped. Learning of this when it's activated later, and knowing he could be forced to betray Kazuki, he was about to walk off a roof when Yohan showed up and offered him a chance to save Kazuki and the rest--by defeating them in Yohan's service. If Saizou could do that, Yohan would let them live. Saizou, knowing Yohan's power, didn't think there was any other way to save them and agreed. When he is called back to Kazuki's side for the Queen's Cup he essentially brainwashes the rest of Fuuga, leaving only Kazuki free. He eventually fights Kazuki himself (volume 33, worth looking at even in raw) and is defeated. Even from under the curse seal, though, Sakura's spirit appears to tell Kazuki the truth about Saizou's reasons and the way he is bound to Yohan's will by the black thread, unable to disobey without dying. This means that, to free the rest of Fuuga from Saizou's string-based brainwashing, either Saizou has to die or Yohan must be defeated, freeing Saizou to free them. Knowing this, Saizou rips his own heart out himself, dying, at the last, in Kazuki's service as he wished to.
Kazuki goes on to face Yohan, aided by Juubei on the way (vol 36, really worth looking at). Juubei defeats the captured spirits of the Thirteen Strings, who were first among the Fuuchouin retainers, setting them free. He and Kazuki encounter Maiya and Yuuri next, and, in the end, Kazuki uses a healing technique to cleanse them of their black string "seeds" and declares that, having seen the grief and fear at the heart of Kokuchouin, he will face Yohan with compassion instead of vengeance. Yohan, who is totally off the rails by now, rips out Juubei's heart to make Kazuki berserk and test his resolve to show compassion. Yohan turns out to be stronger than Kazuki, even when enraged, and even counters the Fuuchouin's final technique, learning it instantly simply by seeing Kazuki perform it. Finally, having been told of Yohan's past, Kazuki regains his grip on compassion and performs a technique his mother taught him: the Phoenix, which resonates with the next world, allowing Yohan to perceive the forgiveness of those he's killed in his quest for revenge and annihilation. The experience of kindness and his brother's care erases the stigma and turns him down a different path.
In the end, Yohan stays in the Beltline to rule the Fuuchouin clan with Kazuki's blessing, and we see Kazuki, Juubei and Toshiki out in the city again, poised to move on with their lives. Saizou apparently stays dead, but considering everyone else who comes back to life I have no compunction about re-writing that.
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Date: 2010-05-24 06:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-24 07:15 pm (UTC)