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snarpThis is the last and longest of the three posts that went up on Minekura's blog on April 1st. As before, things I wasn't sure of are in gray text.
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* I think that "Kourou Tengi" translates to something like "Divine Jest of the Red Chamber." (That phrase causes me physical pain; I really doubt it sounds that awkward in Japanese.) "Kourou" (『紅楼』) is "Red Chamber," The Dream of the Red Chamber being one of the Four Classics of Chinese literature. (The Journey to the West, on which Saiyuki is based, is another of the four.) "Tengi" is a compound of the characters for "heaven" (ten) and "fooling around" (gi).
Google Translate gives you "heaven foreplay" for this, incidentally. I regret to inform you that this is not correct.
(The Dream of the Red Chamber is kind of like a Georgette Heyer novel, except that 1) the quirky aristocratic family with declining fortunes fails to reverse the decline, 2) people die, 3) people have sex, and 4) some of the sex is gay. Though if I recall correctly, the author did not wish to encourage that sort of thing.
Also, it has a fantasy frame story involving a misbehaving stone from heaven reincarnated as a human being, who also misbehaves. You may find this idea familiar! The protagonist is, unfortunately, much more sympathetic as a rock than as a person. And this is not merely my own opinion! My college Chinese lit teacher talks about these things for a living, and he agrees, so clearly the sentiment is objectively true. (Among his other words of wisdom regarding the Four Classics: "Water Margin is the best one, because a drunk man fights a tiger."))
Recent work round-up.
Zero Sum Special Edition WARD #20 is on sale now, and my new illustration series "Saiyuki - Dice of Destiny" has started. For this project, I just rolled some dice with a character name, location, and action, and drew whatever came up. It's a completely ridiculous project. I drew it totally seriously, though. (laugh) Characters from all of the Saiyuki series could come up together, so you're always expecting something really weird to come up - it's pretty chaotic. But I'm really enjoying drawing it, so please check it out. We're also taking suggestions for dice faces.
The new WARD also comes with a Saiyuki Gaiden OVA commemorative pamphlet, "Feast of Flowers" (Hana no En). I illustrated the cover and did four interior illustrations. Each character gets a private shot. Kenren's room is finally revealed. (laugh) I worked hard on them, so please take a look. And watch the OVA, too!
The May issue of Monthly Zero Sum is also on sale now. Another new illustration series, "Saiyuki - Twelve Seasons" begins in it. Unlike WARD, these are normal pictures. They're basically calendar pictures. Each issue the theme will be the month. For instance, for May, the theme is carp streamers. Like in the other one, characters from all of the Saiyuki series will be appearing. ...by the way, I keep getting all the magazine titles wrong.
This month will be my Zero Sum nine year anniversary, so the bonus package will have two Saiyuki Reload Blast bonus cards. (See the sample above.) Remember I've got two series running here at once. I've also done some autographs for the drawing. ...They're doing so much for the anniversary, but my manga are all on hiatus - it's really embarrassing. I'll have to do my best to be back for the next anniversary.
I mentioned this before, but you can now mail-order volume 5 of the Saiyuki Gaiden drama CD from Zero Sum and WARD. The details are here. I can't write about it here, but i includes a mini-drama that I wrote. It's a comedy about three adults.
There's also an announcement regarding Zero Sum: The online magazine Zero Sum Online will be launching in May. It's going to be free to read. I did a picture for the announcement, and my first serial novel is also going to be published there. The title will be Saiyuki Crossroaders - it'll be side stories based on the original Saiyuki series, with illustrations, but I'll basically just be going wild with it. (bitter laugh) It's about the Sanzo-Ikkou's journey, of course. I'll say more soon. Oh, it'll be coming out once a month. The first chapter is already set to go, but somehow a novel feels a lot more serious than a manga...
...And that about covers all that.
The Saiyuki original novel, Saiyuki: Kourou Tengi*, will be out April 26th. The author is Yukiko Uozumi, whose work also appears in the Saiyuki Omnibus. The characters are so much themselves that you won't remember I wasn't the author. I did the cover art and illustrations; please pick it up!
(<- This picture was cut from Gaiden CD part five.)
...And now, a quick rundown of things being released soon. Shinshokan will be putting out the wings June edition on April 28th, in which I'll have an illustration series starting. The first one is a double-sided pinup. It's been a while since I've done anything for wings - it feels like it's the same Shinshokan and the same work, but a slightly changed madwoman. (laugh) Please enjoy it.
From the wings novel collection, I'm doing the illustrations for a series called Hard Luck. This is a work by Akira Sugano that's been going on for more than ten years, and is finally all being collected in paperback - I'm responsible for the design. Volumes one and two will come out simultaneously in May, and further volumes will be released every two months afterwards. I'll post more information later.
...I'm actually a big fan of the series, so when I heard about the possibility just after surgery, I was kind of floating. I'm doing the same now, writing this. (laugh) It's a wonderful series with charming characters, so I've been trying my hardest to do it justice.
Information about the OVA release and plans is in the post below, so please take a look at it.
I've been doing my best to keep working and not end up leaving a gap here, but my health still isn't great, and I don't want to end up just posting annoying stuff here. Thanks to the help from the magazine and anime staff, Ashi-san and company, my family, and my readers, I'm getting it together. When the gong rings again and I get back into the ring, I want to do it with both my feet firm on the ground. ...I know, that sounds awful. (bitter laugh)
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* I think that "Kourou Tengi" translates to something like "Divine Jest of the Red Chamber." (That phrase causes me physical pain; I really doubt it sounds that awkward in Japanese.) "Kourou" (『紅楼』) is "Red Chamber," The Dream of the Red Chamber being one of the Four Classics of Chinese literature. (The Journey to the West, on which Saiyuki is based, is another of the four.) "Tengi" is a compound of the characters for "heaven" (ten) and "fooling around" (gi).
Google Translate gives you "heaven foreplay" for this, incidentally. I regret to inform you that this is not correct.
(The Dream of the Red Chamber is kind of like a Georgette Heyer novel, except that 1) the quirky aristocratic family with declining fortunes fails to reverse the decline, 2) people die, 3) people have sex, and 4) some of the sex is gay. Though if I recall correctly, the author did not wish to encourage that sort of thing.
Also, it has a fantasy frame story involving a misbehaving stone from heaven reincarnated as a human being, who also misbehaves. You may find this idea familiar! The protagonist is, unfortunately, much more sympathetic as a rock than as a person. And this is not merely my own opinion! My college Chinese lit teacher talks about these things for a living, and he agrees, so clearly the sentiment is objectively true. (Among his other words of wisdom regarding the Four Classics: "Water Margin is the best one, because a drunk man fights a tiger."))
no subject
Date: 2011-04-22 06:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-22 12:00 pm (UTC)Thanks so much for this!
The one downside of her blogging about putting out new stuff is that with Tokyopop's demise, I'm thinking now we'll never ever see any of this in English!!!.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-24 03:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-24 05:22 am (UTC)