(no subject)

[rachelmanija]

I recount this exchange between me and Oyce the other night because she wanted it preserved for posterity. It is especially apropos in light of the bewilderment (mostly mine and Oyce's) going on the comments to the Fairy Cube post. The thing with Yuki Kaori plots is that they're so insane, complex, and insanely complex that even if you understand them at the time, it's hard to get them to stick in your mind later.



Oyce: I have no idea what happened at the end of Angel Sanctuary!

Me: Setsuna and Sara had an incestuous happy ever after...

Oyce: I mean apart from that.

Me: The flying cannibal zombie angel embryo army was destroyed. I think they might have turned into feathers? Maybe I hallucinated that. Or maybe there were feathers, but they were metaphoric. And I think Lucifer killed God.

Oyce: But what happened to Lucifer and Alexiel?! They're the ones I really cared about! Were they OK?!

Me: Oh, I'm sure they were! It's a Yuki Kaori happy ever after!

Oyce: You can't count on that... Look at the end of Godchild.

Me: Well, yeah, but they're Lucifer and Alexiel. I'm sure they were okay! They're immortal! Whereas Cain and Riff were mortal men. Um. Except for Riff. I think.

Comments

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I'm just confused by how Alexiel appears to be flying off even though Setsuna is right there. Weren't they supposed to be the same person?

[oyceter]

Minor details are insignificant in the face of zombie angel embryos!

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I guess I should be grateful she did definitively establish the fate of the Earth, unlike this one paranormal/futuristic romance I read sometime in the 80s.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

*blinds self to Godchild spoilers*

I am positive that both Lucifer/Alexiel and Setsuna/Sara were able to be together. I think the Setsuna/Alexiel personas somehow managed to separate themselves during the final showdown.

Re: God. I think Lucifer kept attacking him until his deenses were worn down enough that Setsuna could take him out with Nanatsusaya.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

This is why, even though I recall reading Angel Sanctuary in chunks before it was licensed, it was still like I hadn't when I read meganbmoore's posts.

[oyceter]

I know, that's the best part! You can be totally spoiled and still have the experience of reading it like it was the first time.

There was one point in which I reread volume 17 and realized I had completely forgotten about Setsuna losing an eye. Of course, this was explained as two chapters later, the eye loss was vastly overshadowed by the appearance of a monster angel eyeball. Or maybe wings covered with eyeballs. Or something.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I have just debuted a new tag on this post in honor of this comment, which reminded me that I had not only forgotten that he lost an eye, but that he lost a wing as well.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I know! I remember on my first reread I realized I had completely forgotten the part about the armada of zombie angel embryos sent to destroy the earth!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

...

I only finished the series a few weeks ago, and I forgot they were sent to destroy Earth.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I still can't remember why they were sent to destroy Earth. Or who sent them, for that matter? Sevothtarte? Rosiel? God?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Probably God.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

"Probably God" is now one of my favorite comments of all time.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

But not "Riding flying whales"?

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

It doesn't have the same universal applicability.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Excellent point.

[oyceter]

I think it might have been Sandalphon, Metatron's evil twin who manifested himself as a giant zombie eyeball and/or a bazillion blinking eyes on wings?

[oyceter]

Oh! And I always forget about the part where Setsuna and Sara board the giant flying whale!

... actually, now I am not so sure that actually happened. Maybe it is the product of my fevered imagination.

Also, Rachel, you will like this: the Google ads in Gmail show ads for "Preserved Cow Eyes: In stock and ready to ship."

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

No, there is definitely a melodramatic parting involving a flying whale. Wait, I think there's a rescue, and then there's a parting, involving Sara's realization that people besides Setsuna exist and maybe she shouldn't have abandoned her maid Lily to be tortured and abused by Rosiel and Sevotharte when she escaped.

[oyceter]

I actually remember that scene! Much like I remember zombie angels munching on lovingly offered sacrificial shoulders!

... for some reason, I just did not remember that it took place upon a flying whale.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I think Sara jumps off the flying whale onto a floating asteroid.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think only Setsuna was riding the giant flying whale, and the whales were going to Sara because she was Jibril, and in charge of water. Except that those whales didn't live in water...

Sara was with Zaphikel while Setsuna was raiding Sevothtarte's place looking for her, after dumping Zaphikel because he wasn't being fast enough on the Sara rescuing front.

Yeah. I know.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

"Preserved Cow Eyes: In stock and ready to ship."

a) Holy shit. Where is the demand here?

and b) I'm really beginning to be glad I never read Angel Sanctuary. I may have stopped breathing when Cesare tore off his crystal demonic wings. This would just be too much for me.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Nnnnnnnnnoooooooo! You want to read Angel Sanctuary! You do! I look at Cantarella as my warm up for the genre.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry! Hard as it may be to believe, some things are just too weird for me.

[snarp]

High school kids dissect them for biology class.

I have never gotten all the way through Angel Sanctuary, yet feel no compunction about reading these spoilers. I can't remember anything that happened in Godchild, and I've read it at least twice; so I imagine knowing this stuff will not affect me if I ever read it. Somehow, Kaori Yuki plots don't adhere well to the general brainish area.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

Your first line's reasonableness about the cow eyes sets up a tension with this general comment thread that resolves everything all nicely in my mind.

High school science students dissect them.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

You can be totally spoiled and still have the experience of reading it like it was the first time.

Ha ha ha ha ha!

[re-weird.livejournal.com]

Not knowing the manga at all and reading these comments is one of the most bizarre experiences ever. (How can you forget boarding flying giant whales? Or...zombie angel embryos?! How does that even work?)

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Because so much other stuff is going on that's even crazier.

[re-weird.livejournal.com]

I really want to know where Kaori Yuki gets all her drugs; they must be of exceedingly high quality. (Even crazier?)

[oyceter]

It may sound like we are exaggerating, but it's really true! I was seriously like, "How could I have forgotten about tragic eye loss? Or wing loss? Or a giant flying whale?" and then the next chapter would have zombie angel eyeballs floating around (probably the size of the flying whale) and I would get distracted all over again!

And we are not even mentioning how Lucifer is a sword and the hero's best friend and the hero is actually a woman reincarnated and the zombie angel shoulder munching of Pure True Love and the brain eating and the possible cannibal software or the Mad Hatter or the girl who is a doll and the boy who is a plant.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

...I had totally forgotten the cannibal software, the doll, and the plant.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think Doll was technically a plant, too, since Uriel created both her and Kato's bodies.

No, wait, her body died because Uriel was a moron and forgot to wind her up so she had to jump to a new one at the end.

Never mind me.

[shati.livejournal.com]

Isn't the girl who's a doll turned into a flying rodent by the end? I mean, she could be a flying rodent doll, but still, I feel it's worth noting.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yes she is. Because Uriel forgot to wind her up*, so her body literally wound down and she had to jump to another one. Thus cementing Uriel as a moron in my head for all eternity.

*Ok, fine. So he was busy leading the rebellion in Heaven or some such. No excuse!

[fourthage.livejournal.com]

I really need to read Angel Sanctuary someday.