current chapter word count: 3664
scene worked on today: Akechi
scene complete? yes!
amount of plot done: 95 %
number of scenes in total: 9
number of scenes really done: 4 - [Ameru 1, Akechi, Yue, TSF]
number of scenes to be tinkered: 4 - [Michiko 1, Ameru 2, Michiko 2, Akiko]
number of scenes with gaps: 0
number of scenes still missing: 1 [Omi]
character live for the first time: Ijyuin Shigetoshi (bonus brownie if you know who he is in the CLAMPverse)
quote of the day: "Not all statutes of limitation are expired yet."
related side-note: It's way too much fun to use obscure MacArthur references in this!
scene worked on today: Akechi
scene complete? yes!
amount of plot done: 95 %
number of scenes in total: 9
number of scenes really done: 4 - [Ameru 1, Akechi, Yue, TSF]
number of scenes to be tinkered: 4 - [Michiko 1, Ameru 2, Michiko 2, Akiko]
number of scenes with gaps: 0
number of scenes still missing: 1 [Omi]
character live for the first time: Ijyuin Shigetoshi (bonus brownie if you know who he is in the CLAMPverse)
quote of the day: "Not all statutes of limitation are expired yet."
related side-note: It's way too much fun to use obscure MacArthur references in this!
Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-17 18:03 (UTC)From:You can also run the importer frequently to keep you journals synchronized. Or you can use the crossposter tool to post simultaneously to all your blogs. It's really convenient. For me, the importer was the final argument to moving, because it allowed to reunite my Livejournal stuff with my Insanejournal stuff back into one journal. Maybe it would be an option for a safety backup, in case something at livejournal goes crazy?
Re: Akechi & Kobayashi. Most likely. It certainly is so in "Man of Many Faces".
Or maybe they didn't take MMF as crossover for X, but CCD, in which Akechi and Kobayashi have no play. And X suffers from character overload anyway.
Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-17 21:02 (UTC)From:But 20M, Duklyon and CLAMP Gakuen are all crossovers of each other their plot crossing in a decent way might I add since some things cross just perfectly so it's kind of silly from them to suddenly uncross them...
*nods* They had really outdone it and I don't really like the idea of crossing a funny/silly series like CLAMP Gakuen with a paranormal drama like X. TB can work since there were Onmyouji and a good dose of realism and social problems but CLAMP Gakuen is a completely different genre...
Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-18 04:27 (UTC)From:Whereas I didn't mind CCD as backdrop of X - they used the location, after all - and under all that sugar-coating there is sound characterization & drama in CCD, but 20M is by far the most sweeted of the three (and Duklyon the most illogical). BUt I admit freely that I'm biased, because the CCD/TBX connection created a "pet peeve" of mine (Seishiro - Nokoru). ;)
Totally different question: Do you know if there's any specific indication for the age of Magami Tooru, Kamui's mother somewhere? I know Tokiko said she left the Magami directly after highschool to get Kamui, but that's only a vague indication. Not everybody gets pregnant easily.
Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-18 21:29 (UTC)From:Uhm... according to my translation Tohru was already pregnant when she left the Magami which would make her born in 1964 (1983-18=1964 with 1983 being the year in which Kamui should have birth and 18 the age in which she should have ended highschool) and therefore be 35. Of course my translation could be wrong but:
Tokiko is born in 1969 because if Tokiko had been Kamui's mother she would have given birth to him when she was 14 (making her a middle school student). Kamui's born in 1983. 1983-14=1969.
Tokiko also said that, when Tohru disappeared she was in middle school (people is in middle school when they're around 13 to around 15) therefore this would mean 35 is a good approximation.
Oh, and all this is in Vol. 3 of X.
Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-19 05:38 (UTC)From:Was Tohru already pregnant _or_ was she determined to get with child? The German and the English lines both alow the second meaning: I bear the child of a man. "To bear" can mean "to give birth", not necessarily that she's already with child.
If there's no other source, then the determining time is Fuma's age. Because Saya is of Tohru's age *and* Fuma's mother. If Tohru is born 1964, so is Saya, and she would have had Fuuma with 16, making Mono Kyogo a pedo who bonged her with fifteen. And I don't see him as the "dirty old priest"-type.
Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-19 15:54 (UTC)From:What I know is that the layout was changed from Hagunsei Senki to X... and it seems the CLAMP Campus original location wasn't Odaiba at least accoriding to a Japanese web. I've been waiting anxiously the translation of Hagunsei Senki from
The Marvel Italian translation goes for a very direct 'I'm pregnant'. I haven't checked the Jades Italian translation yet (yes, for the first 10 chapters we have two translations). I can try to check the Japanese version for you, if you want.
Uhm... Im confused. Fuma's one year older than Kamui since Kamui is Kotori's age. If Tohru was pregnant at 18 (and I assume she just got pregnant since she doesn't look pregnant at all in the pics in which she talks with her sister or in the one in which she is shown with the high school diploma and a high school uniform from a school I never saw before) then shouldn't have Saya being pregnant at 17? Assuming she married at 16 (age of legal marriage for girls) is reasonable she was pregnant by the age of 17 and gave birth to Fuma when she was 18.
And I think it was more Saya that jumped on him since she wanted to be tied to the Togakushi then vice versa... even if he said he loved her...
Also it's said that Saya and Tohru met in high school but it's not sure Saya was her same age since it's never said Saya was older. They could have been 2 years apart (though I always thought of them as of the same age...). Also they could have been in the same schoolyear but being one year apart due one of them being born before April and the other being born after it.
So my guess is that the count is more or less this:
15 (Kamui's age) + 19 (Tohru's approximative age when she finished high school) + 1 (pregnancy time) with a margin of 2 years of error at worst (for the damn thing of born before or after April...).
This because my deciding factor is Tokiko. If Tokiko was 14 when Kamui had birth, she was around 13 when Tohru was pregnant. Since she was still in middle school when Tohru's left the age would fit.
Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-19 18:00 (UTC)From:The German reads "Ich werde ein Kind bekommen." What literally means, "I'll have a baby." and is usually understood as "I'm pregnant." But it doesn't literally say so, it just implies. It could also mean, "I'm not pregnant yet, but I am trying very hard to get pregnant. And I *will* get pregnant, no matter what!" (determination, expressed by not considering the option that it might not work). The English translation is ambiguous in the same way. It can be read literally, or as extremely determined (to make it so).
I'd be interested to learn if the Japanese has a similar double meaning, though. :)
Ooops. I though Fuma was three years older than Kamui. My mistake.
16 is the legal age for girls to marry *with* expressed consent of their family. :)
Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-19 19:51 (UTC)From:20 Mensou was CLAMP's first work (first chap printed in August 1989) and they kept the structure used for CLAMP Gakuen in Shoten as well as Shoten's school uniforms.
Hagunsei Senki is also a very early work (first chapter printed in October 1989) and uniforms as in Shoten.
I don't think they were planning X back then (expecially since they show us Akira lived happily after 1999 ^_^;).
Duklyon was first printed a year later (first chap November 1990) and in it it's shown for the first time the shape of CLAMP Gakuen (first chapter!... but never after it...). It's still a bit early for CLAMP to be planning X however it's possible the first pages showing CLAMP Gakuen and Eri watching the map on the screen are late additions done when the chaptes were collected in a volume (March 1992) and CLAMP were already planning X and decided to place part of its action in CLAMP Gakuen (also, oddly enough the night vision of CLAMP Gakuen gives it a pentagon shape and not a circle shape).
In fact CLAMP Gakuen Tantei Dan (first chap January 1992) enjoys showing the CLAMP gakuen structure and considering X started in May of the same year I can see how they wanted to get readers familiar with it's structure... it was even printed a cool book describing CLAMP Gakuen in details!
Since I'm too curious for my own good:
私はある人の子供を産む
Watashi ha aru nin no kodomo wo umu.
Whom I think can be litterally translated as "I bear the child of a man". The real problem is in Japanese does this let open the two options:
1) I'm pregnant so I'll have a baby
2) I want to have a baby and I'll do it
or just one of the two? And in this case, which one?
I can't help you with this since my Japanese is... well... let's forget about it... -_-
Also it's a weird wording... I mean... of who else she could bear the child if not of a man? But maybe that's a Japanese standard phrase...
Either ways in X with YumeMI telling you what will happen Tohru might have not been pregnant yet but know she would get pregnant that night. Since there seems to be something behind who's Kamui's dad (at least when Tokiko spoke about him I assumed so and CLAMP randomly mentioned something about him in an interview as well) I don't think she picked up random strangers and just tried until she got pregnant.
I'm sure Fuma's one year older than him (or Kotori... who's however the same age as Kamui) but I can't remember where I read it... -_- (according to how I worded it in my timeline it's possible they didn't say he's 16 but that he's at the second year of high school and since Kamui and Kotori are in the first... however he's for sure a high school student so, at worst he's in the third year making it 2 year older than Kamui...)
Well, maybe Saya managed to get the consent of her family... basically X don't talk about them but it's possible they too were gifted people like her or that Kyougo just seemed a better option than have their daughter escape with Tohru... or maybe Saya just seduced poor Kyougo and, after this, the family preferred to let her marry him than face a scandal...
(I don't know why but Saya seemed scaringly determinate to get into Togakushi shrine to me and Kyougo kind of gave me the feeling of a victim despite being older than her... but maybe it's just she's so focused on Tohru... there are rumors that imply Kyougo might have also been Kamui's dad so the poor guy might have just been reduced to a 'sperm donor for the future twin stars'...)
Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-19 20:15 (UTC)From:But Nokoru-Sei is one of the few things with which I full-well ignore canon completely. The dynamics are just *too* tempting.
So, basically the Japanese line is equally ambiguous as the German and the English I know of. So I might have a little bit of leeway there, esp. with respect to the M.D study involving a thesis work and therefore isn't fixed at six years entirely.
To reveal the reason behind all this number-shoveling: If I go with the calculated date of Tohru giving birth to Kamui at 18/19 in 1983, I am basically forced to make Ameru a pedophile to maintain proper time order within the fic. However, if she can be two years older, the issue is less problematic juristically, and I also avoid this "pregnant at the first try", which I just consider "used way too often in fanfics".
Yes, you are right about Fuma's age. I remembered the age difference between him and Kotori wrongly. It's in X-1. Kotori's in the last year of middle-school and Fuma's a highschool freshman.
Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-19 21:00 (UTC)From:I'm not sure if it's ambiguous. Even if the litteral translation sound ambiguous it could be the sentence is said when you're sure (or that my litteral translation isn't good... which is very likely...)
Or have you checked it already with someone who knows Japanese well? *curious, curious*
So I might have a little bit of leeway there, esp. with respect to the M.D study involving a thesis work and therefore isn't fixed at six years entirely.
Wait, wait, you've lost me... which 6 years and whih thesis?
According to my book high school in Japan usually last 3 years and I've never heard of the boys making a thesis but having exams (though on this I might be wrong... I never had to check)... or is it something else?
Is Ameru that older? Here major age is 18 so, even if it's awfully eary, if she got pregnant at 18 it's legally acceptable. Of course the age difference issue can cause an unpleasant reaction from people but nothing else.
As for the margin... it depends mostly from when Tohru and Kamui are born, if before or after April.
Kamui is given as 15 when he's in high school so this could mean he's born before April.
Tohru might have been 18 when she finished high school if she was born after April. If she's born before aril she was 17.
Tokiko should have been in junior high school from when she was 12 to when she was 15 if she was born before April and from when she was 13 to when she was 16 if she was born after April.
Considering she said Kamui had birth when she was 14 and that Tohru told her while she was already in JH, but at the end of the year and assuming Tohru had just found out chances ar she was 13 or 14 already (and Kamui had birth some months before she managed to turn 15).
So the margin is most in making Tohru younger but I doubt it would work to make her older... sorry about this...
I don't like the pregnant at first try either but Kamui kind of gave me the impression of th guy whose birth date was 'already foreordained' and I wouldn't be surprised if his conceivement date was foreordained too...
I guess Fuma too could be the same but I generally don't think Saya knew. Her ability was to foreordain things about Tohru not about herself (unless she foreordained that, if she weren't to switch place with Tohru, it would have been Tohru who would have gotten pregnant that day soshe kind of knew someone had to get pregnant that day...) so I don't think she knew when she was going to get pregnant.
Most of X is about things being foreordained which is why I'm fine with Kamui's mother more or less knowing when she would get pregnant (though I can also figure she might not know the exact day and maybe not even the exact month but make assumptions according to her cicle and Kamui's supposed birthday date...)
Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-20 05:43 (UTC)From:Subaru didn't decline it; afaik he didn't have time to answer before Hokuto declared she doesn't care about the end of the world in 8 years, but about the special sale next weekend" (or something along that line, I don't have the books at work).
Study for becoming a medical doctor. Tokiko is school physician, when she meets Kamui. That means she has to have completed her university time, including writing her thesis (and practical time as an intern in a hospital) in order to become a physician. And then she had to be employed by the school where Fuma, Kotori, and then Kamui go. The minimal time of study for a medical doctor in Japan is 6 years. University times aren't as fixed range as school times, because research & practices can (and often will) take longer.
Tokiko was told in middle school (3 years) when Tohru was finishing junior high school (3 years).
However, I merely asked because I wanted to know if there was another spot in canon where Tohru's age is connected - except what Tokiko set - luckily there isn't so I can wriggle. :)
Actually, the foreordained issue about Kamui's birth is one of the things I like to strain a bit - just to see how determined Destiny is. After all, isn't it unfair that the Twin Star is a year older than he is? If the foreordained had truly worked as it was supposed to, one should assume its timing were more precise! *eg*
Re: JJ here (who somehow can't log in... ;_;)
Date: 2009-05-20 19:53 (UTC)From: (Anonymous)Since there's a girl with hair looking like her, one with hair looking like Nagisa and the teacher's hair looks like their teacher's I think it's her. Back then CLAMP had lot of fun into crossing their characters like that, using them as background characters. You can spot lot of crossover chara (sadly some are of shot stories never translated) in Duklyon and CLAMP Gakuen also playing background sometimes in a very obvious manner sometimes in a more subtle one. It's a habit they kind of conserved even now.
Of course since I guess very few people notice her in that picture you can chose to ignore her.
Subaru didn't decline it; afaik he didn't have time to answer before Hokuto declared she doesn't care about the end of the world in 8 years, but about the special sale next weekend" (or something along that line, I don't have the books at work).
Errata corrige: I was more thinking at the scene in which Subaru denies being 'a warrior' and my mind ended up adding he denies the end of the world *hides in shame*. And yes, it could be he's lying on purpose to hide his role but still my impression is that CLAMP didn't have X in mind when they draw that scene.
Study for becoming a medical doctor. Tokiko is school physician, when she meets Kamui. That means she has to have completed her university time, including writing her thesis (and practical time as an intern in a hospital) in order to become a physician. And then she had to be employed by the school where Fuma, Kotori, and then Kamui go. The minimal time of study for a medical doctor in Japan is 6 years. University times aren't as fixed range as school times, because research & practices can (and often will) take longer.
LOL I've always had the feeling the CLAMP universe is one that defies school time. Not just because Sakura spent apparently 4 years of her life in 4th grade but because Sasaki is only 22 and has a medicine degree and also is a detective.
Actually, the foreordained issue about Kamui's birth is one of the things I like to strain a bit - just to see how determined Destiny is. After all, isn't it unfair that the Twin Star is a year older than he is? If the foreordained had truly worked as it was supposed to, one should assume its timing were more precise! *eg*
Well, CLAMP are really fond of how your birthdate and birthplace ties your destiny. I've no idea why they wanted the TS to be one year older apart from having him playing the big brother figure in the beginning but I don't think destiny cared about fairness about age.
The Chi no Ryu (apart from Fuma) are all adults, Satsuki, the younger, having been turned into an univesity student (according to the drama cd).
The Ten no Ryu are 4 teens and 3 adults... and I assume Subaru's younger than Karen and Seiichiro but, as of now, I can't be sure.
So I don't think age played a deciding factor (also CLAMP loves wonderchildren so they might have thought Fuma and Kamui would be even despite the age difference...)
Re: JJ here (who somehow can't log in... ;_;)
Date: 2009-05-20 20:04 (UTC)From:I think the background character crossovers are a similar matter. Whereas you believe them to be intended crossovers, I see it as using generic character schemes for backgrounds, because it saves them from the work of creating new ones. A lot of mangaka actually do that to some extend.
Sasaki: which is why I consider his official medical degree to be something like a medic assistant. Sometimes I violate canon to come up with plausible working plotlines. When that happens, I'm always guilty as charged and happily so.
I find it more disturbing how Clamp's character dates all circle around 1965, 1983, 1990, 1999... they might have intended it as "destiny" but it just comes across as "simplified math".
Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-20 21:10 (UTC)From:More likely they call it Hitsuzen... which for me means 'The author wants so and the world will bow to his will, no discussions allowed and no explanations needed'
Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-20 21:14 (UTC)From:Re: JJ here
Date: 2009-05-20 21:18 (UTC)From: