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#Post#: 5--------------------------------------------------
Relationships between ShiSafu and NezuShi concerning the Japanes
e society
By: Ahiku Date: April 18, 2014, 6:02 pm
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Knowledge is power
The Japanese educational system is one of the most efficient and
successful among the industrialized countries. Ever since the
Meiji period (1868-1912) education paved the way for security,
influence and a top position. Otherwise there is the risk of
developing an education-orientated mass society where even
children are harshly competitive, despite the fact that Japanese
children also experience an excellent character education in
school. Even in kindergarten (“yōchien”) and elementary
school (“shōgakkō”) they learn how to be in harmony,
teamwork and obedience. They are respectful towards their
teachers and classmates and learn how to work very disciplined.
Education is money
There is an elite educational system in Japan - elite
universities, high schools, even elementary schools and
kindergartens. Elite schools collect the academic crème de la
crème and send the majority of its graduates to top national
universities like Todai, Waseda or Keiō Daigaku. Those
schools select their students through rigorous entrance
examinations and cost a hilarious amount of money. So – if you
want to be elite, you have to pay for it. And you have to learn.
Not to mention the pressure for those children… There are a lot
of tutoring schools (“juku”) and those are not mainly for those
who are too stupid and need a little bit more attention. No,
they are for those who are already good but want to be part of
an elite school or another very good educational establishment.
So the good ones become better and those who are weak fall by
the wayside.
Especially when they are weak and poor… I’m not quite sure about
this part – but I think I remember that there aren’t that many
scholarships and stuff like that. Most of Japanese people I know
work part time besides their studies so they can afford going to
university.
No. 6’s elite system
The Japanese educational system really reminds me of No. 6’s. I
guess the only big difference is the welfare program. They don’t
have to pay and the kids enable their families to live in
absolute security and prosperity. As a quid pro quo the city
facilitates values or better to say it brainwashes even the
smallest ones so that they grow into responsible, functioning
adults with a ready-made way of thinking for the interest of No.
6’s society. No wonder those No. 6 genius children are so weird
– they must be pretty pressured as well. Maybe even in the same
way real Japanese children are… I guess they also have to
perform brilliant scholastic achievements to earn welfare for
their families. And it’s even hard enough if you don’t want to
disappoint your parents, who spent their whole life to save
enough money for your elite education like in Japan, it’s even
worse. It’s their (and their families) basis of existence. Karan
didn’t seem to work when they lived in Chronos and just was
there to look after Shion when he wasn’t in school. She raised
him like the city wanted it, like reminding him to read the
message he got from the city. (The one about VC-Nezumi!) Well, I
guess there are other families with working parents (in top
positions) in Chronos, but we just have Safu’s and Shion’s
example. Shion and his unemployed (and pretty bored) single
mother (but she’s like a normal Japanese mother, staying home
while her child is still young…) and Safu and her grandma who’s
obviously too old to work and maybe just allowed to live so that
she can babysit our cute little Safu while she’s not in school.
So No. 6’s strange welfare system may be used as leverage. “Do
as we please and we will give you and your family a secure
existence. If you don’t you won’t get welfare anymore!” – like
it happened to Shion and Karan. Well, pretty strange city. It’s
just like: Oh, you’re homeless now? Well, though shit! There’s
no welfare program for actual poor people. I really wonder where
they stayed after they had to leave Chronos at a moment’s
notice.
Okay. That’s another story. Just let’s go back to the education
system once more. Like I said earlier there’s a risk of
developing an education-orientated mass society where even
children are harshly competitive is pretty high, even if they
got a pretty good character education. Just look at those manga
pages:
HTML https://31.media.tumblr.com/934823c2a8c00fc3cf256b2b65179290/tumblr_inline_mz5be29IkH1styxai.jpg
[quote]“Safu was often laughed at by classmates for them (her
clothes). Even though they were in the same Elite curriculum,
the kids would find any small difference and mock or put others
down because of it. The hand-knitted scarves and sweaters she
wore became a target of ridicule. […] No one understood what
consideration for others was, or anything about people’s souls,
or people’s dignity. It was because they had never learned about
it. Everyone thought they were the chosen ones. The chosen ones
were permitted to do anything. People belonged to classes: the
chosen ones, and those who were not. Apart from an enormous
amount of theoretical knowledge, in the classrooms which were
outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment, that was all they had
learned.” – Volume 2, chapter 4[/quote]
This is another thing you can compare to the Japanese school
system. There’s this kind of bullying called “ijime”. Because of
the pressure imposed by school, family and society some of the
students search something like a compensating valve. So, like
you know in many parts of the West, intelligent children are
kind of nerds and get bullied, but Japan is filled with smart
kids who think that due to their intellectual abilities or rich
parents their lives are somehow more valuable. And they are
going pretty far; it’s the primary cause for suicide amongst
children in Japan, even really small children, like 10 years old
or younger. I could write pages just about this topic… So it’s
just a remark concerning “ijime” and No. 6, because it’s also
there, even if it’s not that stark like in real Japan.
[quote]“But Shion was different. He knew to treat others with as
much respect as he treated himself. He put himself neither above
nor below others. He was an oddity. That was how Safu had felt
about him.“ – Volume 2, chapter 4[/quote]
Yes, Shion is different. But he’s not way too different. This
kind of education system provokes selfishness and encourages
unsocial behaviors. Shion’s also like this, even after losing
his elite status.
[quote]“The other reason was that because his job dealt mostly
with machines, he didn’t have to talk to people.” – Volume 1,
chapter 2[/quote]
So in my opinion Safu is putting Shion on a pedestrian, because
she’s in love with him. Well, okay! He IS a good boy. He’s
gentle, calm and nice to everybody. It’s just part of his
personality, but he’s not particularly close to another human,
expect for his mother and later Nezumi and Inukashi. But that’s
another story.
Shion’s and Safu’s relationship
Recently I talked a lot about their relationship with Yuneyn, so
following lines conclude a lot of points we’ve discussed about
this topic.
Against the statement that Shion and Safu are close friends, it
just doesn’t really seem like that. Or better to say, Safu is
probably a better friend to Shion than he was to her, if he
really saw her as a friend before he thought about it because of
her awkward sperm-question.
I suppose she fell in love when Shion complimented her sweater.
In the manga it’s shortly after those kids bullied them because
they were allowed to enter the gifted curriculum, in the novel
Safu didn’t really remember when it was, but I guess they were
also about 11 years old.
The question is: Where they already “friends” before Shion
complemented Safu?
Safu always knew that he wasn’t like the other children, that he
was special. But I guess they weren’t like normal friends –
meeting after school and playing together, hanging out and stuff
like that. I must admit that they seem closer in the anime,
because there is Shion’s awkward birthday scene that never
happened to be in the novel or manga.
Well it was pretty strange – Safu invited Shion to her home,
baked a birthday cake for him and her grandma made him a pretty
ugly sweater. Oh my god, I love the little sound he’s making
when he holds this sweater in his hand and his face in this
moment. XD It’s just like: “Oh my god, this thing is incredibly
ugly! Helloooo? I’m a boy! Geez! Why is this purple, do you want
to tell me I’m gay? And why do I have to celebrate with you and
your grandma? Come on!” But he’s a pretty nice boy, so he’s good
and gives thanks to them, although he’d rather run outside to
enjoy the hurricane. Hey – which 12year old boy doesn’t dream of
celebrating his birthday like that? X’D But at least Safu and
Shion seem to be more like actual friends in this way. She’s
even giving him a kiss on his cheek, showing her early maturity
and that she’s in love with him and Shion’s like a normal boy,
telling her that this is just like his mom’s kisses. (OMG, poor
Safu! XD He’s so stupid, really!) But yes, it’s a part of the
anime I really enjoyed, because I can understand their
friendship way better than in the novel or manga. They are just
pretty reserved there. I really don’t see their oh-so-close
relationship.
HTML https://31.media.tumblr.com/eebee29b44eb7d4b94b2b49d7ed201f9/tumblr_inline_mz5bia58cQ1styxai.jpg
Here! In the anime she even cleans his pants! So her love
confession doesn’t come out of nowhere like in the manga or
novel. But well, that’s maybe another point where the anime gets
the novel wrong. So in the original series they aren’t like
that. They aren’t that close. There’s no body contact between
those two. (Although Shion says something about her shoulders
when he’s comforting Inukashi, but well, nobody knows if he’s
ever touched them…)
Their shyness concerning body contact is another thing you can
compare to the Japanese society. In Japan, it’s pretty rare to
see people touching each other in public. Some young couples are
holding hands… well, yeah. When I visited Japan it was my
friends little research theme, so we really paid attention to
the behavior of Japanese couples in public. But apart from
holding hands there was nothing, no guy stroking a girl’s back,
no hugging and of course no kissing. It’s maybe okay for girls
to hug each other, or grab each other’s arms and stuff like that
and maybe there are exceptions, but mostly they don’t just do
it. It’s like I experienced it back then. So if you consider
them to be pretty Japanese in No. 6, they seem all right. It’s
alright for Shion not to hug Safu before she’s leaving for 2
years and tell her good-bye properly. (Yeah, I also experienced
this back then. We parted because we had to take another train
and our Japanese friends just walked away without saying good
bye…) But still I guess even Japanese people should say good bye
to a “very close” friend properly when this friend is about to
leave for 2 years. Same for No. 6’s children…
Safu and Shion didn’t seem to have that much contact after Shion
and Karan had to leave Chronos. Maybe they called each other
from time to time, because Shion mentioned in the novel that
Safu once told him she also didn’t like to pledge allegiance
towards the city in her institution. So I guess they talked from
time to time, but they didn’t meet that often.
Yuneyn noticed something pretty strange: Safu asked after four
years why Shion had to leave Chronos. Even Shion asks her why
she’s asking that late, as if the author herself thinks that
it’s a pretty odd question. Plus, it’s a bit one-sided, but
maybe it’s not Shion’s fault. I suppose he’s not allowed to
enter Chronos anymore, but at least Safu can visit him. But they
just meet in a coffee shop; he doesn’t bring her home, although
I’m pretty sure that Karan would love to spent time with Safu,
especially when she’s lost her parents at a young age.
[quote] "It has. How many years has it been now? You’ve grown so
beautiful. I was so surprised.” […] After Karan and Shion had
been banished from Chronos, Safu was the one classmate that
continued to treat Shion as she had before. She had also come to
this store once.” – Volume 2, chapter 4[/quote]
So she visited Shion’s new home once in four years. Yeah – they
are pretty close. And she even knows it herself:
[quote]“But Shion for the most part, had not even been looking
at Safu. His soul had been captured by something else, and he
had forgotten about her. For the first time, she had seen this
calm and serene boy of few words being ruffled right before her
eyes.” – Volume 2, chapter 4[/quote]
I really have the feeling that their relationship is one-sided,
and that Safu has to try hard to keep in contact with this boy.
And she never had a chance at all.
Young Shion’s and young Nezumi’s relationship
They’ve just met for one single night – a few hours and they
slept most of them. And still they are closer than Safu and
Shion after spending several years together.
Shion never met anyone before who was that direct and instantly
within a touching distance.
So it was like a completely new world. Even if Nezumi’s a bit
violent first, they ended up hugging each other the whole night.
I guess Shion gave him what he needed most in this situation,
even if Nezumi was the one who initiated their embrace. So Rou
and Gran didn’t manage to kill every feeling within this child,
even after enduring so much horror. God, he’s a child and he’s
so hurt and confused and he nearly was about to die and give up
just moments ago. But then he could calmly sleep in Shion’s
arms, protected. It’s so heart-warming I want to start crying
right now.
No wonder it was such a big deal for him, being treated like a
valuable human being. It was like a miracle and he knew that
Shion was fully aware of the consequences. Shion touched him
very much and who knows what he thinks about how deep the dept
is that he owes to Shion after that night.
They both fascinated each other and Shion was really in love
with him after that night. I guess he said it himself in the
book that Nezumi had stolen his heart… And he sighed and thought
about him the whole time just like a normal child. XD
I think both of them fell in love with each other in this
particular night. It’s a tiny love and it’s very vague in the
beginning. It has to endure a lot of hard things. But it also
wants to grow and it grows a lot in the whole series. Of course
they have to figure things out… and of course it’s a million
times harder for Nezumi to do so and it’s absolutely legit that
he’s not done with it after the end of the series. He didn’t
have that much time to think about it anyway – they just had way
too many other things to do. But that doesn’t mean that he
didn’t change at all, I mean he is afraid of losing Shion, he
even cries because of him, he cares for him so much and from the
beginning he’s nearly always the one who’s touching Shion, like
caressing his hair, tracing his scar, holding his hand, hugging
him, even if it’s playfully, protecting him, teaching him,
punishing him… He punishes him because he likes him, because he
was afraid and deeply hurt! Ok, it’s not nice that he beat him
up and that he used violence against him, but he’s also just
scared and Shion’s able to fight back. He’s also hitting him.
They’re boys after all. It’s not like they’re dying because of a
little scuffle…^^°
I guess it’s even a nice experience for Shion. He lived in some
kind of matriarchy and had a lack of male caregivers. So Nezumi
is the first. He’s harsh but still caring. It’s really confusing
but it’s also interesting. Although I never believed that Nezumi
really would be able to kill Shion or he really thought of him
as his enemy. He’s already way too protective…even in the novel.
Right after the “nose biting scene”, even before Shion’s
transformation they quarrel and after they crash against one of
the bookshelves the first thing Nezumi does is to ask Shion if
he’s alright. Oh yeah, I also ask my enemies if they’re alright
after trying to hurt them. LOL! And he’s stroking his hair right
after Shion nearly died… I don’t think normal guys would do
something like that. XD So I guess he already likes him more
than he thinks. I mean it happens pretty often that he is really
lovingly when it comes to Shion.
And he doesn’t seem to realize it. I don’t think he’s like that
to every other person as well. So he definitely likes to touch
him, even when they barely know each other. So no way he’d be
able to kill him, I just see growing love. XD He’s struggling a
lot but the feeling is still growing. And even if he’s a bit
violent once in a time, Shion seems to be okay with it… I guess
Shion doesn’t want to be handled with kid gloves anyway. Apropos
handle – I really like the way Shion is able to handle Nezumi.
He’s just absolutely okay with the way Nezumi is, he doesn’t try
to change him and he just confuses him from time to time. XD
He’s a pretty tough and impressive character.
Now, let me get back to Safu. Like I said, she had no chance at
all. She never had.
[quote] “Safu was dear to him. She was precious to him. But it
was different from the amorous sense ― it was more serene,
more deeply connected. He loved her like family, like a close
friend. Whatever kind of love it was made no change to the fact
that he cared about her.” – Volume 3, chapter 5 [/quote]
Well, too late, huh? I’m not really sure if she really was that
precious to him. With the benefit of hindsight I just can see
that he didn’t really care for her and that he must have a bad
conscience because she’s gone. Or maybe he realized it too late
that he should have valued her more. Those lines are more like
an excuse to his own conscience, that he really loved her and
that they were close friends. And that she was dear to him. I
think he also would have gone to the Correctional Facility
without Safu being captured in there, just to accompany Nezumi
and to help No. 6. Fact is that he got over Safu’s death way too
quickly. Okay, maybe he cried afterwards, it’s not that we had
knowledge about everything in the novel…
I just hope he really cherished her and not just because he felt
guilty.
With that I want to finish telling you my two cents concerning
this topic. Gosh, I wrote way too much! I’m sorry if there are
any mistakes in it, I’m no native English speaker and I’ve never
tried to analyze something in English like that. Hehe! :D
The quotes are from the amazing 9th ave translation, of course!
^^
HTML http://9th-ave.blogspot.de/p/no-6.html
#Post#: 63--------------------------------------------------
Re: Relationships between ShiSafu and NezuShi concerning the Jap
anese society
By: listenforthelove Date: May 12, 2014, 4:44 am
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Interesting points you make there, especially with the
comparisons to Japanese society! You're right, it's absolutely
reminiscent of the Japanese educational system. I wonder if it's
intentional (if No. 6 is where Japan once was - I don't think
any countries we know were mentioned save for the UK in the
anime? But correct me if I'm wrong here), or if it's because of
Asano writing from her own cultural background. It's a little
hard to tell. Or maybe it's both, as a commentary on the real
situation.
You're right, there's a very distinct lack of interaction
between Safu and Shion, though of course we see them through
each other's eyes rather than omniscient view, colouring the
image a bit. Safu can only think about Shion because she's in
love with him and is worried for him, but Shion has got other
things on his mind for most of the time, like I don't know,
trying not to die. Though it IS very interesting how worked up
he gets at the thought of Nezumi being around, even four years
later, after just the one night. ([s]I silently wonder just how
often he's freaked out before, thinking Nezumi might be
around.[/s])
I guess Safu and Shion mostly kept in touch via phone or
internet, rather than meeting up in person a lot, likely because
they were busy and living in other sides of the city, though
it's still strange that Karan has not even seen her in four
years. Maybe Safu wasn't really allowed to go there, hence them
meeting up elsewhere? She had to be home again before curfew
after all, so maybe they just didn't have a lot of time to meet
up in person after school and work. Hm, though I just searched
for Safu in volume 3 and realized that Karan is going to visit
her house in Chronos, so you'd think Safu would be allowed in
Lost Town in return.
As for Safu only asking after four years just why Shion didn't
enter the special course, I chalked it up as a combination of
need for exposition and Safu probably figuring back then that it
was something he didn't want to talk about (or even couldn't).
But you're right, it's odd it takes her four years. Maybe she
asked before and never got an answer, but only now decides to
persevere until she gets one because she figures it's been long
enough?
Shion, to me, seems to regard her more like family, like he says
- someone who's been around for forever and will always be
around, even if you don't talk to them very often. That doesn't
mean he loves her as less than a very good friend, but it's more
like he's taking her presence in his life for granted, a
relationship you don't really have to work at because you're
already connected. They've been around each other since the age
of two, after all. His reaction when he finds her coat is
genuine, and I don't think it's just guilt - he's already upset
before he realizes all the implications.
But it's pretty hard to judge their relationship in the novels
at least, because we see so little of their time together there
compared to the rest of the story, and Shion is pretty
preoccupied in the moments we see from his perspective (like
dead bodies on his mind, always fun stuff). I do think the fact
that they've known each other since they were two comes into
play here. Nezumi was different: Shion met him for one night
when he was twelve, Nezumi was new and exciting and came from
somewhere else. Safu has been around for as long as he can
remember, in the same environment. She's safe and he's used to
her being around. Safu is just - there, so she's 'there' in the
narrative; no need to built up the relationship since it's
always been there already for Shion. Their relationship is more
evened out, as composed as the environment they were raised in.
Nezumi on the other hand throws everything upside down.
I do think Shion really cherished Safu, but that the narrative
just didn't really allow for it to show all that often. He has
so many other things on his mind by the end of the novels that
the focus shifts away from Safu for a while, plus he saw her
just moments before - he even refused to acknowledge she might
be gone despite the signs. He'll likely take a while to accept
that fact, especially since he was already prepared to not
seeing her for two years because of her exchange before finding
out something was wrong. But now she's honestly, truly never
going to come back, and that's hard to accept. There was no
body, she's just - gone. It's so much easier to gloss over that
fact, pretend nothing is wrong for a while, since he already
wasn't going to see her for some time, and focus on the
immediate matters. The blow will come later. (At least speaking
from experience, sorry for projecting that onto you, Shion!)
Ack, sorry for the rambling, I hope that made sense and that I
didn't say anything strange or out of character for them >_< (I
must confess it's been a little while since I properly read the
first novels, so I'm relying on memory and quick searches here,
ack) Please, absolutely correct me if I'm out of line here!
#Post#: 66--------------------------------------------------
Re: Relationships between ShiSafu and NezuShi concerning the Jap
anese society
By: thesexymaid Date: May 12, 2014, 6:36 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I'm pretty inept at understanding Japanese society, but there
were a few things in regards to Safu and Shion meeting up after
the whole eviction from Chronos incident. I know distinctly that
Safu mentions in her memories that her and Shion met up at his
place of work, see here:
[quote]Safu sighed again. She had walked through a forest with
Shion once. It was a forest park in the centre of No. 6,
however, so all animals and plants were minutely scrutinized and
managed by human hands. 'I don't think a place like this should
be called a forest,' Shion had said, and grimaced in clear
dislike.
[font=verdana]Oh, I remember. How many years ago was it? I can
remember it so clearly.[/font][/quote]
[font=trebuchet ms]from [/font][font=trebuchet ms]chapter 4 of
volume 5
HTML http://9th-ave.blogspot.com/2012/02/novel-no-6-vol-5-ch-4.html[/font]
And what's so interesting about this is that she says she can't
remember how long ago it was. I always imagined, contrary to the
original post, that they did meet occasionally between Chronos
and Lost Town, typically in cafes or at Shion's place of work,
but also phoned one another. Their relationship seemed casual,
not something that they'd bother with every day, but like a
general friendship were you make sure to take time out and see
each other when you have free time. Especially considering this
scene was in the same chapter.
[quote]You looked like you enjoyed being with me, though. You
laughed a lot, and you were more talkative than usual. Oh, yes
yes. It was only once, but you even said so out loud.
"It's fun being with you, Safu."
I don't think you were lying. You're the kind of person who
could never lie.
Shion, do you enjoy being with me?
Yeah. A lot.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could be together forever?
Sure we could. Safu, you're my most important―
You cared for me. You cherished me. But you didn't love me. You
didn't feel the kind of desire for me that burned your body with
yearning.
Safu, you're my most important friend.[/quote][left]I always
felt this scene was really important in conveying the fact that
Safu knew where she stood with Shion. A part of her always knew,
and she wasn't viewing him through rose colored glasses. Yes,
she loved him. She loved him dearly, and she was incredibly
human in that love for him. But she understood their
relationship, and that being his friend was where she would
always stand.
And even in the above quote, she mentions him being more
talkative than usual. You can't form a basis of unusual or usual
if there isn't consistency, thus, I always believed they met
frequently. She never mentioned the whole incident with Nezumi
(like listenforthelove said, probably out of understanding that
Shion might not want to talk about it).
I always felt that Shion learned more about himself and his
emotions in West Block, and essentially in No.6, he was
restricted with those, so he wasn't entirely sure how to express
his love for Safu (a very platonic one, much like you might have
for a sister) then, but if he had met her later, things might
have been different. He even had ideas of how he'd show her
around and let her meet his friends become a part of their group
again. I always felt the fact that Shion saw Safu at all was
important because he and his mother were described as being
anti-social among the community in Chronos. They were generally
called weird in the novels.. I can't find the quote, but I
distinctly remember it because I always considered it a very
important aspect of Shion's personality and his eventual
learning of his true emotions while with Nezumi.
And back on the Safu and Shion relationship topic, there's also
this when he finds the coat which, as listenforthelove said, his
reaction is very real and very fierce for. This follows that
immediately after:[/left]
[quote]It was no mistake. This was Safu's coat. It had been a
gift from her only blood relative, her grandmother, and even for
a boy like Shion, he could tell that it was an elegant and
becoming piece that complimented Safu's well-defined face.
"Your Grandma must really know you well, Safu. She always
chooses things that look the best on you," he had said.
"Yeah, I guess so. I mean, she's raised me all my life, after
all. Hey, Shion― if you were to give me a coat, what kind
would you give me?"
"What? I'm sorry, but my wages are never gonna be able to get
you a coat as nice as that one."
"I'm just saying, 'what if'? I want to know what you would
choose."
"Hmm, tough question."
"Well, think hard. Solving difficult questions is your thing,
isn't it?"
Last year, they had walked down a winter path holding this kind
of conversation. The rays of the winter sun had streamed through
the bare branches and shone down on Safu, making her coat glow
dimly. That was the first time he had thought his childhood
friend looked beautiful. The wintry sun, the warm smile, the
grey coat. It was Safu's. He was sure of it.
[/quote]
from chapter 3 of volume 3
HTML http://9th-ave.blogspot.com/2011/10/novel-no-6-vol-3-ch-3.html
I'm probably just getting a bit emotional considering I
considered Safu and Shion's friendship to be a beautiful part of
the story due to the fact that.. I felt it was real in the way
that they blurred the lines of friendship, family, and
relationships in general as many close friendships do. You can
love someone desperately but not be in love with them. And I
felt Shion felt toward Safu the way I feel toward one of my
close friends. We can lose contact for months and then pick it
back up like we never lost it. We're not really touchy, but we
both, at points, wondered if our feelings blurred into
physical/emotional attraction in a romantic way, but if she were
ever in danger (I've shown in cases of our friendship already) I
would fight for her. I always felt Safu and Shion were in a
situation like that, except, on Safu's side, she had a faint
hope that Shion could accept her feelings, and if not, she sadly
couldn't just toss them away like they hadn't ever mattered.
And you say Shion got over her death, but I always felt that in
that situation, he hadn't time to mourn. On top of that.. I
think he was focused on the man dying in front of him rather
than the woman already dead. He had to focus on the moment in
the moment to survive. He hadn't forgotten her. He was just
facing a city at war, and then, shortly after, Nezumi's
recovery. I have no doubts he cried when he was finally alone
again. Not because Nezumi was gone but because he finally was
able to feel the loss of everything he knew and saw as his
future. I've always strongly believed Shion's analytical
thinking and emotions conflict with one another.. so it was only
once his brain stopped constantly focusing on the here and now,
that he let the emotions fully wash over him of all that
happened. We didn't get to see Shion's breakdown. We just got to
see later in Beyond that he was broken. I have no doubt that of
course a large portion of that is the loss of Nezumi in his
life, but it is also the fact that he failed at what he risked
not only his life, but Nezumi's, Inukashi's, and Rikiga's to do.
He put the lives of others beneath the life of Safu in his
resolve to save her (of course, not by choice, only due to
Nezumi saying the were going together but still..). He failed
even with that risk, and he's lost his best friend forever. And
that sort of thing.. you don't always think about it.. but you
carry it on your shoulders. I've always felt that Safu's death
was something Shion carried the way that Nezumi told him
earlier, that he had to move forward, but remember her from time
to time. I always felt that speech was eventually a full circle
to Shion's later coping with loss.
But, these are just my thoughts, and I'm ridiculously bias
toward the relationship between Shion and Safu and my views on
its extreme importance. I know the two of you understand
Japanese culture far more than I do, but.. I guess just as a
human being with whatever feelings I have, I always felt they
were something.. real. Not the unrealistically close friendships
you see in dramas where the people can't stop hanging on each
other or these.. distant sort of.. admiration built
friendships.. but instead they were just two people who could
interact with one another openly without feeling restraint, just
honest to goodness friends.
#Post#: 67--------------------------------------------------
Re: Relationships between ShiSafu and NezuShi concerning the Jap
anese society
By: listenforthelove Date: May 12, 2014, 7:30 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Ah, you put it much more eloquently than I ever could,
thesexymaid. I especially agree with this (I hope you don't mind
I copy-pasted your personal story here too for coherence):
[quote]And I felt Shion felt toward Safu the way I feel toward
one of my close friends. We can lose contact for months and then
pick it back up like we never lost it. We're not really touchy,
but we both, at points, wondered if our feelings blurred into
physical/emotional attraction in a romantic way, but if she were
ever in danger (I've shown in cases of our friendship already) I
would fight for her. I always felt Safu and Shion were in a
situation like that, except, on Safu's side, she had a faint
hope that Shion could accept her feelings, and if not, she sadly
couldn't just toss them away like they hadn't ever mattered.
[/quote]
Losing contact and then being able to pick it right back up
again is the case indeed, I think - they don't get a lot of time
together in the narrative, but their conversations sound easy
and the ones you'd have with a very long friend, about all kinds
of topics no matter how odd. Safu has been a constant in his
life for so long it's just kind of natural, and doesn't need to
be pointed out for Shion. I think that's kind of what I was
trying to say earlier in a very roundabout way?
But yes, being with Nezumi and in the West Block does allow
Shion to find himself more, and his emotions. Both he and Safu
were considered a bit odd, though they were still, ehm,
controlled, lacking a better word. Like you'd expect from those
living inside No. 6 and especially Chronos, at any rate. This
incredibly stable life, living day to day life with food and
school and preparing for your future, hardly any reasons to be
very outspoken. Going to the West Block changed all that and
threw Shion in so many new situations.
Lastly, let's not forget Shion listed Safu along with Nezumi and
Karan as the three people he could absolutely trust completely.
And he lost two of those three in about the same week. We didn't
get to see the aftermath, as thesexymaid pointed out, only that
it's definitely taken a toll on Shion by Beyond. At least with
Nezumi, he can still hope for him to return, but Safu...
Ack, Safu is so very important though. She's the catalyst for
the majority of the story, but it's not hard to overlook her
importance. I honestly did a bit on my first read through of the
novels, though breaking up the story a bit later revealed that
yes, things would have been radically different (and probably a
lot bleaker) weren't it for Safu and her friendship with Shion.
(Though I'd still have liked to see more scenes of them
together, if only for personal preference, haha.)
Ah, I should probably add that I was also reasoning from my own
feelings when it comes to their relationship, not entirely with
Japanese culture in mind, unlike Ahiku above. (Not consciously,
but I did pull from my own experiences and thoughts there for a
bit, and I haven't grown up in Japan. Slightly derailing the
topic there I suppose, oops!) I personally can't really tell if
it's a cultural thing that Shion and Safu seem (physically)
distant in my/our eyes, or if it's a cultural thing inside the
story, caused by their upbringing inside No. 6. (I hope that
made sense!) Especially considering other relationships in the
story, because as Ahiku pointed out, Shion and Nezumi are pretty
touchy-feely with each other, which isn't exactly common in
Japan. (I think I've at most seen people sitting with their arms
around each other here, and that was in a setting where they had
chairs-for-two to enjoy the sunset together with your loved
one.)
Some things make me feel the setting of No. 6 isn't supposed to
mirror Japan closely, and at other times it does feel very
Japanese to me. Guess it's a matter of cultural background, but
I do wonder in how far Asano consciously chose for No. 6 to
resemble Japanese society. As said, with the school system, it
does feel like commentary on the Japanese system, so... Hm, I'm
starting to talk in circles here, apologies. Safu feels kind of
took over :-[
(Other disclaimer: I've only seen the anime once, so I can't
really add to the comments on the anime, I'm super hazy on the
details. But the points Ahiku brings up compared to the novel
are very interesting, though I do recall I felt their
relationship to be a bit more awkward here than in the novels.
Again, I'm hazy on the anime, so I'll steer clear from
commenting any further.)
#Post#: 69--------------------------------------------------
Re: Relationships between ShiSafu and NezuShi concerning the Jap
anese society
By: Elanra Date: May 12, 2014, 10:36 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Thesexymaid has pretty much said everything regarding my opinion
on Shion and Safu's relationship. I've also had a friend that
greatly reminds me of Shion's relationship with Safu. She was
someone I cared about deeply, someone as close as family to me
but we only got to meet a few times a month, sometimes even less
and maintained most of our relationship over the phone and
internet.
Safu thinks in her chapter with Karan in the bakery in the
novels that Shion and her were connected to each other by all
means the advance technology could provide. She reflects despite
having so many means of communication, she is so far away from
getting her feelings across to him. So I am pretty sure when
they aren't / can't meet, they were keeping in touch via phone
calls and internet conversations. The visual chat scene from the
anime is not anime specific alone, it also happens in the novels
once Shion returns from his chasing Nezumi down the streets of
Lost Town after walking Safu to the station.
I also want to point out that once Shion's privileges were
removed after sheltering and aiding a VC, he is not allowed to
enter Chronos anymore. Nor is his mother as we see in Chapter 2
of Volume 3. She tries to visit Safu at her home in Chronos
after she witnesses her being taken away by the Security Bureau.
And was stopped at the gate:
[quote]We are very sorry. Due to concerns for safety, the area
past this point is accessible to Chronos residents only. Thank
you for your understanding. Further, anyone who passes the gates
without a Entrance Permit for Special Residential Districts
issued by the authorities is subject to removal from the
premises and punishable by municipal law Article 203 Clause 42.
I repeat ― Due to concerns for safety...
-No. 6 Vol 3 Ch 2
HTML http://9th-ave.blogspot.com.tr/2011/10/novel-no-6-vol-3-ch-2.html[/quote]
[size=8pt]So, considering that Safu was still an actively
efficient member of society in Chronos and was spending most of
her time on her meticulously scheduled education, I doubt she
had a lot of chances to meet up with Shion on a whim. And yet,
as thesexymaid has pointed out, there are several mentions of
them meeting up and spending time together somewhere outside
anyway, walking together and talking about all kinds of things
both Safu and Shion remember as precious memories. So I am quite
positive they met whenever they could and every other time, they
maintained their friendship through electronic means. In an era
like that and technologically advanced city-state like No.6, I
doubt that's remotely unusual. I think it makes complete sense
that Safu only visited the bakery once, not only because of her
extremely busy schedule as a Gifted Curriculum student but also
because of how Shion was constantly monitored. I am not saying
they were aware of that at the time, but there was an open
opposition from the Security Bureau regarding Safu spending time
with Shion; someone with impaired judgement bad enough to aid a
criminal. It was clearly frowned upon;
[quote]"Your ID cards, the two of you, please." Perhaps he had
taken notice of Shion's rebellious attitude. The man wiped the
smile clean off his face and demanded their identification cards
expressionlessly. Safu passed her silver card to him. Shion
silently did the same.
"Your Citizenship Numbers, in order."
"SSC-000124GJ."
"Qw-55142."
The man pulled the cards out of his portable card-reader, and
turned to give Safu a slight bow.
"A Gifted Curriculum student like yourself shouldn't be roaming
these areas at such a late hour. I advise you to go home."
"I was on my way... I was walking to the station."
"Let me walk you there."
"No thank you. He's going to." Safu clung to Shion's arm.
"I'll take her," said Shion shortly. "That's where we were
headed in the first place. Let's go, Safu."
Snatching the cards from the officer's grasp, Shion grabbed
Safu's hand, and strode swiftly away. When he turned around some
moments later, the man had already disappeared into the bustling
crowd.
"That scared me." Safu clutched her chest. "I've never been
scolded by the Security Bureau."
- No.6 Vol 1 Ch 2
HTML http://9th-ave.blogspot.com.tr/2011/06/novel-no-6-v1ch2b.html[/quote]
So, maybe, it was just arranged so she couldn't be spending too
much time around in Lost Town. Karan always thinks of Safu as
someone very dear to her and a precious friend to Shion despite
her not having seen her all but once after they were kicked out
of Chronos. That affection has to be rooted to their younger
days when Shion and Safu spent every day together and both lived
in Chronos, studying for their respective fields.
The parts I've italicized are two mentions of physical contact
between Safu and Shion. I can find these scattered across the
entire novels every time either of them reminisces or spends
time together. And how could we forget that painfully
devastating moment of Safu running to hug Shion and him reaching
for her only to have her run through him.
I think Shion's feelings for Safu, despite Ahiku-mama's opinion,
which I respect, is bare and painfully apparent throughout the
novels. Even before he finds out about her being taken away, he
often thinks about her and after he learns about it, he attempts
to leave Nezumi whom he is so attached to to try and save her
himself. Shion openly reflects that no one, not even Nezumi
could compare to her and that she is his one and only. And the
entire chapter with him talking to Safu in the Correctional
Facility openly shows just how much Safu means to him and you
can't squeeze all of that in his guilt for not returning her
feelings or for not cherishing her more as a friend. Shion
himself personally blames himself for these because he is the
kind of a person to always blame himself for things he can't
change but from an outsider's view, Shion was as honest and open
with Safu as he could be given the situations. He never talks
about Nezumi with anyone, even his mother and I think he is
avoiding it out of concern for them as much as his
possessiveness of the memory of him. In the Correctional
Facility he is devastated and in such agony over the reality
before him, he refuses to accept it. He is in denial and he
doesn't want to believe that he can't leave that place with Safu
beside him. He is so hurt with her loss he accuses the one
person that shared his burden with him. That scene is one of the
most excruciatingly powerful scenes in the entire series because
it shows Safu meant something so irreplaceable
HTML http://9th-ave.blogspot.com.tr/2012/07/novel-no-6-vol-8-ch-1-b.html<br
/>to him, her loss is enough to break him and push him far enoug
h
to go against his very nature, nearly betraying the trust Nezumi
has put in him. It was one of the most human scenes we see of
Shion after his breakdown upon killing Rashi.
I think what leaves a sense of dissatisfaction on the viewers' /
watchers' hearts regarding Shion and Safu's relationship is the
stability of it. It doesn't call for a fanfare of declarations
or explorations. It's an already settled relationship between
two people that deeply care for each other. Shion's relationship
with Nezumi is the fresh impact to the story, the catalyst to
the series of events that changes him. He is the person he falls
in love with for the first time in his life. So of course he'll
be more occupied with his thoughts of him than his feelings for
Safu as a friend. She is something stable and permanent in his
life, he doesn't have any confusion or isn't restless regarding
his relationship with her. She isn't shrouded away in mystery,
she isn't the one that uprooted his entire life and opened his
eyes to a reality he had never before seen while making an
amateur poet out of him. The only thing about Safu that Shion is
guilty of.. is that he took her for granted. He took her for
granted like we all do with our best friends. We think they will
always be there no matter what happens and when they are taken
from us or are no longer in our lives, the pain of it hurts more
than drifting apart would because it's dipped in guilt and
served with regret as a side dish and that's what humanity feels
like. That's what real relationships feel like.
Taking someone for granted doesn't mean we don't love them. It
means we are disillusioned with their consistency in our lives.
It means we fail to calculate any day could be the last day with
them and that makes us overlook subtle signs of change and
postpone things we want to say, rain-check things we want to do
thinking we will always have a tomorrow. Nezumi has never given
Shion consistency and that's why he never had the luxury to take
him for granted. Shion loved Safu as his one and only friend and
for that reason alone, he will never forget her, because
seriously, saying Shion quickly moves on from the loss of Safu
puts an enormous hole in Shion's entire characterization in the
novels and he becomes someone else entirely without his genuine
feelings for her. Safu has a big role in the kind of person he
is, she always will. He will never move on from that loss. He
will never take anyone for granted again.
#Post#: 79--------------------------------------------------
Re: Relationships between ShiSafu and NezuShi concerning the Jap
anese society
By: Vox Date: May 12, 2014, 1:25 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Oh man, so many good points! I don't know that I have much to
add. But let's see.
I think it's important to remember that Safu isn't just Shion's
best friend, she's his only friend.
[quote]Mother and I were very similar. We were both a little
over-sensitive, and didn't like to socialize much. The people
around us were nice, so nice there was nothing bad to say about
them. My classmates, the citizens around us, were genial,
intelligent, and minded their manners. No one raised their voice
to insult anyone, or treated people with hostility. There were
no strange or devious people. Everyone kept up such meticulously
healthy lifestyles that even slightly plump figures like my
mother's were rare. In this peaceful, stable and uniform world
where everyone looked the same, my mother grew fatter, every
other word "a pain in the neck" or "dull"; and I began to find
the presence of other people oppressing.[/quote] (Volume 1,
Chapter 1)
It's weird to think about, because Shion and his mother seem so
friendly, but in reality both of them are pretty much alone.
That's probably why Safu is so important to Shion. She is
completely irreplaceable. I agree with Elanra that he's guilty
of taking her for granted, though. But really, there was no
reason for him to expect that she would be in danger, that he
might lose her. While he was getting into his adventures with
Nezumi, he expected her to be safe in a completely different
town. She came back early due to the death of her grandmother.
That was something he couldn't have forseen. Although he knew
that bees were killing people in town, he didn't even know that
she would be in the vicinity of them. It's quite natural that he
should get caught up in his new life and forget about her to
some extent. It's as Ahiku said. Safu had no chance.
Now that I think about it, it is really weird that Safu waited 4
years to ask Shion about why he had gotten kicked out of
Chronos. It makes me wonder how her feelings for him developed.
In the anime, it was clear that she had had a crush on him since
they were both kids. But I wonder. I feel like I've sort of been
like Safu before. She's a very logical person, who believes
firmly in science, and I think that, like Shion, her emotions
come into conflict with her rationality a lot. I think that her
development of feelings for him was much more gradual than
implied by the anime, and that at first she'd think she was just
feeling really deep friendship for him. I forget who said it,
but the essential question really is what their relationship was
like before Shion complemented her sweater. In my imagination,
they were strangers beforehand. Shion's compliment brought him
to Safu's attention, and she made an effort to start up a
friendship with him. Did she feel the spark of love from the
very beginning? If she did, I don't think she recognized it.
And when she finally realised it was love, she was afraid of
losing that friendship. Maybe she even told herself that she was
just feeling the effects of random chemical sparks in her brain,
that it was silly and meant nothing, that nothing would ever
happen, etc., etc. It's really hard to tell, because the story
just doesn't explore her relationship with Shion properly. How
frustrating is that!
[quote]"Also my first time seeing you stumble over yourself
trying to explain things. That's alright if you have a
girlfriend. I don't mind if you've already got someone on your
mind. ―No, that was a lie. Look at me, I always try to put
up a strong face in any situation. It's a bad habit of
mine."[/quote] (Safu, Volume 1, Chapter 2)
From these lines, I'd say that Safu is not an optimist about
this relationship. Why did she wait until the day before she was
going away to tell her feelings to Shion? Probably because she
expected him to say no. If she expected him to say yes, she
would have asked him a while ago so that they could enjoy being
together for a while before she left. I almost wonder if she
considered leaving to be a mistake, knowing that she was leaving
Shion behind. I also wonder at Safu's permanent return to No. 6
upon her grandmother's death. I think maybe she was glad to have
an excuse to come back and be near Shion again. Of course, in
the anime she enjoyed being in the other city. But again, the
anime was different. And I'm not saying that she was glad her
grandmother died, obviously. I'm just saying that her
grandmother's death was an excuse for her to let herself act on
her true feelings about leaving No. 6.
#Post#: 172--------------------------------------------------
Re: Relationships between ShiSafu and NezuShi concerning the Jap
anese society
By: Ahiku Date: May 16, 2014, 4:59 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for your detailed answers. It was very interesting to
read everything and you pointed out a lot of good examples that
Shion actually cared for her.
It was just that something about their relationship bothered me
all the time. But now I think it’s what Elanra said – the fact
that Shion took Safu for granted all the time. And he realized
it too late. Plus, he wasn’t very nice to her, especially after
her awkward love confession. It’s the last time they met when
Safu was still alive and he didn’t give her a proper good-bye.
(Even though it’s quite understandable, Nezumi stole his heart
after all…) I just feel so sorry for Safu. Shion’s a nice boy,
but he’s also pretty dumb concerning his feelings towards Safu,
but not when it comes to Nezumi. In the end it’s a part of No.
6’s essence and charm… He’s a human after all, with a mind of
his own. He makes mistakes, and he isn’t perfect. He’ll regret a
lot of things; he’ll try but also fail. I’m just glad that Safu
was somehow able to see thanks to Elyurias that Shion did care
for her, and that he risked his life to help her in the end. At
least a better good-bye for her than running away while chasing
a certain mouse; knowingly that she’ll be abroad for 2 long
years… ^^°
*****************************************************