"Flesh&Blood" Vol. 2 - Pirate Series Reading Club 🏴‍☠️ ⛵

Japanese Language Book Clubs
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Chapter 4 thoughts (so far)

We get another glimpse about Vincente’s whereabouts in this chapter. But also a look into his past and especially how he met Leonard Barrera (Leon), who’s now basically a constant companion on his journeys. For anyone curious: Kouki Miyata does the voice of Leon in the BLCD adaption. :slight_smile:

Question about Vincente’s ship: サンチャゴ号 what is its name in Spanish/English?
サンティリャーナ is Santillana.
サンティアゴ is Santiago
I guess, it could be an alternative way to write Santiago in kana :thinking: Thoughts?

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Just from looking at the word I would go for Santiago as well.

It seems that authors have/take some liberties when it comes to writing stuff in katakana - see chapter 1 where the author wrote “Mainsail” (which seems to go by the katakana spelling of メインセイル according to Wikipedia) as メンセル :woman_facepalming: (that took me a while to figure out :sweat_smile:) Other authors also seem to modify words just as they like, e.g. Mori Hiroshi likes to remove some of the lengthening characters (especially at the end) of katakana words :woman_shrugging:

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Chapter 4 thoughts continued…

Page 96-99 somewhere…
I wonder if I read this correctly, but did Vincente disguise his ship by flying a Flanders flag rather than a Spanish one? :thinking:

I forgot to comment on this I think, but I’m also starting to think there’s some impossible travel-times happening in this story as a misconception from the author. In the previous volume there was the glimpse of Vincente back in Spain. And now, he’s made it back to France, while Gloria and crew have just made the one trip. It just doesn’t add up. But, I’m bound to forgive Matsuoka Natsuki-sensei for taking these freedoms with the passing of time. It does make for a more lively story this way. ^^’

I also think this chapter creates quite the different feeling from the audio drama adaption. :thinking: Basically, the listener doesn’t get this insight into Vincente’s whereabouts as we do here. It turns the focus completely onto Kaito and Jeoffrey for a while, before he’s introduced back to the story. :eyes: Just a random thought.

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Chapter 5 thoughts up to p 113 so far

This starts off with some rather specific loan words: :sweat_smile:

ラングドックワイン Languedoc-Roussillon wine - Wikipedia
シャラントのブランデー Brandy from Charente

I like that Matsuoka-sensei doesn’t skip the details here, but truly seem to want to immerse us in this time and place! ^>^ (though it is a challenge to read!)

Other food items on the menu:
乾し鱈 / 干し鱈 dried cod
塩漬け肉 salted meat as in salt-preserved meat

yum?

Anyway, I love the interlude with Jeoffrey and Kaito finishing up their shopping by finding something for Kaito, and Kaito going wild about soap! :soap: XD I’m in full agreement of this one though!

And soap means…baths. Which means…… dun dun dun :eyes:

p 110
But what is this about Saint Christopher セント*クリトファー校? I just couldn’t parse the sentence mentioning this.

Also, more Biblical references on p 112. ヨセフの物語, I guess it’s ヨセフ (ヤコブの子) - Wikipedia ?? though I can’t say I felt inclined to read and check.

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Started chapter 3 today. I had no fixed expectations, but I was definitely not expecting to be lectured in Japanese history on top of it all :rofl: There goes my reading speed, sigh…

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Success! I can finally join ye chosen ones in starting volume 2. :partying_face: Had to finish up a few things last week to clear up my schedule. My F&B packages arrived as well, so I gotta take pictures to show everyone~

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Glad to have you! :sparkling_heart: ^>^

(looking forward to those pics! :eyes: )

I only added some pages of the Character book, as you’ll notice. the main cast have 2 each. ^^ They’re the artwork to the Drama CDs, I think, or part of the booklets in some way. Gorgeous stuff!!! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: (So I figured could get posed once we get to those volumes. And then there’s 3 characters I skipped as they only appear much later in the story! I lie, one has been mentioned already, but yeah, this is from the 10th anniversary so I figured it was a bit spoilerish)

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Chapter 5 thoughts a continuation

Having listened to this drama, I for one imagined
a porcelain claw-foot tub, but I guess they were invented much later (got popular in the 19th century). But, at the very least, a Japanese-style bathtub also seems a bit off. ^^;

Still, reading about the bathing Kaito partakes in, got me into research mode, so checked out a couple of blog posts on bathing in the historical past Medieval bath habits and 16th century filth: Bathing hats and scented soaps | The Vulgar Crowd

So, it does seem pretty plausible for Kaito to be able to buy soap as well as to enjoy a bath. ^^

It strikes me that the Audio Drama didn’t convey the sense of filth that the book has, like Kaito takes a bath after a full week of nothing at all.

Also, Kaito checking out Jeoffrey in the bath :blush: thought the topic of conversation during the bathing is quite serious: what would happen to Kaito if something ever happened to Jeoffrey? And Kaito isn’t a fan of Jeoffrey’s plan to have Nigel take care of him, in the event Jeoffrey die. :sweat_smile:

Also, Kaito does some soul-searching regarding his friendship with Katsuya, reflecting on not being able to set things right between them. :cry:

p 117
I just have to comment on 壺 つぼ jar, pot being a beautiful kanji. ^>^ <3

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Just finished chapter 3, and I must say, that was a quick turnaround for our “definitely straight” friend Kaito :joy_cat: From “don’t you dare touch me” to “what if we actually kissed” to “I’m soooo jealous” in no time. Definitely curious to learn about their upcoming night together…

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Oh, are you sure about that? I thought the ship is under quarantine and they will only be allowed to land if everybody is healthy (because the townspeople don’t want foreign people to carry all sorts of diseases into town). Now as it turns out, the people on our ship are not healthy at all, that’s why Kaito had to negotiate so hard, and the outcome was that only the two were allowed in, and not even with their own dinghy but they had to use a ferryman’s boat (so that no disease could spread from the boat, I guess) - is my take on that part… :thinking:

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Well, I got the picture they’re lying about the issues onboard, due to the quarantine of the town, failing to mention people having fever (from the bad water), but rather pressing the need for repairs due to having been hit by a storm (or they wouldn’t have been allowed to anchor). That’s what I remember of the passage. But, can’t say I remember the details more than that. I could have misread for sure.

But, mostly it might be me having read more Wiki articles than necessary. :sweat_smile: Towns going into quarantine due to the plague was common at this time. Maybe that’s part of why I interpreted this part of the story the way I did. So, basically, the town is checking the goings and comings of outsiders, just as you say.

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I was going to post something about this, but then thought I might have just misread things. But, the gist of it was a slight criticism of BL in general and this story as part of that: BL quite often speedruns past the why and how attraction and falling in love happens. There may be attempts to give us some of the thought-processes, but usually BL fails to produce the type of in-depth psychology that feels “real” or portrays how actual people would reason around a relationship. It’s often a bit contrived how people are pushed toward a relationship instead.

I do feel like the audio drama made these interactions seem more natural. :eyes: I’m not sure why that is, but then again, actors saying/bringing all dialogue and internal monologue as well to life, would add more emotional depth to it all. Like during ch 3, somehow the transitions here, between rejection, acceptance (?), want (?) feels more natural.

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I think I agree with 80% of that :sweat_smile:
My take is that the harbour authorities will put the ship on quarantine on arrival to make sure there are no sick people on board. I checked back in the chapter and it says
「港に着いたら検疫があるそうです。病気の人間がいないかどうかを確かめるために」

sorry for being so meticulous here! I mainly wanted to check for myself and then I thought I could post it here as well. :laughing:

They frame it so that the people have caught a cold from getting drenched in the storm (because it’s pretty obvious that there are sick people if somebody decides to take a look). The passage is
「隠しても、どうせバレる。だったら、こちらの状態を正直に告げて、おまえと俺の二人だけを乗せたボートを港につける許可を貰った方がいい。ただし、病人達が腹を下していることは告げるな。疫病を疑われたら、俺達も締め出されるのがオチだ。嵐のせいで身体を冷やしてしまい、風邪が流行っていると言え」

I think in that case Jeoffrey would sail away as fast as he could! Catching the plague would probably mean the end to them all.

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Now that you mention it. I do remember them saying something about a cold. I’m misremembering on top of having read it a bit sloppily it seems. :sweat_smile: Thanks for taking time to check out the passages again! meticulous is good, as far as I’m concerned. :slight_smile:

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Chapter 6 - thoughts

The departure for Gloria is pushed back due to the ongoing calm and the cold situation onboard. Still, Kaito and Jeoffrey depart from the inn to stay on the Gloria, walking down to the harbor.

…only to run into Vincente! (and henchmen) dun dun dun!

I think 松岡なつき does a fair job here with the action scenes. I really love this chapter for that reason. ^>^ That being said: I can highly recommend the BLCD adaption for exactly the same reason. They’ve got an amazing foley artist to work on the sfx for this audio production. So, it’s surprisingly easy to follow the events.

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Just finished chapter 2. :partying_face: Everything’s going swimmingly so far; been really enjoying myself. Now to go back and start reading some thoughts on these first two chapters…

(Side note: should we blur spoilers from volume 1 here? I’ve done so here and there out of caution, but thought I’d bring it up.)

I thought this was a great way to open the book as well; I bet it’s really impressive in the drama CD with all the potential sfx they could use.

Super interesting comments here. :open_mouth: Drama CD production always sounds super interesting whenever I hear new tidbits about it. I need to really work on my listening so I can experience the magic, haha. How they handle foreign languages in the CD is also really cool; reminds me of similar techniques (“just wing it”) you’ll see in anime occasionally when the Japanese VA have to produce English. There are times where, if I hadn’t been told it was English, I wouldn’t have realized that was what I was listening to… :rofl:

I was also wondering while reading this how much of this bit of Kaito’s psychology is due to his parents. I wouldn’t be surprised if, based on what I remember of their description in vol. 1, he really only got shown love when they praised him. His mom sounded like a piece of work at the very least, and I wouldn’t be surprised if his dad is a typical workaholic, given how high up he is in the company.

Kaito’s definitely an INT build here compared to all the rest, haha. Goes hand in hand with a modern education, maybe?

I was kind of hoping that as well. :open_mouth: That maybe he would know how to/be able to set Jim’s leg and save it or something. Probably not the best time, though; it makes sense. I’m hoping the operation and subsequent nursing Kaito does pushes him in the direction of picking up more medical knowledge, since it’s a field that really concerns him in the first place.

I have to say, despite some moments where I have to wonder where Kaito pulls his audacity from, I didn’t get the impression of him being overly self-centered. There were definitely times where I wanted to shake him and say, “Is this really the best thing that could have come out of your mouth?”, but he’s far from the worst I’ve seen. That said, I love seeing the character growth that’s already there, and I’m definitely rooting Kaito on!

Ooh, thank you for the translations! I know exactly 0 French, so these sections were lost on me. If they were speaking Spanish I’d fare better. :sweat_smile:

Okay, finally got to the end of this overly long reply.

And not to worry, I’m still working on this! I wanted to make a nice post with information to go with pictures of all the books, so I’m slowly compiling it all. ^o^

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Loved to read about your thoughts about the story so far! ^>^

I didn’t get the impression of him being overly self-centered. There were definitely times where I wanted to shake him and say, “Is this really the best thing that could have come out of your mouth?”, but he’s far from the worst I’ve seen.

You’ve got a point for sure about that. :rofl: There’s some unique anime characters out there for sure.

Also, about blurring previous volume stuff. I’m all for it. I’ll try to remember! :slight_smile:

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Finished up chapters 3 and 4; I was super excited to see Vicente back on stage. Chapter 4 was pretty short, so I’m extremely excited for whatever plan he comes up with to reunite with Kaito. I am curious how Kaito’s going to handle it, given that he likes being with Jeoffrey and the Gloria; I can’t imagine he’ll be very happy to be dragged off to Spain. We’ll see how Leo turns out; I did enjoy the imagery of some disgusting, bedraggled kid asking a navy man if he could become his page. :rofl:

There’s a couple of places I’ve marked down that I really wanted to ask you guys about; just a few places I wanted to make sure I was reading right. But the lure of new plot and exciting things happening is so strong. :eyes:

I must say, it’s a joy, too, to be able to go view the illustrations @ekg posted after I finish a chapter, given that they’re not in the Kindle version for some reason and I’m too lazy to stand up and check my own physical copy.

Edit: Also found it hilarious how, at the end of chapter 4, Vicente’s rationale boiled down to, “he needs to stay with me because I found him first.” :stuck_out_tongue:

Nigel’s suspicions about spies hanging around were also apparently well-founded. :stuck_out_tongue:

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I think he failed the good guy test with that one. :sweat_smile:

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Started reading this volume a few days ago and got pretty sucked into the story so I’m currently a little bit through chapter 7

Some thoughts
Chapter 5: Seems like in this volume so far Kaito is (understandably) going through a lot emotionally and he can’t really honestly open up to anyone about it because he needs to constantly keep up his backstory and the lie about his powers. It makes sense that he’d crack at some point and wouldn’t be able to keep up his unaffected facade under all that pressure. It seems like there was a lot of progress in the relationship between him and Jeoffrey in this scene. Them bringing up Kazuya makes me curious as to what he’d be up to right now. I wonder if time moves at the same pace in the modern day for him as it does for Kaito in the past. :thinking:

Chapter 6: I like that we get some insight into Jeoffrey’s thoughts, it feels like we can see how important Kaito is becoming to him. Then there’s a run in with Vicente :eyes: Did he think Kaito would really just come with him that easily when his last memory of the guy was him choking him :joy:

Chapter 7 (first ten or so pages): Only a bit into this one, but they’ve finally explained the situation to Nigel. He accepted it way easier than I thought he would, and now Kaito has another ally who knows his situation. It will be interesting to see how Kaito having another person he can rely on might change the character dynamics after this. Seems like Kaito’s first experience of a battle on the sea is about to start!

I made the mistake of reading that part right before dinner :nauseated_face:

The page numbers in my version are really off, was it this one?

海斗はセント⋆クリストファー交の僚にある、両足を伸ばして浸かることができる浴槽が懐かしかった。

If so I believe he’s saying he misses the bathtub at his school dorm where you could actually bathe with both legs stretched out.

Also hearing about the drama cds made me curious, in the bath scene, does Kaito still sing Queen songs?

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