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

Japanese Language Book Clubs
#41

Chapter 7, thoughts

Well, this is basically just the continuation of chapter 6.

More raving about the audio adaption
If the previous part was well-made in to audio media, this chapter got the best sfx treatment of any BLCD I’ve listened to for sure. It’s like watching a movie play out in your mind, that’s how well they’ve got the sfx and dialogue down :eyes:

In any case, we’re finally getting some true piratey action! Arr! :pirate_flag: :sailboat:

I love that Jeoffrey turned the situation around with this whits as much as his skill with a sword in chapter 6. Now, back on the Gloria, he again shows his smarts, thinking up a strategy for how he can outmaneuver Vincente (even with the mizzen-mast still under repair) All in all, it’s a very compelling, action ridden sequence. ^>^

Also: more alcoholic vocab :tumbler_glass: (p. 166-167)
カミュ Camus (type of brandy) Camus Cognac - Wikipedia
ヘネシー Hennessy (French brandy producer) Hennessy - Wikipedia
レミーマルタン Rémy Martin - Wikipedia
ウオツカ vodka (this one threw me for a loop ^^;)

Language question, p 180: Evan is ordered to do depth sounding and call out the current depth.
I’m having trouble to break down the word used.
測深目盛間 バイ ザ ディープ = by the deep? Or is this some special nautical terminology for sounding? So far, I’m not finding any search hits… :thinking:
測深 そくしん depth, sounding

Language question 2, (p 184): Jeoffrey orders the ship to change course and here he use 方向転換 with kana タツク possibly タック usually meaning ほうこうてんかん. I guess, it could be from
タッキング (to tack) as in Tacking (sailing) - Wikipedia thoughts?

I’ve already added lots of nautical vocab to the encyclopedia from this chapter alone. :sweat_smile:

Edit: I had to pause after my research into tacking or to tack. The actual word タッキング appears on the next page, so I guess, the first instance is “to tack”, that is to change the course in a specific way. :thinking:

Also, I forgot about the more SPOILER gruesome end to this chapter. :nauseated_face: Poor Jim! Y_Y

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#42

:rofl: No, and thank goodness for that! Jun Fukuyama simply cannot sing. :sweat_smile: I kind of need to relisten now, because my memory is clearly lacking. But I do think they’re keeping the story more streamlined, skipping some of these details to move ahead/keep the focus more singular. And it might have to do with the medium, where you need to steer the listener in how to comprehend what’s going on. Which is probably why they also didn’t introduce Vincente’s return to the story before the “ch 6 track”, either. It makes for an easier to follow flow for the story. And the sudden appearance of him is compelling as well, from an action pov. When and if we get the backdrop to Leon is less clear to me. As I said, I think I need to relisten to remember details like that. :thinking:

Also:

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.

I completely misread that passage. I didn’t recognize the school name. :sweat_smile: Thanks for clearing that up!

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#43

I got a bit distracted (needed to read a bit of 博多豚骨ラーメンズ in order to decide whether I want to buy some more volumes while it’s on sale :sweat_smile:) but now I’m ready to dive into chapter 4! Trying to catch up on all of you :grin:

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#44

I’m right there with you, haha. Hopefully can get some good reading done this weekend.

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#45

same! Except I’ve only read the first two chapters of this volume so even more catching up to do :sweat_smile:

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#46

Chapter 8 thoughts

The continuation of the story has now moved onto Jeoffrey’s POV. Expect more nautical terms. :sweat_smile:

story spoilers
It should perhaps be expected that it’s way to early for Vincente to disappear from the story. Due to the low tide turning, Gloria has to make it out of the shallow waters, or risk stranding themselves. And so, Jeoffrey doesn’t get the opportunity to end Vincente. Which I’m frankly quite happy about. :sweat_smile:

more spoilers
While Jeoffrey was managing the ship, Kaito was left alone in the hold. With the tragic end of Jim. :cry: Let’s just say, this is a gruesome and painful way to go. :fearful: And clearly traumatic for Kaito.

About the art for this chapter, ngl, I’m a bit creeped out by Nigel’s smile while looking at Kaito in shock. :grimacing:

Well, this was a shorter chapter, rounding off these action riddled events. I’m looking forward to the next volume already! ^>^

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#47

Ah, random thing I noticed and liked and forgot to mention: it’s a super neat touch that all the French is bracketed by the double quote brackets (on mobile, can’t figure out how to type them) and all the English by single/normal quote brackets.

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#48

I have no idea how I missed this! :rofl: Yeah, it’s a neat typographical cue to the reader for sure. (they do tell you how and when in the dialogue itself as well). :slight_smile:

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#49

Finished up chapter 5; whew. That got pretty intense at the end. I’m going to go back later to read other people’s thoughts and reactions (gotta eat lunch then go do some chores), but for now all I’ll say is I’m glad Kaito got some of his worries off his chest. I’m hoping and praying he gets successfully kidnapped by Vicente for maximum impact after this scene. I may be a terrible person, but I can’t help it. Also glad to see Nigel redeemed a bit here, haha; he seems to have a lot of potential.

Anyone know how much their two pounds would equate to today, by the way? I’m curious how expensive that soap really was.

Edit: Found this neat-looking site: Currency converter: 1270–2017
Now I realize I don’t know what year the book takes place in. D:

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#50

It takes place in 1587 so if I’m using the converter correctly two pounds should be somewhere between £409 and £343 as of 2017. That’s quite the price for some soap :open_mouth:

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#51

O_O Jeoffrey is quite the spender. No wonder he makes Nigel worry about him. ^^;

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#52

That is some nice soap , in that case. :scream: Poor Nigel…

I have officially finished volume 2! After volume one taking me a month to finish, volume two took one week. :scream: (Granted, volume 2 is 100 pages shorter, but still.) I basically just couldn’t stop reading; it was becoming disruptive to all my other usual activities tbh, haha. I still need to go back and read everyone’s thoughts; I’m excited to do so, as well as chat with everyone else as they read through.

(Btw, I confirmed that there was no extra bonus story in the Kindle version this time; physical and digital seem to match up, minus the illustrations.)

It’ll be a good thing; I really should’ve taken the time to jot down my thoughts as I read. <.< It’s gonna look like I had no thoughts about anything in particular to anyone reading this thread afterwards, but I definitely did! This was a super action-packed volume; we had some great character moments throughout.

I’m sad that Vicente’s attempt ultimately ended in failure, but I’m hoping this motivates him to go all-out in volume 3~ I was broken up to see that we lost Jim; poor Kaito had no chance. It seems like forever ago, but poor Jim only lasted a single volume. :‘( I am extremely excited to see Kaito and Nigel’s friendship develop; Nigel seems like a great addition to the dynamic. I wonder if it’ll be Rufus’ turn next? We haven’t seen as much of him as I would’ve thought we would by this point.

My to-do list now that I’ve finished volume 2 and the iron grip of, “what’s going to happen next?!” has released me:

  • Read everyone’s thoughts, chit-chat
  • Go back and post questions about all the places I marked in my book. I understood the majority of the book well enough that the places where I was scratching my head really bothered me. Though not enough to stop reading…
  • Make a nice post on the home thread about my F&B packages I had come in.

Me going back to post questions should also hit my memory on stuff/observations I wanted to mention as well.

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#53

@NicoleRauch Chapter divisions for future reference; you might sticking these in the OP? (All percents from the Kindle version, page numbers from physical version)

Chapter 1: 0%/p5
Chapter 2: 13%/p32
Chapter 3: 24%/p57
Chapter 4: 38%/p86
Chapter 5: 46%/p103
Chapter 6: 62%/p137
Chapter 7: 73%/p162
Chapter 8: 91%/p198
あとがき: 99%/p218

Also, I gotta say, looking back through the book for page numbers, I really like the art style for the illustrations.

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#54

So I was wondering here: what were the henchmen doing while Jeoffrey and Vicente fought? I understand that Jeoffrey got the townspeople riled up by pointing out the fact that there were dirty Catholics running around, but were they keeping the henchmen busy somehow? I wasn’t sure why someone didn’t grab Kaito while Jeoffrey’s attention was elsewhere.

I really want to give the Drama CDs a shot; I’m afraid my listening is pretty sub-par, though, so I don’t know how much I’ll be able to get out of them… I think I might have found some transcripts online while looking at F&B stuff though, so I need to check them out.

I really have to wonder. Makes me wish we got another peek inside Vicente’s head before the end of the volume.

Nigel accepted that all way easier than I thought he would. He basically went from, “Kaito is a foreign spy” straight to “how could you bring Kaito to such a dangerous place” in about a paragraph, haha.

I’ll admit, the paragraph about alcohol was my brain’s “let’s just skip this for now” section; reaching the word ウオツカ cemented it for me, haha. It was pretty fun seeing Kaito try to figure out what kind of booze guy Jeoffrey would be, haha.

I wasn’t sure about this either, specifically what the katakana was trying to say. :\

Seconded.

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#55

I mean, they follow the books pretty closely, with some story-pacing changes. I think if you’ve read this far, you should be able to handle the BLCD adaption. More than anything, listening comprehension has to do with patience. You have to accept your inability to parse everything you hear. Instead, you should try to enjoy what you do manage to make out. If you can do that, then you listen to just about anything, this included. :slight_smile:

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#56

Ah, thank you for the encouraging words. :slight_smile: I’ll see if I can give the first CD a shot this week and report back in the vol. 1 thread.

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#57

Chapter 5 (up to page 111 or something)

Yes, I also like how every little merchants’ article is described in detail, and also the sounds and smells we had previously! Really gives a good sense of immersion.

I hadn’t thought about soap specifically, but I expected him to want something that has some medicinal use (I thought maybe a device for distilling water more efficiently or something). I also approve of his apple purchase (also with regard to scurvy, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue on this short trip).

Absolutely! I can totally understand his excitement. (Although personally I would rather go for some other smell, not lavender… reminds me too much of moth-protection :grin:)

Hahaha I thought exactly the same :grin: Although when they got the bath set up, it sounded like Jeoffrey did not want to join in. Kaito should really force him to go into the bath if he is planning to make a move tonight :eyes:

I take this to be the name of Kaito’s school in England (had forgotten the name but this is the only thing that makes sense to me).

Sentence breakdown

海斗は - As for Kaito,
セント・クリストファー校の寮にある - [the bathtub] being in St Christopher’s school dormitory
両足を伸ばして浸かることができる - where one could submerge with both legs outstretched
浴槽が - bathtub
懐かしかった。- he missed dearly

(sorry for the jumbled English but I hope it’s clearer now)

Will get to your biblical reference tomorrow :slight_smile:

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#58

This makes me wonder about the perceptions of smells and perfume at the time. Lavender can’t have been common in England? (But the continent for sure)

Lavender makes me think of my grandmother keeping small pouches in the wardrobe for a nice smell. :slight_smile:

I think I’d prefer something more fresh. :grin: :lemon:

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#59

Oh, yes, that would be interesting to know! They also mentioned rose, and those are pretty typical natural smells even nowadays. So my guess would be that it was not too far off from today’s natural fragrances (I mean, of course today’s artificial flavors are a whole different thing :nauseated_face:)

But Kaito is a modern person, and he still likes lavender :thinking:

I think southern France is still one of the largest producers of lavender even today. (Double-checking on Google: There are other regions in southern Europe and Russia but southern France is the most renowned one.) So it makes perfect sense that they would be able to buy lavender fragrance in France.

Whoa, these little details line up so well! Thinking that a Japanese person wrote this (who is not as immersed into these things as we Europeans are) makes me appreciate this novel even more.

A friend of mine always says that he associates the smell with old women :rofl:

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#60

:sweat_smile: I took the easy route and found Joseph (Genesis) - Wikipedia - so yeah, that’s the same person that you found.

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