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

[eefara]

@NicoleIsEnough

(Although personally I would rather go for some other smell, not lavender… reminds me too much of moth-protection )

@ekg

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

You know, I’m trying to figure out if I have any particular smell-association with lavender. I’m struggling to even think about what lavender smells like. If I can find some and sniff it I’ll report back?

@NicoleIsEnough

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

Didn’t Jeoffrey have a little packet of lavender attached to his cloak or something he gave to Kaito to borrow in volume 1? I figured that’s where Kaito picked up the positive association.

[NicoleIsEnough]

@eefara

Didn’t Jeoffrey have a little packet of lavender attached to his cloak

Oh, now that you mention it Maybe he subconsciously chose a smell that he knew Jeoffrey also likes.

[ekg]

@NicoleIsEnough

Maybe he subconsciously chose a smell that he knew Jeoffrey also likes.

I love this interpretation! ^>^ Great catch @eefara I forgot about it as well.

I guess, Jeoffrey is a bit of a 16th Century dandy? Walking around in stylish, scented, clothes and then add his natural charm and charisma, you get a man who owns any social situation?

[NicoleIsEnough]

Chapter 4 replies:

@ekg

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?

I was not exactly sure about this myself, but that’s my understanding as well.

@ekg

’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.

Yeah, it’s a bit tight actually… but I guess Vicente was ahead of the storm, and Gloria was busy battling the storm for at least one day and one night or something, without being able to go in the right direction, and afterwards there was no wind for some time - maybe even for a week or so? Or longer? That’s why the water got so bad and everybody got so sick. But I have no idea how long it would have taken somebody back then to go from England to Spain, actually, so I don’t really know.

Chapter 5 comments and replies:

Oooookay here we go! That went a bit different from what I had expected, but I must say I found it all pretty relatable. From Kaito looking at Jeoffrey’s scars and realizing that Jeoffrey may actually get wounded or may even die some day, to starting a discussion about his own safety, to understanding the deep friendship between Jeoffrey and Nigel, to being reminded of his behaviour towards Katsuya, to having a crying fit - I mean, he was under immense pressure ever since he was thrown back in time, and this was the first time where he really broke down and released some of that tension. I could very much relate to Jeoffrey exploiting this a little bit, but knowing fairly well what the limits of that evening were. This all draws the picture of an adult man who has strong emotions for sure, but who is fully in control of them and is not swept away in the heat of the moment. I like

@ekg

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.

Looking back now from after ch 5, it doesn’t feel like that to me. I mean, sure Kaito had his little daydream on the boat, but when he took the bath he was back to his standards again. And like I said above, I found the chain of actions pretty relatable.

But clearly this series is geared towards women, what with all the gentleness and stuff

@eefara

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.

@eefara

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.

Kaito’s face on the cover is a bit of a dead giveaway here, I think (I was actually a bit sad that the cover was so spoiler-y, but I guess that probably holds true for most or all of them)

@eefara

Also glad to see Nigel redeemed a bit here, haha; he seems to have a lot of potential.

Yeah, I think Kaito needs to gather all the allies he can possibly get hold of in his situation.

@ekg

I guess, Jeoffrey is a bit of a 16th Century dandy? Walking around in stylish, scented, clothes and then add his natural charm and charisma, you get a man who owns any social situation?

I absolutely envision him like that And I think he described himself like that as well, so he sets this up 100% on purpose.

[ekg]

Now imagine him with the voice of Junichi Suwabe. I think casting Suwabe as Jeoffrey is golden! XD

[eefara]

Were there any VA picks you felt were poor choices for the F&B cast, out of curiosity? Not that I’m all that familiar with Japanese VAs, but I’ve only ever heard praise from you so far.

@NicoleIsEnough

Kaito’s face on the cover

So speaking of this… does anyone else think Kaito’s face is a bit weird on the cover? Especially his eyes?

[NicoleIsEnough]

@eefara

So speaking of this… does anyone else think Kaito’s face is a bit weird on the cover? Especially his eyes?

I never thought deeply about that - but they look totally weird! Far too far apart, and somehow strangely tilted, no? I mean, we already concluded that the cover artist was not the best, so here’s another testimony to that.

[ekg]

@eefara

Were there any VA picks you felt were poor choices for the F&B cast, out of curiosity?

I’m not a big fan of Kouki Miyata, but I can’t say it’s a bad choice in the role of Leon. I like the Gloria crew casting as well. It’s quite the spread of voices to go around for sure. This drama CD has a LOT of seiyuu talent, due to the large number of characters that appear, even if only for a shorter time span.

There is one voice role that I was less impressed by. But that could also be due to the role they had to play. And I can’t mention it right now. ^^; Ask me again later? XD

[ekg]

@eefara

Especially his eyes?

Yaoi eyes!

Now I can’t unsee it!

[NicoleIsEnough]

Speaking of pictures, whenever I look at the chapter 4 pic of Vicente, I always think I’m looking at that guy from Fruits Basket - what was his name again? Anyways, the seahorse dude… Or maybe it’s just in my mind?

Pic for comparison

He is called Hatori, by the way (came across his name when I searched for the pic).

Looks like the hairstyle is similar, but Hatori is much slimmer (and probably also much younger)

[eefara]

I can totally see that; I think it’s the eyes that really sell it for me. Vicente’s only 25 according to the character book, for what it’s worth; I always thought Hatori was like in his early 30s?

[NicoleIsEnough]

@eefara

Vicente’s only 25 according to the character book, for what it’s worth

Really? From the pic I had rather expected him to be around 35 or so
But yeah, thinking back on his family story (poor family, he leaves home to make a living in the navy iirc) he can’t possibly be that old.

[ekg]

I had to double-check Jeoffrey, and he’s 26!

[NicoleIsEnough]

Amazing! That’s quite the career for both of them, being a captain at 25 and 26!

I guess it’s the author trying to not make things too gross, what with all the 15-year-olds around

[ekg]

@NicoleIsEnough

15-year-olds

Who? Kaito is 17, still a bit on the young side for sure. (Having listened to the drama, I had decided he was 20 in my mind! at least!)

[NicoleIsEnough]

@ekg

Who? Kaito is 17, still a bit on the young side for sure.

Oh dang, you’re right! That’s what I get from reading too many books in parallel

and especially two books where there is a strong BL vibe in the air, with one side being a minor - in one book, he is 17 disguising as 15, in the other one he is 15 disguising as 17 - pretty confusing

[eefara]

@NicoleIsEnough

and especially two books where there is a strong BL vibe in the air,

What other BL book are you reading?

[NicoleIsEnough]

Technically it’s not a BL book (at least not yet ), it just has some vibes coming up. It’s 海辺のカフカ by Murakami Haruki - which means anything can happen any time

[pyororon]

Finished volume two! These last two chapters were a rough read, both in the amount of nautical vocabulary in that ship fight and with poor Jim and Kaito trying his hardest to save him All in all a really dramatic ending to this volume. I liked how in this volume we got to see a lot more of the realities of life in the 16th century and how Kaito is adjusting to them. I also feel like we got to see more of his better sides in this volume compared to the first one.

@ekg

Language question, p 180:
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…

I was stumped by that too but I managed to find this in that wikipedia page on depth sounding:

The “leadsman” called out the depth as he read it off the line. If the depth was at a mark he would call “by the mark” followed by the number, while if it was between two marks, he would call “by the deep” followed by the estimated number’

[ekg]

Finally we have the answer!

But yeah, I agree that it’s a heavy end to the volume , but one that certainly brings a lot of realism, drawing you into the historical scenario.