Mostly on GetBackers

[petronia]

The Advent Children love distracts from all the other stuff I wanted done before I left on vacation: proper reviews of the new m-flo and Franz Ferdinand (sheer shame will compel me to purchase my top ten leaked albums of 2005 before year-end I think - or there's always Christmas har har har), notes on the manga I've been reading, LJ-scrapbooking the photos I took over the summer not to mention those from last year's vacation, fic... I've been trying to write a GetBackers analysis post for about a month now and failing due to lack of time and brain space. But I have to write it, if only to hash out the plot with myself.

• Brain Trust built Mugenjou, or what later came to be Mugenjou.
• Brain Trust members are called Voodoo Masters and serve the Voodoo King. Speaking of Der Kaiser, Kagami implies that it is possible to become a member of Brain Trust as long as one has the sufficient strength.
• Brain Trust members (certain): Kagami, Masaki.
• Brain Trust members (possible/former): Gen, Teshimine.
• The Ura-Fuuchouin clan is currently working for Brain Trust/the Voodooists under Kagami. It is unclear whether Yohan counts formally as a Brain Trust member.
• Saizou represents the East Fuuchouin and his actions were (apparently) to gain protection for his clan under the Black Threads' aegis.
• The Ura-Fuuchouin are currently recognized as the "official" Fuuchouin by both the side branches and the affiliated Kakei clan. The official version of events has it that Juubei and Sakura committed ritual suicide after Kazuki's death.
• Brain Trust's current purpose is to gather the Three Keys and use them to open the Door to Babylon City.
• The Door to Babylon City was sealed by the Witch Queen, who is Der Kaiser's mother and Ban's grandmother.
• Der Kaiser's purpose is also to gather the Keys and use them to open the Door; his explanation to Paul for why he chooses to remain behind in the Beltline is that the situation was created by his mother, so it is family business for him to resolve.
• According to Maria, the Witch side assumed Der Kaiser betrayed them when he remained in Mugenjou, until his attempt to manipulate the Archiver at the Queen's Cup made clear that this was not the case.
• It is possible to go through the Door, but people who do so eventually find themselves on the side where they started, with a stigma mark on one eye and no memory of what occurred in the interim.
• The stigma mark is referred to as a sign of "lost time", but a) it is not certain this is an exclusive sign that the person tried to enter Babylon City (Yohan's had it since he was a small child, possibly since birth) and b) everyone in Ura-Shinjuku (Tokyo?) seemingly has a certain measure of "lost time", insofar as they do not remember Mugenjou not being there even if (like Gen) they helped build it.
• The stigma mark gives the bearer great strength coupled with a desire for violence if it is not sealed.
• Characters with the stigma (certain): Masaki, Teshimine, Yohan, Kazuki, Der Kaiser, Paul. The last three are accounted for in the sense that we know exactly when and how they received the mark.
• Character who does not have the stigma (AFAIK): Kagami. Does Kagami have no "lost time"?
• Former residents of Babylon City (certain): Kagami, Akabane - they recognize each other as such.
• Akabane sometimes works under the directive of the Professor (bunny girl). Neither of them has the stigma mark.
• Is the Professor also from Babylon City? She a) told Ban "time was beginning to move" and b) was able to activate Ginji's Raitei powers far from Mugenjou by giving him something to eat.
• A reasonable conclusion: Brain Trust/the Voodooists built Mugenjou/Babylon City, but as part of the ongoing war between Voodooists and Witches the Witch Queen sealed them off from and/or kicked them out of their own handiwork. Now they want back in.
• This doesn't mean that all of the Voodooists ever were in Babylon City or know what's there; nor that all the inhabitants of Babylon City (current and former) were Voodooists. Someone (Der Kaiser? Kagami?) refers to the former residents as "fallen angels".
• The "Archiver" is in Babylon City. This may be a person or an object or a personified object.
• The Archiver appears to control time in/around Mugenjou, lost or otherwise.
• Teshimine tells Ginji his mother is in Babylon City.
• The Miroku Seven's father is apparently in Babylon City.
• Obvious question that is almost too dumb to mention but not quite: doesn't Ginji have a father? Don't the Miroku have a mother?
• The "Tres Ritter" working under Der Kaiser are affiliated with the Miroku and use their techniques.
• We're still not sure what happened to Eris.
• The first Key is Himiko, who is a special "Voodoo Child" who carries the blood of the Witch Queen (not known whether Yamato is the same). Not sure whether this will ever be detailed one way or the other but the most likely scenario is that she was originally an aborted sibling of Ban. = =;;;;
• (Must check this speech again but) Maria implies that she knew Himiko was of the Witch Queen's blood, but not that she was a Key.
• The second Key is Shido, or Kimera, or Kimera-in-Shido. No idea what he has to do with either the Witches or the Voodooists.
• The third Key is the GetBackers - both of them together. The implication seems to be that the Key is whoever comprises the "GetBackers" at the moment, but there are almost certainly criteria involved beyond Paul's judgment of character. For one, Ban is a descendant of the Witch Queen, and Ginji is a product (in whatever sense) of Babylon City and possibly the Voodooists.
• Two out of the three keys involve a conjunction of Voodoo with Witch powers, which seems entirely logical. Kimera appears unrelated but interestingly enough was also the focus of an age-long struggle between rival races.
• The 60,000$ question: who created the Keys and why?

Done from memory of the last 3-4 tankoubon and takadainmate's summaries, so please correct if I've gotten anything wrong or left stuff out.

Comments

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

...holy shit. I'm way behind on my GB manga but still. Daaaamn. No wonder I never can figure this series out whenever I start bashing at it with my J-E dictionaries. (you should translate this to Japanese and mail to A&A-sensei. Otherwise I fear them totally losing track of what the hell they're doing...)

[incandescens]

That's excellent! Thanks.

[sapphi-chan.livejournal.com]

umm... as for the keys and why? If we're to look at it in real life... when you want to lock the door you need keys right? Could it be that, that same principle be used here. If so then there's a possibility that the Witch Queen, herself, be the one who made it. Anyway when you are going to look at it why Der Kaiser happens to be there as if waiting for the right time and finally solve the age old problem.

^_______^ I was also doing some analysis for GB too...

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Hmm, actually come to think of it Himiko is stated to be created by the Voodooists, and Kimera fell down from the sky or something. The GB are the weird ones. >_> But it seems from the latest chapters that it was an arranged marriage their meeting was somehow predicted or planned out...

I don't think the series will ever give an even pseudo-rational explanation for why the Keys work or how the Voodooists realised they'd work, to be honest, just that they work. @_@

[whyfel.livejournal.com]

Erm... excuse me. @_@

1. Why did you say that the Kakei siblings commit ritual suicides? Did Kazuki die in the later chapters?
2. Unless I'm mistaken, Himiko is a Voodoo Child, which means that she and Ban (might) share the same ancestors, but not directly from his grandmother, right?

Umm... that's all for now.

[willow-one.livejournal.com]

I think what was said that in the "official" version, they killed themselves. As in, it's not what happened, but if you ask anyone it's what they'll tell you happened.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

There's a flashback after the Ura-Fuuchouin took over showing Juubei arguing with his father. Juubei says they should resist and stand with Kazuki, and his father saying essentially look I know it's hard for you when you've been brought up to serve someone but the Kakei clan is too weak to do anything about it. Juubei storms out. Sakura gets up, bows to their father, and asks him to strike them from the books as it were: tell everyone they committed suicide. They're going to do what they feel is right and leave with Kazuki.

It's definitely stated that Himiko is descended from the Witch Queen. So she's either a (half) sibling or first cousin of Ban's. ^^; Ban seems to have arbitrarily decided that she's his sister. ^^;;;;

[ekmisao.livejournal.com]

It was really very helpful, really and truly, but I realize now how much has already happened that I don't fully understand. ^^V Thanks all the same.

EK 8 )