Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Eccentric Family 2
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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^That all works in a literary analysis and meta sense, but in-story, there are too few details given to figure out why Nidaime came back when he did and took all his aggression and frustration at his father out at Benten: --Who was the women Nidaime fell in love with in the past, and why was Akadama so against the relationship? --What happened when Nidaime met Benten in London? --Why did Nidaime return to Kyoto? My speculation is that: --100 years ago (which is when the fight took place, according to book readers and, I think, Wikipedia), Nidaime fell in love with a human woman and wanted to bring her into the tengu fold/teach her tengu magic. Akadama was so against this idea that they fought and Nidaime exiled himself to Europe; --Akadama hypocritically kidnapped a human teenager and trained her to be his successor; Nidaime was unaware of this(?); --Benten, knowing she was close to succession(maybe?), went to see Nidaime in London, perhaps to ask for formal permission to succeed Akadama, perhaps to settle things once & for all on Akadama's behalf, perhaps just to introduce herself to Nidaime for the first time--can't be sure: --Nidaime returns to Kyoto, furious about Benten, and just wanting to stir things up? We can guess, but I would want more details, otherwise I can't be sure of the characters' motivations, Benten's in particular. Was seeking out Nidaime and starting up with him something she chose to do? Was it to defend Akadama's honor? Does she blame him for her kidnapping, because if he'd never left, Akadama wouldn't have kidnapped her to be successor? It's actually very unclear. ...But there's still another novel (& hopefully, season) planned to answer questions! |
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Merida
 Posts: 1945 |
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^Thanks for the infos from the books! I wish there was a (fan-)translation for the novels...
As for your speculations: knowing Benten's temper, i seriously doubt she went to London just in order to nicely introduce herself...and Nidaime doesn't seem so petty to take out all his daddy issues on Benten without being further provoked. But i'm also very curious about why Benten called Nidaime a coward in the final ep., i don't think that was just because he was hiding under a pile of tanuki (which was the cutest thing ever, btw!) and him responding "you really are a lot like her", implying she knows "her" (supporting the mother theory?!). So many questions... |
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algoshuffler
Posts: 10 |
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It is a bit of literary analysis but it's not speculation or anything....It's all there in the narrative.
Here's some actual speculation: 1. Benten goes to London and meets Nidaime. 2. Benten reminds Nidaime of his lover, who dumped him a century ago. 3. Why did his lover dump him? Is it because of the fiery-passionate side to him? 4. After all, it's not normal for a father and a son to fight over something so trivial as love. I think at one point, both he and Akadama were really hot-blooded. 5. Thus, Nidaime hates Benten. 6. But he wants to act like a refined gentleman. That's the lifestyle he adopted in order to counteract his fiery personality. 7. To him, everyone ought to be at strict social classes, and everyone ought to have the personalities that label the social class (I think this is pretty clear from the show). 8. He thought that tengu were supposed to be civilized, but after seeing Akadama, who relies and tanuki and cannot fly like a tengu, he thought that all humans, tengu, and tanuki were stupid, and that he is at the top. 9. But despite seeing the stupidity, why does Nidaime stay in Kyoto? What has disturbed Nidaime so much that he actually returned to Kyoto? 10. I speculate that the answer is: Benten. He hates the woman who dumped him years ago, but he cannot seem to forget about her. Seeing Benten reminded him that he still loves the woman, and he is frustrated to admit that he still loves her. The fact that she and Benten have a similar personality is extremely disconcerting to him. He thinks that if he takes a bite at Benten, he'll be dumped just like how he was 100 years ago. 11. I don't think Nidaime gives a damn about Akadama. If anything, I think he's just frustrated that Akadama was a "fool" after all. That's why I like Akadama. He, along with Yasaburo, acknowledges that he is a "fool" and he knows how to live in harmony in a world full of contradictions. I think episode 12 of this season is The Eccentric Family's (season 1 included) greatest episode yet. It's not close to perfect or anything like episodes 8 or 12 of season 1, but the amount this episode subtly reveals about Nidaime in such a short amount of time is astounding. In the aftermath of the episode while talking to Yasaburo, we see that he has experienced an epiphany: the world is more complicated than just some set-in-stone social ladders and the stigmas surrounding each social class. Maybe the episode was a little messy and difficult to interpret (or felt a bit rushed), and the Nidaime vs. Benten fight should've come a bit earlier, but I think it achieves everything it needs to achieve. Overall, I think that season 2 is slightly weaker than season 1, which was tied together perfectly with "sometimes, a death of someone can reunite others left behind." But it's nonetheless a great show that has a very good shot at "anime of the year" for me. |
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John Thacker
Posts: 1006 |
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It's even clearer in Japanese, where he said そっくり, which in this sense means "resembles almost exactly / the spitting image," but definitely doesn't mean that it's the same. It's tricky when translating, because on this measure English tends to be vague compared to Japanese. In Japanese there's a number of words that can be translated in English most naturally as "just like," for example らしい (rashii, which means "just like X" where you do think that something is X, as when someone is being "just like themselves") and みたい (mitai, which means that Y is "like X" but Y definitely is not X). Here's a pretty good list of examples with some other uses as well. Grandma is amazing, especially because she reminds me of my recently deceased Nanny, who would also ask questions and then say "That's what I thought" in exactly the same way. |
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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I putting my bet on the reincarnation route. Said woman leaves nidamie a letter with a big "X" and disappears from his life (and eventually dies far from Tengu shenanigans). She later reincarnates and Akadama sensei kidnaps her. Of course I know people supposedly reincarnate with a different face, but in anime/manga more often than not you can recognize them by their looks, genetics be damned. For futher aggravation Benten might be Akadama's illegitimate daughter*, making this a family affair (it easier to believe that a half-tengu(?) learns to fly than any human can fly with adequate training). *Yeah, I still remember on season 1 how Akadama rubbed Yasaburo's butt thinking he was Benten, that would then make Akadama sensei behaviour ... presidential 
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Agent355
Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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If Nidaime is the one who cares most about hierarchy, why did he fight so hard to keep a human lover, and then deny his tengu heritage after she left him? I read it as: Akadama was the one who opposed the relationship, because at the time *Akadama* cared more about hierarchy than Nidaime. Akadama could also easily be why the woman left--his yakuza-tengu underlings could put pressure on an unwanted visitor to leave the area. Dejected, Nidaime denies his heritage as tengu, claims he's human now and wants to act like the finest human gentleman, which in his mind translated to English nobility.
So when he finds out that not only did his father change, he even took a human disciple, Nidaime's furious, but keeps it cool (on the surface) and comes back to scope out the situation. I do think Nidaime transferred the anger he held toward his father (who's now old, frail, and not worth fighting) to Benten, who represented everything he was denied in the past. It's a similar situation to when an elderly parent marries a much younger spouse, especially if the parent discouraged their kids from romances they disapproved of when the kids were younger--kids tend to be resentful and take it out on the new stepparent. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11355 |
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What? Parents disapprove of their children's choice of mates quite often (to the point of killing them in some cultures), especially in cultures where arranged marriages are a common or expected thing. There was conflict over parental arrangements for their children's marriage in this very series. A father and son fighting over an interspecies relationship is hardly surprising. 
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algoshuffler
Posts: 10 |
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Sorry about not clarifying myself enough. I speculate that Akadama used to care 100 years ago and probably beat the idea of a hierarchy into Nidaime.
It's normal for parents and children to fight over relationships but not normal for it to go that far. |
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Agent355
Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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That makes sense.
It can go further than that, actually. In some cultures, disagreeing with your child's choice of romantic partner is grounds for disowning the child or worse. |
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