A Plot Bunny for a Sakura Taisen Step

[ordnance11]

This is a plot bunny for a Sakura Taisen step that Bob is thinking about. It came to me while I was in the gym working out and I ended up talking and observing one of the fitness trainers.
Let me digress for a bit and describe her. Her name is Michelle. She looks about in her mid-20s to early 30s (she has a son in the Navy, so you can figure what her actual age is). She looks about 100 lbs (slim). But Ive seen her bench-press 350 lbs. She told me that there are significant differences between how woman should train for strength vs a man. Train like a man, and youll end up looking like a female version of the Governator in his prime. She told me that she wanted to be strong. But she wanted to still look like a girl.
Which brings me back to Kanna. Her father probably didnt know how to train a girl in the family style (Im betting only sons were trained in the style before Kanna, or if he had an idea, he wasnt about to mess with a proven training methodespecially if its the only one). Kanna would be under pressure to prove that a female Karishina could successfully become the heir and master of the family style, so I dont think shed say anything, even if she had an idea of how to do things differently.
So you have the powerhouse of the Hanagumi, who has been stuck playing all the male roles in the theater. Someone, if you take away her boobs, who can pass for a man. And would probably be the last Karishina because what normal Japanese man (let alone a martial artist) would marry someone as masculine looking as her? You have to wonder what thoughts she must think late at nite.
Now Doug might know a concept in body building thats definitely unknown in the 1920s.
Body sculpting.
Training your body to a specific shape (for a specific function).
If Doug can coach Kanna into redesigning her body into a more feminine shape w/o sacrificing much of her strength and gain speed as a result, Id consider that as a more than fair exhange. To be able to land 2 blows @ 90-95% of your former power in the same time it would take to land blow at full power is a more than fair bargain. I can visualize Kanna looking like Bloodberry of Saber Marionnette J as an end result.
Of course, now we come to stage 2 of the make-over.
Does anyone remember the plot to Bernard Shaws play Pygmalion? ^^
Or better yet Werner and Lowe's musical My Fair Lady?
Kanna cast as Eliza Doolittle(snicker)
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Rod.H]

But then what happens to the Kanna/Sumire set, ey.
Lord knows there seems to be enough subtext to imply this may be so.

[ordnance11]

Nah, they seemed to be more like Abbot and Costello.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Bob Schroeck]

I agree. There is no Xena-ish subtext between Sumire and Kanna as far as I can tell -- it's just one of those friendships that's cloaked in what seems to be animosity.
I like this idea, btw. I know it's probably what you intended, but I really do want to lift it and add it to the development file, if you don't mind.-- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

[ordnance11]

To quote our Governor:
No problemo, Bob!
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Rod.H]

Dang, my radar must be off target then. Possibly it got confuddled or stuck on....shoujo-ai. I blame Alliane & shanejayell causeing it, their works that is. Not them personally.
Then again I completely missed the subtext in Xena when I watched it, it had to be pointed out to me and I still missed it....
--Rod.H

[NotDavies]

Re: Xena-ish subtext.
Wellllll ... there's some, but it's questionable. In ST2, when Sumire is supposedly going to get married, Kanna is quite startled -- and she and Ougami are the ones who interrupt the matchmaking ceremony.
It's not on the level of the Mell/Ci subtext in ST3, or even the less-questionable Hanabi/Glycine subtext, but one could say that it's there.
Part of it, I think, is that Sumire is so exaggeratedly feminine (bordering on the histrionic at times) that she can be read as the femme to Kanna's butch.
All IMHO, and of course I am a notorious pervert-type person.
Chris Davies.

[ordnance11]

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Wellllll ... there's some, but it's questionable. In ST2, when Sumire is supposedly going to get married, Kanna is quite startled -- and she and Ougami are the ones who interrupt the matchmaking ceremony.

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You also noticed that she also lead the revolt when the Hanagumi all thought that Sakura was also getting married in OVA2. I think Kanna is a romantic. She believes that a woman should marry whom she loves, not what her parents had decided on.

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It's not on the level of the Mell/Ci subtext in ST3, or even the less-questionable Hanabi/Glycine subtext, but one could say that it's there.

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hmmm....there's not much evidence in the OVA between Mer and Ci, but both of them are definitely hotter than the Kazegumi. (I keep forgetting..who is the bruntte and who is the redhead?)
As to betwen Hanabi and Glycine...now that's a hoot! Hanabi would never dishonor Philippe's memory in that fashion and Glycine is too honourable to even think about it. She'd slice the head of the first joker to mention it.
As to Sumire bordering on being histronic...Since she believes she's a star, she believes that she must lord it over other lesser beings. Typical ojou-sama. There is a softer side to her.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Bob Schroeck]

On the subject of OVA 3 -- I know it's licensed but not by whom; does anyone know? Is it out on the shelves yet or still in production?-- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

[robkelk]

According to a press release linked from the show's information page at Anime News Network, Funimation will be releasing it in early July.
(I never realized how many "big names" were involved in the cast for OAV 3 and 4...)
-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[NotDavies]

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hmmm....there's not much evidence in the OVA between Mer and Ci, but both of them are definitely hotter than the Kazegumi. (I keep forgetting..who is the bruntte and who is the redhead?)

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I'm referencing the game, where they are shown showering together, and at one point Mell (or is it Ci) is going on about Ci's (or Mell's) hair and how soft it its.

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As to betwen Hanabi and Glycine...now that's a hoot! Hanabi would never dishonor Philippe's memory in that fashion and Glycine is too honourable to even think about it. She'd slice the head of the first joker to mention it.

---

Y'know, this is the second time I've heard you imply that getting on with life after tragedy is dishonorable.
I'm not saying that it's a case of the hot pants, but ... well, I'll just quote Kayama's translation:
Hanabi: ......But...... I'm sorry...... I - can't forget Philippe......
No matter how hard I try...... I just can't forget......
Glycine: But if I lose you, what will I do, left behind!? I could do naught but live in tears!!
... "naught but live in tears"? I'm sorry, but you don't say that about someone who's "just" a dearest friend.
Chris Davies.

[Bob Schroeck]

---

(I never realized how many "big names" were involved in the cast for OAV 3 and 4...)

---

Oh. My. God. Kikuko "Belldandy, Kasumi Tendo" Inoue is Lobelia?-- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

[ordnance11]

---

Y'know, this is the second time I've heard you imply that getting on with life after tragedy is dishonorable.
I'm not saying that it's a case of the hot pants, but ... well, I'll just quote Kayama's translation:
Hanabi: ......But...... I'm sorry...... I - can't forget Philippe......
No matter how hard I try...... I just can't forget......
Glycine: But if I lose you, what will I do, left behind!? I could do naught but live in tears!!
... "naught but live in tears"? I'm sorry, but you don't say that about someone who's "just" a dearest friend.

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If you're talking about Yomiko Readman, my thinking for both Hanabi and her is still the same. Both of them lost their first loves (male) under tragic circumstances. For them to turn femme after that doesn't make sense. But that's just me ^^.
As to that exchange, sounds like a sister begging her other sister not to die and leave her alone.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[robkelk]

---

Oh. My. God. Kikuko "Belldandy, Kasumi Tendo" Inoue is Lobelia?

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Why is everybody always so surprised at Inoue-san's range? It isn't as if we didn't know she could play parts other than the meek housewife. (At least, we knew that if we've seen Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, 801 TTS Airbats, or Figure 17...)
Now, if you'd commented that Etsuko "Ryo-Ohki" Kozakura is Coquelicot, I'd understand the surprise...
-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[ordnance11]

---

Why is everybody always so surprised at Inoue-san's range? It isn't as if we didn't know she could play parts other than the meek housewife. (At least, we knew that if we've seen Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, 801 TTS Airbats, or Figure 17...)

---

Heh, I loved her as Mizuho-sensei in Onegai Teacher! She can play good girls and bad girls equally!
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Bob Schroeck]

---

Why is everybody always so surprised at Inoue-san's range? It isn't as if we didn't know she could play parts other than the meek housewife.

---

Oh, I know that -- as I recall, half her roles are Kasumi-Belldandy types, and the other half are cackling loons similar to Kodachi Kuno.
I was reacting because of the vocal range. All the roles I've heard Inoue do have been sopranos, with smooth clear voices. Lobelia is low and raspy from what little I've heard (fragments of dialogue, the character song from ST3). I just can't reconcile the two in my mind.-- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

[mephron]

---

Why is everybody always so surprised at Inoue-san's range? It isn't as if we didn't know she could play parts other than the meek housewife. (At least, we knew that if we've seen Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, 801 TTS Airbats, or Figure 17...)

---

...Nurse Ruko in 'Ogenki Clinic'....
Did I just make your brain EXPLODE?Brazil has decided you're cute.Brazil has decided you're cute.

[mephron]

and now that I went for the Nuclear Option...
...why is it that I seem to be one of the few that think that Kanna's just fine the way she is? Rowr.
(Of course, I once described my ideal woman as a cross between Kanna, Asuka Soryuu Langley and Belldandy: Kanna's strength of character, Asuka's strength of will and Belldandy's strength of spirit; Kanna's good nature, late-Asuka's good humor, and Belldandy's just general goodness. So I may be biased.)Brazil has decided you're cute.Brazil has decided you're cute.

[ordnance11]

---

...why is it that I seem to be one of the few that think that Kanna's just fine the way she is? Rowr.

---

I fear we live in an imperfect world, where packaging is everything.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Bob Schroeck]

Actually, I had never thought that Kanna needed to look any different, but if Doug can offer the option he will. Whether Kanna accepts, well, that's a characterization issue that I have to work on.-- Bob
---------
Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.