Dear Brother (of Riyoko Ikeda) Happy 2008 to everyone!!
I want to dedicate my first post in 2008 to a cartoon that I loved so much: Dear Brother.
The following is an excerpt from the site
http://aoisora.tripod.com/main.html that I recommend to anyone who wants to deepen the topics dealt with by me.
"
The plot of Dear Brother ... it's like a puzzle, a puzzle that is made very slowly before our eyes, marked in style by shojo moods of the protagonists, from moments of high tension drama (at times melodramatic, as was rightly pointed out),
a sort of "gothic novel", love and death dominated roses, petals of cherry, sudden storms, daggers, from a dark clock tower, a mysterious bracelet and the doll that melancholy, like a leitmotiv, appears in many episodes ...
not easy, more geared to an older audience, as recurring themes are addicted to drugs, suicide, serious illness, mental fragility and the
strong attraction to someone of the same sex ...
But Dear Brother ... work is also a must for those who love shojo manga, a masterpiece of the world and deepening of the female psyche in a difficult time of growth of each girl. "
As for the characters refer to
http://aoisora .tripod.com / personaggi.html . I only deepen that concerns my favorite
Rei Asaka (Saint Juste):
Rei is a charming girl in the second year that meets Nanako the first time on the bus that leads to the Seiran the first day of school. Nanako is immediately struck by its beauty, its security and above all his voice "deep and warm."
As Kaoru, she is beautiful androgynous always wears men's clothes, is a rebel (smoking in defiance of the rules of the school and is delighted to throw knives in the clock tower), a sensitive soul
and tormented (Law and declaims Verlaine)
, a character beloved by all the girls (playing basketball, play and play well the piano, flute, violin, or guitar in the manga). However, Rei wherever I go, you always see with a well stocked supply of medicines of all kinds, with which it seeks to placate his troubled mind, mainly because of its mysterious and complex relationship with Lady Miya.
His nickname derives from Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just, the historic character of the French Revolution, which sent many opponents to the guillotine, from the icy beauty and nicknamed "the Angel of Death." And as the one that gives it its name, the eyes of Rei, with "attitude and higher non-human" looking at an indefinite point and distant, perhaps death ... " Nanako said as reading the biography of the historical character.
Citations: Kaoru
describes Saint Just:
During the mid Rei was moved here from another school. She was a very eccentric ... he was always all alone to read, and it seemed that he had no interest in the world around her [...]
Then I convinced her to join our team, and soon became a champion ... When Rei
playing was always full of life, and his eyes sparkled. It was for these qualities that I liked ... or at least I thought ...
But then I had to admit that was not true. What attracted me most about her was her attitude and greatly superior to non-human ... it seemed that his eyes, looking at an indefinite point and distant. What these eyes have ever seen? What is there hidden in his soul? I do not know ...
Nanako discovers the desolation in which he lives Rei:
Incredibly Saint Just living in a room bare, full of mirrors and windows closed, wrapped in a dark, obsessive, desperate ... probably his meals were meager and desultory, but the question that arose spontaneously was curious and frightening at the same time what he was doing here all alone as he came home after school? Dear brother, what was his secret? What concealed?
Nanako wakes up after having lost consciousness due to a cigarette Saint Just: "Feel better now?"
Nanako: Her beautiful smiling lips, her hair silk ... But what is an angel or a devil?
Saint Just: "Now you understand, is not it? Smoking is horrible and destructive, then you do not suits, believe me ... I want you to stay exactly as you are now, not ever change, Nanako "
Nanako: Dear brother, I trusted her, of his tender words, his kindness, his care, of His infinite goodness ... My dear brother I was not strong enough to believe with my whole being that it was the sweet and insidious whisper of a demon ...
"I will ..."
Saint Just: "Mh?"
"I ... I love you. I love you! "
Nanako reflects the link between St Just and Lady Miya:
Dear brother, I still can not understand the strange and obscure relationship that bound Saint Just a Lady Miya ... The more I understand it was difficult , I was more afraid of their world, without rancor and secrets, a world that became more dark and scary every day that passed, as the eyes of Saint Just became more sad and short-tempered Lady Miya was no longer concealed by its fake and superficial kindness ....
Rei remembers episodes of his childhood linked to Fukiko: ... Then I thought that I would never forget your beautiful face: a child as young as 11 who had poured a river of tears a few moments before had now raised his head and pressing her lips hid the signs of humiliation in the eyes of the servants ... I remember that pride to my heart as a child was inspired, and filled me with the secret joy of a gentle soul ...
Fukiko: ... You noticed it? I've been good, I did not shed tears during the funeral ... and I did not lose control even for a minute. Of course, I was standing, to accept the condolences of all endless ... usually with my pride ... See, I'm still that pride that you have known girl in the garden, and of which he was fair, because ... Why should not I show my tears to anyone but you, who understood me so well ... my tears ... my plant is unique to you, my sweet sister ....
Symbolism: The bracelet on your wrist that Saint Just
Fukiko Another gift, a pledge of promise to commit suicide with her sister (ep. 26). That bracelet, which attracts the attention of Nanako on the bus when it hits against Saint Just seems to be the chain that binds to Fukiko Rei ... well as to perform the function of covering the scar on the wrist of Rei. Rei
not never separates from it, despite repeated attempts to persuade her to Kaoru rid of the "curse of Lady Miya," even throws a knife at her friend so that Kaoru throw it out the window. (Ep. 12)
only a couple of occasions we see Rei separated from her bracelet. (Ep. 33) While in the shower and prepares for an appointment with Nanako (for the symbolism that runs on water see below), after its impact with the train, the cuff disengages from his wrist and fly away, and he sees himself a few feet away from the inert body of Saint Just lying near the tracks.
Finally, in the dream of Nanako (ep. 35) Rei dressed in basketball outfit runs away, jumps and you go off the cuff from his wrist ... It would seem that what binds
Saint Just at the end of earthly existence and its connection with Fukiko ... without it, it seems that the life of Rei has no reason to be. His death, if you will, is determined by an impulse to grab the flowers for his date (a new life without the domain of Lady Miya, a free choice ...), but his choice to live, Paradoxically, the door to die. When Saint Just grab the flowers, it is too late, is already flying towards his date with destiny, the last image we have of her, lying on the tracks, Rei is still holding the flowers in his hand, while the armband is far ...
The bracelet, though, will return. It will be seen on the wrists of Fukiko when the latter visited the beach in the north where a child had cut his wrist to Rei. (Ep. 35) The last image of that sequence, in which words are Fukiko "is over, Rei," is dedicated to your bracelet. Immediately after the abolition of Lady Miya ask Sorority ...
cigarette in the manga has a meaning if we are a little decadent ... In his apartment, Rei offers Nanako has just lit a cigarette, and Nanako sees Rei as a "temptress" from angelic face. In this kind of thinking goes that the cigarette has been touched by the lips of Rei ... Nanako smokes it awkwardly, and after leaving the apartment, leaning against the wall once out, and considering that was "touched by his lips" ... This sort of indirect
kiss is repeated in the anime between Rei and Fukiko. At Sorority, Fukiko kisses the right ear of Nanako and after the fight with Rei, leave the room, was alone Saint Just wonder what his sister touched his ear with his lips, taking a kiss ... (ep. 25)
Associations Pet of the characters:
- Rei and birds (doves and seagulls)
"In most traditions, the birds have mainly a positive connotation." The birds symbolize the power that helps people to think and guide to come up with many things in advance before you act. Rise in the air like birds with their feathers and can stop wherever they choose, the soul in the body is elevated by the thought and spreads its wings everywhere. "
They represent the human desire to escape gravity, to reach the level of angels. The bird is often the human soul is freed from the body, free from its physical constraints. In fairy tales, people often turned into birds. They thought and imagination, transcendence and divinity, freedom from material constraints. "(*)
There are several occasions when Rei and the birds appear together, one of the most significant is his entry to the General Assembly for students where Kaoru calls for the abolition of the Sorority. The doves on the Seiran, hitherto absent, appearing suddenly just the appearance of Saint Just.
Even at the time of his death Rei seems to fly high in the sky, and dream of Nanako (which seems to turn into a seagull) she asks "where my spirit will fly free ...?"
In particular, Saint Just is often associated with doves: this animal in Christianity is used as a symbol of peace (a dove carrying an olive branch to Noah as a sign that the deluge of divine wrath had ended). In early Christian art the apostles were generally represented as doves, because they were the instruments of the Holy Spirit, who brought peace to the world, sometimes the dove represents the rest often simplicity, innocence and love.
Some interesting elements in the characterization of Saint-Just:
The mirrors in her apartment
The mirror is a reflection of the soul, no mind, it is absolute truth. It is' the knowledge that a man has of himself, the clear and shining surface of divine truth, the gate to the kingdom of the inverse "(Cooper, 106). Taoists consider the mirror as a mechanism of self-realization, and Christians see as a perfect mirror image of the Virgin. For the Chinese, is sincerity, and for Buddhists, is the soul in a state of purity ."(*)
Knives: Rei usually use them to launch them against a silhouette of Fukiko in the Clock Tower, to prevent her from throwing against Kaoru via his wrist against Furuta and Sonobe who are trying to burn a petition against the Sorority, and then makes a practical use ... From a symbolic point of view, however:
"The knife is an object full of meaning, it means separation, death, sacrifice, division, or liberation. In Buddhism, liberation is cut with a knife because you cut the bonds of ignorance. In Christianity, martyrdom is the ."(*)
purple. "The purple comes from the combination of red and blue, the show combines the masculinity of femininity red with cold blue. Purple is often used to represent royalty, the imperial power, justice, and / or the truth. The dried blood has a purple tinge, and also are often purple bruises on the meat, in this respect may be a sign of physical injury. "(*)
The sheets on the bed of purple Rei ... The purple could also be yet another, aspect of androgynous Saint Just, a combination of masculinity and femininity ...
The Wind 'And' the messenger of divine intervention, and is the vital breath of the universe (Cooper, 192). The wind is often the fleeting and transitory, the elusive and intangible.
on
The dream:
In his dream, Saint Just traveling on a wooden cart, listening to the sound of the spinning wheel on the pavement, and says he feels he must reach the fifth hill
The theme of the trip "myth, is a journey a call of destiny, the transfer of a hero in an unfamiliar area, full of treasures and dangers in unknown lands, an underground world, a forest, an island lost or a mountain. Symbolically, it is the spiritual adventure, responsible for exploring the self until it reaches the serenity. "(*)
" The number five is incredibly important in terms of its symbolic qualities. Represents human perfection as a man with extended arms and legs form a pentagon with the head that "dominates the four limbs, just as the spirit controls 4 Elements" (Julien, 155). There are five senses, five fingers on each hand and foot, a five-pointed star, with the tip pointing upward symbolizes individuality and spiritual aspiration. Pointing down represents witchcraft and black magic. "(*)
wheel: " The meaning of the wheel as a symbolic entity is similar to that of the circle, with the additional quality of the movement. As a symbol of the sun, the spokes are parallel to the rays of the sun. And 'the Wheel of Fortune in a Tarot deck, and the Taoist tradition, the wheel is the sage who has reached the point without moving the center around which movement can occur without itself moving. "(*)
Wood. "In Catholicism, wood is frequently associated with the cross, otherwise, can represent the totality of paradise, a refuge, a cradle or a coffin. The carpenter uses tools symbolic of the divine power to bring order out of chaos (Cooper, 194). "(*)
You can find a very interesting view on Rei Asaka at: http://aoisora.tripod.com/oe_reiasaka.html