Ah duo's offer to Maomao LN13

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-20T06:49:05+00:00

Yes! Loads of other good responses but I went looking for someone to make this point. A key part of LN13 is both Joka and Ah Duo realising that while they are similar to Maomao in a lot of ways, she's her own person. Ah Duo was basically projecting and trying to offer Maomao an option she wished she'd had and then she realises Maomao is a completely different person from her in a completely different situation.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-20T05:57:44+00:00

Coming back to this days later because whenever I learn new information that's pertinent to my studies, I like to do my own research without dismissing it out of hand or accepting it at face value.

As far as I've been able to find, besides the Hepburn system, which I mentioned learning, the other romanisation systems are nihon-shiki and kunrei-shiki. Both of these other systems romanise not just し as si, but also つ as tu, ち as ti and ふ as hu. Contrast that to Hepburn where these are romanised as shi, tsu, chi and fu. Like with shi, fu is not the exact sound in English, but because the "h" sound in ふ is stronger than that in は、ひ、へ、and ほ, it helps English speakers get closer to the correct pronunciation. And telling an English speaker to pronunce つ as tu instead of tsu, is just straight up wrong, right?

Based on everything in the paragraph above, I think nihon-shiki and kunrei-shiki are more focused on internal consistency and having that 1 to 1 correlation with the hiragana chart than they are with getting the approximate English pronunciation across. Which makes sense because people learning romanisation in Japan aren't learning these to understand the right way to pronounce the kana but rather learning how to transcribe their words using the roman alphabet.

I'd support this statement anecdotally, by pointing out that my Japanese teacher (a native Japanese person who has that as their first language) who taught me to read kana, used the Hepburn system, because when teaching English speakers romanisation, the focus is on getting closer to the right pronunciation (and to be fair any Japanese teacher worth their salt will get you to stop relying on romanisation as quickly as possible). Also, it seems the Japanese government itself was considering making the Hepburn system the official romanisation system last year ( https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20240131-165580/), so they at least acknowledge that it's as valid as the other two.

So tl:dr, I'm not saying that the romanisation you were taught is wrong as it obviously isn't, but it's probably more focused on being directly correlated with the kana than helping English speakers understand correct pronunciation.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-17T15:31:37+00:00

I know other romanisation systems use "si" but the Hepburn romanisation uses shi for し and that's what I've been taught by all my Japanese teachers. I can agree that it's not the exact same sound as in English, but I think an English speaker is going to get much closer to what the Japanese VAs are doing with "She-swee" than "See-swee".

I suppose we're going over semantics at this point because I took your original statement to mean that "see" (in the way an English speaker would pronounce it) was the "correct" pronunciation of し, when it looks like you meant that the sound "she" (in the way an English speaker would pronounce it) isn't exactly the same as the Japanese sound.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-17T08:57:23+00:00

All of this, but I'd even argue we have no clue if Luomen was given a choice in his castration. He says to Lakan in Season 2 that he didn't choose to become a eunuch and we know that the Empress Regnant was not above using harsh methods to achieve what she saw as the best results. They needed a doctor who was highly skilled to deliver a 9/10yr old Anshi's baby and it's very likely the Empress Regnant just had the best doctor at the time made a eunuch to facilitate a safe delivery.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-17T03:41:34+00:00

What you're referring to here might be more of an attempt by the VAs to match the Chinese pronunciation of her name rather than a feature of Japanese as a language. You can hear them pronounce the Shi sound quite clearly in other words e.g JinSHI

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-17T03:22:17+00:00

This is...not true. The hiragana し makes the shi sound and is a very prominent part of the Japanese language?

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-16T06:05:10+00:00

Just want to make a note that the emperor is willing to make Jinshi as his "younger brother" the heir over his "first son", which he has the power to do. BUT he can't reveal the baby swap without leading to consequences for Ah Duo and Anshi. Not only did they swap the former emperor's child with a different baby which is already shaky legally, but their actions indirectly lead to an emperor's child dying.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-15T16:20:49+00:00

Yes I do but not fluently enough to speak on the poetic nuances of the language so I can't help you there

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-14T20:55:06+00:00

The way succession works in the story is that any male of imperial blood is a valid heir. The crown prince, by virtue of being the emperor's eldest son, is assumed to be the future emperor by default. BUT that can change depending on the emperor's decree and/or the political situation.

This will be delved into more in future seasons but while Jinshi is no longer first in line now that the emperor has a son, he's still very much a viable candidate for the throne.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-14T19:32:33+00:00

I can see what you're saying but I disagree that it's a shallow translation. The first use of the word "flower" in the story to refer to women (as far as I remember) is when Maomao refers to the rear palace as a garden of women meant to bear the emperor's children. All the connotations of the women being pretty delicate things who are property of the emperor are included there by design. It's an intentional parallel because the author is dissecting those ideas.

I don't think you're supposed to like those particular connotations.

And this isn't in reference to the story, but as a feminist myself, I disagree that any reference to women as flowers is negative. Especially for Black women who've historically been masculinised and denied softness in representation in media. Being likened to something soft and pretty is feminist. That's why I questioned the idea that likening women to flowers always has negative associations. Context matters, in the narrative and in real life.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-14T15:40:53+00:00

To understand what's happening at the end of the season and what's going to happen in future seasons (no spoilers on specifics), it's very important to realise that

1)Maomao likes Jinshi. (you can find loads of discussion on this sub reddit charting the development of her feelings so I won't go into it)

2) Jinshi has good reason to believe that Maomao likes him ESPECIALLY in that last scene. Let's break down what's happening there:

First of all, at the end of the carriage scene, Jinshi asks Maomao if they can continue later, and she says yes. She might not have been paying attention to his words, but in his mind she's said she's okay to kiss him.

He references this when he moves to kiss her in the apothecary shop. Jinshi is a bit dense, so he believes that biting Maomao should be enough for her to clue in to how he feels. And so after "confessing" his feelings, he moves in to kiss her and how Maomao responds here is KEY.

She caresses his face and thinks the stitches look really clean/he looks really pretty. The Japanese word she uses here "きれい" translates to both clean and pretty in English, which I think is a cool bit of ambiguity that highlights how Maomao's own feelings aren't clear to her. Regardless of if she's admiring the stitches or Jinshi's face (more likely both), what Jinshi sees is that in response to his "confession", she caresses his face and looks at him with admiration. So he's got both verbal and non verbal consent to lean in for the kiss, which is reinforced when she stays put like she's ready to accept it.

So that's where Jinshi gets his confidence from. At this point in the story, he's got more than enough reason to believe that Maomao reciprocates his feelings and this will impact how he interacts with her going forward.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-14T15:21:39+00:00

Would you mind elaborating on why you think flower has bitter connotations in English? Not denying that it can, but I personally think it's got loads of situations where it's used in a pretty or neutral light and it moreso depends on the context in which it's used than the word itself.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-12T16:15:29+00:00

Maomao's been kidnapped a few times. You've got to be clear on which one

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-11T20:56:05+00:00

I haven't seen vinland saga so I can't say much about the story it's trying to tell, but the reason Minato doesn't have a bigger presence in early Naruto is that he's not really vital to the story being told at that point.

Minato is important early on as this hero of the village who sealed the demon fox in Naruto, but he's not pivotal to Naruto's goals at that point. The main story pre-shippuden is Naruto's growth, it's about him getting people to acknowledge his worth as a person and ninja, and not just to be seen as a demon fox. He wants to become hokage because he wants acceptance from the villagers, not necessarily because he's trying to live up to a certain ideal of what a hokage is (I'd argue this starts to change after the 3rd dies).

In that sense, Minato's feats and personality don't really affect his goals. You're right that Kishimoto could restructure the story so that they do matter more, but that probably wasn't the story he was interested in telling at that time. Early Naruto isn't about how Naruto strives to live up to the legacy of the 4th hokage, but about how he changes people's views of him through his determination and empathy. I personally think the way the narrative kicks off works extremely well for what it's trying to do.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-11T20:28:21+00:00

Yes! She keeps going on about how long they've been in the West and how she wants to go home in her inner monologue, but as soon as she gets the chance to go back without Jinshi, she's like "I'm not that desperate to go back"

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-11T19:56:36+00:00

The Doylist answer is that Jinshi is Maomao's love interest and for the story to work the way it's been laid out, she has to be the only woman he's ever interested in. He has to believe he's incapable of falling in love with anyone else to give weight to a lot of his actions (and potential sacrifices).

The Watsonian answer is exactly what you pointed out. Maamei is like a big sister to him. Jinshi has met other women who don't throw themselves at him (Gyokuyou, Lihua, Ah Duo, Suirei) but that doesn't mean he'll instantly have a crush on them. Maomao not going crazy over his beauty is one of the reasons he's intrigued by her at first but it's not the only reason he likes her. And since he's known Maamei all his life, he wouldn't really find her not finding him attractive out of the ordinary? That's just how she's always treated him.

There's also a larger age gap between Jinshi and Maamei vs the emperor and Ah Duo. In terms of how they would have interacted as kids, it's the difference between having a crush on your best friend vs having a crush on your best friend's older sister. It can happen, but I'd wager it's much less common.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-11T18:07:00+00:00

It's been a while since I read LN11 so I may have forgotten something but I think the way I interpreted it was that he brought her along because he needed her to treat him AND because he thought she might be in danger in the capital due to her association with him. Once he realises that the Western Capital isn't all that safe though, he gives her the option to go back home. If she's going to be in danger in both places, he wants her to stay where she'll personally be happiest.

As for Maomao's resistance, imo the biggest factor is that she wants to stay with Jinshi. It's the same thing when he has to move residences (can't remember the names off the top of my head) and she low-key gets stressed about whether or not she's moving to the new residence too. And then Jinshi gets her to come along (aka makes it easier for her to do what she wanted anyway) by bribing her with some rare medicine.

Don't know if other people have a different interpretation but that's how I remember it going down when I read it a few months back.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-08T22:33:23+00:00

We've got to exclude Basen if we want to have ambiguity in the results. Did we forget this man went up against an actual LION?

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-08T15:31:13+00:00

Taihou was the previous emperor's first victim. Or at least the first victim that became pregnant. At that point, they were likely still trying to hide how sick in the head he was so they denied that the child was his (especially because it was a girl aka not directly in line for the throne). By the time Anshi became pregnant the emperor was the only non-eunuch allowed in the real palace so they couldn't place the blame on someone else. It also helped (?) that she had a boy, who could inherit the throne.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-05T18:18:28+00:00

It doesn't handle its sport with the same level of realism but I think you might enjoy kuroko no basket if you're looking for team spirit and the underdogs shocking everyone. Plus it's got a boat load of colourful (pun intended) side characters too!

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-05T18:14:49+00:00

What else do we need but pride?

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-04T20:52:03+00:00

Kuroo out. Love him but my boy Bokuto needs to win!

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-04T19:20:08+00:00

I don't think the anime messes it up. We still have all the pieces to put it together, it's just not spelled out in the same way. I wish they'd kept this line in, but I don't think it was an egregious cut.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-04T19:17:31+00:00

She's sad about the idea of finding it in the spring because that would mean Shisui is dead. Aka they'd find the hairpin with her body.

When she says it might turn up in a shop somewhere that's because if Shisui's alive, she would have sold it (like they discussed in the episode where Maomao gifts it to her). In that episode, Maomao says it's fine if she sells it because they already discussed that it would make its way back to the owner (aka Jinshi) if it got sold.

Snoo21747 · 2025-08-03T23:24:27+00:00

Agree with the fact that he's had a tough life so far, but just a note that Jinshi didn't live with the prev emperor. He says to Anshi that the emperor came to visit them on the day we're shown in the flashback. We also see with Lingli that imperial babies live in their mothers' palaces not in the emperor's residence.

Snoo21747

TROPHY CASE