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narcasseHaving had a strangely long weekend of doing very little I finally found the time to finish watching Ayatsuri Sakon at long last. It’s not that old a series really though I can’t actually remember how I first heard about it but it really has to be one of those that will remain a steady favourite. I’m completely and utterly biased of course so as a basic outline; Ayatsuri Sakon is a relatively short murder mystery series with a very traditional hero who happens to be a Bunraku (文楽) puppeteer. The episodes are divided up into three or four episode arcs covering each murder mystery, often in various rural locales and while there are various references that may need explaining such as Japanese ghosts traditionally lacking legs or the business of formal introductions between two potential marriage partners as arranged by their families, those aren’t too numerous so as to unnecessarily complicate things. Essentially, Sakon with the assistance of his Meiji era puppet Ukon finds himself confronted by various cases which he often helps his police inspector aunt solve. There’s little background on Sakon himself other than in glimpses and the reiteration at various stages that his grandfather is a famous puppeteer but the latter story arcs and in particular the last reveal somewhat more about his family.
Interestingly, the Ukon/Sakon dynamic is never directly addressed beyond later mentions of a much younger Sakon worrying that Ukon won’t communicate with him and in a series like this it doesn’t actually matter in the end whether or not Ukon is really a separate entity or simply a spare voice in Sakon’s head. There are several points in the story where Ukon’s reactions might be seen as being entirely separate from Sakon’s such as an earlier occasion when Sakon is knocked unconscious and upon waking finds Ukon seemingly trying to wake him up or occasions where Sakon will attempt to hush Ukon to stop him voicing what might be an impolite opinion in a given situation. But all these situations could still be a case of Sakon manipulating his puppet or even imagining Ukon’s actions so there’s really very little to tell regardless and at the very end it really doesn’t appear to matter because even if Ukon is meant to be a separate entity that simply isn’t what a series like Ayatsuri Sakon is focused on. Sakon and Ukon are both happily functional in both their crime fighting and puppet performances after all and that’s what actually counts.
Overall then, Ayatsuri Sakon is a series about idealised traditional Japan peppered with a few murders along the way as points of focus. It’s a world were grandfathers can be heroes, older women are noble, younger women are brave and even the villains can make honourable choices in the end. With the essential point being that life must be lived and consequences accepted since as the tag line says people cannot live in grief.
Other than that, this weekend I’ve been experimenting with my tea and a jar of cardamom seeds that would otherwise have been thrown out and as it turns out there are two combinations that I might have to make more regular used of.
The first being a fennel based mixture:
1 teabag fennel tea
3 cardamom seeds
2 cloves
2 small cinnamon sticks
sugar to taste
And the second being cardamom based:
1 cardamom teabag
2 cloves
2 small cinnamon sticks (or ground cinnamon)
milk & sugar to taste
I may try the second mixture with a third clove to sweeten it further and the first with less cinnamon at a later date too.
Interestingly, the Ukon/Sakon dynamic is never directly addressed beyond later mentions of a much younger Sakon worrying that Ukon won’t communicate with him and in a series like this it doesn’t actually matter in the end whether or not Ukon is really a separate entity or simply a spare voice in Sakon’s head. There are several points in the story where Ukon’s reactions might be seen as being entirely separate from Sakon’s such as an earlier occasion when Sakon is knocked unconscious and upon waking finds Ukon seemingly trying to wake him up or occasions where Sakon will attempt to hush Ukon to stop him voicing what might be an impolite opinion in a given situation. But all these situations could still be a case of Sakon manipulating his puppet or even imagining Ukon’s actions so there’s really very little to tell regardless and at the very end it really doesn’t appear to matter because even if Ukon is meant to be a separate entity that simply isn’t what a series like Ayatsuri Sakon is focused on. Sakon and Ukon are both happily functional in both their crime fighting and puppet performances after all and that’s what actually counts.
Overall then, Ayatsuri Sakon is a series about idealised traditional Japan peppered with a few murders along the way as points of focus. It’s a world were grandfathers can be heroes, older women are noble, younger women are brave and even the villains can make honourable choices in the end. With the essential point being that life must be lived and consequences accepted since as the tag line says people cannot live in grief.
Other than that, this weekend I’ve been experimenting with my tea and a jar of cardamom seeds that would otherwise have been thrown out and as it turns out there are two combinations that I might have to make more regular used of.
The first being a fennel based mixture:
1 teabag fennel tea
3 cardamom seeds
2 cloves
2 small cinnamon sticks
sugar to taste
And the second being cardamom based:
1 cardamom teabag
2 cloves
2 small cinnamon sticks (or ground cinnamon)
milk & sugar to taste
I may try the second mixture with a third clove to sweeten it further and the first with less cinnamon at a later date too.
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Date: 2008-01-08 03:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-08 11:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-09 05:51 am (UTC)