GGaD » Cosmic Dim. (V. XVIII), You're Correct but You're Not Right

Echowo · October 21, 2023 00:31:39

GalaxianExplosion wrote:
Also after what I think is like...5 years of waiting? I finally got to finish the Saintia Sho series.
Let's just say, Shaka and Mu ain't ever beating the allegations.
Everyone in the Chinese fandom already called Mu Shaka's girlfriend. Finally getting up and fighting after seeing Mu struggle when normally you just sit around waiting to make a cooler entrance just doesn't help.
I love how SS simultaneously manages to be the most un-shippy work I've come across so far but also the most shippy one as soon as you turn your brain off. Just...don't think about it too hard.

-Galaxian-

It's lack of shippy-ness makes it SO easy to ship. We start searching for Crumbs

SpecterTheGreat · October 21, 2023 17:13:54

Fans will ship anything even if there isn't canon evidence for a ship. More often they'll grab friendship cues and turn them into romantic ship cues tho. Idk. That's just how fandoms work.

GalaxianExplosion · October 21, 2023 20:00:00

I wonder if the tendency from back then was more psychologically based or if it was related to how more usual literature can try to shoehorn romance in. (As in did people ship series like SS because they found love interesting to contemplate by nature? Or was it because the pattern of expecting romance to form was part of their usual thought patterns?)
Actually, that kinda makes me wonder if the way someone tends to regard relationships is based more on their more fundamental personality, on their exposed media, and/or other factors.
Yes this is all just overcomplicating a topic, but the interest is genuine.
Gonna skip right past it for Romance of the Three Kingdoms though because I love it so much.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · October 21, 2023 21:05:51

Gonna try to translate (edit: and then apparently analyze) a poem for once because I love it so much. Hopefully someone finds it interesting, otherwise it's kinda just for myself as an excuse to look more into it I suppose. Lol.
It's the poem incorporated at the beginning of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (from now on I am just gonna call it Sanguo Yanyi, or SGYY). Its name is "The Waves Roiling Towards the East," and its author is Yang Shen (1488-1559). I had a lil fanatic moment because I literally just remembered that this is why it's also used as the lyrics to the OG series' opening song.
Anyways, without further ado:

滚滚长江东逝水，浪花淘尽英雄。是非成败转头空。青山依旧在，几度夕阳红。
The roiling waves of the Changjiang (alt: Yangtze) River head towards the east, their spray engulfing many heroes. Successes and defeats alike vanish as if within an instant--yet the mountains still stand, witnessing the redness of countless sunsets.

白发渔樵江渚上，惯看秋月春风。一壶浊酒喜相逢。古今多少事，都付笑谈中。
A white-haired refuge stands on the river embankment, accustomed to witnessing the autumn moon and spring wind. Yet when he and his friends joyfully reunite, they take out a flask of good wine, and the infinite stories of history leading up to now are encapsulated within their conversation and laughter.

----

(*waves hands around like a madperson*)
I think what's made me love SGYY so much is its premise. It's a dramatic story, filled with many heroes of grand ambitions. But the ending is anticlimactic, and history has proven that none of their endeavors truly brought a grandiose conclusion. While looking at the story, you're invested in what's going on, but you're always so cognizant of how the story is only leading to an inevitable conclusion, and that the story itself is only a speck on the grand canvas of history. And the fact that both the book and episode series incorporate this song as the beginning--painting a canvas of an ocean that sweeps away everything, leaving only the mountains and sun overlooking all from above--is just so meaningful.
From the standpoint of the poem, it's not tragic (though I definitely am making it sound that way since I have my own biases). It's inevitable. Maybe a bit sad. But ultimately, it's not like the tales or the heroes within them lose meaning. It's just that one day they will be no more than the characters of stories exchanged during conversations.
By reading/watching SGYY, I might just be focusing on this singular speck of history (and a dramatized version no less), but it also stretches out towards the rest of time, including the present. It gives me so much to think about. I dunno.
The poem itself is so meaningful to me because of all the different connotations and their roles in portraying a vivid imagery. For instance, just within "滚滚长江东逝水，浪花淘尽英雄," you can get details like these:
-"滚滚" is similar to English alliteration and really emphasizes the loudness of the waves as they overlap with each other and bound forward. It helps illustrate the huge expanse of the river and the power of the water, all of which is heading east.
-Speaking of heading east, "逝" means something like "to disappear" (not in this poem itself but if you say someone "英年早逝" it means someone died too early), which seems so contradictory to the impressions established right before. There's such a startling contrast between the loud, powerful waves all heading in the same direction and eventually disappearing into the distance. It causes some dissonance in my mind as I try to imagine it, and it makes so much sense yet so little at the same time, and I really love it.
-"浪花淘尽英雄": 淘 is a combination of "to wash away" and "to purify" (the latter being what it implies). So basically, the spray of the waves not only engulfs the heroes of the ages but also leaves nothing behind. And so this is again that beautiful sense of contrast. It kinda evokes feelings like, "But why would you try to wash away heroes? Why does their disappearance result in purification?" but also it makes sense to me because I feel like when you scrub away humans, no matter what they accomplished or how great they were, you get a blank slate that feels more white, more pure than the bloodied, filthy pages that history usually leaves behind.
Though I will note here that my interpretation is more pessimistic than what I think the author originally intended. It's not just me trying to be pessimistic though, it relates to my overall reflections on humanity and the nature of heroes that I garnered from this poem and other stories.

Anyways, I'm liking this so much that I'm just gonna keep on going lol. (Edit: Apparently we're also gonna stop using quotation marks here. Haha?)
是非成败转头空: I love the way Chinese can summarize concepts so neatly. Translated as individual characters, 是非成败 refers to "rights, wrongs, victories/successes, and failures/defeats." Starting off is just how I immediately think of military campaigns for these phrases, but then I just think of how in a general sense, just about everything can be generalized as right or wrong, a success or failure. Doesn't that apply to us even in the present?
The predicate is something like "[they] turn their heads and see only emptiness within an instant," or alternatively, in a less personalized sense, "they become empty in an instant." And the distinction is so important to me because I, who is (maybe obviously) inclined to personify the meaning of the predicate, imagine all of these stories and actions of people that can be categorized broadly turning around and, in that instant, seeing nothing behind them. It makes me think of how we should judge our own decisions and merits and weaknesses and failures, and how regardless of the choices we make, one day when we no longer inhabit our current ways of existing, people after us will keep going through the same cycles and motions again, evaluating those before them as well as themselves.
ALSO (in all caps). This is the (only) sentence in the stanza that stands by itself, emphasizing how fast this disappearance happens. And honestly even though it might seem depressing, that equivalence given to both rights and wrongs, successes and failures, give a very balanced outlook to what is being conveyed. We judge those before us, but what we deem to have been "right" and what we deem to have been "wrong" can be seen as meaningless, as they--and the events associated with them--have passed long before our time.
青山依旧在，几度夕阳红: Just the best way of ending this stanza (if it can be called a stanza; linguistic differences are real lol). "Yet the mountains still stand, witnessing many sunsets." (As a note: Chinese poems really like the color 青. It's a mix of green and blue and is very much associated with nature and beauty. Here, it's used to describe mountains [though I didn't include it in the translation due to the cultural difference], and so with that meaning in mind, you can guess that the scenery is intended to be perceived as typical yet beautiful.)
Another more artistic note: In Chinese, red and green are one of the most typical color contrasts. There's a saying that roughly translates to "When red and green are mixed, the result is so ugly it induces crying." So you can see how significant it is that in this poem, the green mountains and red sunsets face each other through the eons while portraying a constant scene of beauty.

Next half!
白发渔樵江渚上，惯看秋月春风: There are some things that I didn't know until I searched this part up, so I'll include them.
One, 渔樵 usually refers to a fisherman, but apparently the original intention was to portray a person who has refuge from the dissonant world (my lil way of trying to sound more poetic about society, sorry about that). I used "refuge" even though the conventional meaning is quite different because it fits my idea of what is being portrayed.
Second, I directly translated 秋月春风 to "the autumn moon and spring wind," but put together the phrase actually means "the mundane beauties of every day."
So put together, this next half starts with the image of a single person. One single individual, perhaps living within a mountain in their old age, accustomed to seeing the beauties of the world surrounding them every day (but implied to still appreciate those "mundane" beauties, seeing as the poem portrays them looking out again to the views that they are apparently accustomed to).
一壶浊酒喜相逢。古今多少事，都付笑谈中: And then the poem ends with a generalization of another mundane interaction. This solitary individual is able to reunite with their friends, a joyful reunion in which they take out a flask (note: I didn't know how to translate this, but "flask" just fits the vibe more. Size-wise it's more like "large pot," but that kinda impeded the translation) of good wine. Then all of the stories leading up to their time are simply components of their conversation.
An interesting note here is that 浊 is something like "translucent/opaque," and implies a lack of purity (I mean it's alcohol, it's not exactly pure water). And that really contrasts that purifying implication from the first half in my view (where the waves purify and scrub away heroes of the past)--showing to me how even if we humans may be impure and dirty the canvas, this scene illustrates how our existence is not necessarily a bad thing.
What I really love about the second half is how personal it feels compared to the first half, which are mostly broad thematic ideas in my view. Like yes, the imagery is still very specific--I can picture an old man, his hair all white, first overlooking a beautiful scenery that he chose for himself and, later, joyously speaking with his friends as they are all seated near a small table decorated with small wine cups. But also at the same time, I feel like I can see myself as that refuge. When you (I) really think about it, the interactions portrayed in the second half are just so typical. I feel the same happiness and excitement when I see a friend. I even think that I can hear the exuberant conversations that friends have, where events of the past are brought up, spoken about, and then ended with laughter. Sure, the time is different, but isn't the picture pretty much the same? We talk, we laugh, we judge those who came before us. The conversations we have bring us a transient happiness that one day will become memories also.

The poem feels so significant to me because it portrays both the personal and impersonal aspects of stories, and somehow it manages to feel like both of those aspects at the same time. Through picturing the scenery, I feel a sense of distant nostalgia for people and stories I have never met or even have never read. But I also gain a sense of appreciation for the fact that even though everything disappears much faster than it can be built, there's still a sense of constancy. Even though everything reaches out towards an inevitable end, the beauty of the world prevails, and the happiness I and others feel, even if the source of such may be mundane and repetitive, is very real.

-Galaxian-

----

Edit/addition:
Here's the link to the song (from 1994; TW: General violence and warfare): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am63eDndvZw
I think maybe a part of why I take the poem itself in a more negative sense is because of how I'm used to seeing it in this context. While the singer sings of friends speaking of history, we don't get to see the friends. We just see generals on horseback, soldiers setting up ladders to invade fortresses.
But I'm glad that I was able to do that analysis by just looking at the poem. The contrast really pulls out another layer of meaning, I think.
For instance, while I was looking at the poem itself, I forgot how dirty the Changjiang River looks. So the song's visuals hit, with the muddy brown waters, and I was like, "Wow, and this is what is purifying the board of history?" There is very much that extra layer of irony.
I think the song also makes it pretty clear how my view of heroism is very much modern and even leaning towards fantastical. But you can't blame me, right? The lyrics of this song portray such a beauty and tranquility--for instance, green mountains and a red sunset--and here you see countless lives being used for different people's ambitions, behind them merely fields of dust that black out the sky and the sun. I get that the contrast is because the poem itself illustrates such a long story and here it's just a few fleeting moments in the entire course of history, but then you consider how history repeats scenes like what's being depicted here and kinda can't help it...right?
~~Zhou Yu looks so smug, somehow even smugger than I remembered him. I am dead.~~

-Galaxian-

Edit: I am so confused by the poem's publication date and the book's please future me figure it out

GalaxianExplosion · October 22, 2023 21:40:32

Conflicted between wanting to write something, wanting to translate something, wanting to go to bed, and also listen to at least one single lecture
I'm actually very apathetic to Mondays, but that doesn't mean I want tomorrow to come.
I am. Super lazy.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · October 22, 2023 21:47:44

Somehow that entire post from yesterday translated to a rare non-lucid dream where I knew I was about to get rounded up by a group of people who would kill me, and so I was doing everything in my power to say goodbye to my mom and then you guys. I vividly remember the GGaD boardhost link not working, so I was going on Discord and trying to decide whether I should DM Echo or Specter, while simultaneously I was trying to call my mom.
It was really depressing ngl, I was crying the entire time and the only text box I could see was "I love you, I haven't said this the entire time but I really do love you. I'm sorry." (which I had typed for Specter and Echo to carry over to here I think)
Something something about dream me not usually being emotional or fearing death, but in this instance feeling more human for once.

I dunno why, but the older I get the less likely I am to translate in-dream crying to real crying. I remember when I was little, I cried myself awake a lot.
Anyways, now that I think about it, it's probably the Ukraine and Israel/Palestine situations combining, but when I woke up I thought it was weird that the dream happened, because it felt like it was very clearly referencing some of the information I got on some Nazis and the Holocaust from a few weeks back. Plus the topic does match the above post, even if not in as direct of a way.
...fun.

-Galaxian-

Time · October 23, 2023 02:54:30

...Yeah. Fun indeed.

As to your actual big post. I'm going to admit, much of the longer posts here can often go over my head, but I'm going to try and look into this one and learn it step by step.

So, what I'm getting, is that at least for a part of this poem, it's about the flow of time and how things eventually will fall into history and legend, and even into irrelevance no matter how important such things were?

GalaxianExplosion · October 23, 2023 06:52:49

Thanks to my roommate's 10-and-ongoing alarm clocks, I can do nothing earlier!

I came here expecting imposter syndrome, but instead I've just reinforced just how deep others' lack of consideration can run. I didn't get what the reviews promised, so 0/10 would not recommend.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · October 23, 2023 06:59:04

Time wrote:
...Yeah. Fun indeed.

As to your actual big post. I'm going to admit, much of the longer posts here can often go over my head, but I'm going to try and look into this one and learn it step by step.

So, what I'm getting, is that at least for a part of this poem, it's about the flow of time and how things eventually will fall into history and legend, and even into irrelevance no matter how important such things were?

Dang, you don't have to do that, but thank you. I hope there's something enjoyable to be gained from it if you do read it.
For your summary, I'd say you're correct, but there's also a spin on that. 'Cause for some reason I perceive that part of the message itself as being more typical, or pessimistic. So for one, the implication behind the inclusion of the heroism theme is that this entire poem is a lesson that anyone entering history should be able to accept. The poem doesn't mean to discourage anyone from becoming someone notable, or to deny anyone's past achievements. Rather, it notes a fundamental truth that should be taken into account. In a way, it's less so discouraging than it is humbling. At least, that's my view.
A translation on an actual Chinese analysis will come at some point, but I do need to do work. I hope my translation of the poem does some justice to it though. It's one of those works where the author's experience and wisdom manage to come through succinctly. I really love it a lot.

-Galaxian-

Echowo · October 23, 2023 08:19:16

GalaxianExplosion wrote:
"I love you, I haven't said this the entire time but I really do love you. I'm sorry."

Hey GalaxE did you know that you just written what I now consider my favorite poem
(is thinking about the emotional grief of knowing your time is ending and the lack of words that can be said)

GalaxianExplosion · October 26, 2023 10:26:24

Echowo wrote:
Hey GalaxE did you know that you just written what I now consider my favorite poem
(is thinking about the emotional grief of knowing your time is ending and the lack of words that can be said)

Hey, thanks! I'm glad that you liked it and consider it your--wait what.
...
...Find a new favorite poem. Now. Pleaseeee. (I was fine with that piece of cringe just being there as it was but I can't have it be someone's favorite xD, it's too bad.)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · October 26, 2023 10:29:05

I really do wonder what the heck is going on with HYXHN's donghua, like I can see how much effort is being put into the art but what in the world is going on with the directing? (The art style and plot pacing/dialogue writing are :') )
Basically think someone putting together a collage of fanarts that individually express profound emotions and yet still not being able to convey the right things through said collage.
It's like my writing. Basically. Which is why it's so obvious to me. :-P

Edit: Also wanted to add that the nicest class for me is still English. I hate speaking up in class when I don't have the time to condense my thoughts, but it's good practice for the ego I suppose. I mostly brought up how it's the nicest because the people there seem the most human out of all my other classes. They'll take the time to give criticism and even compliments, and I can talk with some of them out of class too, which doesn't happen for my other classes.
I'm trying to make it more of a habit to edit my posts rather than continually make new ones. We'll see how this works, I suppose? Most of the time I'm guessing you all will see the edited posts, but maybe it'll be confusing once in a while. Hopefully I'll make it clear which portions are later add-ons.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · October 26, 2023 21:18:54

Might as well link the video too

I am not throwing shade at the artists/animators or even the directors/scriptwriters (writing and medium translation hard), I just think there is a way to bring everything together better. Like there are so many pretty moments in this trailer (and yes it is a concept trailer, the reason why I'm concerned is because it reminds me so much of what happened to the quality of the recent arc), but the overall thing is kinda just strung together by the atmosphere created by the song with some peak moments. I dunno.
Honghong and Susu done so much justice though xD they're so pretty!!

-Galaxian-

Basket Cat · October 27, 2023 09:37:23

GalaxianExplosion wrote:
It was really depressing ngl, I was crying the entire time and the only text box I could see was "I love you, I haven't said this the entire time but I really do love you. I'm sorry."
-Galaxian-

excuse me who gave your brain the right to cause this much emotional pain (ik i'm like a week late shuhs)

GalaxianExplosion · October 31, 2023 15:54:03

Basket Cat wrote:
GalaxianExplosion wrote:
It was really depressing ngl, I was crying the entire time and the only text box I could see was "I love you, I haven't said this the entire time but I really do love you. I'm sorry."
-Galaxian-
excuse me who gave your brain the right to cause this much emotional pain (ik i'm like a week late shuhs)

(it's ok)
It's in its nature (: ~~its only purpose is to inflict pain, mostly on me. But sometimes I get to share it :D~~

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · October 31, 2023 16:02:41

I found an interview with some of the major actors of SGYY and ngl it's hilarious. Everyone is so awkward (and also in their costumes) [gonna refer to them with the character names btw, mostly just 'cause it's funnier this way]
-For one I'm not used to Zhang Fei not grabbing everyone within 10 feet of him by the collar and yelling at them. The dude is chill?
-Meanwhile Liu Bei being awkward is weirdly hilarious xD
-Guan Yu's actor keeps giving everything the iconic side-eye but also it's funny because it's clear the actor has no energy? xD
-Zhuge Liang is just Confused
-Everyone is so tired lol and also everyone there is from the same kingdom except for Cao Cao, who is kinda just there for some reason
-Canon reason for Zhou Yu and Sun Quan not being invited: They didn't want to actually reenact the Three Kingdoms (imagining their actors being there and also just being burnt out in the year of 1993 lol)
-The final part is just how this interview was in 1993 but the series itself aired only in 1994 (SGYY casually doing time traveling both historically and for its adaptations /j) (seriously HOW did a poem from AFTER the book's publication get included in it??? How???)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · October 31, 2023 16:07:18

Another point the Chinese fandom pointed out

For Zhou Yu's NP, since his powers are based off of his SGYY counterpart, the fandom was imagining this going on while he summons his Reality Marble(?)
Zhou Yu: (*summons chains*)
Cao Cao's disembodied voice: THOSE WERE MY [FREAKING] CHAINS!
Zhou Yu: (*unleashes hail of arrows*)
Cao Cao: THOSE WERE MY [FREAKING] ARROWS!

Imagine Zhou Yu comes to Chaldea and he and Waver are able to get along just to troll ~~Cao Cao~~ Gilgamesh.
Tbh I realized Waver is a really weird choice of host for Zhuge Liang since the latter kinda just played around for most of his youth, meanwhile Waver stole his teacher's catalyst (out of all the people to steal from) and then got into a Holy Grail War at 19 years old just to prove a point lol. Like these are very different people.
I am now convinced Waver is the host only because this way he can get back at Gilgamesh for killing Iskandar back then. Please, F/GO.

I also like to imagine Zhou Yu could theoretically beat Gilgamesh if their Noble Phantasms clashed, based on the fact that Gilgamesh and Cao Cao really are similar, and Zhou Yu's NP is basically "for this to happen, Cao Cao [Gilgamesh] has to be already screwed over", but tbh that's just a shallow joke, I definitely wouldn't want that to happen or anything. (: (I really want Waver and Zhou Yu to team up)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · October 31, 2023 16:18:20

Tbh I really don't get why Nezha in particular keeps being referred to as "the son of Lijing" in Chinese, like give him a break. Are we actively trying to trigger him or something?
Lol, imagine the Greek warriors being in the habit of getting to know everyone through their parentage or something and after Olympus Nezha keeps getting asked who their dad is.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · October 31, 2023 16:25:30

Rolling because I got the Onion's Halloween video on my YouTube recommendation
YouTube knows I'm not doing anything.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · October 31, 2023 16:32:00

Thanks to my lord and savior the Onion, I have finally remembered that I have some soul-sucking to do in order to complete my role in festivities.
~~sorry for the dead jokes lol I am so tired~~

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · October 31, 2023 16:33:45

Why is Google's Halloween 2022 game being weird
I mean I'm not gonna complain because I went in for one game and completely owned all the competition, but still.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · October 31, 2023 16:59:51

I know Zhuge Liang deserves an analysis, the question is if he deserves an analysis from me
Currently making fun of him for being the type of 19-year-old to pull all-nighters playing video games as compared to Waver, who probably pulls all nighters actually doing stuff.
The smart guy who actually studies and works his butt off to achieve his goals (Waver) vs. the genius guy who kinda just was a farmer until age 30. (I seriously don't know why Waver and him were pulled together if not for the sole purpose of getting back at Gilgamesh.)
Hopefully this also means Waver will be added to Iskandar's NP when/if he actually dies, since to go along with the contrast theme I think it'd be nice if as a result of his hard work and perseverance, Waver actually gets to achieve his goal. As opposed to Zhuge Liang who, as I mentioned, fooled around for half his life [he died at 53] and passed away during a campaign. Essentially, he finally formulated a faraway ideal of a dream, but it dissipated to dust along with the end of his life.
Another thing I noticed was how Luo Guanzhong maybe included the supernatural as a literary element?? Which I think is super original?? Idk. I really am loving the idea of it right now though.
Basically my current idea is this (btw I need to go through the series again so this may change or evolve)--there's an intentional contrast brought up in Zhuge Liang being able to control the weather/bring rain for the Battle of Chi Bi (this feat was completely fictional btw, obviously), but later on being unable to see through, not to mention manipulate, the will of heaven. By the time he was old, all he could do was hope that his dream would be passed on and eventually be brought to fruition (to reestablish the Han Dynasty). And obviously it wasn't. And I really love this idea because unlike magic in a more typical Western context (I think), the limitations of human magic are so profound here, showing how even someone who can supposedly manipulate the weather (traditionally associated with the divine) cannot go past that. Yes, he has genius intellect, has won so many battles, and can even change the weather, but he can't change what happens after his own life ends, and what others choose to do after his death. That's the limitations of being a human, no matter how outstanding of one.
Anyways, I'm just slowly having to come to terms that one of my first favorite characters (idk if I came across him, Lanling Wang, or Wu Zetian first) also was a tragedy. I really am attracted to the sad characters, huh.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · October 31, 2023 17:26:43

Also not gonna do a full out translation atm (just because I'm tired and need to go through the entire series/novel/English translation of the novel) but I'm also trying to look at his theme songs.
He has at least 2, one of which has at least 3 variations.
I love when my favorite characters have their own themes :D

I'm trying to decipher a title of one of the songs, which is named the same as the other one but also is alternatively named "Youwei Ge." Which I dunno for sure the meaning of. (My Chinese is constantly in need of improvement.) The current idea is "Ode of Accomplishment," but also it's more subtle than that because the phrasing evokes the idea of "What does it mean to make an accomplishment?" or something like that.
Anyhow, the song does really show why I loved/love Zhuge Liang so much though, so I'll include the last part, and hopefully I'll translate the entire song for eternal correction opportunities.
~~Also yes, this is Zhuge Liang propaganda.~~

（天道常变易运数杳难寻）
The will of heaven constantly changes, and the path of destiny is hard to trace;
（成败在人谋一诺竭忠悃）
So, holding victory and defeat within our human strategy and tactics, we swear our fealty to our lords.
（丈夫在世当有为）
As men, we have a duty to carve down our accomplishments while living on this earth,
（为民播下太平春）
To sow the seeds of a peaceful spring for the people.

（归去归去来兮我夙愿）
I have always desired with all my heart to traverse this earth,
（余年还作垅亩民）
Yet with my remaining years, my will is to remain but a humble farmer.
（归去归去来兮我夙愿）
I have always desired with all my heart to traverse this earth,
（余年还作垅亩民）
Yet with my remaining years, my will is to remain but a humble farmer.

（清风明月入怀抱）
As I embrace the clear wind and bright moon into my bosom,
（猿鹤听我再抚琴）
The cranes once again listen to the sound of my zither.

There's just such a strong contrast between the grandiose ideas about the obligation of heroes towards the future and the humble nature of his wishes (to just live in his home as a simple person). But it's also his knowledge of what he owes the masses that he leaves his abode, ultimately never returning while alive in order to support the man he thinks to be most just (Liu Bei). He could have never left his home, he could have left his entire life in peace like the refuge in the starting poem. But he didn't. And I just (*keysmashing noises*) no matter how I perceive the lord he did choose to support (specifically in SGYY, though I don't have high hopes for warlords in reality either), I can't deny how admirable his character is. He isn't just empty ideals.
Another part is how this song is being heard by me, who already knows the end of his story, but I know in the series it's played first when he leaves his abode. So it's like a song expressing his convictions, but at the same time its forlorn, nostalgic tone almost feels like it's sealing his fate in a way. As if it's playing because he is destined never to be able to live out his entire life as he desires. Because he'll spend the rest of it toiling away for the people, so that they can live out the peaceful life that he wants to experience in entirety.
Plus it's played probably to be cruel to re-watchers, lol.

Basically, I think it's cool he got to spend around 26 years of his life in his ideal (studying and farming and talking with friends), because that's already better than most of my other favorite characters. But still, it's not like someone inherently has an obligation to sacrifice their own life after their first 18 years for the sake of others. It's not like the break period makes him any less admirable.
He a goofy dude and I love him a lot, that's all. Plus he's culturally verified to have cared for the people.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · November 2, 2023 15:44:28

I found out the Golden Axe story was originally Greek, not Chinese lol
The story hereby shows two Chinese values:
1. Shameless plagiarism
2. Incredible violence
In the original story the greedy neighbour just got his original axe taken too as punishment for his deception and greed, in the Chinese version he's pretty much a slavekeeper and gets drowned.
I love my people so.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · November 6, 2023 21:54:11

The 3 Warlords and Their Catchphrases--
Sun Quan: Heaven's gift to me
Cao Cao: (*sees valiant/loyal warrior*) I want that.
Liu Bei: (*cries*)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · November 6, 2023 21:57:56

Constantly in a predicament as to whether I should reread Sanguo Yanyi to improve my reading ability in Chinese, rewatch the series to find the details I inevitably missed years ago, or whether I should rewatch Xiyou Ji instead for the memes lol the other day I rewatched the Danao Tiangong portion and it was way funnier than I already remembered it to be.
Sanguo Yanyi has its funny moments too (like rn I'm watching the Battle of Changban and Xiahou Jie's expression is so funny), but also sometimes people get chopped in half if you get what I mean. In Xiyou Ji the protagonist can get chopped in half for the funnies. For the lolz. It's just not the same.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · November 6, 2023 22:00:52

Also I nearly cried from HYXHN's manhua again lol
The same thing just keeps on getting me.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · November 6, 2023 22:03:51

Zhao Yun: (*running away for his life on horseback while actively trying to save his lord's baby son*)
Cao Cao: (*squints into the sun*) I think I am having a stroke.

(He wants that lol)

-Glaaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · November 6, 2023 22:06:23

"Chancellor's orders! No shooting or ambushes! Only to be captured alive!"
Let's be honest, those archers weren't gonna shoot anyways. What the heck were they doing this past 1 or 2 minutes anyways. Those arrows were nocked xD

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · November 6, 2023 22:11:20

I also love how outside of asking Zhao Yun for his name the upper generals do absolutely nothing to help capture the man in question. They all kinda just admire him slaughtering their army one by one

Also I verified that "ba chi" is about the equivalent of 1.84 meters, which is still pretty tall for the Ancient Chinese I think. So yeah it's not just 1.7 meters or whatever I calculated using the equivalents of the Water Margins. This standard is for Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang btw.
So basically Lord El-Melloi II is a bit taller than the Heroic Spirit.
Also Waver really did hit puberty at 19 and become an adult within 3 years lol.

-Galaxian-