mvjz8
New Member
Posts: 7
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Post by mvjz8 on Oct 9, 2004 16:43:36 GMT -5
I wonder how long it's gonna take Keiichi to actually say those words. Any guesses? Do you guys think that this is the beginning of the end of the manga?
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Post by Earth Spirit 3rd on Oct 10, 2004 1:55:53 GMT -5
I'm guessing it will take two chapters.
[VERY MINOR SPOILER]
I could have sworn Keiichi said 'I love you' to Bell once before... but Skuld interrupted or something... some rock in the ocean... too tired and lazy to look it up.
As to whether this signals the beginning of the end for the manga: maybe? I'm going to take a prosaic guess and suggest that the ending of the manga will involve K1 and Bell overcoming some great challenge, and then getting married. So I'm going to say that 'some great challenge' will signal the beginning of the end for this manga, and I don't think Keiichi's self-consciousness problem qualifies.
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Post by Timotheus on Oct 11, 2004 0:09:22 GMT -5
The chapter in question is......
OCT. 1992, Kodansha - Decided at the Seashore
Chapt. 50, Vol. 8, Sept. 25 release
Dark Horse - Meet Me By The Seashore
Issue V-3, TPB-9, Nov. 1997 release
He does say "I love you", but it's to Skuld, who'd just barged between him and Bell. To the best of my knowledge (and a rapid review of the TPGs) Keiichi hasn't said "I love you" directly to Bell in so many words. I believe he's thought it, but not said it. He has certainly SHOWN his love for her on many occasions.
If I get a chance to read chapter 193, I'll comment further, but for now I'm pretty sure we have a couple more years of story left to go. (Keiichi hasn't officially finished school yet, and I believe tradition says he can't propose to Belldandy until he does.)
My feeling is that the signs that the series will be starting to close will be; when we actually meet or learn about Bell and Skuld's mother and their mutual father, We find out what (if anything) marriage means to a goddess, And/or when Bell finally spells out what's been bothering her about advancing the relationship. ("It's still too soon.")
This could be that crisis that was mentioned above.
(I'm currently of the opinion it's that marriage involves making a promise (wedding vows) to committ forever to another person. Bell can't make such a promise because of heaven could recall her at any time. Knowing how she feels about promises, Bell wouldn't make one she couldn't keep, so she's waiting.)
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Post by Timotheus on Oct 11, 2004 16:39:26 GMT -5
Okay, I've read chapter 193.
Interesting developement, but the part I find most intriguing was Peorth's comment at the start that she had one more thing to accomplish to finish her mission. This ties in incredibly well with an earlier posting I did on the Dark Horse site about how I thought Peorth was a "blind agent" sent to check out Keiichi in the Fourth Goddess arc. (a blind agent is one who doesn't know the true purpose of their assignment)
This statement implies that she was reassigned to observe the three sisters and Keiichi, with the goal of resolving some long standing problems (Urd's license & apparently to lock down the status of Bell and K-1)
Bell has by now declared her love for Keiichi many times, and more importently, told his parents that she intended "To walk with him till life ends." A phrase that has a definite meaning in Japan. So having declared herself to Keiichi's parents, it's K-1's turn to declare his intentions. Which is why I think someone in the heavens wants to hear him say "I love you" unequivocally to Belldandy.
If anyone's interested I can repost the Fourth Goddess topic, or see if it was one of the articles that got posted on the G2G site. I don't remember, I'm gettin' old.
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tedne
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by tedne on Oct 15, 2004 23:24:47 GMT -5
It took months and months in real time just to give Sora some self-confidence, and even now we don't know the name of the guy who seems to love her. There are enough loose ends and side-stories to keep things running for decades if Fujishima wants to tie them all up.
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Post by keiichichan on Oct 19, 2004 20:04:07 GMT -5
I remember K1 telling Skuld he loved her by accident but I also thought he had told Bell he loved her since then. Wow!  I never thought about it but Bell has said it so many times and K1 never has. I love k1 but I think that is pretty spineless of him not to have said it even once after so long. |
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Post by Timotheus on Oct 20, 2004 0:43:16 GMT -5
Well, in Keiichi's defense, I'll say every time it looks like he might be about to say something like that, Murphy's Law steps in, in spades (with or without Hild). Within the stories presented in the manga, Keiichi's opportunities to whisper words of love to Bell have been highly limited and usually interrupted.
He's often thought about how much he loves her, and certainly demonstrated it on many occasions, but just never seems to be in a proper situation to say it.
This may have been intentional, Mr. Fujishima has done long range plotting on many different stories and he may have planned this story element (Keiichi being forced to say "I Love You" to Bell) rather early in the story when he was still running the "forcing Bell to say she loves Keiichi" chapters. Now that her love is a rather accepted fact, turning the tables and putting K-1 on the hot seat would be in character for him.
And in order to make the most of the idea, he'd keep Keiichi from actually saying "I Love You" prior to that story so everyone would have to go looking through the back stories to confirm he didn't say it. (Which I did.)
I'm not saying this STORY was actually planned that long ago, just this PLOT ELEMENT, and Mr. Fujishima has decided to use it now in this story. It's also possible (like I said before) that having Keiichi say "I Love You" to Belldandy could be considered a form of commitment to her, the way she's committed to K-1, and will be a signal to start the next stage of developement in their relationship.
First, Bell seems to have finally realized that Keiichi might want her in a physical way (is this happiness for you?) besides the emotional bonds they already share. Now, Keiichi must openly avow his love to her. Since Belldandy has already made her intentions clear to K-1's parents, it's his turn to make the pledge. (for her parents, perhaps.)
I'm guessing that Peorth's mission is to get him to make a formal statement of love, at which point some important person(s) in heaven will feel authorized to take some sort of action. (Though how long this might take is unknown.)
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Post by keiichichan on Oct 23, 2004 20:04:11 GMT -5
I wonder if it will take the right place and the right time for K1 to say it or he and Bell will undergo some huge task together set forth by Peorth and in the end K1 will feel closer to Bell than he has before and say it that way. I for one was very glad he didn;t say it just because Chihiro was forcing him to!  That would've been the worse possible way for his first 'I love you.'
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Post by PerentieFan on Oct 27, 2004 9:21:07 GMT -5
I wonder if it will take the right place and the right time for K1 to say it or he and Bell will undergo some huge task together set forth by Peorth and in the end K1 will feel closer to Bell than he has before and say it that way. I for one was very glad he didn;t say it just because Chihiro was forcing him to! That would've been the worse possible way for his first 'I love you.' I don't know about that. I think his refusal in that scene could very well point to deeper issues that the series has hinted at in the past. Many times Keiichi has noted in his thoughts that he fears what Belldandy might think or say if he says or does something. Peorth getting Belldandy to freely say it first should have removed that inhibition or at least weakened it if that was the real problem right? The fact that it didn't seems to indicate this is more than just a self-conscious issue to Keiichi, though I could be completely wrong of course. One has to note, that throughout the series, very rarely and often enigmatically Keiichi has also said that he fears other results of such actions or words. I recall in one of the earlier manga (the dubbed one at least) he wonders if Belldandy would be able to leave or if he would be able to let her, if they grew much closer. Belldandy seems to share some of these fears to a degree but also appears much more optimistic in her dealings with them. |
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Post by Timotheus on Oct 27, 2004 11:09:10 GMT -5
I kinda wrote my current contribution to this over at the "Do You Like Keiichi" topic. Sorry.
Maybe I should post it here too.....
If you haven't realized it, Keiichi's response to being put on the spot by Chihiro is very similar to how his father(remember Keima?) would react. (Jumping on a motorcycle and taking off in a panic.) He was Keiichi's first male role model and would have had the greatest influence on how his son deals with romance.
One of my conclusions from the Parent's arc was that Takano must have been the instigator of that marriage (if they are married), first deciding that Keima was the man for her and then backing him into a spot where he had to admit he loved her. We may have a similar condition with Keiichi and Bell.
While not as bad as his father, K-1 is also prone to panic attacks around pretty girls and romantic decisions.
So voluntarially just saying out loud "I love you" could be hard for him unless the mood is just right.
The parents arc revealed a lot about Keiichi and Megumi, I'm still discovering aspects that might be important.
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Post by VelsperTheCat on Oct 27, 2004 21:57:39 GMT -5
Bell has by now declared her love for Keiichi many times, and more importently, told his parents that she intended "To walk with him till life ends." A phrase that has a definite meaning in Japan. So having declared herself to Keiichi's parents, it's K-1's turn to declare his intentions. Which is why I think someone in the heavens wants to hear him say "I love you" unequivocally to Belldandy. That's an intriguing idea! I hadn't caught the significance of Belldandy's comment. You may be onto something, here. Would be fun to see something along this line in the plot. |
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Post by Timotheus on Nov 11, 2004 13:16:23 GMT -5
Chapter 194. . .
Heh, heh, heh. . .
I caught on to what was going to happen about page 16.
Poor Peorth, no good deed ever goes unpunished.
If I'm seeing it right (the scanning process isn't perfect) Bell's eyes are glazed over as she closes the door, indicating shock. I wonder how long it'll take to straighten this one out.
You know, for a group of all powerful immortals that are responsible for overseeing the running of the universe, the gods and demons of OMG are a pretty failable bunch. Mistakes, Misconceptions, Misunderstandings, and Mayhem on a consistant basis. It's a wonder the world works at all.
I wonder if that's one of Mr. Fujishima's themes for his story. Things are the way they are because the people suposedly in charge of it all have just as many faults and character failings as the people they're supposed to be watching out for.
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Post by keiichichan on Nov 12, 2004 23:15:38 GMT -5
^LOL Yeah I saw it coming pretty early too and that may be the overall message.
I hope this gets straightened out quick. I mean this sort of thing happens alot between K1 and bell, even in the oVA and movie it happens atleast once. My guess is Bell will get upset and as Keiichi explains what happened he will say something like 'Ofcourse I could never say that and mean it to someone else. You're the only one I truly love!' que big sweeping music,roses, and a kiss.
lol That is unless one of the goddesses tries to 'help' Keiichi with his romance problems again.lol If that happens it could be a while before it actually gets solved.
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Post by Timotheus on Nov 13, 2004 22:04:43 GMT -5
Well, you saw who was in the last panel looking amused and commenting on the situation.
I've got a bad feeling that poor Keiichi is in for a lot more "help" before he and Bell get things settled.
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Post by Aragon on Nov 18, 2004 19:05:47 GMT -5
i read it it was a descent chapter.
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I never thought about it but Bell has said it so many times and K1 never has. I love k1 but I think that is pretty spineless of him not to have said it even once after so long.