OK... while you all continue to work on shooting down my zany ramblings about the Taapon being grown to its great size, whether or not Ojisan is Owner and the Y2K bug being the the cause of this all... I got to thinking about another everpresent icon in this story and it's reason or purpose...
The Flying Fish sign at the Cafe...
I think it is the Taapon as seen by the "young" Alpha M2.
In "Sakana" (Fish) CH 113, the opening page is a childlike looking Alpha riding a fish and following another fish through the sky. From previous dreams, we have seen Alpha conceptualize herself as a child before (in the dream scene where she tries to come to grips with Kokone's "kissing" her to do the data transfer). In CH 113, Alpha is dreaming in all but the very last panels, about her arrival at the house that would become her home and cafe. On Page 38, as she has obviously become more aware of herself and her surroundings, she is sitting in the cafe noticing a vaguely stylized fish in the sky through the window. (in the location that the wooden one will appear later in time) Again on pg 39 she is looking more closely at the same fish while standing on the deck. Later on pg 41, we see the fish again as a transition to the wooden one we know from the cafe, on the next page as Alpha leaves her dream and wakes...
If indeed, the name Taapon is a romanization play of the name of the fish Tarpon, could it be that she asked owner what "that thing in the sky was" and the response and general form of it made Alpha think Tarpon and get a fish from it? Could she also have some awareness about her "older sister's" mission on the Taapon and feel a subliminal connection to her? Children's mental state makes them more susceptible to ideas and feelings that we lose as adults.. this concept is a popular one in Japanese storytelling as well, wherein children may see ordinary things as otherworldly beings, seeing their spirits and feeling connected to them when all of the adults have lost the ability... Could it be that from this encounter as a "child" Alpha gained her fascination with fish... the first being the creation of the wooden fish for the cafe?
Anyway... just more mental nuts to chew on from me... ;D
- Darin~
Saturday, April 2, 2005
You've highlighted something interesting and made me re-think the whole chapter.
What looks like a simple story device to flesh out some of Alpha's past has become, as you pointed out with the symbology of the fish (particularly one with a propellor - "it flies"), to be more than what meets the casual eye.
In the original manga, is the cafe still called "Alpha" (Roman letters?) If so, then Taarpon and Tarpon may be related as you say.
- Rob
Sunday, April 3, 2005
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