Familiar Diversions
I'm a librarian who loves anime, manga, and reading a wide variety of genres.
Currently reading
Reading progress update: I've read 194 out of 248 pages.
Still loving this. I don't know if it's just that my perspective has changed, or if it's benefited from me not having recently seen the anime and therefore not constantly noting changed details.
That said, I'm still thinking about the anime. I'd like to rewatch it, but one thing I realized during this reread is that, if Cathy Hirano's translation is accurate, it was whitewashed. Balsa is Kanbalese, Tanda is Yakoo, and Chagum is Yogoese. One way you can tell that Tanda is definitely Yakoo is by his skin color. He's described as having "dark, almost black skin" (83) that contrasts with his "brown, unruly hair" (84). Balsa is tanned, and Chagum is probably pretty pale (I can't find an exact description). Here's what the three of them look like in the anime:
That's Tanda in the middle with vaguely darker skin, sort of. And hey, look how tanned Balsa isn't.
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