Jan 24 2009
Genji Monogatari (Sennenki) 2 - Of Strange Women
Episode 2 of Genji Monogatari starts off with a woman’s (narrator’s?) commentary about how time has passed since episode 1 ended, and Genji’s slept with a lot of women. Nonetheless, he cannot forget his first love behind the blinds, and looks depressed even when he whiles his time with other women. (Not that they mind.)
Unfortunately, I still don’t get the OP. -wry- I’m not really sure I get this ep. ._. Plus I tried reading the book, and fell asleep…so if I make any mistakes, it’s cos I misread the subs, or the subs were mistaken. -wry- Captions and all up tomolo. Gallery is here.
After Genji became a man (at the age of 12), he chose the daughter of the Sadaijin family (his supporter in court) to…kinda-marry. But this girl, Aoi no Ue, who was 4 years older than him (16), spurned him for reasons he was unsure of. (”Is it my age, or my status (as a son of the Emperor, but not in line for the throne)?”)So never mind Aoi — Genji had other goals, in particular Rokujou no Miya (?), a woman whose influential husband recently died, and who is said to be intelligent and beautiful, but rarely seen in public. He visits her on a rainy, miserable night, citing a wish to be her disciple and learn from her — she lets him stay for a night.
They proceed to talk in verse to each other, which is really quite beautiful…unfortunately, she seems a bit unbalanced. ._. Later on, Genji gives her a love letter — a slip of blank paper. He says his emotions were too rowdy for him to pen. -wry- He proceeds to charm her with flattery…so it seems the block only corresponds to writing it down. Then he hands her a paper where he’d drawn her likeness, but ends up grabbing her hand and lifting the curtain between the two of them instead. Gasp!
The episode ends, fittingly, with a woman’s moan. There -could- have been a preview for the next ep, which seems more drama-ish…(waha fighting?)
