Questions, questions and more questions (READ THE OP FOR ANSWERS)

[Petrikow]

Actually, now that we're sort of on this topic, what exactly is ruby text? I can contextually infer what it is, but I'm not 100% clear.

Japanese reading aid. I'm actually not sure where the appellation comes from, but what we call "ruby" is what is in Japanese called Furigana.

Furigana is ostensibly used as a way of showing the reading of a certain combination of characters (in the form of the reading, i.e. the pronunciation being shown above the word), because the writer suspects that the reader could have trouble reading them otherwise. Or perhaps they are trying to insist on one reading over the other. These days, you see it fairly commonly used in manga aimed at a younger audience, who have yet to learn all the Kanji required to otherwise read that manga.

Yet this feature of furigana is not particularly important in something adult-oriented like Tsukihime. Indeed, for a lot of works like this, it has become a fad to use Furigana to sort of show-off a non-intended reading of a word. An example would be using 暗黒 (lit, darkness) with the furigana ダークネス (Japanese transliteration of the English word "darkness") instead of the usual reading of that word as あんこく. You can extend this to just show any kind of double-meaning to any word, to the point where the original purpose of furigana becomes quite muddled.

This is indeed where we end up when we read things in Nasu-land. This is why the word 代行者 (lit, agent) is translated as Executor, because the furigana for the word is consistently listed as エクスキューター (Japanese transliteration of the English word "executor"). Sometimes he goes even more overboard, and replaces whole sentences worth of words with some furigana. Of course, this is a technique not only Nasu employs, but is rather common among genre writers in Japan. Though I will say, Nasu may be one of the most rampant abusers of Furigana around.

[Nanashi(kari)]

When were Reality Marbles ever referred to in english? At least in speech I never heard anyone actually say those sylables, that I recall.

I mean, most of the time the VAs vocalize the japanese term rather than the engl(r)ish ruby. The only case I can remember it isn't so is when saying the name of NPs.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Japanese reading aid. I'm actually not sure where the appellation comes from, but what we call "ruby" is what is in Japanese called Furigana.

Furigana is ostensibly used as a way of showing the reading of a certain combination of characters (in the form of the reading, i.e. the pronunciation being shown above the word), because the writer suspects that the reader could have trouble reading them otherwise. Or perhaps they are trying to insist on one reading over the other. These days, you see it fairly commonly used in manga aimed at a younger audience, who have yet to learn all the Kanji required to otherwise read that manga.

Yet this feature of furigana is not particularly important in something adult-oriented like Tsukihime. Indeed, for a lot of works like this, it has become a fad to use Furigana to sort of show-off a non-intended reading of a word. An example would be using 暗黒 (lit, darkness) with the furigana ダークネス (Japanese transliteration of the English word "darkness") instead of the usual reading of that word as あんこく. You can extend this to just show any kind of double-meaning to any word, to the point where the original purpose of furigana becomes quite muddled.

This is indeed where we end up when we read things in Nasu-land. This is why the word 代行者 (lit, agent) is translated as Executor, because the furigana for the word is consistently listed as エクスキューター (Japanese transliteration of the English word "executor"). Sometimes he goes even more overboard, and replaces whole sentences worth of words with some furigana. Of course, this is a technique not only Nasu employs, but is rather common among genre writers in Japan. Though I will say, Nasu may be one of the most rampant abusers of Furigana around.

Ah, I was aware of furigana, but I didn't see realize ruby = furigana. Thanks for the answer, Petrikow.

[Skull]

Though I will say, Nasu may be one of the most rampant abusers of Furigana around.

In terms of story perhaps, but if we're including all Japanese media as a whole then Yugioh is the absolute king of abusing ruby text, practically every card has it these days and sometimes to ridiculous extents.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Quick refresher, but how does Touko avoid soul degradation whenever she jumps from one puppet body to the next? Is it because all of them are such perfect copies of her that the World is tricked into thinking it's the same body?

[Gabriulio]

I'm actually not sure where the appellation comes from, but what we call "ruby" is what is in Japanese called Furigana.

In typography units, the smallest size of letter is called either an agate or a ruby. The size was judged to be perfect for writing furigana, so the term ruby stuck.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

In typography units, the smallest size of letter is called either an agate or a ruby. The size was judged to be perfect for writing furigana, so the term ruby stuck.

Thank you for clarifying.

[Menwearpink]

Projection uses your mental image to completely reproduce the genuine object. There is no exception to this.You can't project it if it's not perfect inside of you. As it is a shadow of the true object, the projection magic requires that there be no mistake."


"Sobasically, the projected object has the strength as you imagine it. An illusion is perfect in this regard.

Going back over some stuff on projection magecraft the line of "You can't project it if it isn't complete/perfect inside you." reminds me a bit of how Araya's an expert on Boundaries because he's completed himself. I wonder if there's a similar sort of philosophy to be explored here?

[Ideofago]

You mean platonism, one of the fundamental schools of thought of western philosophy? I'd wager Nasu would be more than happy to have a novel take on such a thing.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

You mean platonism, one of the fundamental schools of thought of western philosophy? I'd wager Nasu would be more than happy to have a novel take on such a thing.

Yes, that one. Specifically Neoplatonism, which played an important part in early Christian discourse and shaped both Eastern and Western traditions for millenua to come. I suppose the MA's general quest to reach the Root is inherently platonic, since the Root is basically the One, the ultimate source of reality, which Christian neoplatonists viewed as God. I think what Dullahan might mean is that the Church and MA fundamentally disagree where humans sit on the Great Chain of Being and how a human might, if they can, reach the One.

- - - Updated - - -

I could be super wrong, though.

[Ideofago]

If we're gonna do armchair philosophy, one can argue the Nasuverse's broader reaches are platonist in and of themselves- the duality between the cold, monolithic, humanless aristotles and the dying, segmented Earth itself a representation of the ideal, planets as a singular living organism, and the earth as a disappointing, disjointed, imperfect reality.

[Menwearpink]

You mean platonism, one of the fundamental schools of thought of western philosophy? I'd wager Nasu would be more than happy to have a novel take on such a thing.

To be more precise I mean in the sense of how it applies to various forms of magecraft. If that wasn't clear in the "This is why Araya is so good at boundaries" sense.

Not a general discussion on Platonism, or Platonic Forms and what not.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Pretty much all concepts in the Nasuverse follow a pretty clear Great Chain of Being and everything stems from an ideal form of some sort. Thus, it's kind of unavoidable to have that general discussion.

[You]

Sometimes he goes even more overboard, and replaces whole sentences worth of words with some furigana.

To add onto this, sometimes the ruby text is used as an explanation. There are cases where he'll use

mana

magical energy

or

od

magical energy

to specify which source the magical energy is coming from.

[Menwearpink]

To add onto this, sometimes the ruby text is used as an explanation. There are cases where he'll use

mana

magical energy

or

od

magical energy

to specify which source the magical energy is coming from.

At least we aren't at the point where he has the furigana of furigana.

Od

Magical Energy

Prayer Power

coming to a VN near you?!

[fumei]

Quick refresher, but how does Touko avoid soul degradation whenever she jumps from one puppet body to the next? Is it because all of them are such perfect copies of her that the World is tricked into thinking it's the same body?

In SF Francesca muses about this shortly, saying it would be impossible for there not to be degradation and loss of self etc because that would mean Touko would've trespassed into the realm of the Third, but as far as we know there isn't any, so Narita's sort of throwing that out there as a "hmmmmm????"

[Dullahan]

trespassing into the realm of the third like a boss

[Comun]

If a farmer with a sword and enough disregard for bird life can trespass into the realm of the Second, I don’t see why not.

[Araya's Dry Cleaner]

Quick refresher, but how does Touko avoid soul degradation whenever she jumps from one puppet body to the next? Is it because all of them are such perfect copies of her that the World is tricked into thinking it's the same body?

Yes basically.

The puppets are so close to the original that whenever Touko dies, the World just goes:

"Oh silly me, she hasn't died. The body and soul are just over there."

And the new puppet body just wakes up and picks up where she left off.


The difference between this and the Third is that, a transfer driven by the Third is mediated by the soul. A Touko transfer is mediated by the body.
I imagine the soul just gets whiplashed into the puppet body as part of the World correcting what it perceived as an error.

[Mementore]

Isn't that basically rayshift, but with the World acting as the one that confirms the existence of the pseudo-spiritrons?