(L+CR) Centaur no Nayami (A Centaur's Life)

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by Rasty

^ Most japanese have never met this problem though. It's not about the japanese being people that are open to eveyone, nor about them being cold blooed scum. In Japan there just aren't enough foreigners (different races) for this problem to get noticed. If all the people you ever meet are the same race as you, things like equality of races and discrimination just become more of phylosophical question than something you would feel concerned about.

Which is why I rather like their outside, take as a relatively neutral party, looking at the behaviors in more mixed nations and wondering at all sides of the issues. This is also what I really liked about The Irregular at Magic High School. It didn't deny the existence of discrimination against people but questioned methods suggested to force an end to such discrimination. In this one it instead seems to look at what it would be like if those suggestions were accepted and then extended, bit by bit. And it also demonstrates that the cases where people really don't discriminate actually suffer under those laws, since even though they fully respect one another and love one another they're forced to work with that knowledge in the back of their minds that if they slip up and someone hears them say or do something they could wind up in serious trouble.

[Om Nerabdator]

Started out with a bang, yuri kiss in the first 10seconds ^^ 10/10

Got a little bit dark though later on with the current society structure, hope it doesnt get too dark later on

[alt_account]

Originally Posted by Rasty

^ Most japanese have never met this problem though. It's not about the japanese being people that are open to eveyone, nor about them being cold blooed scum. In Japan there just aren't enough foreigners (different races) for this problem to get noticed. If all the people you ever meet are the same race as you, things like equality of races and discrimination just become more of phylosophical question than something you would feel concerned about.

Originally Posted by BWTraveller

Which is why I rather like their outside, take as a relatively neutral party, looking at the behaviors in more mixed nations and wondering at all sides of the issues. This is also what I really liked about The Irregular at Magic High School. It didn't deny the existence of discrimination against people but questioned methods suggested to force an end to such discrimination. In this one it instead seems to look at what it would be like if those suggestions were accepted and then extended, bit by bit. And it also demonstrates that the cases where people really don't discriminate actually suffer under those laws, since even though they fully respect one another and love one another they're forced to work with that knowledge in the back of their minds that if they slip up and someone hears them say or do something they could wind up in serious trouble.

So, like, did you guys bother to read or look up what ScrewySquirrel was referencing?
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/weai/exea...-in-japan.html

Social and institutional discrimination has existed in Japan, for a long time. The most visible facet is the Zainichi Koreans, but Japan in general has an extensive history of isolationism and military supremacism, which is still very fresh within the cultural memory. Perhaps the entitled younger generation might not feel that any of that is relevant, but I think that if you asked any modern, thinking Japanese if they would consider their society an "outsider" to the effects of discrimination, that would strike them as the height of naivete or hypocrisy.

In any case, I do also appreciate this series' weird tangents into social and political commentary, but I would be hesitant to ascribe to it any particular message or ideological bent. It's true that the series doesn't back away from the dystopian or oppressive effects of the governmental system its characters live under, but you should consider that it also doesn't back away from the consequences of what would happen were such a system not in place. Personally, as a manga reader, although the series has certainly made me question my assumptions many times, I still ultimately come away with the position that the Centaur no Nayami world is better off with its existing government and power structures.

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by alt_account

So, like, did you guys bother to read or look up what ScrewySquirrel was referencing?
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/weai/exea...-in-japan.html

Social and institutional discrimination has existed in Japan, for a long time. The most visible facet is the Zainichi Koreans, but Japan in general has an extensive history of isolationism and military supremacism, which is still very fresh within the cultural memory. Perhaps the entitled younger generation might not feel that any of that is relevant, but I think that if you asked any modern, thinking Japanese if they would consider their society an "outsider" to the effects of discrimination, that would strike them as the height of naivete or hypocrisy.

In any case, I do also appreciate this series' weird tangents into social and political commentary, but I would be hesitant to ascribe to it any particular message or ideological bent. It's true that the series doesn't back away from the dystopian or oppressive effects of the governmental system its characters live under, but you should consider that it also doesn't back away from the consequences of what would happen were such a system not in place. Personally, as a manga reader, although the series has certainly made me question my assumptions many times, I still ultimately come away with the position that the Centaur no Nayami world is better off with its existing government and power structures.

I was referring more to racism and the sort of conflicts that are happening today in the west. Certainly they've had their own forms of discrimination and issues, but that doesn't exclude them from taking an "outsider's" look at other places' discrimination or at the things suggested to "eliminate" this discrimination. For all our history of racism and small patches of continued supremacists, we're total ignorant outsiders to India's history with the caste system. Discrimination is universal, but there's enough differences for people in one area to take the neutral eyes of an outsider. For instance, how much history of racially-dominant slavery does Japan have, how much has it impacted their culture and how much do you see their people consistently reminded of this aspect of their history? From what I've been able to find from some perfunctory research, not much. Slavery existed long ago but it was abolished even before America became an independent nation.

Similarly, while racism certainly exists there, the level of the vitriol spit out by both sides seems somewhat less. Sure, there's discrimination and division, but is it the sort of thing that exists in the West, or blown up as massively as it is in the West's media?

[Gan_HOPE326]

I like the idea of everyone evolving from six-legged creatures, but the resulting races seem farfetched to me. Centaurs, angels and devils (4 legs + 2 arms and 2 arms + 2 legs + 2 wings) are pretty logical, but fauns or whatever? What are the other limbs supposed to be, the ears? That's not really sensible, real world animals have mobile ears without being evolved from six-legged creatures. Limbs are limbs, and ears aren't limbs.

[ScrewySquirrel]

Originally Posted by Gan_HOPE326

I like the idea of everyone evolving from six-legged creatures, but the resulting races seem farfetched to me. Centaurs, angels and devils (4 legs + 2 arms and 2 arms + 2 legs + 2 wings) are pretty logical, but fauns or whatever? What are the other limbs supposed to be, the ears? That's not really sensible, real world animals have mobile ears without being evolved from six-legged creatures. Limbs are limbs, and ears aren't limbs.

their horns

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Gan_HOPE326

I like the idea of everyone evolving from six-legged creatures, but the resulting races seem farfetched to me. Centaurs, angels and devils (4 legs + 2 arms and 2 arms + 2 legs + 2 wings) are pretty logical, but fauns or whatever? What are the other limbs supposed to be, the ears? That's not really sensible, real world animals have mobile ears without being evolved from six-legged creatures. Limbs are limbs, and ears aren't limbs.

The anime removed some additional information from the chart that explained it. The seemingly four-limbed races possess a pair of vestigial limbs that have regressed to the point that they are no longer externally visible.

And yes, of course the races are farfetched. The author wanted to write a story where seemingly fantastical creatures were ordinary Humans, and came up with an explanation that is about as reasonable as any other soft sci-fi technobabble. You're not supposed to analyze it by real-world science, you're supposed to say "oh, there's an explanation, good enough for me" and move on. It's interesting in as much as the author has put some degree of thought into his worldbuilding (a lot, actually: there are a ton of post-chapter extras that go into detail about the world, about history, about biology, about mythology, about culture, etc. showing that he really has spent a bunch of time thinking about this stuff), but it's not necessarily meant to work by our rules.

[Gan_HOPE326]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

The anime removed some additional information from the chart that explained it. The seemingly four-limbed races possess a pair of vestigial limbs that have regressed to the point that they are no longer externally visible.

And yes, of course the races are farfetched. The author wanted to write a story where seemingly fantastical creatures were ordinary Humans, and came up with an explanation that is about as reasonable as any other soft sci-fi technobabble. You're not supposed to analyze it by real-world science, you're supposed to say "oh, there's an explanation, good enough for me" and move on. It's interesting in as much as the author has put some degree of thought into his worldbuilding (a lot, actually: there are a ton of post-chapter extras that go into detail about the world, about history, about biology, about mythology, about culture, etc. showing that he really has spent a bunch of time thinking about this stuff), but it's not necessarily meant to work by our rules.

Nah, I mean, I don't want to look into it too rigorously, just thought it would have made more sense if he just picked all races as six-limbed. Like, there could have been four-armed people like the Goddess Kali or something, if we have to refer to mythology.

[Ghostfriendly]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

The anime removed some additional information from the chart that explained it. The seemingly four-limbed races possess a pair of vestigial limbs that have regressed to the point that they are no longer externally visible.

And yes, of course the races are farfetched. The author wanted to write a story where seemingly fantastical creatures were ordinary Humans, and came up with an explanation that is about as reasonable as any other soft sci-fi technobabble. You're not supposed to analyze it by real-world science, you're supposed to say "oh, there's an explanation, good enough for me" and move on. It's interesting in as much as the author has put some degree of thought into his worldbuilding (a lot, actually: there are a ton of post-chapter extras that go into detail about the world, about history, about biology, about mythology, about culture, etc. showing that he really has spent a bunch of time thinking about this stuff), but it's not necessarily meant to work by our rules.

Are the wings, tails and horns meant to have increased the survival chances of some earlier ancestors of humanity? They certainly don't look like a lot of use to upright bipeds too large to fly.

The show seemed very fair slice of life, with cute and distinctive characters. Discrimination subplot is interesting so far.

The angel in the ED is lazier than Gab-chan, she should be ascending and descending if there's ladder from the heavens.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Ghostfriendly

Are the wings, tails and horns meant to have increased the survival chances of some earlier ancestors of humanity? They certainly don't look like a lot of use to upright bipeds too large to fly.

There is some discussion about the evolution of winged humanoids later, but nobody even mentions flying. It's clear that it isn't even considered a possibility. I don't remember any discussion of horns and tails, although I can dig back through the extras and see if there was anything in there.

The angel in the ED is lazier than Gab-chan, she should be ascending and descending if there's ladder from the heavens.

It's not like she's actually an angel. She's Human, just like everyone else. Although she does probably qualify for sainthood, with all she goes through on a daily basis...

[Om Nerabdator]

thought this was gonna be a yuri show

Spoiler for manga:

But then i read the manga, just plain old sol with some weird alien thing and lots of cute loli centaurs

[Stark700]

New episode is out this week.

I find it pretty interesting at how they explore different species in their cultural world. We even got characters with fish fins who attends school with water. I'm also kinda impressed by how human-like these characters can be especially with some of their career dreams.

[James Rye]

Interesting that soldiers were guarding the Waterfolk school. Seems like a daily duty too, so perhaps there were or still are dangers to Mermaids in today's equality over everything society? Maybe groups of the other three races who say its unfair that the waterfolk receives a larger amount of the make-everyone-equal-fund. Or kidnappers who want to kidnap and smuggle the beautiful mermaids and merboys as sex slaves.

Seems like Angel, Devils and Saytrs and Catpeople outnumber Centaurs and Waterfolk by fair. Hime seems to one of the few Centaurs the whole school has.

Looks like the equality policy doesn't stop before magazines either, so mode magazines have to have models of all races in it else they are discriminating. Pretty harsh given that the editor-in-chief had to ask her friend to let her daughter pose as a centaur model to get the race quote.

[HandofFate]

the world building is interesting, and makes me look forward to the different sides everyone has.

the mermaid/guy couple near the end was cute.

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by James Rye

Interesting that soldiers were guarding the Waterfolk school. Seems like a daily duty too, so perhaps there were or still are dangers to Mermaids in today's equality over everything society? Maybe groups of the other three races who say its unfair that the waterfolk receives a larger amount of the make-everyone-equal-fund. Or kidnappers who want to kidnap and smuggle the beautiful mermaids and merboys as sex slaves.

Seems like Angel, Devils and Saytrs and Catpeople outnumber Centaurs and Waterfolk by fair. Hime seems to one of the few Centaurs the whole school has.

Looks like the equality policy doesn't stop before magazines either, so mode magazines have to have models of all races in it else they are discriminating. Pretty harsh given that the editor-in-chief had to ask her friend to let her daughter pose as a centaur model to get the race quote.

Just guessing, but I'm betting that there isn't really much if any need for those soldiers any more. At least judging from the relation between the strictness of the rules and the relations between the races. Most likely it's a spot where the government is excessively overprotective of the minority, and possibly looks down on them without realizing it, defining them as helpless and in need of extra rules and protections on account of their lack of legs. That's why they think there's nothing in any way wrong about putting most of their money into "helping" the water folk: they view it as an absolute necessity to achieve "true equality". No one seems to consider that they might be sending a different sort of message when they throw a large portion of their budget at that one minority and declare that this is "the only way" to give them an opportunity for equality.

Well, at least they didn't say that incredibly annoying phrase you often hear when people talk of "reverse" discrimination and racism, that such a thing is impossible by definition. I wonder if anyone will say that at some point, or argue that something's OK because of the "power + prejudice" thing. Also, I kind of liked how the mermaid's childhood friend wants to keep carrying her. Some might look at that and see it as him wanting to keep her dependent on him or something, but I suspect it's really he just likes carrying her, and it's really quite cute the way they are together.

A question though anatomy-wise though. Am I imagining things, or do the merpeople actually have legs that join together near the knees? And if so how do they put those pants/swimsuit bottoms on? Is there a button crotch or something?

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by James Rye

Interesting that soldiers were guarding the Waterfolk school. Seems like a daily duty too, so perhaps there were or still are dangers to Mermaids in today's equality over everything society? Maybe groups of the other three races who say its unfair that the waterfolk receives a larger amount of the make-everyone-equal-fund. Or kidnappers who want to kidnap and smuggle the beautiful mermaids and merboys as sex slaves.

Actually, did you see that sign at the top of the steps as the students were heading towards the school? The anime didn't translate it, but the official release of the manga did, and it's relevant here.

Spoiler:

WARNING. Littering is against the law. Violators will be shot on sight.

Originally Posted by BWTraveller

A question though anatomy-wise though. Am I imagining things, or do the merpeople actually have legs that join together near the knees? And if so how do they put those pants/swimsuit bottoms on? Is there a button crotch or something?

Yes, that is how their anatomy works, and the answer is simple: side-tie bikini bottoms.

[HandofFate]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Actually, did you see that sign at the top of the steps as the students were heading towards the school? The anime didn't translate it, but the official release of the manga did, and it's relevant here.

Spoiler:

WARNING. Littering is against the law. Violators will be shot on sight.

.

which chapter is it?

[Random Wanderer]

Chapter 7. The scanlated version of the manga (at least, the only one that I've been able to find) didn't translate that sign, though. You need a copy official release.

[darkchibi07]

There's no doubt the world-building in this show is fascinating and subtly disturbing at the same time, but has anyone notice how "off" the dialogue exchanges were among the characters? Like during the book store scene in episode 2, it felt like the response time between the 2 monster girls felt like a few seconds too long.

If this keeps up, A Centaur's Worries is going be a show where the anime is ONLY being up by the source material because everything else like direction is pretty bad.

[Master_Yoma]

Well those 2 having fun dressing up Nozomi and Kyouko popular with the merfolk boys