The other fansub circle finished their version of ep 11, and I just downloaded it. They did their own translation, and they caught one thing the other circle did not -- and it's critical. Aha!

Major spoiler about Sakuma: When Ag and Gab are trying to destroy Sakuma, they dissolve him about half way and then fail to make any more progress no matter how hard they try. "Who are you? You're not a human!"

And then he enunciates his human name: Sakuma Eitaro. Gabriel then calls him by his real name: Samael.

I bet the Japanization of Samael would be samaero which would also be a reasonable 4-mora contraction of his chosen name: Sakuma Eitaro. That's in character; it seems like his kind of joke, doesn't it, to create his human name by expanding his real one? Anyway, that's the clue Gabriel picks out.

And that's the reason for Sakuma's next line, which they translate as, "If you wanna stop me, bring that bastard Lucifer!!"

In legend, Samael is an archangel. That makes him a divine, just like they are, and impossible to kill. It also turns out to mean he's especially powerful. His power should rival Gabriel's. (In legend, Gabriel and Samael are two of the seven archangels.)

It also means we have the interesting situation of a Kami going native, becoming a magician, and then summoning a demon as his familiar. Usually a familiar serves until the master dies, but Sakuma is immortal, just as Eneus is, so presumably their contract will last until Sakuma decides to cancel it, which could be a very long time.

The big unanswered question is, did Eneus know who he really was?

UPDATE: That would also explain, I think, how Sakuma was able to appear to Takuto in the form of a boy, to talk to him, goad him, motivate him. He had been deliberately limiting himself to the abilities of a (very powerful) mage, but after tangling with Ag and Gab, he started using his native powers as an archangel which transcend those of any mage.

I guess this would also explain why he was never very impressed with Ag and Gab. Though they didn't suspect it, he was their peer.

UPDATE: The more I think about this, the more sense it makes. It really does explain a lot about him if you think of him as a kami tourist, slumming in the human realm. His zest in embracing human culture, his general goofiness, and so on; all of it makes sense for a kami tourist.

It makes the arrival of Eneus's "sister" even more hilarious. That also represented a bit of a problem for him: if she'd recognized him and tried to fight him, could he stop her without breaking cover and revealing a bit more power than he was pretending to have? As an archangel he could have defeated her easily, of course, but he doesn't want it known that he's an archangel.

The whole "hard-boiled detective" sequence makes far more sense; it's another case of him slumming, sort of like Picard's adventures in the holosuite.

When he zorched Synclavier, I wonder if he temporarily used some of his real power. Doesn't seem like a human mage, even one with a lot of power and experience, should have been able to drop a demon that easily and rapidly, does it? But it would have been easy for an archangel. In reality he's way above her on the power scale, being one of the top 7 kami.

Perhaps, too, this explains his lack of sympathy for Synclavier and Miyabi, and his sadistic glee in making them miserable. We've seen that in general the divines don't really feel much solidarity with each other. (Ag and Gab also don't seem too sympathetic, or show any urge to free them.)

And his general zest for hanging out with interesting humans (such as inviting Suzuho to tea in the first ep) is right in character. He's having the time of his (very, very long) life and is wallowing in it.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 12:03 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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