Hi, I'll be happy to explain... and maybe add my own commentary and suchlike
along the way as to where I think that the story is going.

First off, you have to understand that this was the point that I think that
AMS! as a Manga really started "growing up" during the velspar arc. To
explain what I mean by that, I mean that the author started taking on more
"adult" themes in the story, and by that I mean themes that were more
mature, not "adult" in the hentai meaning.

Okay, first off the conversation is about death and dying and what it means
between Bell and Keiichi, and may even be a hint at why Keiichi continues to
hold off taking his and Bell's relationship to the next level... his fear
that if he took his and Bell's relationship to where it is going (marriage,
ect) that when he dies that it will hurt Bell more than if he kept his
distance and never let it happen.

So lets break down 132 into it's pieces.

The begining.

We start with Peorth on the porch, watching the garden with flat colored
eyes... okay... time to pause a sec and discuss the meaning here.. Flat
colored eyes... eyes that do not have a luster or pupil... or which are
lighter than normal for the character have a number of emotional meanings in
Anime and Manga. It can indicate the character is under magical, chemical,
or hypnotic control, also it can indicate that the character is in deep
thought, or even in shock. Basically think "The lights are on, but nobody is
home".
Peorth is in that frame of reference, and a butterfly lands on her head.
This is a play (I think) on a typical manga or anime convention, where when
a character suffers a horrible emotional shock... they turn into a stone
statue temporarily... (If you'd watched Love Hina, think about when Urashima
found out that Naru was not the Promise Girl at the resturant... or when
Tenchi tolk Ryoko he hated her when she ripped his mothers kimono in Tenchi
Muyo)
The Butterfly landing on Peorth inicated that Peorth had been so still and
unmoving (in so much shock about her predicament) that the Butteryfly
thought she was a statue.

This is why Urd and Skuld say, Okay, you two take it from here... Urd and
Skuld are getting out while they think they can.

Of course Keiichi grabs them and calls them irresponsible and Urd starts
laying a line on him that they were just going to do more research.... at
this point note the small sweat drops on Urd's face... clear sign that this
is a lie... and she's hoping K1 will buy it.

Okay, K1 and Bell decided that Peorth needs some cheering up... and decide
to head to the beach... They get all geared up... get in the motorcycle and
sidecar... and try cajoling Peorth into coming with them.

Keiichi's comment is "hey young lady Won't you come with me for a while?"
She responds that it's not exactly to her taste.
He responds that he "didn't mean it like that." and that Belldandy is coming
with them.

Okaaay... for the unaware... this was a Lolita sex reference... Peorth has
had her age turned back to look about 10 or so... and Keiichi's comment is
fairly typical of the type of comment that one might hear made in a Hentai
manga by an older man who is propositioning an underage girl. Peorth's
response was that she's not interested in sex with him in her current
"little girl" state... Kinda makes you wonder about what sorta manga the
author is reading hmmm?... Okay.. truth be told...  Fujishima-sensei keeps
up on all the AMS! Doujinshi out there... and has even done nods to them in
the AMS movie. But I digress...

Okay... Peorth tells them that she's not in the mood to be cheered up... so
K1 looks at Bell. Bell gets out and says.

"It looks like my older sister and Skuld are making something for you."

(This is a warning to peorth... not very clear to readers who are unfamiliar
with Urd and Skuld... but if you know Urd and Skuld, it's immediately
obvious what she means. In short...If someone has a problem, and Urd or
Skuld decide to "help" fix the problem... Urd will start breaking out or
cooking up her drugs... and Skuld will start creating some sort of Mecha
that will more often then not explode while doing it's task. Bascially there
is no situation that Urd or Skuld cannot make worse with their "help")

"They're very eager about this."
(Ho Boy!, An "eager" Urd or Skuld is bad enough.. but both together ...they
are a disaster waiting to happen)

"So you'll be safe with us.

(Meaning:"If you don't go with us... there is no telling what they might do
to you... and we're leaving... so get your butt in gear)

Peorth dashes off and changes into more suitable clothing.

Okay, fast forward a few pages.. and we have K1 Bell and Peorth on the cycle
and in the side car respectively... Bell and Peorth are in the sidecar with
Peorth on Bell's lap (remember... Peorth looks like a little girl) K1 smiles
softly and happily.

Peorth asks "What is it?"
K1 responds "Oh, I was just thinking that it is quite fitting"

Okay.. pause here, this scene is interesting because of what is implied. If
you look at that panel... we have Bell holding Peorth in her lap... and
while some may disagree, I think that the thought going through Keiichi's
mind is, "This is what it would look like if I and Bell had a child."
Peorth's hair is raven black like Keiichi's, and with the goddess markings,
it's not hard to picture her as Bell and K1's child.
To me it seems that Keiichi is imagining that scenario and smiling because
of how happy the thought makes him, and his comment about it being "fitting"
made me think that he feels that maybe he is going to have to make a
decision about him and Bell sometime soon.

Okay.. fast forward a couple more pages...

They are at the beach, and Peorth asks (somewhat snarkily) if this is
supposed to make her happy. Implying that she thinks that their attempt to
cheer her up is pretty pathetic.

Of course two frames later she is is in the surf splashing and laughing with
Bell.

K1 is stilling on the quay (the stone wall along the beach that is used to
keep the land from eroding due ot heavy surf) watching them, and comments
that Peorth looks pretty happy to him. He lays back and gets all
introspective... commenting that "Ever since Peorth came, I can't get it out
of my head. I should ask, but, but..."

Okay, what is he thinking about?

Age...

Peorth has had her age rolled back.. but how much is it really?.. how many
years? How does a goddess age is what he is worrying about. Do they age like
humans.. like he does.  And by implication, what does that mean for him and
Belldandy? Will she age with him.. or stay the same, while he ages, withers,
and dies.

Suddenly Peorth pops her face right in front of him, smiling, and breaks the
moment... saying basically, "Hey" (you're here to cheer me up.. so make with
the cheering up already!)

He asks "where's Belldandy" and Peorth points to the rock where Bell is
standing and looking all goddessy.

He comments wistfully, "She really is a goddess after all.

Peorth is a little put off for a second while she digests that comment, then
the conversation you were asking about starts.

She then gives him a little punch and asks him if he has any complaints
about things...

This is basically asking him "What's wrong?, you came here to cheer me up,
so why are you suddenly so melancholy?"

He asked her, "That time, when Welsper was going to turn back time until I
was erased..."

Peorth is suddenly curious about where he's going with this line of
reasoning.

K1 Continues, "But it was you who was affected, but you weren't erased, if
you could explain that..."

He's wondering about how far back in time she was taken, since Welsper ran
time back for her a lot more than Keiichi's age.

Peorth nods and says," That's right."

Then comments" We will always be existing, eternally...(from the begining)
until now... and  from this point onward."

K1 is shown funched forward, a little sad, and he comments, "I see"

He's just been told exactly what he was afraid of... that Bell is
immortal... and will outlive him by a great deal, to me this sounded like so
meone who has just been told, "You have cancer... it's inoperable." and he's
trying to put on a brave face... accepting his fate.

Peorth sees the saddness in him and adds, "But... if you associate with a
goddess... it's not an unescapable fate."

Now this whole comment is massively open to interpretation. She seems to be
saying that if you are the beloved of a Goddess... that death will not be an
issue. Does this mean that a mortal can be made immortal? or that when that
mortal dies that he can go on to be with the goddess afterwards? Or does she
mean something else... like that goddess/human relationships are not
"allowed" to progress to that point. Lotsa possibilities as to what she
means here.

She then comments "You understand without seeming to think about it."

(I think that the tone used by Peorth in this scene shows that she's a
little surprised that Keiichi actually does understand what it's like for
her and other goddesses... and that she gets the impression that
understanding immortality comes naturally... or maybe easily... to him)


He then askes "But, isnt' it sad, the things you leave behind?"
Peorth looks a little surprised at his question.
he contineus" Passing a lot of time and experienceing a lot of different
things"

So, he's asking, "It must be hard to deal with, knowing that the things you
love will one day wither and die... and be gone." He is asking the question
that plauges people when they think about the posibility of immortality.
"Would you want immortality if the cost was that everyone you know, would
one day die, leaving you behind, alone?" It's a heavy burden, and he's
wondering at the emotional cost to a goddess.

Basically, IMO, he's asking Peorth, "Okay, I'm mortal, I'll die one day...
how could Bell handle the pain of my passing on before her... knowing that
she'll never die and follow me into the afterlife? I know that if she
died... I'd look forward to my eventual death so that we could be reunited."

But that's just my opinion... but clearly there is a lot implied here.

Peorth says "It's all right. "

Then she says, "Now I understand why Belldandy likes you so much."

IMO this is saying that she sees what he is saying... and sees that he's not
thinking about himself at all... and that he only cares about Bell's
happiness. That he'd give up everything he wants, just to keep Bell from
feeling any hurt.

She then adds, "Keiichi-san, please remember this. The people that we
goddesses meet, aren't things we can forget."

IMO she's saying that even if he dies... that he'll live on in Bell's
heart... and that she'll remember the happiness of their time together...
and not the pain of his passing if he dies.

Bell talked about this way at the begining of the Manga... that she lives
each moment in time dwelling in the here and now, but keeping happiness in
her heart.

So, you see, there's a lot actually being discussed here. Love, Death,
happiness, marriage, ect... and it's all mostly being implied... which is
all very japanese in tone. Partly because these are subjects that one is
expected not to talk about. Keiichi is trying to figure out where he and
Bell are going... and what it means if they walk down a particular path
together.

Now,shortly after this is where we start the whole Hild arc... and where the
Angel Eater comes into play. This is also aroudn the time that K1's parents
show up, andwe see that his mother (Takano)looks startlingly younger than
his father... and this is about when I started wondering if maybe K1 has a
mother of divine origin. (His mother seems to get on with the Goddesses just
fine, and in fact seems rather Belldandy-like... both in her faith in her
husband, and in the way she treats others.

It's not hard to imagine that the way Takano-san acts  is what Belldandy
would be like after having a couple of children, and having been married a
few years.

Read on... and I think you'll see what I mean.

It's interesting how she acts throughout her appearance in the series.

Hope this helped... and of course... since most of it was implied... I'm
just giving my opinion about what they're really talking about...There are
of course many ways to interpret it I guess.

-Steve



----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "tedne" <tedne@w-link.net>
To: <megami@usagi.org>
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 9:28 PM
Subject: K1 and Peorth's conversation in Ch. 132


> Hello,
>
> I just subscribed a few days ago. I am not familiar with the netiquette
> of this list. I subscribed wanting to search the archives for
> discussions about a question I had but it appears that the archive does
> not have a search engine. Please correct me if I simply have not found
> it.
>
> My question is about Chapter 132, (Vol. 21) Keiichi and Peorth are at
> the beach and having a discussion about "the thing that goddesses do not
> forget." I am reading Edward Chang's translation. The problem is that I
> found the conversation very hard to understand and almost
> incomprehensible. This conversation looks like a very important episode
> in the whole AMG story.
>
> Can anybody explain what they are talking about? If this is an ancient
> thread that was beaten to death long ago could someone point me to it?
>
> Thanks
>
> Brian
>
>
>