Details

As Zain has a yen for birds, Rouj seems to collect frogs. pg. 118; check the basket


Despite their immediate impression as the strapping young man and the skinny mage, Ghaleon does seem to be slightly taller than Dain. (It's tough to get a comparison, as they're rarely shown both standing and at the same distance from the "camera," but check pgs. 28 and 31 as well.)

pg. 89 ditto


Ghaleon is ambidextrious.

Left-handed:

pg. 124 pg. 127 pg. 116.  Also see pg. 105

Right-handed:

pg. 125, and, by the way, Niea seems to have put her shoes on awfully quickly between pgs. 124 and 125, doesn't she? pg. 150 pg. 42.  Also see pg. 106, 112, and 117.  I love Ghaleon, but I seriously don't need to see another picture of him holding a writing instrument for a while.


pg. 58 .

.

.

Zain's face, never seen overtly in KSK, is still masked in the TnK frieze by a voice balloon.

By the way, for posterity, everything we do have of Zain's face:

calendar image taken from Funato's site back of the tankoubon line art of tankoubon illustration from doujinshi

from doujinshi; an seemingly early, somewhat off-model sketch, so probably shouldn't pay it much mind from doujinshi, the best image we have of Zain's face; forgive the rough, sketchlike quality ditzy angel Zain from doujin chara relationship chart


The wand Remilia wields at the end of TnK is either the model for or the very one Remiena/Lemina has in Lunar 2.

pg. 74 Lunar I & II artbook, pg. 24; one of the beads is a different size, but they draw it different sizes throughout the Lunar 2 promo art


pg. 6; little brat Arhes's father appears in "Kioku Suru Fuukei" as one of Dain's hooligan child friends.


Symbolism: Ghaleon's emblem of Althena pendant breaks off in the final panel.

pg. 190, and, by the way, I hope that whoever decided that Descreen should no longer be a standard feature on scanner drivers enjoys a long sojourn in the hell that so obviously spawned them


Part of the panel depicting the Vheen streets on pg. 108 is blatantly reused on pg. 158.

pg. 108; kids run through the city corner .

.

.

pg. 158; then again, if I drew something this exactingly elaborate, I wouldn't want to do it again, either


A panel on pg. 26 in TnK shows the exact same shot of Vheen's transfer fountain as on pg. 185 in KSK, except in a greatly decayed state. Like what you haven't done with the place, guys.

pg. 26; the leaning pillar in the center of the frame belonged to the little pseudo-torii gate below pg. 185; the small pillars directly surrounding the transfer ring are gone by TnK, leaving only the two Stonehenge formations in back


Ghaleon's cloak in "Tamashii no Kokuhaku" is a composite of Morris's and Tagak's own traveling cloaks from the last scenes of "Kokuhaku Suru Kioku."
pg. 186; I was also prepared to say that the sash with the apparent dagger holster Ghaleon's wearing in this panel is still with him at the time of TnK.  Closer examination shows that it's not the same one, though; just a similar style pg. 187 pg. 27
Ghaleon actually does have Tagak's cloak in "Kioku Suru Fuukei"; he's simply wearing Morris's over Tagak's instead of vice versa. pg. 8 pg. 7; note the clasps


The pattern on the shoulder of Zain's cloak in the illustration on the back of the tankoubon is the same as the half-daisy pattern of energy-gauge lights on the front of the airship.
Latona is shown wiring this gauge on pg. 117.  Did Zain design the gauge himself, or was Latona the designer, inspired by her love's apparel?

pg. 21

pg. 21


front cover of tankoubon The tankoubon cover image is composed of "Kokuhaku Suru Kioku" Ghaleon back-to-back with his older self from "Tamashii no Kokuhaku." (The latter figure is frequently mistaken for Zain - understandable given the presence of young KSK Ghaleon and how the figure's face is hidden from the viewer. Check the outfits, though.)


pg. 188; it looks like a pillbox here, but it is the beret Ghaleon was wearing at the start of KSK Niea is wearing the hat Ghaleon gave her at the end of "Kokuhaku Suru Kioku" in the image of her as a young lady in the Ausa genealogy sequence near the end of "Tamashii no Kokuhaku." pg. 86


I'm fairly certain that this map, or at least the shape of its compass, was drawn from the pack-in map from one of the Sega/Mega-CD titles, but I don't have mine available to confirm. pg. 132


Ghaleon falls from a wall, and his brother's reactions spark great psychological trauma. Alice of the Younenki no Owari manga falls from a tree, an incident that sparks the destruction of her family. Elie (along with Rena) in the MSL manga falls from a tree and nearly gives away the dangerous secret of her heritage. What is it with manga magic-race kids being unable to keep their balance and its disastrous effects?
pg. 121 pg. 110, Younenki no Owari.  Damn kids; get outta my trees. pg. 67, Vol. 2 MSL manga.  Also, move your pictures away from the spine so they're easier to scan.



Mysteries

Compare these two establishing shots of Vheen at the time of KSK and of TnK. Naturally, the Vheen of TnK is more heavily forested, representing the new growth of the humans' thriving community (though TnK doesn't take place in the winter like KSK does, and Vheen would therefore then have its deciduous trees in leaf as well).
Look at the position of the ruins, though. At first, it seems as if there's been an artist's mistake and the ruins have been repositioned from north-of-center in the KSK pic to the edge of the land mass in the TnK one. Examine, however, the right rim of the continent, particularly the first bifurcated bit into which you run following the edge up from the bottom; the jagged parts up from the bifurcation are gone in TnK's time, and it seems, comparing land mass sizes and other geographic features, that part (albeit a slight part) of the upper half of Vheen itself is missing. Look also at the bits of forest on the lower lefthand side of the continent; they actually are in the same position relative to the lower rim and the ruins in both time periods and not distended or shifted as one would to cover up a perspective error. It's not a change in perspective; the continent seems actually to be smaller. Did Funato screw up on the art, or did she actually intend for Vheen to have lost some land in back? If it's the latter, then what the heck happened?
pg. 25; I use 'up' and 'down' instead of 'north' and 'south' above because the cardinal directions are flipped in the pics; the western mazoku side of Vheen in on the eastern edge of the page, etc.  We're looking at the city from the north downward. .

pg. 119; actually, much of Vheen is directly copied-and-pasted from pic to pic  -  the rocky bottom rim, the trees on the bottom rim, the ruins...


Niea's (presumable) husband has the distinction of being the only Ausa father whose face we see (except Nasch, extrapolatively). This would make one think that we're supposed to recognize him, and he looks most like the Smarter-Than-the-Average-Guild-Student who solves the mystery of the airship's huge energy tank. While the SMTTAGS has curly hair, though, the husband's appears to be straight and tousled, and during KSK, STTAGS has what appears to be a good ten years on Niea, whereas in the flashback panel with Niea and her husband, they both look the same age. (One could argue, in fact, that Niea is older, though that might be just how Funato drew her dress and grin.) What do you think?
pg. 86 pg. 110; shape of the eyes seems a bit different here because he's anxious/angry pg. 187; here, the eye shape seems to match that of Niea's husband


Why does the Blue Dragon appear above Latona when she begins casting her final spells on pg. 171? We see dragons appear only when Dragonmasters or holders of Dragon Auras cast spells, not when just any magician does so. How would she have the ability to access its power? Is this an ability unique to the magic race? Or was she, in another parallel to Ghaleon, once a great hero, too? pg. 171; awesome panel



From the Department of Obvious

Yes, that's the Blue Spire in the background.

pg. 86; doesn't manga Hiero say that the Blue Spire is on the former Frontier?  Perhaps that was just a fancy of the artist.  Anyhow, exceptional RFD program Lunar has.


Yes, that's the sash Dain wears in his later guise as Laike.

pg. 17; it seems here to serve as a strap for the sheath on his back.  By the way, you don't need a picture of Laike, do you? All right, fine: SSS Newtype 100%, pg. 91.  The pattern is *slightly* different, but we're seeing a different side of the sash (the sword's on Dain's back in the manga pic and at his hip here), so I think it's just variation within the sash itself.  Also, yes, there's moiré; no, I'm not fixing it.



Visual Motifs & Themes

Barren trees are a recurring visual motif throughout "Kokuhaku Suru Kioku," a reminder of the mazoku's barren, bleak future. They are seen throughout KSK but most frequently accompany moments when the mazoku are troubled by loneliness, perceived abandonment, or bitter feelings about their lot, whereupon the trees dominate the frame; usually, little else is then present but the characters and a blank, empty white.

pg. 110; Ghaleon can't surrender the airship to the students he thinks his brother loved so much better than him.  Take a look at the page as a whole; the frame layout makes it seem framed entirely by barren branches

pg. 135; I don't know!...I don't know.

pg. 145; another burial

pg. 122; sometimes, it gets so I don't know

pg. 164; after Zain's posthumous revelation pg. 124; it's not because they hate you, Tagak

When Tagak, Morris, and Ghaleon leave for their new future at the end of the story, however, the frame is overflowing with lush greenery, symbolic of new life.

pg. 189


Speaking of new life, also note the two small plants present in the frame when little Niea makes her first appearance.

pg. 107; note the little bird carving to the right of the frame


The barren trees return, however, when Ghaleon visits Niea's grave.

pg. 86


As Ghaleon recalls his failed relationship with Zain, he is shown in a probably-figurative image standing apart from the group gathered around Zain's deathbed, back turned to his dying brother. It perhaps symbolizes his attempts to make his rejection of his brother conspicuous, even in Zain's dying days.

pg. 126

pg. 126; also compare the panel containing Latona's reaction on pg. 163 when Latona is involuntarily shut out emotionally from Zain

Later, when the guildmistress asks Ghaleon in the cemetery what spurred him to complete the airship, Ghaleon's initial response is blank silence.

pg. 134; won't you look at me, oniisan?

Taken alone, the panel composition represents Ghaleon being at an utter loss to provide a conscious explanation for his own behavior. It is obviously meant, however, as an echo of the earlier panels - Ghaleon now turned toward the other end of the panel, where his brother once was and now is not. It provides an unspoken answer to the guildmistress's question about his motive - his never-fulfilled desire for his brother's attention and love.


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