It would be hard to think of this as anything but a transitional chapter for Otoyomegatari. But the overriding question is, just what comes next?
In the first place I’m not much surprised by the developments this month. I suspected Mr. Smith’s response to the events of Chapter 94 would be to give up on his journey and turn back. I knew that would break his heart – and it does – but he was always going to think of Talas and Ali here. To go further would be to place them in unacceptable danger, and the only decision consistent with his character would be for Henry to turn back.
But what does this mean for the series? As we leave things off here, Henry is about to board a ship for Bombay, and from there to return home. Is it possible that this could truly be his exit from the narrative? Though I’ve felt for a while that Mori was easing towards a conclusion, now that it’s staring us in the face it’s hard to accept. We might perhaps get an epilogue with Henry back in England, or maybe a timeskip to a return to Asia years or even decades later. But for now at least, he seems likely to be exiting stage left.
So now what? Do we return to Amir and Karluk at last, after perhaps their longest absence of the series? That would suggest all the more strongly to me that we’re close to the goal line, because with Henry out of the picture the thread tying the series’ various narratives together would be gone. Certainly Karluk and Amir have a long story in front of them, but I don’t get the sense it’s the one Mori set out to tell with this series.
As such, Chapter 96 figures to be a very telling one. For now, it’s a rather emotional time as Henry says his farewells to Ali and Niklovski – the former promising to name one of his children after him. Chubar is coming aboard ship, much to Talas’ relief, but it’s gutting to see Mr. Smith leave with his heart broken like this, and to think he might never be reunited with the young couple who became a surrogate family to him. The world was a much larger place than it is now (though the current situation has forced many of us to confront just how large it still is), and farewells carried a lot more weight to them.
Panino Manino
November 24, 2020 at 11:21 amI’m thinking now how much time will Smith and Talas stay on Bombay. Just a few days? A few weeks? A few months? Years? But one thing I’m more certain is that we’ll have a “Victorian Romance Emma 2.0” with them on London/England and I hope Mori will take this opportunity to show us some of the old characters. Otoyomegatari happens chronologically before or after Emma?
As for his eventual return to the region one possibility that I believe have a high change of happening is, if not with him, is instead of him, their children. Instead of Smith and Talas returning we may very well see their sons or daughters making the journey back to know the land o their mother. If it’s to have a time skip than skip the most as possible.
Guardian Enzo
November 24, 2020 at 1:51 pmI think the odds of some sort of timeskip happening are pretty high at this point.
As far as where this series and Emma fall on the timeline, since we’ve never gotten specifics here it’s hard to say. There’s been so much Russian adventurism in that part of the world it’s impossible to know which incursion this was.
Vitória Dias
June 16, 2021 at 1:50 pmEmma starts in 1896, Otoyomegatari most likely takes place in the 1860’s. So before, much before. Now, we may see Emma’s characters if a very long time skip happens, just like you wish.
Yukie
November 25, 2020 at 2:17 amI was actually surprised by these last few chapters (I guess some part of me expected the journey to go on), but I guess it’s more realistic for Mr. Smith to give up his journey at this point for the sake of his companions. It also makes sense since Mori prefers to focus on the familial and the personal, but it still hit pretty hard when our crew said their farewells.