Saber Marionette Big Daddy!

Ok, here's to a thread that I can only hope does not end in one of those "You need to finish watching SMJ-X, the answers are all right there you foooooooool-xors LOLOLOLOLOLO!!!!11111" lines.

Today's question I pose (and I hope at least one person at least gets the beginnings stirrings of interest by this question) involves fathers...

...More specifically, Otaru's father. (We've all seen Hanagata's Father, he's no fun to cross analyze.)

Who is he and what happened to him? Why did he leave his own kid to pretty much fend for himself at such a reletively young age? Did they have a falling out between them or did something happen to him? Also, is he the Otaru's only parent? Did he have two dads who got together one day and decided to have a kid (Two dads and a chemistry set?!), or is Otaru pretty much a clean clone copy of his dad. If that's the case why does he look so much like young Ieyasu? Are all kids on Terra II born this way (single parent)? If so, why doesn't everyone look like the same six individuals?! And why does Hana-ko look NOTHING like his father? Yumeji too, for that matter?!

Burning questions, ow my head...

The only time we ever get to see Otaru's Papa was in the first eps of SMJ where it quickly flashes back to his childhood and we see young Otaru standing outside the Japoness History Museum. His hand is being held by a man, who we can only assume to be his father (not a 'man-nanny' or otherwise).

Well, one would think so. Children on Terra Two are cloned, right? That's a big deal involving lots of people and technology. It's not like "Oops, I forgot to tell you I'm not on birth control." Every child born there is a child who is wanted and (I would imagine) thier parent(s) would have to shell out large sums of money and/or file mountains of paperwork to have one. It couldn't be like Otaru's Dad didn't want to have him so after he did all that work and his son hatched (yes, hatched...) he sent him away to some orphanage (or however you spell that).

Hrm... [Pulls a Mr. Spock] Fascinating...

Much love to all youse smj FAN-atics (Haha! A play on words... not really...) back home.

~Wert in a Can- Now with easy applicator!

 

I don't think it would be like that ^^

Simple, nobody knows. He's never mentioned in the series. I don't know about the original novels or the manga, though. He could had been imprisoned, died. Maybe he didn't want to be a father. Whatever the reason is, it should be a bad one, because leaving that kid alone is pretty bad itself.

Something like in Vandread? Since Lorelei was clonated using only one female I don't think they'd need two dads to reproduce.

Every clone in Terra II is supposed to be modified in some aspects of his physical appearance. Only the leaders are pure clones.

It might be a coincidence, or maybe a lost pure clone.

Yes, they are.

Because they have their genes modified.

I also have to add that it seems that the cloning technology and services are communal and restricted by the goverment. Maybe you get a random clone to care.

I think that only applies to Gartland. You are born and raised to work and die for the Führer. Remember that in Xi'an are orphans, like the ones Cherry took care of. Also, birth control shouldn't be in hand of the people, but in the goverment's.

 

Honestly I couldn't tell you either way. I can tell you it's not explored in the manga, in fact, there's even less explanation of it in the manga. (It focuses on the love comedy aspect a lot more)

As for the novels, I'm skeptical that they would explain it there. I think it's something best left in the dark, for the series, at least.

Certainly, Kamataro's relationship with his sons suggests that the children living on their own is perhaps more common than just Otaru. It definately happens here on Earth.

 

Maybe Otaru was a pure clone who got kidnapped, lost, and then adopted by an anonymous man - who died tragically.

 

In one chapter at the beginning of the series Soemon Obiichi takes Otaru who's still a child to his Dojo.

 

Huh?

Huh? Where was that? I'm not so sure I remember that one. If it's true then that brings up an interesting point. Could Obiichi be Otaru's dad? If that's the case then it would explain thier relationship (then again their relationship could be just as easliy explained by thier teacher/student relationship). Some more food for thought.

Take cares all

 

I remember that. I don't think Obiichii is Otaru's father, though. It just doesn't seem... right.

And wertitis, PLEASE tell me you noticed the different name! By the time you get to read this, you'll have missed it completely.

 

Holy crap, how did I miss this? This is like... one of the main things me n' Aoi talked about way back when.

Now, until I get proof otherwise (and even then I'll probably still reflect on it :3), I maintain that although it's not going to be the norm, it is probably possible for two people to splice their genetic information to form a kind of hybrid clone. Now, I'd imagine that a certain quota of kids must be cloned on a yearly basis, just to ensure survival. That said, you're going to have a lot of boys who are there because the government needs them to be there, and what's more, the human race needs them to be there. I'd imagine it's very likely that Otaru was one of these kids. The denizens of Terra II don't strike me as terribly familial, overall. It seems like a lot of kids are left to their own devices at a pretty young age, with maybe various father-figures and caretakers overseeing their development.

But you know, I'm sure there's a tiny margin of people who have kids because they really, really want to. Like, not just the biological desire to pass the torch, but also the actual desire for fatherhood. And I also think it's certainly possible that there are circumstances under which a couple will opt for that aforementioned combination of genes... which I'd imagine is pretty damn pricey, when all is said and done. Me and Aoi used to speculate that Hanagata is the product of this kind of arrangement. Sure, maybe Hana's a direct clone of his father and simply not a pure one, but I don't know. I have a hard time believing that a man of such perfection and prestige as Kamataro would have any ol' clone as a son. Two sons, at that.

I think there have been multiple hints throughout the series that Hana and Yumeji are not entirely of Japoness descent. Not even minding the fact that their blond hair and blue eyes contrast very much with Kamataro's black hair and dark eyes, it occurs to me that you don't see that kind of coloring anywhere else in Japoness. The men of Japoness look... well, very traditionally Japanese, for the most part. Kamataro looks very traditionally Japanese, himself. Hanagata and Yumeji pointedly do not. In an early episode of J to X, there's a random guy who's part of that band of foreign representatives or what have you, who wears clothes that are remarkably similar to that of Hana and Yume. I found this pretty peculiar.

As Matt mentioned, there's too much of a physical similarity to be able to say that Kamataro's kids are just adopted, IMO. But obviously they don't resemble each other overwhelmingly at all. So that leaves the possibility that another person's genes were involved, which is undoubtedly incredibly expensive and complicated, and a luxury very, very few can afford. Naturally Kamataro would be in an ideal position for this. Who was this person? No one knows. Where was he from, and why isn't he around now? One can't say. Aoi and I always imagined a sharp-looking, willowy blond creature capable of kicking Kamataro's ass if necessary. X3 Because I don't think ol' Kama would be impressed by anything less.

:3 All that was really fun to talk about. respond plz!1

 

I recall an episode in SMJ...

the one where the museum (and Lorelei's portrait) is burned. At the beginning of the episode, Ieyasu is talking with Obiichi about him raising Otaru.

Why did they (the Shogun and Sensei Obiichi) know each other so well? Surely they're hiding something, don't you think?

 

Now how did I miss this post? Holy crap, dude. You may have just solved the great mystery of "why does Otaru look exactly like a young Ieyasu?" I'd have to watch that ep again to be sure, but... well, hey. It all makes sense then, doesn't it? But yes, it's very mysterious that Ieyasu had some reason to try and keep Otaru from becoming his successor...

 

That's tough, because the fact that his successor would be the one to raise the pieces of the woman he loved in order to save the woman he loved is reeeal tough to ignore.

I wonder if Ieyasu would have approved of Lorelei taking over as Japoness's leader. I'm sure he would, but the question is... did he view that as an actual, feasible possibility, after looking at Otaru and deciding he was "the real thing?" Like, did he actually feel any kind of certainty that Otaru and his marionettes would be able to-- and not only able, but would-- recover Lorelei? If so, then the man either had a ton of faith, or he had already come to believe that Otaru could and would do it. Or both, I guess. They could be the same thing.

He gets a little more mysterious every time I think about him. XD

 

Well, because there were yust six males on Terra-II, so every man there is a clone of the former male of his country. So it's not suprising that there are people who look like the shogun. I guess they do some kind of DNA-manupilating to make some differences between most of the people.
And I guess the kids are all born some kind like this little boy in this baby-episode of SMJtoX. And then the kids are given to a father. That they not every boy is going to have a daddy, because some of the kids may not find a suitable father. So that way Otaru could have grown up without a father.
But I like the idea that Otaru is related to the shogun and maybe his son (or direkt-clone or something like that).

 

Ah, true that. But yet, she did do a healthy bit of conversing and negotiating with the leaders of other countries, didn't she? But if that council was active while Ieyasu was still alive, then we can assume that Ieyasu also worked alongside them-- Ieyasu, who we've very clearly seen is more than just a figurehead.

Still, I would believe it if the council held much more power at the current time, given that it's somewhat hard to lead a country when you're locked in the castle for your own protection 24/7. At least Ieyasu got to move around a little bit.

 

Seems to me that Lorelei wouldn't be in much of a position to lead anyone. Her time would be divided between trying to hatch the new females and taking care of six marionettes. Leading a country really isn't in her resume, nor would it be in her best interests Her place as a "figurehead" is without question- she's the literal hope for the future of Japoness. Ieyasu was a single man amongst millions of men. She's the only woman on the entire planet, given the gravity of her duties (reviving women on Terra II) it would make sense that she would be kept under a close eye until they've safely restored the female genome back into the populous.

~W