Meido Daigaku Genzou Seminar - Vol. 1 Ch. 2.3 - FILE 2: Mother River Mystery ③

[MangaDex]

 

[Skullkrusher]

Man, I really like that thing's design now that it can be seen clearly - part fish, part Mother Kos, and egg roe draining the Orphans of Kos within.

 

[Solid_Wind_6398]

An actual W, that's neat. Normally we don't get that so soon in a horror story.

So the pahtom is an inversion of life (or birth) then? Egg roe that instead of giving birth, takes life away. The ocean that spawned life is now twisted into being a parasite draining it away.

What really interested me was the phrase 'a failed civilization', is that a civilization before humans? Ghosts trying to be reborn? Is it a mistranslation of some sort(because I don't recall the term civilization being used to describe phantoms)?

 

[Spiraphobia]

An actual W, that's neat. Normally we don't get that so soon in a horror story.

So the pahtom is an inversion of life (or birth) then? Egg roe that instead of giving birth, takes life away. The ocean that spawned life is now twisted into being a parasite draining it away.

What really interested me was the phrase 'a failed civilization', is that a civilization before humans? Ghosts trying to be reborn? Is it a mistranslation of some sort(because I don't recall the term civilization being used to describe phantoms)?

Hi there. It’s not really a mistranslation - the word 文明 (bunmei), “civilization,” is actually there in the original Japanese. But it doesn’t mean these phantoms literally built cities or societies (they're not ghosts). In this context it’s more metaphorical - they’re saying: *whatever this thing is, it tried to become something structured, advanced, ‘civilized’ - but it failed, and what’s left is a distorted wreck.

So “a failed civilization beyond human understanding” isn’t literal history, it’s more of a cosmic-horror way of saying it’s an aborted or misbegotten form of life, something that never should have existed.

 

[Solid_Wind_6398]

Hi there. It’s not really a mistranslation - the word 文明 (bunmei), “civilization,” is actually there in the original Japanese. But it doesn’t mean these phantoms literally built cities or societies (they're not ghosts). In this context it’s more metaphorical - they’re saying: *whatever this thing is, it tried to become something structured, advanced, ‘civilized’ - but it failed, and what’s left is a distorted wreck.

So “a failed civilization beyond human understanding” isn’t literal history, it’s more of a cosmic-horror way of saying it’s an aborted or misbegotten form of life, something that never should have existed.

Thank you for the answer! Yeah, I get what you mean now. The word really threw me for a loop.

 

[friendly]

Hoooooh. Makes me think of how human fetus' aren't that different, very very early on, from the way any other life looks starting out going back to the water. And our blood is imitation filtered sea water of a very specific temperature. It's home, after all.

Also I want to compliment the sense of suckers on the hands.... really delightfully unpleasant.

 

[zawarudo]

Hi there. It’s not really a mistranslation - the word 文明 (bunmei), “civilization,” is actually there in the original Japanese. But it doesn’t mean these phantoms literally built cities or societies (they're not ghosts). In this context it’s more metaphorical - they’re saying: *whatever this thing is, it tried to become something structured, advanced, ‘civilized’ - but it failed, and what’s left is a distorted wreck.

So “a failed civilization beyond human understanding” isn’t literal history, it’s more of a cosmic-horror way of saying it’s an aborted or misbegotten form of life, something that never should have existed.

I got the impression that this creature is implied to be something primordial that has always existed alongside humanity. It is perhaps a manifestation of how life began in water, hence the connection with the desire to "go back home" and its catchphrase about there always being something "just under the surface".

But I'm not sure what corrupted/perverted it into its current state.