Otoyomegatari - Vol. 12 Ch. 82 - The Pilgrim Returns

[lividus]

My word, Mr. Smith is quite dashing when you can actually see his eyes 😘

 

[Panino]

@Chizan
I also don't think it's so early, because of the camera.

 

[mase_aga]

It's interesting that Mori-sensei mentioned the Hajj. While this chapter settings was under the Ottoman rule (same with Mecca), the journey to Holy Land in Mecca was always difficult, before the commercialization of airplane. While nowadays we just need 40 days trip, back in that day they need years to do pilgrimage.

The tears of joy from the family and the old man after seeing his photo is the greatest thing from this chapter.

 

[Chizan]

@Panino I'm not so sure. The images being sealed in glass plates implies it's likely a form of daguerrotype(main use was between 1840-60), and by the late 1870s that would have already yielded for newer photographic processes.

 

[sylvacoer]

Oh s***snacks, just realized Henry is a genuine died-in-the-wool philologist. I assumed he was just an anthropologist in the Darwinian mold, but this makes so much more sense now.
Also, the fact that the Hajj was such an ordeal back then, and treated with such respect, makes me happy.

 

[Duralumin]

@chizan from what we've seen, this camera uses the wet-colloid process to produce images directly onto the glass plates, rather than the daguerrotype's polished metal plates that were subsequently set behind glass. Very close and overlapping to some degree in the historical timeline, but a step ahead in development from the daguerrotype.

 

[nohugs_ugh]

I almost broke when the wife came running then broke down, still holding the man's hand. I live in Southeast Asia, my mom said before commercial planes, people went for hajj by ship. A two-way return trip including hajj took around a year. My grandmother was asked to sign a letter of consent/permission before voyage that if my grandfather were to die along the way, he will be buried wherever he was (some bodies were sunk tho, I heard).

 

[Panino]

@Chizan @Duralumin
Yes, this is what I'm thinking, it's not daguerreotype, it must be collodion.
Because of this I believe this story takes place after the Crimean War.

 

[driftingabove]

Even the comments in this manga are really interesting.

 

[So-chan]

I always make myself really comfy and put my mind at easy before I read every new chapter of this manga.

 

[krossite]

Huh, I just notice that the chapter 73's name already told us what camera this is.

 

[Panino]

@krossite
That was ONE YEAR AGO!

 

[daywithoutgames]

i think the mangaka is getting lazy , some panels are nearly white and have no backgrounds at all , an example is page 9 , it looks like they are floating in the air .

 

[unk0damnation]

I wonder what was inside the thought of the old man when he saw his photograph with his family? Did it hit him that he finally reunited with his family, as he, for the first time, could see it from a third-person perspective? Did he just realized how old he actually looked like, that reminds him how long he had lived and the remaining time he might have? Either way, his tears is quite contagious. Great chapter, every chapter.

 

[Shymra]

I nearly cried to when the old man bursted into tears 😢 So emotional

 

[N0Mi0]

Ah, I see. Judging from the last part of the chapter, we're a least half-way through the planned duration of the manga, and it's going to end when Mr Smith takes all his photos by retracing his journey back where it all began.

I'd say it's pretty obvious and the time is right: 82 chapters for a monthly series is already a lot, and ~120-160 would be quite a lot.

As an aside, I remember that it took me quite a while to realize that Henry Smith is the actual MC of this manga, not Karluk and Amir. That's why we always fallow his journey. I mean, we're used to it now, but I remember people, and myself, being confused and peeved as to "Why are we following Henry so long; get us back to out married couple MCs".

Actually, I'd argue that the whole story is an adaptation of his journals.

Anyway, great chapter as always. This work is so unique and a result of such obvious hard work, that over the years I just came to consider it one of the best manga I've seen. That's why the thought of it's inevitable end is so saddening to me. But well, maybe her next work will be even greater. Something like ancient Roma or Greece, that's be even more dope.

 

[PUGE]

Hajj was a huge deal back then. Wow. To think they've(Islam) reached where i'm from in Southeast asia, i wonder how my ancestors journey for hajj was like, travelling the world in ships then by land etc.

 

[JustCallMeDaBoss]

I fucking hope we get to see that oh please let us see her in England, with a maid outfit for research purposes.

 

[SotiCoto]

At least Henry has a half good reason to be travelling.
The old git just wasted years of his life on his retarded little trip to Saudi block-town.

... The Hajj goes pretty fucking quickly in CK2... but then we're talking about a game that can go through months in a few seconds. I hated those achievements that required playing as slims. At least the christian pilgrimages could be to different places... and not just block-town. I'd usually try to conquer block-town when playing as Pagans just to aggravate the slims. To be fair, that region was a really good place to build ports for sending conquest ships out to India.

 

[ViEmlleSzDias]

@daywithoutgames
These are probably unfinished. There are versions, if you search the internet, that have more background.