Saiyuki smoking and shooting

[Blood_Debt]

Knowing me, it's probably already on this site and i've missed it, but this has been bothering me for a while ;D

Exactly which brands do the Saiyuki members smoke/drink/shoot?

I've been told Sanzo's gun is a Smith and Wesson, but then it was something else in another fiction that i've forgotten.

Sake is all very well, but which brands? And where does Sanzo buy his bullets? He has so many, surely he has to get new ones... or does he make them?

Same with his paper fan, made, or brought? It should have broken or torn by now, with the number of times he's hit Goku and Gojyo...

Finally, cigarettes, again, brand? Camel? Some unknown one that only Togenkyo owns?

Anyone have any ideas? I'm asking partly out of curiousity, the other half is because I want to include it in a fic somewhere. So it's not all pointless on my part

[kanshu]

Some questions can be answered, others are complete mysteries:

Cigarettes: Sanzo smokes "Malbororo Red soft" and Gojyo smokes "Hi-Lites". Gojyo's brand is a real Japanese cigarette brand.

Alcohol: Outside of actual 'sake' rice vine, Sanzo and Gojyo don't say 'no' to high-proof stuff either. Sanzo doesn't like cheap stuff, as far as alcohol is concerened. However, the amounts of alcohol they can handle varies greatly between the TV-series and the manga. In the manga, both Gojyo and Sanzo are pretty much drunk after consuming a bottle of liquor, each. Since Hakkai says in the same scene that they should switch to 'high proof' stuff, it's safe to assume that they only drank low volume alcohol up to 24 vol% (less, more likely). Out of my own experience, I can tell you that this makes you totally drunk, but doesn't lead to alc poisoning.
Now, in the anime, they easily consume five times that amount, which for a real life person would mean alc poisoning, or being completely used to alcohol (as in: regular heavy drinker, alcoholic).
You might find this link helpful: www.sake-world.com/html/sake-faqs.html

The gun: Sanzo's gun is, indeed, a Smith&Wesson. Where he gets his bullets is a question that only "Mom" (Minekura-sama) could answer. There are various theories to this.

The fan: Again, that's a mystery. However, the fan is usually a comic relief device in Japanese mangas and anime. It is used like the anvil/hammer kind of thing in comics/cartoons, which means that Sanzo very well might not use a fan at all, but smack them with his fists, or just use his shining, persuasive personality to 'beat them down'.

I hope this helps.

[Me-Nuriko]

Just adding a little info about the cigarettes. I made a mistake in one of my fics because I had heard from somewhere that Marlboro Red was a stronger brand than Hi-Lites, and that Hi-Lites was even rather weak. Then I did some research and found that both brands are strong ones with Hi-Lites as the stronger one.

[kanshu]

*chuckles* That explains Sanzo's interesting facial reaction when he takes one of Gojyo's cigs (without permission!) in the Reload manga...

[Blood_Debt]

Okay! Thanks!

I don't think Sanzo would ever ask Gojyo's permission to do anything, especially borrow something. Happy endings... serves him right, I suppose. But I've never smoked, so how is one brand 'stronger' than another? The amount of nicotine? (and I've not been drunk yet either! Oh the woes of being young!)

[Me-Nuriko]

Yeah, the amount of Nicotine.

And with the risk of sounding like your Mom, don't ever start smoking. It's much easier to start than to stop, so the best way to stop is to never start.

Getting drunk. Drinking can be harder to never do, but wait at least until you come of age, and then take it easy.

Gee, I sound terrible. But I do mean what I say.

[kanshu]

I agree. Smoking is totally un-cool (and sitting in a smoker-room gives me allergies... )

As for drinking, be careful with that. Make your first experiences in a controlled environment, maybe with your parents around. This is because you can find out how much you 'safely' can consume without the risk of ending up drunk in a corner, raped or run over by cars. Alcohol is a nasty stuff and you easily underestimate the effects it has on you.
A glass or two of alcohol is okay, but more mess you up. Being drunk makes you sick for the next day or two, and it usually leads to a type of behaviour that makes you feel ashame afterwards. Outside of that, it ruins your stomach. Oh, and it also works like a delete command - even if you are not dead-drunk, it keeps long-term memories from being formed, so that whatever you learn for school the evening before a party gets "deleted". Fun, eh?

[Blood_Debt]

Okay mommies!

;D Advice noted *hides bottles of beer under bed*

[Terra Fire]

Wouldn't it be the kind of chemicals in the cigarettes that make them stronger? I smoke a very strong brand of cigarettes, because of a certain chemical (a chemical that could very well cut up the lining of your throat and lungs). If it didn't have the chemical, then it wouldn't be as strong, as lets say, Marlboro Red's. They are one of the strongest brands of cigarettes, at least in the US. However, cigarettes with Menthol can kill you in about half the time as regular cigarettes.

Anyway, I'll be a hypocrite and say that smoking and drinking is very bad for you. If you can avoid smoking, then good for you. You've refused what a good part of the population can't. Nicotine and alcohol are very powerful drugs. If you're paranoid person, like me, then you won't have to worry about anyone holding anything over you if you don't use them.

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[Me-Nuriko]

One cigarette of Hi-Lite contains 29 mg tar, and 2.5 mg nicotine. But I'm not 100% sure of this. Another source says 17 mg tar, and 1.4 mg nicotine. Hi-Lite menthol is weaker than that, too. I'll try to find out better.
One of Marlboro Red soft contains 15 mg tar and 1.1 mg nicotine.

[Terra Fire]

Forgot about the tar factor.

Does anyone one know if they sell Hi-Light's in the US? Just out of curiosity sake.

;}

[kanshu]

I don't think so... but you might be lucky in shops that sell Japanese imported goods.

[Terra Fire]

*Shrug* Just wondering.

[Blood_Debt]

Hmmm... one more thing...

Hasn't Sanzo killed enough Youkai to become one himself? Or at least touched the blood? Or does his 'holiness' protect him somehow?

[kanshu]

That's another one of the "good questions to ask 'Mom'".

I think that Sanzo hasn't reached the 1000-demon level yet, but he's quickly getting there... Besides, different from Hakkai, he's using a long-distance weapon to kill the demons, so he isn't 'touched' by the blood of every demon that he killed.