9th Elsewhere
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9th Elsewhere is a Manga-style fantasy webcomic written and drawn by Caroline Curtis. It debuted in January 2003, and was originally a cooperative project between Ms. Curtis and Courtney Caryl. However, after impediments caused in part to her move from the U.S. to Japan, Ms. Caryl stopped contributing.
Contents
Plot
Official summary
- "Since January 2003, '9th Elsewhere' has shared the story of an unhappy girl and her oddball muses trapped in a dreamscape."
Chapters
- Yonder
- Lucidity
- Porcelain
- The Rhythm
- Circadian Child
- Transitory Phase
- Positive Chaos
- Moths are Wooly Butterflies
- Figments of my Imaginary Nation
- Stage Five
- Model of Archived Affection (Begun March 13 2006)
Plot synopsis
The story centers on young Carmen, an orphan, who has arrived at yet another foster home. She is the guest of honor at a party held to introduce her to her new family and acquaintances. Depressed by the inconstancy of her life and her failure to improve her writing skills, she refuses to exit her room. Simultaneously, machinations in the local muse headquarters (District 13) of ORMY lead to a feckless muse named Eiji to be dispatched to try to cure Carmen of her creative block (and, it is implied) her depression as well. He magically appears in her room, and before Carmen can ask any questions, sends her into her subconscious inner psychic landscape (her "dreamscape") with some pixy dust. His strategy is to use a bakobako, a carefully engineered device resembling a little box with angelic wings, which is designed to open and release the key necessary to exit the dreamscape when Carmen's inner journey cures her problem. Unfortunately, the bakobako decides to escape, empowered by Carmen's subconscious desires; this is unfortunate as it is unique, and irreplaceable, and both Carmen and Eiji need it if they ever want to leave Carmen's mind. The two pursue the bakobako across her "persona" (the first level of her dreamscape), until it escapes down a waterfall into the next level.Characters
Main characters
- Carmen Cinea - The main heroine of the comic, Carmen hopes to be a writer someday. She has been through entirely too many foster homes and has severe self-confidence issues, as well as an introverted, pessimistic attitude. By and large, Carmen's subconscious houses the plot of this manga.
- Eiji Miyake - Caring, chaotic, and childlike, Eiji is not your average muse. He is the half-breed child of a Muse and a Chaos Demon and has been saddled with the nickname the Muse of Slackers. He also hates potatoes. Eiji is optimistic and determined when it comes to Carmen's problems, but not so good at dealing with his own. He is trying desperately to help Carmen realize her full potential — not just her creative side, but her personal happiness. Yet Eiji has his own share of problems to tackle, including being underqualified to deal with Carmen.
Supporting Characters
- Dorian Gray - Dorian, perhaps the Dorian Gray, is the top muse at his O.R.M.Y. office. He is a first rank muse, in contrast to Eiji, a lowly fifth rank muse. Bossy, conceited, yet seemingly competent, he is eager to document and research everything he sees in Carmen's dreamscape.
- Cirdan - Cirdan is Eiji Miyake and Dorian Grey's boss, the head of Department 13 of O.R.M.Y. (Located in Tokyo, Japan) He dislikes his job, and hates it all the more because between 'arrogant' employees like Dorian and 'useless' employees like Eiji make his job very difficult.
- Eiji's Mother - This unnamed woman with the coal-black wings doesn't just bake Eiji tuna casseroles and give him advice, she knows how to manipulate chaos for musing purposes. She and Eiji have family dinners often, from which Unagi, Eiji's enigmatic and as-of-yet unseen father, is absent.
- Singha - Singha, a mythical "deer/lion/antelope" creature, is actually a powerful assistant given to Eiji. He sleeps most of the time, which enables him to connect directly with Carmen's dream. Eventually, he can gain a degree of control over it.
- Sir Bubbles - Sir Bubbles is a giant, affable whale, who was originally a toy trapped inside a bar of soap Carmen encountered in one of her many foster homes. Her memory of the whale is now trapped within a layer of her subconcious.
- Raphael - Explicitly named after the Ninja turtle, not the painter, this little chick hatched during a farm storyline in Carmen's dreamscape.
- Betty I-IX-- A series of cows in the farm storyline. Each one is very accident prone, and require a lot of effort to raise, or attempt to raise.
- Crea - Creativity, or Crea, is one of Carmen's "figments", a part of her subconcious. She is cheerful and supportive of Carmen. Crea enjoys painting, although she uses tea to paint, instead of oil or ink.
- Optimism - Optimism is another of Carmen's figments. This character is wispy, almost insubstantial. She is very small compared to the other dream figures, not least because of Carmen's suppression of her. Still, Optimism is always cheerful and eager to help Carmen.
- Dissent - Dissent is the figment of Carmen's sense of strong disagreement.
- Elora - Underpaid and overworked, Elora is an intern at O.R.M.Y. department 13. She seems to watch out for Eiji, yet is also frustrated with his "slacker" qualities.
Themes and influences
9th Elsewhere is heavily inspired by Jungian psychology (The chapters roughly correspond with Jungian theories of the layers of the psyche), and draws heavily on David Mitchell's novels, particularly number9dream with which it shares numerous elements and motifs. There are also multiple references to Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.Explanation of Muses
Muses in this world are different than the traditional muses. They use a variety of techniques. Direct visitation through the artist's subconcious in dreams is employed in this storyline.ORMY is an acronym for "Organized Reponse Muse Yes!" as noted in the plot synopsis. A branch office of this organization is dealing with Carmen's case. Universities of Musing are located all over the world.
External links
- [9th Elsewhere home page]
- [9th Elsewhere Forum]
- [9th Elsewhere LiveJournal Community]
- [9th Elsewhere review, Review Gods, 2003]
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