Speaking of culture, can anyone explain the Orochi? It was used in Dragon Quest III and I want to know more about it.
"We are just like Irregular Data. And that applies to you too, Ri CO. And as for you, Player... your job is to correct Irregular Data."If you're talking about the Yamata no Orochi, it's one of the most well-known monsters in Japanese folklore, so no surprise that it's a huge influence on a lot of Japanese media.
The short of it is that the Yamata no Orochi is an eight-headed snake / dragon who has been devouring the daughters of two earthly deities. Susano'o, a storm god who had recently been kicked out of the divine realm due to some of his dumb shenanigans, decides to save the final daughter from being sacrificed by transforming her into a comb to hide her in his hair, then getting the monster super drunk and then cutting off all its heads while it was too intoxicated to fight back.
Susano'o would then discover a sword hidden within the snake's body: the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi. This sword would later also become known as Kusanagi, and it would be one of Japan's Three Sacred Treasures.
If you see a multi-headed dragon or snake in Japanese media, there's a good chance that it drew influence from Orochi.
Edited by dragonfire5000 on Apr 12th 2024 at 10:03:40 AM
Or the Hydra, or rather, both as in the case of SMT V which had a few plot references to Susano'o's legend and cast the Hydra as an Orochi stand in.
Edited by MorningStar1337 on Apr 12th 2024 at 11:26:29 AM
One of the 3 Great Yokai, Shuten Doji, sometimes has an origin Story where he's the son of Orochi.
Watch SymphogearGoing to Japan in June. What are some of the coolest museums to visit?
What would be a really cool Kabuki Theater show to watch?
What are some cool restaurants to visit?
For context, hitting Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.
I discover my own destiny as I command the winds of life!https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240417/p2a/00m/0na/017000c
Some single mothers are concerned about the introduction of the joint custody law. They claim that it can easily be abused.
There's one mother who suggested that the bill should include an option for "respecting the child's opinion".
Edited by Ominae on Apr 18th 2024 at 8:00:14 AM
If you're into museums and want to hit multiple in one go, then the complex around Ueno Park is stacked with them. There's the Tokyo National Museum for general history stuff, the National Museum of Nature and Science for natural history (featuring the taxidermied body of Hachiko), and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, National Museum of Western Art and Ueno Royal Museum for all kinds of art stuff. Plus the park itself is a historic site, with a partial replica of the Kiyomizu-dera temple complex and several Boshin War monuments throughout.
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)@Patar 136 Let's see... Tokyo alone has a ton of things to do.
Odaiba in Tokyo's a must for any nerd. You've got:
- The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation
- Diver City Tokyo Plaza, which has the Unicorn Gundam statue in front, an arcade, a decent food court and some other neat stores
- Aqua City in Odaiba, which has the awesome Tokyo Joyopolis arcade
- The Small Worlds Miniature Museum
- TeamLab Planets (make sure to schedule this one in advance - they don't take walk-ins)
And if I may add in a suggestion, since you're planning on visiting both Kyoto and Osaka I'd advise using Osaka as a base and traveling to all your other destinations from there. Reason why is because you can get the JR Kansai-Hiroshima Area Pass for 5 days, which is SUPER handy since you'll be using the shinkansen bullet trains frequently, and most of the smaller cities and destinations can be finished in a single day.
Thanks for all the recommendations. Greatly appreciated.
I discover my own destiny as I command the winds of life!
Ooh, this sounds really interesting, I should add this to my "places to visit in Japan" list.
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.Overall Work Culture in Japan has been changing slowly but surely and hopes are it will trickle down to the Anime and Manga industries.
Takeshi Yamazaki (Director of Godzills Minus One) alongside another director are petitioning directly with the Japanese Government for better conditions for Live Action film production, and depending on how it goes, could affect anime as well.
Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on May 1st 2024 at 6:13:26 AM
Watch SymphogearRandom musing.
I used to think that cherry blossom was the national flower of Japan. Then I learned that while it really is the most prominent and important flower, Japan doesn't technically have an official national flower.
As someone who's done a fair bit of research on WWII and the Pacific War...I also naturally saw chrysanthemum getting mentioned a lot and how that's the official symbol for the Imperial Family.
Interesting how those two flowers bloom at and signify spring and fall respectively.
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.ABC Australia spoke on the incoming joint custody laws.
There's protest against this as there's a lack of an organization that can really support the spouse/children when they're in trouble if/when there's JC.
The protestors also fear that it'll allow the abusers to easily "take advantage" of seeing the kids.
The prof said that while it's about time the laws are there, there's still the issue of addressing shortcomings of investigating domestic laws (if/when it's confirmed in a divorce case).
I have two questions:
1. I know this has been mentioned before but can anyone explain the concept of Monon no Aware? And how is it related to some antagonists in Japanese anime?
2. There are some pieces of media like Persona 4 and Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent that deal with "facing reality". Can anyone elaborate on this theme as well?
"We are just like Irregular Data. And that applies to you too, Ri CO. And as for you, Player... your job is to correct Irregular Data."Mono no aware is a philosophical term that means, generally, an awareness of the pathos of the passing of time and imperfection. The Wikipedia article goes over a few more definitions and some examples, but generally, you're looking at concepts like ephemerality, the passage of time and the irreversible changing of things, quiet melancholy, and/or a gentle feeling of loss.
As for antagonists, I don't know. You'd have to provide some examples of who you mean before I can discuss that.
And as for facing reality, do you get the sense that it's different from the standard "escapism bad" message?
Edited by RedSavant on May 11th 2024 at 11:23:14 PM
It's been fun.One example that I can think of off the top of my head is Sephiroth and Yu Yevon from the Final Fantasy games.
Yeah. It isn't so much escapism bad as much as it is facing the truth.
"We are just like Irregular Data. And that applies to you too, Ri CO. And as for you, Player... your job is to correct Irregular Data."Sorry, I don't know much about either of those characters, so I can't say anything about how they link to the idea. What I do know about Sephiroth doesn't feel like it matches at all, though.
It's been fun.Are you familiar with Naruto and the characters of Madara and Obito?
"We are just like Irregular Data. And that applies to you too, Ri CO. And as for you, Player... your job is to correct Irregular Data."Not to the point where I recognize much relevance to mono no aware from them, sorry. In general I don't think I've encountered many villains who relate to it.
It's been fun.IMO mono no aware strikes me as something close to a "virtue" (I"m not sure how close though) and therefore antagonists that relate to it would likely embody desire for the opposite effect. Permanence and stasis namely.
Though that leans I think the more likely candidates would be people that longed for the past, people that do not want the present to end and Immortality Seekers and people haunted by lost ones. This is just speculation thought.
For more specific examples I think Xenoblade Chronicles 3's antagonists might fit the bill, being the archetechs of an "endless now" where nothing ever changes because everyone there but a select few are stuck in perpetual warfare that ensures they die young and a redundant ceremony for survivors that destroyed their bodies to ensure that.
Which bring us to a related topic. A lot of media tend to focus on young people a lot. While beauty standards and cuteness play a role, I suspect that mono no aware is also relevant for Japanese media. After all beauty and youth both are not attributes known for their permanence.
Edited by MorningStar1337 on May 12th 2024 at 4:27:24 AM
Why is it a "virtue"?
"We are just like Irregular Data. And that applies to you too, Ri CO. And as for you, Player... your job is to correct Irregular Data."Because it's culturally valued, pretty much (which is a tautology, but hey). It's in the same cultural spot as being skilled at poetry - being sensitive to the ephemeral beauty of transience and the natural world, as well as being perceptive about that particular aesthetic, was very highly valued in the Heian period, not to mention later time periods.
Basically, being sensitive to mono no aware and other related philosophical-aesthetic concepts like wabi-sabi means you're refined, aesthetically knowledgeable, and have good taste.
It's been fun.Seeing the beauty in impermanence is coincidentally or not also prominent in Buddhism. There's a reason FROM Soft games often revolve around this. Especially Sekiro, which outright has a bunch of enemies who are heretic monks who seek immortality.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Fascinating, that's the kind of info I'm looking for, thanks.
For those just looking in.
I've been fascinated by the trope for quite a while, and I wanted to see a good source for that trope in modern Japanese media.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Apr 12th 2024 at 7:18:10 PM
I'll teach you a lesson about just how cruel the world can be. That's my job, as an adult.