YMMV / Japanese Mythology

• Complete Monster:
  • Tamamo-no-Mae is a wicked fox spirit reputed as one of the three most fearsome Yōkai of Japan, seducing and poisoning the retired emperor before being exposed and killed, her death cursing Japan to a brutal war. Later versions equated Tamamo with Daji and Bāo Sì of China and the Indian legend of Kalmashapada, seducing and corrupting kings into savage tyrants, torturing and slaughtering countless innocents, and kicking off wars. While some versions of her posthumously repent, others double down on their villainy and don't let even death stop them from bringing chaos to the world.
  • The man who would become the Youkai Wanyūdō was once a tyrannical daimyō known for mistreating his subjects, often having them drawn on the back of an Ox cart. After his assassination, the daimyō was reborn as Wanyūdō, a wrathful spirit in the form of a flaming cart wheel. Usually sighted in urban areas after dark, Wanyūdō ruthlessly runs down and dismembers anyone he comes across, dragging their souls to Hell with him. One legend tells of a mother who glimpsed the creature through her window. Wanyūdō spared her, telling her to tend to her child... only for the woman to discover the infant's limbs scorched off, a sick reminder that Wanyūdō is just as sadistic in death as he was in life.
• Nausea Fuel: Uke-Mochi's food comes from her vomiting and shitting it up. She didn't deserve to get killed by Tsukiyomi for it, but eugh.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic:
  • Izanami is basically seen as the Big Bad. However, she suffered a horrible Death by Childbirth (being burned alive will do that), and her husband, who swore up and down that he was there for her and he would never abandon her no matter what turned tail and fled the instant he saw his wife was no longer beautiful. And it's been speculated that she would have become beautiful again had she successfully left the underworld. While Izanami's Roaring Rampage of Revenge is indeed Disproportionate Retribution, it's hard not to feel bad for her. It's perhaps for all these reasons that many modern works that feature Izanami go out of their way to make her more sympathetic.
  • While harsh, can you really blame Tsukuyomi for getting pissed at finding out how Uke-Mochi makes her food?

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