Anime Subliminal Anime : Behind the Scenes

[Darktigerpack17]

Alot of people just watch anime and completely miss much of the underlying artwork that is put into anime. I have often found hidden meanings behind alot of anime scenes, characters, and storylines that nobody picks up on.

For instance, everyone takes Jiraya in Naruto for a perverted hermit who rides a giant frog. What they don't know is that Jiraya is an actual legend in Japan as a traveling hermit ninja that rode a giant frog. He was said to have robbed the rich and gave to the poor. ( kinda like robin hood, but for different reasons. ) Anyone who has seen Mai-HiME, the ninja girl with the Frog Child is also a reference to this.

Mai-HiME is full of this type things, from the legend of Kiyohime, to the fact that Katgutski is the Japanese God of Fire.

There is so much more, but I do not have the time to tell everything, so if anyone knows anything else, please share it. I feel that the incorporation of such things is a talent, after all, the creators took to time and ingunuity to put these things in there, I do not want to see it wasted.

[eleanor]

[font="trebuchet ms"] Naruto is rife with Japanese mythology. I don't know any off the top of my head, but most everything in it has loosely connected to some sort of legend/icon, which isn't surprising since it deals with that genre.

I guess I'll add the Jungian themes that are in Utena and Ouran Host Club, since I'm fan of Carl Jung. It's not incredibly subtle or anything; the roses and the characters represent certain egos or archetypes. At one point in Host Club, the twins are seen reading a Jung book. Thought it was a fun tidibt. P:[/font]

[Darktigerpack17]

I also forgot to add that Evangelion is rife with Sigmund Froy, the phycologist. For instance, each of the three children represent the three egos of people that every falls into. We each either fall into a Rei, Shinji, or Asuka catagory. Also, the AT Field means Absolute Terror Field, and Froy discovered that this is also present in the human mind, and it is what protects us. It creates doubt, as well as most negitive emotions that keep us away from certain people or things, and draw us closer to others.

[eleanor]

[font="trebuchet ms"] Lol. Oh, Freud. Sometimes I love him, sometimes... well. Yeah, Anno did really seem to like him, I guess. You can probably also add the Oedipus Complex to Eva, since it can be applied to about any show with father/son problems, ha. And the episode titles are sometimes phrased from Freud.

I heard that RahXephon uses literary works as inspiration, but I have no idea which.

I've also listened to a lot of comparison between RahXephon and Eva, but the only RahXephon I've seen was a special program that summarized the series. If anyone out there is a RX fan, are there similar psychological themes?[/font]

[Dagger]

Mm... well, to paint it broadly, Rah is more of a love story than a daddy issues story. I would say that the shows are similar in terms of psychological depth, not psychological themes. Also, Rah doesn't refer to theories like Eva (oral stage, anyone?).

ETA: The English-language short story that influenced Rah is "The Dandelion Girl" by Robert F. Young, an obscure sci-fi writer. The full text is available online in multiple places, but don't read it unless you want to be semi-spoiled.

~Dagger~

[r2vq]

[quote name='Darktigerpack17']Alot of people just watch anime and completely miss much of the underlying artwork that is put into anime. I have often found hidden meanings behind alot of anime scenes, characters, and storylines that nobody picks up on.[/QUOTE][color=#007520]I would say that rather than subliminal messages are themes and deliberate characterizations. These hidden origins aren't even hidden at all. I wouldn't call it hidden, subliminal, or behind the scenes if the character takes the name of the character they're honouring.
The connections are out there for those that know the original story, but they're written in a way that can be enjoyed for those who don't know the original story.

I think a good example of this is [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Things_I_Hate_About_You#Shakespearean_references]10 Things I Hate About You[/url].

-r2[/color]

[The Spectacular Professor]

The Philosopher's Stone of Fullmetal Alchemist is based off of a legendary substance of the same name said to possess the ability to transmute lead into gold and grant eternal life. Kind of makes me wonder what those poor boys would do if they encountered Voldemort on their journeys...

One Piece is rife with these things, as well. "God" Eneru's appearance resembles a combination of Buddha and a Japanese god (of lightning, I believe.) Water 7 looks a lot like Venice. Sir Crocodile seems Quite Mafia-esque. Chopper is such a blatant illigitimate cousin of Rudolph it's not even funny. And, of course, Oda's intense Fanhood of [U]The Nightmare Before Christmas[/U] comes out very strongly in the latest chapters.

[Darktigerpack17]

[quote name='r2vq'][color=#007520]I would say that rather than subliminal messages are themes and deliberate characterizations. These hidden origins aren't even hidden at all. I wouldn't call it hidden, subliminal, or behind the scenes if the character takes the name of the character they're honouring.
The connections are out there for those that know the original story, but they're written in a way that can be enjoyed for those who don't know the original story.

I think a good example of this is [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Things_I_Hate_About_You#Shakespearean_references]10 Things I Hate About You[/url].

-r2[/color][/QUOTE]

My apologies. I just couldn't think any specific way to approach it.

[Soren]

[QUOTE]Originally by Dagger: Mm... well, to paint it broadly, Rah is more of a love story than a daddy issues story. I would say that the shows are similar in terms of psychological depth, not psychological themes. Also, Rah doesn't refer to theories like Eva (oral stage, anyone?).[/QUOTE]

[SIZE="3"][FONT="Garamond"]I've watched only up to episode 13 of RahXephon, but what I've seen so far, that looks about right. It's just started getting [I]really[/I] interesting.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[QUOTE]I also forgot to add that Evangelion is rife with Sigmund Froy, the phycologist. For instance, each of the three children represent the three egos of people that every falls into. We each either fall into a Rei, Shinji, or Asuka catagory. Also, the AT Field means Absolute Terror Field, and Froy discovered that this is also present in the human mind, and it is what protects us. It creates doubt, as well as most negitive emotions that keep us away from certain people or things, and draw us closer to others.[/QUOTE]

[FONT="Garamond"][SIZE="3"]That's not the only personalities that those three represent, either. It has been speculated that they also represent the three kinds of despair humans face, as illustrared in Kierkegaard's "The Sickness Unto Death" (the title of which, by the way, is the source of the name of one of the episodes, "The Sickness, Unto Death, And..."). They are as follows: Rei represents the despair of being unaware of possesing an eternal self (soul or real self awareness), Shinji represents the the despair of, once realizing one has a 'self', not wanting to be one's self. (Shinji suffers the most severe of this kind of despair, which is more properly worded in his case as wanting to be not oneself, or wishing not to exist.) Asuka represents the despair of wishing to be oneself (thus her pushiness and assertivness).

It is interesting to note that, while Kierkegaard described "not wanting to be oneself" as a more feminine kind of despair and "wanting to be oneself" a more masculine kind of despair, Anno reversed the roles. (I would like to add that Kierkegaard was in no way sexist, but simply illustrating his points with the common convention of thought of the time, saying what was thought of as feminine was really this kind of despair, and what was thought of as masculine was that kind of despair.)

(One could spend their life discussing the mysteries of Eva)

Also, I don't know if this is true, but I heard from a friend that Kuze from Ghost in the Shell: 2nd Gig, was supposed to parrallel Christ's story in some way (dying to save the refugees, revolutionary ideas, etc) I haven't given this much consideration as of yet, but if anyone else knows anything about it, I'd like to hear more.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[Sloth Girl]

[SIZE="1"]I don't believe that most animes put these sort of things in, just to have a different message or special meaning. Some creators have the need to want to share something they've known, seen, or heard before but rephrase it into their own words and characters. It's not strange to see Japanese gods or legends added into a storyline or used to base a character on. You don't even have to know much about anything to even realize it.

I don't know nearly anything outside of Roman history or my town's history but I could tell when the names of cities, characters, machines, etc. were all connected in some way. Even when it was as simple as seeing DBZ for the first time and then years later reading a Saiyuki manga and immediately knowing that Goku, big monkey, and long pole hooked up in some way.[/SIZE]

[Venge]

[quote name='Sloth Girl'][SIZE=1]Even when it was as simple as seeing DBZ for the first time and then years later reading a Saiyuki manga and immediately knowing that Goku, big monkey, and long pole hooked up in some way.[/SIZE][/quote]

Thats because both Saiyuki and Dragonball [NOTE: Not Z or GT] was both based off of a story titled 'Journey To The West'. It was alternately titled 'Legend of The Monkey King' according to Beckett 'The Best of Dragonball Z' volume 7.

Quote from TokyoPops Saiyuki Vol. 1:

"Kazuya Minekura's [I]Saiyuki [/I]is a rather unconventional adaptation of the Chinese "Xi-You-Ji" legend. Appropriately, the title of her modern update of the legend is a play on words, sounding like the classic title 'Journey to the West", but being written with Kanji which say "Journey to the Extreme". The four heroes -Sanzo, Goku, Gojyo, and Hakkai- are "extreme" upgrades to their traditional counterparts, both with their bad boy personalities and their [I]bishonen[/I] good looks. This isn't the first time the legend was adapted for manga (Toriyama's [I]Dragonball [/I]is another; Tezuya did it too), but Sanzo and Co. have never been so sexy."

End quote.


As well, I can't remember who I heard this from, but if you carefully analyze Sailor Moon, you can learn a good bit of Japanese history and lore. Not sure if this is true, but just thought I'd toss that in.

[r2vq]

[quote name='Darktigerpack17']My apologies. I just couldn't think any specific way to approach it.[/QUOTE][color=#007520]There's no need for apologies... I was just being anal. 8)[/offtopic]

-r2[/color]