Lacayo's Videogames and the End of the World

I tried.

I can honestly say that I tried my best this time to actually pay attention to the movie, get the details, find the facts and even be symbiotic. I was giving Nausicaa my full conscious attention... then things began to slow down.

The movie had such a slow pace to it that it was hard to stay focused, things took forever to happen, unnecessary dialogue and lack of action just made me lag to the point of dozing off..again.

I'm not going to say that its a bad movie because its not. I really enjoyed the plot and the style. The story of a post-apocalyptic world that is run by nature and insects was quite fetching. I thought, how far are we from getting to the point where nature will reject humanity and grow to purge the contaminant? I've seen many movies where the world is destroyed as a retribution to the humans. I've also played video-games that fit this genre too.

There is one video-game that I can clearly connect to Nausicaa, and that is Chrono Trigger.

Note the monster thing that comes out of the ground.

Now Chrono Trigger is an RPG developed by Square Enix, it acclaimed to be one of the best video-games of all time. With its gripping story line, well paced game play and a beautiful soundtrack Chrono Trigger is definitely one of my all time favorite videogames ever! But enough praising, I need to get to the point before I'm late to class.

If you saw the video, at one point you could see a red monster coming out of the ground. That's Lavos the antagonist of the game, its a virus/alien/insect hybrid that was laying dormant in the earths core until it matured and then pretty much screwed earth over. 

The remaining humans are left in a pretty bad state. Not only are plants dead, there is no food, no water, no nature...Outside their safe-houses there are mutants, beings that evolved from the wastes of humans and the a decaying ecosystem. The main characters [who travel through time and find themselves in this wasteland of a future ] make their way through the destroyed earth in order to find a way back home. After seeing the state of the world, however, they decide to do something about it and thus the game plot is revealed.

Now, its not that nature rebelled against humans, the case here is that nature is dead and so the humans are slowly dying too. Nature is an important factor in both the film and the game. In Nausicaa you have nature rebelling against humanity for its insolence. Nature is purging the humans because the just didn't care about flora and fauna. In Chrono Trigger you have a society where plants have not been seen in years, and people are pretty much dying every day. Humans depend on nature, if its eradicated or somehow it decides to kill us, were screwed. 

So what can we do? We need to take care of our ecosystem [tree hugger moment]. Little things like not littering and recycling are small steps we can take so that nature grows. We're not really aware of the importance of plants and we wont be aware of it until they're either gone or they decide to just kill us. 

On another note, in Chrono Trigger, if you help the people of who are in the future, you find a tiny shrub growing in the depths of a laboratory. The main cast takes the shrub to the people and a glimmer of hope is seen, they take action and decide to help the plant grow so that they survive. 

Also, one thing that I found interesting is that the Ohms look kind of similar to Lavos. Maybe there was some inspiration from Nausicaa there. Considering that the movie came first.

"Please lead the mistakes of this rotten world to an end

Now, before this world is gone...

What's left in my hand are the ashes of a flower..." Megurine Luka: Corruption Garden

-Xavi

Lacayo's Goddess and the Flashbacks.

Its the first week of school. I'm sitting in my room wondering what the heck my mailing address is. Wanting to buy the Samurai from Outer Space, I fumble across the boatloads of paper i have in several different bags and finally decide to ask if anyone has the book in the infamous class of 2012 facebook group. Luckily, Nia here was nice enough to lend it to me, after thinking I may have been a creepy psycho....but I digress as i always do.

As I read SOS I kept running across Ah! My Goddess, it kept being mentioned and there were even pictures in the books! I had to figure out what in the world this anime was. Since at the beginning of the  year we didn't have as much homework and I was fairly more responsible...and I didn't have as many friends...I ended up in my room at 9pm every night watching Ah! My Goddess. I was hooked!! The characters are hilarious and well drawn, the dub was actually pretty good and the soundtrack.....I loved it.

I love the opening song. Its very relaxing.

Sadly, I was only able to watch about 10 episodes before the beauty of college stress and procrastination kicked in....

A whole semester later I'm watching the movie and, for someone who saw 40% of the series I was initially confused. I guess that's because the movie is the ENDING of the entire series. So thanks for the spoiler Professor :) 

This was my wallpaper for
the longest time

Now, forgetting the fact that a great anime was spoiled for me. I must say the movie was really nice, I liked the way it played out but i wish they could have explained some things a little bit more, especially for those who have not even heard of Ah! My Goddess and needed some sort of intro. Oh well..

Something I kept thinking about while watching the movie was the idea of the end justifying the means. is it right? Does the end really justify the means to doing something. Are you willing to kill if its going to make things better? are you willing to destroy an entire planet full of people for the happiness of one goddess?

What drives us to do the things that we do? And could we find ways that avoid conflict?
I just kept thinking, Celestine wanted Belldandy to be happy, he wanted her to not suffer when she passed the gate, just like Morgan did.

Which reminds me....Keiichi! That guy is an intergalactic whore!! I could not believe that he did that to Morgan! or wait...was it really Morgan? Plothole?

I'm tired and i need my sleep anyhow. but yea something to think about!

"I have invisible wings
Look you have them too!
you can go anywhere because you're free." -Open Your Mind Ah! My Goddess Opening Song.

-Xavi

Lacayo's accident and the two sides of the coin.

The day has been dragging on; I feel my body protest for the lack of sleep and nutrition. Work was awful, having me run around all over campus multiple times. I’m looking forward to watch a film that has been recommended and praised multiple times. I buy my snacks; get comfortable…and then the people watching the film get to hear my repertoire of snores.

Watching this at 2am was pretty epic.

That’s just outright embarrassing…

My body is pretty much energized for the rest of the night so I reluctantly set up my computer on my bed, grab a bottle of water, a pack of double-stuffed Oreos and my headphones and begin to stream Princess Mononoke at 1am.

130 minutes later I have a smile on my face and my eyes are heavy with sleep. I fall asleep thinking of Mononoke, the Nature God with its crazy head hybrid and Lady Eboshi.

While watching the movie…the second…conscious time, I couldn’t help but thinking…who is the antagonist in the movie? Is it Lady Eboshi? With her Iron Town elimination the natural and replacing it with technology? Is it the beheaded spirit of nature? Destroying everything around it and withering all life? All the characters seemed to have their own reasoning, their own thoughts behind everything they did.  There are two sides to each character.

The one character I want to focus on the most is lady Eboshi. She seems to be an antagonist in the film, nevertheless you see her town and the way she treats her people and she doesn’t seem like an antagonist, but a main character. She’s destroying nature, killing animals and ultimately hoping to kill the spirit of the forest. But then you see her treating the lepers, taking care of them and showing them compassion when everyone else would reject them. She also gives women their place in society, allowing them to work and be valuable members of the community. She wants to murder Sai and then kill the spirit of the forest. But she also wants her people to prosper.

If Eboshi isn’t the antagonist…then who is? If it’s Eboshi then she definitely doesn’t fit the normal paradigms of an enemy.

One thing I know is that this movie raises awareness to nature, to our motives and the curses we all have inside of us.

But that’s enough rambling for today, I’m hungry.

Great plot...memorable characters and an AMAZING soundtrack. 

“What have I become, my sweetest friend?” –Hurt,  Johnny Cash

-Xavi

Lacayo's Melancholy and Little Sisters

*wipes his eyes*

So beautifully sad.

I walk out of the cold room, people are getting up at a slow pace. I make my way out of the building, avoiding further contact with people i lethargically walk to my room. I turn on my computer, go on facebook and post a video on my sister's wall. Boy do I miss that crazy and obnoxious being i love to death.

But i digress, as i always do.

Grave of the Fireflies brought up a lot of different points and themes to the table. Ranging from WWII to sibling love and the brevity of life, the film truly has a lot to be discussed and analyzed. As i watched the movie i kept jotting down notes of things i saw on my phone, here's kind of what it looks like:

I'd feel too sad to eat these.

Color Orange

Fireflies

Candybox

Treasures

Moments of relief: Candy, water leaking, fireflies, beach, piano...

Kids being cheated on...

Sibling Love. Ignorance is bliss??

Sacrifice

Looking back and imagination

Bullfrogs

Rain

Some of the things i want to briefly touch today: Rain, Fireflies and Siblings.

First we have le rain, rain can be seen as both a good or a bad omen. In this particular film I believe it symbolizes change. Not only a change in the weather...duh...but also a change in the siblings circumstances. Every time the siblings circumstances were going to change, there was rain. For example,     Seita and Setzuko are running around and it rains, they find shelter in the abandoned...shelter. They discovered what would become their final home under the rain.

If you hold it too hard you kill it.
Hold it too soft and it flies away.

Then we have the fireflies. These guys are iconic for the film. Not only do they represent the beauty of life, the light of the moment and the magical connection of the siblings, the fireflies represent the brevity of life. Seita and Setzuko have the fireflies in their little shelter. The small insects bring light and life to the small cave. The children have a moment of bliss, the fireflies literally light up their life at that moment. Its beautiful but its also short lived. The fireflies die the next day, not only foreshadowing the children's death, but also just expressing the point of the brevity of life a little more.

What a cute scene....

The last part i want to talk about are siblings. In the film you really see how the siblings love each other, care for each other and mature despite all the hardships. Seita takes his sister under his care, acting not only like a brother, but like a father and even a mother for Setzuko. The latter, despite being a 4 year old, has to quickly mature in order to help her brother; as seen in the scene where she learns how to sew the sheets. The love they have for each other is incredible, a couple of memorable moments that really touched my heart were: the beach scene, the fireflies, the scene after Seita is sent to the police and (after watching the movie and then streaming certain parts) the beginning of the movie when the souls reunite.

This film is probably one of the most depressing and powerful films we have seen, that makes it memorable and that makes it worth it.  

Now... this one is for my sister.

Dave Matthews always has the better word for me.

 “To ten million fireflies,
I’m weird cause I hate goodbyes

I got misty eyes as they said farewell

But I know where several are
when my dreams get real bizzare

Cause I take a few and I keep them in a jar”- Fireflies Owl City 

Lacayo's loyalties and the Harp of Burma

Simple has never been so nice.

Pretty much the ONLY picture of the anime.

In contrast to the Botchan fiasco (yes i dare bring it up *cringe*), The Harp of Burma was a very well executed and short film that made me think a lot about loyaly.

You see, there are plenty of examples of loyalty in this short film. And they all just made me think more and more about home, my friends, my family and my loyalty to them. Oh, theres also the whole thing about music making things much better...music has power.




Now when it comes to loyalty, we have different examples of that throughout The Harp of Burma.

*now lets imagine its anime*
Pretty powerful scene

First of all we have the whole team and their loyalty to each other. They all care for each other and cheer one another through their music. They make sure to leave no one behind and one can see throughout the film how the entire brigade is united and loyal to each other. Then you have the crew's loyalty to...err...whats his name? Mizushima? Ill call him Mizu because well its easy that way. Anyhow, Mizu is a central character to the plot, although he is lost for 75% of the film, you can see how the team is worried for him and refuse to go home without him. Nevertheless, they are not able to return with Mizu because of his own loyalty to his fellow countrymen.


Thats the next part of the loyalty issue. The team is loyal to Japan, but not in the same extent. The crew that goes back home is loyal to Japan the country. They are fighting for Japan and one can see how they even cry when they find out that the war is over and that Japan lost.

Then there's Mizu, in contrast to being loyal to Japan the country, hes loyal to Japan the people.
He sees his Japanese comrades decaying and wants to give them proper burial. As a fellow Japanese he fells compelled to give them an honorable passing, considering that the afterlife is not a pretty sight anyways.

Loyalty....who are we loyal to?

Me. I know for sure.

"I finally found what I could never see before.
You've always been the one that I was looking for"- All Along Remedy Drive

-Xavi

Lacayo's half-mark and Identity Crisis

Well, we haVe reached the half point of our clAss. In celebration to fall break, the fact that I didn’t have to take a Midterm and the fact that were a quarter of the way done with our first college year…I’m going to ramble today about the three FILMS we have watched in anime class and how these FILMS, unlike movies, have a much deePer meaning than what we origInally think.

Now the FILMS we watched in class…AkiRa, Perfect BluE and Ghost in the Shell are all excellent FILMS. They all Have an intricate storyline; amazing character development and an overall feel that makes yoU feel completely immersed in the movie if Not mind-cluster-screwed.  I love Tthese films  to the extent that I want to go to amazon and order all three of them and watch thEm back at home with my family and take pictures of theiR baffled expressions as Tetsuo turns into a giant unborn baby, Rumi stabs a photographer with an ice pick and Kusanagi rambling on about her iDentity.

Ahh yes, identity was a common theme in all three FILMS. 

 We have Tetsuo, Wanting to find his identity as a biker. He wAnts to be like his friends, Strong and agile and even mature. He wAnts the power that they have and wheN he gets power his identity goes from being the kid of the group to a demi-god. However, even with his powers, he suffers and At one point in the film We see Tetsuo sitting in a throne, unhappy. Then he turns into a giant baby, is absorbed by the entity of Akira and then says “I am…Tetsuo”.

Then we have Mima, trying to re-discover her identity as a star. Her identity is being stolen by a psychopath; she Falls into dementia and has to find herself once more. She loses herself to the point of believing that she was a mUrderer and she loses grasp of reality. It is until she regains her identity (by taking care of Rumi) that she is abLe to mature and be “the real thing”.

Finally, there is Kusanagi, struggling with her identity as a cyborg or a person. Kasanagi breaks off to philosophical talks at randoM occasions of the movie; wondering abOut her life, her past self and her soul. Is she a complete cyborg? Who was she before haVing 98% of her body transferred to a robot? But then she merges with the puppet master, losIng herself and becoming a different persona…with thE body of a child… she then looks out and thinks: “and where does the newborn go from here? The net is vast and infinite”.

Fantastic characters, great storylines and plots that your mind is going to jump out of your head, slap you hard in the face and say: “WHY THE HECK ARE YOU MAKING ME THINK THIS HARD?!” are what sums up the first three FILMS we watched in class.

I have very much enjoyed this ;)

What I was listening to while writing ze blog.
Thank you K.Tong

“You wanna feel how it feels, you wanna know, know that it doesn’t hurt me, you want to hear about the deal I’m making.”- Placebo: Running Up That Hill

-Xavi

Lacayo's complaints and the Chibi Vampires.

What was that? Why are the credits rolling? Is this supposed to be the halftime show or something because if not ….I must have missed something…? I can now see why this is considered a movie and not a film. I can also see how a film differs to a movie.

It HAD potential.

Just like Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D is a movie made solely for entertainment, there is no agenda to it…no postmodernist commentary or psychoanalytical concept. It’s just a movie, and a crappy movie if I may say so myself. There are so many things that are either not explained, not even mention or regarded as something absolutely normal that really just had my eye twitching in protest by the half way mark.

For example, when the girl (I can’t even remember her name because her lack of personality left no impression in my mind…therefore I will call her Pants due to her obvious lack of them) is bitten by the vampire… nothing happens, apparently she’s a threat to the village. Later on, however, everyone is okay with it and she’s just in her home as if nothing happened. I wish there would have been a gradual transformation in Pants’ physique and psychology, something like: she’s slowly turning into a vampire and D has to do something to revert it before it’s too late. But no, she’s bitten and the issue is not really mentioned again.  We then have that haunted place that is only mentioned once in the whole movie, there was so much hidden potential with that aspect of the movie but it was just explained as a myth. Also, the fact that the movie was set in a post apocalyptic earth was something that could have had a little more backstory. Why is it post-apocalyptic? Where did the monsters come from? If its the future, then why is it like the wild west?

These two shared the most
AWKWARD HUG
I've seen on screen.

What the heck? As Pants' future is being discussed we have this doctor dude who shows out of nowhere and is apparently great family friend of some sort. He pops out from the side and tells a creepy story and apparently we're all supposed to know who the heck he is. The doctor was pretty much the equivalent of a wooden plank with a face on it. Stale and completely two dimensional. And then he turns into a vampire!? There is no character development with this guy and all of the sudden he’s evil and crap. But apparently this wooden plank was pretty loved because Pants mourns him after he pretty much handed her over. Then we have the little brother….who not only has the voice of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin but also came out as quite annoying. I’m not even going to continue with them. All i can say is that the characters, the setting, the story HAD potential. However, it seems as if the producers wanted to be over with this nightmare as soon as possible so they just had D slash and burn through all the goons and stab the old vampire in the eye. Nevertheless, I DO want to stress on the next...

What...the....heck?

 Now the one thing that REALLY bothered me was the hand….D has a face on his hand. Where in the crap did it come from? Did he like eat a person’s soul and in retaliation received the failed sarcasm growing out of his hand like a leech? Was he cursed? Born with it, man do I pity his mother…Does that thing even have a name? WHAT? The thing had potential to be a good backstory, a decent comic relief or even an element that could have added some mystery. Instead we get a random parasite.

You want to read a funny manga/ watch a good anime about vampires, romance and ridiculous nosebleeds? This anime/manga may not have action elements or the really dark mood of other vamp anime but its hilarious. Go look for Chibi Vampire and stash away Vampire Hunter D in the deepest corner of your memory, never to be discussed again. Those who refuse to not talk about it will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.

Fully ramble-o-matic.
“WTF happens when the STUPID arbitrary time limit runs out? Do their battle royal collars explode? They lose honor and disembowel themselves? WHAT?”-Zero Punctuation

"Come here! 
There's something awful 
deep in my chest 
I know I shouldn't tell you 
but it's making a mess 
And it's starting to hurt 
come and ease the pain 
Just be here for a second 
I'm sure you can keep me sane

Something awful is now 
taking over my life 
I would cut it out if I could 
maybe you should give me a knife 
Please come and tell me 
what you think is wrong 
Maybe you can fix it 
the pain's been here for so long

Open my chest and you'll see 
something really awful 
I already know what it is 
and I'm sure you do too 
Within my chest lies 
a totally broken heart 
And you're the one who 
slowly broke it apart

In my chest is 
something awful 
A broken heart is 
something awful

Something awful 
Pretty awful 
This is something awful"

- Thank you Lucy Dieckheus for helping me choose a song that reflects my thoughts as i watched 1.20hours of pain.
-Xavi

Lacayo's dress analysis and the virtual diva. Part 1.

I’m sitting in my room, JPop music is blasting from my earphones as I continue to think on the bizarre movie I watched.  Filled with a sense of suspense that makes you unconsciously shuffle to the edge of your seat, Perfect Blue is a psychological thriller that immerses into the mind of the character to the point of schizophrenia.  In this movie you see elements like the loss of innocence, the influence of media and the not-so-perfect life that is constantly overlooked for celebrities, throw in a pinch of psychosis and an identity crisis and you’ve got yourself a hit.

One of the points that I want to focus on this time is the whole idea of the media and how that shapes the lives of celebrities. That also runs parallel to the loss of innocence, with the media being the channel to do so. Ill also throw in a surprise in the end that may have me rambling for quite a bit.

Innocent little girl.

At first you have Mima, the child-like main singer for the pop band CHAM! Mima is innocent in every aspect; her look portrays someone who is pure. This is proved by her outfit. Mima wears a white, ballet-like dress with pink ribbons. The color white is commonly associated with innocence and purity, it’s clean and radiant. Just like Mima. Now, Mima is singing her last concert, when she announces that she is no longer going to sing, people begin to protest. The media and the people don’t want her to leave her image of the cute pop star. Things begin to get a little weird for Mima. Not only does she receive a fax that spells out traitor, he is also almost a victim to a letter bomb and she then finds out of the creepy website known as “Mima’s Room” The people begin to go against her, the media begins to tarnish her and that only becomes worse for her.

The transition from Pop-idol to actress is a great change in Mima’s life. Not only is she going from singing in flowery costumes to pretending to be a split-personality murderer, she’s transitioning from being a girl to becoming a woman. This transition bluntly begins when Mima has to take part in a rape scene. Despite the fact that the rape was unreal, the trauma that comes with it is not. Because of the rape, Mima becomes psychologically unstable.  After that you begin to see a change in her attitude, and even a change in her clothing.

Anyone else notice how her stripper costume is very much alike to her pop-idol attire?

Things are starting to change.

 Its white, it’s flowery and it has ribbons, but it has a more sexual tone to it. The lingerie she wears and well, the fact that she’s stripping just tells you that things are about to change, she’s turning her little girl looks into a more woman-like attire; she’s growing, especially sexually.  The catch is it’s all on TV. The media is changing her to become that woman, its moving her in that direction and everyone gets to see it.

As the murders begin, Mima also begins to lose her sense of reality. Things don’t seem to go together for her, she doesn’t know if she’s killing people or dreaming anymore. She then proceeds to a photo-shoot, which ends up with her naked. This is part 2 of her maturing process, the flower costume is removed and she exposes herself as a woman. Her white attire is no more. This, again, is run by the media; everyone is able to see the new Mima and her new sensual personality.  

On the final scene Mima has killed Me-Mima and is with Rumi in her room.  Rumi comes into the room wearing a red dress reminiscent to Mima’s old white dress. Rumi then tries to kill Mima and ends up through glass in her stomach. The fact that Rumi is now wearing the dress symbolizes that Mima’s old self is no more, the one who was a singer and an almost porn star. Why do I say this? Well, first of all Mima sees Rumi as herself; she’s wearing a flowery dress and its red. The whole aspect of the dress, the ruffles and stuff, represents her innocence. However, the fact that the dress is red is a symbol of her new sexual side. The catch is that Rumi is wearing it, therefore the innocence and the sexuality is something that is leaving Mima. When Rumi is stabbed, the innocent and sexual part of Mima is taken away with her. Nevertheless, the fact that Mima saves Rumi from being hit by a car means that Mima is not getting rid of those two things, instead she is coping with it and maturing.

So, we can see how Mima changes, her personality changes and her attire changes in the movie. It’s pretty good and I found myself noticing her changes while watching the movie….even if I was freaking out about my lost sweater that night.

Now…talking of the media and divas…. 

"You knows inside my soul because of you
All this innocence that you inspire
You know you are just as heaven intended youCome on open up your flower, flower" Cornbread, Dave Matthews Band

-Xavi

Lacayo's teachers and a little nostalgia.

I guess I tend to say this a lot now days; however I just can’t seem to find another way of saying what I feel. Now, I don’t want to turn this into some melodrama about high school being completely terrible. Neither do I want to lie and say that high school was amazing and I have an undying wish to become 15 again and take quizzes on the 50 states and their capitals. I’m going to talk about teachers, the ones in the movie and how they relate to an extent to the ones in Nicaragua Christian Academy.

The man in the middle....thats my school director,.

In Botchan we see how high school students treat their professors, whether with respect or complete impertinence. You have porcupine, with his unchanging expression and his uncanny ability to have is arms crossed for days. Students love the guy; they respect him and treat him fairly. The students go so far as to applauding him when he walks into the classroom all beaten up. Botchan, on the other hand, gets mocked for eating tempura and swimming while in the public baths (who does that?). The main difference between the two is the level of respect they receive and give off. You can only be respected if you respect people.

How many times have I said respect in the last paragraph? 

Anyway, in Nicaragua Christian Academy we had pretty much the same thing. We had our porcupines and we had out Botchans, and I’m guessing that many of you guys did too. For example, there was Mr. Jason Liechty, our Botchan. We didn’t stalk him though. Now that I think about it, I feel bad for him; we were immaturely rude and cruel to him. But I respect the guy now; he dealt with us and gave us a reality check close to the end of 8^th grade. You see, after the whole episode where we made him cry and storm off the class, he apologized. He actually apologized to us for calling us shoveling crap and yelling, we just sat there, awestruck by the attitude he took. Nevertheless, we still teased him but it was more of a nice and easy and respectful kind of tease.

David Russell: Social Science

Then we had our porcupines…we had 2: Joel Kleinsasser and David Russell. Back at NCA the simple mention of their names calls for respect and admiration. The same way that thinking of puppies make you naturally go aww, or how when you see a tall man in a suit you’re intimidated if not outright embarrassed by the fact that your shirt has a stain. But I digress…..

Joel Kleinsasser: Science

 Those two teachers were passion, charisma and humor…if they could somehow merge into one entity they would probably de-throne the Pope. They treated us with the professionalism that an educator naturally does but they also had a sense of friendliness that engaged you, whether inside or outside the classroom. They were both interested in getting to know us and becoming our friends. Also, you have to give merit to anyone who can make chemistry and U.S history something to look forward to every day.

 Botchan was an interesting movie, it wasn’t fantastic but neither was it terrible. It made me thing of high school and the many experiences I shared with my friends back at home.  I guess this is what they call being homesick…

A little thank you.

"O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won" Oh Captain My Captain- Walt Whitman -Xavi

Lacayo's mind and the Deadly Sins

I walk into the screening room, smoothie in my hand and donettes in my pocket. My mind is tossing different scenarios that could potentially show up in what I’m about to see; Giant red ogres, demon women that seduce men into their deaths, ninjas and some magical scroll that gives power.  Blood, guts and sex were also in there considering the warnings we had received in class. Not that I was hoping for sex, I’m no pervert okay? Anyways, about 2 hours later I’m walking out of the room with a half asleep look, a full stomach and mixed feelings about Ninja Scroll.

            What can I say? The movie has potential, the characters all seem to have interesting backgrounds, the plot could have been better but it wasn’t outright awful and the style is a good kind of old-school anime. The problem is, the characters are somewhat stale and mix that with a mediocre plot and you get a movie that didn’t quite live to the expectations that other people had set in my head. But I’m not here to talk about how I don’t like the movie, which to a certain extent is not true; I’m here to talk about an interesting parallel I found while watching the movie.

            I hope I’m not stretching a theme here that may not be even present in the movie. I’m very much aware that Japanese Shinto and Western Christianity are at two different ends of the spectrum. However, knowing the Japanese’s affinity of the Western world, I think my point can pass.

            While watching the movie I made a mental note as to how many enemies Jubei had to face before finally being able to fight his nemesis, Gemma. “7 demons and one leader…” I though to myself as Utsutsu (the blind samurai) toppled over. “The Seven Deadly sins and the devil! That’s it”

          

  So lets go over the deadly sins:

Which is YOUR deadly sin?

Gluttony: an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Lust: an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.

Greed: the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual

Pride: an excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God.

Sloth: the avoidance of physical or spiritual work

Envy: the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation

Wrath: Inappropriate feelings of hatred and anger. Impatience with the law, or seeking revenge outside of justice, such as with unnecessary vigilantism. Wishing to do evil or harm to others.

Now Lets link the villains with the sins.

The Oni...disturbing 

Gluttony: Tessai: One may at first think that Tessai is the representation of Lust due to his sexual assault on Kagero. However, further thinking made me realize that he’s actually gluttony. Gluttony, I believe, doesn’t only apply to food, it can also be just the overall to indulge excessively in anything, whether killing people, drinking their blood or raping. Also, as Tessai is about to rape Kagero you see how he licks her entire body and even goes as far as pretty much chewing Kagero’s entire breast.

75% of the time naked.

Lust: Benisato: This is kind of a given. In most of her screen time, Benisato is fighting around in her birthday suit. Her first appearance is an attempt to tempt and kill jubei, her tattoos give her that sense of dazzling beauty that both enthralls and scares. She’s also Gemmas love and their sexual relationship is mentioned many times in the movie.

Gross

Greed: Mushizo: A little bit hard on this one but I ended up linking him to greed for one reason: his size. You see, he’s pretty much a dwarf, ridiculously small (not to mention butt-ugly) and relatively weak. I can only deduce by his characteristics that Mushizo had an awful past. Hypothetically, before he obtained his powers probably had a thirst for power that led him to commit some terrible act in order to have wasps living in him. The wasps, the representation of his greed (more and more and more) ultimately end up killing him.

Blind in the eyes and blinded by pride

Pride: Utsutsu: Even if Utsutsu is in the film for only 7 minutes, one is able to see his pride through a couple of things he says and does. First, by saving his Jubei when he is about to fall down the cliff shows that Utsutsu has the confidence to defeat Jubei; an enemy with less poise  would have probably let Jubei fall to his certain death. Also, the fact that Utsutsu points out that Jubei’s eyesight is his greatest weakness proves that Utsutsu is certain of his abilities to the point of arrogance. That self-assurance leads to his demise, he was confident that he knew his surroundings but in the end forgot about the blade that caused him to miss.

Never fights directly

Sloth: Shijima: Puppets, that’s the one thing that connects to sloth. Shijima tends to hide in the darkness, unseen by his enemies and then strikes. However, Shijima doesn’t strike directly; he uses his victims as puppets who do all the work for them. He’s not lazy; he’s avoiding the dirty work while he sits in the shadows, protected.

Yuri in Japanese means Lily

Envy: Yurimaru: This one is rather easy, Yurimaru embodies envy. He is envious that Benisato is in a sexual relationship with Gemma. He desires Gemma to be his own. Yurimaru, because of his envy, rejects any other that desires to be with him. He doesn’t care, all he wants is Gemma and he hates Benisato for having him. That rejection he gives to others causes Zakuro to become enraged at him which well…ends up killing him.

Touchy personality.

Wrath: Zakuro: Okay, so a couple of things as of why. This lady is explosive (pun intended), the violence her explosions create can easily connect to the feeling or wrath, where you just want to crush everything. Also, because Yurimaru rejects her, she becomes infuriated and ends up, out of revenge, blowing up Yurimaru. Another thing that should be noted is that the color red is generally associated with wrath, giving her more reason to represent the sin.

And what is Gemma? Well that’s easy, he’s the devil. The source of the sins and the one who controls all that evil...

These devils, along with their leader, are the source of turmoil to Jubei, who represents justice and the good in everyone. In the same way, the seven deadly sins are struggles that everyone needs to learn to overcome in order to be better people, no matter the religion. Chessyness aside, the movie was good and the parallelism between the deadly sins and the 7 demons is an interesting and hidden topic.






Well that's enough rambling for this week.


"Praise God who has many names, but the devil has many more. With the love that my mom gave to me I'm gonna drop the devil to the floor." Dave Matthews: Eh hee
-Xavi