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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Fantasy funeral of murderous tyrant brings out thousands of real mourners |
| 2007-04-19 |
| A lone temple bell tolled through the Tokyo night. Seven priests chanted the doom-laden lament for the dead. Thousands of black-suited mourners queued solemnly in the rain to offer incense and prayers to their fallen hero, Raoh. As the tears rolled down the cheeks of the bereaved, few seemed bothered that nobody had actually died. For although Raoh exists only in the fantasy world of manga comics and anime cartoons, the grief experienced by ordinary Japanese at his funeral yesterday was real. "He was like a father figure to me," Makoto Sounodai, a 21-year old Tokyo student, said. "I feel about him the way Westerners feel about Elvis." Roland Kelts, of Tokyo University, an expert on anime, described the scene at the Koyasan Tokyo Betsuin temple last night as "perhaps the most extreme blurring of reality and fantasy that Japanese pop culture has produced". The full Buddhist shokonshiki, or spirit-rising ceremony, represented the first time that a Japanese temple had held a funeral for a fictional character. As the arch villain of one of Japan’s best-loved — and most violent — comics, Raoh has as wide a fan base as any music or film star. "Raoh showed us the inner strength of men and showed that power can rule the world as effectively as love," said a sobbing 38-year old fan who called himself Lina, after one of the characters in the story. As the seating inside the temple overflowed, 2,500 mourners watched the hour-long ceremony on giant screens outside. Those with seats at the front, who included the cartoonists and voiceover actors involved in the series, fingered Buddhist juzurosaries as Raoh’s soul was "sent back to his native star". In Fist of the Northstar, a manga series that started in the 1980s, Raoh is a vast, merciless tyrant whose cruelty and thirst for power make him supreme in the futuristic, postapocalyptic wastelands. Raoh’s brother and hero of the series, Kenshiro, has struggled to defeat this despot for nearly three decades and, in the latest movie, succeeds. Although the action in Fist of the Northstar involves severed limbs and blood-soaked executions, many admire the series for its complex plots and moral dilemmas. Keiko Tsurugai, 35, a mother of three, said that her love for the comics arose from the way they tackled the dichotomy of love and hatred between brothers. The funeral highlights the central role that comics and animation play in the lives of ordinary Japanese. Despite the distractions of text messages and handheld videogames, manga remains the favourite reading material for the very long journeys endured by many commuters. For many, manga comics perform the entertainment functions of comedians, soap stars and film actors. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #4 idiots |
| Posted by: sinse 2007-04-19 21:12 |
| #3 "Fist of the north star" aka "Ken le survivant" in France; it was one of the first anime serie aired regularly by the private channel tf1, a real breakthrough many judged bad for morality and all (not so untrue, hé hé hé), along with "Saint Seyya" and the original "Dragonball" (my favorite, even now I really can identify myself with the characters, the lil' pig who collects panties mostly), complete with italian-made credits with crappy, stooppid songs sung by the kiddies show's local band and hosts; very first one had been "Goldorak", original names escapes me at the moment a few years ago, to be precise, but this was the beginning of the whole anime thing in France. Talk about a culture shock! They soon realized their bad, bad judgement call and started heavily editing "Fist..." and "Saint Seyya", purging violence (exploding heads and all) and sex (the very ambiguous "masculinity" of SS, or the bare breasts and rape scenes here and then in "Fist..."). At the end, about 30% of SS and a whopping 70% of FOTNS were edited on average. Add the infantilizing translation of the dialogs, the very bad dubbing, the cheesy opening credits, and you can imagine the effects on a traumatized generation of young kids. Much worse than Global warming if you ask me, scarred for life. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-04-19 15:19 |
| #2 And they call Trekkers "obsessed!" |
| Posted by: Mike 2007-04-19 15:00 |
| #1 YJCMTSU |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2007-04-19 14:37 |