Symbolism in manga and anime

hueyfreeman · Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 12:15 pm Post subject: Symbolism in manga and anime

Like any form of literature, manga sometimes is prone to symbolism. problem is I can't really figure out any, Japanese culture is hard to discern for this stupid American, so are there any schools of thought on some found in Full-metal alchemist? a lot of it is straight forward like the homunculi being named after sins, (I.E. humans creating these "false humans" was a sin in and of itself, therefore they are named as such). but why are they given the names they have? most are very straight forward like envy and gluttony, but what about sloth or lust, I never got that.

any other ideas about what particular characters represent?
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cstdenis · Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 2:20 pm Post subject:

The homunculi named after sins doesn't have anything to do with Japanese culture. The whole 7 sins thing is from the Christian (and probably other Abrahamic) religions.

Infact the whole homunculi stuff in general seems to be based off of Islamic alchemy.

Anime that are not in a Japanese setting usually aren't particularly heavy in Japanese culture.
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SweetxinsanityxSarah · Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 9:43 pm Post subject:

Here are a few of my theories as to the names of the Sins and how they got their positions.

Lust is an easy one, do you remember that episode where she ran into that guy looking for a cure for this disease that would slowly petrify the human body? Well as we all should know, he fell in love with her and tried to talk her into being with him, on his wedding day. So yeah she pretty much invokes feelings in others. Plus Scar was secretly in love with her too, and didnt the Ishbalin race nearly vanish because of Scar's brother's attempt at bringing her back to life?

Also Greed pretty much came out and said he was greedy all his life and he wanted everything.

Wrath was a tough one along with Sloth (Still didnt figure out her position).
But Wrath is pretty much a child and usually a child throws a tantrum when they want something etc. I think that's his position not sure though.

Pride as we all should know pretty much is the pride of the military and how arrogant they are to uphold their image no matter what. Though in my opinion; they should have made a sexy pride (Cause Vanity is another word for pride) but, since they already had lust I guess they went for a different angle with him. nn

Also I liked how they named the ring leader "Dante" as in Dante's Inferno and the seven deadly sins. That was clever right there.

And lastly Denis proves a rather good point there. nn
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hueyfreeman · Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 6:51 am Post subject:

I suppose your right, the symbolism was not affected by Japanese themes, which lent itself more to the humor of the show.

I'm not quite sure I agree with lust, In a sense I do and what you suggested (her causing the feelings in others) is obviously an aspect of her persona, but I think it is also that she lusts after the idea of being human. That is her desire, or perhaps to be capable of love? this is where I trip up because it has to do with her motives for wanting to be human so...

Wrath"s angry at his mom, tantrums. but he also wanted to be human so...

Sloth doesn't want to be a mother who is not a mother, she's lazy in the sense that she would rather kill ed and al, instead of love them. Maybe?
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Stratadrake · Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 7:56 am Post subject:

Remember that FMA's cast of characters differs between the anime and manga. Pride in the anime is actually the manga's Wrath, whereas the manga's Pride is a different character entirely. Alchemist Dante and child Wrath were both exclusive to the anime, and not manga canon.

[quote="SweetxinsanityxSarah"]Lust is an easy one...[/quote]
That's reasonable by itself, but not quite on the mark. Lust is the one dropping the most rumors to attract alchemists in the search for the Philosopher's Stone. This isn't sexual lust (though yes, she was created by Scar's brother trying to ressurect a loved one), but more in a "lust for power" sort of sense.

Lust is also the Homunculus with the strongest desire to be human, even though it's not actually possible.
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SweetxinsanityxSarah · Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:40 pm Post subject:

Yes that is another good one, same deal with Sloth, never gave that one much thought. Their powers however make me curious. Especially sloth's. Gluttony's is a no brainer of course, waka waka waka -pacman noises- xD
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hueyfreeman · Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 6:23 pm Post subject:

The ouroboros too and actual symbol that the anime (and manga both focus on heavily). a snake eating its own tail. Death and rebirth. This is interesting because several alchemist's (Ed, Izumi) Adopt the crest of flamel, which is a snake on a cross. sort of the opposite of the ouroboros.
[img]http://files.myopera.com/Full%20Water%20Alchemist/albums/23747/Full%20Metal%20Alchemist%20Symbol.jpg[/img]
[img]http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/fma/images/f/f0/OuroborosRed2.JPG[/img]
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hueyfreeman · Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:54 am Post subject:

Luke... I am your father.
[img]http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs376.snc3/24083_1398555810318_1424962958_31079996_4207458_n.jpg[/img]

SweetxinsanityxSarah · Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:46 am Post subject:

[quote="hueyfreeman"]Luke... I am your father.
[img]http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs376.snc3/24083_1398555810318_1424962958_31079996_4207458_n.jpg[/img][/quote]

Come to the darkside; we have cookies. x3

Yeah sorry had to say that kukuku.
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SILK · Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 6:28 pm Post subject:

i will never join the dark side...............
...........wait are those chocolate chip?
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London · Moderator Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 6474

I could never take that character seriously. Somehow in manga there's a certain threshold for hair weirdness. If you're weirder than that, it's fine, if you're normal, it's fine, but if you start approaching the hair weirdness threshold, but you don't quite get to it, you just look really, really dumb.
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hueyfreeman · Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 8:53 am Post subject:

So hair weirdness is on a spectrum, I thought it was on a chart...

I think we're going to see some sacrificial king type stuff. Deathberry will die to save the world.

Stratadrake · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 7:19 am Post subject:

I wasn't aware of a spectrum of hairstyles, though I am aware that "[url=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeHair]Anime Hair[/url]" is the father of a large trope family.
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SweetxinsanityxSarah · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 5:35 pm Post subject:

I think Grimmjow's hair is crazier than Izan's. Kinda reminds me of an 80s reject or poor rendition of Billy Idol or Vanilla Ice. xP

Izan's hair looks more normal to me; however he looks like he needs to wash it badly =x

Also speaking of hairstyles, anyone else notice this besides me? Cause it looks like they both sport the 'praying mantis claws look' to me more than others, plus they have the same outlook on life, and both said at one time they "wanted to become one with the planet" o3o

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e351/ShadowsChildKataki2006/Mine%20and%20Sarahs%20Own%20Characters/Hao%20Asakura/Hao11-1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e351/ShadowsChildKataki2006/Mine%20and%20Sarahs%20Own%20Characters/Sephiroth/sephiroth-4.png[/img]
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