There is a traditional Chinese story dating to the Ming dynasty about the “journey to the West” of four characters that has made its way into Japanese folklore as well, where the tale is known as 西遊記 Saiyuuki. And so the Saiyuuki story has had multiple retellings in anime over the past 40+ years. One of the more popular… Read More 12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 9: Saiyuuki Reload
Josh W. provides some short thoughts on Haibane Renmei, including a significant and insightful one about the religious allusions in the show. [Res Studiorum et Ludorum] Lady Saika uses Saiyuki‘s depiction as an example of how Heaven is portrayed in series and film. [Lady Geek Girl and Friends] Rocklobster points out the problems that the… Read More Something More: Heaven in Saiyuki and Haibanem Renmei Religion
Last year, I gave my 12 favorite posts about anime and religion to end the year. And though I had to leave out a number of great article to fit within that number, I was generally happy with the list. This year, I just had to expand my list to twenty to match the volume… Read More Top Blog Posts About Anime and Religion in 2012: #11-20
Over at Mania.com, Niko Silvester presents a concise and well-written essay on the use of mythology, often associated with religion, and folklore in anime. The brunt of it focuses on context, including the definitions of these terms, which I find very interesting. I want to add that the connotation of folklore is often old and ancient… Read More Spirituality in the Anime Blogosphere: Folklore and Mythology