InuYasha

[DoxieMoxie]

And let us not forget the imagery involved in the opening when Kagome finds Inuyasha.  The image of death by being nailed to a tree and resurrection by divine intervention is very strong there as well.

[InuFan05]

And those are just Christian references... What about the elements of Judaism and Islam (which are similar, I'll grant; so that doesn't leave much more to extract from them), as well as those of ancient Greek/Roman and Norse mythology? Those definitely come into play here as well.

Inuyasha's journey could very much be likened to Hercules's tasks. They both had to go through several trying challenges.

[DoxieMoxie]

I guess you missed my Hercules essay in the First Timers' thread. 

[InuFan05]

Maybe...

It's too perfect of a similarity though... Each arc is like a Herculean task he must fulfill.

[DoxieMoxie]

I went so far as to liken heritage and birth circumstances, the presence of a royal brother, the bouts of insanity, and a few other things in the mix, as well. 

[InuFan05]

Oh right! Demi-god = hanyou... Woops!

[DoxieMoxie]

It just goes to prove that myths are built from the same basic elements in every culture.

[WinryTheAlchemist]

Or maybe that what we have seen from the classics has a widespread influence.

[DoxieMoxie]

You have to be introduced to Campbell and Propp.  They have literally cataloged myths and fairy tales by the hundreds and found that they all have the same set of story elements in common, things like the old mentor and the old mentor being taken away/replaced by an even wiser mentor (Obi-wan from Star Wars = Myoga and Yoda = Totosai).

[WinryTheAlchemist]

Sounds interesting it does. (My awful Yoda impression)

On a more serious note, I'll look into it most definitely.

[DoxieMoxie]

You can google "hero's journey steps" for starters.

[WinryTheAlchemist]

I saw it really quickly on Wikipedia, unreliable as it may be. Where's the atonement for Inuyasha though?

[DoxieMoxie]

Not every hero takes every step; but Inuyasha's atonement would likely involve Kikyo's death.  He tells Kaede that he would follow her into hell, if that's what it would take.

[WinryTheAlchemist]

True... Plus, there are multiple paths the journey could take, so it's not as though he's limited to a single trajectory.

[DoxieMoxie]

And the order of some of the steps in the middle can be shuffled.

[WinryTheAlchemist]

True... true...

[DoxieMoxie]

And because the manga was so long, some of the steps had to be repeated.

The other interesting thing is that RT started other characters on The Hero's Journey, as well.  The first was Kikyo.

Actually Kagome was first, and she then enlisted Inuysha; but that's a given.

[ben0119]

I thought I read this whole thread, but I guess I just clicked the link in the OP and read the first few posts.

I'll read the rest of the posts later, but I want to comment on something now that I thought of when I first saw the thread, and also, after I reply, this thread will be marked for me with the little icon and subscribed to.

Anyway, they did animated commercials... for manga?  That makes so little sense.

Disclaimer: InuYasha manga does not actually move or talk.  If this happens to you, please consult your doctor immediately.

       Seriously wtf...

[DoxieMoxie]

Apparently, the answer to that is "yes".  They still do animated commercials for them.  I guess it is more interesting than just showing the magazine cover.

[ben0119]

Don't you find that incredibly odd?  That would be like doing an animated commercial for a Spider-man comic, or something.  The only thing I can think that's close to that is how sometimes you see short little animated commercials for toys (ones that weren't popular enough to have their own show).  Toys obviously don't move or talk, either (that we know of).  

I read the rest of the thread earlier.  You guys got into some interesting discussion.  While I do love how InuYasha borrows from a cornucopia of myths and legends that I'm already a huge fan of and introduces me to some new ones, I do think you guys were reading too much into things, in some cases.

I mean, that snake falling into the water could have just been for ambiance, scene setting, etc.  Does that really have any more meaning, than say, a bird flying by or random villagers milling about? Stuff like that is usually just meant to show that "this is a real place, and as such, has animals and people in it".

[DoxieMoxie]

---

ben0119 wrote:

Don't you find that incredibly odd?  That would be like doing an animated commercial for a Spider-man comic, or something.  The only thing I can think that's close to that is how sometimes you see short little animated commercials for toys (ones that weren't popular enough to have their own show).  Toys obviously don't move or talk, either (that we know of).  

I read the rest of the thread earlier.  You guys got into some interesting discussion.  While I do love how InuYasha borrows from a cornucopia of myths and legends that I'm already a huge fan of and introduces me to some new ones, I do think you guys were reading too much into things, in some cases.

I mean, that snake falling into the water could have just been for ambiance, scene setting, etc.  Does that really have any more meaning, than say, a bird flying by or random villagers milling about? Stuff like that is usually just meant to show that "this is a real place, and as such, has animals and people in it".

---

A bird flying by would make more sense.  Why a snake, the symbol of the devil, at that very moment, instead of a bird, or the wind, etc.?  And why pan away from such an intense conversation to that, in particular?  A snake was never used again for ambience in the entire series.  The symbolism is obvious, the ultimate evil has entered the Garden of Eden to destroy paradise, or what will seem like that after this moment.

[ben0119]

---

DoxieMoxie wrote:

---

ben0119 wrote:

Don't you find that incredibly odd?  That would be like doing an animated commercial for a Spider-man comic, or something.  The only thing I can think that's close to that is how sometimes you see short little animated commercials for toys (ones that weren't popular enough to have their own show).  Toys obviously don't move or talk, either (that we know of).  

I read the rest of the thread earlier.  You guys got into some interesting discussion.  While I do love how InuYasha borrows from a cornucopia of myths and legends that I'm already a huge fan of and introduces me to some new ones, I do think you guys were reading too much into things, in some cases.

I mean, that snake falling into the water could have just been for ambiance, scene setting, etc.  Does that really have any more meaning, than say, a bird flying by or random villagers milling about? Stuff like that is usually just meant to show that "this is a real place, and as such, has animals and people in it".

---

A bird flying by would make more sense.  Why a snake, the symbol of the devil, at that very moment, instead of a bird, or the wind, etc.?  And why pan away from such an intense conversation to that, in particular?  A snake was never used again for ambience in the entire series.  The symbolism is obvious, the ultimate evil has entered the Garden of Eden to destroy paradise, or what will seem like that after this moment.

---

You might be on to something.  I remember the snake part, but never read too much into it.  But, maybe it really is some sort of symbolism.  Is it in the manga, as well?  

And yeah, you could call it paradise... well, it seemed that way, at least, to Kikyo and Inuyasha, at the time, even if their trust wasn't as strong as they thought it was, as Naraku later stated (although, who's trust wouldn't be broken if they saw someone physically do something against them, who would suspect a shape-shifter?!), but I guess that is beside the point, for this particular discussion.

[DoxieMoxie]

The subtext hiding in this series is one of the things that makes it interesting enough to keep studying.

[ben0119]

Critics have always said how Inuyasha seems pretty simple, straightforward, and often repetitive, and would wonder how fans such as us could get so obsessed with it for years, as we do.  But, maybe they just don't give it enough credit!  Hell, maybe I didn't.  I've been a longtime fan, and I'm usually someone who notices the little things, and I never picked up on the possible snake symbolism, heh.

[DoxieMoxie]

If you take away the filler episodes, it isn't very repetitive; and there are a lot of elements of mythology hiding in it.