Saturday 12 August 2006

Pic of the day: God's son has given his life to save his friends and enemies alike, rather than take revenge. Is this really the end of the story? Major spoilers for the end of the anime.

Kamisama Kazoku final

I saw it coming (and I have the forum posts to prove it). I always saw this story as being more inspired by Christian "mythology" than Shinto anyway. Shinto is the native religion of Japan, whereas Christians make up well below 1% of the population. Japanese still have some knowledge of our religion after centuries of contact, although they don't take it all that seriously. To them it is another mythology, like the Norse (which is also quite popular in anime).

In the anime Kamisama Kazoku (the God family), God is living in a house in Japan with his family. His son Samatarou is attending high school here, to learn to understand human life. At the beginning of the anime, this understanding is somewhat lacking, because God spoils his son and gives him anything he wishes. The one who tries to keep him grounded is his guardian angel, a girl name Tenko (Heaven-Child). She loves him, although it is a bit unclear whether this is romantic or brotherly love, as they have grown up together. This gets sorted out gradually through the series. The agent of change is a new girl at school, Kumiko. Samatarou falls in love with her immediately, and through various comical events tries to win her heart, to the point where he renounces his divinity to win her as a human. Only to realize now that Tenko is gone that she is the one who is important to him. He returns to his home, but his father (the current God) has now gone back to Heaven.

Kumiko disappears for some episodes but returns, and it becomes clear (as many of us had suspected) that she is actually a demon in human form. Her mother is a much worse demon, forcing Kumiko to chip bits off the souls of people and bring home as nourishment. Kumiko has fallen in love with Samatarou and flees home with him. Her demon mother attacks the God family (minus God himself who is still in Heaven) and they all refuse to fight her. She challenges Samatarou to a fight for his soul, after having hurt everyone he loves on Earth. Samatarou takes up the demon sword but instead plunges it in his own heart, purging himself of his hate for her. The divine life force that streams from his wounds overcomes the evil in the demon, who dissolves and is reborn in Heaven as an angel. Kumiko is also changed into an angel, although she is still earthbound. She and Tenko are restored and grieve over Samatarou's lifeless body. Their angelic power is unchained by their love for him, and as the two former enemies pray in unison, Samatarou is miraculously returned to life. Dawn breaks.

***

The story is clearly inspired by the Christian story about God's son giving his life for the unworthy (in this case demons), although he does so in a typically Japanese way by stabbing himself with a sword. This high drama seems weird given the lighthearted and even comical nature of the anime for the most part. Even in this last episode the mixture of humor and pathos is unseemly by western standards. But then again this is not a Christian movie. It is made in and for a different culture.

It is worth mentioning that in Japanese popular culture, churches are not associated primarily with burials (which are usually Buddhist, another religion again) but with weddings. The western concept of love fascinates the Japanese. Their word for love, "ai", denotes an obligation as much as anything. Their other word for love, "koi", is largely about desire, although the two among them cover pretty much all the area we call "love". Young Japanese still often use the word "rabu" (their pronunciation of "love") to denote romantic love. To them, it probably makes perfect sense to mix a cute love story with elements of Christian gospel about divine love, sacrifice and resurrection.

The anime is mediocre in composition and execution, but I still find it compelling because of the heartwarming relations between the main characters, who are given lots of depth. This may partly hail from the anime being based on novels rather than on manga (comic books) as is the norm. Novels tend to be stronger on character development, and although it takes the back seat to humor and drama, it is always there unfolding in the background. If the novels are ever translated into English, I would definitely want to read them. I suspect that they are better than the anime. But it is OK too. It was certainly my favorite of the season. Then again I am a known theophile. ^_^

(Koshimizu Ami, the voice actress who plays Tenko the angel, is very good. And she is cute and has an online diary. I learned this incidentally.)