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Literal battles of words.




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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15552
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 3:59 am Reply with quote
I was listening to music, and heard a song from Dantalian and it got me thinking. Dantalian no Shoka and Campione actually share something rather similiar to each other and that is their fights tend to have a rather epic feel to them, and that comes from the characters just doing a speech. It feels cool that the characters can unleash some awesome pwer by recounting an enemy's mythos or the poetic writings of the books.

But despite how effective I thought it was done I can't really think of other anime that have chosen to do it as such a focus. I don't know if I am not aware of others, or it is just not popular.
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st_owly



Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 5234
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
PostPosted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 4:07 am Reply with quote
The entire battle system in Loveless is based on words. I don't remember exactly how it works, but you can destroy your enemies with the right combinations of words.
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hyojodoji



Joined: 08 Jan 2010
Posts: 586
PostPosted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 6:00 am Reply with quote
DuskyPredator wrote:
...and that comes from the characters just doing a speech. It feels cool that the characters can unleash some awesome pwer by recounting an enemy's mythos or the poetic writings of the books.

But despite how effective I thought it was done I can't really think of other anime that have chosen to do it as such a focus. I don't know if I am not aware of others, or it is just not popular.

As Kakinomoto no Hitomaro wrote, '志貴嶋 倭國者 事靈之 所佐國叙 眞福在與具,' in Japan there is Kotodama, which is an idea that words have mystical powers.
I would not be surprised if some Japanese novelists, scriptwriters and mangaka put this concept in their works.
 
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Furudanuki



Joined: 29 Jul 2006
Posts: 1874
PostPosted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:36 am Reply with quote
hyojodoji wrote:
As Kakinomoto no Hitomaro wrote, '志貴嶋 倭國者 事靈之 所佐國叙 眞福在與具,' in Japan there is Kotodama, which is an idea that words have mystical powers.
I would not be surprised if some Japanese novelists, scriptwriters and mangaka put this concept in their works.

Kotoha Isone from the manga and anime series Yozakura Quartet is a kotodama-tsukai. She can conjure weapons and objects with a word, and since she is a German military otaku most of what she calls up tends to be German weaponry and hardware.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7992
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:21 am Reply with quote
There was that character in the chapter black portion of Yu Yu Hakusho whose psychic power revolved around a word game.
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Yttrbio



Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3666
PostPosted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 11:15 am Reply with quote
Ayakashi Ayashi has battles of words, but they aren't spoken. That's a show where a dude will take the kanji in his name and cut a monster in half with it.
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st_owly



Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 5234
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
PostPosted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:35 pm Reply with quote
There is also a bit in Spirited Away where spoiler[Yubaba takes away some of the characters in Chihiro's name, leaving only the "Chi" which can also be pronounced "Sen" and Chihiro is warned that if she forgets her real name she'll never be able to return to the real world.]
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15552
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:42 pm Reply with quote
Well you guys have said some interesting examples, it does bring to mind the title I was going to use before of "words of power". But I am not so interested in simple words having an effect, but power from a combination, kind of like spell incantation. As I think about it a bit, I think I see a few other series that have characters like monks who do a spell require an incantation, or along the lines of a the character asking to borrow something else's power.
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誤称



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 549
PostPosted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 12:56 am Reply with quote
The entire premise of the magic system of David Edding's Belgarion novels is that you form the "magic" by gathering your will then put it into effect by vocalizing the word(s). Its one of the better parts of the story. That and the tsundere red-head dryad princess.
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5528
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 2:02 am Reply with quote
The essentials of magic comes from the assumption that words hold an inherent power to them. Hence spells and incantations, present in every culture and mythology. There are some ethnic groups in which people have two names: a secret one which their real name, only known to closest family members and a public one that they use in society. This is because many cultures believe that letting someone know your true name gives them power over you. Many forms of magic and incantations involve using the target's name
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15552
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 2:16 am Reply with quote
Yeah that personal name thing is pretty interesting thing, I actually remember hearing in the past the belief that knowing the true names of gods could also give people power over said gods. Which I believ might have been partial inspiration or something in Campione which I mentioned earlier, true knowledge of a god providing power.
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hyojodoji



Joined: 08 Jan 2010
Posts: 586
PostPosted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 10:25 am Reply with quote
CrowLia wrote:
There are some ethnic groups in which people have two names: a secret one which their real name, only known to closest family members and a public one that they use in society.

Such a thing was done also in Japan. It is one of the reasons why the true name of Murasaki Shikibu is unknown. ('Murasaki Shikibu' is her nom de plume/name as a lady-in-waiting, which was derived from her father's title.)
Even the Gunsho Ruijū edition of Murasaki Shikibu Nikki says, '右以伏見殿邦高親王御筆之本書寫一校畢 右紫式部日記以屋代弘賢藏本書寫以流布印本及扶桑拾葉集校正畢' and doesn't mention her true name.
 
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