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Germanic (Norse) Mythology and its influences on anime


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Wodanaz



Joined: 13 Mar 2007
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:36 am Reply with quote
Why is it that an increasing number of Anime and Manga are taking influence, be it passingly, or in the form of direct homage to Germanic mythology and folklore?
I'm simply curious as to whether there's a vested reason, or whether it's some odd coincidence.
Is there a certain sense of cultural admiration for Germanic myth in Japan these days?
Could it be they've exhausted their own mythology through representation in Anime and Manga and are looking for something new, or does it have links to Global-(Make that, American-)isation that is present as a growing trend in Japanese culture in general?

[edit: Thread title was extremely vague, edited it to something more descriptive about the subject - Keonyn]

Last edited by Wodanaz on Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:18 pm; edited 1 time in total
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jetz



Joined: 31 Jan 2007
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Location: Manila, Philippines
PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:55 am Reply with quote
For one thing, it is a very interesting topic to make an anime from. Mythology has many layers and many stories that you could make use of. You have a lot to work on already - you have characters and their backgrounds in an instant.

Second, a lot of animes are about magic and all that mystical stuff.. Also, a lot of anime fans like sorcery and magic in the animes they watch.. Mythology would fall under that category as well..

Third, it gives the viewers a chance to learn, don't you think? It's a double edge sword - entertainment and education rolled into one..

I also agree that anime creators are looking for something new, and have been inspired by norse/greek/roman mythology..
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JOINERIC



Joined: 14 Feb 2007
Posts: 35
Location: Fighting the Battle of Sekigahara
PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:51 am Reply with quote
jetz wrote:
Third, it gives the viewers a chance to learn, don't you think? It's a double edge sword - entertainment and education rolled into one...


I agree, I love to learn something while I'm enjoying my Anime. Something I can take back and apply in some real world situations. Animes tend to put a wierd spin on something that really took place. For instance, my favortie type is Samurai anime dating around 1600 when the Battle of Sekigahara took place.

To tell you the truth though I can't put my finger on an anime that uses Germanic Mythology. I believe that it focuses mainly on Old Norse. List some animes that are examples of Germanic Mythology.
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bonbonsrus



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
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Location: Michigan, USA
PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:06 pm Reply with quote
JOINERIC wrote:
To tell you the truth though I can't put my finger on an anime that uses Germanic Mythology. I believe that it focuses mainly on Old Norse. List some animes that are examples of Germanic Mythology.

I am glad I wasn't the only one, I haven't heard of German mythology per se, but have heard of Norse and Greek. Even than, I can only think of a handful of animes that draw much from, although I am sure many more have been influenced in some way.
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Wodanaz



Joined: 13 Mar 2007
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:27 pm Reply with quote
JOINERIC wrote:
jetz wrote:
Third, it gives the viewers a chance to learn, don't you think? It's a double edge sword - entertainment and education rolled into one...


I agree, I love to learn something while I'm enjoying my Anime. Something I can take back and apply in some real world situations. Animes tend to put a wierd spin on something that really took place. For instance, my favortie type is Samurai anime dating around 1600 when the Battle of Sekigahara took place.

To tell you the truth though I can't put my finger on an anime that uses Germanic Mythology. I believe that it focuses mainly on Old Norse. List some animes that are examples of Germanic Mythology.


bonbonsrus wrote:
JOINERIC wrote:
To tell you the truth though I can't put my finger on an anime that uses Germanic Mythology. I believe that it focuses mainly on Old Norse. List some animes that are examples of Germanic Mythology.

I am glad I wasn't the only one, I haven't heard of German mythology per se, but have heard of Norse and Greek. Even than, I can only think of a handful of animes that draw much from, although I am sure many more have been influenced in some way.


Heh, it's the same thing. The norse are a North Germanic people. Sorry for the confusion, Germanic Mythology is the academic term.
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bonbonsrus



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:45 pm Reply with quote
Wodanaz wrote:
Heh, it's the same thing. The norse are a North Germanic people. Sorry for the confusion, Germanic Mythology is the academic term.

I have never been accused of being an academic, so thanks for the clarification.
I still would be interested in which animes you are refering to.
I would guess some drawn from myth to be Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, Gigamesh, Sugar a Little Snow Fairy was set in a germanic looking setting, but I have no idea if the story was drawn from any myth...
Can you give some examples?
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Wodanaz



Joined: 13 Mar 2007
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:14 pm Reply with quote
Sure, wikipedia comes to my aid in this as I'm not well versed in Anime, not these days.

Yggdrasil (the "World Tree", a gigantic ash tree, thought to connect all the nine worlds of Norse cosmology) in Anime and Manga:
    In Angel Sanctuary Yggdrasil appears as the keeper of the dead. An entity appearing as an old man lives in the tree and decides who comes into the land of the dead.
    In the Digimon series and movies, Yggdrasil is considered to be one of the primary rulers of the Digital World.
    In the Japanese anime series Gundam SEED, Yggdrasil is the name of a fourth-generation international space station.
    In the Japanese manga and subsequent anime series My-HiME, the android Miyu (Standing for Multiple Intelligential Yggdrasil Unit) protects the character Alyssa Searrs and appears in the alternate universe sequel as the Merciful Intellgential Yggdrasil Unit.
    In the manga series Negima, a massive World Tree is one of the most prominent features of the campus of Mahora Academy. This tree is a place of immense power, and every 22 years glows with power.
    Yggdrasil makes an appearance in the Ragnarok manga.
    In the manga series Rave Master, Yggdrasil is the name of a Dark Bring used by Jegen, and is able to turn those who attack it into trees.
    In the anime series Rozen Maiden, people's dream worlds are connected through the branches of Yggdrasil.
    Yggdrasil is a joint venture project between the gods and demons, searching the magic for resurrecting, in the Shuffle! Anime.
    Yggdrasil is Heaven's computer system in Oh My Goddess!/Ah! My Goddess


Gungnir (Odin's javelin. The javelin's name means "Swaying One" or "influential") in Anime and Manga
    The character Gallantmon Crimson Mode from Digimon Tamers holds Gungnir in his right hand.
    In Ah! My Goddess: The Movie, Gungnir is an energy attack from heaven used only in the most extreme circumstances. It requires a high level of system access from the Yggdrasil system.
    In Gundam SEED, Gungnir is a ZAFT weapon which disables the Earth Alliance mobile suits in battle.


Odin (the chief god in Germanic mythology) in Anime and Manga:

    Odin appears in the Japanese manga series (and subsequently anime version) "Matantei Loki Ragnarok" (which centers on Loki) as the antagonist of sorts. In the animated series, he's unabashedly malevolent and seeks to kill an apparently innocent Loki, after banishing him to human world in the form of a child (the reasons for his behavior are quite vague); in the original comic series, Odin was possessed by the spirit of Balder, who wanted to kill Loki. He was depicted either as a giant, red eye, or as a handsome man with long, white hair.


Valkyries (dísir, minor female deities, who served Odin. The valkyries' purpose was to choose the most heroic of those who had died in battle and to carry them off to Valhalla where they became einherjar) in Anime and Manga:
    In the Anime show My-HiME, the HiME are referred to as Valkyries by members of the SEARRS organization, which itself contains several Norse mythology references.
    In the Grand Championship arc of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Zigfried von Schroeder, the main villain in the arc, used a deck composing of Valkyrie monsters and spell and trap cards that support them. Most of the cards do not exist in the real game.
    In the series Macross and Robotech, a certain type of modern fighter aircraft, called the VF-1 Valkyrie, can transform into three different modes for different combat environments. These transformations would include a regular aircraft fighter mode, a full battle humanoid form, and a walker mode (a combination of the aircraft and humanoid mode).
    In UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie, the princesses came from planet Valhalla.
    In Violinist of Hameln, Sizer summons nine valkyries, all named after the characters in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre


General mythology in Anime and Manga:
    The classic anime, Saint Seiya, devoted an entire arc to Norse mythologies. New characters were created based on the folklore of Norse mythologies, such as the Valkyrie Hilda, the giant Thor, and Siegfried himself.
    An anime called Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, also has many Norse influences. The main character happens to be Loki. Most of the Norse gods appear in each episode.


Ragnarok (fate of the gods, the battle at the end of the world) in Anime and Manga:
    In the anime Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yugi uses a card called Ragnarok during the final battle against Marik. Yami Yugi, the King of Darkness, commands a final assault against the King of the Egyptian Gods, The Winged Dragon of Ra, with his Dark Magician leading the charge with the two Egyptian Gods allied with him.
    Legend of the Galactic Heroes, an epic anime series, featured a Germanic empire which waged a retaliatory strike against its enemies; that battle was called Ragnarok.
    Mai-HiME - an anime series with many links to valkyries and the final battle(s) at the end highly resemble the mythology of Ragnarok.
    In the anime Zoids, Van Flyheight, the protagonist of the first series, lost his father when his father's zoid used a powerful attack called the "Ragnarok Fang," as revealed in the Zoids Chaotic Century manga.


These are just some examples, I could capably find more.
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mdauben



Joined: 24 Jan 2007
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:13 pm Reply with quote
Wodanaz wrote:
Yggdrasil is Heaven's computer system in Oh My Goddess!/Ah! My Goddess

Of course, Ah! My Goddess is full of names and ideas taken from Norse mythology. Not just Yggdrasil but also Sleipnir, Hild, Peorth, Rind, the Valkyries, Fenrir, the Midgard Serpent, and even the names of the three goddeses Belldandy, Urd, & Skuld all come from Norse mythology or language. Very Happy
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Zalis116
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:26 pm Reply with quote
Scrapped Princess also features some of the names from Norse mythology in some of its spells and attacks, like Thor, Mjollnir, Ginungagap, and a few others that I might be forgetting. As far as SP goes, I'm not sure what the real reason behind using Norse elements is. It seems similar to the use of Christian elements in various other series, which are often used to lend an exotic/foreign tone to the action. Conveniently for the creators of these anime & manga, these non-Japanese religious/mythology setting are like "ready-made" packages of things to incorporate. I sometimes wonder if they have a random selection wheel that they spin to see "What foreign belief system should we throw in this time?"

That's not to say that all borrowings of other cultural elements is bad, because many series manage to combine many things in many different ways to produce the kind of appeal that we all like in anime * manga. My-Hime is one example; if you do a bit of research (or watch the notes inserted by the fansubbers after episode 26), you'll see that the Childs borrow from many different cultures and belief systems, including native Japanese and others from around the world.
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Key
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:00 pm Reply with quote
Norse references are fairly common in all forms of media, though, and have been for a long time. Do they really pop up in anime that much more often?

If you want a much stiffer challenge, name titles outside of the Full Metal Panic! franchise (whose call signs are taken from Norse runes, incidentally) which use names from Celtic Mythology.
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hentai4me



Joined: 25 Oct 2005
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Location: England. Robin is so Cute!
PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:53 pm Reply with quote
Think thats tough? Try and find something referencing Ahura Mazda or Angra Mainyu.
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Momoko_Yumi



Joined: 05 Mar 2007
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Location: Heidenheim, Germany
PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:18 pm Reply with quote
As a German i would think that there is not so much German myth in mangas as you think. Of course, some mangas deal with it. But for example "Matantei Loki Ragnarok" has nothing to do with the real German myth. Only the names are the same...but the story...

The Norsk myth is the same as the German myth, but only the names have change. For example Odin = Wotan, Thor = Donar etc...but the story is the same.

But the japanese are not the first who took german/norsk myths into comics. Remember "The mighty Thor" from Marvel Comics.
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Mephistophilus



Joined: 27 Feb 2007
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:26 pm Reply with quote
As far as Anglo-Saxon and other mythology not relating directly to Norse, I'm pretty sure there aren't a whole lot of adaptations into modern culture. Most of the influence seems to stem from Norse mythology, which is similar but gets much more coverage. Even this coverage itself seems to be rather loose, as most references I've seen have been in name alone. Video games in particular have a lot of these "half-references," with games like Xenogears operating independent of the original myths. Of course, if the myths were adapted totally originality would be sacrificed, but I suppose it's likewise unproductive to pay homage in name alone.

However, I have seen some references involving the original temperament of the named figure being represented in the character named after said figure, though this can be said about a lot of different allusions.

One more I can name as having a "half-referenced" name connection is Fafn(i)r of the Azure, which seemed to be a basic mecha series.
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Craeyst Raygal



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PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:11 pm Reply with quote
There's always Harlock Saga, as well, which is actually a Leijiverse redux of the classic Wagnerian opera Der Ring des Nibelungen. If that's not Germanic enough for you, I don't know what is.
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Facade19



Joined: 19 Feb 2007
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:35 pm Reply with quote
I believe RahXephon uses mythologies themes of Mayan Societies.
Also the concepts of the Mu civilizations are present.
As already so much has been said about myth in anime in this thread, I would just like to say that it was through manga that I have discovered some myths totaly unfamiliar to me. I am quite grateful as anime's do not shy away from applying myth/folk lore in their themes.
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