Kamen Rider OOO - Talk Up!

[Darksenshi]

Looks yummy....in a weird sick kinda way:laugh:

 

[big_j_ny]

No, they pretty clearly represent the Buddhist idea of all desire, for basically anything, as intrinsically evil and bad. Did you think all of the dialog from Kougami and Ankh about LOOK AT THESE DISGUSTING HUMANS AND THEIR ENDLESS GREED FOR THINGS was incidental? Especially that one speech by Kougami about how THE FIRST THING A BABY DOES IN THIS WORLD IS START DEMANDING THINGS!!!

These are not Christian attitudes and not Christian characters. These characters are not discussing any Western or Christian understanding of the idea of greed or desire. They aren't even discussing anything like a Christian notion of sin, because nobody in this show has given a damn about any concept of God or the divine yet.

Kobayashi is using OOOs as an excuse to tackle one of the central conceits of Buddhist belief, one that most Japanese pay lip service to most of their lives but don't take seriously until they're old and dying. That's a pretty ballsy thing to do, all things considered, and not just because OOOs is a kid's show meant to sell toys. If you go after Buddhism you're going after something your audience really believes in.

Japanese media about Christian concepts, on the other hand, tends to be kind of... well, dickless. Impotent. I really can't think of a better way to express it. The overwhelming majority of Japanese people are not Christian and do not give a crap about what Christians think. You can make fun of Christian ideas all day and not run the risk of offending anyone, so there's no reason not to treat Christian ideas in cartoonish ways or play 23 skidoo with actual belief (as per Evangelion).

If OOOs brought in the 7 Deadly Sins you'd most like get a goofy and very shallow treatment of the idea, even moreso than what we're getting with Buddhist demons now. I think maybe a grand total of 1-2% of the Japanese population will actually self-identify as Christian. There's no reason to take that stuff seriously, as either creator or audience, so it won't lead to good writing. Especially from someone like Kobayashi, who these days is clearly about examining very Japanese things for her very Japanese audience.

Although I do agree with you about OOOs probably being based off of "Buddhist elements" from your previous post and parts of this post, I kinda need to point something out.

You mention that Kobayashi is using the Buddhist element of "Desire" as a theme for this series. If that's the case, this isn't the first time she's done it and I doubt Kobayashi's usage of "Desire" has anything to do with Buddhism for the way she's writing this series.

I've mentioned before in an earlier post that Kobayashi has a common link with all of the Rider series that she has written.........Ryuki, Den-O, and now OOOs. One of the common links that I have mentioned is Kobayashi's fascination with "Desire." In Ryuki, the winner of the Rider War was suppose to gain the power to fulfill any wish that they "desired." In Den-O, the Imagin tried to fulfill the "desire" of the person that they possessed in order to gain an entry-door back into the past and destroy the past. With OOOs, the Core Medals, Cell Medals, and Greeed are all powered by human "desire."

I doubt Kobayashi's usage of the desire concept in OOOs has more to do with than just being a Buddhist principle, since this isn't Kobayashi's first walk in the park using this concept in a Kamen Rider series.

 

[KamenRiderBiblio]

Looks yummy....in a weird sick kinda way:laugh:

Time to man the harpoons boys! If you know what I mean!~ :anime::buttrock:

 

[dchoc]

Looks yummy....in a weird sick kinda way:laugh:

Are you looking at the "suckers" down there??? :laugh:

 

[KAGEKI]

Are you looking at the "suckers" down there??? :laugh:

Eew, you nasty.

 

[nerefir]

Just reminding you, Mezuru is played by a dude. :sweat:

 

[Darksenshi]

Are you looking at the "suckers" down there??? :laugh:

:laugh:

 

[KamenRiderBiblio]

Just reminding you, Mezuru is played by a dude. :sweat:

But the voice is female...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukana

That's Mezuru's VA...

Oddly enough, Mezuru is the verb for love. Mezuru also seems to be the "nicest" Greeed. Reminds me of a female Ura...:redface2:

 

[nerefir]

The suit actor is Satoru Fujita, who also played Hopper Dopant and Claydoll Dopant, among others.

 

[KamenRiderBiblio]

The suit actor is Satoru Fujita, who also played Hopper Dopant and Claydoll Dopant, among others.

Meh. I'll just imagin she's a real female.