#anime analysis

I share my experience of watching Weathering With You (Tenki no ko) in theater and talk about how it is different from You Name (Kimi on na wa) and yet similar. The evolution of Makoto Shinkai’s style and the sound of RADWIMPS made the film a wonderful experience.

End Screen visuals by mclelun:

https://www.youtube.com/user/mclelun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pVfutb3Bns&t=10s

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Since my last couple of astrology posts got quite a bit of love, I decided to make a thing of it. So the cycle will end with Pisces if everything goes well. I will be focusing on only a couple of characters so that it doesn’t jar the minds of you guys. I hope you’ll like it.

There are few things one needs to remember. I lean towards the Vedic astrology analysis because I feel it is lot more in depth and adds a lot of psychology into it, and it actually gives accurate analysis on how people from the same Zodiacs behave vastly different. That been aside, let’s jump into the main thing:

Aries! what a sign. It is the start of the Zodiac cycle, number 1 Sign and harbinger of the Spring and youth. However in Media and social media Aries is always depicted as headstrong, stubborn and short-tempered time bomb, but it is so much more than that. There are a few fundaments to add: Aries’ rulership is Mars, which also rules Scorpio and gets Exalted in Capricorn. Aries itself is the Exaltation point on sun, and debilitation point of Saturn. It is a Cardinal Sign thus it is not fixed in nature. It is the part of the Dharma Trikona signs: (Fire signs that signifies the true purpose of your life) along with Leo and Sagitarrius.

These particular characters has been chosen by me because they not only break stereotypes of Aries in one way or the other but also reconfirm age-old astrophilosophic theory about someone born under a particular sign. Here I will also provide the Sun and moon sign to compare how they appear and how their minds work.

Handa Seishuu: Barakamon (15th April) (Aries Asc, Sun, Moon Mercury conjunct in Aries) (Double sun influenced, afflicted) (Mars debilitated)

Handa has a very good chart for artistic ability, but there are some added twists to it. Handa has many similarities with the other Aries native Chiyo Sakura (whom I shall discuss later). He is sensitive, critical, self searching on the positive side, and he is irascible and petty on the other side. He has his sun and Moon placed in the Krittika Constellation or The constellation of the Cutter (Pleides). Since Krittika constellation is ruled by the Sun, he is considered doubly influenced with sun. Krittika constellation is the birthplace of Sun and exaltation point of moon (when it is in the Taurus belt) and it usually gives the native exceptional leadership qualities, critical and perfectionist attitude, sharp wit and sarcastic speech, soft heart and thus they become sensitive to the core.

But neither of them are quite associated with Handa now, does it? that is because when Sun and Moon are placed so close to each other in a same Constellation, it is considered Eclipsed in astrology. This means the native would get neither the benefits of Sun nor the Moon. Thus he loses a great deal of the charismatic leadership edge that is considered “alpha” in society. But we also have to remember that this conjunction is placed over the ascendant, which is the safe haven for debilitated or afflicted planets: it does not totally rob the native of the good results of the said planets. Sun is associated with Father, workplace, body, leadership, fame and Moon is associated with Mother, home environment, mind and nurturing: Handa is blessed on both sides. He almost easily transited into the profession his father followed, and he was brought up with least struggle. Both mom and dad protected him from harm and brought up a very sensitive guy who almost never faced any consequences for his naivete. The eclipse can also cause affliction in confidence and disturbance in mind which Handa has throughout his life, but it does not totally rob him of fame. He was famous in his world of calligraphy, he was begrudgingly famous as “sensei” in the island he lived during his exile, and in the Spinoff “Handa-kun” his afflicted mind made him think everyone hates him in the school but in reality he was the most popular boy around. That is the merit of Aries Sun. Another planet which is conjunct is the Mercury which encourages his to experiment from his traditional path and open avenues he never ventured before. Mercury is the significator of intelligece, mutability, children or kids, and this happened when Handa meets and interracts with Naru. Throughout his exile he constantly experiments with the brush strokes and his subject matter regress from grand to mundane, while his technique started to mutate from normal “textbook style” to more experimental.

Aries ascendants have beautiful looks and they are somewhat unaware of their attraction and totally ignorant of any romantic or sexual desires. While making bath, Handa said to the Village chief “I’ll probably die alone”, and in Handa-kunhe was blissfully unaware of the crush-brigade he had behind his back. The core of Handa’s character is his senitivity and critical nature. He is never satisfied with his process, even though the others say it is good. The first day when Handa writes in the village, he exhausted himself by overworking but throughout the process he was laughing on his own: his satisfaction is not in the result but in the constant process of effort and perfecting.

However, there is one major flaw in Handa which sets the whole story into motion: his irascibility. he punches a old man in Calligraphy exhibition who criticised his work. It could be Ariesian ego, but it is not. It is a sign of debilitated Mars. Handa has debilitated mars in cancer which makes him lash out without dignity and with very little provocation. This makes him a laughing stock in many situation in both his society and in the village, and he is sometimes seen “assaulted” by the children in the village. He is also seen as petty when he has his lunch with Hiro where he bashes Hiro’s Cucumber-Miso rice, while defending his deplorable Cucumbar-miso rice. Mars is willpower, energy and anger and when it is debilitated it makes one less of a dignified person. This segment I placed at the last because it was one of his core factor that makes Handa the way he is. However since his debilitated Mars is placed in fourth house, it somehow makes him always sheltered in comfortable homes, even in the unlikely of places. The example can be seen in how he was taken care of by the Gotou island villagers with food, company and service.

Sakura Chiyo: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki Kun (March 27) (Virgo Asc, Aries Sun, Pisces Moon) (South Node an Mercury influenced) (Sun Exalted, Mercury debilitated in Pisces, seventh house)

Sakura Chiyo is a great and exceptional example of Aries Sun. I love her: she is sweet, imaginative, and has a lot of positive qualities like believing in people who are unlikely to be believed (Yuzuki for example). Her Sun sign is exalted in Aswini Constellation or The constellation of the Horse. Sun exaltation people are usually courageous, valiant, pure hearted, adventurous and generous. Chiyo is is all of that, but in her own unique way. She had the courage to confess to her crush in the first episode, and she was valiant enough to stay friends with his crush even after he friendzoned her. She appears to be quite shy and blushing frequently, but she asserts herself when she needs. For example, telling Kashima, a far more charismatic and popular person than her, off when she was being a bother during the set painting session. She often tells Nozaki off when he is being weird with his manga character–this is really good writing, because assertiveness need not be cutthroat all the time.

Reason her own self is reflected the way it is represented must be looked with her Ascendant. She is a Virgo ascendant, and Sun is exalted at the 8th house where the typical exaltation perks of sun fades a little (Sun is best exalted in 1st, 5th, 9th and 10th). However, let’s look at her own self. Virgo is a earthy, practical and Mercury ruled Zodiac sign which signifies The Maidenhood. Virgo ascendants tend to be smaller statured (unless some other planets interfere), generally intellectual and a little on the overthinking side. This is very prominent feature of the both Chiyo and Wakamatsu (who is a Virgo Sun). Virgo ascendants are very meticulous in whatever they do, as we remember Nozaki saying to Chiyo “I have had my eyes on you for quite a long time. I figured whoever could color in that poster so cleanly would do a nice job” in beta-ing his manga.

 Her moon is conjunct with mercury, and moon itself is in Revati Constellation, which is the final constellation and maturation point of mercury. Revati constellation is associated with imagination that transcends reality, and it is said many famous musicians like Mozart or Bach had this moon placement. Chiyo is artistic indeed and very much so as we can see her command on sketching classical style shapes and silhouettes. As moon is quite imaginative in this part and in the Seventh house of marriage and romance, it becomes quite imaginative about that idealistic romance part. But here is the added twist: her mercury, which is also the ruler of her Moon constellation becomes debilitated in Pisces. And when it is debilitated in the Seventh house it makes one frustrated about everything associated with the seventh house: romance, partnership etc. And thus, dear Chiyo is so unlucky in Romance that not only she chooses a drab and dull guy, denser than a black hole but also frustrates her in the process because of the gap of reality and imagination.

  Kurapika: Hunter X Hunter (4th April) (Leo Asc, Aries Sun, Moon in Ascendant) (Venus and South Node influenced) (Saturn in Capricorn, Jupiter Exalted in Cancer)

I was quite interested to analyse Kurapika, and I picked the right one here. Kurapika, as everyone knows is an Aries Sun. Kurapika’s Aries sits in the ninth house of Aries, and it is the ruler of the first house: ascendant Leo. Okay, so this is one of the most favorable and auspicious combination for a leader. Because Sun, which signifies Soul, body, bones, leadership, government is sitting in the house of Higher principle, Higher knowledge, father, teachers. Leo ascendants tend to be very regal and grave in appearance because of the ultra masculine Sun is the ruler of Leo. They are also very dutiful, faithful to their friends and deep supporters of justice and the ones that are right. Kurapika was born to be a leader and although he doesn’t become a “leader” of that sort, but we can agree that he is not someone you can trifle and get away with. 

So, if he is born in ultra male Sun influence then why the hell is he not so stereotypically masculine? So here is the answer. He is born in the Varani constellation or the Constellation of the Bearer, which is Venus influenced. Varani is the second constellation in the celestial cabinet and it falls in the middle part of Aries. That is one part: the other part is his moon sign. Since his moon sits in the ascendant it brings some feminine qualities which is unlike the Sun ruled ascendant of Leo. Thus here the native is graced with a thin, pale body and with an anxious vigilant disposition. They are often distrustful of others and have hard time opening up. To note, Kurapika’s moon sign falls in Magha constellation, or the Constellation of the Luck which is a South Node ruled constellation. As South node denotes detachment, renunciation and distrust it brings a sort of cold detachment in his character. 

Both of Kurapika’s Sun and Moon signs are incredibly strong. Bharani is one of the most violent energies in existance but as it’s symbol is a Vagina, the violence is internalised. These people tend to internalise positive and negetive emotions with great intensity. When Kurapika lost the entire Kurta clan by the Spiders, he internalised his pain so greatly that his life motto became to take revenge on the Spiders. Interesting thing to note, his Bharani Sun which sits in the ninth house is the house of Higher Philosophy, which can also signify one’s greater purpose in life. The energy of Bharani is especially corrosive because of its associated deity: The God of Death, and Death he inflicts upon Pakunoda and Uvogin, two of the spiders involved in the Kurta Genocide.

He has another interesting combination: His sixth house Capricorn has Saturn (in Saturn’s own house), and in his twelfth house Jupiter is Exalted. So the benefic planet of expansion and comfort directly aspects the malefic planet limitation and hardship. Saturn in the sixth house of enemies, diseases and debts, mixed with Capricorn’s energy of hard work and patience makes Kurapika one of the potently powerful people in Hunter X Hunter, even if he isn’t at par with many of them. Here Saturn gives such sufferings and pain that it gets unbearable, but at the end one shall succeed if one keeps going on. Saturn is directly aspected by Jupiter from the 12th house of isolation, liberation of soul. This is meaningful indeed! Jupiter in 12th house indicated the leaving of home or leaving your comfort zones behind for the sake of your own liberation. Jupiter indeed gives liberation of the soul in this position but it also indicates the act of giving liberation from injustice, since it is aspected by the Planet of Time and Justice: Saturn. When they look at each other it creates an extremely balanced, controlled and equally industrious person who has his energy of conviction and justice on his side and he will execute it at any cost, for the greater good.

It may be far fetched but I also think of Saturn-Jupiter axis in Kurapika;’s chart when I see his chains. Saturn as the planet of limitation represents many things: isolation, chains, and as metal (in Vedic astrology): iron. Where as Jupiter tends to expand. Chains expand to any length by Kurapika’s command, which again juxtaposes this completely paradoxical combination.  

Erina Nakiri: Shokugeki no Souma (March 23) (Taurus Asc, Aries Sun, Gemini Moon) (South Node and North Node Influenced) (Saturn and Venus in Ascendant, Sun Exalted)

Erina is depicted as a perfectionist, royalty of the Culinary world in Shokugeki no Soma. she is called the “God Tongue” who enjoys haute cuisine on a daily basis. Here’s what I think when I look at her chart: Ice princess with a heart of fire. First of all, Not the whole of Aries is considered Exaltation point for Sun, it is deeply exalted from 0-3 degrees in the first third of Aries, which consists of the Aswini Constellation or the Constellation of the Horse. These people usually tend to be naturally charismatic, pleasant to be around and unquestionable leaders: no harshness at all, because they are so self secure they don’t need to prove themselves. But that is more Satoshi Isshiki rather than Erina Nakiri isn’t it? Erina does have a penchant to prove herself so desperately. Why is that? you’ll only need to look at her ascendant.

Her ascendant is Taurus, a Venus ruled Zodiac. It is an earthy, stable, materialistic sign that loves every thing artistic, luxurious and perfect. Erina is all about that and more. Her Ascendant has one of the most powerful conjunction of all time: Venus and Saturn. Where Saturn feels quite uncomfortable being in the ascendant, it feels less uncomfortable because it’s sitting with Venus, it’s friend. The ascendant is all about the Body, personality and how other people see you. Saturn in the ascendant brings anxiety, fear and rigidness in the personality that does not appreciate breaking rules, because Saturn gets debilitated in the first house, the natural house of Aries, the debilitated Saturn brings inflated ego, and when it’s hurt, it will seek for blood. Thus Erina in times is quite the rigid little thing, and she maintained strong rivalry with Soma, just because he had “offended” her. Venus on the other hand is a soft, sensuous planet, and although it is rather comfortable in 7th house, (house of people, marriage, bonds) it does great in the first house, because in first house it brings Beauty, exceptional, awe-inspiring beauty. combined with Saturnian rigidity, it brings the textbook definition of ice princess.

Let’s see how Erina’s mind thinks? Her moon sits in Gemini an airy intellectual sign which can sometimes be problematic for moon, which is a watery and emotional planet. Her moon sits in Ardra Constellation or the Constellation of Moisture. The ruler of this Constellation is the North Node, which signifies ambition, greed, illusion, inflation of ego. Erina gets her ego hurt quite often, which should not be a trait of someone who has her sun Exalted, but it is. Because this constellation, which has all the positive qualities of ambition and achieving material things, it also gives a fragile ego as well. The symbol of this constellation is a teardrop, which is also a symbol of suffering. This includes that the mind must have undergone suffering. If this point of view is seen with the Saturn in the ascendant (the signifactor of suffering, hardship and hard work), Erina did suffer in her early life in the hands of her extremist father who wanted her daughter to be the best in the culinary world. It is interesting to see that her sun sits in the 12th house (house of imagination, isolation, jail, and liberation) and she was isolated from the world, by her father! Erina underwent suffering in a manner which is very North-Node like: she was brainwashed and gaslighted continuously. The North node which is the signficator of illusions and madness casted shadow in the her earlier life through the mental abuses of her father, and her Saturnian ascendant internalised it as her ultimate reality.

She remains festuring in this fear until the very end when Rivals rebelled against the new order of her Father’s making. As a part of the rebell team herself, she pushed herself and her team to not only win, but also break free from her own fear. This is where her exalted sun comes in play. Sun, which is the natural significator of soul is sitting in the 12th house of liberation of the soul. Here Sun allows the person to liberate herself from the ties of the mortal world, here the terrible past and the Saturnian fear of her father. Coincidentally enough, Sun is also the significator of father as well. It solidifies the theme that the cause of her fear (the father), is also the key to her liberation. She used her 12th house energy of imagination and liberation to battle her 12th house of isolation, which is fascinating.

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Cheerful, extroverted, happy-go-lucky and sunshine with a face, Kise Ryota is the screen ikemen in Kuroko no Basket. Although Kise is a cult favourite, but I think he is sometimes pushed aside with Momoi. In KnB people tend to focus more on the other GoMs rather than Kise. Here is my take on how Kise Ryota’s character and his types are scorned in Shonen Manga.

Shonen and Shojo manga revolve around two different dimensions: while shonen manga focuses on friendships, journeys and solid characteristic developments, shojo manga focuses generally on the romance parts, interpersonal relationships, appearance and struggles of the ordinary main character. Both manga lauds ordinariness and makes the ordinary extra-ordinary one just by showing that they have the possibility to be sublime. While Shojo manga greatly appreciates male beauty to the point of worship, Shonen sort of looks down on male beauty: anyone who identifies himself as good looking, or wants to be good looking is put down by others around him. Let’s see how Kise fell into the same trap.

Kise is introduced in the story in a very Shojo manga fashion. He is looked from the female point of view of Seirin’s girl students as he walks down the main pathway of the school. That piece of scene almost reminded me Takumi Usui entering school in Kaichou wa Maid Sama. From that point, wherever he goes he is greeted and surrounded by female population en large, much to the annoyance of his team members and opponents. Similar to the effect of “male gaze”, exists a “female gaze” which supposedly decides the desirability of a boy, especially in a high school setting. Kise, being handsome by the contemporary Japanese standards thus somewhat becomes the focus of the female gaze which makes males around him conscious and equally anxious. This phenomenon can be asserted with Momoi’s first encounter in the anime with Kuroko in Aida Gym pool. When Kuroko is hugged by a very beautiful and buxom Momoi Satsuki, the boys on his team lament: “I am so jealous of you Kuroko, hope you’ll die.” This was from a rather “harmless” and “normal” bunch of High School Basketballers, then just imagine how it effects the powerhouse boys with similar primal instinct and with greater ego. Thus Kise is treated with hot-and-cold attitude from males around him: be its his former teammates or current.

Kise is thus definitely an eligible bachelor and he surely knows it. However his self-awareness is without vanity or narcissistic edge. He is shown to be appreciative of female attention and not portray himself as a “playboy” or a “Scorer”; he is never addressed by anyone as “charan poran” (womanizer) in the series. This is a very contradictory attitude in Shonen anime. In shonen anime Male sexuality have very limited outlets: either one should be hyper-celibate and not pay attention to any organism marked as female, or one could be hyper-sexual to the point where they objectify the female form in a not so respectable manner–there is nothing in the Middle. In KnB Akashi, Kuroko and Midorima fall in the former end of spectrum while Haizaki Shogo and Aomine Daiki fall into the latter. Even dating and having girlfriend can make you the object of male scorn: in the anime Grand Blue, the department of Mechanical Engineer has a secret pact to stay single and when they find out that Iori Kitahara is living with Chisa (who is his cousin), they almost throw a violent fit. The male solidarity in Shonen thus ostricise the males who express appreciation in female company and show interest in courting and romance. Kise is snubbed in a similar manner for showing interest in a more feminine side. A same kind of snubbing was delivered to Hiroshi Fukuda of Seirin when he confessed on the rooftop that he wanted to get into the team for dating someone. In FreeMomotarou Mikoshiba too, is either ridiculed or snubbed by his teammates for openly admitting to like Gou Matsuoka.

Out of all the Generation of Miracles characters, I think Kise is the most discriminated of all. His discrimination is the unsual kind: he is too important in the plotline to be comic relief like Takao and Izuki and he is too cheerful enough to be the bad boy. So what kind of discrimination does he face? He faces the discrimination for being good looking. Yes, there is a thing to be discriminated for being good looking. I also think Kise has been played within the character of being the “dumb blond”. He is portrayed as “pretty boy” and is expected to limit himself within it. His cheerful attitude is often met with cold shoulder and it is absolutely normalised within the storyline. Unlike other players who greet their rivals outside the courts with a broody attitude and slightly glaring eyes, Kise is the one who advocates “Yesterday’s rivals are today’s friends”. This is a very positive attitude to use in real life to keep the unhealthy competitiveness in check, but it is met with a scorn in the anime. It is shown as if being cheerful is the by-product of being good looking and the former should reflect the latter. This is perhaps the reason Kise’s playing style was completely sniped out of the scene from being “the best of all”. According to the society, a good looking person is just an eye-candy for anyone to drool over and if they have too much agency or talent people enviously comment “(s)he gets all that because of the looks”. It stems from the insecurity of one person having too much social power. The entire thing is very limiting. Kise is not only good-looking, he is acing his modelling career, a field which is highly demanding and taxing and at the same time he is doing well in basketball also in a nationally reputed school. These attributes somewhat gets overshadowed because he is somewhat only identified on screen for his looks. This fact is highlighted with his rivalry with Haizaki Shogo. Haizaki, instead of acknowledging Kise as a player, “marked his territory” by “boning” one of the girls claiming to be Kise’s girlfriend. 

Kise is very much aware of the fact that the swarming bunch of girls are intrinsic to his image, especially as a model and for this reason he tries to be respectful towards them. However, he does not identify the admiration of the fan-brigade with genuine affection. This is the core fact which Haizaki misinterprets about Kise that he derives power from the admiring fangirls. Haizaki despite being the antagonist is pretty much shares the similar prejudice with the people near Kise: that Kise Ryota begins and ends with looks and even his playing style “perfect copy” is less than original. But Kise is not the prejudices that surround him, he is affectionate, loyal and genuine with enough dedication to pursue what he loves. The ideal type of Kise : “a girl that won’t tie me down” says a lot about him. He is eager to meet someone who will respect him for who he actually is and not for his looks or fame. He too is someone who grew out of seeing the surface and judge to observe someone and understand—that is how he started to respect Kuroko at the first place. At the end, when he loses to Touou, he sheds the image of a “cool handsome boy” and cries like a baby in public; something his own captain Kasamatsu or his former teammate Midorima could not do. This shows a lot of courage and strength but also shows that expressing ugly emotions in a public can also be dignified and not necessarily be stripping to masculinity.

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Bishamon or Bishamonten from “Seven Gods of Fortune” in Shintoism is the typical “strong woman” trope character in a Shonen anime called Noragami: she is angry, she is beautiful and conveniently buxom for fans to drool over her. Termed by Yato as “ugly broad” Bishamon is fierce and coarse. However, she is not only that: she has a caring and nurturing side which almost caused her demise once and put her in danger over and over again. So this is my take on Bishamon and why she is the Eastern archetype of “Warrior Mother Goddess” instead of her Shinto persona.

First of all, let’s look what Bishamon actually is in the Classic Shinto religion.  In Japan, Bishamonten (毘沙門天), or just Bishamon (毘沙門) is thought of as an armor-clad god of war or warriors and a punisher of evildoers. Bishamon is portrayed holding a spear in one hand and a small pagoda in the other hand, the latter symbolizing the divine treasure house, whose contents he both guards and gives away. His (because Bishamon is a male in Shintoism) legend derives from the Hindu Demigod “Vaisravana” or “Son of Vishrava”, who is known as Kubera the God of wealth. Both Vaisravana and Bishamon are associated with material fortunes and Bishamon is really a fierce version of Vaisravana, a well-fed, content and rather gluttonous demigod. 

But how a god like Bishamon gets transferred in Noragami to a woman? It could be a design choice by Adachitoka to create a contrasting female character who could meet Yato in a more Godly plane. But I can see some clear Hindu influence in Bishamon’s design. She is inhumanly beautiful, fierce, perfect body and with rapunzel length hair. Her design is very similar to the Warrior Goddess Durga. In the “Meditation of Durga” she is described as

“the one with great length-ed dreadlocks in her head…whose face is beautiful like the full moon, whose complexion is as fair as flax seed flower…whose beautiful teeth sit on her full lips, whose full breasts hold the elixir of immortality*– (Meditation of Durga, verse 1-3)

The physical description of Durga has uncanny similarity with Bishamon. the Goddess is also called “nabayouvana sampannang, sarbabharana bhushitang” (who is young and clad with fantastic jewels). Bishamon may be young and beautiful but she does not wear any eastern jewels: she is rather clad with her regalias posed as weapons, navigation and clothes; thus it isn’t far off.

It is not only the superficial physical appearance that are similar with Durga and Bishamon; they also share some character similarities. The traditional Bishamonten is not known to have a mount or Divine Familiar, Bishamon in the anime on the other hand does a divine familiar in the form of mount: Kuraha, who takes the shape of Lion and can travel in the air. This is an iconic similarity with Durga, whose divine mount is a lion. In “hymns of Gandhesvari” Durga (or her Gandhesvari form) is described as “Simhasta” (the one who rides a lion). Durga is also known as “Simha vahini” (she whose vehicle is a lion). The Bishamonten is known to carry only one weapon, a spear, but Bishamon in Noragami has or carries multiple weapons because she has multiple regalia. In the “Meditation of Durga” the goddess is known to carry a goad, bow and arrow, executioner’s sword, discus, conch, mace, shield, rosary and the trident. Bishamon too carries multiple weapons: whip, guns, knife long machete etc, just like Goddess Durga herself. One part of Durga’s weapon is “Aveda barma” or the “impenetrable armour” forged by the ironsmith of the Gods, Vishwakarma (the forger of the universe). Bishamon wears a full blown armour by her regalia Aiha when the Ebisu-crisis occured and she had to journey to underworld.

Now, in the parallel of two warrior goddesses who seem to be far from society’s idea of ideal femininity, where does the nurturing part fit? According to the Hindu mythology Durga is only a fragment of the ideal femininity: the rightful rage of “Adi Shakti” (Ancient Energy), the Female mother goddess. (Excuse my jargon) in the “Durga Saptashati” of Rigveda, the Goddess is described as “mother of all creation” (verse no 3) and at the same time she is described as “creator, sustainer and destroyer of the world” (verse no 4) of which she is the Mother. Bishamon has an extensive collection of regalia: she does not discriminate who is weak or who is useful, she takes everyone in as her own according to Noragami Wiki: 

“She willingly accepts any wandering and troubled spirit, useful or not, and adds them to her family. “

She and her Shinkis live in Takamagahara which is the universe on its own, so she is the guardian and mother of her Shinkis in a way. Takamagahara is situated in a place which has golden hued galaxy as the backdrop of the sky. The form of Durga which alludes to the primeval Female Goddess is called “Bhuvaneswari” (she, whose body is the universe). The shinkis or regalias derive strength from her divine existence and they exist in a palpable form because of her. It again alludes to “Devi Suktam” (the introduction of the Goddess) where is has been mentioned:

“ I am the Queen of the Universe; I give wealth to those who worship me. I am the all-knowing one and the prime one among the worshippable deities. I enter many bodies as the Soul, taking various forms and with different manifestations, in various ways. … That one who eats food, who sees, breathes, and hears whatever is said, he does all that only through me (my powers). Those who do not understand me, die. “ –(Devi Suktam, verse 4 & 5)

The sense of being center of the universe has brought a tremendous sense of loss and grief to the goddesses in many occassion. In the myths, when Goddess Parvati (the calm version of Durga) loses her child Ganesha, she assumes her rageful spirit again to destroy the universe that has taken her child from her. Bishamon has faced tremendous sense of loss and grief when she lost her “Ma” clan due to the malefic thoughts of the Shinkis–an action which blighted her tremendously. She too assumes a vengeful spree towards Yato, who allegedly slaughtered her “Ma” clan. 

In short Bishamon is a great representation of motherly strength in anime field: the term “mother” often evokes a sense of tenderness, security and comfort, but it has been proven in the ancient myth that bringing life into the world and the sense of protectiveness towards life is the most powerful energy of all: it can make an break everything in existence and when the motherly tenderness is challenged it can manifest in one of the most destructive forces in the world. Thus the “ugly broad” “stern powerhouse” persona is only skin deep. The essence of Bishamon is far greater and more empowering. 

* In ancient India, full breasts of a woman, which are swollen with milk was granted as a symbol of motherly power, nourishment and comfort. A woman with moderate breast size or small breast size were considered equally beautiful. In fact talking about sexuality in religious and secular discourses by scholars and sages were acceptable. It has no sexual connotation whatsoever. Please don’t perverse it in any sense.

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wow that’s a lot, now tags (although I have no evidence that they like Noragami)

:@sidd-hit-my-butt-ham@yanderebakugo@kurokonbscenarios@kurokonobasket@kurokonoboisket@art-zites@idinaxye@sp-chernobyl@strawbe3ryshortcake@reservethemoon@rilnen@a-shy-potato@thirsthourdemon@animebxxch@edagawasatoru@akawaiishi-blog@reinyrei@chloe-noir@theswahn@ahobaka-trash@jeilliane@trashtoria @scarlettedwardsposts@quirkydarling@ghostieswaifu@levihan-freaks@hope-im-spirited-away@yves0809@marshiro1101 @bubziles @heartfullofknb@kit-kat57@akichan-th