Horned leader symbolism in anime

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AndyThomas
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Horned leader symbolism in anime

Post by AndyThomas »

The old hands may remember the question marks over San Ku Kai and X-Bomber's similarities in character design. I just watched Monkey on Channel 4 and I noticed that the Emperor of China had a sort of helmet/crown which was similar to Makara's helmet, with horns coming from either side. I think there may be something in Japanese/Chinese mythology that this comes from, but I've no idea what. Anyone?
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FZeroOne
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Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 1:42 pm

Horned leader symbolism in anime

Post by FZeroOne »

At a guess, the horns may have been inspired by the Japanese legends of "oni", mischevious demons that are often portrayed as having little horns on their heads.Urusei Yatsura is almost certainly the best known anime example of these characters, and boy if only they could all be Lums... Alternatively, the X-Bomber villians always put me slightly in mind of Mongol horde style clothes. Also, a great many robots from the "Chogokin" super-robot era ( mid-70s to early-80s ) also had horns of various kinds...
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Happosai
Posts: 179
Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2001 1:38 pm

Horned leader symbolism in anime

Post by Happosai »

A lot of horned costumes and mecha in anime, etc. of recent times are based on samurai costumes, which often included elaborate headgear -- check out any Kurosawa samurai epic to see helmets adorned with a whole array of horns, antlers, cresents, etc.Not being a scholar of east Asian history, I don't know the origins of this, though...[Happosai]
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