Tragedy Naruto Cosplay Hot Again
Posted By admin on December 27, 2009
Naruto knows tragedy intimately. His parents were killed in a war; Sasuke, his best friend, lost his entire clan to a murderous brother and became hell-bent on revenge; Jiraya, Naruto’s favorite teacher, was murdered by another student named Pain, whose aim was to destroy the world. Sai, the newest member to join Naruto’s ninja team, had to kill his classmates in order to graduate from his martial arts school.
Magic, romance and martial arts aside, the story of Naruto would put horror master Stephen King’s novels to shame. Yet the Japanese manga (comic book or graphic novel) and anime (Japanese animation) series has become wildly popular all over the world. And in the United States, it has presented children with a radically divergent narrative than that of fairytales told a generation ago.
There are no soft landings, no candy-coated protection in the story lines from the Far East. Behind those round, puppy-eyed, cuddly characters, with their perfect western features, lies a set of ancient eastern sensibilities informed by human suffering rarely known in the land of “happily ever after.” It is why, now in middle age, as an immigrant from a war torn country, Vietnam, I watch Naruto religiously.
“The characters may have some powers, but they are vulnerable. They might be beaten by somebody, and people who read manga sympathize deeply with these characters.” Lone wolf and cub
For Japanese adults, good manga is seen on the same level as a contemporary novel. “If Superman and Spiderman have wives and kids and real domestic dramas,” Koike said, “they will have adult readers.”
Koike, a history professor, can speak with authority. The first issue of the “Lone Wolf and Cub” U.S. edition sold around 120,000 copies in the late 1970s, making it the best-selling manga in the United States for decades. In Japan, the epic became one of the longest-running TV shows in its history, and was made into a six-film series.
It’s the story of a samurai who took his baby boy on a “road to hell” and became an assassin for hire while seeking vengeance against Retsudo, a powerful man who ordered the massacre of his clan. Daigoro grew up watching his samurai-turned-assassin father slash, stab and chop their enemies. In the final confrontation, with his father slain and Retsudo, their arch nemesis, wounded, the little boy picks up his enemy’s spear and rushes furiously toward him. Recognizing spiritual kinship in Daigoro’s warrior spirit, Retsudo embraces the boy and, as his own spear pierces his heart, cries out: “Grandson of my heart!”
Not exactly kid stuff of the late 70s. But these narratives are now vying for the attention of American kids. The saccharine happily-ever-after ending that has been spoon-fed to children by the church of Disney since the end of World War II is being seriously challenged.
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