AnimeAficianado

In many an anime and manga there have been many references to historical events and times. For example the anime Ruroni Kenshin takes place in the Mieji Restoration Era, is the anime anything to truely do with the time? If so how true has it stayed to the history behind it?

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Zui Quan

Much of the time an anime or manga will be set in an actual time period, but the names, places, events won't jive with actual history.

This is when I miss Tsurara. She knows all this shit. But of course SHE went to Japan.

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N.Y._Soulja

LOL, it could be like historical fiction, anime style. Who knows,

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Arrianna

Consider it an incentive to read up on the real history. There's all kinds of resources online.

After watching Kenshin I found a lot of stuff on the Meji Era. Fascinating. I hadn't realized that some of my favorite Japanese artists had lived then. It makes everything a little more real when you know something about the history even though the anime is still fiction.

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Ted Turtle

Yeah I miss her too. She used to bring a lot to this place and this section. As for the question Zui got it right. Most don't use real places or names. If they did that then some people might expect it to be too much to the history of the person/event. The same goes to anime based on fables. Like Dragonball was vaguely based on a chinese story.

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Hikari Sakurai

Kenshin is a work of fiction.... no dobut about it, but quite a bit of is based on historical fact.
After I first saw the first OVA, I read about the Meiji Restoration, and it's as Arianna said, very very interesting. Many of the supporting characters whom appear in the first OVA are based on actual people.... and they used their real names too.

Other anime based on historical events, or similar.
RG Veda by Clamp, is based on the Rig Veda, the oldest of the four Vedas (Hindu texts). It is a collection of hymns praising the gods and was set in writing at about 900 BCE.
The tennyo legend in Ayashi no Ceres is based on actual Japanese mytholgy.
Matantei Loki Ragnarok is influenced by Norse mythology.
And there's many others that I can't even think of now. ^^

As for how true they remain to the actual facts, it always depends.... it's where artistic license comes into play. The creator could choose to stay as true to the truth as possible, or completely turn it upside down.
For example: Abe no Seimei, who appears in Abenobashi Mahou Shotengai, was an Onmyou master from ancient Japan, but I highly dobut he traveled through time nor had robotic shikigami serving him and had electricity running in his house during the 10th century, or whenether he lived.

So summing it all up really, anime takes it's inspiration from all types of actual events, myths, and facts and it's really quite interesting to look them all up.

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AnimeAficianado

I always wondered how a show was created and i'm finding out lately everything i thought was just made (and not just anime) has some hidden meaning behind it, and i'm glad i found the same to be true for anime (to an extent of more towards history even though there is meaning also but that goes from episode to episode).
But now that i know that there is history behind the shows... What about the different shows themselves? Thanks to you guys i know how close Ruroni Kenshin is, but what about other anime? Steel Angel Kurumi for example, i doubt there were people from the future who went back to that time to give people super tough fighting robots to save the world in the future, but what about the omnyo way? How true has that been played as? And was there truely a belief of Mystics being able to use spiritual powers for prayer and defence? (as well as restraint against evil spirits, ect.)

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LenMiyata

Grumble Grumble Grumble
Well, it is true according to common japanese folklore... As is often the case, tales of 'historic folklore' have to be taken with a grain of salt. It is a historic fact that Miyamoto Mushashi (samurai legend, author of the 'Book of 5 Rings') and Saiyuki ('Journey to the West' and the 'Legend of the Monkey King') were persons that did exist but are credited with mythological abilities or companions. When compared to western tales of historic folklore, such as 'King Arther & the Knights of the Round Table' or the stories from Homer of the 'Greek Myths', the fables are no more realistic or outlandish then the eastern fables...

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Hikari Sakurai

Omnyouji's (being able to protect people from evil spirits, summon Shikigami etc) are quite true in Japanese folklore. For example, unless I have my info wrong... Abe no Seimei, whom I mentioned before, did actually live, and he was apartenly one of the most powerful Omnyou of his time. Again, unless my have my info wrong, the Omnyou way was quite popular in Heian period Japan (around the year 1000) and were often used to protect the royal court and the emperor.

Omnyou are often compared to the Western concept of a Wizard, and their Shikigami often compared to a Wizard's familar.
The way of the Omnyou are often said to be linked to Taoism and Buddism, more than Shinto.

So far, the best anime/manga I've seen dealing with the Omyou way is without a dobut is Tokyo Babylon. All three of the main characters practice the art in some form or another, and the majority of the story revolves around it that fact.
Some other anime with Omnyou references in it would be Abenobashi (of course, it's all very much so warped for comedic effect) X (of course, being a sequel to Tokyo Babylon) Blue Seed and even Spirited Away. (the paper bird that follow Chihiro could very well be Shikigami)

A fairy brief explanation of Omnyou, Shikigami and their references in anime and manga can be found here:
http://www.anime-myth.com/onmyodo.html

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