Dex-chan lover
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2018
- Messages
- 3,527
It would be nice if we learned more about these oni as they raise a bunch of questions regarding cosmology. Clearly the sage has a hand in it but Ryuuto implied that even heroes can't guarantee humanity will survive. They don't really fit into the DQ narrative though this story is admittedly as much Wuxia as DQ. The origins of oni are a syncretism of Yokai (native Japanese fae, non-corporeal spirits, both dead & inhuman), Yaksha (Indian fae) and Vedic Rakshasa/Asura a large, man-eating, humanoid race. The latter is the closest to what is depicted here. The earliest depictions of Rakshasa in the Mahabharata do not fit a simple dualism of good and evil. They are powerful warriors, expert magicians and illusionists. Some are depicted as monstrous and others beautiful. They are distinctly corporeal though and could have offspring with humans but are more or less demigods. Finally there's the uniquely East Asian Buddhist depictions of oni torturing dead sinners in Naraka (Hell).
The dragon god stuff is also pretty derivative (I guess there's the dragovians in DQ8) but neutral, sentient dragons appear in plenty of fantasy literature in the East and West, and it established where the main antagonist comes from. They mentioned the calamity phenomenon, but this oni god was apparently responsible for Koharu's clan being wiped out which means he didn't gain this power just now. How exactly was the hero suppose to deal with another malevolent god aside from the evil dragon? Not to mention that encounter with "Lucifer" in the tower last arc. How do all of these deities fit with the goddess in charge of summoning otherworlders and reincarnation? Is it just something lost in translation? I know the Shinto concept of "kami" is much more ambiguous than an omnipotent, monotheistic God.
The dragon god stuff is also pretty derivative (I guess there's the dragovians in DQ8) but neutral, sentient dragons appear in plenty of fantasy literature in the East and West, and it established where the main antagonist comes from. They mentioned the calamity phenomenon, but this oni god was apparently responsible for Koharu's clan being wiped out which means he didn't gain this power just now. How exactly was the hero suppose to deal with another malevolent god aside from the evil dragon? Not to mention that encounter with "Lucifer" in the tower last arc. How do all of these deities fit with the goddess in charge of summoning otherworlders and reincarnation? Is it just something lost in translation? I know the Shinto concept of "kami" is much more ambiguous than an omnipotent, monotheistic God.
