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- Joined
- Apr 12, 2019
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One of the things that may be confusing people is that while there specific terms for various supernatural creatures (particularly ghosts) in Japanese, there are many more terms that are more ambiguous in their meaning. Bakemono, ayakashi, mamono, akki, kibi, tsukimono, oni, akuma, and a number of other words (mostly rooted around the 魔 "ma" character) can all refer to various types of supernatural creatures.
Even the relatively-familiar (among weebs) "youkai" is pretty vague. Youkai don't necessarily have a physical body; they can be spirits or phantoms as well as the more familiar monstrous creatures depending on the mythology you reference.
Further confusing the issue is that in classical Japanese mythology, the line between the real world and the spirit world is pretty thin, and many supernatural creatures were said to have been able to slip between the two at will, suggesting that even a more tangible "monster" might have spectral qualities.
With that in mind, cut translators (and mangaka!) some slack when you read stories with supernatural elements like this. ψ(｀∇´)ψ
Even the relatively-familiar (among weebs) "youkai" is pretty vague. Youkai don't necessarily have a physical body; they can be spirits or phantoms as well as the more familiar monstrous creatures depending on the mythology you reference.
Further confusing the issue is that in classical Japanese mythology, the line between the real world and the spirit world is pretty thin, and many supernatural creatures were said to have been able to slip between the two at will, suggesting that even a more tangible "monster" might have spectral qualities.
With that in mind, cut translators (and mangaka!) some slack when you read stories with supernatural elements like this. ψ(｀∇´)ψ
