Saiyuki: a paean to atheism?
May. 22nd, 2006 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI am watching Saiyuki and I have to say I have never yet seen a celestial realm, full of divine beings, that fills me so much with rage. Seriously, these gods and goddesses basically evoke loathing. The gods of Greek mythology were indolent and hedonistic and petty and occasionally cruel, but these ones are not only all of this, but they also surround themselves with freaky arbitrary taboos, punish the innocent, and run a 'heaven' that is more a totalitarian beaurocracy than anything else. Yay. Not.
Actually, I am rooting for Homura (the Celestial War Prince) to succeed in overthrowing heaven. He might be the story's Lucifer, but he is way better than the heaven he is trying to overthrow. I've just gotten to the point where we find out that Homura fell in love with a fully divine being, named Rinrei (he himself is a product of a taboo, a child of human and an immortal and I don't even want to contemplate as to what happened to his parents), but it's not even as if he set up a nursery with the girl. I don't think they even discussed a relationship whatever their feelings were. And what does the chief Heavenly Honcho (the Jade Emperor) do? He sends Rinrei down to earth to be reincarnated as a mortal, and he makes Homura a War Prince, a clearly highly coveted position that left its previous occupant shell-shocked enough or messed up enough that he just sits and stares blankly in a mental coma. Yay.
So far, we have a heaven that:
1. Creates bizarre and pointless taboos about cross-breeding. Humans have that too, as cross-breeding between demons and humans is taboo but it's supposed to be a stupid prejudice. One of our main characters is off-spring of just such a union, in fact, and has yet to become a homicidal maniac or an ill omen or anything of the sort. But apparently gods aren't as flexible as humans?
a. This leads to the Homura/Rinrei thing, where they punish people for not any actions, but for feelings.
b. This leads to them doing things that are more drastic: one of the gods who came down with Homura is one whose mortal wife was betrayed and killed.
2. Heaven is all about using informers, and is kinda 'watch what you say' environment. I would imagine this is how they found out about Homura, we meet the nasty informer involved in 1b, general who hangs out with Merciful Goddess tells her that her comments are dangerous when she says that heaven is more boring than the world below.
3. It's run by incompetents. Heck, a whole bunch of lower level divine beings join with Homura because they hate being ordered about by someone who is not qualified, up above.
4. It's full of boredom. The divine beings keep being bored.
5. Heaven forces the 'half-breeds' to do its dirty work, the work they don't want to do themselves.
6. Whatever it is they did to Goku. They locked him in a cave for hundreds of years, and ultimately he's a kid.
This place needs an anti-discrimination lawyer. Ugh. No wonder Sanzo argues with them and isn't too respectful. I don't think they deserve much. Kougaiji, the bad guys' leader, treats his subordinates better than the heavenly court does. Homura has a sense of nobility in his battles and ultimately accords mercy to Kou and actually gets the Sanzo-group to save Kou's soul. The 'proper' gods? Good luck trying to get them to do anything decent. Homura's point that the world is run by those with power clearly applies to heaven. The gods run the world not because of their wonderfulness or understanding but because of their powers.
Also, the Saiyuki world as a whole is really bleak, isn't it? Everyone is walking wounded held together with a mental equivalent of spellotape. And the celestial world is rigidly cruel and the real world is in chaos, and if you have anything you treasure you are going to lose it. Kinda Buddhist in a way.
Actually, I am rooting for Homura (the Celestial War Prince) to succeed in overthrowing heaven. He might be the story's Lucifer, but he is way better than the heaven he is trying to overthrow. I've just gotten to the point where we find out that Homura fell in love with a fully divine being, named Rinrei (he himself is a product of a taboo, a child of human and an immortal and I don't even want to contemplate as to what happened to his parents), but it's not even as if he set up a nursery with the girl. I don't think they even discussed a relationship whatever their feelings were. And what does the chief Heavenly Honcho (the Jade Emperor) do? He sends Rinrei down to earth to be reincarnated as a mortal, and he makes Homura a War Prince, a clearly highly coveted position that left its previous occupant shell-shocked enough or messed up enough that he just sits and stares blankly in a mental coma. Yay.
So far, we have a heaven that:
1. Creates bizarre and pointless taboos about cross-breeding. Humans have that too, as cross-breeding between demons and humans is taboo but it's supposed to be a stupid prejudice. One of our main characters is off-spring of just such a union, in fact, and has yet to become a homicidal maniac or an ill omen or anything of the sort. But apparently gods aren't as flexible as humans?
a. This leads to the Homura/Rinrei thing, where they punish people for not any actions, but for feelings.
b. This leads to them doing things that are more drastic: one of the gods who came down with Homura is one whose mortal wife was betrayed and killed.
2. Heaven is all about using informers, and is kinda 'watch what you say' environment. I would imagine this is how they found out about Homura, we meet the nasty informer involved in 1b, general who hangs out with Merciful Goddess tells her that her comments are dangerous when she says that heaven is more boring than the world below.
3. It's run by incompetents. Heck, a whole bunch of lower level divine beings join with Homura because they hate being ordered about by someone who is not qualified, up above.
4. It's full of boredom. The divine beings keep being bored.
5. Heaven forces the 'half-breeds' to do its dirty work, the work they don't want to do themselves.
6. Whatever it is they did to Goku. They locked him in a cave for hundreds of years, and ultimately he's a kid.
This place needs an anti-discrimination lawyer. Ugh. No wonder Sanzo argues with them and isn't too respectful. I don't think they deserve much. Kougaiji, the bad guys' leader, treats his subordinates better than the heavenly court does. Homura has a sense of nobility in his battles and ultimately accords mercy to Kou and actually gets the Sanzo-group to save Kou's soul. The 'proper' gods? Good luck trying to get them to do anything decent. Homura's point that the world is run by those with power clearly applies to heaven. The gods run the world not because of their wonderfulness or understanding but because of their powers.
Also, the Saiyuki world as a whole is really bleak, isn't it? Everyone is walking wounded held together with a mental equivalent of spellotape. And the celestial world is rigidly cruel and the real world is in chaos, and if you have anything you treasure you are going to lose it. Kinda Buddhist in a way.
