Thousands of Japanese attend the funeral of a cartoon character

[Errigal]

From The Times
April 19, 2007
Fantasy funeral brings out thousands of real mourners

Leo Lewis in Tokyo

A lone temple bell tolled through the Tokyo night. Seven priests chanted the doom-laden lament for the dead. Thousands of black-suited mourners queued solemnly in the rain to offer incense and prayers to their fallen hero, Raoh.
As the tears rolled down the cheeks of the bereaved, few seemed bothered that nobody had actually died.
For although Raoh exists only in the fantasy world of manga comics and anime cartoons, the grief experienced by ordinary Japanese at his funeral yesterday was real.
“He was like a father figure to me,” Makoto Sounodai, a 21-year old Tokyo student, said. “I feel about him the way Westerners feel about Elvis.”
Roland Kelts, of Tokyo University, an expert on anime, described the scene at the Koyasan Tokyo Betsuin temple last night as “perhaps the most extreme blurring of reality and fantasy that Japanese pop culture has produced”. The full Buddhist shokonshiki, or spirit-rising ceremony, represented the first time that a Japanese temple had held a funeral for a fictional character.
As the arch villain of one of Japan’s best-loved — and most violent — comics, Raoh has as wide a fan base as any music or film star. “Raoh showed us the inner strength of men and showed that power can rule the world as effectively as love,” said a sobbing 38-year old fan who called himself Lina, after one of the characters in the story.
As the seating inside the temple overflowed, 2,500 mourners watched the hour-long ceremony on giant screens outside. Those with seats at the front, who included the cartoonists and voiceover actors involved in the series, fingered Buddhist juzurosaries as Raoh’s soul was “sent back to his native star”.
In Fist of the Northstar, a manga series that started in the 1980s, Raoh is a vast, merciless tyrant whose cruelty and thirst for power make him supreme in the futuristic, postapocalyptic wastelands. Raoh’s brother and hero of the series, Kenshiro, has struggled to defeat this despot for nearly three decades and, in the latest movie, succeeds.
Although the action in Fist of the Northstar involves severed limbs and blood-soaked executions, many admire the series for its complex plots and moral dilemmas. Keiko Tsurugai, 35, a mother of three, said that her love for the comics arose from the way they tackled the dichotomy of love and hatred between brothers.
The funeral highlights the central role that comics and animation play in the lives of ordinary Japanese. Despite the distractions of text messages and handheld videogames, manga remains the favourite reading material for the very long journeys endured by many commuters. For many, manga comics perform the entertainment functions of comedians, soap stars and film actors.

source

[Gavril]

Absurd at first, but little different from all the idiots who mourn the death of popstars in the West.

[Leland Gaunt]

Originally Posted by Ljubomir

death of popstars in the West.

I hope you are talking about likes 2Pac and not John Lennon or Kurt Cobain?

[Gavril]

Same shit.

[Errigal]

Originally Posted by Ljubomir

Absurd at first, but little different from all the idiots who mourn the death of popstars in the West.

Originally Posted by Ed Gein

I hope you are talking about likes 2Pac and not John Lennon or Kurt Cobain?

.. or Princess Diana. I just hope there weren't many people who had an immotional breakdown for both Tupac and Princess Di.

[Gavril]

In that case I won't break it to you.
But, whatever, people have breakdowns from the most ridiculous things.

[Strengthandhonour]

If you mourn a cartoon character..something is terribly wrong with your society. Reminds me why I completely hate anime.

[Gavril]

Obviously, yes. Attachment to pop culture like that is a reaction to a need of something vital. That is basic psychology.

[Carnyx]

Is there an afterlife for cartoon characters?

[Gavril]

If they repent their sins...

edit: last post in this thread, I swear.

[Kernunnos]

Originally Posted by A Few Acres of Snow

.. or Princess Diana. I just hope there weren't many people who had an immotional breakdown for both Tupac and Princess Di.

As for Dian, my wife wept and I was just too busy avoiding laughing.

A couple of days before I had seen her yacht ancjhored in the same Sardinian gulf Iwas vacationing (spending my few savings ...).

That woman had an entire ship and crew for her continous holydays, which were interrupted only by a few days of ceremonies.

She had not been really suffering her entire life as my gullible wife was believing.

She was sobbing just for a spoiled brat.

[Carnyx]

People must have a very empty life to cry their heart out for the death of such wortheless individuals (whom they don't even know for real).

[Crvena zvezda]

no fucking noble should be sobbed for. all modern monarchs/monarchs in waiting are disgraces to their nation. plus, she got what she deserved for getting romantically involved with a sand nigger (arab).

[Marcus Marulus]

Originally Posted by Carnyx

Is there an afterlife for cartoon characters?

Surely there is, how dare you doubt?

Anyway, it's not a big deal: a few thaousand Japanese gone berserk and mourning the death of a cartoon character. We have millions of people in Europe gone berserk and supporting multiculturalism and globalism, it' s much much worse.

And this whole thing reminds me of Arthur Conan Doyle. He "killed" his famous character Sherlock Holmes in his last novel. Sherlock died while wrestling with Moriarty (a Manichaean theme?), both of them two falling into some abbyss. But the whole British reading public was so outraged by the death of their favourite hero, so Doyle was forced to "revive" him in a new novel.

[Marcus Marulus]

Originally Posted by Crvena zvezda

no fucking noble should be sobbed for. all modern monarchs/monarchs in waiting are disgraces to their nation. plus, she got what she deserved for getting romantically involved with a sand nigger (arab).

She was very "popular" in some circles, long time before she got involved with Dodi.