Of Myth and Anime.

[FlatKlown]

I was watching Tenchi Muyo! yesterday and noticed that Ryoko calls herself "Demon Caller" in the dubbed skript and sorta kinda calls herself that in the actual Japanese translation. I also watched Real Bout High School, agian with a character named Ryoko, but this time she was called (by a Freaky Floaty Girl) "Demon Lord Of Yenen".

Now I've come to realize that Anime has a tendancy to have links to mythology (of any kind).

Here are a few examples I can think of off the top of my head:

The Eva's from Evangelion being based on Babolonean (MP?) Gods, and the Angels usually pertaining to Japanese gods.

The entire idea of Lilith and Adam from Evangelion being of Jewish folklore.

Goku from Dragonball sharing the same name and other similiaritues (flying Nimbus, the Power poll, his eating habits) with a god of either Chinese or Japanese mythology... I'm pretty sure it's Japanese.... named Son Gokou.

I know there are more that I know... I just can't remember them right now. lol

So anyways back to the original question, where does the name or Bases idea(s) for the Characters of Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo! and the Ryoko of Real Bout High School come from? If anybody has any idea, it'd be really helpful to me.

[ohmrbill]

Goku from Dragonball sharing the same name and other similiaritues (flying Nimbus, the Power poll, his eating habits) with a god of either Chinese or Japanese mythology... I'm pretty sure it's Japanese.... named Son Gokou.

Dragon Ball is based off a Chinese legend called Saiyuki (aka Journey to the West; there are probably a dozen more names for it), in which there's a monkey named Son Goku. So that's where his name comes from.

So anyways back to the original question, where does the name or Bases idea(s) for the Characters of Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo! and the Ryoko of Real Bout High School come from? If anybody has any idea, it'd be really helpful to me.

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that Ryoko was just a fairly common name in Japan.

[Umino]

Sailor Moon is also a series fulled with Myths. The main character's name Tsukino Usagi means "Rabbit of the Moon" which is related to the little Rabbits on the moon Japanese myth.

[Jade_GL]

Also, Sailormoon (of course) has links to Greek Mythology and Christian ideas.

And Usagi's name comes from a Japanese legend about a rabbit living on the moon. I think the rabbit also makes rice balls, but I really have no idea, I read it so long ago that the true story escapes me. And darn it, I can't find the site. I found a site that recounts it, but not the same thing. Urg. :)

Utena also has very interesting things. Some songs in the Black Rose arc are written in archaic Japanese, and the songs are chock full of mentions of stories and myths. Akio calls himself the "Morning Star" or Lucifer. Tons and tons of stuff here. I would advise, if you don't mind spoilers on Utena, to go to ttp://duellists.tj/ and read the notes for episodes.Those notes will tell you about legends, sayings, etc. Very interesting stuff.

Hmmm. I am still thinking about other series, but a lot have all kinds of myth references from all types of culture in them, so I'll keep looking out for more.

Radio Edit: Wow, looks like I got beaten to the punch on Sailormoon. :D

[Mysterious Saturn]

Speaking of Sailor Moon, Endymion and Neo Queen Serenity (Selene of course) comes from the myth of Enydmion and Selene. One of my personal favorite myths, despite what Selene did to Endymion.

Edit: Yeah, and you can't forget about Pegasus and the Amazons, of course.

[RogueMartian]

http://www.anime-myth.com/

I found that link not too long ago when I was looking up mythology in anime. It's really interesting, if you want to give it a look.

[Pepperidge]

The Eva's from Evangelion being based on Babolonean (MP?) Gods, and the Angels usually pertaining to Japanese gods.

No, the Evas were based on "oni", Japanese demons. That whole "Babylonian Gods" thing was just a rumour that Anno himself shot down in 1996.

[jeffrey 228]

Well that is not the only Anime that also contains Myths ever thought that Inu Yasha has tons of Info, like demons, Magic, and unsual things going on during the Fedual History, and I beleve half of that info is true, I searched it on Google on serval theries(Sp?) and words and have found some odd facts and myths on it.

[Conan-san]

and (Odly enough) the 4 Bit beasts the the Blade-breakers own in Beyblade are based on 4 Chinese gods.

[NovaSaber]

Those 4 Gods also appear in Digimon, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Fushigi Yuugi, and were mentioned (sort of) in Cowboy Bebop. And they're in several video games as well.