Goku the Monkey King?
I have to admit right now that I am not the biggest fan of manga or anime. Besides considering AKIRA one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, and having a growing interest in series like Lone Wolf and Cub, Battle Royale and Blade of the Immortal, I’m certainly not the most knowledgeable employee on the huge selection of manga we carry in the store (for manga questions your best bet is to talk to A.J.). However, recently I found out about the Chinese folk legend of Sun Wukong, which has been commonly adapted into many notable anime and manga series, and I thought it would be fun to share this with the blog readers.
Sun Wukong, or the Monkey King, is a main character in the Chinese novel Journey to the West dating back to the 1590’s. The novel tells the story of how Sun Wukong, a shape shifting monkey, accompanies monks into India to retrieve Buddhist sutras. This story has remained so popular throughout Asia over the centuries that it has been ingrained into many aspects of Asian pop culture, most significantly the Japanese anime series Dragon Ball. The series main character Son Goku, who has many monkey features, is directly based on Sun Wukong, and the premise of collecting the Dragon
Balls resembles the quest to collect the Buddhist sutras.
Other manga series that reference the legendary Sun Wukong include Naruto, Demons of Shanghai and Gensomaden Saiyuki. Even the American Vertigo series Lucifer retells the Sun Wukong story in the final issue. So if you thought there was nothing you could learn from those crazy Japanese comics and cartoons you were dead wrong. For more information on Sun Wukong and its relationship to manga click here and here.
This blog was inspired by a conversation I had with customer Bruce Wulff.
Thanks Bruce!
-Jon
posted by Star Clipper at Wednesday, November 29, 2006
2 Comments:
i was talking to jon about these movies on wednesday I don't know if this is the correct link so if it could be forwarded, thanks.
Also a big thank you for having such a fine trio of young artists at your store, It is always exciting to meet new talent, and makes the buyer, me, feel that I have spent my money now and in the future on real people with something to say!
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I may be a little late on the commentary, however also take a look at a figure named "Hanuman" from Indian folk history. Many believe that the monkey king legend was derived from the character of Hanuman.
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