Talk:Doomed Megalopolis

message: The characters name is Keiko Tatsumi, not Keiko Mieko.
 Keiko Tatsumi accurately displayed the characteristics of Kwannon;
-  She was kind, but headstrong when it came to doing what was right, to the point of disobeying her husband (practically unheard of in early 20th century Japan).
-  She had an uncommon ability to endure the harshest suffering with the deepest patience, far more even than a "typical Japanese woman."
-  In accordance to the legend about her which says "her kindness turned a hell, into a heaven," it is Kwannon's kindness which overcomes Kato's evil, not outright combativeness.
In short, it seems to me that the author created the character Keiko from commonly known characteristics of Kwannon throughout Japan and other parts of Asia.
Starting to ramble here, so let me get to the point; what the enlightened state of Nirvana is in Budhism, is a person's "true form" according to the religion.  Immortality, mystical abilities, ultimate knowledge beyond all physical knowledge, is said to be, in both Budhism and Daoism, the "true natural state" of a human being.  In other words, Keiko, "godess" or mercy or not, is fully human.
Ultimately, the story is about Japan abandoning traditions and, in accordance to shinto religion, mideval Japanese becoming angry at their descendants.
Here is the overarching message of Doomed Megalopolis; what makes modern Japan what it is, a cultured society with high education, very low crime, and a high quality of life, are largely due to old traditions which kept that society together through turbulent times.  The modern people of Doomed Megalopolis scoff at those traditions, and the suffering their ancestors had to go through in order for modern Japanese to enjoy the comfortable lives they did even in the early 20th century.  Basically, 20th century Japanese are ungrateful brats and the angry ancestors from feudal era Japan are ticked off spirits out for revenge who chose Kato as their representative.  That's really all it is.  A poignant message for the Japanese people not to forget their traditions, but ultimately irrelevant to us westerners.
Think about Japanese history; for most of their history up until the Meiji restoration, Japan was not a good place to live.  Indeed, for most of their history their neighbors in Korea, China, and other parts of Asia saw the island as a den of brigands, thieves, and lowlives.  Condescending stereotypes to be sure but, compared to China, for a long time Japan was the ancient equivalent of a third world country.  Also, for much of that history, generation after generation of Japanese struggled hard (often unsuccessfully) so that their children would have better lives.  They did not succeed until the 19th century, during the Meiji restoration and later on, western style modernization.
It is a tendency for many modernized Japanese to not respect old traditions.  Japanese traditionalists point out that the ancestors of modern day Japanese suffered a lot so that current Japanese could live the way they do now.  To disrespect old traditions is, in essence, to disrespect them and what they fought for.  In Shinto religion, this is a very bad thing.  If you are a follower of Shinto, disrespecting your ancestors is something that IS NOT reccomended.
Also, I don't think Doomed Megalopolis was misogynist at all.  Given the time period, the women in question acted with realism to spare.  Now, Keiko was strong because a spiritual duty rested on her shoulders.  A duty that was, to calm the anger of the neglected ancestors of the Japanese people.  The rage and fury at the ungratefulness of their descendants in fact, is what gave the demon Kato his power.  Kato was an unbeatable foe throughout the series not because of "Budhist pessimism" as is the acusation, but because, well, those ancestors had a right to be pissed.
Imagine working 18 hours a day since age 11.  You work even harder so that your own children don't have to do that.  You are a loving but strict parent, decidedly non-abusive in any way, and yet when your children grow up they give you no credit at all for their success.  Your grandchildren scoff at your family traditions, even though it was your traditions which allowed you to survive 18 hour work days, and what allowed your grandchildren to have comfortable lives.  Your grandchildren then proceed to tell you your traditions are worthless, and not relevant to modern times.  How would it make you feel?  Outraged?  Betrayed?  Now multiply that feeling by several hundred million, and let that symbolism give you an idea of how powerful the demon Kato actually was.  Kato was evil, but, the thing is, his power was fueled by people who had EVERY RIGHT to be angry, that is why even Hirai, Japan's most powerful Onmyogi, was powerless against him.  In other words, only the godess of mercy, a being of near infinite compassion, could calm the rage of the ancestors of the modern Japanese who, in not being acknowledged by their descendants, obviously felt deeply hurt.  That kind of pain could only be healed by the Bodhisatva of compassion.  
And that, whoever is reading this, is the message of Doomed Megalopolis.  
I must admit that in order to understand it you have to have at least rudimentary knowledge of Japanese culture and, more importantly, spiritual beliefs.  Two, based on that knowledge, you have to fill in A LOT of the gaps yourself, which makes for some rather unentertaining viewing.
Ultimately though, the best way to enjoy this is by reading the novel in the original Japanese.
J holz 21:36, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Character name

message: :Image:Doomed Megaloloplis.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is  other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page.  Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot (talk) 07:04, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Doomed Megaloloplis.jpg

message: This was televised by Channel 4 in the UK in the mid-90's. I'm not sure that it's been televised anywhere else, so perhaps that's worthy of mention? Kelvingreen (talk) 20:54, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Channel Four