RDG: Red Data Girl Episode 6 Discussion

tingy said:
And we still don't really know what to think of Miyuki...he doesn't really want to get involved in this whole thing, but Mayura's father thinks otherwise

little-flower said:
So Izumiko is actually really powerful? What's all this stuff about teams? ;-; It seems to have all gone over my head.

Takuan_Soho said:
And while the god has not been named, and while we do not yet know if RDG is adhering to Japanese mythology, it is hinted that the goddess is Amaterasu, the Japanese Sun Goddess who is at the pinnacle of power in the Japanese pantheon. On top of that, this Goddess has stated that Izumiko will be her last vessel, which means that Izumiko will inherent the complete godhead, not just a part of it.

...

Alternatively, in that she is from the Kumano shrine complex, the goddess may not be Amaterasu, but actually the manifestation of Kannon, the buddhist emanation of Mercy. To explain how that would work would require a longer post, so I will just state this as another very strong, perhaps strongest, possibility, though not the way I hope they go (because if you think things are complex now, wait until they try to explain how that works).

Cratex said:
Based on some contradictory hints, I've been wondering if perhaps there might be TWO kami involved (unlikely as that may be - I don't really have anything to point to to support that and don't much credit it myself). Wouldn't it be fun if both Amaterasu and Kannon were somehow trying to use Izumiko?

Takuan_Soho said:
Humm, I would be curious which hints you are thinking of, because I can easily explain how there could be two kami involved based solely on the Kumano angle, and how this could provide a profound meaning to this animation, and tie in the title all in one feel swoop.

Cratex said:
This same spirit also told the guy who was the self professed judge that "Izumiko will be the one to choose." It was almost like two different personalities. And then, what would Izumiko be 'choosing'?

symbv said:
I am not sure Buddhism is monotheistic. I have seen it called monotheistic, polytheistic and neither, and in fact "neither" seems to be the conclusion I see most often.

symbv said:
There are thousands of Kumano shines out there and each of them is basically some kind of nature worship of the local deity,

symbv said:
but Kumano being near the main site of the influential Kouyasan esoteric Shingen buddhism

symbv said:
and where the key pilgrimage routes pass, the influence of Buddhism on the Kumano shrines is more prominent, which is why many also double as worship places for some Buddhist deities, particularly for the three mountain gods.

symbv said:
As for the identity of himegami, although she looks really powerful, I am not yet sure she is indeed Amaterasu. I guess I need to see more details about her before I draw my conclusion. At the moment I am also inclined to see it as just one goddess instead of two, but I guess there is just too little information for us to be certain.

symbv said:
Anyway, I love how the story goes but I am also worried about how it will end. Almost halfway in the series we are still sort of in a world setting stage, still discovering new things, new relationships/factions and new characters (and if the OP is any hint we are going to see more still). Some questions are answered but there seem to be even more raised. In many ways we still cannot tell what the story is about and what the positions of the characters are and what they aim for. That said, I am happy to go along with the ride and I think the character design, the sakuga and the overall art presentation is really beautiful (particularly Mayura). And it seems we are even going to see more of fighting between people coming from background of different streams of Japanese occultism. It's just that I have a feeling that the series will end just when we get to know what the characters are there for and what they want to achieve.

symbv said:
Anyway, I love how the story goes but I am also worried about how it will end. Almost halfway in the series we are still sort of in a world setting stage, still discovering new things, new relationships/factions and new characters (and if the OP is any hint we are going to see more still). Some questions are answered but there seem to be even more raised. In many ways we still cannot tell what the story is about and what the positions of the characters are and what they aim for. That said, I am happy to go along with the ride and I think the character design, the sakuga and the overall art presentation is really beautiful (particularly Mayura). And it seems we are even going to see more of fighting between people coming from background of different streams of Japanese occultism. It's just that I have a feeling that the series will end just when we get to know what the characters are there for and what they want to achieve.

Takuan_Soho said:


You noticed that too, I thought I was just reading too much into it.

Takuan_Soho said:
Buddhism is not "monotheistic" in the Judo-Christian-Islamic sense of having a single personified god that created the universe, however it does have what I would describe as a single purified "god-head", i.e. an ultimate reality that humans are seeking to rejoin. The various entities that people pray to: Kannon, Yakushi, etc. are all emanations of this single godhead. In this way Buddhism is similar to Roman Catholicism concept of the trinity, multiple entities sharing one nature.

Takuan_Soho said:
It certainly is not polytheistic in the sense of having many separate gods that stand as individual units.

Takuan_Soho said:

Shingon, not Shingen. I have actually visited Kouyasan twice. Kobo Daishi (Kuukai) is an interesting historical character. He was one of the first buddhist monks to outline syncreticism. But Koyasan was a 8th century creation, Kumano was important at least 200 years before this.

symbv said:
Yes and no. The Pilgrimage route first became important not because of Buddhism, but because of the promotion of Ise and the Sun Goddess as the originator of the Imperial Family. When the Imperial Family was based in Yamato and Nara, the Saio (daughter of the Emperor who served as the chief priestess of the Ise shrine) passed this way. That dates to the mid 7th century, Koyasan dates to the mid 9th, and the fusion occurred in the 11th centuries.

symbv said:
I have spoken to quite a few people who follow Buddhism in Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. What I see is for lay followers the overwhelming belief is that there are many "gods" (or deities) even though they believe there is a single truth and reality (and the reality we see is just manifestations, with distortions, of that reality). Only when I talked to some monks (of certain schools) or scholars did I see stress placed on one "single godhead".

symbv said:
And the interesting thing is Buddhism indeed tolerates all these different belief systems without as much of schism or heresy suppression as in the Judo-Christain-Islamic (or Abrahmic) religions. This is why the view of Buddhism being "neither" mono or polytheistic somehow makes sense.