Kabuto and Japan's Lost Identity
I found this Reddit's post:
Copy-paste from the post:
"Manga Spoilers up to 667! I like Kabuto's character arc because it is yet another instance of Masashi Kishimoto writing his country's history into a character. Kabuto can be interpreted to represent a period of westernization and modernization in Japan in which the country lost its own identity. Let me flesh this out.
Prior to 1868, Japan was an isolationist country. At the dawn of industrialization, the emporer of Japan sought to modernize the country. If you have seen The Last Samurai, you can get a glimpse of this conflict. The movie, however, doesn't catch every detail. Everything began to change; the music, the clothing, the weapons, the language - Japan began to assimilate everything from the west into itself in order to improve the country. Here is a fun read for more information:
I see a major parallel between this era of Japan, known as the Meiji Restoration, and Kabuto's identity crisis. He has adopted Orochimaru's ways, and has sought to assimilate other's abilities and identities into his own. He is like Japan: trying to improve himself by assimilating himself with the world instead of reveling in his own identity.
The part that I really like about Kabuto's character is that, as we can see in ch. 667, he has accepted that his previous identity crisis was a wrong way to live yet he is still stuck with his body, just like Japan must deal with the everlasting consequences of sacrificing tradition for industrialization. He hasn't gone back to looking like old Kabuto, but he has decided to be himself.
I made this post to start a discussion about this. Does anyone have any thoughts?"
I enjoy and like this kind of connections Kishi put into Naruto. What do you guys think? You guys can share other Reddit or blog post too. There was one interesting Reddit post about connections of Buddhism and Shintoism to Naruto that I read but couldn't find it anymore because I browsed it through my crappy phone's browser.
I found this Reddit's post:
You must be registered for see links
Copy-paste from the post:
"Manga Spoilers up to 667! I like Kabuto's character arc because it is yet another instance of Masashi Kishimoto writing his country's history into a character. Kabuto can be interpreted to represent a period of westernization and modernization in Japan in which the country lost its own identity. Let me flesh this out.
Prior to 1868, Japan was an isolationist country. At the dawn of industrialization, the emporer of Japan sought to modernize the country. If you have seen The Last Samurai, you can get a glimpse of this conflict. The movie, however, doesn't catch every detail. Everything began to change; the music, the clothing, the weapons, the language - Japan began to assimilate everything from the west into itself in order to improve the country. Here is a fun read for more information:
You must be registered for see links
I see a major parallel between this era of Japan, known as the Meiji Restoration, and Kabuto's identity crisis. He has adopted Orochimaru's ways, and has sought to assimilate other's abilities and identities into his own. He is like Japan: trying to improve himself by assimilating himself with the world instead of reveling in his own identity.
The part that I really like about Kabuto's character is that, as we can see in ch. 667, he has accepted that his previous identity crisis was a wrong way to live yet he is still stuck with his body, just like Japan must deal with the everlasting consequences of sacrificing tradition for industrialization. He hasn't gone back to looking like old Kabuto, but he has decided to be himself.
I made this post to start a discussion about this. Does anyone have any thoughts?"
I enjoy and like this kind of connections Kishi put into Naruto. What do you guys think? You guys can share other Reddit or blog post too. There was one interesting Reddit post about connections of Buddhism and Shintoism to Naruto that I read but couldn't find it anymore because I browsed it through my crappy phone's browser.
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