A midsummer nights dream With Ninjas. Part II
By Jason Shirtz
By Jason Shirtz
Completed my initial design for Jiraya. (sadly due to time constraints and other projects, i can't make it as pretty as i'd like. Can always do that later.)
Not winning any art contests with this one. *ahem*.
I'm basing my design for this Jiraya, off of the legendary Japanese actor, Matsunosuke Onoe. Onoe, was a famous silent era movie actor, who is credited with 1000 (more or less) films to his score. That being said most of them, were short films, rather than feature length. Onoe actually did play as Jiraya in some of his films, most notably (as this one survived to this day) Gôketsu Jiraiya . I watched it. It's a fairly light hearted action romp, where he beats up his rival Orochimaru, with the help of his GF Tsunade. Oh, and he beats up some mooks on the way, action hero style. Including vanishing into thin air, being attacked one at a time, or in easily managed small groups, and transforming into a toad to leap on (or devour) his hapless enemies.
All that being said, he is pretty much the GUY when it comes to the ninja action genre, as he was in so many films in that genre, that kids would copy his moves when playing. He was also a kabuki actor, and known for his very, very large eyes, so for my design, i chose to put him in kabuki makeup that focused his eyes, with a few accessories to "ninja" him.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0488015/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_211
Visual references
http://vintageninja.net/?p=157
In terms of extra "oomph" to his character, i'm saying that his katana used in this production, was made by masamune, the legendary japanese swordsmith. Savvy audience members will get the "Chrono Trigger" reference, where the character of "frog" wields a sword by the same name (albiet different origin.)
For those keeping score at home, this is an Akira Toryiama design (of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Quest fame). Toriyama, has long been the character artist for the Dragon Quest series, which was published by the Japanese game maker, Enix.
When Square and Enix did a small joint venture (called Chrono Trigger) for the Super Nintendo, he did the character designs for the game including this one.
In the game, Frog wields the legendary sword masamune, which needs to be reforged before it can be used. He also smashes a mountain open afterwards, to show how awesome and magic it is.
He also has an attack that allows him to drop an giant frog, on his uncool enemies. Handy!!
Eventually, Square and Enix, were to merge into the evil megacorp known as Square enix, but a story for another time...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Toriyama
http://chrono.wikia.com/wiki/Frog
To further confuse things, myth wise, i'll have Jiraya mention, that in the lands where he is called oberon, his sword is called Gram.
As in Gram, Sigurd's re-forged blade, that cut through an anvil and then killed the dragon Fafnir in the Völsunga saga.
In the Nibelungenlied saga, it is said that Sigurd had Oberon (or Alberich or Auberon depending on spelling) guard his treasure after killing Fafnir. I don't really have the time to actually read said saga, to see if Gram was among the treasures left by Sigurd with Oberon.... But Dammit. Ninja. If a Ninja wants your sword, a ninja now OWNS YOUR SWORD
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%B6lsunga_saga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibelungenlied
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram_(mythology)
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