Unit Request: Emishi Elk Rider

[Master Kodama]

If you've ever seen Princess Mononoke (i.e. Mononoke Hime) from director Hayao Miyazaki (i.e. Miyazaki Hayao), then you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen Princess Mononoke, you should.

I'm requesting this unit because I think it would be baddass, and a fun fantasy unit. It could also be used as a (fictional, but who cares?) UU or flavor unit for an Emishi or Ainu civ. Personally, I'll probably use it for a scenario, if I ever get around to it

And some large (pc desktop size) images for reference:

 

[Neomega]

Princess Mononoke was a great movie. But I thought he was an antelope rider.... (that is definitely not an elk, as they have large, spreading, leaf-like antlers.

 

[Master Kodama]

In the movie, they (the Japanese characters) called it a "giant red elk," or some such thing, but yes, it's much more antelope-like. This may be because of weird translation issues (I don't remember what they called in the original Japanese, nor am I sure what "elk" might be in Japanese), but more likely it is because 13th century Japanese wouldn't know what an antelope was and thus Miyazaki estimated that they might identify it as some sort of elk.

However, "Emishi Antelope Rider" is just as legitimate a name, as its all fictional anyway

... I suppose I could borrow a copy of the DVD and check the Japanese language track....

 

[Ogedei_the_Mad]

It's an elk (or supposed to be). According to scholar Helen McCarthy (who wrote a very interesting book on Miyazaki's works from his first works up to "Princess Mononoke"), Miyazaki himself commented that one of the reasons why it's a wierd-looking antelope-lik elk instead of a horse (or a real elk) was that it was a way to distance the main character from the typical samurai image of the period and because it was much easier to draw a fictional animal than a real horse.

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Laziness prevails!!!

 

[Master Kodama]

... it was much easier to draw a fictional animal than a real horse.

That's odd, because there were quite a few horses in the film, as well as numerous other animals. And are antelope-like elks necessarily easier to draw than horses??

 

[Dom Pedro II]

That's odd, because there were quite a few horses in the film, as well as numerous other animals. And are antelope-like elks necessarily easier to draw than horses??

They are when you have no anatomy to follow... you can draw it from your imagination rather than try to be accurate... it's like how drawing a picture, no matter how complex, of an imaginary person is easier to draw than a picture of a famous celebrity.

 

[Reno]

One of the best movies Miyazaki made, (third best in my counts, only Laputa, and Nausicaä, are better then it.)

And it would be great if someone made this unit.

 

[Ogedei_the_Mad]

That's odd, because there were quite a few horses in the film, as well as numerous other animals. And are antelope-like elks necessarily easier to draw than horses??

You don't see the horses a lot in that film (they're in a bunch of scenes, but they're just not dominant). Most of the time, you see primarily the main character (the boards oddly censor his name... ) and Yakuru.

 

[Plotinus]

I'd point out that the characters in the film aren't actually Japanese - they're meant to be Ainu, if memory serves. But of course, the film is full of (presumably deliberate) anachronisms anyway, like the muskets.

Personally, my favourite of his films is Totoro! Nausicaa's pretty good too. But I haven't seen them all.

 

[Reno]

The firearms in the film are not muskets, per say but a earlier form of a Gunpowder weapon, And if you have not seen Laputa you must see it, its the best of Miyazakis work.

 

[Plotinus]

I've not seen Laputa but it does look fun. He really, really likes bizarre flying things, doesn't he - almost as much as pigs!

 

[Reno]

Maybe it's because hi's family manufactured zeros during the war, so he was around airplanes all the time.

 

[Ogedei_the_Mad]

I'd point out that the characters in the film aren't actually Japanese - they're meant to be Ainu, if memory serves. But of course, the film is full of (presumably deliberate) anachronisms anyway, like the muskets.

Personally, my favourite of his films is Totoro! Nausicaa's pretty good too. But I haven't seen them all.

Actually, the main character and his people were modeled after the Ainu. But the other people (Lady Eboushi, the samurai, etc.) are Yamato. It is mentioned in the beginning part that the main character's people (which I can't type since the forums oddly censor it) were driven north by the Emperor (referring to the Japanese Tenno).

 

[Master Kodama]

@Plotinus: Ogedei is correct, most of the characters are Japanese (Yamato)

The non-Yamato group depicted were the Emishi. I think historians still argue over who exactly the Emishi were, since they were killed off long ago. Miyazaki hypothesized a small surviving population of Emishi and based them heavily on the Ainu + giant, red, antelope-horned elk

The firearms in the film are not muskets, per say but a earlier form of a Gunpowder weapon...

Some historians speculate that early guns could have been brought over from China before the arquebus was introduced from Portugal. So the firearms in Mononoke are ~13th century Chinese firearms.

 

[Reno]

So the firearms in Mononoke are ~13th century Chinese firearms.

Thats what i meant.

 

[Master Kodama]

Lol, sorry, didn't mean to sound patronizing or anything. Just thought I'd elaborate on your point because I've got nothing better to do