08 Mother is Back! (MELMO)

Off topic discussion.
User avatar
jeffbert
Minister of Science
Posts: 12535
Joined: 21 years ago

08 Mother is Back! (MELMO)

Postby jeffbert » 12 years ago

This episode contains a plot element that I have seen not only in AMBASSADOR MAGMA anime, but INNUYASHA also. I suspect it may be based upon Japanese folklore, but have no evidence for this. Assuming I am wrong, it may originate here.
Image

Image
The owner of this plague is a hunchback who will be employed by a magician or as they were once called, a prestidigitator, who wants to discover Melmo's secret & decides to use trickery to do it. Not just trickery, but the cruellest hoax one could do to an orphan.

Image
The hunchback's cellar is full of nude figures, but I skip them, lest anyone be offended.

Image
The magician wants a figure that resembles Melmo's mama.

Image

Image
He then transfers this serpent's spirit into it. Though Western religions deny that animals have spirits or souls, I believe that Eastern religions such as Buddhism have no such belief.

Image
Its spirit gone, the snake collapses.

Image
Too glad to have her mother back, Melmo casts aside any scrutiny. But how much could we expect from a little kid, anyway?

Image
Baby brother senses something amiss.

Image

Image
Anybody could make this mistake. :lol:

Image

Image
Her serpent's instincts almost overcome her.

Image
But her role of mother is also a factor.

Image
Melmo suspects something is wrong with mama, but what?

Image
Though she cannot understand what is wrong, she knows she must flee.

Image

Image
Is the fake mama pursuing the kids for good or evil? :d evil:

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Stay tuned! More to come!
Image

User avatar
jeffbert
Minister of Science
Posts: 12535
Joined: 21 years ago

Now for the tear-jerker ending:

Postby jeffbert » 12 years ago

Image

Image

Image

Image
Apparently realizing that though she was thrust into the role of Melmo's mother, she is not fit for the job. Yet, she has become quite enamored by this role; as a serpent, she knew no such love as she had developed for these children.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
Seeing the children huddling in the cold, she realizes they cannot endure it long.

Image

Image

Image

Image
She will need more fuel if she hopes someone will see the smoke rising from the pit. :cry:

Image

Image

Image

Image
Is there a god who will hearken to a snake's prayer? :cry:

Image
:cry: This is the most emotionally arousing thing I can recall seeing on TV. She has redeemed herself through self-sacrifice. Soon, rescuers will come & the kids will be safe & warm.

In one of the 1st few INNUYASHA episodes, Sesshōmaru has made a similar fake mother with which he hopes to lure Innuyasha to his doom. Yet, there too, the mother, though a created being, sacrifices herself to save the boy she came to regard as her son.

I believe it was episode #10 of AMBASSADOR MAGMA, when one of those aliens of the same type as Skunk, sacrificed herself to save Mamaru.
Image

User avatar
Dragonrider1227
Robot Revolutionary
Posts: 4293
Joined: 20 years ago
Location: USA

Postby Dragonrider1227 » 12 years ago

Image
Another classic panty shot brought to you by Tezuka ;p

User avatar
jeffbert
Minister of Science
Posts: 12535
Joined: 21 years ago

Postby jeffbert » 12 years ago

Yes, indeed; but these are innocent & pure, not the naughty kind of current anime. :lol:
Image

User avatar
Satus
Robot President
Posts: 552
Joined: 12 years ago
Contact:

Postby Satus » 12 years ago

Aaaaahhhhhh, this is sad. :( The sacrifice is really heart-breaking. And yet somehow I also find it beautiful.

Huh, I did not know that about Western religion. Interesting.

Slightly off topic: The impersonator of Inuyasha's mother I don't think Sesshoumaru created, he just used her. In the anime she was called the Un-Mother, in an official book called Inuyasha Profiles she is called Nothing Woman, it says "An incarnation of a mother's pathos that came from losing her child, it absorbed people and demons by showing them illusions." The closest I can find matching her is Noppera-bou from Japanese legend. But this only applies to Nothing Woman, I'm not sure what folklore or legend to compare for Melmo's mother, but I'm interested in finding out.

User avatar
jeffbert
Minister of Science
Posts: 12535
Joined: 21 years ago

Postby jeffbert » 12 years ago

Thanks, Satus. I have seen other instances of similar themes in other INNUYASHA & DRAGON BALL. There is a certain gourd that villain use to hold acid that will dissolve shrunken people whom the villain places inside, or, are sucked inside. The same type of gourd is used in both. Though I have only this to go on, I wonder if both draw from a common source, such as folklore. This inspires my belief that perhaps the Un-mother sacrificing herself may also derive from a similar source. :ninja:
Image


Return to “General Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 40 guests