In continuation of last time's post...
Personality
There's actually quite a difference between the Norse legends and the anime when it comes to Loki. While the Loki in the anime tends to be a logical realist who, for the most part, shows a level of maturity beyond his youthful appearance, the Loki of Norse legend is a sly trickster who loves causing mischief. He tends to be rude and insulting, as opposed to the anime Loki who is generally polite and refined in speech. (Although, anime-Loki did retain some of the playboy tendencies of the original.)
Abilities
In the anime, Loki has a staff that he summons and uses to fight with. He also has a special incantation (“Veil Lubadrock! Cuerios!”) he uses to seal his opponents in a flat and square, mirror-like object which usually shatters soon afterward. I couldn't find any equivalents to these in the Norse canon though, so maybe they're just there so the fighting will be cooler...? The incantation may be completely made up, but it'd be interesting if it was something foreign, like Old Norse. (If I find anything out, I'll come back and edit this post. Or if anyone knows about it, feel free to say.)
Strangely enough, Norse Loki has abilities that the anime version doesn't. First, Norse Loki is more manipulative and cunning, while anime Loki, though smart and perceptive, seems to be fairly straight forward when he deals with others. The Norse Loki is also a shape-shifter, who uses the power to its full advantage. Anime Loki, besides changing between being a child and young adult/teenager, doesn't seem to have this ability.
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I find norse mythology very interesting and have studied up on it a little over the last couple of years. Thought I havent seen this anime your talking about I find myself wondering if there are more commonalities that take place in the anime that might relate to any other events in Valhalla. Do any of the other characters that are in this anime measure up to any of the other Norse Gods? You have sparked my interest with this one, I may have to go watch that series now.
ReplyDeleteOn a completely different note, I would like to hear your opinions on Cowboy Beebop in relation to Firefly if you have any? If not I would recommend both series, and challenge you to compare the two.
Yeah, me too. I can't say I knew much about it at all until I saw this anime, though... but it seems to provide an interesting contrast to the traditional Greek/Roman gods.
ReplyDeleteYes, for being such a short anime, it draws a _lot_ from the Norse legends. In characters alone, the gods Heimdall, Frey, Freya, Odin, Thor, (anime spellings) the Norn sisters of fate, and three of Loki's children are all portrayed. But there are many other references in the stories themselves.
Yeah, I like it pretty well - but there are so many characters, I liked it better on watching it through for the second time. I would have to say it's more of a "cute" anime than anything else.
Haven't seen either of them, but I'm sure I've heard of Cowboy Beebop before. I'll have to check those out when I get time.