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What Is Star of David Used So Frequently by Manga or Anime?
Posted: Dec 10, 2020
There are multiple shows in anime that heavily rely on magic for their world-building. However, most of these anime/mangas, for some reason, use Star of David whenever magic is involved. It is intriguing why so many shows use this symbol so often, and why only this one in particular? Anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion used religious symbolism that was foreign to the Japanese audience just because they were exotic. However, the Star of David has a different meaning in different Western and Eastern occultist traditions.
Jewish community only started using the Star of David around the 1800s, which was not always exclusive to them. There are many medieval churches in Europe whose architecture incorporates it as its part, and it was adopted much later as the de-facto symbol of the Jewish community. The Star of David has a different meaning in different cultures, so it is hard to say what drives all these shows to use it whenever magic is involved.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead has a similar hexagram on its cover as the Star of David. The book gives a Tibetan Buddhist perspective on what happens to souls after death and the path to reincarnation. Moreover, Shintoism too has somewhat similar symbolism that represents the balance of opposite, just like yin and yang. Now, both Buddhism and Shintoism are quite popular religious traditions in Japan, so it is possible that the creators were looking for symbols that might be familiar to the viewers.
Fullmetal Alchemist is a great manga/anime that is full of symbolism. The Homunculi uses a hexagram with ouroboros, which can be traced to Ancient Egypt. The ouroboros represents the balance between life and death, while the hexagram represents human creation. They combine to represent the balance of all aspects of creation. It is essential to point out that the Star of David-Esque hexagrams were altered in the anime. The motivation behind that might be the perception of the symbolism by the Western audience might create controversy. The manga is not as popular in manga as the anime, which explains the latter’s altered design. The Jewish symbol could have been interpreted to mean anything, so it was a wise call to alter the symbol.
The Pactio circle in Negima also makes use of the Star of David-Esque symbology. It appears very frequently, and it represents the contract of the Magister to give temporary powers to the contract partner. So, manga and anime both have been using symbols either exactly like Star of David or somewhat similar. Several reasons might be responsible for the use of the famous symbol closely associated with Judaism. Several magic systems use hexagrams, and any of them can be the inspiration for all these manga/anime. However, the use of these hexagrams has declined in recent years; when used, one can rest assured that they have nothing to do with Judaism.
Source : https://mcafee-activate.n1setup.co.uk/what-is-star-of-david-used-so-frequently-by-manga-or-anime/
Jenifer Vasquez is a self-professed safety expert. PC enterprise and supply merchandise in categories: programming administrations, machine services.