Memories: 3) The legend of Nezha
Click to viewI was very young when I watched this animation (which is actually not really for kids, now that I've rewatched it again). I couldn't remember much of the movie. The most memorable scene was when Nezha killed himself to save his family and the village, a cranich caught a drop of his blood and dropped it on the top of a lotus, from which Nezha was reborn again (hence his clothing is made in a shape of a lotus flower). And yeah, his awesome weapons. Different than many other legendary chinese heroes, he's got more than one weapon. The wheels of fire he's riding on , the fire spear, the ring and red sash. Also his ability to grow several heads and arms to fight the Dragon Kings.
Though the origin of Nezha was apparantly an indian deity from buddhist legends, in chinese mythology he became the third son of General Li, a chinese mythological figure, an immortal taoist who lives in the heaven. Quite a popular figure in Asia (he obviously served as the inspiration for one of Inuyasha's demon (forgot his name) who also rode on two wheels of fire and he had a spear as a weapon as well) Nezha is though not as popular as Wukong in Western countries. But I think that his legend is one of the most impressive one.
One thing I notice too is, that Nezha and Wukong were both teaching the Dragon Kings a lesson, who were either cruel and willful or dumb and weak (strange though, considering that the Dragon was actually the chinese nation's symbol, but in many legends they got reduced to unlikeable characters).xD