Onmyoji 2!!!!
It's official.
I want to be Abe no Seimei.
I saw Onmyoji 2 the other day before reluctantly sending it back to netflix. It was full of everything I could have possibly wanted (barring Seimei and Hiromasa actually admitting they're in love and having gorgeously-lit passionate sex, of course.). Magic! Fantastic Heian costumes! Yokai, and Kami! Symbols that I recognized (the 8 I-Ching Trigrams, and Seimei's everpresent spiffing pentagram)! More references to Seimei being half-fox! And, of course, Seimei shamelessly flirting with hapless Sir Hiromasa and at the end, them both ending up unattached again. (Minor subplot spoilers: Hiromasa always ends up infatuated with some chick but she always ends up dead. So, he always ends up hanging out with Seimei and Seimei's girl spirit Mitsumushi and drinking. Slashy, yes. Threesome-y? Well, possibly. Add to the fact that in this one Seimei ends up dressing in very pretty priestess-drag in order to represent Uzume, the dancing Goddess and nearly dying in Hiromasa's arms while in said drag . . . yeah.)
I want to learn the dances and hand motions that I saw. I really, really want a karaginu (hunting jacket) like Shinto priests and onmyoji wear (and that all the noblemen seemed to wear back then). Funny thing is, you can't buy them. There's one for sale as part of a cosplay costume, but I was hoping you could order one like you do kimono, in several different styles so I could just pick the one I liked. No dice. seimei's garb came in really handy in swatting swords off-balance with his sleeves. (Not that I'll be encountering a lot of swords, but it was cool to know that one's clothes could be used as a weapon/distraction.) One cool thing is I can finally buy my rice paper to finish my priest's wand.
Somehow, the way the magic was presented wasn't outlandish, despite the fact that it included creating sacred barriers that tied demons down, making shikegami and occasionally making things float about. I'd love to be able to do that, and I believe it's possible. Plus, I've found, to my surprise, that I've totally lost my childhood fear of ghosts, so exorcising them would not frighten me. Who knows, maybe in time, I'll be able to tell if someone is ridden by demons/negative energy just by glancing at him or her. I'm hopeful.
I want to be Abe no Seimei.
I saw Onmyoji 2 the other day before reluctantly sending it back to netflix. It was full of everything I could have possibly wanted (barring Seimei and Hiromasa actually admitting they're in love and having gorgeously-lit passionate sex, of course.). Magic! Fantastic Heian costumes! Yokai, and Kami! Symbols that I recognized (the 8 I-Ching Trigrams, and Seimei's everpresent spiffing pentagram)! More references to Seimei being half-fox! And, of course, Seimei shamelessly flirting with hapless Sir Hiromasa and at the end, them both ending up unattached again. (Minor subplot spoilers: Hiromasa always ends up infatuated with some chick but she always ends up dead. So, he always ends up hanging out with Seimei and Seimei's girl spirit Mitsumushi and drinking. Slashy, yes. Threesome-y? Well, possibly. Add to the fact that in this one Seimei ends up dressing in very pretty priestess-drag in order to represent Uzume, the dancing Goddess and nearly dying in Hiromasa's arms while in said drag . . . yeah.)
I want to learn the dances and hand motions that I saw. I really, really want a karaginu (hunting jacket) like Shinto priests and onmyoji wear (and that all the noblemen seemed to wear back then). Funny thing is, you can't buy them. There's one for sale as part of a cosplay costume, but I was hoping you could order one like you do kimono, in several different styles so I could just pick the one I liked. No dice. seimei's garb came in really handy in swatting swords off-balance with his sleeves. (Not that I'll be encountering a lot of swords, but it was cool to know that one's clothes could be used as a weapon/distraction.) One cool thing is I can finally buy my rice paper to finish my priest's wand.
Somehow, the way the magic was presented wasn't outlandish, despite the fact that it included creating sacred barriers that tied demons down, making shikegami and occasionally making things float about. I'd love to be able to do that, and I believe it's possible. Plus, I've found, to my surprise, that I've totally lost my childhood fear of ghosts, so exorcising them would not frighten me. Who knows, maybe in time, I'll be able to tell if someone is ridden by demons/negative energy just by glancing at him or her. I'm hopeful.