Are modern Elves really that based on Tolkien's?

It's commonly said that Tolkien's Elves are the inspiration for most Elves in fantasy stories written since, in novels like the Dragonlance series, or Dungeons and Dragons and other Table Role Playing Games, which leads to Role Playing Video Games including JRPGs which in turn influences a lot of Anime, Manga, and Light Novels that then get adapted into Anime.

The thing is, these supposedly Tolkien like Elves seem to me to be.... demoted in terms of their importance to the Lore.  They're now just another one of many Human like Fantasy Races, not Humanity's other half.  They're Elves but they're not The Eldar.  Tolkien's Elves are meant to be kinda similar to what Humans might have been like if Adam hadn't fallen.  While in a lot of Anime they're basically just Cute Girls with pointy ears.

I suppose to some extent it's full circle, they're back to being more like the Ljósálfar of Norse Mythology.  Tolkien's Elves are largely a product of combining them with certain beliefs about the Fae/Tuatha De Dannan of Irish Mythology.  And some older Judeo-Christian conceptions of a hypothetical Pre-Adamic race (before compromising with Evolution turned hypothetical Pre-Adamic races into Cave Men and Ape Men).

I think the most interesting take on Elves in Anime would be No Game No Life, where I'm convinced they're an unflattering allegory for The United States.  The reason I relate to Nilvalen so much is because she's an Elf who hates her own country.  But as interesting as that is, it's not very Tolkien like.

Who I do feel are similar to Tolkien's Elves are some fantasy races not called Elves.  The Cetra in Final Fantasy VII.  How the Amazons were presented in the Wonder Woman and Justice League films of 2017.  There are others I think, but they escape my memory at the moment. 

What's Problematic is how Tolkien's Elves can come off as similar to the Aryans of the racist theosophical ideas that inspired Hitler and Himmler.  But that's why I'd like to see Fantasy races with a similar mystical gravitas be depicted with more ethnic variety.  You can already find a decent amount of Fan Art depicting some of Tolkien's characters as being less white then he probably envisioned.

Fortunately we're unsure what human ethnicity the Cetra would most resemble, we only ever see Aerith, who's only half Cetra, and briefly her mother in a flashback.  Westerners are inclined to see a Caucasian when we look at Aerith but the original Japanese audience might not have (Westerners have accused Anime characters of looking White when they were modeled after specific Japanese celebrities).

I've contemplated in any fantasy story I might write depicting the Ljósálfar as white looking but the Dökkálfar as Japanese looking and the Svartálfar as Nubian (or maybe swap the latter two).

Now Biblically I don't believe in any Pre-Adamic Race, I oppose the Gap Theory.  I've contemplated having the hypothetical Elves of any fictional mythology I'd create descend from Cain in order to deconstruct the assumption that descendants of Cain were inherently Evil.  The problem is it'd also be playing into the rhetoric of certain Racists to associate any descendants of Cain with Non-White especially African ethnic features.

I know for certain that if I ever made any fiction set in the Pre-Flood world I'd depict the tribes of Enosh Ben Seth (from whom came Enoch and Noah's Family) as looking Middle Eastern.

Anime Weekly Updates, Omer 21: I can't think of a title for this post

Katana Maidens took a week off it seems, that annoyed me a bit.

Overlord II had a pretty satisfying finale.

Hugtto Precure has started a new story-line.  One that might prove to be pretty predictable for the Genre, but I can enjoy the predictable just fine.

The first episode of Legend of the Galactic Heroes managed to spark my interest. I actually like that all three Planets look like Earth, that is certainly more realistic then single environment planets managing to stay inhabitable.  Expect my coverage of the show to make lots of Star Wars and Dune Comparisons, maybe this will make me more consistently happy then the actual Star Wars we've been getting.

I'm enjoying Magical Girl Site, I really don't care how much that will annoy some people.  It's definitely distinguished itself from it's Dark Magical Girl predecessors.  I hope it has a happy ending, but may be willing to respect what it's trying to say even without one, it all depends on execution.

That's the thing though, it's gonna get criticized both for every similarity to Madoka and for every difference.  Like so many other works that are easy to view as a cash in on some earlier hit.  They get criticized for being an imitator but also for "not getting the real point" of why the original worked.  I've seen the same thing over and over again with every dark Superhero comic that's post Watchmen and DKR, or every dark Superhero film that's post Nolan's Batman franchise.

I think this show like those Comics should be judged on it's own merits and not be constantly compared positively or negatively to Madoka at every turn.  Cause lots of gritty Comics that came out this long after Watchmen were constantly seen as cashing in on that trend at the time, but are Comics 90s kids are nostalgic for now.

Outside of my weekly shows.  I watched all of Oneechan ga Kita, and four episodes of Oniichan dakedo Ai sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne!.  I see you looking at me funny and I don't care.  They are both amusing shows, but the latter is more inclined to delve into the Anime Style Fanservice I dislike.

I also watched the fourth episode of Amagi Briliant Park.  Which reminds me that I really should at least try to catch up on Full Metal Panic before the new season starts.  Though since I know SFDebris will be covering some it at least this Summer I'm of half a mind to wait and watch it along with them, then just continue from there.

I hate Boss Rushes in Video Games.

They are always tedious to me, and a very unimaginative way to try and force in a penultimate challenge before the final Boss.

And they don't work plot wise either, the equivalent of it never happens in other mediums, unless it's like one of those Batman stories making him gauntlet through all of Arkham.  But guess what, many fans tend to find those annoying.  But it's considered acceptable in Games, so much so that some Rom Hacks will add one to a game that didn't originally have this problem.

The only thing like a Boss Rush I've ever actually liked was what Super Mario RPG: The Legend of The Seven Stars did with The Factory at the end.  Lesser forms of earlier Smithy Gang bosses now appear as just normal enemies, just as dodge-able as any others.  (I also like that this RPG doesn't have random encounters.)  And if you bought the SeeYa item from the Frog Coin merchant in Seasside Town you can run away from ones you unintentionally run into.  So only one Yaridavictch battle is truly required.

It makes sense plot wise, because they were pretty clearly Mechs of some sort to begin with (for some reason people on Mario Message Boards back in the early internet didn't get this, they couldn't even even tell Smithy's true form was a Robot).  So it makes sense to see unfinished prototypes roaming the home base.

You can avoid them if you want, but they are also good for grinding if you want.  If you want to you can battle an endless supply of Macks.

Mario RPG managed to be a good exception to a lot of my personal rules.  I mean in general Mario role playing games are the only ones I can really play.

I did a post once on how I feel it hurts the story telling when the final boss has no character presence before you fight him.  But Smithy managed to work in-spite of being that very problem.

Mario RPG is also a game where Status Effect moves at least sometimes work on bosses.  I always use Toadstool's Silence on Czar Dragon, as well as it's second form.

Anime Weekly Updates, Omer 14: Transitioning from Winter to Spring is slow in Wisconsin.

I've now seen three episodes of Magical Girl Site.  It seems much of what I liked about the first episode was only for the first episode.  But I'm gonna keep up with it for now.

They actually Dubbed the Recap episode for Katana Maidens, that's become generally pretty rare.  It was an adequate Recap.

Did I mention in the last update that I'd watched all of Fate/Extra? Or did I watch that later?  Fate/Extra Last Encore I think is the most disappointing Fate/ show so far.  It wasn't too concerned with making itself accessible to people who didn't play the games.  And my main interest was Type Moon's take on Nero which really wasn't explored much.  So it has lots of cool trippy Madoka esque visuals, but that's about it.

Death March to a Parallel Wold Rhapsody finished.  I will say it was a perfectly okay show, but nothing on Smartphone.

Overlord II has one episode left, I'd say it's exciting conclusion has made up for a lot of the slowness before.

Hugto Precure is remaining pretty good.

For Spring few of what interests me is getting Simuldubbed.  The SAO spin off and Lupin III I'm gonna wait for the Dub no matter what.  So if I feel up to it I'm gonna try to watch Subbed the ones with the best Yuri Potential.  But before that I want to re-watch some old favorites, and maybe revisit some 2017 shows I dropped or put on hold.

Astolfo is unique among Gender Bending Anime characters

 [[Update 2023: This is now my more definitive Astolfo post.  I don't much stand by this old one anymore.

https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2023/06/astolfo-is-masculine-actually.html

Anime Weekly Updates, Omer 6: Citrus has ended

I finally got to see the Simuldub of the last episode of Citrus.  I have given the show a 10 on MAL.  That may seem overly generous, but it was a perfectly solid adaptation of my favorite Manga.

I watched the permire of Cutey Honey Universe, which was fun, but I was never able to get that into Cutey Honey so I don't know if I'll be sticking with it.

I'm gonna try out some Fate/Extra.

Core 1 of Katana Maidens ended, and it was pretty good.  I hope Core 2 ups the ante because I really want this to become the Anime of the year.

The shows that I know FUNimation will be Simuldubbing I'm waiting for the Simuldub for, as usual.  I know I'll be checking out Steins;Gate 0 and Legend of the Galactic Heroes.  I may try to catch up on Full Metal Panic in time but I doubt it.

I'm not sure I'll watch episode 2 of Magical Girl Site right when it drops, but I will continue watching it.  I have decided to simply judge it on it's own merits, not caring what it says about the Magical Girl Genre or Madoka or whatever.  Being nominally a Magical Girl show is why I checked it out, but what interests me about it was more it providing a not at all sugar coated depiction of bullying.

Superhero Genre Flexibility

One of the things talked about a lot with Superhero movies is how they can be combined with many different genres.  Now this is something that some including I have been saying since before the MCU started.  But over the course of MCU Phrase Three it's become a greater emphasis in how people praise the genre then ever before.

It's primarily the Films where this aspect becomes a big part of their very promotion, and perhaps sometimes other Comic Book adaptations.  And that's Ironic because in a way the adaptations have been less flexible.

You see this ability to experiment with genre has always been in the Comics.  One of many things Frank Miller is endlessly mocked for his Film Noir obsession.  But the films especially have been fixated on designating specific genres to specific heroes, if a Genre has two Superheros it's because Marvel and DC each threw one at it.

It is apparent right from the comics how some genres suit certain Superheros more then others.  But it's not as rigid.  Wonder Woman and Thor aren't the only Superheros who've encountered ancient mythologies.  Spiderman (and Superman in Prequels) isn't the only one to deal with High School Drama.  And obviously Frank Miller isn't the only writer to draw from the Film Noir well.

Now the serialized nature of Comics gives it more room to let the same Superhero have different kinds of stories, which is why TV sometimes does more of this, or used to.  Smallville did a lot of experimentation.

But even understanding that reason for it.  It bothers me to hear things like the WB being concerned Wonder Woman and Aquaman can't both be about mythology and so they decided to down play the Greek Mythology aspect of Wonder Woman, and that's probably why the gods were killed off in the back story.

This is another reason why I'm glad I've gotten into Anime.  Anime truly surpasses even Superhero comics with it's ability to flat out defy Genre.