"Grim Reaper" Boom in Novels & Manga

This has been up for a while....But seeing as how there's Bleach fans here....might as well post it for those who haven't read it yet....

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"Grim Reaper" Boom in Novels & Manga A Sign of the Times and "Disconnect from Life"? The "Grim Reaper" has been making a lot of appearances in novels and comics lately. They come in a surprisingly wide range of flavors; some not very serious about their work, others defenders of justice. But why now? Why this sudden surge in Death's popularity in the 21st century? Please spend some time here with our #1 "neighbor we'd like to avoid if we can help it." (Ishida Kanta) The first "Grim Reaper novel" of note would be "The Accuracy of Death" by Kotaro Isaka (publisher: Bungei Shunshuu). Death in this novel pays a visit to people with a week left to live, in order to determine whether or not to take their lives. However, he isn't very keen about his job, more concerned with sampling tunes at the record store, and sometimes using a coin toss to decide whether a person lives or dies. But he's kind at heart and possesses an odd charm, which makes it hard to dislike him. The same character makes an appearance in the author's new novel, "Maoh." If you're interested, have a look. The Grim Reaper can be found in many other authors' novels as well. In "Heisei Machineguns" (publisher: Kawade Shobo Shinsha), Natsu Minami, who won a Bungei Award at the age of 15, portrays the following Grim Reaper: He wears "a black T-shirt and wears jeans with holes in them"; holds a cleaver, and "loads rounds into a large black machinegun" while making an appearance in a repressed girl's dream. "Tsukigami" (author: Jiro Asada, publisher: Shinchosha) is a story about a samurai who, after unwittingly prayed at a cursed shrine, is faced with one misfortune after another. Here too, the Grim Reaper is portrayed as an unusual figure. He doesn't look the part, which just makes him creepier. In manga, "Death Note" (story: Tsugumi Ohba, art: Takeshi Obata, publisher: Shueisha) features a Grim Reaper, Ryuk, who presents a "Death Note" (a notebook that has the power to kill anybody whose name is written in the notebook) to 17-year old Light Yagami. The reason Ryuk snuck the Death Note out of his world of evil? Because he "was bored." As the story progresses, Light, who kills person after person with the Death Note, becomes more Death-like than Ryuk. In "Bleach" (author: Taito Kubo, ibid), another title serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump, the protagonist takes on the powers of another Grim Reaper to become one himself. In this title, Grim Reapers are stylish heroes decked out in black kimonos and swords who fight evil spirits to protect humans. According to literary critic Masao Azuma, Japanese peoples' perspectives on Death originate from those of the Chinese. "There was originally no Death worship in Japan. In China, there are characters similar to the Grim Reaper, called "Somujo" or "Koshinin," whose job was to take spirits to "Meifu (The Land of Death)." Death is like a government official. In the Konjaku Monogatarishu (a collection of folk stories dating back to the Heian period), the oni (demon) plays a similar role. On the other hand, in "Ehon Hyakumonogatari (A Hundred Stories Picture Book" (author: Shunsen Takehara, publisher: Kokusho Kankoukai), written in the latter part of the Edo period, Death is portrayed in a different light than today. Here, Death is an evil spirit who haunts passersby and convinces them to die. "During the Meiji period, the European image of Death with a black hood concealing a skull and holding a scythe was imported into Japan, and was later characterized as the Grim Reaper," says Azuma. Even the Japanese rakugo (comical monologue) "Shinigami (Death)," widely accepted to be the first definitive portrayal of the Japanese Grim Reaper, is thought to be an interpretation of Italian operas and Grimm's Fairy Tales. The Japanese Grim Reaper is a mix of East and West. In the Young Sunday manga "Ikigami" (author: Motoro Mase, publisher: Shogakukan), the government distributes "ikigami ("death papers," a play on "akagami" (red papers) that the Imperialist government sent out to draftees during the Second World War) to notify people of their imminent death in 24 hours. Frighteningly, this practice is a law, designed to constantly remind citizens of the importance of life. A systemization of death by the government. The Grim Reaper can be thought of as a characterization of people’s fear of death. In this modern day and age where there is a certain disconnect from life and a very vague sense of what it is to "live life," it may be natural that we are seeing an influx of Grim Reapers paying us a visit. Do you think you could be friends with them? (Ran in the December 7th 2005 issue of Yomiuri Shinbun)

Translation from: manganews.net

Original Japanese Artical: yomiuri.co.jp

Quite an intriguing article right there. Of course, I don't read many manga where the Grim Reaper makes an appearance, but I can still appreciate it.

And that doesn't mention some other ones, such as Descendents of Darkness or Yu Yu Hakusho. Descenents of Darkness makes the Shinigami into a police department-esque bureaucracy and YuYu Hakusho has Botan, quite possibly one of the cutest Deaths ever. The article makes it out as if it's a recent thing, in the last couple of years, but YYH is 15 years old.

I'd say the real reason that Death pops up so much is that, no matter what your faith is, death is the last unknown. You can't know what lies beyond until you've passed beyond, making it mysterious, possibly frightening and at the very least, intriguing.

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Originally posted by BigPrime And that doesn't mention some other ones, such as Descendents of Darkness or Yu Yu Hakusho. Descenents of Darkness makes the Shinigami into a police department-esque bureaucracy and YuYu Hakusho has Botan, quite possibly one of the cutest Deaths ever. The article makes it out as if it's a recent thing, in the last couple of years, but YYH is 15 years old. I'd say the real reason that Death pops up so much is that, no matter what your faith is, death is the last unknown. You can't know what lies beyond until you've passed beyond, making it mysterious, possibly frightening and at the very least, intriguing.

I think what the artical was pointing out is the popularity of these types of manga and books has grown. Even though YYH and DoD as well as Full Moon wo Sagashite and countless others have been out for awhile, they still wern't as popular as Bleach and Death Note are now. that, and Bleach and Death Note are still running. YYH, DoD, and Full Moon are techicly done running in Japan. So they wouldn't be included in the artical. At least...that's what I think....