Thread: Something hat Can be Seen, but cannot be Seen (Hidden Symbolism)

That's a cool observation, DarkDust. That's pretty damn creepy.

I love threads like this. And symbolism is the most delicious thing evar.

This thread should not be without The Mad Poet's amazing metaposts. I'll link all available ones:

Translation of the Oreichalcos Card
GIANT 5Ds META POST #1--Peruvian Zombie Cults Ahoy!
Giant 5Ds Meta Post #2--ALCHEMY FAGGERY IN 3, 2, 1--
Giant Geeky 5Ds Meta Post #3 -- EUGENICS : THE MUSICAL
Giant Geeky GX Meta Post #1--Alchemy + Ancient Cults = ...Freshman Year? (INCOMPLETE!)

Now for my stuff. Yeah, as you may guess, I focus primarily on Pegasus only for now.

Not really symbolism, this one is more about how Pegasus' Toons are a homage to Roger Rabbit.

Pegasus' Toons: A Homage To Roger Rabbit?

Considering every character's deck reflects their personality, here's my take on Pegasus' deck. (I should rewrite it and give it better formatting, though...)

Analysis of Pegasus' Deck

I did a Psychoanalysis of Pegasus and his monsters, too. This one borders on crack. :U Naturally.

Freud Was Right ~ Psychoanalysis of Pegasus

The next post elaborates on how Pegasus and Paradox are antithesis of one other. Warning: Contains SPOILERS for the 10th Anniversary Movie, for those who avoid the movie thread due to spoilers.

Analysis: A Comparison of Paradox and Pegasus

If you want actual symbolism, just go for the deck analysis post and maybe the psychoanalysis post, lol.

I have a lot more material on Pegasus and Cyndia, but I still want to neatly package that in a properly formatted post and everything. Not to mention collecting information, because I'm still in that stage. ffff.

Symbolism is the scholar's bread and butter, especially anybody at all skilled in the humanities.

Freudian, eh? I can add a Freudian twist to the Reign-Beaux incident as well. As I alluded to, Reign-Beaux has 4 faces, which one could argue represent the sacrifices of his 4 fallen friends. His friends have died, and their lives have created this twisted monster. This monster represents Judai's mistake; his rushing in head-long, according to his Id, caused this.

What does Judai do for the entire rest of the duel. Destroy Reign-Beaux a total of THREE times in two turns, attempting to destroy it a fourth but stumbling into a lucky win instead. His rage for that thing is summed up by his own words: "Until I have completely beaten down The Demon God of Dark World - Rain, my anger will not calm down. Even if I smash it, even if I smash it, EVEN IF I SMASH IT... my friends still won't be revived."

Judai feels responsible for what has happened, clearly. Smashing Reign-Beaux again and again represents self-hatred, frustration with his own mistake and the desire to do anything to correct it. When you think about it, Judai was also killing his own friends again and again as well...

I like that explanation, DarkDust. While I'm at it, where's Four Is Death? I think that theme is quite apparent here as well.

Originally Posted by Arynis

I like that explanation, DarkDust. While I'm at it, where's Four Is Death? I think that theme is quite apparent here as well.

Here's a comparison of the two Kanji pronounced as "Shi":

四/4, also pronounced "Yon" to avoid confusion. ('Cause really, who wants to count "one, two, three, death..."?)

/Death

They don't look much alike, to they? But yes, they are pronounceable the same way.

Remember back in Season 1 (and part of Season 2)? Judai's go-to draw card was "Mirage of Nightmare", which has you draw until you have four cards. Foreshadowing?

EDIT: Just remember something. At the beginning of 136, Neos tells Judai that the die has already been cast. 4 was used as the source for the modern katakana "ro" and "ru". Roru". As in "roll". Death Has the katakana "ta", "hi", "re" (in you look at the top of the "hi, it looks like "re"), and the vowel sound extender. "Hi" can be modified to sound like "bi". Put poeces of both together: "ta-re-bi-ru ro^ru". "Terrible Roll". Terrible roll indeed, Judai...

I meant Four Is Death as in Reign-Beaux having four faces. Hence the reference to the Trope name.

Possibly. GX is chock-full of Foreshadowing, anyway.

Or there's the good ol' Philosopher's Stone Sabatiel, which references the Angel of Saturn. Saturn represents the Nigredo, which according to Jung can represent despair... Hence Darkness.

Daitokuji's speech to Judai after their duel (I think that's when it was) and Darkness' "the world was born from a card..." speech share similarities, further proving that, well, he was just talking in a metaphorical manner. Also, alchemy.

Originally Posted by DarkDust_Dragon

EDIT: Just remember something. At the beginning of 136, Neos tells Judai that the die has already been cast. 4 was used as the source for the modern katakana "ro" and "ru". Roru". As in "roll". Death Has the katakana "ta", "hi", "re" (in you look at the top of the "hi, it looks like "re"), and the vowel sound extender. "Hi" can be modified to sound like "bi". Put poeces of both together: "ta-re-bi-ru ro^ru". "Terrible Roll". Terrible roll indeed, Judai...

fffff. That's awesome.

Originally Posted by Arynis

I meant Four Is Death as in Reign-Beaux having four faces. Hence the reference to the Trope name.

Ah, I see. I just wanted to see how far I could take it.

Possibly. GX is chock-full of Foreshadowing, anyway.

Or there's the good ol' Philosopher's Stone Sabatiel, which references the Angel of Saturn. Saturn represents the Nigredo, which according to Jung can represent despair... Hence Darkness.

"Sabathiel" is the same of the Angel; but that's most likely how the card's name should be pronounced. Keep in mind, Japanese pronunciation of borrowed words is based on spelling; since "th" does not exist, it is usually rendered as "s", but as "t" whenever they can. The dub doesn't help: "Yellow Process - Kitolenics" is proof of that.

Daitokuji's speech to Judai after their duel (I think that's when it was) and Darkness' "the world was born from a card..." speech share similarities, further proving that, well, he was just talking in a metaphorical manner. Also, alchemy.

Darkness calls himself a Saviour; but he is viewed as a false prophet, who was eventually killed by the people he came to save. Does this remind you of anything? (Actually, he plays both ends of the spectrum; one by appearance, the other my intent.)

Originally Posted by DarkDust_Dragon

Ah, I see. I just wanted to see how far I could take it.

Don't worry about it. Pushing symbolism to the limit is always fun~ >:]

"Sabathiel" is the same of the Angel; but that's most likely how the card's name should be pronounced. Keep in mind, Japanese pronunciation of borrowed words is based on spelling; since "th" does not exist, it is usually rendered as "s", but as "t" whenever they can. The dub doesn't help: "Yellow Process - Kitolenics" is proof of that.

ffff, I hate Sabby's name because I always forget which spelling is the proper one. I think one Hermeticism site wrote it with Z, if my memory isn't off. Either way, there are quite a few spellings for it.

And lawl, Kitolenics. So much for poor Citrinitas.

Darkness calls himself a Saviour; but he is viewed as a false prophet, who was eventually killed by the people he came to save. Does this remind you of anything? (Actually, he plays both ends of the spectrum; one by appearance, the other my intent.)

Yes, it does. Providing I think what you are thinking of.

Originally Posted by Arynis

Don't worry about it. Pushing symbolism to the limit is always fun~ >:]

Damn straight. That's why I get 90s in English.

ffff, I hate Sabby's name because I always forget which spelling is the proper one. I think one Hermeticism site wrote it with Z, if my memory isn't off. Either way, there are quite a few spellings for it.

And lawl, Kitolenics. So much for poor Citrinitas.

I looked it back up, and that was actually the fault of the Japanese writers. They wrote "キトレニクス", which is prnounced "kitorenikusu". They want "キトレニタス", "kitorenitasu". See what they did wrong?

Yes, it does. Providing I think what you are thinking of.

You most likely are. And it's scary.

Wow, Reign-Beaux is disturbing as shit, now that you've mentioned that.

Wow. That's really sick.