Genei Ryodan: Horror Movies and Literature | MangaHelpers



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Genei Ryodan: Horror Movies and Literature

Nobody12

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I have done an analysis of the Genei Ryodan in relation to Horror Movies and Literature.
Understanding the symbolic meaning of characters and the literary and cinematographic influences that Togashi used in order to create the Genei Ryodan members is an useful way in order to understand characters' personalities and their story in the manga.

As a matter of fact Phantom Troupe's members are based on the classic monsters of horror movies
For example:
Main characters:
1) Illumi with his appareance of Gittarackur is based on Pinhead, the Pope of Hell, a Cenobite in the Order of the Gash and the main antagonist of the Hellraiser metaseries of Clive Barker.
The psychopathic and demonic personality of Illumi is based on the cenobites of Hellriser. He use needles on his head because he feels pain differently from normal people like the cenobites.
The cenebites want to reach the expansion of sensation to an extremely painful point of sensory overload where pain and pleasure are the same thing through incessant tortures.

As a matter of fact, Illumi's army of needle people is based on zombies and reanimate corpses because he represents the lord of Hell.
2) Hisoka= The Killer Clown, in particular Pennywise (It), a shapeshifter cosmic entity that take the appearance of a Clown in order to attract and devour children from the Stephen King’s novel IT of 1986 and his cinematographic adaptations of 1990 and 2017-2019.
Hisoka is a psychopathic and demonic Clown that metaphorically want to eat his victims like Pennywise from IT’s novel. For this reason he refers to his victims as ripe fruits. He wants to eat children (Gon and Killua), his ripe fruits.
In the cosmology of Stephen King's novels, Pennywise/IT is the destroyer of worlds, a cosmic entity from unknown origins enemy of “God” (called The Other) and the Tortoise, the creator. From this also the name Hisoka (ヒソカ) that means “secret/mystery”

3) Chrollo represents Lucifer, the leader of the Fallen Angels and the Prince of Darkness that created a group of monsters (the Phantom Troupe). The main enemy of "God".
Chrollo's personality is characterized by dissonant serenity because he represents the Prince of Darkness (always dressed in black). He sees the beauty of darkness and death.
He is always in peace and in a state of enlightenment in the carnage and destruction. They are the calm center of destruction, and their serenity is so off that it's more terrifying than any fury.
For example:
-the Requiem for Uvo
-the calmness and fearlessness for his own death

-Chrollo vs Hisoka (the 2 main enemies of "God"):
Chrollo Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness, the Leader of Monsters Vs Hisoka, the Clown (IT), the worst of all monsters (the apotheosis), the cosmic entity enemy of “God” like Pennywise from the Novel.


Hisoka and Illumi
Hisoka and Illumi are also based on two kind of Yurei and Yokai, that are evil spirits and demons of the Japanese folklore
http://fanfox.net/manga/hunter_x_hunter/v31/c326/15.html

Illumi
Illumi represents an Onryo, a Japanese spirit or Yurei, principally a female spirit (from this the feminized appearances of Illumi, with long black hair) that became popular with the novel Ring (The Ring) of Koji Suzuki with his movies adaptations and the film series of Ju-on (The Grudge) of Takashi Shimizu.

Sadako and Kayako are the 2 Onryo represented in the Ring and the Grudge.
The twisted and selfish love of Illumi for Killua represents the emotions of these kinds of spirits (Onryo), and his powerful evil energy is created from these twisted feelings even after death (Post-Mortem Nen).
Hisoka
Hisoka represents a Jikininki or Kubikajiri, particular kind of undead creatures similar to zombies that want to kill and eat his victims.
The resurrection of Hisoka as an undead is based on the fact that he represents a Jikininki or Kubikajiri.

Hisoka is partially based on Miss Fuchi. The face of Hisoka in the chapter 28 is based on the face of Miss Fuchi, a character from the horror stories of the mangaka Junji Ito.
Miss Fuchi is a Jikininki o Kubikajiri that wants to eat her victims; in the same way Hisoka metaphorically talks about his appetite and his victims as ripen fruits. Hisoka wants to kills and metaphorically eat children (like Gon and Killua) because he is similar to Pennywise the Clown and Miss Fuchi the Jikininki.

So, this is also the reason why Hisoka and Illumi are impervious to pain (physical and emotional) because they represent:
  • Hisoka=Pennywise, the Killer Clown and a Jikininki/Kubikajiri (like Miss Fuchi)
  • Illumi=Pinhead, the Pope of Hell and an Onryo (like Sadako and Kayako)
Feel free to share your opinions
 
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