Symbolism of Right Eye in Anime? (Possible Spoilers)

Cafe Society
#1

Eyes are the windows to the soul and all that. But there are quite a few characters in various animated series whose characters backstories all involve losing said right eye. To avoid spoilers in the OP, I won’t name any of them, since my main question is that is there something in Japanese mythology that gives the right eye some sort of importance (what I’ve been able to find is that the moon was born from one of the creator gods’ right eyes, and the sun from the left)? Or was there an early anime in which a character loses his right eye in some sort of Important and Meaningful Event, and the other anime are referencing this?

(Yes, there’s also a large number of characters with scars on the left side, but since most of the world is right-handed that’s where I’d expect injuries to occur.)

#2

Just for the heck of it, I did a google search for “right eye” and then “right eye symbolism”.
One result was an online bible, at the passage where Jesus talks about plucking out your right eye if it offends you.

Then there were a lot about how Ra’s right eye symbolized the sun.

I don’t know how relevant either one is.

#3

Right eye, huh? Dunno. If it were the left, I’d have speculated that it was tied in with Odin’s sacrifice of his left eye for wisdom and the knowledge of past, present, and future.

But, ah fuck it. Never mind. Useless post.

#4

My guess would be simple tradition. For instance, that some thirty year old character was missing his right eye, and people thought he looked cool, and it carried on.

Or it could be that just randomly when one draws a one-eyed character it tends to be the right. I think I could go both ways, drawing.

#5

That’s odd. I’d like to know more about this, too. I’m watching *Fruits Basket * right now (a surprisingly sweet little anime), and one of the characters has had his eye injured - his left. He is a very kind character, and had his eye injured by a very (at least at this point) nasty character.

Hm.

#6

Wasn’t Darryl Hanah’s character in Kill Bill missing her right eye?

#7

I suspect a character from Japanese History, Mythology or Folklore was missing his right eye, & somebody is trying to draw a parallel.

#8

Hmm…Oni (Japanese Ogres) are often depicted as cyclopses (sp?).

And the Shinto god of smiths is one eyed.

#9

AHA!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yagyu_Jubei_Mitsuyoshi

In the Land of the Blind, the one-eyed man is King!

#10

Mmm…Jubei-chan… breasts

Heh. Yep, I dun forgot about ol’ Yagyu Jubei.

[OT]They titled Jubei-chan as “The Ninja Girl?” :dubious: Not sure what was wrong with “The Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch” which is a pretty straightforward translation.[/OT]

#11

It could maybe also be somewhat influence by how, in comics, if a character is being shown doing something in profile or three-quarters view, they’re most likely facing the direction that the comic is read in. An eye is generally more expressive than an eyepatch, so you’d want to keep it most visible. For right-to-left reading, you’d want to keep the good eye the left one.

#12

Just as a note, in my experience, Jubei is invariably shown missing (or covering) his LEFT eye, not his right. (Unless he’s shown with both eyes, of course.)

#13

Japanese texts & images, when translated into English, are often flipped right to left.
Were you referring to manga ?

#14

No, I most certainly was not. I have never, as far as I know, seen a manga featuring Jubei.

Movies, posters, and the like. Which do not get flopped.

And, even if I were referring to manga, I am well aware that many translated manga are flopped, and capable of correcting for that when I comment. And more than familiar with untranslated manga.

However, if the OP is reading flopped translated manga with people missing eyes, that might give them a skewed perception of which eye is missing.

#15

Dude, I wasn’t insulting you, or trying to be abusive.

If you were upset by my post, I’m sorry. :frowning:

#16

Apology accepted, and by the same token there was nothing in my post intended to be ‘abusive’, so I apologise if it read that way.

I have been an anime, manga, j-cinema, and j-music fan (and thus interested in the broader Japanese Culture), for more than half my life, so I’m well aware of the fact. (And rather familiar with Jubei.)

#17

Xiahou Dun from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (a centuries old epic novel about the 3 Kingdom period of Chinese history but its pretty popular throughout Asia) gets shot in the left eye with an arrow, pulls it out and eats the eye. I forget what the line is but he says something like “part of my mother, part of my father, it would be shameful to waste it”. I think its to demonstrate how much of a badass the character was.