Japanese Pop Culture with RPGHERO!!!

Today I will teach you all about Japanese Pop Culture!

Anime and manga in Japan are a mirror to the pop culture of the nation. In other words the themes in anime and manga are some of the same themes the culture embraces.

Today's post is about an original theme.

Momotaro - An exceptionally "genki" child or immature character that is capable of extraordinary feats.
*Genki means full of vitality/energy.

This comes from a Japanese folklore. In summary a childless couple found a peach floating down a river and when they attempted to eat it, a child came out if it!!! The child explained to them that he had been sent from heaven to be their son. Years later the child, Momotaro, left his parents to fight demons, making allies of unlikely people, animals and objects such as a dog, people, cowpie, or millstone depending on the variation of the folk lore.

A "momotaro" character in anime is a character more like the definition, a child that is capable of the impossible. An example of this is Goku from Dragonball.

An interesting note, is that even when Goku grew up for Dragonball Z he still had a child's voice in the original Japanese version of Dragonball Z. I theorize this means that the creators of DBZ wanted to imply that Goku, though grown up, is capable of impossible and extraordinary feats even when compared to adults. And at the same time (as fighting Frieza and Majin Boo) he still retained his childlike views of the world.

 The momotaro theme is also apparant in other shows such as Zatch Bell and Astroboy.