Ahaha, I know exactly how that is. They actually do use the exact same facial lines--you can lay profile shots of them over each other and the only line changes are the eye and hair shapes--but even then, it's hard to say if that's intentional or just Art Crew Of The Day + Generic Anime Face Syndrome.
Johan does tell us that fighting is how he solves his problems (in the doodlebug ep, isn't it?), even when it's not the best of ideas. So I think even if he had realized he was painting a target on his forehead he still would have gone barreling in guns blazing. Though, I would say that Judai's rapid bonding with him was just about Judai being Judai. You've gotta remember way back to the first episode--he clicks with Misawa and Shou instantly. And even if that were just to be brushed off as him being friendly, he picks back up with Misawa immediately at the school with no real indication of them having had any other time to hang out. He makes friends very fast with pretty much everyone, barring just a few exceptions, which I think is part of why I've always felt that the early parts of everyone's surprise at Judai and Johan bonding so fast, at least, were a little forced. But you're right about the recognition line. There are a lot of moments in Johan's character that make me feel like they were forced to drop a plot thread with him
Well here's another interesting one I've always noticed, though not from the Americas: Biblical. The way Rainbow Dragon is put together, all the stones are set around it's face, right? Well, the only actual place in the Bible that rainbows appear (the Noah story it's just a 'promise' across the sky; 'rainbow' isn't actually used in the original Hebrew text) is in the New Testament, in the Book of Revelations. The angels who act as harbingers/messengers of the apocalypse have rainbows about their faces. Bear in mind they're also the type of angel that is traditionally depicted as serpents, and the WOAH factor is huge! Especially if you tie Johan to the Light, given that Saiou and his cultists were dropping sometimes-not-even-thinly-veiled Biblical references and paraphrasings throughout season 2 (and the tree-of-life-shaped 'world' card). Since season 3 is basically the fruition of Light!Saiou's prophecy of Judai bringing a terrible End of Days...
A lot of the rainbow myths I know from the Americas are in South America, but I do know some 'American Indian' ones too. Come to think of it, there's at least one that involves a bunch of animals coming together to make the first rainbow. They shot two arrows into the clouds and all sang until the songs lifted two young spiders into heaven, where they begged the creator to bring spring back, and he was so touched by their teamwork and sincerity that he not only made it spring, but made their silk-and-arrow bridge to the sky a rainbow, and made sure their webs would fill with rainbows every morning. It's a cool little story. And then of course there's the 'Rainbow Crow' story. Generally though you're probably going to find the best information by looking up the mythology of the individual cultures and finding the rainbow myths in there than in books of general mythology, which will usually just be, as you said, really general.
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Date: 2011-07-15 08:12 pm (UTC)Johan does tell us that fighting is how he solves his problems (in the doodlebug ep, isn't it?), even when it's not the best of ideas. So I think even if he had realized he was painting a target on his forehead he still would have gone barreling in guns blazing. Though, I would say that Judai's rapid bonding with him was just about Judai being Judai. You've gotta remember way back to the first episode--he clicks with Misawa and Shou instantly. And even if that were just to be brushed off as him being friendly, he picks back up with Misawa immediately at the school with no real indication of them having had any other time to hang out. He makes friends very fast with pretty much everyone, barring just a few exceptions, which I think is part of why I've always felt that the early parts of everyone's surprise at Judai and Johan bonding so fast, at least, were a little forced.
But you're right about the recognition line. There are a lot of moments in Johan's character that make me feel like they were forced to drop a plot thread with himWell here's another interesting one I've always noticed, though not from the Americas: Biblical. The way Rainbow Dragon is put together, all the stones are set around it's face, right? Well, the only actual place in the Bible that rainbows appear (the Noah story it's just a 'promise' across the sky; 'rainbow' isn't actually used in the original Hebrew text) is in the New Testament, in the Book of Revelations. The angels who act as harbingers/messengers of the apocalypse have rainbows about their faces. Bear in mind they're also the type of angel that is traditionally depicted as serpents, and the WOAH factor is huge! Especially if you tie Johan to the Light, given that Saiou and his cultists were dropping sometimes-not-even-thinly-veiled Biblical references and paraphrasings throughout season 2 (and the tree-of-life-shaped 'world' card). Since season 3 is basically the fruition of Light!Saiou's prophecy of Judai bringing a terrible End of Days...
A lot of the rainbow myths I know from the Americas are in South America, but I do know some 'American Indian' ones too. Come to think of it, there's at least one that involves a bunch of animals coming together to make the first rainbow. They shot two arrows into the clouds and all sang until the songs lifted two young spiders into heaven, where they begged the creator to bring spring back, and he was so touched by their teamwork and sincerity that he not only made it spring, but made their silk-and-arrow bridge to the sky a rainbow, and made sure their webs would fill with rainbows every morning. It's a cool little story. And then of course there's the 'Rainbow Crow' story. Generally though you're probably going to find the best information by looking up the mythology of the individual cultures and finding the rainbow myths in there than in books of general mythology, which will usually just be, as you said, really general.