by The “four gods” appear in Chinese mythology and control the four directions of heaven. They are “Blue Dragon” in the east, “White Tiger” in the west, “Suzaku” in the south, and “Genbu” in the north, and motifs that combine directions, colours, and phantom beasts are often used in anime and manga. Some representative works have been created in each genre of each generation.
Serialization began in 1992 in “Shojo Comic”, and Yuu Watase’s girl manga “Fushigi Yugi”, which depicts the story of the four gods and the shrine maiden, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. “Sunday Webry” has a free all-story campaign. It may be that many people first learned about “Four Gods” in the same work, which was made into an animation and recorded as a big hit.
The “four gods” seemed to have different “works that triggered them to know” depending on their age and gender. Therefore, this time, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 200 men and women in their teens to 40s and asked them to answer the question, “What was the work that inspired you to know” Four Gods “?” I would like to introduce the works in which the answers are mainly concentrated in a ranking format among the various opinions received. (Cooperation with the questionnaire site “Voice Note”)
“Rurouni Kenshin -Meiji Kenkaku Romantan-“
First, the manga “Rurouni Kenshin” by Nobuhiro Watsuki has selected the 3rd place (11.0%). The “Four Gods” that appear in “Rurouni Kenshin” are four-child warriors who escorted Wu Kuroboshi, a member of the Shanghai Mafia.
All of them are giants wearing the same bodice on their skinheads, and although they look pretty similar, they can be distinguished by the name carved on their heads and the tattoos that image the four gods on their heads.
The story was a bit like a dog-like position, such as being easily defeated by Saito, Aoshi, Sanosuke, and Yahiko, but being ranked in 3rd place this time was a character that left a considerable impact. It seems.
“Fushigi Yugi.”
“Fushigi Yugi” was selected for second place (16.5%).
A manga work by Yuu Watase, a story in which the main character and his friends are sent to another world and become a shrine maiden of a country with the four gods as guardian deities and gather friends. It is a work that has been animated and gained popularity for a year from April 1995.
Each of the friends bears the name of the twenty-eight inns used in Chinese astrology, and each of them, such as Tamahome and Hotohori, is quite difficult to read. As mentioned above, the work was serialized in a shojo manga magazine 30 years ago, and in this survey, votes from women in their 40s stood out.
Mishu, who became the shrine maiden of Suzaku, and Yui, who became the shrine maiden of the hostile blue dragon, passed each other, and the battles were all severe developments. I think many people became interested in Hoshijuku because of this work.
“YuYu Hakusho”
And it was the manga “YuYu Hakusho” that collected an overwhelming number of votes (28.0%).
It is a work by Yoshihiro Togashi. When Yusuke Urameshi and others rush into the labyrinth castle to protect the human world, Suzaku, Seiryu, White Tiger, and Genbu appear as the four sacred beasts. He stood in front of Yusuke and played a one-on-one match with them.
The four sacred beasts, which are humanoid and beasts, and Yusuke Urameshi, whose charms have not been deeply discussed. In the battle where individuality collides, the characters’ identity became clearer from the Four Holy Beasts edition. The opinion of a man in his 40s was conspicuous because it was serialized in “Weekly Shonen Jump”, but since it was animated, it has many female fans. In particular, Suzaku is one of the most handsome characters in the ghost, and Nobuo Tobita is the voice actor in the anime. In this questionnaire, we received many opinions from female fans about the anime.
Characters bearing the name of “Four Gods” often take positions like the four heavenly kings, as in “YuYu Hakusho”. Many people feel nostalgic just by hearing Suzaku, Seiryu, White Tiger, and Genbu in their daily lives.
