Post by KokoaMinto on May 10, 2014 9:43:31 GMT -5
Okay Rocket Knight Fans, here's a little thing that rushed through my mind just yesterday.
While browsing DeviantArt me and Artistic-KittyCharm were having a small conversation about the origin of Mifune Sanjulo, or Mifune Sanjuro in the Japanese Version. We were joking around a little bit about it until she said that she read somewhere on a Rocket Knight Wiki (or a Wiki in general) that the name "Mifune" was taken because one of the original staff members that worked on Rocket Knight Adventures was named "Mifune". This made me curious because, well as you all can guess, I'm pretty much into deep research.
So I abused google for my little research about the name "Mifune Sanjuro" and came across something very interesting, but it's actually nothing all too new when Konami's in the play.
The name "Mifune" seems to be inspired by the famous Japanese Actor Toshiro Mifune who was present in most of Akira Kurosawa's movies. He was featured in many Samurai themed movies, or in fact Samurai movies in general.
So you probably want to ask me about the surname "Sanjulo", right? Here's another little FunFact.
Toshiro Mifune was asked by Akira Kurosawa to play the main role in his next movie back in 1962. Again it was a Samurai based movie and of course Mifune took the role. So this is all fine and dandy so far but this doesn't make it all too interesting, right?
Long story short:
The plot of the movie is about a group of 9 Samurai that felt that something's not right with the lord chamberlain Mutsuta; they believed that he was corrupted. A Ronin (Masterless Samurai) joined their team after a small conversation about their plans to investigate the situation and saving the 9 Samurai when the guards of Mutsuta surrounded them. The name of the Ronin is Tsubaki Sanjuro, so is the title of Akira's movie.
It's not the first time for me that Konami used small references of movies and real people within their games.
Anyone knows their "Ganbare Goemon" Franchise? Guess what: Main character Goemon is based on the Japanese "Robin Hood" Ishikawa Goemon.
So my guess is that Konami made another character based on Toshiro Mifune and the role of the Ronin Tsubaki Sanjuro in Akira Kurosawa's movie, which is none other than Mifune Sanjuro, the one who adopted the main character Sparkster (or Sparkstar).
Trust me, it can't be a coincidence.
The only thing I can imagine is that they changed Sanjuro into Sanjulo because of copyright issues when the manuals were translated, also making the origins of Mifune Sanjuro not that obvious for us people outside of Japan. As much as I can remember this has to do with showing "high respect" towards famous people that have died but I'm not too sure about that.
Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this small little 'theory' and 'history lesson' of mine!
Edit:
There's another thing that came up to my mind and forgot to mention.
You might wonder why I'm talking about Samurai all the time thought Mifune Sanjuro is a Knight. The thing is that a Samurai and a Knight share certain aspects of codex and act near the same when its coming down to those they serve.
I might bow myself a bit too far out of the window with my theory, but I really like the idea of Mifune being a Knight with Bushido aspects.
- 7 virtues of the Bushido Code:
義 (Gi) - Righteousness/Rectitude
勇 (Yuu) - Courage
仁 (Jin) - Benelovence
禮 (Rei) - Respect
誠 (Makoto) / 真 (Shin) - Honesty
名誉 (Meiyo) - Honor
忠義 (Chugi) / 忠 (Chu) - Loyality
- Associated Virtues:
孝 (Ko) - Filial piety
智 (Chi) - Wisdom
悌 (Tei) - Care for the Aged
- The five (Dojo kun) rules of the Bushido:
Loyalty is the essential duty of the soldier.
Courage is essential since the trait of the fighting man is his spirit to win.
Valor is a trait to be admired and encouraged in the modern warrior.
Faithfulness in keeping one's word.
Simplicity is a samurai virtue.
Of course the Dojo kun rules can vary in many ways so check out Dojo kun for other meanings of these rules.
Kind regards:
KokoaMinto
While browsing DeviantArt me and Artistic-KittyCharm were having a small conversation about the origin of Mifune Sanjulo, or Mifune Sanjuro in the Japanese Version. We were joking around a little bit about it until she said that she read somewhere on a Rocket Knight Wiki (or a Wiki in general) that the name "Mifune" was taken because one of the original staff members that worked on Rocket Knight Adventures was named "Mifune". This made me curious because, well as you all can guess, I'm pretty much into deep research.
So I abused google for my little research about the name "Mifune Sanjuro" and came across something very interesting, but it's actually nothing all too new when Konami's in the play.
The name "Mifune" seems to be inspired by the famous Japanese Actor Toshiro Mifune who was present in most of Akira Kurosawa's movies. He was featured in many Samurai themed movies, or in fact Samurai movies in general.
So you probably want to ask me about the surname "Sanjulo", right? Here's another little FunFact.
Toshiro Mifune was asked by Akira Kurosawa to play the main role in his next movie back in 1962. Again it was a Samurai based movie and of course Mifune took the role. So this is all fine and dandy so far but this doesn't make it all too interesting, right?
Long story short:
The plot of the movie is about a group of 9 Samurai that felt that something's not right with the lord chamberlain Mutsuta; they believed that he was corrupted. A Ronin (Masterless Samurai) joined their team after a small conversation about their plans to investigate the situation and saving the 9 Samurai when the guards of Mutsuta surrounded them. The name of the Ronin is Tsubaki Sanjuro, so is the title of Akira's movie.
It's not the first time for me that Konami used small references of movies and real people within their games.
Anyone knows their "Ganbare Goemon" Franchise? Guess what: Main character Goemon is based on the Japanese "Robin Hood" Ishikawa Goemon.
So my guess is that Konami made another character based on Toshiro Mifune and the role of the Ronin Tsubaki Sanjuro in Akira Kurosawa's movie, which is none other than Mifune Sanjuro, the one who adopted the main character Sparkster (or Sparkstar).
Trust me, it can't be a coincidence.
The only thing I can imagine is that they changed Sanjuro into Sanjulo because of copyright issues when the manuals were translated, also making the origins of Mifune Sanjuro not that obvious for us people outside of Japan. As much as I can remember this has to do with showing "high respect" towards famous people that have died but I'm not too sure about that.
Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this small little 'theory' and 'history lesson' of mine!
Edit:
There's another thing that came up to my mind and forgot to mention.
You might wonder why I'm talking about Samurai all the time thought Mifune Sanjuro is a Knight. The thing is that a Samurai and a Knight share certain aspects of codex and act near the same when its coming down to those they serve.
I might bow myself a bit too far out of the window with my theory, but I really like the idea of Mifune being a Knight with Bushido aspects.
- 7 virtues of the Bushido Code:
義 (Gi) - Righteousness/Rectitude
勇 (Yuu) - Courage
仁 (Jin) - Benelovence
禮 (Rei) - Respect
誠 (Makoto) / 真 (Shin) - Honesty
名誉 (Meiyo) - Honor
忠義 (Chugi) / 忠 (Chu) - Loyality
- Associated Virtues:
孝 (Ko) - Filial piety
智 (Chi) - Wisdom
悌 (Tei) - Care for the Aged
- The five (Dojo kun) rules of the Bushido:
Loyalty is the essential duty of the soldier.
Courage is essential since the trait of the fighting man is his spirit to win.
Valor is a trait to be admired and encouraged in the modern warrior.
Faithfulness in keeping one's word.
Simplicity is a samurai virtue.
Of course the Dojo kun rules can vary in many ways so check out Dojo kun for other meanings of these rules.
Kind regards:
KokoaMinto
