■第5回 怪奇な世界を演出！穢れと優曇華
蟲が村人にとり憑き、そのまま硬化＞蛹化と言う割と直球の発想です。
（薄らぼんやり、一般的なこなきじじい感）
顔には呪をモチーフとした文字柄があります。
無数の腕で動けなくされ、頭をすっぽり覆われて最後に呪が付く。
呪いと呪い（まじない）で対比してます。
優曇華架空の花の方から着想。先に描いてあった、ラフ画を元に具体化。シルエットになった時に無数の”人っぽい何かが集団で拝んでいる”を作りたかったんです。
フォトモードで寄った時に無数の優曇華が群生しているのを見て「ヒヤッ」となりますね。
喉の方が本来の顔で、おでこは拝んでいる顔っぽい何か。動きもコマを飛ばして怪しい表現できたので、独特な不気味さが出たと思います。デザイン的にはお気に入り。
■Round 5: Staging a Bizarre World! Filth and the Udumbara
It's the idea of bugs possessing villagers and then hardening > pupating—a pretty straightforward concept.
(A vague, hazy, general old man with a white beard vibe)
The face features text patterns inspired by curses.
They become immobilized by countless arms, their heads completely covered, and finally, the curse is applied.
It's a contrast between curse and incantation (spell).
The udumbara inspiration comes from the fictional flower side. I started with a rough sketch I had drawn earlier and fleshed it out. When it turns into a silhouette, I wanted to create an image of countless "human-like somethings" gathered in worship.
In photo mode, when you zoom in and see the countless udumbaras growing in clusters, it gives you a little chill, right?
The throat area is the original face, while the forehead looks like some kind of worshiping face. By skipping frames in the movement, I was able to create a creepy expression, which I think brings out a unique eeriness. Design-wise, it's one of my favorites.
Bugs possessing the villagers...
The name Udumbara is the Udonge plant. उडुम्बर ( uḍumbara )
Buddhist scriptures say that the Udumbara flower blooms once every 3,000 years, and at that time, the Wheel King appears in this world. The Golden Light Sutra , Chapter on Praising the Buddha, states, "Rare, rare, the Buddha appeared in the world, appearing once like the Udumbara flower." It also appears in the Lotus Sutra and the History of the Southern Dynasties. In classical Japanese literature, it can be found in works such as The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter , The Tale of Genji (Wakamurasaki ) , and The Tale of Utsuho .
In modern literature, examples of its use can be found in works such as Okamoto Kidō 's "Hanshichi Torimonochō: Ningyō Tsukai , " Kambara Ariake's " Senjinshō to Hanabi no Kanshō ," Saitō Ryokuu's "Kakurenbo," Izumi Kyōka 's "Hakkin no Ezu , " Tayama Katai's "Michitsuna no Haha," and Natsume Sōseki's "Gubijinsō."
In modern literature, examples of its use can be found in works such as Teru Miyamoto's "Hotarugawa." From classical to modern literature, it has always been used to refer to a fictional flower, that is, the flower that blooms only once every 3,000 years. This is because it first circulated as the name of a fictional flower, and later came to be used as the name of an actual plant.
Wheel king. The name reminds me of how Nanamagi looks, his hands spinning like a wheel behind him.
While it is said that a Chakravartin (wheel-turning king) turns a wheel, there is no established theory about its origin. Some theories suggest it represents the wheel of a chariot symbolizing the power of the god Indra, the sun that illuminates the world, the chakram (a wheel-shaped weapon), or a mandala.
According to Buddhist scriptures, the concept of a Chakravartin (universal monarch) is roughly as follows: The world goes through cycles of prosperity and decline. During times of prosperity, the human lifespan is 80,000 years, but as human virtue is lost, lifespans shorten, becoming 10 years in the dark age when all good is lost. After that, human virtue is restored, and a new era of prosperity arrives with a lifespan of 80,000 years.
I'm quoting this because in one google translation of the script of the Kunitsu-Gami play, it said that human lifespans were only a week. Or something like that. (I will edit this once I find it)
But I recall that their lifespans had dramatically been reduced, something I didn't understand until now.
The translation I wasn't sure of though as Google makes mistakes and went on to translate the same passage differently.
