Airy [F]airy Easter of Sant'Ariccia--------->Spain: Cadiz The Winning of Cales

I know. I know. I know. Easter passed. But I am going to finish this anyway. 

A. Airy [F]airy Easter of Sant'Ariccia

Summary: This was a visual novel by the publisher/developer Roccoworks. ( They
may be out of business as their web page was archived.) Now before I continue, I
do want to say that this work was an eroge- it isn’t kid friendly- so if you want to
check it out please be warned. This story was about a character named Elmo
Costa who was a Tuesday Gravekeeper. A gravekeeper was a person who kept
days from being stolen- though how a day was stolen, I’m not sure. He took over
the job when his father disappeared and so was probably looking for clues to his
disappearance. And finally, it seems that Elmo was also romancing some of the
village girls
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/AiryairyEaster_of_Sant'Ariccia
https://vndb.org/v2671

Commentary: I chose this because the story took place during an Easter Festival.

Connections: I would prefer something a little more substantial, but I do have to work with what I have. In this story there was a character named Monika Lang.
 

She was a wandering street performer commonly seen with a donkey and monkey. I believe she may be related to the Zack Lang of her world which would be the double of the Zack Lang in Stephen King’s 11/22/63. Why him? Because they have some similarities. They both traveled and I have a feeling that both dealt with interdimensional, timey wimey issues. Monika Lang was interested in the original gravekeeper of Tuesday and Zack Lang was a guardian of time portal.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11/22/63

1.  11/22/63

Summary: This novel was written by Stephen King. It was about a man named Jake Epping.
When we first meet him, he was teaching a GED class for a little extra money. During this
class, he met a man named Henry Dunning. Henry told Jake about his traumatic past
and it touched Jake. The two men became good friends. The reason that this was important was
because a couple of years later, Jake was given a chance to go back in time. And the first thing
he planned to do with this chance?? He tried to fix his friend's life. After that, well, he moved on and
began trying to save JFK. At the end of the story, Jake learn that meddling with time can come with
a price.

Commentary: I chose this story because there was a section where some of the characters discussed
Easter. Lee stated that “we don’t celebrate Easter. We’re atheists.” And his friend
Mohrenschildt responded with “That’s why we celebrate the Easter Bunny.” (For a reminder,
I’m quoting Stephen King's book. King, Stephen. 11/22/63. United Kingdom,
Scribner, 2011.)

Connection: In the story, they refer to a character named Mark Anderson. He was described as
being a surgeon. For this blog, I am saying that he was distantly related to Anastasia Club’s Anna
Anderson aka Anastasia.

I chose her because she lived in the United States nearly Charlottesville (she met someone in
that city). So, there was a chance one of her kids could have moved to Texas where Mark
Anderson lived.

2. Anastasia Club

Summary: This manga was written by Saitou Chiho and published by Shogakukan. It’s about a girl
named Tsubaki Kamui who ran an antique shop left to her by grandfather upon his death. One day
a man named Sena Takuto showed up with an artifact that he needed appraised. Sena was trying to prove
that he descended from the Romanov family.

https://myanimelist.net/manga/5968/Anastasia_Club

https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=169

Commentary: I chose this manga because they searched for the Romanov Easter Eggs aka
Faberge eggs. And yes, this was a real thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanov_Tercentenary_(Faberg%C3%A9_egg)

Connection:  The Romanov family was related to the English monarchy. One of the ways we know this was because the
youngest Romanov prince suffered with hemophilia as did quitea few of the English monarchy.

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haemophilia_in_European_royalty

While this article was talking about the current British Royal family, the family were ancestors of Good
Queen Bess aka Elizabeth I through James I down to Queen Victoria The reason I bring her up because she had an affair with the Doctor.

And this was mentioned in the fan series Doctor Who and the Plague of Secrets.

3. Doctor Who and the Plague of Spirits

Summary: This was a fan film by a group that called themselves Sauchen Studios.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11106168/  Their films could be found on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAnsMVyiTvKIFLtyEku6qpw In the movie, mysterious plague
doctors infect Amy. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory search for an object that could stop the plague doctors
and save Amy. Unfortunately, a sinister third party was also looking for that object too.

Commentary: I chose this because the Doctor gave Amy an Easter chocolate.

Connection:


Continuing with Good Queen Bess, we also know that she was related to Queen Victoria
of the Victorian Age. Queen Victoria’s butlers show up in the Black Butler manga series.




4. Black Butler

Summary: This manga series was written by Yana Toboso and produced by Square Enix. It was about a
boy named Ciel Phantomhive who fought crimes. Ciel had a secondary goal, though. He wanted to get
revenge on those who killed his parents. To do this, he made a deal with a demon named Sebastian
who was disguised as his butler.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Butler

Commentary: I chose this manga because they have a volume where they celebrate Easter.

Connection: Demons, like Sebastian, were the most common footsoldier of Satan (Lucifer, the Devil,
etc). A possible coworker of Sebastian's would be Mephisto from Faust. The version of Faust that I
chose was Osamu Tezuka's Faust. Mephisto was the demon that tempted Faust.

I think he was in this picture. He was described as being an anthropomorphic black dog.....

5. Faust

Summary: This manga was an adaptation of Goethe's Faust written by Osamu Tezuka. In the story,
the demon Mephisto tempted Faust with eternal life. Faust accepted because he was looking for something
he was unable to find. The only caveat to this deal was that when Faust found what he was looking for, when
his desire was met, Mephisto won his soul. Maybe.

Commentary: The reason that I chose this was because there was mention of an Easter festival. I could find no images, but there were a couple sentences written about it in this article

http://tezukainenglish.com/wp/?page_id=10896

Connection: Mephisto wasn't the only demon running around the fictional world. Another demon was Sytry.

He was found in the manga Makai Ouji Devils and Realist. Not only were there demons, but the main
character, William Twining, was the Elector. 

This meant that he was the one that selected the replacement for Lucifer while Lucifer went on vacation.

6. Makai Ouij Devils and Realist

Summary: This manga was written by Madoka Takadono and published by Ichijinsha. It was about a
descendant of King Solomon named William Twining. William discovered that because of his ancestry,
he was the Elector. The Elector was the person that could determine who ruled hell when Lucifer went on
vacation. The catch was that William was a realist and didn't believe in demons. Still a supernatural war
was about to break out and William was in the middle of it.

Commentary: I chose this manga because they referred to the Easter Bunny in it.

Connection: One of the creatures in this manga was a Kilmoulis or a brownie.

It was a fairy tale creature that normally liked to do household chores and in this case grind flour. I’m
connecting this to the poem Spain: Cadiz The Winning of Cales because it mentioned other fairy tale
creatures such as giants and dwarfs.

B. Spain: Cadiz The Winning of Cales 

Summary: This poem was written by Miguel de Cervantes. The poem contained 14 lines with an
ABBCCDDCEFGEFG rhyme scheme. It seemed to be about a battle or the end of one as the speaker
seemed to be watching a squadron of soldiers on the move- whether they were leaving or entering the
battlefield.

Commentary: The reason I chose this poem was because the poet compared the battle to an Easter
May game.

WE saw a banded confraternity, By soldiers called a squadron, men whose blows Were dreaded more by friends than English foes, Holding an Easter May-game in July; All plumed, as if they meant to mount and fly: What wonder if, ere fifteen days had close, This pomp of Babel vanished, as it rose, Giants and dwarfs, with all their surquedry! Oft, like a valiant bull-calf, at their drill Had stout Becerro roared; pale grew the sun Beneath their smoke; earth trembled at their din: But all too late at Cales to fight or kill; The English Earl was gone; his booty won; And in grand triumph marched our grand Duke in!

https://www.bartleby.com/270/6/39.html

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Six Degrees Across: Ishtar- Trading Card Games and Summons

Six Degrees Across: Ishtar- Trading Card Games and Summons 

Because i didn't say this in the last one,  I want to make sure I say it in this one. For the
first handful of the "Six Degrees Across" posts I will be using characters that have a real
world reference and so will be able to start the posts with an "A" spot. After I exhaust
those options (there are quite a few so it will be a while), I will start these posts with the
number A being the Fire Emblem spot. Well, without further ado- here's today's post on Ishtar.

A. Ishtar

I am writing about Ishtar because it’ll be Easter soon. Ishtar was Assyro-Babylonian
goddess of love and war and sex and somehow in modern times many associate her
early celebrations with Easter. I’m not really sure how Ishtar got connected to a celebration
of rebirth and regeneration - maybe the celebrations were around the same time.

https://mythology.wikia.org/wiki/Ishtar

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/beyond-ishtar-the-tradition-of-eggs-at-easter/

1. Yugioh: Chaos Goddess

The Chaos Goddess was a level 8, synchro monster card with the attribute of light. It was the first
synchro card that stated which type of tuner monster was used for summoning. For more info visit
the website : https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Chaos_Goddess.  Chaos Goddess isn't called
Ishtar but I think it has the best physical resemblance to Ishtar.

2.  Final Fantasy: Lilith
While there were a couple of card games in the Final Fantasy series, I decided that I would
use summons. The Eidolon or summons were equipped by objects called signets (or materia),
which are stones or crystals containing the spirit. Lilith was a non-elemental summon found in
Final Fantasy Dimensions II and while not Ishtar does have the best physical
resemblance.

https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Dimensions_II
https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Eidolon_(Dimensions_II)/Free-to-play/Dark-elemental_summons

3. Cardfight Vanguard: Ishtar
Cardfight Vanguard was a card game and in the anime the cards represented aliens from another
world or dimension. From this series, the card I chose to represent Ishtar was Ishtar. The
important facts about Ishtar are that she was from the Genesis clan and the Noble race and
apparently she was not the Ishtar of the present but of the future.
https://cardfight.fandom.com/wiki/Goddess_of_Investigation,_Ishtar
https://cardfight.fandom.com/wiki/Card_Lores:Goddess_of_Investigation,_Ishtar

4. Persona: Leanan Sidhe
In Psychology, a persona was an aspect of a persons personality and can take many forms.
Personas found in the Persona series are closer to the Jungian shadow which was the part of
a persons identity that they keep hidden or may not recognize. These shadows can also
grow in power because the shadow was also a source of our creative energy. It could also
be a movement of the person identity to a more complete version "the Self." After all that, the
persona I chose was Leanan Sidhe and she was part of the Lover's Arcana. There was an Ishtar
persona, but I didn't think it matched the Fire Emblem Ishtar.
https://www.thesap.org.uk/resources/articles-on-jungian-psychology-2/about-analysis-and-therapy/the-shadow/
https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/Leanan_Sidhe
McLeod, S. A. (2018, May 21). Carl jung. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/carl-jung.html

5. Battle Spirits Heroes:the ReversePriestess Rinne
Battle Spirits Heroes was anime based on a card game and followed the same formula as most
shows. As far as I know, the cards are just cards. But I could be wrong as the wiki does
suggest that the battle spirit system was designed so that the protagonist could see the
spirits. The card that I chose to represent Ishtar was called the ReversePriestess Rinne .
https://battle-spirits.fandom.com/wiki/Battle_Spirits_Heroes
https://battle-spirits.fandom.com/wiki/Battle_Spirits_Wiki
https://battle-spirits.fandom.com/wiki/The_ReversePriestess_Rinne

6. Future Card Buddyfight: Great Warlock’s Disciple Zessica
Future Card Buddyfight was another anime about a card game. The story was about
humans and monsters in another world and how they communicated with each other
through the card game. The monster card that I chose to represent Ishtar was the Great
Warlock's Disciple Zessica.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Future_Card_Buddyfight_episodes
https://buddyfight.fandom.com/wiki/Great_Warlock%27s_Disciple,_Zessica

B. Fire Emblem: Ishtar
Ishtar was a character in Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy War. She was known
for her thunder powers and even called a "goddess of lightening".
https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Ishtar

Well, that was it for this go around. If you have any better suggestions, let me know- I will look
into it and make that change. Thanks.

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Six Degrees Across: Arthur - Trading Card Games and Summons

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First, I tend to like Trading Card Game anime. I was watching YuGiOh from the beginning. I've also noticed that many of the cards were similar, probably because the creators were drawing from the same pool of ideas. Second, while watching Yu-Gi-Oh Gx I noticed that at least one of the monsters resembled a summons from Final Fantasy. This summons was Ruby/Carbuncle. Speaking of summons, years later, Persona released a game that used spirits resembling Fire Emblem characters. It was these two ideas that gave me the idea, possibly, in the multiverse of fiction, that all the trading card monsters live in the same world of summons and that world may belong to the Fire Emblem universe. As a way to demonstrate this, I went through the cards and summons and found their doppelgangers.

A.  King Arthur

This was a legendary king that may or may not have existed in the 5th or 6th century AD. King Arthur Pendragon was to have united his people in response to invaders from the Saxons who were attempting to invade England. In his defense of England, he was joined by the Knights of the Round Table and Merlin the Magician. Some of his enemies included Morgan Le Fay and her Mordred. But who was King Arthur? No one really knows, but there were some theories. In the historical documents there a Riothamus was mentioned. Riothamus, I believe, just means Great King, so it could really refer to anyone.

Another person that had been suggested for the historical King Arthur was Artur mac Aedain. He was a Dal Riata prince who fought the Picts during the 6th century. The biggest evidence in his favor was his name.

The last two contenders for the title of King Arthur were Roman military commanders. The first was Ambrosius Aurelianus (in others he was the father or grandfather) who led the resistance against the Saxons. And the second was Lucius Arthorius Castus who was the commander of the Sarmatian calvary and lived during the 2nd century.

For this post, I am going to go over either the King Arthur card or his summons which showed that King Arthur exists across six dimensions.

1. Yugioh
There is, at least, two versions of King Arthur in Yugioh. In Zexal, there were the Comics Hero archetype and these resemble the Noble Knight archetype, which were associated with 5d's.

 

2. Final Fantasy
This series had summons, which I originally planned to use for this comparison- but Final Fantasy  also had a trading card game. Because of this, I may also pull information from the cards. For King Arthur, my first thought, was Final Fantasy VII's  Knights of the Round - a summon that included 12 knights and King Arthur. Look at the picture below for King Arthur's individual model.

3. Cardfight Vanguard
I don't know much about this card, but what I do know about these characters was that they exist on another planet and they reach out to people on Earth for help- or so the story goes. The card I was looking at was White Dragon Knight Pendragon. It connected with the Arthurian mythology because Arthur's last name was Pendragon, as noted above.

4. Persona
In the Persona series, Arthur was a regular occurring demon. He first appeared in the game Persona 2 Innocent Sin.

5. Battle Spirits Heroes
 Battle Spirits centered around a young boy who wanted to see the spirits alive. His parents built a system that allowed him to see the spirits which could indicate that the spirits were alive, but I haven't seen this show yet- so I may update this section later. Anyways, Arthur was one of these cards and so, without further ado- The Knight Hero Swordius- Arthur.

6. Future Card Buddyfight
This anime took place in 2030 ad. The card game, Buddyfight, allowed the players to interact with residents of other dimensions or other worlds or both. (I've only seen the first episode.) Anyways, Arthur was one of the residents of another place.

B. Fire Emblem Fates
Arthur, in this game, was a character who thought of himself as the Hero of Justice- which was why he fit with the Arthurian legend as the original Arthur was all about justice. Unfortunately, this Arthur had a serious amount of bad luck- probably from trying too hard to correct injustice.

Six Degrees Below Hanzo Hattori

A. In this Six Degrees Below post, I'm looking at the familial genealogy of Hanzo Hattori. Hanzo Hattori was a famous samurai of the Sengoku Period who was in the service of the Matsudaira Clan an then, later the Tokugawa clan.. He was known to be an expert tactician and a spear fighter. He was a military commander with no ninjitsu training, but he was the boss of the Iga ninjas. He lived the last several years of his life as a monk named Sainen, dying at the age of 55.

_________________________________________________________________________________
1. Hattori Ayame

Bio: Hattori Ayame was the daughter of Hattori Hanzo and she had exceptional talent as a ninja. When her father died a sudden death, Ayame made the decision to take his name and live as a man.

Connection: She was found in the manga called Mizukagekusa which is the story of Ayame. For more information visit the following website.
https://www.comixology.com/MIZUKAGEKUSA-Vol-1/digital-comic/791038





2. Hattori Chiyome

Bio:  Hattori Chiyome was a ninja girl, the daughter of Hattori Hanzo, and the niece of Hattori  Jiraiya.  From her grandfather, she inherited the ability to prophesize in her sleep.

Connection:  She was found in the manga called Ninja Raizo. Her role was to be the fiancé of the ninja Raizo. For more information check out the following website.
https://www.ninjaraizo.com/work/chiyome/




3. Hattori Hanzomon

Bio:Hattori Hanzomon was the grandson of Hattori Hanzo who lived during the early Edo period (1603-1868).
He was the leader of the secret police and the arch-nemesis of Sarutobi, a budding ninja.

Connection: Hattori Hanzomon made an appearance in the Korean drama called Sarutobi Sansei. For more information please visit the following website.
http://gooddrama.to/japanese-drama/sarutobi-sansei
https://jdramas.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/sarutobi-sansei/

4. Hattori Hanpei

Bio: Not sure of the actual relationship, but Hattori Hanpei was a descendant of Hattori Hanzo. And he liked to brag about this.

Connection: He was found in the Android Kikaider.as an ally and a friend to the main character, Jiro. Though,
Hanpei did come across a klutz and so provided comic relief.

5. Hattori Heiji

Bio:  Hattori Heiji was a high school student and a detective with major skills in kendo. These combined skills gave the impression that Heiji may also be a modern day descendant of Hanzo Hattori.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ShoutOut/DetectiveConan

Connection: Heiji could be found in chapter 92 of the manga series called Detective Conan aka Meitantei Konan.


6. Hattori Hanzo

Bio: Hattori Hanzo was a modern day descendant of Hattori Hanzo Masashige, but I am not sure of his exact relationship. Unlike his ancestor, who was a ninja, this Hanzo was a master sword smith.

Connection:  This character was found in a movie called Kill Bill. His role was to forge a sword for the Bride. A little more information can be found at the Tarantino Archives.
https://wiki.tarantino.info/index.php/Hattori_Hanzo

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