Religious mythology: The problem of aberration of infernal characters in Japanese “anime”

Abstract

The article represents the study, devoted to the peculiarities of the modern infernal religious mythology manifestation in the space of mass media. The authors’ interest is focused on the analysis of the locus of religious mythology from through the aberration of Western culture characters on the Japanese ones. Thereby the narrative scope of the author’s concept of “religious mythology” is expanded. The interaction of mass culture and religion within the framework of a single study is increasingly common, however, the syntax of Shintoism and anime is a rare, although, relevant topic. In this article, the authors set the task of examining and analysing the influence of Shintoism, Christianity, Buddhism and American culture on the interpretation of infernal cultural heroes (characters) in the media discourse of Japanese animation developed during the creation of animated films and TV series.