crows or ravens?

[monolith]

what is the relavence of the crows or ravens in the opening music to anything in the series?

(if there's been another thread about this, plz kindly direct me to it :D)

[iwakura]

I think they are crows because ravens tend to hang out in cold, desolate places. Ravens are a bit larger and more "rugged" looking as well.

[iwakura]

The difficult question is the symbolism of the crows. I've seen crows associated with the spiritual, and they are dark, so perhaps this is associated as a bad omen of some sort.

That wasn't a good answer, so I found the following crow mythology page online: http://members.tripod.com/thecrow/myth.html There were some entries for Japan:

Japan:
In Japan, crows are also divine messengers, and in China they are the faerie queen Hsi-Wang-Mu's messengers. They also bring her food and are a good omen.

Asiatic Mythology:
The crow has also a role in the asiatic mythology : in China and in Japan, he shows love and filial gratitude.According to chinese legends, ten red crows with three paws flew away from the East Blackberry Tree to bring light to the world. But they brought an unbearable heat to the Earth. Yi The Good Archer killed nine of them, and saved the world. The last Crow is now in the Sun.

So the crow is a solar symbol. He represents the creative principle.

[omae o korosu]

actually, they're ravens. crows are bigger and have yellow beaks.

[Drizzten]

I personally don't see any symbolism (at least any relevant symbolism) with the birds in the beginning.

[I'm not a doll]

Originally posted by iwakura
I think they are crows because ravens tend to hang out in cold, desolate places. Ravens are a bit larger and more "rugged" looking as well.

Originally posted by omae o korosu
actually, they're ravens. crows are bigger and have yellow beaks.

The crows outside my house, sure don't look any think like that, and sure don't live in
Desolate places?


as for the symbolism ,, thats an easy answer ,, they are scary looking ;)

[monolith]

I personally don't see any symbolism (at least any relevant symbolism) with the birds in the beginning.
i guess not, but it was just one of those things that struck me as weird...i've never been to japan, but are there many crows/ravens flying around?

[Drizzten]

For some reason, I've got this image of Lain in one of her cyber-punk outfits, slowly roaming a desert, tossing out cracker bits to whatever life she passes...O.o

[cloakactive]

Personally i always that they showed that there was something wrong in the world. After all its not normal for a raven/crow (or any bird for that matter) to all of a sudden just stop moving in mid air and still remain up there.

Then again maybe i'm looking too far into it. :confused2

[Ryo-Ohki]

WARNING!! WARNING!! THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS MESSAGE!! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE SHOW AND WANT TO NOT HAVE IT RUINED, DO NOT READ ON!!



I don't necessarily think that it matters what kind of bird they are, but the fact that she stops them in mid air. As she walks by, the birds take off in flight. She looks at them and they are frozen, but she doesn't look intrigued by this or frightened by it. In my opinion, she almost looks sad, like all she wants is to be normal, but she can't be. She has the power to freeze these animals in mid air, to defy the laws of nature, and all she wants is to be normal. They are representative of her depression and of her inability to grow, she is, basically a god, and there's no where left to go. She can no longer go up, just like the birds.

That's my opinion on the matter anyway.

[omae o korosu]

Originally posted by Drizzten
For some reason, I've got this image of Lain in one of her cyber-punk outfits, slowly roaming a desert, tossing out cracker bits to whatever life she passes...O.o

where did you find that? i'd kinda like to see it...

[Drizzten]

:lol:
No, I meant I have that image in my mind.
Says Ryo-Ohki:
WARNING!! WARNING!! THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS MESSAGE!! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE SHOW AND WANT TO NOT HAVE IT RUINED, DO NOT READ ON!!

I don't necessarily think that it matters what kind of bird they are, but the fact that she stops them in mid air. As she walks by, the birds take off in flight. She looks at them and they are frozen, but she doesn't look intrigued by this or frightened by it. In my opinion, she almost looks sad, like all she wants is to be normal, but she can't be. She has the power to freeze these animals in mid air, to defy the laws of nature, and all she wants is to be normal. They are representative of her depression and of her inability to grow, she is, basically a god, and there's no where left to go. She can no longer go up, just like the birds.
I can agree to that. The shot with the closeup of her face right after the bird froze shows what might be called melancholy...a look of low spirits. But she continues on her way, apparently not giving it any more thought. A weary pseudo-deity?

[iwakura]

I don't remember bill color as a differentiating factor. There are a couple of crow/raven identifier guides online for the curious though...

http://www.shades-of-night.com/aviary/difs.html
http://www.azstarnet.com/~serres/crowfaq.html
http://angelfire.com/id/ravensknowledge/ravensvscrows.html

From these references, still think they are crows and not ravens.

[The cruel angel's thesis]

Those birds freak me out *shudders*

[omae o korosu]

Originally posted by Drizzten
:lol:
No, I meant I have that image in my mind.


wow, i am on a losing streak...

[Ryo-Ohki]

Says Drizzten:
A weary pseudo-deity?

I think that weary is exactly the word for it.

If you want to go for a real stretch of the imagination, you could say that the birds are ravens, as in Poe's The Raven. Nevermore is she to have happy childhood, much like Poe's narrator is nevermore to have his Lenore. She tries to stop the ravens, but in doing so is only reminded that she is not like everyone else.

[StarDruid]

Their crows, I've seen crow and ravens. Their too small. I've lived in a town call Sitka, in alaska, the damn raven were huge. I mean these birds harrased eagles and where not the lease bit scared of human. They would mostly likly be the same ones in Japan.

Edit: damn didn't notice how long this thing was down there.