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Glossary Entry : Oni
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From what I know an Oni is generally viewed as a huge, brutal humanoid. They embody many of the base elements, being agressive, violent and indiscriminate. In many stories they exhibit a fondness for human flesh. They also possess magic and super-human powers. As such they make great monsters and show up in anime often enough that the term is recognised by many anime fans. Thus the term is often used amongst western fans as well. One common translation to english is `ogre', which leads to such things as the anime "ogre slayer". They are also often translated as `demon' which is possibly not an ideal term. In D&D they were named "Ogre Magi", as western ogres are not monsters with magical powers.
The most famous Oni is almost certainly Lum from Urusei Yatsura. This makes things harder because this show, while drawing from all the oni legends, takes a lot of liberties for humorous effect. The more monstrous oni are quite common villains in `magical warrior' series, although they rarely have complex roles or much in the way of personality.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:50 WST 2009