Eko Eko Azarak (manga)

nihongo|Eko Eko Azarak|エコエコアザラク is a Japanese Manga and by Shinichi Koga. This is also known as the Wizard of Darkness. The manga serves as the basis of live-action TV-series, live-action movies.

Manga

TV Drama

*Eko Eko Azarak (1997-1998)
** THE SERIES (1~13)
** THE SECOND (14~26)　
*Eko Eko Azarak -eye- (2004)

Video Film

*EKO EKO AZARAK (2001)

Film

*Eko Eko Azarak Ⅰ -Wizard of Darkness- (1995)
*Eko Eko Azarak Ⅱ -Birth of the Wizard- (1996)
*Eko Eko Azarak Ⅲ -Misa The Dark Angel- (1997)
*Eko Eko Azarak R-page (2006)
*Eko Eko Azarak B-page (2006)

Eko Eko Azarak: The Wizard of Darkness

Eko Eko Azarak is set in an anonymous Japanese city, presumably a major one. A mysterious cabal of red-garbed black-magicians have apparently been cursing the local inhabitants. The film opens with a woman, inexplicably running in terror from an unseen pursuer. The fact that she is knowledgeably afraid of the wizards’ malice poses something of a plot hole later on, and the matter is never explained. Elsewhere, in a secretive corridor draped in satanic iconography, the spooky cabal chants about a voodoo-doll like fetish. When the cabal leader thrusts a knife into the head of the voodoo-doll, a large metal beam falls from high a top a nearby construction site and does more-or-less the same damage to the actual woman. This is the opening to Eko Eko Azarak, but from here on out, the only setting is a local high school. Apparently, the film’s fist victim was the last to die in a series of such curses, the object of which was to provide the 5 points of a giant pentagram, with each victim murdered at a particular point. The purpose of the pentagram? There are 2, some pentagrams are meant to protect, and others to “invoke.” As one might expect, this one is meant to summon Lucifer himself and the high school is the nexus.

The story follows transfer student Misa Kuroi, who is actually a witch of considerable powers. She has been “transferred” from one school to the next, presumably fighting black-magicians on earlier adventures at each respective location. Many plot synopses of the film’s English language version horribly misrepresent her actual character, which is dramatically forthright and bold. She makes no attempt throughout the film to conceal the fact that she is a witch, contrary to the descriptions of many blurbs on the film. Also untrue, is the notion espoused in many of these blurbs that Kuroi is somehow unaware of, and only now “discovering” the satanic proceedings. Though rather tacit throughout the film, Kuroi is at least familiar with all the occult proceedings, and demonstrates on many occasions that she is at this particular school for the very purpose of fighting the satanic conspiracy. To make matters worse, these same descriptions allude to Kuroi having some difficulty getting the curse-fodder classmates to trust her along the adventure. Only 1 student truly mistrusts her, the insecure Misuno, who hunches, poses, glowers, and lashes out so as to otherwise appear unsympathetic. As the film progresses, he becomes even more so. So while there is some dissent concerning Kuroi’s intentions, it is hardly the main conflict of film.

The spell words themselves, along with the references to "pagan" gods (namely Cernunos and Aradia) are what gives Eko Eko its magic, just in case that wasn’t clear from the spell-like title. English stoner-doom metal band Electric Wizard (now called “The Electric Wizard”) liked them so much, they wrote a song using the title chant from the movie.

Eko Eko Chant

: Eko, Eko, Azarak,: Eko, Eko, Zomelak,: Eko, Eko, Cernunnos,: Eko, Eko, Aradia!

External links

*imdb title|id=0112939|title=Eko Eko Azarak: Wizard of Darkness
*imdb title|id=0116178|title=Eko Eko Azarak Ⅱ: Birth of the Wizard
*imdb title|id=0130650|title=Eko Eko Azarak Ⅲ: Misa The Dark Angel
*imdb title|id=0485114|title=Eko Eko Azarak Ⅳ
*ja icon [http://www.gaga.ne.jp/ekoeko/public_html/index2.html Eko Eko Homepage]
*ja icon [http://avexmovie.jp/lineup/ekoeko/index.html Eko Eko Azarak R&B Page]
*ja icon [http://www.avexnet.or.jp/ekoeko/ Eko Eko Azarak -eye- Official Site]