Just bought three physical copies of Starfy 1-3 so I could finally own them legally. Hopefully if Starfy 6 becomes a thing, it'll revive the forum 
(End of sad rant… I think. 10 shoutbox messages, wow!)
Post by Evie(Torchickens) aspiring mum on Apr 14, 2019 18:01:11 GMT
In this thread I'd like to express my personal feelings about some of the lore in the The Legendary Starfy series. The first three Starfy games are generally light-hearted, but when the games are looked into some deeper meanings can be interpreted.
I'm going to focus on Ogura, who is regarded as a villain but as time proceeds it goes into moral ambiguity until his eventual sacrifice, redeeming himself for the 'evil' he caused. Two recurring themes may be Becker's labelling theory, and validation/dignity.
I'm also going to briefly mention Starfy 4 and 5 for the Nintendo DS.
Starfy 1 (key theme: wrath): Starfy 1 was the introductory game to Ogura. Here, as we don't know much about him, he could represent 'evil' in a seemingly peaceful world (akin to Porky at Tazmily Village in Mother 3 interfering with nature). The game labels Ogura as a mischievous being, and it is implied that he may be a demon. He demonstrates his mischief through his magical powers, specifically the ability to cause a storm, and other actions such as spawning beings out of thin air (such as Doppel, a green combat focused clone of Starfy, and the later Petit Ogura).
Interestingly, the book that talks about Ogura in the Undersea Temple is called the yogensho (a Japanese word describing prophetic writing). I feel its worth stressing this alludes to religion and the concept of evil. Specifically, there is text which reads "It seemed that no matter how many times Ogura was defeated, he would always return. Even the hero was not able to truly defeat him." The context could be interpreted as an allusion to yin/yang (how love cannot be understood without evil, how morality can be reimagined with different interpretation (does a lion eat because it's evil or because its struggling and finds comfort from it) or love and war. Ogura is age old, but there is something about him that was left hidden so that he would never return.
Some religions believe in the concept of repentance (e.g. Christianity); that a way out of 'evil' is to avoid the temptation to do it and put others first, for higher 'good'. I've read Christian writings describe for instance the devil as a dragon, who was tried to be slayed but would always come back. Yet the paradox is, by suppressing the thing we do not desire we can become the very thing we wanted to avoid (in allowing what you think is 'good' but not allowing them), like a nightmare; and how psychologically trying to e.g. kill a monster in a dream can make the monster stronger. There are studies too that suggest the best way to deal with a pain is permissiveness (but at the same time not to think about it).
In the game, Ogura was sealed within a mysterious jar, and what I find interesting about the jar is that it has a happy face on it, like Starfy. I wonder whether this may allude to the psychological concept of 'masking', specifically bad times and evil are denied or ignored. Pufftop Kingdom seems like a peaceful place, and with the happy face on the jar, one could assume nothing bad could come from it, however inside it is something what is portrayed as 'evil'. The 'peacefulness' then may be deceptive in nature and I feel its also similar to the concept of the Fruit of Knowledge and Pandora's Box. For instance, the serpent may have implied that nothing bad would come; yet by having our own values and perceptions about what is 'good' and what is 'bad' we could create our suffering (also linking in to Buddhism and its emphasis on how attachment leads to 'suffering', and nothing is set in stone/good/bad)
On the other hand, Pufftop are portrayed as a very carefree and proud nation. Sometimes then it may be through ignorance, not knowledge we rediscover our connection with love.
Starfy 1 also tells us not to judge a book by its cover. Ogura is not necessarily 'good' or 'bad', and Starfy's best friend Moe the clam is portrayed as arrogant and vain (a 'narcissist'), but he genuinely cares for others through his actions. Moe's words may be self-approving (like 'it was all thanks to me Moe-sama') and Moe may be greedy however he warmed up to Starfy and carried him through all the way back to Pufftop Palace, hoping that he could return there. I don't know if the game specifically calls him that, but I think Herman says in the Coral Reef something like 'although he seems distant at first he is actually a really nice guy'.
Starfy 2 (key theme: jealousy): In Starfy 2, we begin to see a more 'human' side of Ogura. In order to feel accepted and also to escape the jar, he created ten children of his own to help him. Deep down Ogura was probably feeling lonely and stigmatised and this manifests as jealousy. Apparently there is a quote where Ogura said something such as "I will hurt you Starfy by taking away what means to you the most"), and then later Ogura kidnapped Mama Star; Starfy's mother, naturally leading Starfy to cry. Again Starfy and Moe succeed, but spoiler: The Petit Ogura actually pass away at the end of the game as they are all defeated by Starfy; from Ogura's perspective then, Starfy is really the villain.
Starfy 3 (key themes: repentance, moral ambiguity): Ogura is revealed to work for a personage called Evil. I wonder if Evil is actually a representation of his self; Carl Jung's notion of the shadow. Ogura does what Evil wants out of duty (slave/master relationship I think Pokémon Black/White were also getting at this with Ghetsis; shame and our carnal drives/ideals even) but it does come across Ogura, eventually through distress regrets what he was doing. Spoiler: At the true end of the game, Ogura sacrifices himself; to prove he has a heart. At the end of the game Moe refers to a saying "that today's enemy is tomorrow's friend"). Symbolically Ogura was finally defeated ending his cycle of always coming back to terrorise Pufftop, but what killed him was not war against evil but his ability to both repent and forgive himself (the 'easier' way out maybe would have been Evil to continue to torment him and possibly kill him (yet I don't think he would ever truly die that way), but Ogura spoke louder than many others do by standing up to himself and Starfy/Starly/Moe.
Starfy 4: While Ogura was not present in this game, the themes are similar. The Amiy Kingdom (possibly inspired by France) was a serene peaceful place of love, but again like Porky's interference in Mother 3 the peace was disturbed when Degil; a jealous serpent/eel like creature stole the Mon Amour Stone because she wanted Prince Coral to marry her. However, it could also be argued this is traditional good vs. evil symbolism which didn't go as serious as Starfy 3.
Starfy 5: Like Starfy 4 this game was less serious, and is probably the most light-hearted. However, it does warn what might happen (due to our nature) that if a tyrant extraterrestrial who wanted power (Mashtooth) invaded another kingdom there would be war. Mashtooth is portrayed not to understand empathy and suits traditional stereotypes of intolerance but was a powerful leader and aggressive with loyal followers (but three of his followers decided to step down and challenge him, which lead to his fall). At the end of the game, Starfy, Moe and Bunston succeed through the power of their friendship, not their physical strength alone, and they befriended "The 'Terrible' Trio" who originally were thought to be 'bad' but really had a good heart.
(Also posted on another forum)
I'm going to focus on Ogura, who is regarded as a villain but as time proceeds it goes into moral ambiguity until his eventual sacrifice, redeeming himself for the 'evil' he caused. Two recurring themes may be Becker's labelling theory, and validation/dignity.
I'm also going to briefly mention Starfy 4 and 5 for the Nintendo DS.
Starfy 1 (key theme: wrath): Starfy 1 was the introductory game to Ogura. Here, as we don't know much about him, he could represent 'evil' in a seemingly peaceful world (akin to Porky at Tazmily Village in Mother 3 interfering with nature). The game labels Ogura as a mischievous being, and it is implied that he may be a demon. He demonstrates his mischief through his magical powers, specifically the ability to cause a storm, and other actions such as spawning beings out of thin air (such as Doppel, a green combat focused clone of Starfy, and the later Petit Ogura).
Interestingly, the book that talks about Ogura in the Undersea Temple is called the yogensho (a Japanese word describing prophetic writing). I feel its worth stressing this alludes to religion and the concept of evil. Specifically, there is text which reads "It seemed that no matter how many times Ogura was defeated, he would always return. Even the hero was not able to truly defeat him." The context could be interpreted as an allusion to yin/yang (how love cannot be understood without evil, how morality can be reimagined with different interpretation (does a lion eat because it's evil or because its struggling and finds comfort from it) or love and war. Ogura is age old, but there is something about him that was left hidden so that he would never return.
Some religions believe in the concept of repentance (e.g. Christianity); that a way out of 'evil' is to avoid the temptation to do it and put others first, for higher 'good'. I've read Christian writings describe for instance the devil as a dragon, who was tried to be slayed but would always come back. Yet the paradox is, by suppressing the thing we do not desire we can become the very thing we wanted to avoid (in allowing what you think is 'good' but not allowing them), like a nightmare; and how psychologically trying to e.g. kill a monster in a dream can make the monster stronger. There are studies too that suggest the best way to deal with a pain is permissiveness (but at the same time not to think about it).
In the game, Ogura was sealed within a mysterious jar, and what I find interesting about the jar is that it has a happy face on it, like Starfy. I wonder whether this may allude to the psychological concept of 'masking', specifically bad times and evil are denied or ignored. Pufftop Kingdom seems like a peaceful place, and with the happy face on the jar, one could assume nothing bad could come from it, however inside it is something what is portrayed as 'evil'. The 'peacefulness' then may be deceptive in nature and I feel its also similar to the concept of the Fruit of Knowledge and Pandora's Box. For instance, the serpent may have implied that nothing bad would come; yet by having our own values and perceptions about what is 'good' and what is 'bad' we could create our suffering (also linking in to Buddhism and its emphasis on how attachment leads to 'suffering', and nothing is set in stone/good/bad)
On the other hand, Pufftop are portrayed as a very carefree and proud nation. Sometimes then it may be through ignorance, not knowledge we rediscover our connection with love.
Starfy 1 also tells us not to judge a book by its cover. Ogura is not necessarily 'good' or 'bad', and Starfy's best friend Moe the clam is portrayed as arrogant and vain (a 'narcissist'), but he genuinely cares for others through his actions. Moe's words may be self-approving (like 'it was all thanks to me Moe-sama') and Moe may be greedy however he warmed up to Starfy and carried him through all the way back to Pufftop Palace, hoping that he could return there. I don't know if the game specifically calls him that, but I think Herman says in the Coral Reef something like 'although he seems distant at first he is actually a really nice guy'.
Starfy 2 (key theme: jealousy): In Starfy 2, we begin to see a more 'human' side of Ogura. In order to feel accepted and also to escape the jar, he created ten children of his own to help him. Deep down Ogura was probably feeling lonely and stigmatised and this manifests as jealousy. Apparently there is a quote where Ogura said something such as "I will hurt you Starfy by taking away what means to you the most"), and then later Ogura kidnapped Mama Star; Starfy's mother, naturally leading Starfy to cry. Again Starfy and Moe succeed, but spoiler: The Petit Ogura actually pass away at the end of the game as they are all defeated by Starfy; from Ogura's perspective then, Starfy is really the villain.
Starfy 3 (key themes: repentance, moral ambiguity): Ogura is revealed to work for a personage called Evil. I wonder if Evil is actually a representation of his self; Carl Jung's notion of the shadow. Ogura does what Evil wants out of duty (slave/master relationship I think Pokémon Black/White were also getting at this with Ghetsis; shame and our carnal drives/ideals even) but it does come across Ogura, eventually through distress regrets what he was doing. Spoiler: At the true end of the game, Ogura sacrifices himself; to prove he has a heart. At the end of the game Moe refers to a saying "that today's enemy is tomorrow's friend"). Symbolically Ogura was finally defeated ending his cycle of always coming back to terrorise Pufftop, but what killed him was not war against evil but his ability to both repent and forgive himself (the 'easier' way out maybe would have been Evil to continue to torment him and possibly kill him (yet I don't think he would ever truly die that way), but Ogura spoke louder than many others do by standing up to himself and Starfy/Starly/Moe.
Starfy 4: While Ogura was not present in this game, the themes are similar. The Amiy Kingdom (possibly inspired by France) was a serene peaceful place of love, but again like Porky's interference in Mother 3 the peace was disturbed when Degil; a jealous serpent/eel like creature stole the Mon Amour Stone because she wanted Prince Coral to marry her. However, it could also be argued this is traditional good vs. evil symbolism which didn't go as serious as Starfy 3.
Starfy 5: Like Starfy 4 this game was less serious, and is probably the most light-hearted. However, it does warn what might happen (due to our nature) that if a tyrant extraterrestrial who wanted power (Mashtooth) invaded another kingdom there would be war. Mashtooth is portrayed not to understand empathy and suits traditional stereotypes of intolerance but was a powerful leader and aggressive with loyal followers (but three of his followers decided to step down and challenge him, which lead to his fall). At the end of the game, Starfy, Moe and Bunston succeed through the power of their friendship, not their physical strength alone, and they befriended "The 'Terrible' Trio" who originally were thought to be 'bad' but really had a good heart.
(Also posted on another forum)