Interview with the Translator, Hills of Silver Ruins: Zombies

Kate: The Hinman who attack Risai and Gyousuu’s group in Hills of Silver Ruins seem like a cross between zombies and werewolves. 

Do the Japanese have an interest in zombie popular culture? To the same extent as Americans? And do they link their zombies to Voodoo? (American zombies aren't really linked to Voodoo, but everyone pretends they are.)

Eugene: Like Halloween (which has exploded in popularity over the past decade), Hollywood horror has inserted itself into contemporary culture while becoming influential on the home-grown Japanese genres. Consider that an episode of Fruits Basket includes a running joke about "Jason" from Friday the 13th.

Vampires and zombies are two examples. The Japanese versions often tweak the origins stories but otherwise import them in recognizable form, such as the vampires in Call of the Night (a well done teen vampire dramedy). Hellsing gives us both vampires and zombies.

 

Hellsing employs the now standard trope of a secret government demon hunting corps. Hellsing takes place in England, and the group is led by a descendant of  Abraham Van Helsing. Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Chainsaw Man have all used the same-only-different formula.

Voodoo references can be replaced by similar Shinto concepts. The idea of cursing someone via a symbolic representation of that person (commonly a paper or straw doll) is a common one in Shinto-based horror and goes as far back as at least the 11th century and The Tale of Genji.

The demon slayers in Chainsaw Man hack their way through a whole army of zombies in the big climax, though the zombies are just collateral damage on the way to taking out the Big Bad, an overpowered "gun demon" from the other side of the Pacific.