Nezha: A review of all his daddy issues
(Spoiler Warning? Since I talk about Nezha in modern fiction and I have been yelled at to check my privilege and that I can’t treat Chinese media like Western media even if it’s classic lit because English audience is relatively new and I can’t ruin their experience. -_- But Nezha is a legit deity and a lot of his lore are known legends within his home culture. For analogy, do we like treat the Bible as ubiquitous culture or literature? And what about the case of classic lit? How do we handle things like Jane Austin for new audiences, especially when the major beats are so widely known even among non-readers? Who is going to seriously read all of Investiture of the Gods if there is even an English translation out there? While I think this whole situation of needing to self-moderate when I just want to talk about my culture is unfair, I can understand the other side and want to contribute to the positive spread of my own culture, so I have done my due diligence. But I am not above complaining about it. Sorry for the rant, Nezha talk below.)
(Also, possible trigger warnings for conservative heteronormative family values, violence, and suicide)
Third Prince Nezha in irl is the Chinese god of children and family values. Immortal, he is forever under 20 years old. Blessed with the pretty face and stature of a healthy divine teen or as cute as a babe with rosy cheeks, you can pray to him for anything no matter how silly or selfish it is. But do not come to him for adult problems, especially about divorce. He doesn’t like it when mom and dad are fighting. You don’t want him to smite you. Omnipotent and armed to the teeth by his shifu, Taiyi Zhenren, with all sorts of divine instruments and weapons, he is equal to the Monkey King Wukong in a duel. Legend has it he only lost because the Monkey King is his bro and bros don’t kill their bros. Also, he may have been in a rebellious phase when his father ordered him into combat. Couple such power with the temper of an angsty teen who will throw tantrums like a toddler, it is not only acceptable but advisable you offer him sweets, meats, and toys for his pleasure. Though naughty and temperamental like all children ever, he is of course a good kid at heart. He is a god after all, the most perfect and worst son one can have. He obeys his mother and always respectfully asks her permission to play, tells her where he’s going, and comes home on time. Though there was an incident where he quarreled with the neighbors during play time, ripped out the dragon neighbor’s spine and wore it like a trophy before running home to hide when the dragon’s father flew over to tell his parents he was taking them to heavenly court. Naturally, his parents were angry, but he is a good and filial son, so honor killed himself to protect them and the good people of the city from the wrath of the dragons. Boys will be boys.
In fiction and popular imagination, he is often portrayed as an overpowered mama’s boy with daddy issues. Even though his old man Li Jing is a respectable general of heaven and god in his own right, clearly no one is afraid of getting smited for less-than-ideal portrayals of the man. We all know he got his promotions through his OPed sons, specifically Nezha. And still he had the audacity to burn down his own boy’s temple because the Third Prince was better at being a deity than him. Compared to his Master who revived him with an indestructible lotus body and spoiled him with some really leet divine weapons, it’s not hard to tell who the preferred father figure is. But childhood is very dynamic, so Nezha’s portrayal can become incredibly diverse.
Chinese people apparently like their Third Prince explosive and angry, regardless of age. The old adaptations of Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods from post-war to 1980s when the budget was in hell didn’t try anything interesting with his character. They’re just animated or live action retellings of his original legend with a healthy smattering of proper family values (listen to your parents’ absolute word, even if your dad is a dick, etc).
But in live action series after that, there was more run time to tell in-depth stories. We begin to enjoy arcs where Nezha goes off to make friends with the wrong crowd like troublemaking monkey kings because he thinks someone is cool if they can last more than five minutes in fisticuffs. He’s less than the good little soldier under his father’s command, flopping down on a cloud in protest and making nasty faces until dad threatens to give him a good spanking. When he goes full asura mode and stretches out his 4-8 arms and two heads/faces, he sometimes banters with his other faces and cracks some juvenile jokes. But I digress, his contentious relationship with his father is often played for laughs. They just have normal family arguments that are power scaled up and dad getting beat and needing to beg other deities for help managing his own household is comedy. Nezha is disobedient because that’s just how boys are, but he will ultimately begrudgingly obey like a good kid. How a father who is weaker than his son can even threaten to discipline him is never explained but Nezha is filial because…cosmic order. His relationship with his teacher, the societal father, can border on rude as some directors just do the bare minimum and hit the plot beats of the source material. The lad goes and makes a fuss at his Master’s whenever he loses a fight demanding more power and gets his way, not because anyone condones such behavior but because Heaven is in a state of emergency and someone needs to beat that monkey king ASAP. Overall, character dynamics can be a little weak and relies heavily on canon for characterization.
Modern audiences are probably more familiar with the recent animated films such as Ne Zha (2019) and New Gods: Nezha Reborn (2021). In the films centered around him, he is a gremlin who can’t control his strength and is prone to anger. When in asura or teen mode, he is edgier and no less rebellious or destructive. All within the realm of expectation. But his relationship with his family is more humanizing and the dynamic is reasonable, exploring nature and nurture. His father is given some dignity for once and his troubles with raising an overly powerful son are explored. In fact, the parents enjoy a modern and egalitarian relationship where they work together to raise their family, though each have their own way of reaching out to their son. The same can be said of his Master, who is given more to do than just playing at deux de machina. However, the first film at least is focused on the mother-son bond so all the fathers, godfathers, and their daddy issues take a back seat. Within this cinematic universe, Nezha’s relationships with his family and other characters are generally modernized and the most normal.
Japanese Nezha, romanized Nataku, is often in his sulky teens – an emotionally checked-out, robotic killing machine. If he is obedient, it is because he initially lacks a soul or free will. Evidently, Japanese creators are as enamored by his rebirth into an artificial shell of a lotus body as they are by his raw power. To them, Nataku is exclusively a fictional character from novels brought over during the Edo era. While a few Taoist deities have crossed the sea, I have yet to see a temple dedicated to Nataku in Japan. Perhaps for this reason, more artistic licenses have been taken. A major part of his character development in Japanese media is gaining that light in his eyes, then he goes through a emo phase as he finds himself and place in the world. His daddy issues, if dad is in the picture at all, by far the most abusive overseas. In Saiyuki (1996) his father is a shameless social climber using his son as a tool. Nataku, in contrast to his Chinese counterpart, is stoic and aloof due to being raised in a strict household and groomed for formal court life. While he has his own views, he ultimately suppresses his true self to remain loyal to his father, gaslighting himself to believe they have a loving relationship. It is when he is away from his father, we see the carefree and playful boy he actually is. Ultimately, the relationship is toxic and irredeemable. Nataku’s characterization is much the same in Houshin Engi (1996). His daddy issues are pretty straight forward. In his first life, he is just picking favorites between his parents so ignores his father in favor of his mother like a punk. What really tips the scales against his father is when dad destroys his grave that mom built, pissing his reincarnation off. But while he had many chances to avenge the desecration and actually kill his father, he never follows through. One can say he is just being a brat and holding a grudge but doesn’t actually hate his father. Therefore, while the father-son dynamic is not so abusive as in Saiyuki, it is still violent and tense. In this series, the teacher is a much more prominent character and has a similarly violent relationship with Nataku but is actually able to communicate because he took the time to understand his disciple. Points in his favor for being that teacher who goes the extra mile and guides his students towards their goals by talking at their level along with some gentle parenting, in a manner of speaking. He is the cool uncle that lets you do whatever you want that everyone wished they had while bio-dad is being clowned on back down on Earth. Following killer puppet tradition, CLAMP’s X/1999 (1992) features Nataku as an androgynous, emotionless clone created to fulfill their destiny in the apocalypse. As a clone, they have no particular family outside their ties to their donor. They are related to their creator, Chairman Tojo, as their genetic material is derived from Tojo’s granddaughter, Kazuki. But they don’t have any emotional bond as Nataku is perceived as a tool. As the series progresses, they inherit their host’s memories, implying a form of reincarnation, and gain their own will. This culminates in them forming a final wish, which is to both die by and protect the person they love most. This wish is fulfilled by proxies of Kazuki’s parents. This is the closest we get to parent-child relationships in this universe, mostly symbolic.
Videogame Nezha sometimes gets a sex change! This is not offensive or unusual at all. He is canonically said to be as pretty as a girl in contrast to his raw martial power. Think of Inosuke from Kimetsu no Yaiba (2016). Fun fact, sometimes the Lotus Prince is portrayed as a woman and most likely a professional gymnast in C-dramas because only a girl can pull off the splits and backflips needed for his energetic fight style. I may be biased but when it comes to live action, actresses tend to be more fun and charming as Nezha than their male counterparts. One can even argue his portrayal as a girl serves gender parity. While usually depicted as a boy, he is still god of all children – not exclusively sons. However, as the games are not so attached to any source material and Nezha is sometimes just a summons, there are no daddy issues to unpack.
Ironically, Nezha’s characterization and relationships in Big Brother/My Senior Brother is Too Steady (2023)* is the most unconventional compared to other adaptations, even the Japanese ones. Nezha does not lack father figures here, which may explain why he is such a sweet, golden child. His biological father is not a loser but an upstanding citizen and present family man who Nezha actually respects. This is no small feat seeing that poor Li Jing is surrounded by OPed immortals, gods, and demons. Despite knowing he is way out of his league and having an all-powerful son at his disposal he still bravely stands his ground and opts to protect his underaged son, willing to sacrifice his own life as penance for Nezha accidentally killing the dragon prince Ao Bing. Nezha undergoes his asura puberty early of his own volition to save his father rather than being compelled by any adult. Fair to say father and son are on good terms and the Li family are very much a boring, typical family. Taiyi Zenren is also a very present cool uncle since Nezha’s birth along with the series’ protagonist. As they both have some foresight about the great war brewing in the future, the former spoils the boy while the later covers his butt so his childhood can be as smooth as possible. Most of Nezha’s negative traits are also attributed to being cursed with a literal inner demon but after explosive asura puberty, he is able to harness it, all thanks to the good influence of his great father. The worst he gets is getting bratty for celestial weapons like a kid at a candy shop. Even as a teen he is still the most well-mannered of his fictional counterparts. He bothers to apologize after he draws the Qiankun Bow right after his father explicitly tells him not to touch it. He is even remorseful for piercing the fabric of reality when other renditions of the boy would probably have him jumping in excitement about how far the bow can shoot. Somehow, the most recent Nezha and Li family buck the trend by being the most mundanely wholesome and well-adjusted of the bunch.
Conclusion: post-2000s Chinese Nezha media is the most wholesome when it comes to family dynamics and he carries the least amount of daddy issues.
*Yeah, I just wanted to talk about this one specific, incredibly small part of an otherwise basic bitch cultivation series.
