Dude, spoiler warnings! Seriously, the fact that one of Yozen's sons is an adopted human is a major plot point! And as for much of the story's universe being unexplained, like many of his previous works Mamoru Hosoda's films are made almost entirely with a domestic audience in mind, so a lot of the elements of the story depend on the viewer having an intimate familiarity with either Japanese history or culture. Its one of the things that made me cringe after watching the original version and then hearing the English voice actors deliver lines that either completely glossed over what the Japanese dialogue was trying to convey or changed it entirely. Cultural dissonance can be brutal sometimes, but when there are no good English equivalents I find its better to just leave the delivery as is and let the visuals do the rest. As such, while there is no western equivalent to the Beast's World, in Japanese myth there are numerous references, especially in the Shinto religion, to the land where god's dwell, and while the god who lives in that land serves as the central pillar which acts as its foundation, without the presence of the god, the land will crumble into ruin. I know for a fact that I'm butchering that horribly, but like I said, there's no good English equivalent and much of the ideas that are present in the film rely on cultural context in order to understand. Though the Grandmaster's saying that he doesn't know what kind of a god he wants to become is a reference to this idea, and when Kumatetsu and Ren journey to the other lands and meet the other Grandmasters, the changes in dialect that each of them speaks indicates that each land is tied to a different prefecture in Japan. The inner darkness though is a Buddhist reference to those who are in danger of becoming an Asura, as Ren rejects the world around him an in turn is overcome by anger he begins to transform into a cursed being. There are a lot of other references being made throughout the film, but I'd say that knowing about all of them isn't necessary in order to enjoy the story being told, though it does help with the ending cause man, does it wrap things up fast.
Dude, spoiler warnings! Seriously, the fact that one of Yozen's sons is an adopted human is a major plot point! And as for much of the story's universe being unexplained, like many of his previous works Mamoru Hosoda's films are made almost entirely with a domestic audience in mind, so a lot of the elements of the story depend on the viewer having an intimate familiarity with either Japanese history or culture. Its one of the things that made me cringe after watching the original version and then hearing the English voice actors deliver lines that either completely glossed over what the Japanese dialogue was trying to convey or changed it entirely. Cultural dissonance can be brutal sometimes, but when there are no good English equivalents I find its better to just leave the delivery as is and let the visuals do the rest. As such, while there is no western equivalent to the Beast's World, in Japanese myth there are numerous references, especially in the Shinto religion, to the land where god's dwell, and while the god who lives in that land serves as the central pillar which acts as its foundation, without the presence of the god, the land will crumble into ruin. I know for a fact that I'm butchering that horribly, but like I said, there's no good English equivalent and much of the ideas that are present in the film rely on cultural context in order to understand. Though the Grandmaster's saying that he doesn't know what kind of a god he wants to become is a reference to this idea, and when Kumatetsu and Ren journey to the other lands and meet the other Grandmasters, the changes in dialect that each of them speaks indicates that each land is tied to a different prefecture in Japan. The inner darkness though is a Buddhist reference to those who are in danger of becoming an Asura, as Ren rejects the world around him an in turn is overcome by anger he begins to transform into a cursed being. There are a lot of other references being made throughout the film, but I'd say that knowing about all of them isn't necessary in order to enjoy the story being told, though it does help with the ending cause man, does it wrap things up fast.