What is going on here? Do you guys not understand the holes are supernatural? They appear from seemingly nowhere and draw people in from all over the world only to find the holes match those particular people’s exact form. There may be a metaphor baked in for an exaggerated form of the ‘call of the void’ but the real horror is an external force that is actually responsible for the call and it ultimately leads you to an existence of ever increasing suffering with no way back.
The story actually gives the background of the holes. They were dug by humans. They aren’t supernatural and didn’t appear from nowhere, they emerged from older sediment layers that were raised back to the surface again after an earthquake. The story doesn’t specifically say it, but it implicitly builds on ideas the predominant religion in Japan - syncretic Buddhism - which is common for any literature and would be recognized readily in Japanese audiences. These people committed crimes and were punished in the past, and now they have been reborn again. Like all people they are ignorant to their past lives in normal situations, but their ‘souls’ are still bound to and resonate with the same infinitely continuous karmic system.
I had to reread my original post because I believe I said ‘seemingly out of nowhere.’ Also, supernatural is not synonymous with inhuman. Supernatural is inherently linked with death, the afterlife, and even strong emotions felt by living people.
What is going on here? Do you guys not understand the holes are supernatural? They appear from seemingly nowhere and draw people in from all over the world only to find the holes match those particular people’s exact form. There may be a metaphor baked in for an exaggerated form of the ‘call of the void’ but the real horror is an external force that is actually responsible for the call and it ultimately leads you to an existence of ever increasing suffering with no way back.
The story actually gives the background of the holes. They were dug by humans. They aren’t supernatural and didn’t appear from nowhere, they emerged from older sediment layers that were raised back to the surface again after an earthquake. The story doesn’t specifically say it, but it implicitly builds on ideas the predominant religion in Japan - syncretic Buddhism - which is common for any literature and would be recognized readily in Japanese audiences. These people committed crimes and were punished in the past, and now they have been reborn again. Like all people they are ignorant to their past lives in normal situations, but their ‘souls’ are still bound to and resonate with the same infinitely continuous karmic system.
I had to reread my original post because I believe I said ‘seemingly out of nowhere.’ Also, supernatural is not synonymous with inhuman. Supernatural is inherently linked with death, the afterlife, and even strong emotions felt by living people.