(There's a stray quotation mark at the end of the URL for the image of the character renderings.)

This is a *fantastic* essay, and I'm impressed by both the breadth of your references and the restraint in your tone.

a uniquely Western product dressed in the tacky red and gold trappings of haphazard American appropriation—by Westerners and for Westerners.
Beautifully & powerfully said.