Forum - View topicCurses!
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Just a random thought that popped into my mind for discussing in the forum. Anime often plays heavily on various curses in its storytelling. Some curses are magical, some are fictional and some are based on real folklore and mythology.
Most curses are bad but some can be good. What are some notable or favorite curses of yours in anime that result in interesting or funny situations for the characters? I for one would find it fun to have a curse that changes my gender when splashed with cold or hot water (ala Ranma 1/2). Sometimes in anime there are attributes that characters have that aren't called curses, like in The Slayers where Lina Inverse and Gourry are "cursed" with never being able to find enough food to eat (no matter how much they eat). But since there is plenty of magic in that show I'm sure there are a few actual curses that I'm not remembering right now. Anyway please contribute... |
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10円
Posts: 605 |
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Real folklore and mythology? Isn't that an oxymoron? 
How about D's talking/eating hand of doom? That would certainly make for some odd/funny/lethal situations. "Who were you just talking to?" or "What happened to that carrot you were just holding?" or "Why did that parking attendant suddenly vanish into your hand?" Yeah, that would be an amusing curse. I sometimes feel cursed myself and yet I don't have any marks on my skin (well, actually I do, hmm...) nor do I have any powerful spell-casting enemies (that I know of, at least) nor do I experience any specific ills that cannot be attributed to my own actions or inactions (unless you count the time...). |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16961 |
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I would personally love Ranma's curse. I mean I get splashed with water and turn into a hot chick. I can then go and seduce a bunch of old rich idiots and get their money. Then simply splash more water on myself and I'm a guy again, free to spend the money. Let DNA testing and CSI figure that out hahahaha.
As for D's hand, it would make holiday shopping so much easier. Simply envelop the whole line. Oh look, you're now next in line. However, there are certain personal activities that having such a curse would make very painful and dangerous. 
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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I think not having enough money to buy the anime I want is a curse. But they also say that money just makes you more greedy, so having it is a curse too.
So how does D's curse and Miroku's curse differ? Do they both basically have a void inside their hands that sucks anything up and no longer exists in our world? I wonder if this curse has anything to do with Japanese folklore. Also I noticed bad luck is a common curse in anime. |
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Amethyst Alchemist
Former ANN Editor
 Posts: 312 Location: where it's always a good morning |
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Well, it's not really an oxymoron. The way people use "myth" to mean something false is actually very incorrect. Folklore and mythology is very true to the peoples they come from. Christians believe the mythology of Christ. And even if all the events aren't true in the most tangible sense, there is always some basis in truth. People might observe the waxing and waning of the moon and say a frog is swallowing it and spitting it out. Even if there is no giant frog, the moon still waxes and wanes. There is always some "true" aspect. (Sorry, I'm a student of those subjects and I just couldn't keep myself from chiming in about that.  )
A memorable "curse" for me is the diclonius having the vectors in Elfen Lied and not always being able to control them or their own destructive tendencies. But my favorite curse, of course (since I can never manage to get the series out of my head for long), would have to be Ed being so short in FMA. Drink that milk Ed! 
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Ah thanks for answering that mythology and folklore question, Amethyst Alchemist. I had an idea of a response I wanted to provide but 10-en had a point there yet I knew he wasn't entirely correct but I couldn't quite come up with an answer myself. It is absolutely true that both folklore and mythology are based upon the history of its particular culture (and pretty much all cultures that have been around for a while). But now the question is whats the difference between folklore and mythology? I think folklore has more to do with passing of beliefs that one generation believes is important enough to pass onto the next generation, through the use of storytelling. Mythology is a little different in that the teachings you get from it are more stable and unchanging unlike folklore which evolves continuously.
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undeadben
 Posts: 1212 Location: West Texas |
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One curse that I find really interesting is the Sohma family curse in Fruits Basket; turning into the animals from the Chinese Zodiac. I also like how the show (or more prominent, the manga) uses the curse, sort of giving you a few laughs at first but intriguing enough to keep an eye on as the story progresses and you begin to see how those under the spell are not just affected by its direct cause but the other aspects, like how their families treat them and how some are even forced to pretty much keep themselves as recluses and how others find ways to cope. I think the curse is what keeps the story so involving and interesting that fans of all genres keep reading more. Will it be broken? Can it be broken? How? Yes, the characters are all very memorable, but it is the curse that bonds all their stories and lives together.
Another notable curse is Sophie's from Howl's Moving Castle. Well I suppose this is just a magical movie all around and there are quite a few curses flying around, but Sophie is the one that really benefits from hers in her growth and development as a character and it makes her more interesting to the audience because of it. The way she learns to adapt and accept things and more importantly the way you can see how she changes and her feelings as her features change as she starts to react to certain things is really interesting to watch, well at least to me anyway. And of, course, I do love the Jusenkyo curses from Ranma 1/2. I still remember when I watched my first episode I was like, " what the... ?" But with the wonderful Takahashi type story-telling and character interactions I was soon enraptured in this world of insanity where a splash of water, or even a passing rain cloud, can turn any situation into a completely different one all together. Ranma turns into a girl, his dad turns into a panda. The self conscious but ever lost Ryoga becomes a pig, and sometimes into somebody's dining interest. Shampoo, the nutcase who loves Ranma so much, turns into the thing Ranma hates and fears most. And Mousse, poor Mousse, blind in love and blind literally, turns into the ever awkward duck. And the most pitiful and powerful of all, how can anyone forget the ridiculously named Pansuto Taro and the heck of a combination he turns into? I always have to look that one up because I forget the combination; he fell into the spring of 'yeti holding an eel and crane while riding an ox' ... yeah. And all of the other often minor characters that come into both the anime and the manga at times just to add another weird encounter. It wouldn't be Ranma 1/2 without the curse. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7992 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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I found the self-detracting things that contractors in Darker Than Black are compelled to do after using their powers quite interesting. I'd definitely consider that a curse.
Then there's always the the Curse of Oyashiro in Higurashi no Naka Koroni. 
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Moros
Posts: 369 |
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XVII
Last edited by Moros on Mon Jun 25, 2007 10:29 am; edited 2 times in total |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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From your wording here I am unsure if you've seen the whole series or are less than halfway through it as the true nature of the prophesy is not revealed until later in the series. But I'd hate to spoil it for you so just watch the whole show if you haven't finished it yet. It's an absolutely amazing series. Regardless Pacifica's predicament is most definitely a curse in the sense that's she's always being hunted and she always has to conceal or fake her identity to everyone she meets. She can't even trust her own relatives 
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Moros
Posts: 369 |
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XVII
Last edited by Moros on Mon Jun 25, 2007 10:24 am; edited 2 times in total |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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I'd suggest a good tracer route for your informant but I'd be afraid to find a nasty little suprise on my doorstep the next day.
This definitely sounds like a curse. Please explain a little more in depth or provide more story background, if you don't mind. Don't worry about spoilers, just spoilerize the text and it will be good. |
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LydiaDianne
 Posts: 5634 Location: Southern California |
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Okay. The series is X TV and Kakyo is one of the Dragons of Earth. Specifically, he is a Dreamseer. spoiler[He is able to walk through people's dreams and use them to see the past, present or future. But, even though he knows what is going to happen, he is unable to prevent it even if it is bad. He tried once. He tried to save Hokuto, the twin sister of Subaru, but before he could get to her, he was shot and she died anyway. He doesn't want to see what he sees. He really doesn't want to be on the side that he is on (at least IMO) but, like the others he has no choice in the matter.] I really recommend X TV. It's an excellent series. The movie sucks, stay away from it. The manga...well, the manga is not finished and doesn't look to be finished in the foreseeable future (no pun intended) unless CLAMP gets off their butts and finish it. |
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