#hikiko-san

[ultraviolet-anglerfish]

Only happy when it rains

[voynich-exists]

Since you seem to really know your Japanese urban legends (massive respect for that)

What's your opinion on Hikiko San?

She's really cool and creepy

[eway]

Out of the Keltale, Super Aubrey, Hero Wars, and Final Basil characters, who is @mikkokomori 's Hikiko most likely to kidnap?

Out of the monochrome gang? Definitely Temeroso. He is a precious cinnamon roll and won't fight back because he's a pacifist. Everyone else? Well, the Sunny's but:

Super Aubrey!Sunny would just let her come to the castle as a guest, no kidnapping needed

Keltale!Sunny would let himself get kidnapped, and when he gets bored he'll take a shortcut home (he has the powers of Sans Undertale, remember?)

Final Basil!Sunny depends on what Monster he captured last. If he has like, a slime, yeah he's getting kidnapped. A dragon? No

Hero Wars!Sunny can't pilot a Koubu. And he's just a performer. He knows self defense, but stands no chance against Hikiko.

But @mikkokomori ? What do you think?

@thinkimok

[localhorrornerd]

A Guide to the Ringu/Ring Films

This one was very hard to put together as there is just so much Ring content out there, so hopefully I’ve got everything here, and if not, I’m sure this guide will have to be updated later on anyway!

A Quick Introduction

Ringu/Ring is a series that centers around Sadako Yamamura (aka Samara Morgan & Park Eun-suh) and a cursed video that causes all who watch it to die within seven days (or in one version, two days). Sadako’s backstory varies from entry to entry in the franchise, but it is generally portrayed that she had some sort of psychic powers before she died, partially leading to how the curse works.

Ring originally started out as a series of novels written by Koji Suzuki before it was adapted as a tv movie in 1995, then followed up by an actual theatrical movie in 1998.

The Japanese Ring Films

As stated, the first actual Ring movie is a 1995 tv movie.

Ring: Kanzenban (1995)

This adaptation follows the original story of the novel, so there’s many differences to the version that we know now, but Sadako is still a part of the story. It’s certainly worth a watch if you’re interested in the novels.

Now this is where things become a bit more confusing. At some point with the Japanese films they sort of split into four categories: the ones that follow director Hideo Nakata’s timeline, the ones that follow the book timeline, the ones that follow both timelines, and the versus films. 

Both Timelines

Ring (1998)

Ring 0: Birthday (2000)

Ring/Ringu is obviously the movie we know today, that is very beloved. While it partially follows the books, it also has Hideo Nakata’s personal touches to it, that you’ll sort of see no matter what timeline you look at. Ring 0, however, is an origin story, and gives you a look into Sadako’s life before she died while she was a part of a theater troupe. It’s extremely tragic, and one of my personal favorites. 

Hideo Nakata Timeline

Ring 2 (1999)

Sadako (2019)

As implied, these two movies follow Hideo Nakata’s storyline, and are also two other movies in the franchise directed by him. Would recommend these two if you want to see a continuation of the story from the characters in the first film.

Rasen Timeline

Spiral/Rasen (1998)

Sadako 3D (2012)

Sadako 3D 2 (2013)

So here’s the interesting thing about Spiral/Rasen, it was actually released at the exact same time as the original 1998 movie. However, there ended up being much more interest in Ring rather than Spiral, so it quickly flopped upon release and is why we saw another sequel to Ring come out the next year. Though there was certainly some interest in it, as the Sadako 3D movies were released in 2012 and 2013. While these follow different characters, they still have ties back to the ones from Spiral, and follow the books to some extent.

Versus Films

Hikiko-san vs Sadako (2015)

Sadako vs Kayako (2016)

Bunshinsaba vs Sadako (2016)

Bunshinsaba vs Sadako 2 (2017)

Basically, a bunch of movies portraying Sadako fighting other ghosts from Japanese/Chinese media. Each one is vastly different, but definitely fun if you’re into seeing that sort of thing! Note: at this time I am unable to find a translated version of the first Bunshinsaba vs Sadako movie, however, it won’t be an issue to watch the second as I was able to watch it easily without knowing the plot of the first (if you can find a translated version though, feel free to inform me!) Note: the Bunshinsaba vs Sadako films are actually Chinese movies, but since i was covering the vs films here, I felt it’d be best to just add it rather than making a whole different category.

The TV Series

Ring: The Final Chapter (1999)

Rasen (1999)

The last bit of Ring media we have to cover in Japan, Ring actually got a tv series with two seasons, one with 12 episodes and the other with 13 - the episodes running about 45 minutes each. Though I have not seen it yet so I can’t give great detail, it’s said to loosely be based off the novel along with the 1998 Ring film.

Updates

since making this of course more Ring media has came out, so any updates i will add as they come along

Sadako DX (2022) - haven’t seen it myself yet, but it’s stated to be a sequel to Spiral (1998)

The Ring Virus Film

A quick extra stop before we get to the American films, The Ring Virus (1999) is a South Korean remake of both the 1998 Ring movie, but also Ring: Kanzenban to an extent as well. It borrows many elements from both, and instead of Sadako we have Park Eun-suh as our cursed ghost this time. While I wouldn’t say it adds really anything new to the series, still worth the watch if you want to see all of the Ring movies.

The American Ring Films

The Ring (2002)

The Ring Two (2005)

Rings (2017)

I don’t think much needs to be said here. The Ring was a very popular remake in America and is what is credited for starting the J-Horror remake phase over here. The popularity caused for two current sequels to be made, one even directed by Hideo Nakata himself (The Ring Two). Obviously it’s a much more Americanized version of the series, with Sadako this time being replaced with Samara Morgan, which unlike herself in both the Japanese and Korean films, is a child, which adds a lot to how Samara’s story is played out differently from Sadako’s. 

Other Media

If you’re looking for other media pertaining to the Ring Franchise, here’s some for you:

The Ring novel series by Koji Suzuki (consisting of 6 books: Ring, Spiral, Loop, Birthday, S & Tide)

The manga series (consisting of 6 different volumes all following different movies)

The Ring: Terror’s Realm (Dreamcast Game)

Rings (2005 short film)

Various other mangas and comics by different authors (Sadako-san and Sadako-chan, Sadako at the End of the World, Sadako)

And there you have it! A hopefully helpful guide to the Ringu/Ring franchise! Of course, new stuff will be added as time passes.

[virgil-is-a-cutie]

We’ve seen a lot of good stories for where Izuku gets pushed to commit suicide, and usually his attempt fails, Izuku then becoming either a villain, vigilante, or continuing on to become a hero, but what if he DIDN’T survive? In Japan there is the urban legend of Hikiko-san. Her story is sad, and like all stories, there’s something lost in the context, but the main line is she killed herself because of bullying, coming back as a vengeful spirit. So what if Izuku tried killing himself and failed ... but he didn’t? His soul became twisted by his death experience and he came back vengeful?

I'm just thinking of Supernatural and just the idea of everyone in Aldera being terrorized by Izuku's vengeful spirit

My mind went to Freddy Kruger ngl

[decembersylph-a-t-u]

Okay, okay. So we’ve seen many a story regarding the Creepypastas, right? Slenderman and Jeff. But what about the Japanese Urban Legends? I mean, Kuchisake-onna, Hachishakusama, Teke Teke, Hikiko-san, Hanako-san, Tanome, Aka Manto, etcetera. Where am I going with this?

BnHA crossover with Creepypasta but focusing on the Japanese Urban Legends because I’m a myth/folklore enthusiast and the idea of a dark AU where Izuku, trying to commit suicide because of everything and everyone that’s come at him because of his being Quirkless (“You can’t be a hero without a Quirk.”), gets taken in by the Japanese Urban Legends who see potential in him.

Yeah, it’s dark, but considering the stories of the legends are pretty frightening, why the heck not? In a world of Quirks, can there even be called a paranormal?

Basically, the Japanese Urban Legends have become mere whispers, and so to keep alive (tulpas) they need people to believe in their stories. So what better way than by a kid that’s trying to prove something?

[und3adfl3sh]

Hikiko San

[ultraviolet-anglerfish]

Please watch this, I need more people to know about my Onryo bbg

[noisesbehindyou]

The Legend of Hikiko-San

[scarstor]

Hikiko-San

📷

Hikiko-san adalah seorang gadis muda. Banyak yang bilang ia mengalami sedikit cacat karena dia dipukuli oleh orang tuanya,sehingga ia diintimidasi oleh teman teman sekelasnya. Kematian Hikiko-san memiliki banyak versi dan cerita namun yang paling terkenal ia bunuh diri karena tidak tahan diintimidasi oleh temannya. Namun, versi lain mengatakan bahwa ia dibunuh ayahnya sendiri.

Gadis itu kembali sebagai roh yang sangat membeci manusia.Banyak rumor mengatakan bahwa teman sekelasnya Hikiko-san melihat rohnya setelah kematiannya.

Namun,karena banyaknya versi yang mengatakan bahwa terdaat cerita "Hikiko-san dan seekor anak kucing". Kematian dari cerita tersebut menjelaskan bahwa kematiannya disebabkan teman Hikiko-san yang mengikat tali di leher kucing kesayangannya itu, diikatkan di mobil gurunya. Tanpa sepengetahuan gurunya ternyata Hikiko-san loncat untuk menyelamatkan kucingnya hingga ia terseret mobil selama beberapa kilometer. Hingga gurunya sadar dan menghentikan mobilnya, ia menemukan anak kucing itu selamat namun Hikiko tewas terseret.

Dalam versi ini,diceritakan para pembully Hikiko tewas secara misterius selang 2 hari kematian Hikiko. Ada yang mengatakan kalau Hikiko menjadi onryo (sosok hantu pendendam).

Hikiko-san sendiri digambarkan sebagai seorang gadis bergaun putih dengan rambut panjang.

[advocateofthedeath-blog]

[recentanimenews]

Urban Legend Spooks: Mob Psycho 100 II's Peek Into Horror

As we’ve seen in the last episode of Mob Psycho 100 II, Reigen has started his climb to fame. His webpage made him successful and easier to contact, but what his main selling point is his highlighted accomplishment: defeating the urban legend known as the Dragger, Ohiki-san. Reigen himself might have been the one to truly defeat her, but the general public sure doesn’t know that. Defeating an urban legend is no easy task, for they have abilities beyond those of normal spirits. Instead of of a dead spirit attaching themselves to a particular thing, they are fictional concepts that take form through the widespread fear of the public. The more people fear them, the stronger they get. Most importantly, if the person trying to exorcise them knows about their existence, or worse, fears them, then that will only make these urban legends more powerful and harder to vanquish.  

  Interestingly, when looking at the original webcomic, the urban legend that brings Reigen’s name to fame isn’t Ohiki-san, but the famous slit-mouthed woman, the Kuchisake-Onna. Who exactly are these two spirits, and why were they strong enough to boost Reigen’s name? 

  The Kuchisake-Onna is an urban legend with roots going back to the Edo period, as a woman whose face was mutilated by her husband and returned as an evil spirit. She approaches her victims, asking them if they think she’s pretty; a seemingly innocent question, considering she looks relatively normal, and usually covers her injuries with a mask. If the victim answers her, she will remove her mask and ask the question again. Depending on how they answer her, she will either slash their face with scissors so they have the same injuries as her, or follow them home to murder them when they are off-guard.

It may be a regular but gruesome scary story, but it’s one that at one time, leeched into real life. In 1979, the tale of the Kuchisake-Onna became popular among schoolchildren, becoming one of many childhood rumors. The rumor became so large that it started to spread throughout the prefecture, and early on in the year, the Gifu Nichinichi Shinbun published an article on it. This brought the story to wider attention and it became a phenomenon that worried parents and inspired them to take real-life precautions. The story died out around the summer of the same year, likely due to summer vacation. Of course, there was no Kuchisake-Onna and it was all paranoia, but that did elevate her status from something innocuous to something that inspired widespread fear for a short period of time. Reigen is 28 years old, and the original manga of Mob Psycho started in 2006. Rolling things back, that means that he was born five years after the incident, and so him noting that he heard rumors about the Kuchisake-Onna growing up isn’t that unreasonable. It might have been a short-lived real life scare, but since it had real-life consequences, it isn’t that much of a stretch to imagine that Reigen would have heard some stories of her as a child.

People know the Kuchisake-onna, as she’s become a more popular folk tale. She’s appeared in plenty of pop culture; games, comics, and in plenty of modern horror stories. She is a familiar creature, and many people already know to be afraid of her. We're aware of just how dangerous she is, and that puts us in the same position as Reigen: because we know of her abilities, we can’t do anything to her. That makes Mob being able to vanquish her all the more impressive, because it’s not something that we the audience would have been able to manage.

  I have heard of the Kuchisake-Onna, but what about The Dragger, Ohiki-san? When Reigen first brought her up, I hadn’t heard of her, and I love finding out about monsters. Ohiki-san seemed like something I should know, but didn’t. The closest thing to Ohiki-san that I could find was a 2008 movie directed by Nagaoka Hisaaki, called Hikiko-san. This features a girl, Hikiko, who was a very good student on the tall side, but was terribly bullied at school. In one incident, the bullied tied up both her hands, and dragged her down the hall, making her fear attending school. She was also in an abusive household with neglectful parents, who would drag her around as punishment. During one of these dragging incidents, her face was destroyed, and so she became a hikikomori. She became an evil spirit, where she preyed on children for revenge for her lifetime of abuse. She would drag them behind her until their bodies had shredded, and while it’s not certain where she ended up dumping the bodies, it’s clear that they always ended up at the same place. A few sequels have been made, including one where Hikiko-san faces off with the famed Sadako and-- one where she fights the Kuchisake-Onna herself! 

  A video short, this time in 3D animation, called Toshi Densetsu Hikiko-san was directed by Kishi Kaisei, and was released on the same year, also featuring Hikiko-san. While both were no doubt B-movies and generally seems to have low ratings, the idea of Hikiko-san was enough to inspire several short amateur films, some which can be found on YouTube and Niconico. Hikiko-san is a horror B-movie star. While Hikiko and Ohiki-san are slightly different, they’re definitely based on the same thing. Ohiki-san has the mannequins of children tied around her waist, and she, like Hikiko-san, is intent on attacking people and dragging them to their deaths. She has a mysterious hideout where she stores the bodies of her victims. Most importantly, like many Japanese evil spirits, she is particularly hard to defeat.

At the same time, as Reigen mentioned, Ohiki-san is a relatively new phenomenon. While her popularity means that she qualifies as an urban legend, she isn’t nearly as familiar as the Kuchisake-Onna. She is new, so her rules aren’t easily defined. That’s the thing about horror--something is scarier when you don’t know the rules to defeating it. Everyone knows the rules to killing a zombie or the weaknesses of vampires, but what’s the way to defeat Ohiki-san? It’s very likely that the viewer has no clue, and that’s precisely why she works. Ohiki-san the opposite of the Kuchisake-Onna, because she isn’t a household name. We likely don’t know about her, and that puts us not closer to Reigen, but to Mob. Since we have no concept of her powers, she'll have no power over us, so we'd be able to defeat her just like Mob did.

Both the Kuchisake-Onna and Ohiki-san are terrifying creatures. Like many Japanese spirits, they follow certain rules, and adhering to those rules can mean either life or death. Facing nameless spirits is one thing, but facing famous ones are another. Regardless, Mob is able to defeat them both, showing that fame, even for monsters, isn’t everything.

If you’ve read both manga and watched the anime, which monster do you prefer? Let us know in the comments!

---

Noelle Ogawa is a contributor to Bubbleblabber and Cup of Moe. She can be found on Twitter @noelleogawa.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!   

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[neni-has-ascended]

7 Urban Legends from the Persona Series and the Real World!

This is the script to a video I uploaded onto my YouTube Channel as a Halloween Special. If you want to see the actual video, click here. 

If there is one theme that has drawn itself through the entirety of the Persona series since day one - Jungian psychology and demons non-withstanding - it's the series' repeated use of ghost stories and urban legends as a narrative device and sometimes even as a gameplay element. 

Literally, the first scene in the very first game has our main characters trying their hands at what amounts to a room-sized Ouija board. No surprise, given how popular these sorts of stories are in Japan - I mean, there IS a reason Japanese horror movies are pretty much considered a genre all of their own. This theme also makes a lot of sense considering it in association to the games' borrowings from Analytical psychology, since rumors and myths of all kind can be seen as an expression of the country's collective cultural unconscious, very much in-line with Jung's ideas. This interpretation is only helped by scenes such as one in Persona 2 where Nyarlathotep outright calls rumors the collective wishes of the people, or a page of the P3 club book, where Ikutsuki claims that information spread on the internet has been an important tool for feeding the collective death wish Erebus embodies, or the scene in Persona 4, where Izanami claims the Midnight Channel was her way of reflecting mankind's own desires back at them--- I think my point is clear, right?

So yeah, how about we take a look at some rumors from the Persona Universe and their roots in real life urban legends?

#1 "Persona-san" VS "Square" (Persona 1)

Literally the first thing we saw in any Persona game. Ever.

Hidehiko Uesugi coaxes his pals - this includes you and the majority of your future party members - into playing a game that involves 4 people standing in the corners of an empty room, one after another walking over into the next corner, tapping the shoulder of the next person, calling for "Persona" to "come", then the person who's shoulder has been tapped moves to the next corner, rinse-repeat. Eventually this results in awkward CGI- I mean a ghost girl appearing, lightning striking everyone and, bam, Philemon hands out Personas like butterfly Oprah.

This little 'ritual' is very directly based on a ghost story from real life Japan, however, unlike the Persona version, where the rumor claims the game's purpose is to predict the future, in the original story the shoulder-tapping carousel's purpose was very explicitly NOT DYING.

Context: The story called “Square” begins with 5 members of a hiking club going up on a mountain and getting lost in a blizzard. One of them gets hit on the head with by rock, dies. The others manage to carry their dead comrade to an empty hut, sit there for a while, then decide "Well, body count of 1 is quite enough for an after-school activity, dear chaps, let's try to not get ahead of ourselves!" So they keep each other awake by walking from corner to corner and, what else, tapping each other's shoulder. Only after a few rounds of that, the last one of them, let's call 'em "D", realized: 

"Wait a minute. If A is in corner B, B is in corner C, C is in corner D and D is in corner A... Then WHOSE SHOULDER DID I JUST TAP!?"

Eventually, they decided that this mysterious fifth person -let's call 'em F- was their dear, fallen friend, who'd come back from the dead to help them out with staying awake and alive by... lightly tapping someone's shoulder. Because that's what friendship is all about!

And no, I have no idea what this has to do with Philemon. Or Personas. Or anything. But hey, at least the ghost in this one is benevolent! That's more than I can say for pretty much anything else on this list!

#2 "Joker" VS "Satoru-kun" (Persona 2 IS)

The Persona 2 duology has no shortage of creepy rumors, given that there's an entire game-mechanic that involves gathering and spreading stories around town, however, none is quite as unsettling and familiar as the one that pretty much kicks off the plot. And when I say "familiar", I mean "familiar" to Japanese players, because, again, this one is based directly on an actually existing Japanese Urban Legend.

In Persona 2 IS, "Joker" is an entity that one can contact by calling their own cellphone's number and chanting "Joker, joker, come here." Joker will then appear behind the caller and grant their wishes, unless they don't have any, in which case he'll pretty much just steal their minds and erase them from our plane of existence. Neeaaaaat. There's another version of JOKER in EP who's pretty similar, except this one only grants wishes that involve murdering people, but we're not gonna focus on that one right now.

P2 IS' Joker is based on the urban legend of "Satoru-kun", which goes as follows: Grab a 10 Yen coin and search a payphone. You can't use any other types of phones or coins, it has to be a 10 Yen coin and a payphone. Satoru is very specific like that. Anyway, once you've located both of these, call your own cellphone wait for the call to connect, then try not to feel too embarrassed about yourself as you chant "Satoru, Satoru, come to me" into the payphone.

By the way, this is also where the "Persona, Persona, come to me" chant from the previous number on this list comes from. That one wasn't originally in Square.

Anyway, once you're done chanting, you hang up the call and turn off your cellphone completely. If you did everything correctly, within 24 hours you should start getting calls from "Satoru" on your turned-off phone, informing you where he is right now. Once he says "I'm right behind you", you can ask him a question, any question, and he'll tell you the correct answer. Anything! There's only a few things you gotta watch out for: 

A) Never turn around to look at Satoru.

B) Never be a smartass and ask Satoru a question you already know the answer to, and finally 

C) Never ask Satoru more than one question. 

What happens if you break any of these rules? Ohhh, you'll just get mysteriously spirited away. To hell.

#3 Reiko Kashima (Persona 2 EP)

I'm cheating a little with this one, since it's literally just a real life ghost story that *happens* to appear in the game as a sidequest, but I just liked it too much to not mention it. Japan has a rich, fascinating culture of school ghost stories, which has spawned equally fascinating academic discourse in the field of Japanese Studies. A common trend among Japanese ghost stories is the appearance of female ghosts appearing in weird places doing terrible things to people for various reasons. This is one of those.

Reiko is a ghost without legs. How she died varies depending on who's telling the stories, but the most popular version seems to be "After World War II American soldiers raped her, then she jumped onto a train track and killed herself." (A KIDS’ GHOST STORY!!) 

Anyway, she'll appear to you when you enter the bathroom, often at night. She'll ask you "Where are my legs?" You're supposed to answer "At Meishin Expressway." She'll ask you "Who told you that?" You'll say "Reiko Kashima did." If she's feelings especially persistent that day, she'll also say "Give me your arms" ("I'm still using those!"), "Give me your legs!" ("I still need those.") or "Do you know my name?" (Trick question. The right answer is "The masked demon of death".) If you answer any of these wrong, she'll dismember and kill you, so the two of you can go on tour together! Oh, also, it's said she'll appear to you within one month of first hearing about this story. You're welcome.  

#4 Fuuka's Revenge VS "Hikiko-san"

In Persona 3, your first encounter with one of the most adorable members of your party also happens to be one of the creepiest friggin' party member introductions in all of the franchise. Before you ever even get to meet her, Junpei's theatrics and the Shinjiro Aragaki rumor mill are so nice to inform you that Fuuka is considered A) dead B) a ghost haunting Gekkoukan High School and C) responsible for inflicting two of her worst bullies on the mortal coil with a hefty bout of Apathy Syndrome. Of course, it quickly turns out that  none of this true and actually she's just been trapped in a parallel dimension filled with blood hungry monsters for the last couple of weeks (Because that's, y'know, so much better) but the spread of those rumors at Gekkoukan isn't surprising, given how common this exact kind of Ghost Story is around Japanese schools.

One such example is the story of "Hikiko-san". She appears on rainy days, wearing a tattered white Kimono and carrying no umbrella. Behind her. She is dragging something that looks like a mannequin on first glance. If you look closer, it's actually a kid. If you happen to meet her, she'll knock you out, and drag you behind her, on and on, until you finally die, then, she'll dump your corpse somewhere. Now, here's the good news: Hikiko only targets school bullies. So hopefully all of you guys should be safe! ...Hopefully 

(If you’re, in fact, not safe, I’m seriously judging you.). 

Hikiko is actually the ghost of a girl who was either bullied to death or into suicide. Either way, the place where she dumps her victims tends to be the same one where she herself died. Her motivations is to rid the world of the very bullies who've made her life hell. So remember, kids: If you don't want to get brutally murdered in one stormy, stormy night, play nice.

Fun fact, there's a theory that the story was originally derived from a short-story titled "Fukiko", which is my reason for thinking that this might be the one that specifically inspired Fuuka's rumor in the game. Also, Hikiko's full name is often given as "Hikiko Mori". ..."Hikikomori". Very subtle.

#5 Cursed/Magic TV Shows/Websites (Persona 4 with a side of dancing)

Okay, these ones are so numerous and varied, I really couldn't pick out just a single one, even if I tried. 

Both, the Midnight Channel in Persona 4 and the Cursed Video in Persona 4 Dancing All Night are based on a long-lasting trend of urban legend about screens or radios showing or playing things that aren't supposed to be there, and causing effects to the people viewing them that are either extremely desirable or extremely bad. 

One example I found are a story about a man who found a Quiz Show at night on a channel that was meant to show Anime. In said quiz show, people admitted to doing various, awful crimes. Finally, the man himself was asked about 'his' crimes by the quiz show. When he refused to answer, he was tossed off his balcony and died. 

Another example is the story of the "Red Room", a pop up that will appear on your computer after you attempt to research the story. Well, sucks to be me I guess. It says that after you attempt to close the pop-up several times, it will ask you if you 'like the red room'. Then, you'll kill yourself and paint your own room red with your blood. So if I go on another 6 months hiatus after this, you'll know what happened.

#6 High School... of YOUR death (Persona Q with a side of Dancing and Arena-ish...)

This one.... has got to be cheating, but I found it relevant, so hear I go. Of course, Persona Q is full of school ghost stories, I mean, one of its major plot points is about a literal School Ghost (spoilers?) but the one that stands out to me the most is the legend claiming that those who hear the long idle school bell strike shall die - a story very similar to another rumor from early in Persona 2 IS, where hearing the school bell while wearing the school emblem would result in one's face getting terribly disfigured. This story is--- sadly not one I could find a direct real life equivalent to.  (cry) BUT! I do have something else.

Dalies and Mentlegen, the Tale of the Dream School.

There's a guy, let's call him Kei. One night, Kei has a very strange dream. He's wandering around a school he doesn't know, full of closed paths he can't go. The school is built like a Labyrinth that goes nowhere and the hallways seem to be going nowhere, which Kei finds very strange indeed. Now, unfortunately for Kei, he neglected to retrieve the key for the emergency exists and leave through there, because that might just have saved him. Instead, he stumbled upon a room of dismembered, dancing students. Yes. Dismembered AND dancing. It's a weird school like that. Anyway, at that point, Kei's fate was sealed, he stayed trapped in the dream world forever and never woke up. The end.

Stories like these are a nice potential source of the Persona series liking for school hallways turning into an impenetrable maze of death, as well the tidbit about "never waking up" in the cursed video's rumor from Persona 4 Dancing All Night.

I, on the other hand, can only wonder if this means that I should be very worried about my recent tendency to flash back to the horrors of my high school years at night. Again. If I disappear, you know where I am.

#7 Magic Message Boards (Persona 5)

And finally, for the grand finale...! Drumroll, please... 

The rumor... Is YOU my friend! Yes, you! The Phantom Thieves! Oh, wait, you thought I meant the real you? Eh, no, sorry. You're just... someone, I don't know... (JK I love you) CARRYING ON!

While Persona 5 is, for the most part, surprisingly light on the traditional sort of Ghost Story we've been getting used to from previous installments. It gives us one big Urban Legend right there in the premise: You, the Phantom Thieves, as an unexplained, supernatural force, granting the pleas of the oppressed and punishing the very minds of those corrupt. How do you contact this mysterious power for its aid?! Why, via an internet message board, of course! An urban legend of the modern age, indeed. 

Reflective of current trends or not, the way how the world's belief in the Phantom Thieves strengthens and weakens their power over Tokyo over the course of the game -something that is actually measured with an in-game meter- is very reminiscent of how rumors work in Persona 2, and while you may now say "The Phantom Thieves aren't an urban legend in the game's world, they're one hundred percent fact!" Well, the same is true for almost everything else on this list now, isn't it?

The Persona series is and has always been a story about thoughts altering reality, and what thoughts are more powerful than those passed on from person to person, shaping a story so well-known, it already seems real at times! In a way, Nyarlathotep was right, rumors, myths and Urban Legends are reflections of how we, as a collective perceive our world, how we fear it, and what we want from it.

Now, if only the collective unconscious could keep me from suffering the dire consequences of all this forbidden knowledge I have uneart- *disappears spookily and suddenly*

[the-sunflower-spaceman]

yes this is an incredibly petty vaguepost a blogspot post from 2015 about hikiko-san that claimed she was the inspiration for sadako yamamura that I found while being petty about a poorly researched “40 Japanese Urban Legends” video from 2017

y’all just bc there is an urban legend in Japan that involves a vengeful girl with long unkempt black hair and a white burial shroud does not mean she was the inspo for Sadako

that particular depiction of onryō is extremely common and in fact dates back to the Edo period. it started as a visual shorthand for yūrei in general in kabuki theatre back in like, the early to mid 1600s

relatedly, not every movie that has an antagonistic ghost with long black hair and a white dress is ripping off sadako. once again: extremely common depiction of ghosts in japanese culture

[cyn-the-black-rabbit]

Renegade Heroes’ Quirk

Inori Date/Lucifer - Quirk: Nephilim

Hikaru Saionji/Michael - Quirk: Archangel

Nonoka Sawatari/Lilith - Quirk: Succubus

Kakuji Akutagawa/Belial - Quirk: Incubus

Itsuko Togashi/Iron Maiden - Quirk: Massacre

Takuro Ieiri/Red Crayon - Quirk: Red Crayon

Hifumi Moriya/Death Butcher - Quirk: Butchery

Terumi Aragaki/Teke Teke - Quirk: Teke teke

Sora Akabane/Enma Sora - Quirk: Purgatory

Michiru Mikage/Walpurga - Quirk: Witchcraft

Sakae Mitarai/Mauss - Quirk: Malediction

Miyuki Teshigahara/Hasshaku-sama - Quirk: Eight-feet Tall

Souji Kurosawa/Babadook - Quirk: Darkness

Hikiko Himeno/Hikiko-san - Quirk: Zombie-like Ghost

Yuzuru Hokari/Cuckoo - Quirk: Cuckoo

Seiya Matoba/Aka Manto - Quirk: Red cloak

Ryouhei Noto/Candyman - Quirk: Candyman

Makiko Baishou/Bloody Mary - Quirk: Bloody Mary

Reona Onimaru/Saurona - Quirk: Necromancy