Anime-Myth.com v. With You

Bakemono to Butterfly

Bakemono
Basilisk
Bluebeard
Body Symbols
Brother and Sister (Shoujo Kakumei Utena)
Butterfly

Bahamut

From a Moslem tradition: "God made the earth, but the earth had no base and so under the earth he made an angel. But the angel had no base and so under the angel's feet he made a crag of ruby. But the crag had no base and so under the crag he made a bull endowed with four thousand eyes, ears, nostrils, mouths, tongues, and feet. But the bull had no base and so under the bull he made a fish named Bahamut, and under the fish he put water, and under the water he put darkness, and beyond this men's knowledge does not reach." Supposedly men's eyes can't bear to look at Bahamut, and that the fish is so grand that all the waters of the world could easily fit into one of its nostrils.*

In the third Megazone 23 movie, Bahamut is the name of the giant computer that controlled Megazone.

*From The Book of Imaginary Beings by Borges

Baku

The Japanese word for the tapir. The Eater of Dreams. It was believed evil dreams were caused by evil spirits, and if the baku devoured an evil dream it might change to good fortune. A peasant waking from an ill slumber could cry, "Devour, O Baku! devour my evil dream." In the second Urusei Yatsura movie, Beautiful Dreamer, Baku is portrayed as a piglet in daily form and companion of Mujaki, a little man dressed as a magician and called the Dream Demon. While Mujaki's job is to create the dreams or desires of individuals and make the a reality, Baku can be summoned at any time to eat the dream and thus take the person back to reality. Baku here is a neutral entity. The baku in Megumi Tachikawa's manga Yume Kui Annai Nin has a cute, animal appearance (a tapir) and is friendly and helpful. In the case of the Baku shown in the first episode of the Vampire Princess Miyu OAV, he lives within dreams and is a dark creature preying on humans.

Bakura (Yu-Gi-Oh)

Part of his name may come from baku. The Japanese word for the tapir. The Eater of Dreams. His name could also have been taken from the Egyptian ba, a word that had multiple meanings throughout history, one being a psychic force.

Balmung

Provided by Superpuu using Pantheon.org. "A magical sword, Balmung, was made by Wayland the Smith. Odin stabbed the Branstock tree, an oak tree in the Volsung palace, with Balmung. Odin then said that he who could pull the sword from the tree is destined to win in battle. Nine of the Volsung princes tried to take the sword, but only the youngest ever got it out. His name was Sigmund. Odin destroyed Balmung in battle but it was reassembled and Siegfried used it against Fafnir." The reference appears in .hack.

Barbaroi

The word is ancient Greek for one who does not speak Greek. Barbaric comes from barbaroi. The Barbaroi are those who serve the people of the night in the second Vampire Hunter D film.

Barrier Field (from CLAMP's X)

Barrier created by a Dragon of Heaven to last while in battle with a Dragon of Earth. The barrier stretches a kilometer on all sides, and puts the area in another dimension so that the dragons can battle and the original material plane is left untouched. The material plane is only damaged or destroyed if the barrier fails because the Seal dies or is fatally injured.

Bartered Bride

From Chris: Opera. Episode 20: A Forgotten Story: The Bartered Bride This whole episode is a reference to the Bartered Bride. It starts with a story of a girl who had a lover but her parents arranged a marriage with another. And she became confused about which she loved more. A simillar situation takes place within the episode. The overture to the BarteredBride, is what is played in this episode when Tutu transforms.

Beads

Prayer beads are a religious object. Kyo in Fruits Basket wears a bracelet of black and white beads. These beads act as a kind of seal on his original form. Those possessed by the spirit of the cat have a form that is misshapen and of a rotten smell. But with the beads, only his human and cat form are produced. Kaede in Inu-Yasha places them around Inu-Yasha's neck after being revived, and Kagome is able to use their effect to subdue him. The young monk in the series keeps a strand of beads as a seal around his hand which is cursed with a wind tunnel in his palm which can swallow spells or demons, but will one day swallow him if the curse is not lifted.

Bear Pianist

In Sugar, A Little Snow Fairy, the play is a neat fairy tale made up for the episodes 9-12, but while it isn't based on a particular tale there are sorta-subtle homages to European motifs. The story told begins with a grandmother sitting with her granddaughter and the child asks what the piano music is she hears, the old woman says it's the bear piantist playing for his love. Flashback then to a lonely bear playing a piano in the forest who gets tricked into performing for a greedy man, in his despair a fairy comes to him and grants him a human shape only during the night. One night he comes upon a girl crying and plays for her, but he learns she is betrothed and wants him to play on the day of her wedding (which is impossible as he's a bear). But on the wedding day he escapes his cage and is shot in the process; he reaches the chapel and dies playing music for the woman.

Beast

From Revelation. Satsuki's computer is called the Beast in CLAMP's X.

Beauty

In stories such as fairy tales in the popular tradition, beauty is equated with virtue and the heart of a person, very often with heroines. This is their test of worthiness. Someone becomes beautiful or is born beautiful because they deserve to, or have beauty taken away because they are ugly inside. This can sometimes be seen with anime heroines, their inner beauty shines through so that they become more beautiful than a girl with natural beauty. An example would be Miaka in Fushigi Yuugi, she is loved by the Suzaku Warriors because of her loving heart, despite the fact she is not a great beauty.

Beelzebub

A fallen angel. Beezle is the son of the devil on the Island of Solitude in The Fantastic Adventures of Unico.

Beherit

Syriac name for Satan. (from Ian Miller). This is the pendant that Griffith wears around his neck in Berserk.

Bell

Symbol of summoning, they also announce a decisive moment. The bell's shape makes it representative of the vault of Heaven. In Utena, the bells mark the beginning and end of a duel. Chibi Moon uses the Crystal Carillon to summon Pegasus. Yousuke possesses a bell left to him by his father (Wedding Peach), and bells mark the beginning and end of a duel in Utena. Ms. Mizuki in CCS carries the bells left by Clow Reed that make it possible to have a second chance during the Final Judgement.

From the second volume of Bride of Deimos, Minako finds a tiny silver bell in the swamp in her travels. When she touches it the memory of a girl who died over a year ago takes possession of her and she becomes the murdered sister Beniko. Her twin Momoko was in Beniko's shadow as an artist so in her jealousy she set her adrift in a boat in the swamp, knowing Beniko would die under the conditions as she was already very ill from her cancer and dying. Beniko bade her cat to swim to the shore and live, and she held on to the little silver bell that hung around her beloved pet's neck, holding it for the pet's safety and praying over it. At her death, her spirit passed to the tiny bell until it was found by someone who could tell her story. The tale ends as many ghost tales with the epilogue that when the mist is clear over the swamp, a small boat can sometimes be seen and the tinkle of a bell heard.

Bells are used in various religious ceremonies in many cultures, from shamans to Catholicism to Buddhism. Bells were also thought to chase evil spirits away and may be a kind of blessing or be part of a blessing when seen in a religious setting. They are also used as a herald for weddings or funerals, or to call the town together in meeting or for a special occasion. Bells were even thought to ring after a ship sank below the waves (and during) and villages in England have ghost stories of lost towns where the bells can still be heard below the waves.*

From Mike Thomas: "On the other hand, bell-towers are also associated with such imagery as sorrow (bells were run for funeral marches), wickedness or vanity (a bell is something to be proud of and too much pride is dangerous), jealousy (what could be a better way to kill a man then to push him out of the bell-tower) and madness. "Bats in the Bellfry" has the same connotation as "Toys in the Attic."

From Larry: "In The Raw and the Cooked, the structural anthropologist, Claude Levi-Strauss, discusses the role of the ancient Chinese Shaman. (Levi-Strauss' example is Yu the Great, a mythic Chinese emperor and shaman so we're talking way back). Illness, plague, etc. were imbalances in nature which the Chinese shaman corrected with the magical limping dance created by Yu and also noise to scare away evil spirits among other things. Though Clow Reed is called a magician, he controls and balances the forces of nature much like a shaman would.

It's been a while so I'm not doing justice to Levi-Strauss' reasoning, but the winter solstice was the biggest imbalance in which the world threatened to slide into eternal darkness. Just as a shaman used noise to drive away individual evil spirits and restore the balance of nature in a person, Chinese in ancient times made a lot of noise to restore the cosmic balance. Though I don't remember bells in the examples, a bell might be considered a noisemaker that helps restore order."

* Information on bells and superstitions from http://allsands.com/History/Objects/bellshisto_wrw_gn.htm
History of Bells, PageWise, Inc.

Benzaiten

From the Pantheon.org: The Japanese goddess of water, knowledge, and good fortune. In Can Can Bunny Extra, Suwatee is a Benzaiten goddess. She grants a wish for the young man she loves by taking the seven fragments of the stars of the Northen Dipper and causing them to fall to Earth, these will appear to him as seven beautiful women. She keeps one fragment for herself, hoping he will see her as a woman and love her as one.

Berserker

Berserker comes from Berserkir, the Old Norse for bear and shirt, because these warriors fought in animal skins. They were deified mortals who were immune to weapons and went into battle frenzied; after they were said to fall into a weakened state. The series Berserk may be partially named as a reference to them. A Berserker shows up in Record of Lodoss War in the character Orson.

Big Dipper

In CLAMP's X the 7 Dragons of Earth awakened to destroy the Earth, but the 7 Dragons of Heaven (the 7 stars of the Big Dipper) awakened to protect it.

The number 7 appears several times in Revelations (the 7 angels, trumpets, seals, etc.), which may be one reason for the 7 Dragons of Earth, and the apocalyptic theme with them.

The 7 stars of the Big Dipper were important to ancient Japanese astrologers. It was part of the Star Mandala. These 7 stars were used in conjunction with the signs of the zodiac and planets to tell a person's fortune. People might also pray to them to avoid disaster or live longer.*

[Applies to Manga] "'Seven messengers' belong to the Kanoe side of the Earth Dragon, while the 'seven seals' belong to the Hinoto side of the Heaven Dragon."***

*From The Star Mandala: http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/mus_dict/hd17e.htm
***From translations by Cynthia Ma, rec.arts.manga, 11 May 1993 of an interview with Ookawa Nanase of CLAMP

Bird

In the manga Clover, by CLAMP, birds symbolize the longing for freedom and happiness. Suu is alone, shut away in a birdcage-like greenhouse with mechanical birds, and the wings she has are bird-like. She longs to be free and to know happiness and companionship.

From Chris: In episode 15 and 22 Princess Tutu is seen as a white bird. Later, when the Prince goes to save Rue it looks like a giant white bird is coming towards her. In the end the Prince and Princess fly away in a swan drawn carriage.

Bird Kami

Ootori-Sama. These are the chick-bird looking spirits visiting the bathhouse in Spirited Away.

Black Cloud and White Feather

The title of the Unico pilot episode refers to the pollution of the factory, the black clouds that shut out the sun and probably have contributed to the sickness of Chiko, versus the purity, the white feathers of Unico's wings, and Unico's love and goodness which ultimately destroy the factory and bring sunlight and clean air back to the town. This is probably also an environmental statement as well.

Black Pearl

Inu-Yasha's father conjured the black pearl in Inu-Yasha's left eye and here hid his own tomb. They journey within it to find the Tetsusaiga sword.

Blood

From OVA 2 of Dream Hunter REM. Contrast between blood in wickedness and blood of puberty. When the monk is purifying himself under the waterfall, the sky suddenly goes red and crows fly overhead. The water looks like blood. He senses what's coming or happening, an ill omen. Later when showering, Rem's friend Yoko starts her period. Drops of blood fall down her legs and into the drain like petals of a rose. Petal-like blood droplets also show up in Kyoko's flashback. As she's whipped by Sayaka with a whip of thorns, a rose loses it's petals at the same time. A symbol of the violence against Kyoko, a kind of deflowering. At the same time, Sayako and the other girls who watch on all lose their girlhood along with Kyoko in the violent affair. There is nothing innocent or pure in these young women now and they will have to live with the experience forever (and some will die because of it). The rose is a common symbol of womanhood or girlhood, and a blooming rose can be a symbol of young woman coming of age as in Yoko's case. And a rose depetaled a symbol of violation both physical and mental, as in Kyoko's case. At a later point, when Rem is battling, as she's held in the air she's tortured by thorn vines Kyoko's ghost calls forth from the ground, Rem's blood touches the vines and red roses bloom where they fall. Perhaps this is a reflection of Kyoko's pain and her heart as Rem is experiencing what Kyoko felt before her death.

The red on the walls of the Academy in the Utena film looks similar to blood. There is also an implication that the pool under the rubber duck in the scene with Miki and Juri talking (we also see the Kozue car), may be a pool of blood, or it could be a pool of bathtub water that looks like blood with the red light shining on it. Blood in this film serves as a symbol both for puberty/adolescence and for death perhaps, such as a death to innocence and childhood. An example is the blood pool under the duck, perhaps to show Kozue and Miki's realization their relationship will never be the same and they are children no longer, and must become adults.

Book

Magic books are an old tradition. Books are used in magic rites and rituals. There is also the Book of Shadows kept by covens and witches, containg anything from incantations and rituals to herbal lore. In China the book is a symbol of learning. The Book of Clow is the magic book in CCS that contains the Clow Cards, and Madoushi in the first CCS movie contains her will within a book. Another magical book appears in Fushigi Yuugi. This book works both as an incantation as it's read, and is also a literal play on what someone reads coming to life. In ep. 13 of Sorcerer Hunters, the Forbidden Magic object, a book called the Rouge Camera reads the desires and wishes of people and makes them real, but in process swallows the person into the book.

Bracelet

The bracelet in Licca: Wondrous Magical Ring has four stones in it which bind four spirits, three of the night and one of the day. This bracelet is normally looked after by Peter who is a child of the Queen of the Moon, but it finds itself in Licca's possession. In Alice 19th Lotis Masters are given special bracelets which carry the stones of each Lotis they master. Each stone or lotis represents a rune. They are spiritual or words of power.

Breath

From OVA 1 of Dream Hunter REM. The idea of spirit and mouth could be the old superstition with cats. There's an old wives tale or such that a cat should not be allowed to sleep on the chest of a child or baby because it will suck it's breath from it's mouth while it sleeps. The mouth is also thought by some to be like the eyes as a gate to the soul. In this episode, the spirits within the dreams exit into the real world to confront Rem by leaving through the dreamer's mouth.

Broomstick

With the aid of a special ointment that could be rubbed on the broom or oneself, it was believed in some places that witches could fly. The broom became associated with witches and flying for possibly two reasons: 1) the broom's association with the home and women, and thus with witches since most were female, or 2) because of pagan fertility rites where brooms were mounted and then the person leapt into the air during the rite in the field.

In CCS, Sakura's wand resembles a witch's mode of flight when she uses the Fly Card, and the witch Kiki and princess in Hime-chan's Ribbon also use a broomstick to fly.

To show a more modern day witch or magical person, the creators may give them something to ride such as a vacuum. We see this in the opening credits of the Oh! My Goddess OVA.

Button and Graduation

From Dave Endresak: "It's traditional for a guy to give his girlfriend the second button from his school uniform after graduation. I don't think this is explicitly shown in Kakyuusei, but it definitely occurred, of course. It's specifically brought up in bishoujo games such as Tokimeki Memorial and Kana ~Imouto~, just to name two examples." This could be because it is the button nearest the heart.

Byoma

Introduced in volume 3 of Alice 19th, it's a demon of sickness.