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Mirror
In Japanese mythology, the mirror is significant. It is said to be the
soul of a woman as a sword is to a samurai. A proverb says,
"When the mirror is dim, the soul is unclean." When the heart is free
of evil thought and is clear, the mirror will reflect the purity of the
soul. In the East, mirrors were thought to have special powers, and
were used for exorcisms and festivals. Mirrors are also found on
Shinto altars. In Fushigi Yuugi, Taiitsukun uses mirrors to observe the world she
controls.
An ancient belief stated people or objects could be connected to
their reflections. "In dreams a mirror can symbolize the power of
the unconscious to 'mirror' the individual objectively-giving him a
view of himself that he may never have had before" (Jung, 218). In the confession elevator in the Utena series, there
is a mirror that reflects the occupants while they go deeper into their hearts.
The obsession of beauty and a mirror's reflection shows up in stories like Snow White and Narcissus, and again in Nehelenia's story in BSSM. The mirror doesn't hide anything, but gives a reflection
of the true appearance. In some stories, the other side of the mirror gives the counter of a person, as the mirror reverses a reflection so figuratively the mirror can reverse a personality.
Miaka's reflection in the first part of Fushigi Yuugi carrys traits in her personality she hides or are under the surface, the Miaka from the mirror is a very different Miaka from the sweet, loving
heroine, instead she is mischievous and cold concerning her companions and selfish. This idea fits Serial Experiments Lain as well, as the Lain from the Wired is an outgoing and somewhat
selfish Lain compared to the Lain who first appears in the real world.
Mirrors as a tool of divination goes back to ancient times with the Greeks and Hebrews who filled a container with water, and then peered into the liquid until an image
or vision appeared. It was also believed that one's reflection was part of the soul, and reflective surfaces worked as a gateway to the world of spirits or could be used to catch souls.
Madoushi from the first CCS movie practiced water divination.
In Sailor Moon Supers, the brighter the mirror, the purer the soul
and dream. Zagato watches the Knights with a sort of mirror.
And involving Nehelenia's mirror in season 4 of BSSM: Japanese mirrors in legend, "through constant reflection of
its owner's face, draws to itself the very soul if its possessor"
(Davis, 190). This legend reminds me of her mirror in the anime.
Also, Andrews in her entry on Mirrors says: "Mirrors symbolize
reflection and light, and in nature myths, specifically the light of the
sun and the moon. This symbolism is linked to the ancient belief
that mirrors trapped a person's soul. In a sense, they trapped the
soul of many a moon goddess and many a sun goddess when these
deities showed themselves to the world by gazing at their reflection
in the glass. The concept of the soul being trapped in the mirror led
to the concept of the sun or the moon being trapped and to the
belief that by using mirrors, it was possible to bring the sun or the
moon mystically to earth" (146-147). This too reminds me of
Nehelenia's story.
In Sorcerer Hunters, the sorcerer Regner from ep. 1 uses mirrors to communicate over distance, and also to travel through and hide inside. The mirrors the Sisters and Rubeus use
in the second season of BSSM work in much the same way.
In ep. 10 of the Miyu series, a mirror in the small Shinto shrine is used for the seal for the shinma. When the mirror is shattered, the shinma is able to rise from beneath the swamp. A boy had been
placed there for all the long years, now a guardian spirit, to protect the seal.
The Mirror of Lota in Alice 19th is a seal or object worn by a Lotis Master. It reflects what is in the heart, and the shape of life. Also, as those who possess the Mirror are of
higher ability in Lotis, Lotis bear shape when they are summoned or called upon. For example, Rangu (Courage) appears in its form, the lion.
A hand mirror appears at the end of Thumbelina's story in Bride of Deimos. She tells Deimos she wants to see the truth and live her life thus, she's tired of fictions and the dullness of the happy simple life she's led. Deimos ultimately gives her a hand mirror and tells her her wish
is granted. She looks into the mirror and sees herself old and her hands already turning to dust, she's lived more than a century. Deimos tells her it is what she wished for, so now she must
accept it.
A legend of a mirror is retold in ep. 13 of Saint Tail. In it Princess Rosa fell in love with a poor furniture maker and begged him to make a mirror that would reflect the real her.
He did so and when she looked into the mirror, it revealed not the princess in royal garb but a simple girl named Rosa filled with love. The princess renounced her title
and married the furniture maker and the legend of the mirror as it was passed down said that any woman who possessed it would have happiness. Of course, when Saint
Tail herself gets ahold of the mirror to return to its owner, her form as Meimi is before her and Asuka Jr. glimpses it. And of course Meimi will find happiness with Jr. in the end.
A take on the double in the mirror happens in ep. 12 of Fancy Lala. An unusual twist occurs when Miho detransforms causing her to somehow
change time or dimensions. Or it may be that the Miho reflected in the clock glass she had stared at switched places with her, causing the two
to find themselves in the wrong place. In the episode no one recognizes her and somehow time has changed, it's as if she's on the outside looking in
at her own life. The other Miho might be a shadow, a reflection, or going in with the theme of the show, a Miho from another instance in time, and
the two somehow trapped and transported to that present moment.
From Inu-Yasha: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass. Water is often a kind of magical mirror (as seen in divination), and it is also a gateway at times between two worlds (such as the story of Urashima). So it isn't
surprising that the Dream Castle (the tennyo's home - Kaguya's realm) is located on the other side of the mirror or beneath the reflecting surface of the lake. In Shinto, mirrors are used in ritual to talk with kami and in sealing
(latter appearing in many anime stories). The Shinto mirror takes both forms in the film as at first it is a seal, but it is also used by Kagura and Kanna to communicate with Kaguya. The mirror Kanna carries gets used at one point to reflect the light of the moon into
the light of the sealing mirror to first awaken Kaguya and speak to her. Next, as in tales like Alice Through the Looking Glass or Fushigi Yuugi, mirrors represent the two sides of the human heart, the dark and light, and the world on the other side of the mirror is often the opposite of what is seen.
It is the inverse. A good example of this comes in the temptation of Inu-Yasha. His reflection shown by Kaguya is the small Shinto mirror is that of himself as a full demon, a dark desire, a shadow of his heart that threatens to devour him. Kaguya attempts to replace Inu-Yasha with this mirror self, and during
his transformation to full demon, the human half of himself begins to appear in the demon's place within the mirror. Ultimately, that Inu-Yasha chooses to stay half demon, shows not just a return to his normal self, but a proper integration of the two halves of himself (the compassionate and able to love human half) and (the ever present and powerful
demon half). Kaguya herself shows the physical change by having the appearance of a moon maiden while on the outside, but once inside her castle, her dress and expression take on a more seductive and cruel appearance (similar to the idea connotated above). Lastly, stories within mirrors are sometimes attached to dream worlds, again such as Carroll's sequel.
These worlds may represent magical stories, or they can by psychological stories reflecting the growth of the hero. That the heroes are faced with their own hidden demons, illuminated by Kaguya, shows their own struggles with their shadows: fear of love, fear of loss, questing of Self.
This connects into Kaguya's power over time and the moon. Worlds in dreams or mirrors frequently either do not exist within time or function within their own sense of reality, separate from the normal flow of it. This can reflect the unconscious (going back to the psychological theme) or the sense of separating the spirit or other from the mortal or earthly. The moon can be a symbol to represent this due
to its cyclic nature.
From Chris, in Princess Tutu, mirrors are used by Dossilmyer to watch the people in the town he's manipulating.
From Joanna: In "Merupuri- The Marchen Prince," a prince
travelling through a mirror ends up whith a girl who has a mirror
just like his. Because of a curse, he grows everytime he uses magic
or stays in dark places. Unless he's kissed by the girl he likes he
will continue to grow until he dies (prematurely) of old age.