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Prince and Princess to ...

Prince and Princess (Shoujo Kakumei Utena)

Pandora

In mythology, Pandora was made by Hephaestus from the earth. She was given beauty and charm, but also cunning thought, deceit, and flattering speech. She is most famous for opening a jar containing all evils which she unleashed unknowingly into the world. Pandora and her box are used in the anime of Violinist of Hamelin. Pandora and Petite Pandora in the Sailor V manga come from her.

Parvati

Parvati comes from Hindu mythology. She was a mountain goddess and wife of Shiva. She was the more feminine complement to the masculine Shiva. In the anime 3x3 Eyes, Pai in her early life was engaged to Shiva and herself was known as Parvati. But in the anime version their love soured when he grew cruel and destructive. Pai belongs to a race of known as the Sanjiyan Unkara, immortals with a third eye and great power. She frequently calls upon lower demons to aid her. The last of her race, her wish is to seek the Statue of Humanity and become human.

Peach

"Peaches ("momo"), and especially the image of an upside down peach, are popular in Japan because they reflect Japanese folklore. In the traditional Japanese fairy tale, the folk hero Momotaro was born from the center of a peach. This classic fairy tale in parodied in anime including Risky Safety, Dancing Blade, and Urusei Yatsura. Furthermore, because of their distinct rounded with middle cleft shape, peaches also sometimes symbolically represent the buttocks".*

*Jan. 26, 2004 Ask John article at AnimeNation.com: What's the Significance of Fruits in Japanese Culture?

Pegasus

Pegasus has been a symbol for the soul's immortality and creative inspiration. It is said that those born under his constellation are happy in the worlds of dream and imagination. Pegasus was born of the springs of the ocean, and was ridden by both Eos and Apollo while bringing the sun across the sky. He could be tamed with a golden bridle. Helios transforms into Pegasus in BSSM, and from Saint Seiya the character Bronze Saint Pegasus Seiya gets his name from Pegasus.

Pendant

Sheeta wears a blue stone/crystal pendant with the insignia of the royal family of Laputa upon it in Castle in the Sky. This stone has been passed through the women of her family for generations. It reflects the power harnessed by those of the floating island, power to heal, protect, or to work as a compass back to the castle. It's worth noting that this pendant can be compared to the one Hitomi wears in the series Vision of Escaflowne. Though created and written by different men, both storylines deal with an advanced race who separated themselves from humans and finally brought the destruction of their culture (Laputa and Atlantis respectively), leaving behind a special stone or pendant passed through females until coming to the heroine of each story and these powerful stones guiding her back to the destiny that awaits. Whether the two works are coincidentally similar and Escaflowne is influenced from Miyazaki's work or not, the connections are worth noting.

Pentagram

The pentagram's five points can be a symbol for the 4 elements controlled by spirit. The star within a circle can mean wholeness or protection, or the focus of energy.

The pentacle was also used by Abe-no-Seimei, and became related to protection from evil and was used by him to represent the structure of the universe (the five Eastern elements and onmyou-gogyou).**

In the X film, Subaru's shield is in the shape of a five-pointed star, and a star with a circle appears with the awakening of the Dragons of Earth and is also made by Nataku.

** http://www.hikyaku.com/dico/histxtg29.html
http://www.city.kyoto.jp/koho/kyoto_ime/iro_ka_e/m_55e.html
http://www.sainet.or.jp/~fatcat/inyou-e.html

Peony

The peony has been called the "Queen of Flowers." A white peony is a symbol for a young girl of beauty and wit in China. The peony itself can mean maidenhood, or simply a very attractive young woman. From Seguin-Fontes, "The peony is a symbol of shyness. Chinese poetry has frequently used the flower as a metaphor for a blushing young girl. The French have an expression that goes 'as red as a peony'" (114).

Two stories involving the peony in Japanese legend are The Spirit of the Peony and The Peony Lantern. In the first, Princess Aya is to be wed to the second son of Lord Ako. One night while walking near her favorite peony bed, she almost fell into the pond but for a handsome samurai clad in a peony robe who saved her. She fell in love with him, though he had disappeared after saving her. Later he visited her again in her sickness at the sound of music played. When it was learned that he was really the spirit of the flower, the princess kept the flower close to her. But when she was well and made to marry, at the hour of her wedding the peony died. In the tale of The Peony Lantern, Tsuyu is visited by a physician and a young samurai whom she falls in love with. She tells him that if he does not visit her again soon she shall die. The physican purposefully sees to it that the lovers are kept apart and the young woman pines for her love unto death. Faithful to her mistress, her servant dies soon after. The young man is grief-stricken and cannot forget Tsuyu. When the time of the Festival of the Dead arrives, lanterns are hung to guide the spirits. Tsuyu and her servant come with a peony lantern in hand. The story ends tragically with the young man found dead with the bones of Tsuyu wrapped about his neck.

The opening song of CLAMP School Detectives is called Pink Peony. In the second tale of Shirahime Shou, Flower of Ice, the image of the peony becomes a symbol for the frozen beauty of Kaya who dies waiting for her lover, and of undying love. She promises that she will wait for him, and like the woman of the old tale vows to become a flower if she must, and wait for him even after death.

Peorth

According to Paganism.com Perth or Peorth means destiny, and is a Norse rune to symbolize all things hidden. Peorth is the name of one of the goddesses in the Ah! My Goddess film.

Peter Pan

Peter Pan is a character from literature, a legendary boy who can fly and never ages. In the Minky Momo movie Peter uses the fountain of youth to turn adults into children and then like the Pied Piper leads them to his castle and they live in a perpetual Never Never Land. One of the themes of the movie is the dreams of youth and the manifestation of those dreams. While Peter wants to stay young and just have fun and dream, Momo values her ability not only to dream as a child but to know she'll realize her dreams as an adult and so she wants to grow up and also live outside Peter's kingdom. From ep. 3 & 4 of the Licca OVA. This Peter flies, watches over the spirits of night and day, and is son to the Moon Queen. He first appears with the night carnival and goes on adventures with Licca to protect Aki and retrieve the errant spirits. There is also a series called Peter Pan No Boken from Nippon Animation.

Phoenix

The phoenix has long been a symbol of both resurrection and immortality. This bird was said to eternally rise again from the ashes of its fire. To the alchemists it was a symbol for destruction and then the new formation of materia prima on the way to becoming the philosopher's stone. "In ancient China the wind (feng) was originally revered as a bird god, perhaps a primordial form of the phoenix" (Biedermann, 382). Fuu in Magic Knight Rayearth has a phoenix for her guardian beast.

Phurba

From the website Tantric Symbols*: "A ritual stake used to subdue and subsequently enlist negative, uncontrolled, or otherwise wrathful powers." Himiko in the first ep. of the Miyu OAV puts a phurba in the ground next to Aiko while she recites over her body.

*http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/tantricsymbols.html

Pied Piper of Hamelin

Hamelin's name (Violinist of Hamelin) probably comes from the story The Pied Piper of Hamelin. In it, a village is plagued by rats but a piper who's music is magical leads them from the village. Later, when the people will not pay the piper, he uses his music to lead the children of the village away and they are never seen again. Also, in the anime, the idea of magic music probably comes from this story as well.

Pigs

After arriving at the abandoned amusement park in Spirited Away, Chihiro's parents gluttonously chow down at one of the restaurants meant for the spirits. By the time night has fallen they've been turned into pigs, as is the fate of most humans who linger in the territory of the spirit bathhouse. Too their actions transformed their physical appearance. An animal may serve as a physical representation of a human trait in some fairy tales. For instance, the wolf in tales such as Little Red Riding Hood can stand in for a warning against promiscuity or for the beastlike nature of men when juxtaposed with the moral of guarding feminine virtue or trusting strangers.

It should also be noted that trespassing and eating food meant for other beings such as a witch's garden or fairies, many times lands the parent in trouble and the child in the clutches of said supernatural being. Such is the case in Rapunzel and White Cat.

Pink

Associated with girls (blue for boys, pink for girls) and generally carries a connotation of feminine, innocent, childlike, or with other pastels as spring or flowers. Cherry blossoms tend to show pink so this relation may be hinted at as well in anime. Chibi Usa in Sailor Moon has a pink theme color due to her youth and innocent nature for example.

Momoiro (peach colored) is a name for the color pink. The implication of the Japanese "momoiro" can be seen in the characters Momomiya Ichigo (Tokyo Mew Mew) and Hanasaki Momoko (Wedding Peach). Both heroines have a pink theme color. Also, it should be noted that Momoko's name is a pun with the word "momoiro" and pink because the momo in her name is for peach and peach blossoms.

It should be noted that while the color pink bears connotations of femininity, flowers, spring, and happiness, it also sometimes carries a connotation of sexuality in Japan. This may be because of pink's association with women, or from the pink hue of flesh or a blush or any number of such reasons.

An example is the studio label in Japan, Pink Pineapple. The productions under this label vary from erotica to loves stories or bishoujo relationship productions. The pink in the name of course is a reference to femininity, but also to sexuality and that the anime produced under the label will be for older consumers. Fruit sometimes has various connotations as well, depending on the use of the reference. A pineapple in this case might be for a fruit that is exotic or tart and sweet, a combination of things just like the stories produced. The logo by the way is pink with pink lips above the title Pink Pineapple. Glo-Ri-A and Kakyuusei are two of their productions.

Pinocchio

Pinocchio is a story originally appearing from 1881-1882 in an Italian newspaper. The story of a wooden puppet brought to life was originally written by Carlo Collodi.

From Shin OVA 2 of Dream Hunter REM. Gepetto, the inventor who supplies Rem's gadgets even has a little Pinocchio doll on his shelf. This reference fits in the episode along with the Frankenstein motif, as both involve bringing life to an inanimate object and wishing for it to be human.

From Chris: "I was thinking that the one charaacter Edeil-- who is a puppet of sorts for Drossilmyer--who takes an intrest in human hearts and who is reborn as Uzura later, on who has feelings, may refer to Pinocchio."

The series Kashi-no Ki Mock from Tatsunoko Productions follows the puppet's adventures.

The following on the relation of Pinocchio to the Vampire Princess Miyu manga is from Joanna:

"In one of the chapters of the second takubon (as published by IRON CAT) there is a story called doll forest. The chapter starts with:

"Tell me, have you heard about the 'doll forest?' The sounds made by thee trees there are like human voices. Are they laughing? Are they crying? I don't really know... The one who acts as a guide in that forest in the pinocchio boy. It's a mysterious place... But where is it?"

The chapter itself is about a boy in the school Miyu has transferred to, Takumi, who is the son of a dollmaker. He has a beautiful face but it's only a nuisance to him, because the girls won't leave him alone and the boys try to bully him.

Miyu and two of her new classmates come to visit the dollshop. The owner tells them about the dolls he has there and they get to play dress-up with some beautiful kimonos and doll-makeup. Later Miyu, who left the shop early to... "grant eternal dreams" to a widow, finds out that one of the girls has gone missing. Larva also has an encounter with a presense that left... wood shavings in his claws.

Meanwile a girl leaves a doll at Takumi's father's shop and says she would like to be as beautiful as the doll. Takuma says: It can be done. Miyu confronts Takuma at school and whispers: "I want you to show me the way, Takumi. To the doll forest." Takumi answers that that's Pinocchio's job.

After school, Miyu goes back to the shop to confront Takumi's father. He is someone who turns girls into dolls. One of them comes to serve Miyu some tea. Miyu recognizes her as one of the girls who disappeared. Takumi's father tells Miyu that the doll forest is inside a mirror. Miyu comments her reflection and then asks Takumi to guide her, revealing her identity. Takumi has a flashback of getting burned in a fire and wakes up in the doll forest with Pinocchio taunting him. "You're nothing but a doll that your father made. Your father is my doll, you are his doll and your mother... was burned away by her." Takumi's mother was a shinma who asked Miyu to burn the whole house so that her husband shouldn't be left alone. It was then Takumi was burnt. Miyu suddenly turns to Pinocchio who is the real puppeteer. Pinocchio is then burned away and the phrase from the beginning is repeated, ending with Miyu saying "It's gone. It burned away to nothingness.""

Pinwheel

In Escaflowne, when Hitomi's grandmother appears to Leon she's holding a pinwheel. The tarot card for this episode was the Wheel of Fortune, and the pinwheel the girl carries with her becomes an extension of the Wheel and symbolizes destiny. Pinwheels also make an appearance in the credits of the Kenshin OVA and Miyu TV series. In both cases the pinwheel is a symbol for a fate neither protagonist can escape, it keeps turning and takes their childhood away from both. Pinwheels are also a toy most associate with childhood, and in Miyu's memories they are the white paper pinwheels her mother made, a happy time before she was born into the vampire Guardian. For Kenshin, they are a symbol in the credits of a childhood he never really had.

The pinwheel is the symbol for a fairy of wind in ep. 15 of Magical Emi. Not only is it a toy of wind, and change, but also of fleeting meetings and partings, as Mai and Shelley only become friends for a short while until Mai as Emi can use her magic to help Shelley return home. Shelley was left behind during a typhoon, and her lonely stay on Earth could also be alluded to by the use of the symbol of the pinwheel.

In Kakyuusei OVA 4, the pinwheels are a happy thought and memory. Miko falls asleep in the bath but imagines a sunny afternoon with pinwheels in the foreground, and then imagines herself kissing Tooru. He was her first kiss and she's developing feelings for him, though she will later step aside for the sake of her friend Yuuki.

Pluto

Pluto was the god of the underworld, and his Greek counterpart was Hades. Sailor Pluto is one of the senshi of Sailor Moon.

Poison Damsel

Franz said of her: "There are legends throughout the world in which "a poison damsel" (as they call her in the Orient) appears. She is a beautiful creature who has weapons hidden in her body or a secret poison with which she kills her lovers during their first night together." (p. 190)

A quote from page 3 of Bingham's book: "The ancients also had some concept of the development of tolerance to poisons. There have come down through the ages the poison damsel stories. In one of these, related by Stevenson (1), a king of India sent a beautiful damsel to Alexander the Great because he guessed rightly that Alexander was about to invade his kingdom. The damsel had been reared among poisonous snakes and had become so saturated with their venom that all of her secretions were deadly. It is said that Aristotle dissuaded Alexander from doing what seemed natural under the circumstances until Aristotle performed a certain test. The test consisted in painting a circle on the floor around the girl with an extract of dittany, believed to be a powerful snake poison. When the circle was completed, the girl is said to have collapsed and died. The poison damsel stories continued to appear from time to time, and even Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a short story about one entitled "Rappaccini's Daughter.""

In Ninja Scroll, the female ninja Kagero was once a poison taster and now her body is poison itself after so long so that no person can touch her. To make love to her is death. Inside she is lonely because of it, and must keep an emotional distance, yet her heart is good underneath. While Kagero is a direct reference to a "poison maiden" there are other dangerous female characters of anime and manga who might come close or follow the same vein, such as the snake woman of the same film.

"The Process of Individuation" by M. L. von Franz found in Man and His Symbols, edited by Carl Jung

Patty's Toxicology, Tox Issues/Inorganic Particulates/Dusts/Products of Biological Origin/Pathogens, by Eula Bingham

Poppy

The scarlet poppy, in the language of flowers, means fantastic extravagance or consolation or comfort. "In the North of England they call it Cock-rose, Cup Rose or Corn Rose, while some call them Soldiers because of the scarlet tunics once worn as army uniform. This is ironic because they will always be associated with the Great War, springing up to cover the corpses of those who fought bravely on the battlefields of Northern France" (Pickles, 83).

In the Japanese language of flowers, it also means comfort or consolation.

The poppy frequently is a symbol of sleep. In series like the Kenshin OVA and Shamanic Princess, poppy petals and flowers are seen in flashbacks and dreamlike memories; this may go back to the relation of the poppy with sleep. The poppy is also a symbol in a later episode of Shoujo Kakumei Utena.

Possessed Objects

Both the Millenium Puzzle and Millenium Ring are possessed by ancient spirits in Yu-Gi-Oh. These spirits or souls live within the object and depend on the owner of the object for their survival. To exist and live beyond the item they need the body of the host to communicate and act. In Yugi's case he and the Pharoah exist together and their minds exist without one blocking out the other. In Bakura's the malevolent spirit within his ring keeps Bakura in the dark about his actions, and controls Bakura utterly as he chooses.

Priest of Two Faces

In the Karura Mau movie, the evil priest of the Sukuna clan.

"Promised Day of 1999" (from CLAMP's X)

[Applies to manga] "Like the 'Revelation to John' of Christians and Nostradamus, the final judgement day is called the 'promised day'. Although the Christians did not presume it to be in the year of 1999, combining the stories of the "last war" according to various religion, it is said to be 1999."***

***From translations by Cynthia Ma, rec.arts.manga, 11 May 1993 of an interview with Ookawa Nanase of CLAMP

Puppet

The history of puppets seems to go back to ancient times, with puppets appearing around the world throughout history in the form of cloth, rod, shadow, and dolls. The medieval Punch and Judy dolls are remembered from the West, as are ventriloquist dolls (where only the mouth moves and someone projects their voice through the doll), and marionettes (puppets on strings). Marionette may be from "Little Mary" or marotte (fool's scepter).* Two types of Japanese puppets are the karakuri and bunraku. The karakuri is the mechanical doll, with mechanisms inside designed for the doll to move on its own. One type of karakuri puppet was the "room puppet," once used only by wealthy merchants or feudal lords to bring tea to guests.** Bunraku are puppets used in dramas that require three puppeteers to handle the movements.+

Inu-Yasha
Yura of the Hair's first appearance is volume 1. An oni who uses hair like a puppeteer and weapon. She controls the young girls of the village by stringing their fingers and such with strands of hair and moving them about like marionettes.

Princess Tutu
From Chris: Episode 23 has a lot of puppet imagery. The opening story is of a princess who was imprisoned by a devil and forced to dance like a puppet. And a hero came to save her but wasn't able to because he too was a puppet even though he didn't know it. When Princess Tutu asks the Puppets where she is they say it's the land of Puppets. Tutu is also forced to Dance against her will as if she was a marionette. Also she is forced to drink like a puppet. In this episode most of her movements are not her own. She is under Drossilmyers power. "Marrionette's are most free when controled by someone." I think he's refering to the characters in the story who live in the town. Tell her not to defy the destiny he's prepared but to play her role as a tragic figure. Kinkan town itself is like a town of puppets being manipulated by a skilled puppeteer.

Puppet Princess
From Beth: In 16th century Japan, a king lived in a quiet valley and gave his focus on his hobby- making puppets, most of which were human-sized. When the kingdom is taken over by a violent lord who wants the puppets, only the youngest daughter, Princess Rangiku, survives and she takes a few of the puppets with her. In the hands of a skilled puppeteer, the puppets are actually fighting machines. She enlists the help of a ninja to be her bodygaurd (since the puppeteer is unprotected while controlling the puppets) and goes back for revenge. The puppeteer worked a small screen that was full of thin strings which contolled the puppets like marionettes, in a way. Only, the strings were nearly invisible, so you really didn't see them hanging from the puppets.

Unico in the Island of Magic
In Unico in the Island of Magic, Kuruku is a puppet now magician. The idea that much love will give life to a doll gets reworked as Kuruku who was abused then abandoned is brought to life through years of neglect and his hate for humans. But then Unico's offer of friendship turns him back to a puppet, and there's the hope for a better life when the young girl Sherri takes him in her arms at the end and the audience knows he will finally be loved and taken care of.

Vampire Princess Miyu
In episode two of the OVA, two teenagers comment on the lifelike features of Japanese dolls, and marionettes are the subject of Ranka's form and magic. She even makes her beloved a marionette so that when they are sent back to the darkness with other shinma they can remain together.

*http://sunniebunniezz.com/puppetry/puphisto.htm
**http://www.cjn.or.jp/karakuri/
+http://ichep2000.hep.sci.osaka-u.ac.jp/Images/bunraku_0525.pdf

Puss in Boots

An intelligent cat agrees to help a young man find his fortune. He makes a king believe the young man is a noble and wins him the king's daughter in marriage. He tricks an ogre into turning into a mouse and eating him. Before this he had told the villagers and farmers to tell the king as he rode through to say the lands (that were once the ogre's) belonged to the young man. Both the cat and young man live out their days in wealth and happiness.

FLCL
From Mikhail Koulikov: The third episode of FLCL (Marquis de Carabas/Maru Raba) revolves around Naota's class putting on a Puss in Boots play, with Ninamori rigging the casting vote to give herself the role of the Marquis and get Naota as the Puss.

Titles Based Off the Tale:
Nagagutsu-o Haita Neko from Toei Animation
Nagagutsu-o Haita Neko Hachijunichikan Sekai Isshu
Nagagutsu-o Haita Neko-no Boken from Enoki Films

Pyramid

The tomb for Egyptian kings. It was believed pharoahs were both divine and human. The king's belongings and sometimes representations of servants were placed in the pyramids so that these things could accompany and serve him in the afterlife. The spirit within Yugi's pyramid shaped Millenium Puzzle turns out to be an ancient pharoah in Yu-Gi-Oh.