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Takarazuka to Twins
Takarazuka
Tanabata
Taoism
Tarot Cards
Tennyo
Three Treasures
Transformations
Tree
Triple Goddess
Twins
Talisman
A talisman is an object that holds magical power itself and can transmit that power to its possessor. The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable says that a talisman is "under the influence of certain planets; it is supposed to be sympathetic and to communicate to the wearer influence from the planets." Sailor Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto each carry a talisman in Sailor Moon.
Tanuki
A tanuki (raccoon dog) somewhat resembles the North American raccoon. Like the fox, they are thought to have supernatural powers and be crafty animals. Space Tanuki are characters in Dragonball GT; a father and son pair try to cheat against Goku in a game of Sugoroku.
Tatare-Mokke
Floating spirit with a feather-like tail and almost close-lidded eyes. It plays on a flute to calm the spirits of recently departed children until their souls move on in the afterlife. But if the child is full of anger or won't be calmed, the eyes of this spirit gradually open until it takes the child first back to the place and moment of their death and then to Hell where they become evil spirits. In volume 4 of Inu-Yasha Kagome rushes to help the soul of a little girl find peace before not only the Tatare-Mokke's eyes fully open but also before her spirit is transformed.
Tears
In fairy tales tears may be the means of removing an enchantment, or more precisely a symbol of the great love of the heroine and her falling tears a symbol of what breaks a curse or spell.
At the end of Rapunzel, in the end of at least one version, the princess cries into the eyes of the prince after he has been blinded by the witch and left to wander alone and helpless. Her
tears falling upon his face after she searches for him and finally succeeds in finding him, are a symbol of her love for the prince and her perseverence. They cure him and the two live happily
afterward. At the end of Beauty and the Beast, Beauty believing the Beast dead cries upon him and voices her foolishness and her realization she does indeed return his love. At this moment,
the spell on the Beast is broken and he turns back into a prince, and the two marry.
In the last episode of Utena, the sword is broken and there seems no way to open the Rose Gate. But with bare hands Utena is determined to save Anthy. A tear falls from her face and that
tear turns out to be the key to open the door and reveal the lid to Anthy's coffin. It is a step to break the spell, and a symbol of Utena's perseverence and unconditional love for Anthy.
After Folken fails the Rite of Dragon Slay and leaves his home of Fanelia in Escaflowne, he is shown with a tattoo of a tear below his right eye.
This symbolizes the sorrow embedded inside himself he can't let go of: he failed the Rite of Dragon Slay, his father died, his homeland
was destroyed by Zaibach (forces he commanded), and both Naria and Eriya died in his arms.
His line from ep. 22: Will somebody tell me why, why our wishes never come true.
Tengu
The Tengu (mountain spirit) have a bird's wings and head, are humanlike, and have a red face. The Tengu (minor divinities) were said to haunt woodlands and mountains, not really malicious they were more like tricksters. When tengu appear to humans, often they will do so in the guise of a yamabushi (mountain ascetic). In the series Urusei Yatsura, the tengu who visit earth are dressed as yamabushi, and Princess Kurama is part bird, though mostly humanlike.
Teruteru Bozu
Rain doll. From OVA 4 of Kakyuusei. Miko makes two of these dolls in the likeness of Tooru and Mizuho and hangs them. These dolls are supposed to be used to invite good weather or good fortune, and as in this case of this scene, good wishes for a relationship. An inverted rain doll would of course be used to invite bad weather. It rains, and the rain is good as it helps bring Tooru and Mizuho together and ultimately to seek shelter in his apartment where they admit and consumate their love for each other.
Tetsusaiga
"Steel Cleaving Fang." It's a sword hidden by Inu-Yasha's father within his own remains, and carved from one of his fangs and thus imbuing it with his demon powers. But the sword's appearance is beat-up and on the surface useless until it is meant to protect a human life and then it wakens to its full power. In its true form it is a fang and has a heartbeat. Inu-Yasha inherits it.
Thorns
From volume 1 of Alice 19th. When Alice and Nyozeka enter the Inner Heart they find it strewn and overgrown with barb wire much like a garden overgrown with thorns. Alice until now couldn't find
the courage to tell her sister she loved Kyou too or to tell the boy she was set up with she had feelings for someone else. And so she felt lonely and suffered in silence. Her unexpressed
feelings and words manifested inside her as the barb wire, but once she finds the strength to say everything she's wanted to, the wires become brittle and disappear and Alice feels
relieved.
The thistles and thorns that bind Venus like a rope in the Kingdom of the Dead in Bride of Deimos show her suffering and the curse put upon her by Jupiter for her forbidden love of her twin brother. Her spirit
is left living but her body is dead and rotting.
From ova 2 of Dream Hunter REM, as Kyoko is 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.
The thorns also contrast to the rose itself, dangerous and cruel beneath the softness and allure of the beautiful petals, just as the girls themselves are.
Three Little Pigs
Three pigs each build their houses of straw, sticks, and bricks. The eldest who built his of bricks told the others they shouldn't be so lazy and to build a house that will last, but they
don't listen. A wolf comes by and blows down the first two homes and almost eats the pigs but they escape in time to the eldest's house. The wolf can't blow down the brick house and
the pigs learn their lesson.
Akazuki Chacha
From Joanna: In the anime, the
three little pigs (who weren't so small) visited their school.
Hyper Police
In one of the early episodes Natsuki and her partner are after a criminal gang who suspiciously resemble the three little pigs.
Thumbelina
Fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson. See below.
Bride of Deimos
In the second volume Thumbelina comes to Deimos because she is bored with her life and would prefer reality to fiction. Everyone knows her
story of course, and her life thus far has been she was born from a tulip, abducted by a frog who wanted her for a bride, saved by a butterfly but put on display by a beetle, almost
froze in the winter but saved by a mouse who wanted to marry her to a mole before she was saved by a swallow and married to the prince of fairies. To which she lived happily ever after.
But she tells Deimos, she'll never grow old or die, there's no excitement to that, and a flower that never loses it's bloom isn't beautiful to anyone. Deimos agrees to grant her wish for her. So
on making her a human, she finds herself an orphan about to be married to a man who will make her happy until another comes along and tells her he'll make her a star. She abandons her
bride-groom and follows the man but gives up on modeling when she's asked to take her top off. Left alone, she wanders until she finds a sign for a seamstress needed and a woman
takes her in. Thumbelina is happy with the woman and grateful but learns she's arranged for her to be the mistress of a wealthy man (just like the mouse and mole, the wealthy man
even looks like the mole). She escapes over his balcony and lands in the arms of a handsome young man who she marries, and leads the contented life of a loved housewife, wanting for
nothing. But she tells Deimos how could she possibly be happy with this, and asks again to be shown only the truth. Whether a real or fiction life, her destiny is the same, and when
given the chance both times for happiness, she can't be content. So Deimos warns her she may regret her wish, but he grants it all the same, and hands her a hand mirror. When
Thumbelina takes it, the shriveled face of a woman whose lived over a century looks back at her, and she is dying. And Deimos leaves her to the fate she ultimately chose.
Hana No Ko Lunlun
Of course Thumbelina herself is probably descended of fairies though
she is raised by a human woman. And as we know she ultimately marries
the prince of the fairies (and a flower fairy). Lunlun is a young
girl in France, living a very normal and happy life, but we learn she
isn't so typical as she is really descended from flower fairies. And
a couple flower fairies come from another planet to enlist her aide
as the prince cannot assume the throne without the Seven-Colored
Flower (a very rare and magical flower obviously). She does
marry him in the end.
Other
Oya-Yubi Hime Monogatari from Enoki Films
Time
A clock is a physical or temporal symbol of time. Time is an abstract concept so clocks/hourglasses/watches/etc. are a way to give physical form to and a reference to changes in the workings
of time or the understanding or concept of reality and place. In the Utena series, Miki's stopwatch and the hourglasses are a symbol for a time that flows in its own reality or sense of
consciousness, and not the way one normally understands time flowing in their everyday life. In CCS the Time Card can change the flow of time, and the hourglass he holds gives a
physical representation for the change in time, as does the Clock Tower the Time Card hides in.
In CCS, the Time Card may be a representation of "Father Time," and holds an hourglass to symbolize time. The hourglass also
shows up in Utena. The hourglass represents time, the cycle of life and death, and heaven and earth. It is also a reminder
of our mortality. It is a symbol for the eternal return.
In the UY movie: Beautiful Dreamer, Mujaki tells Sakura, "Time is a creation of your human consciousness." Whether time goes quicker or slows down or moves in
one direction or another, it is all created by the human mind. Mujaki of course is a master of dreams and lives within them, his statement could then extend to the
question of if waking life is someone's dream or if it is a perception of one's mind. This is like the philosopher Chuang Chou's dream and what he says on waking: "I did not know whether it had
formerly been Chou dreaming that he was a butterfly, or whether it was now a butterfly dreaming that it was Chou."
Toads
Toads and frogs appear in magical tales like The Frog Prince and Spirited Away to name a couple. The talking toad appears in OVA 2 of Licca: Wondrous Yunia Story sitting on a tree-like fishbowl. The fish inside have lights/beakons on forehead and Licca takes one which guides her to a large structure that turns out to be a maze.
Totoro
The totoros in My Neighbor Totoro seem to be a combination of an owl, cat, and tanuki. A tanuki (raccoon dog) somewhat resembles the North American
raccoon. Like the fox, they are thought to have supernatural powers and be crafty animals.
A review of Donguri to Yamaneko (The Acorns and the Wildcat) tells that it could be the short film and Kenji's wildcat creature which also helped inspire the design
behind Miyazaki's Totoro.*
http://www.pelleas.net/wmt/reviews.shtml
Tower
Sometimes a structure meant to link heaven and earth. In fairy tales the tower is a prison for the princess many times. A king might imprison his daughter until a worthy
suitor sets her free. Or a princess may be raised by fairies in the tower, as in Rapunzel or White Cat, until she is at last rescued or released from the tower by an enchantment. The
tower is a central building in the Academy in the Utena series, it houses the observatory, and in the latter seasons becomes the home of Anthy, Utena, and Akio.
A thought I had is that the imprisoning of the princess in the tower in fairy tales may go back to old customs in some cultures of secluding a young girl at her first menstruation. Two rules
governing girls many times was that they were not allowed to touch the ground for a period of time, nor see the sun. During her time of seclusion no one would be allowed to see her, save for a
woman who would look after her, and possibly other girls who also were going through this change. According to The Golden Bough, the Greek story of Danae is influenced by these old
beliefs, as the daughter is shut away and in that time is visited by Zeus in the form of a shower of gold. So it is not unlikely, seeing the similarities to tower tales that they may also be a carry over.
The girl is shut away from the world, and suspended above the earth in a tower. She only is allowed to see the fairy or fairies who raise her in both the case of Rapunzel and White Cat until
such time the women who raise her deem otherwise.
The tower may also serve as a symbol of the unconscious or sleep as in fairy tales like Sleeping Beauty, where the princess is put under a curse in a tower and lies in a deep sleep until
she is awakened.
Trojan Horse
The Greeks used the Trojan Horse (a great wooden horse) to hide their soldiers. They then left the horse at the gates of Troy, and when it was taken inside, the Greeks took the Trojans by surprise. In Unicon in the Island of Magic, the Trojan Horse turns out to be a rocking horse (a baby wooden horse to go in with the theme of the children: Sherri, Unico, the baby sphinx, etc). The trio of travelers journey from the desert and meet the Trojan Horse at the end of the earth where they are told Kuruku's story.
Tsuchigumo
From Japanese folklore and Noh drama, means ground spider. In the Karura Mau movie he is a spirit brought by the Priest of Two Faces to fight Kenmochi.
Tsukumo no Gama
The Immortal Frog, a 300 year old demon from volume 3 of Inu-Yasha who takes over the body of Princess Tsuyu's husband. Has been taking girls from throughout the lord's domain and sealing them within frog eggs where their soul's are nurtured until he feeds upon them. Uses a kind of regressive magic in order to harvest the maiden souls; as they are kept in the eggs their form becomes less human until it is tadpole like.
Tunic
At the end of volume one of Miyazaki's Nausicaa, Nausicaa's clothing has taken on significance. She says: "Look at this dress...an old Dorak woman's memory of her daughter, yet she gave it to me. I've made it into flight gear for myself. It's stained pure blue with Ohmu blood, and yet there is no unpleasant smell at all." Blue is not just the color of the Ohmu blood but the eyes of the Ohmu become blue when sad or crying. Their eyes are red when they're angry or out to kill, but after will turn blue in sorrow. After the incident with the refugees, a blue-eyed Ohmu passes and Nausicaa notes it's crying over the woman and human children it probably helped kill. This makes a good symbol for Nausicaa. She had compared herself to the Ohmu before. In battle she finds herself filled with rage sometimes, yet her heart is filled with sorrow for all who are suffering, both enemy and those she loves. She is like the Ohmu, fighting to live yet filled with sorrow in the end. The blood of the Ohmu also ties her to them, and even more with nature. In the next volume, a mother insect is calmed by the blood in her clothes, and it serves as her link, though even before she could understand and communicate with the insects.
Twins
According to Hamlyn, twins in the ancient world were looked on as either a fortunate omen or a bad. In some cultures twins helped in founding or creation myths. Romulus and Remus in Roman and
Hahgwehdiyu and Hahgwehdaetgah in Iroquois.
Identical twins are conceived and born from a single zygote, and some psychologists think there is a connection between twins that is
heightened more than normal siblings. This may be one reason anime twins are so intimately connected or why they seem to be two spiritual sides of a whole.
In anime twins often seem to represent two sides of magic or yin and yang. The sisters in Karura Mau cannot work alone, their magic is split between them. In Blue Seed the Kushinada is born as twins.
The same motif is also seen in Fushigi Yuugi, Spirited Away, Seraphim Call, and Trigun.
But opposite gender twins sometimes hold a hint of incest to the relationship. In Twilight of the Dark Master the siblings are a literal yin and yang but they also seem to be melded so deeply to one
another that their is a hint at a sexual unity between them as well. In Ayashi no Ceres, Aya and Aki are regular siblings but have been reborn with the spirits of the tennyo Ceres and her husband. As a female
from each Mikage generation inherits the power of the tennyo, since Aya was born as a twin, the other half of the family power was incarnated in her brother. In Bride of Deimos, Venus and Deimos
loved each other and were cursed by Jupiter and cast from Olympus for their forbidden affair.
From Joanna on Princess Prince: The main
characters are twins princes. To avoid a conflict about who's the
older one (and thus the heir) they dress the youngest brother as a
girl and raise him as a girl, as well. The poor young prince
falls in love with his best friend (a maid) who has no idea the
princess is really a prince...
From Chris: For DN Angel: First off you have a pair of twins: Riku and Risa. Riku is tomboyish,
and Risa is a girly girl. they have the same face but are very
different. Then you have Hiwatari Satoshi and Niwa Daisuke. They are
also opposites. Hiwatari being cold, unfriendly, distant, unhappy,
and scared. Daisuke being friendly, warm, and caring. Both transform.
Hiwatari trying to prevent his transformation. I think he's
frightened of his other half. Daisuke on the other hand seems to get
along well with Dark and seems to consider him an important friend.
Dark and Krad also are a pair. In the anime Dark says about Krad, "If
I am the dark then he is the light." Krad is Dark spelled backwards
for one thing. They both are similar but opposite.