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Combined the two "Neon Genesis Evangelion" examples
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{{trope}}
[[File:108-image.jpg|link=Lost|frame|The Numbers are bad!]]
[[File:image.jpg|link=Lost (TV)|frame|The Numbers are bad!]]The number 108 is a significant number in Buddhism. It represents the number of temptations that humans face, which tie them to the Wheel of ''samsara''. There are many religious elements related to this number -- a bell is rung 108 times to bring in the [[Japanese Holidays|New Year in Japan]]. It is the number of beads on a Buddhist ''o-juzu'' or rosary. A classic pilgrimage in Japan visits 108 temples. Also, it's 2 to the second power times 3 to the third power -- ''obviously'' important (Then again, 2 and 3 are the first two prime num- wait, [[The Illuminatus Trilogy|23? Oh come on, man!]]). Or put another way it is 1^1x2^2x3^3.▼
▲
This number crops up frequently in anime, video games, and other media produced in Japan. Like the numbers [[Thirteen Is Unlucky|13]] or [[Lucky Seven|7]] for Western culture, it is ascribed a mystical significance far outside the original definitions. It has no readily comparable analogue to a modern Western viewer, however, though lots of similarities with the Medieval or Renaissance use of the number nine, which was considered perfect, the trinity of trinities, square of the first "real" prime (2 didn't count, sometimes, because it was even), etc.
You might know 108 from puzzles,
Compare [[Four Is Death]] and its Western equivalent, the [[Number of the Beast]]; however, note that the number 108 is not always used in a negative sense as these other two examples generally are.
{{examples|Examples: }}▼
== Anime and Manga ==
* In the ''[[Naruto]]'' series the 108th episode, titled as "Invisible Crack" Sasuke starts to completely break his bonds with Konoha and Naruto. With this episode the saga of the hunt after Sasuke begins and it brings mortal danger to nearly all of the named characters of Naruto's age group while fighting to bring Sasuke back, including Naruto himself whilst fighting Sasuke.
* At 13 minutes and 21 seconds into the 24th episode of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', Gimmy exclaimed that 108 units of the creepy Buddhism inspired Anti-Spiral ships were destroyed. In addition, 13 minutes and 21 seconds totals up to 801 seconds, the reverse of 108. Right when he mentions this, everything starts going straight to hell as the enemy suddenly launches a massive counter assault.
* ''[[Bleach]]'' uses the motif several times.
** The manga had a [[Backstory]] arc with chapters numbered in negative numbers, starting with -108.
** In Hueco Mundo, Uryu fights the Arrancar Iceringer, who can shoot up to 108 shots.
** The Fake Karakura Town and Deicide arcs run 108 chapters (316 - 423)
** In one of the first chapters Rukia tells Ichigo that the fake soul she's installed in his body was designed by 108 shinigami scientists. Too bad she grabbed the wrong package...
** Anime episode #214. In the fake origin story for Kon's being turned into Karakura-Riser, it was stated that he was an alien turned into a hero of justice by "Professor" Urahara. He could only return to his normal form by destroying the 108 hollows that killed Professor Urahara's daughter.
* The [[The Triads and
* In ''[[Ai to Yuuki no Pig Girl Tonde Buurin]]'', Karin has to collect 108 pearls in order to become any superheroine she wants. However, {{spoiler|due to her [[Shapeshifter Mode Lock]] as Buurin after her classmates find out her secret, she uses it to turn human again instead}}.
* In ''[[Ranma
** In another arc, Ukyo is doing training for her ''okonomiyaki'' martial arts that requires making 108 okonomiyaki a day (or it might have just been 108 total).
* In the ''[[Angel Sanctuary]]'' manga, when Yue Kato is explaining his [[Dark and Troubled Past]], he states that "108 bells would not be enough to cleanse my soul".
** Coincidentally enough (or maybe not...), {{spoiler|Kato dies (for the third and final time) in the 108th chapter of the manga.}}
* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]],'' the Marduk Institute which allegedly selects the pilots for Evangelions is a coalition of 108
* In the Halloween special episode of ''[[Comic Party]] Revolution'', the characters explore a near-abandoned old school building. One of the characters breaks out a book listing 108 ways to deal with scary situations.
* ''[[Shaman King]]'' has a magic rosary called ''The 1080'', because it contains 1080 beads. Also, the Nakaoni ("Medium demon") is formed by 108 onis, and the Oh-oni ("Big demon") is formed by 1080.
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* Zoro from ''[[One Piece]]'' has an attack called 108 Pondo Hou. It translates to "108 Pound Cannon", but with the kanji used, it can mean "108 Phoenixes of Passion and Desire". This and several other attacks with [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|similar names]] are ironic as he is an atheist. The number 108 appearing here is not "coincidental" or cosmic though, Zoro himself says when first executing the "36 Pound Cannon" with only one sword that is represents 36 sins. It basically foreshadows the "108 Pound Cannon" since Zoro is '''THE''' 3 sword style swordsman.
** The fallen monk Urouge has a bounty of 108,000,000 Berries.
* The ''[[
** Similarly, ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' ended at chapter 108, but it was longer overall because each chapter is about twice as long as a chapter of Death Note.
* When the goddess Yurie draws a temple fortune in the final episode of ''[[Kamichu!]]!'', she naturally gets number 108. In the spirit of the series, though, it turns out to be a pretty average fortune.
* In ''[[Devil Hunter Yohko]]'', Yohko is the 108th devil hunter.
* ''[[Soul Eater]]'', chapter 12. Soul placed 108th in the class on the exam.
* ''[[
* In ''[[Prince of Tennis]]'', Gin Ishida has invented 108 variations of his ''Hadokyuu'' tennis shot.
* In the 21st episode of ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'', Haruhi gives her class representative, who is afraid of "dark places, horror movies, ghost storytelling, getting scared from behind, and commercials for horror movies" a book entitled "108 Ways to Get Through Scary Situations".
* In ''[[Sekirei]]'''s [[There Can Be Only One|elimination contest]], there are 108 combatants. Almost all of them [[Fan Service|beautiful girls]], of course.
** Actually there are around 4-5 male sekirei shown throughout the series (Notably [[Cute Shotaro Boy|Shiina]] and [[Bishonen|Mutsu]]). [[
* In ''[[Tokko]]'', there are 108 [[The Legions of Hell|Phantoms]], each of whom contains a piece of the magic box [[Gotta Catch Them All|the protagonists need to reassemble]] in order to close the gate to hell.
* In ''[[D
* ''[[Faeries Landing]]'' is about a high schooler named Ryang Jegal, who is destined to have 108 doomed relationships.
* In ''[[Robotech]]'', Roy Fokker claims to have shot down 108 enemy pilots in the previous war.
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* In ''[[Shikabane Hime]]'', the amount of corpses that Makina must kill is 108. Akasha uses 108 tortured souls to power his unholy zadan technique.
* Virgo Shaka of ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' keeps a Buddhist rosary with 108 beads. Every time one of Hades' (108) Specters is killed, one of the beads goes dark. He terrorizes the battalion of Specters invading the House of Virgo by showing them how few beads remain.
* In ''[[Amaenaideyo!!]]!!'', Ikkou rings the shrine bell 108 times for New Years in episode 12.
* ''[[Ninja Nonsense]]'' has a couple of 108 jokes. In the baseball episode, Onsokumaru splits the ball into a bunch of copies to make it impossible to catch, but Miyabi does the same with her glove and gets them all.
** In another episode, when Kaede's mom tells Onsokumaru to be careful of the knife she's holding, he says "Hey, hey, Paula. I'm the hundred and eighth president; your comments don't mean anything to me." No, her name's not Paula.
* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'', second season episode 22, the number of units A-laws use to take on Celestial Being equals 108.
* The space pirate guild which Hazanko rules (and to which the Anten Seven belong) in ''[[Outlaw Star]]'' is named The 108 Stars. May have been partly a Water Margin/Suikoden reference, but it still counts.
* Hayato Furinji of ''[[Kenichi:
* Yomi is stabbed 108 times in ''[[Ga
* In ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'', there are 108 schools of Nanto Seiken, although almost all of the branches outside the Nanto Roku Seiken (the Six Sacred Fists) are never named in the manga with the exception of the Golan Colonel's Silent Fist, the Harn Brothers' Twin Hawk Fist and the Twin Slice Fist practiced by two of Thouzer's minions.
** Many of the later ''Gaiden'' spin-offs showed some of the other branches as well.
** Although probably a coincidence, the final episode of the first anime series is Episode 108 (109 was just a recap episode).
* In ''[[Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation]]'' Ebisu attempts do to "Maneuver 108", which involves surrounding the scene of a haunting with a "barrier" of spiritual-energy infused "needles". {{spoiler|Unfortunately he runs out of energy before he can finish the barrier and decides to set it off anyway. At first it seems to work but it soon fails, causing Ebisu to be fired.}} It should be noted that Ebisu's [[Ambition Is Evil|ruthless, greedy, and ambitious]] ([[Bishounen|male]]) boss wears a ''miko''-style outfit.
* Mud Doll # 108 is given unusual prominence [http://www.onemanga.com/Japan_Tengu_Party_Illustrated/23/09/ here]{{Dead link}} in ''[[Japan Tengu Party Illustrated]]''.
* In the beginning of the Kyoto Field Trip arc of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', onmyou gods shaped as frogs attack the class while traveling to Kyoto via bullet train. According to Fei Ku, the students round up 108 of the little buggers.
** In Negi's second fight with Evangeline he has 108 secret tools of the mage.
* The anime [[OVA]] ''[[Suikoden]]: Demon Century'' was loosely based on the classic Chinese story ''The Water Margin'', mentioned below.
* The [[
* In ''[[Sands of Destruction]]'', there are 108 Laws of Clockwork Robotics.
* ''[[Touhou]]'' [[Comic Book Adaptation|manga spin-off]] ''Inaba of the Moon, Inaba of the Earth'' once had a chapter where [[Moon Rabbit|Reisen]] needed to borrow a book from [[Hot Librarian|Patchoulli]] for her master. Much to her horror, the "book" was actually comprised of 72 Heaven volumes and 36 Earth volumes,
* In chapter 51 of the ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou
* In ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'', there are 108 Zones in the digital world.
* Two (probably) meaningless references in episode 5 of ''[[Panty
* ''[[Rosario
* In ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', Dende is the 108th son of the Eldest Namek.
* The ''[[Lupin III]]'' episode "Have the 108 Bells Rung?" which takes place at a major New Year's Eve celebration; the bell ringing actually plays a role in Lupin's scheme.
* In the anime of ''[[The World God Only Knows]]'' (second season, episode 3), the school baseball team [[Epic Fail|loses spectacularly]]; the other team scores 108 points in only a few innings. [[Fridge Logic|Which is probably impossible in an amateur league]], but maybe their sheer [[Hot
* In ''[[Kyon
▲== Fan Fiction ==
* In ''[[
▲* In ''[[Kyon Big Damn Hero (Fanfic)|Kyon Big Damn Hero]]'' Tsuruya will be the 108th family head when she assumes that position.
▲* In ''[[Fair Vote (Fanfic)|Fair Vote]]'' the protagonist uses 108 phurba ritual daggers instead of chalk to make his summoning circles.
== Film ==
* In ''Highlander 2: The Quickening'', Connor Macleod is shot 108 times.
* In ''[[The Fifth Element]]'', the captain of the hotel ship orders the helm be taken to 108.
* ''[[Pi]]'' involves the discovery of a mysterious 216-digit number that lies at the root of chaotic systems and may represent the true name of God. 216 is, among other things, 108 plus 108.
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* In ''[[The Green Mile]]'', Paul Edgecombe states he is 108 years old during the [[Framing Device]] on the tail end of the film.
* From Annie's opening narration in ''[[Bull Durham]]'': "There are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball." Annie's confusing a 59-bead Catholic rosary with a 108-bead Buddhist rosary, but she respects the number's cosmic significance nonetheless.
* This is the weight Vicki Vale gives when being rescued by the Dark Knight in ''[[Batman]]''. Significant because she's lying, which results in there being too much weight for the extension gun to lift them both so that Batman has to fall back to the ground so she can escape.
* Case #1108 is our introduction to the world of ''[[Minority Report]]''.
* ''[[
== Literature ==
* [http://www.scribd.com/doc/3830153/Japanese-Folk-Tales-by-Yanagita-Kunio-translated-by-Fanny-Hagin-Mayer This book of Japanese folktales] (published in [[WW 2|1942]]!) has 108 stories.
* The classic Chinese novel ''[[
* In the Chinese fairy tale ''[[Journey to
* In ''[[The Stand]]'' by [[Stephen King]], leader of the good side of the conflict is Mother Abigail, a 108 year old woman.
* Edward is 108 years old in ''[[Twilight (
* The [[Complete Monster|killer]] in Ryu Murakami's novel ''In the Miso Soup'' basically keeps the protagonist alive because he wants the guy to show him the best spot in town to hear the Japanese New Year bells, and because he wants to learn from him about the 108 parts of ''Bōnno'' ("bad instincts") that are supposed to be cleared up by listening to them. He claims to be curious about whether listening to the bells can absolve him of his own ''Bōnno''.
* In [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]]'s [http://lesswrong.com/lw/xu/failed_utopia_42/ Failed Utopia #4-2], the new god was carelessly programmed to only respect 107 human desires.
* Although it's likely a coincidence, the original version of Schiller's "An die Freude" has 108 lines.
* In ''[[
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[
** Also, while Desmond is on the island entering the numbers every 108 minutes, Penny (Penelope) is home waiting for him.
* In an early episode of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', a demon possesses plane passengers and causes their planes to crash. One such incident occurs during the timeline of the episode, and the number of passengers killed is 108.
* In an episode of ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]'', a ghost is haunting room 108 on a ship.
* In ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'', 108 is the Mayor's house number. {{spoiler|Appropriate, as she's the [[Big Bad]].}}
*
== Music ==
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* Your average Mahjong set will have 108 suited tiles, with the rest being Honor or flower tiles. This is a result of each of the 3 suits of 9 tiles being replicated so that there's 4 of each. (3* 9* 4 = 108).
* The original version of [[Apples to Apples]] came with 108 green cards. This is probably just a coincidence.
* ''[[Dungeons
* An Uno deck has 108 cards.
** As do two poker decks, with jokers.
* In Canasta, normally 108 cards are
* North Pole Publications' generic RPG adventure ''The Serpent Islands''. The second largest island was once the site of an evil monastery. 23 years ago an earthquake submerged the island, taking 108 monks to their doom.
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* As mentioned above, ''[[Suikoden]]'', loosely based on the classic Chinese novel ''Water Margin''. Each game in the series contains 108 recruitable characters, counting the hero.
** Generally speaking, having all 108 in ''Suikoden'' leads to someone being able to survive certain death, or recovering from it somehow.
* The ''[[Pokémon]]'' Spiritomb is listed as number 108 in the Sinnoh Pokédex, weighs 108
** In Ruby and Sapphire, The ''[[Ghost Ship]]'' S.S. Cactus is found on route 108.
** In ''[[Pokémon Colosseum]]'', the player character's Trainer Number is 10808. He's associated with a balance of light and dark.
* Though it's probably just a coincidence, there are 108 obstacles to dodge in ''[[
* In ''[[Okami]]'', the extremely difficult to obtain [[Infinity
* In ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', the accessory "108 Beads" would prevent most, but not all, status effects.
** This, unlike most, is less a reference and more a direct
* ''[[Brutal Legend]]'' features 108 Heavy Metal songs to unlock.
* In ''[[Animal Crossing]]: City Folk'', after the New Year's Countdown, Peppy villagers will tell you it is good luck to count 108 fireworks.
* ''[[Muramasa:
* In the second ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' game, Phoenix can inspect an ancient tapestry, which has a list of 108... ways to make money.
* In ''[[Viewtiful Joe]] 2'', one stage has Joe (or Sylvia) hitting a giant bell 108 times in order to continue on (though knocking an enemy into the bell counts as 10 rings.)
* In ''[[Legend of Dragoon]]'', it was said that there were 108 races in the world, including humans, dragons, and many others unique to the world. However, all but a handful are extinct by the time the game begins. Furthermore, the Moon Child is said to arise every 108 years, while {{spoiler|[[Dark Is Not Evil|Rose]] is said to have saved the world from the Moon Child's emigration to the Virage Embryo a total of 107 times, failing on the 108th.}}
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' uses and abuses it (with variants: one and eight, one hundred and eight, one thousand and eight). The [
* In ''[[
* Chapter 4 of ''[[Tales of Symphonia
* The Wardog Squadron from ''[[Ace Combat]] 5: The Unsung War'' is the Osean Air Defense Force, 108th Tactical Fighter Wing Detachment.
** ''Ace Combat: Assault Horizon'' continues this, with the 108th Task Force which the player's squadron is a part of.
* In ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'', {{spoiler|Capehornus}} was exiled from his people one hundred and eight days before the death of Willimgard's predecessor. (This may or may not be coincidental.)
* There are 108 badges you can collect in the N64 version of ''[[Super Mario Bros.|Mario Golf]]'' by getting a birdie or better on each of the 6 courses' 18 holes.
* In ''[[Shadow Hearts]]: Covenant'', the [[Big Bad]] explicitly say that [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]] will toll the bell a 108 times before unleashing its power. Yuri and co. will always get there in time, even after [[Take Your Time|exiting to do some]] [[
* Probably coincidental, but in ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'', the maximum amount of AP you can get in a single round (by fighting Chaos [[Guide Dang It|among other conditions]]) is 108.
* In ''[[Fusion Fall]]'', an NPC that has a mission you must take is known as Numbuh 108.
* In ''[[Disgaea|Disgaea Infinite]]'', Laharl boasts of the 108 cruel punishments he gives to disobedient Prinnies.
* ''[[DJ Hero]] 2'' features musical appearances from 108 artists.
* In [[
* In ''[[Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator]]'' case five, the maximum points you can receive is 108.
* Liara T'Soni is one hundred and eight years old as of ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''.
* The X-rated [[Visual Novel]] [[Zanjibaru]] is set in an alternate future Japan. The year in which the game is set is 2033 CE (or the 108th year of the Showa Era).
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== Web Original ==
* The video game company [[Irem]] is known for posting strange April Fools' pranks on its website. In 2001, their prank was the announcement of a (fake) [[Dating Sim]] known as ''Doki Doki Suikoden'' - which was supposed to have 108 different "heroine" characters.
== Western Animation ==
* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' movie ''Bender's Big Score'', Fry finds 108 narwhals before happening across the one he was looking for.
* ''[[Hero: 108]]''
* In the stop-motion adaptation of [[Fantastic Mr. Fox]], the farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean attack the Foxes with their combined forces of 108 workers.
== Real Life ==
* Baseball:
*
** NCAA college baseball rules. When games are televised, teams are allowed 108 seconds between each half inning.▼
** An official Major League Baseball ball contains 108 double stitches.▼
** The Chicago Cubs went 108 years between winning the World Series (in 1908 and 2016). [[The Other Wiki]] mentions that this is the longest championship drought in North American professional sports.
* When the internal human body temperature reaches 108F, the person usually dies.
* An average of 108 people die each minute.
* The FM radio broadcast band tops out at 108 megahertz... except in Japan, where ironically, it ends at 90, with the upper range being used for broadcast TV instead.
* At the height of her (life-threatening) obesity, Nancy Makin, the author of ''703'' had a waistband measuring 108 inches. She can be seen holding it [https://web.archive.org/web/20110903165520/http://photos.mlive.com/grandrapidspress/2010/04/nancy_makin_profile_7.html here].
* There are often a few ghost stories suggesting that someone died in "Room 108".
* According to [[The Other Wiki]], Japan has 108 active volcanoes.
* [[Yuri Gagarin]], [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|the first man in space]], orbited in 108 minutes according to the official records.
* [http://www.arentwenaughty.com/adult-novelties/adult-games/bedroom-commands-card-game-p2912.aspx ''Bedroom Commands'']{{Dead link}} by [[NSFW|Aren't We Naughty]] has 108 cards split into two decks (one for him, one for her).▼
▲* NCAA college baseball rules. When games are televised, teams are allowed 108 seconds between each half inning.
▲* [http://www.arentwenaughty.com/adult-novelties/adult-games/bedroom-commands-card-game-p2912.aspx ''Bedroom Commands''] by [[NSFW|Aren't We Naughty]] has 108 cards split into two decks (one for him, one for her).
▲* An official Major League Baseball ball contains 108 double stitches.
* The angles of a regular pentagon are 108 degrees each.
* Because of the death of Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt in the 2011 Giro D'Italia, the organizers have decided to retire the number 108, meaning that either the number 100 or 110 will be used to replace the number, a rarity in cycling considering that the Grand Tours usually limit the rosters at 9 riders.
* Since the Texas Rangers were founded the current{{when}} total number of Rangers that have died in the line of duty is 108.
* Chris Milo of the Canadian Football League made a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CjYWtf_jqE 108-yard punt.]
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Useful Notes/Japan]]
[[Category:Number Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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