39,327
edits
Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Difference between revisions
m
update links
m (update links) |
m (update links) |
||
Line 9:
'''<big>Compare with:</big>'''
* [[Cherry Blossoms]], a chiefly Japanese symbol for the beauty and evanescence of life.
* The [[Ouroboros]], a snake consuming its own tail, emphasizes the cyclical nature of life. Its occult overtones also make it appropriate for more mystical and/or weirder cases of endings tangled up with beginnings.
* [[The Phoenix]], a mythological being reborn from its own ashes.
Line 18:
== [[Anime]] ==
* Used for double significance in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc of ''[[Naruto]]''; after Choji defeats Jirobo, allowing Naruto, Kiba and the rest of the retrieval team to continue on, he staggers to a tree and sags against it in a very moving death scene; [[Unexplained Recovery|he gets better]]. Right after he collapses, a blue butterfly passes Shikamaru, who looks dismayed. Doubly significant in that Choji's name means 'butterfly', and that is the form that his [[Deadly Upgrade|supposedly fatal final attack]] takes: [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|glowing butterfly wings of chakra]].
** In Shippuuden, {{spoiler|Choji achieves this form without pills, and it enables him to defeat his undead sensei. It also symbolises Choji's growth as a person; indeed, the Akimichi clan's oath, which clan members take as a coming-of-age ceremony, uses the symbol of a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis and taking flight.}}
* Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon (Butterfly) was a manga only servant of the final [[Big Bad]] in the ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' series, who turned the souls of all the Crystals that Galaxia captured literally into butterflies.
** The original version of [[Frilly Upgrade|Super Sailor Moon]] came with a butterfly motif. It get's revealed later that she has the power of rebirth to match Sailor Saturn's power of destruction.
Line 24:
* In ''[[Bleach]]'', specially-bred, ghostly (i.e. only seen by spirits and supernaturally-sensitive people) black butterflies (Called ''Jigoku-chou'', or "Hell Butterflies", for extra cheeriness) are necessary as guides for those wanting to cross from Soul Society to the Living World, and vice versa. Otherwise, they'll be forced to pass through the [[Hyperspace Is a Scary Place|Dangai, or "Forbidding World"]], where death is (un)surprisingly easy.
** They're also used to carry messages within Soul Society, as well, which makes this trope a bit more mundane in ''[[Bleach]]''.
** A VERY [[Squick|squicky]] example is the Octava Espada Szayel Aporro Granz. His release form is similiar to a giant butterfly with wings that look like blood drops leading down from the wings among other creepy additions. His ultimate ability that makes him perfect in his eyes is his Gabriel ability. This let's him impregnate another person (done to a female [[Mister Seahorse|but he implies he could do it to the guys too]]), absorb their energy and nutrients, and then become reborn from their now empty husk of a body.
** Spoiler ahoy: Take a good look at {{spoiler|Aizen's latest form}} in 415.
* Heavily seen in the first opening and ending of ''[[Higurashi]]''. That one of the butterflies is dead is a sign of how dark the series is.
** Similarly, in ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni|Umineko]]'', the Golden Witch Beatrice is said to appear in the form of glowing, gold butterflies. Seen above.
* In the opening of ''[[Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro]]'', Sai crushes a blue butterfly in his hand. He's a murderer who is constantly regenerating at the loss of his memories.
* [[Dead All Along|Yuuko]] of ''[[xxxHolic]]'' has butterflies on her clothes and many of her possessions, and is often depicted wearing a kimono with butterfly wings attached to the obi. An old fortuneteller friend of hers mentions that the butterfly is Yuuko's particular symbol.
** After a certain dramatic moment in [[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]], the concurrent xxxHolic chapter featured Watanuki dreaming of her death - then, when he wakes up, a butterfly appears over his clenched hand, and vanishes into thin air. Naturally, when he goes to look for Yuuko, she's gone, having moved on as payment to fight Fei Wong Reed's [[Gambit Roulette]].
Line 34:
* The butterflies seen in ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' the movie by people infected with nanomachines.
* These appear in ''[[Ga-Rei Zero]]''. They're ''evil''.
* At the end of ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'', Yukio Oikawa's dying wish is to transform his body into a mass of butterflies which spread across the Digital World to protect it and restore its weakened barrier after his [[Family-Unfriendly Death]]. ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'''s [[Anime Theme Song]] is titled "[[Crowning Music of Awesome|Butter-Fly]]", though its lyrics barely involve this trope; however, it does play over ''02'''s [[Distant Finale|distant]] [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue]], during which Oikawa's butterflies do show up.
* ''[[Busou Renkin]]'' has Papillon, the butterfly-themed villain whose entire deal was that he replaced his dying, mortal body with an immortal [but still sick, oddly] homunculus body.
* Butterflies appear in the second season 2 OP for ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'', although they range in color, and a separate one appears for each of the four different female characters ( {{spoiler|Marina, Feldt, Louise and Anew}}) featured. It's possible that the symbolism isn't death here, but rather a drastic change set for them all.
** The [[Four Is Death|fourth]] woman dies.
* ''[[This Ugly Yet Beautiful World]]'' is packed with these... and [[Fan Service]].
* Hotarubi from ''[[Basilisk]]'' summons butterflies among the insects and reptiles she uses to attack her enemies. When she dies and her lifeless ''and'' mutilated corpse falls off a cliff, a bunch of butterflies appear in the sky.
* ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'': Ashitaka spots a footprint that attracts butterflies. It belongs to the Great Forest Spirit, who has power over life and death.
* ''[[Turn
* Episode 8 of ''Mr. Stain on Junk Alley'' has this all over the place. Basically, it starts with our titular hero finding an abandoned baby in a junk heap, and it just gets cheerier from there... Stain dashes out of the alley and steals milk to feed the baby with, grabbing the attention of the law. Unfortunately, his attempts to care for the baby are too late- the poor tot dies, a blue butterfly floating out of his mouth. Frantically, Stain tries to catch it in hopes of reviving the baby, but the butterfly is crushed by a Jerkass cop, who proceeds to beat the crap out of Stain and then shoot him. Dying, Stain manages to go back to the roof he left the baby on, reach down his OWN throat, extract his OWN butterfly, revive the baby, and fall to his death... ironically, on top of the same Jerkass cop, killing the cop. Stain's conveniently-nearby friend nabs the cop's escaping butterfly, uses it to revive Stain, and everyone lives happily ever after.
* In ''[[Hell Girl|Hell Girl: The Cauldron of Three]]'', the deceased Enma Ai's spirit takes the form of a blue butterfly.
** The season one opening theme is called "Sakasama no Chou," or "Upside-down Butterfly," which adds another layer of meaning to the equation.
* In ''[[D.Gray-man]]'', Tyki Mikk uses black butterflies as weapons that are capable of removing an opponent's internal organs without causing them any other injury.
* When the solar eclipse in ''[[Umi Monogatari]]'' gets accompanied by the appearance of thousands of eerie blue butterflies, you just know [[Mood Whiplash|things will turn rather dark]] from then on.
* Then there's ''[[G Gundam]]'''s Sai Saici, whose Hyper Mode Ultimate Attack and the Shaolin Temple's final and secret technique is a suicide attack in which his Gundam gains chi-created butterfly wings (much the same as the Naruto example with Chouji above, but with a [[Giant Robot]]). He also [[Unexplained Recovery|gets better]]. Multiple times.
* ''[[Paprika]]'' has the butterfly room scene.
* In one of the episodes of the hentai show ''[[Cool Devices]]'', these appeared. The [[Moe Moe]] girls got brutally raped by a bunch of [[Scary Black Man|Scary Black Men]], then [[Human Sacrifice|sacrificed]]. But it's all okay, because at the end their spirits turn into butterflies. Or something.
* In ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'', there is a type of butterfly that is attracted to fresh blood. In one of the Hunter Exams, [[The Messiah|Gon]] tracks these butterflies, which lead him to [[Monster Clown|Hisoka]], which is his target.
* One chapter of ''[[Pet Shop of Horrors]]'' elevates this into mindfuck: Leon (a cop) accidentally shoots a childhood friend (Harry) who turns out to have become a criminal over time. Count D allows him to experience Harry's life for himself, trapping him inside an illusion given by a magical butterfly. Just as Leon experiences being shot to death, D crushes the butterfly, giving Leon his normal life back.
* In ''[[Prétear]]'', the [[Big Bad]] Takako attacks with purple butterflies. They can be used as spies, too.
* Purple butterflies similar to those seen in ''Pretear'' appear in ''[[Harukanaru Toki no Naka de]]'' as a manifestation of Ran's Dark Dragon powers. These can be used for attack purposes or for defilement, and on one occasion in the manga/anime Ran uses these to place a curse on Akane.
* In ''[[Saint Seiya]]'', Hades' spies are butterflies and appear during the Hades arc whenever Saga, Shura and Camus are about to reveal their true motives (not to kill Athena, merely to see her again) as a grim reminder of their fate. One scene uses both this and the death version of [[Cherry Blossoms]]. There's also the Spectre Papillon, who starts off as a revolting caterpillar-like thing and then evolves into a pretty (scary) butterfly-boy with glowing butterfly minions.
* In Part 6 of ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'', {{spoiler|Jolyne}}'s death is accompanied by the appearance of butterflies. Appropriate to the trope, {{spoiler|she and several other characters killed in the arc comes back to life later.}}
* In ''[[Iris Zero]]'' Hijiri has an [[Evil Eye|Iris]] that allows him to see black butterflies that gather around people that are supposed to die in the near future.
Line 61:
** In one of the ending songs, there's a constant blue butterfly flying around screen.
* The first witch that appears in ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' seems to have a motif partially based around butterflies, as seen on her minions, in her barrier, on her Grief Seed, and on the witch herself. In addition once she's defeated there is a quick shot of a butterfly in a web afterwards. [[Fridge Brilliance]] / [[Fridge Horror|Horror]] kicks in when you realize {{spoiler|it may or may not be [[Foreshadowing]] that witches start out as a normal girl that gets contracted by Kyubey, followed by reaching the [[Despair Event Horizon]]}}.
* [[Loveless]] plays this for all the symbolism it can get, especially with Soubi, complete with Ritsu-sensei musing on how "humans are able to be reborn".
Line 79:
* The German language romantic tragedy ''[[Love In Thoughts]]'' features a scene in which, while Gunther is dicking around with his pretty, pretty gun, as per usual, a butterfly lands on the barrel and distracts him with its pretty, pretty wings.
* ''[[The American]]'' features a butterfly several times through the movie.
* In the final scene of ''[[All Quiet on the Western Front]]'', {{spoiler|Paul is shot and killed while reaching for a butterfly.}}
* Mothra, grand [[Kaiju]] of the Pacific and eternal frenemy of [[Godzilla]], is literally one of these. Almost every appearance of Mothra will have it die, only to have it's [[Generation Xerox]] offspring take over for it.
* ''[[The Matrix]]'': Neo's speech at the end was going to refer to the Matrix as a chrysalis but [[Executive Meddling|the execs]] weren't sure if [[Viewers are Morons|enough viewers would know what a chrysalis is]] ([http://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pupa&mobileaction=view_normal_site#Chrysalis it's this, by the way]).
Line 105:
* Monarch butterflies play a huge role in ''[[Kings]]'', symbolizing the recognition of a king. Specifically, they herald the rise of David and the fall of his predecessor.
* An episode of ''[[Millennium]]'' focussed on a conspiracy among mothers murdering their daughters. The incident that began the episode was a plane crash, fatal to everyone onboard, caused by one of the mothers. At the crash site there was an overly abundant amount of butterflies, said to be attracted by the chemicals in tears.
* In episode 5 of ''[[Nikita (TV series)|Nikita]]'', the civilian girlfriend of Owen, a secret Division operative, is an artist and makes stained-glass butterflies. Obviously, by the end of the episode, {{spoiler|she's killed in the crossfire between Division operatives, Owen, and Nikita.}}
* A group of children dressed like butterflies show up at the beginning of the ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'' episode "[[Pushing Daisies/Recap/S2 E2 Circus Circus|Circus Circus]]", an episode heavily focused on new beginnings.
* From ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'': One character, Dr. K, has been raised in a secret government think tank named Alphabet Soup under the pretense that she suffered from a sunlight allergy. A butterfly one day appears on her keyboard while she works on the Ranger suits. She follows it as it flies away towards an opening in the wall in which the sunlight shines through. She looks at her hands and realizes that her handlers have lied to her the whole time about the sunlight allergy. She attempts escape along with her only friends Gem and Gemma by wirelessly uploading a sentient computer virus named Venjix in hopes that it would blind the security servers long enough for them to escape. However, before she can install the firewall which would contain the virus to the compound, guards take her and her friends away. In a span of three years, Venjix has destroyed every human city (except Corinth), killed almost every living thing, and destroyed almost every biome on Earth. [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]], indeed.
Line 132:
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' the [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|newly sentient]] Roofus the Robot wanders off pursuing a butterfly. He later [[Stay with the Aliens|finds his destiny]] when he meets a ''giant'' butterfly, Princess Voluptua's [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|true form.]]
* Used subtly in ''[[Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name]]'' when Zombie, [[Captain Obvious|an undead character]], is discussing his previous life with Hanna. He catches a moth in his hands and watches it for a moment, then lets it go. [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic]]?
* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', when Vriska and Aradia are resurrected and ascend to the [[Physical God|god tiers]], they are each granted a large pair of butterfly wings. Fitting, since [[All Trolls Are Different|her species]] begins their life cycles as larvae and sleeps in cocoons.
* In ''[[Concession]]'', a deep purple butterfly seems to be one of {{spoiler|Miranda's}} spiritual forms.
| |||