Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Difference between revisions

For millenia, the world has latched on to the image of the butterfly: its metamorphosis from a caterpillar to a butterfly used as a metaphor for death and rebirth. In brighter series, it means "Don't worry, be at peace, the great circle of life continues on." In others, it means "You're going to die and turn into something else and it being pleasant isn't necessarily an option." ''Dead'' butterflies are an especially ill omen.

 

 

'''<big>Compare with:</big>'''

* 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.

* 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.

* They come up frequently in ''[[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker]]'', down to the names of the various AI weapons corresponding to stages of butterfly growth.

* Evacaneer DOOM, [[True Final Boss]] of ''[[Ketsui]]'', has a set of energy wings that seem designed to evoke butterfly imagery. In this case, it's the '''death''' aspect being referenced more than rebirth, as DOOM is [[Harder Than Hard|going to kill you a lot no matter how good you are]].

* ''[[Trauma Center (series)|Trauma Team]]'' has Monarch Butterflies showing up occasionally, in particular after a massive virus outbreak starts. {{spoiler|Later on is discovered that these butterflies are directly related to the outbreak, working as carriers of the virus}}.

 

[[Category:Motifs]]

[[Category:Rebirth and Reincarnation Tropes]]