For as long as I’ve known my mother, she has always delighted herself with ghost stories. She would watch any horror film that came out, corny or not. With such a mother, I naturally heard a lot about Asian folktales regarding spirits, demons and all sorts of beguiling creatures of the night. Of course, my memory of these stories are hazy now that I’m in my mid-twenties, but this one description of a ghost has always stuck with me.
For whatever reason, my mother used to tell me that a person wearing a white t-shirt out at night might come across this particular evil spirit. Why does a white t-shirt matter? I’m not sure — maybe its contrast with our dark surroundings acts as a ghost magnet. Anyway, the evil spirit you might encounter is a floating woman’s head. Instead of finding a body below her neck where one might expect, you would only see a human spine.
Well, golly, you can imagine my surprise when I saw Blood-C‘s latest Elder Bairn. The anime’s version of the same spirit is, however, missing one crucial, visceral detail: the human organs — lungs, intestines, etc. — that one would find hanging from the bottom of the ghost’s spine. Of course, the anime has been self-censoring every potentially gory scene. As a result, I’m not surprised the show’s animators decided to leave this particular detail out.
I decided to do some research and this ghost is known as a penanggalan — a mouthful, to say the least. The penanggalan is from Malaysian folklore despite the fact that my mother is of Chinese descent. In other words, these stories get around the south Asian region no matter what culture you’re from. Anyhow, penanggalan apparently means “detach” or “remove,” which isn’t surprising when we consider how the ghost’s appearance.
In the anime, the penanggalan eats human beings just like any other Elder Bairn would. It would also use its hair as a makeshift weapon against Saya’s katana. In actual folklore, the penanggalan is actually a variant of the vampire mythos. It apparently likes to drink blood, especially the blood of newborn babies. In that case, you might think the penanggalan in the anime would try its damndest to drink Saya’s blood, but it devours Tokizane instead, bones and all.
Other strange details about the penanggalan can be found on its Wikipedia entry. Oddly enough, it likes to immerse itself in a jar of vinegar after a night of bloodsucking. How bizarre. One thing for certain, however, is that the spirit always comes in the form of a woman. I guess men have never turned their necks so quickly so as to literally separate their spines from their bodies.
So why did I spend an entire entry writing about some silly ghost I had heard about in my youth? Because I’ve obviously run out of things to say about Blood-C. Is the anime so wretchedly bad like Kamisama Dolls that I am forced to drop it out of principle? No. But is there anything new to talk about? No.
Once again, one of Saya’s classmates bites the dust. Once again, Saya passes out only to wake up to that creepy cafe owner. Said creepster proceeds to ply her with guimauve. Once again, we get even more evidence that something’s off about Saya’s world — oh noes, the books in her father’s collection are blank! Oh well. It’s just the same ol’ Blood-C we’ve been seeing for the last two months. Yawn.
I wondered if this monster was based on any existing folklore. And she does mention that she would rather eat a human child… But yeah, with the exception of the very end, it’s still the same old Blood-C.
Maybe all of the Elder Bairns are based on some folklore then, but it’s kinda hard to tell when some of them look like toys for little boys.
Apparently there are two ‘versions’ of the monster, Japanese (rokurokubi, neck without organs) and Malaysian (pontianak/penaggalan, with organs attached).
(I know this from Shintaro Kago’s ‘Head Prolapse Elegy’ (http://www.guromanga.com/read/75/shintaro-kago-head-prolapse-elegy/) which features both of them and is great.)
Hm, I don’t think it’s the rokurokubi:
I think the spine distinguishes the Elder Bairn from the crazy neck yokai.
Oh, it appears that pontianak is something different (despite being called that in Head Prolapse?) and also from Indonesia? IDK man, details!
maybe the vinegar jar is to protect the organs and keep them clean? you wouldn’t want to sleep on the ground if you had no skin and muscles…
You’d think the acid would hasten the breakdown of the organs.
Well that sucks. I like Tokizane. Boo Saya. Killing of the amusing characters in the series who more attention grabbing than her. I don’t have the slightest idea where Blood-C is going.
Well, the twins came back to life, so I wouldn’t expect Tokizane to stay dead. As for Blood-C‘s direction? All signs point to a… exploitative tie-in to a movie. This entire series feels as though it was made just to get us to watch the upcoming movie for answers… answers nobody but a few still care about.
I could’ve sworn I saw this in a Cracked article a year or so ago. Thanks for inadvertently leading to yet another Cracked binge!
Cracked’s a helluva drug.
ZOMG!!! This is my fav anime of all time!!! In the next episode Saya skirt will be lift up and her left breast fondled!!! This is a GREAT! reward to a long time CLAMP fans like ME and MY FRIEND!!!!
…..even my worst enemy deserves better that this shit.
Oh, I’m sure there are worse anime than this. Like that crappy anime in France that’s currently airing.
Umineko or Togainu no Chi, perhaps?
Umineko was kinda entertaining in a cheap way. I agree with the latter, though; Togainu was just trash through and through.
WHAT!!! Aren’t you guys excite!!? In the next ep. SAYA will GET IT from the TWINSSSS!!! Must WATCH , cant wait!!!????
Seriously thought , don’t you feel insulted when they show fanservice in the preview? The twin rub Saya’s breast? really? how is that important that deserves its place in the preview of the next episode? That bath scene in 8th episode as well , what for? not thing important even happened.
It’s like they were thinging that fanservice will make up for the lack of story which is an insult to the viewers’ intelligence IMHO.
I’d be insulted had I cared at all about CLAMP.