Symbols in Anime

whohasamonkey · Post by **whohasamonkey** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 2:50 am

I was watching anime today and there was this scene with a butterfly and all the characters watching it fly by. I know animators won't usually just put something in the anime without some thought behind it.

So my question is, what do butterflies mean, if anything??

Warpwind · Post by **Warpwind** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 2:52 am

I think it's just meant to be a reflective moment.

*shrugs* I don't know for sure

whohasamonkey · Post by **whohasamonkey** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 2:55 am

At first I thought it didn't mean anything but then later in the episode one of the characters is shown catching the butterfly adn trying to offer it to someone, and that same character ends up killing another butterfly.

It can't be conicide

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 7:37 am

It's like the fireflies scenes in anime - one of those, beauty all around you 'despite the darkness within' type deals. Even in a show with angst all the time, you'll get that sweet break to watch a pretty green firefly, or a beautiful butterfly - right before people start dying. I've seen it happen a lot...

And they're hard to catch, so think of fleeting beauty, fleeting life - fragile if you try to catch and hold onto it.

rubyeye · Post by **rubyeye** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 7:59 pm

whohasamonkey wrote:I was watching anime today and there was this scene with a butterfly and all the characters watching it fly by. I know animators won't usually just put something in the anime without some thought behind it.

So my question is, what do butterflies mean, if anything??

The butterfly image means 'memory'. It is used a lot in anime such as Boogiepop Phantom - indicating memories of the past and future.

The final scene of Read Or Die has The Paper create a paper butterfly for Nancy's sister/clone who has lost her memory.

Cowboy Bebop Movie shows the image of butterflies which people see as a response to the drug. Here is it associated with the human psyche in general.

jasper-isis · Post by **jasper-isis** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 8:15 pm

[Semi-off-topic]

What the heck is an Obsidian Butterfly? I've seen it used in a bunch of places (I think the words even showed up in RahXephon) but I can't seem to find any info about it. Which bugs me, 'cause it has that strange, mysterious-sounding quality to it...

youkokitsune106 · Post by **youkokitsune106** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 8:29 pm

well.... in a literal term, Obsidian is a color, a semi-shade of black. So Literally, and obsidian butterfly is a "black butterfly"

In nature, obsidian is a black colored igneous rock, that is smooth and hard. So it could mean a butterfly made out of obsidian... (though i highly doubt it)

Symbolically, If you add in rubyeye's definition of butterflies in anime scenes in general, an obsidian butterfly would be like a dark memory, or a bad past.

An obsidian butterfly using the definition that Arigatomyna gave us, would probably mean that within the world, even beautiful things can be harmful. Using the natural definition of obsidian, it could mean that beauty is hard to reach, and you need to get through the tough times in the world to get to the good times.

The symbolic meanings are just my own random guessesand interpretation of it, but the literal meanings are correct from my understanding.

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 8:29 pm

An obsidian butterfly - a black butterfly? I've never heard of it, but if it's some reference to Japanese legend, I wouldn't know.

I've only seen one anime that had a significant moment concerning a butterfly - and it wasn't a real one. It was a projection of the softer side of one of the characters (YYH - see my 'Special' amv, if you're curious). The point of it was that it's etherial, beautiful, and untouchable (if you touch a butterfly, it's like touching a moth, it will never fly again if you rub the dust off - to touch the beauty is to kill it).

A black butterfly (yes, I'm going on a limb here since I don't know the actual reference) could be similar. Just think of the black swan (a real animal, btw). I'd guess it's something to do with darkness in that thing of beauty, tainted maybe.

But really, I've never been big on analyzing poetry, and imagery and symbols is the same thing. Anyone who knows the official reference to an 'obsidian butterfly' feel free to correct me with the textbook definition.

youkokitsune106 · Post by **youkokitsune106** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 8:30 pm

....... wow..... did we post at the same time arigatomyna??

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 9:08 pm

youkokitsune106 wrote:....... wow..... did we post at the same time arigatomyna??

To the minute, Kit, to the minute. ^_~

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Symbols in Anime

Symbols in Anime

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