Welcome to A LINE THROUGH T⌛ME, where we take the time to look through your favourite
franchises and work out how it all lines up.
Yes, we.
This one's another collab.
This time, I'd like you all to welcome my good friend, CuteLittleAngel, an artist and
all-around cool girl, who just so happens to love the franchise we're covering today.
Angel Hello, everyone.
My name is CuteLittleAngel, and just like Snake said, Fatal Frame is one of my favourite
video game series of all time.
It's a big inspiration for some of the art I make today.
But, it can be kinda hard of it, thanks to not living in Japan.
I'm still glad for this chance to be able to talk about it in a video.
So thank you, Snake, for this opportunity.
But, let's get right on to the meat of the video.
Snake The franchise began in December 2001 with
Zero for the Playstation 2.
It released the following March in North America as Fatal Frame, while the European release,
Project Zero, came out in August.
"Zero" refers to the ghostly enemies being "beings of nothingness", but I think we can
all agree (for once) that this is the one time America got the better title over everyone
else.
This is kinda let down, however, by the terrible box art and claims of the game being based
on a true story, when it just isn't.
Each game follows a character or group of characters with a sixth sense, typically female
due to a presumed greater connection and susceptibility to the spirit world, utilising a specialised
camera called the Camera Obscura that can exorcise spirits.
This draws on old superstitions that a camera could capture a person's soul.
Which seems weird, since I'm pretty sure that kind of fetish art didn't exist back then.
Angel Bad jokes aside, the first game takes place
in 1986.
The story follows Miku Hinasaki as she searches for her brother, Mafuyu, who disappeared in
the haunted Himuro Mansion.
Miku learns that the mansion was the site of the Strangling Ritual, which was used to
keep a gateway to Hell closed.
The previous sacrifice, Kirie Himuro, refused to take part in the ritual following the murder
of her lover, allowing the dark power to spread through the mansion, which lead to the deaths
of all its inhabitants.
Her spirit captured Mafuyu due to his resemblance to her lover.
In the normal ending, Mafuyu stays with Kirie to keep her spirit company while she acts
as the the barrier for the gateway.
In the hard mode ending, Kirie convinces Mafuyu to leave with his sister.
The later Xbox port made a few improvements and additions, including a new ending, where
Kirie's lover returns to her as the siblings leave, so that everyone can be happy.
Snake We're going to do things a little differently
here.
Normally, I'd cover each piece of media in release order, but Fatal Frame has quite a
lot of supplemental material that's really ambiguous in its placement, so I think it'll
be easier to establish the core timeline first, then go back and try to insert the non-game
material afterwards.
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly released in November 2003.
There are only a handful of connections to the first game: Yae Munakata, one of the first
game's backstory characters and great-grandmother of the Hinasaki siblings is a major part of
II's backstory, and the new sibling duo are descended from the creator of the Camera Obscura,
Kunihiko Asou.
The year of the story is a little vague, so we'll discuss that later.
Angel The game follows Mio and Mayu Amakura, a pair
of twins, who are visiting the abandoned Minakami Village.
The older sister, Mayu, follows a crimson butterfly into the village and Mio follows.
It turns out there's another sinister ritual to keep a great darkness at bay, the Crimson
Sacrifice Ritual, in which a person must sacrifice their younger twin via strangulation.
Twins Yae and Sae Kurosawa attempted to flee the village.
Yae managed to escape, forcing the villagers to hang Sae in an attempt to complete the
ritual.
It failed, leading to the dead escaping the Hellish Abyss.
Sae possesses Mayu so Mio can fulfil Yae's role by strangling Mayu.
The player can just leave the village alone, leading to the Lingering Scent ending.
The Crimson Butterfly ending sees Mio perform the ritual and leave the village alone.
In the Hellish Abyss ending, Mio saves Mayu, but accidentally looks into the Abyss, becoming
permanently blinded.
The Promise Ending from the Xbox port allows Mio to save Mayu and escape unharmed, while
the Kurosawa twins enter the Abyss together.
Snake Fatal Frame III: The Tormented (or Zero: Voice
of the Tattoo) released on the PS2 in 2005, and wouldn't see an Xbox release.
The game follows Rei Kurosawa (possibly related to the Kurosawa twins from 2) and features
Miku as a secondary protagonist, along with Mio and Mayu's uncle, Kei Amakura.
Supposedly, Mio was intended as the third protagonist, but the team felt her inclusion
was unnecessary as her story was already complete; though she does cameo and serve as Kei's motivation.
Miku is two years older in this game, setting it in 1988.
I've never seen Mio's FF3 age listed, but it's generally accepted that III occurs only
a few months after II.
If this is the case, then it too is set in '88.
Angel Following the death of her fiance, Rei is
having a reoccurring dream of entering the haunted Manor of Sleep.
Each time she enters the manor, a tattoo spreads further across her body.
Her assistant, Miku, is suffering the same symptoms, as are Kei and Mio.
The curse is caused by Reika Kuze, the last Tattooed Priestess, who was supposed to contain
the emotional pain of others in the tattoos on her body.
The murder of her lover (shockingly!)
caused Reika to lose control and allow a dark power to engulf the Kuze Shrine and create
the dream world in which the Manor resides.
Those who are consumed by the loss of a loved one find themselves in the Manor in their
dreams, which is how Miku and Mio become involved in the game's story.
This confirms that both Mafuyu and Mayu are dead, making the Normal and Crimson Butterfly
endings respectively canon.
The game ends with either Kei being killed in the Manor by Reika, or surviving and introducing
Mio to Miku and Rei, bringing all three protagonists of the original trilogy together at last.
Series director, Makoto Shibata, apparently confirmed on Twitter that he and the staff
consider the latter ending canonical, giving these girls some much-needed closure.
Snake This seems like this was intended to be the
endpoint for the storyline, as 2008's Zero: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is instead an unrelated
prequel set in 1980.
The game was co-developed by Koei-Tecmo, Grasshopper Manufacture and Nintendo SPD for the Wii.
And as you may have guessed from my use of the Japanese title, this entry was never localised.
No reason was ever given; Nintendo and Tecmo just pointed the finger at each other and
left it at that.
Angel While pursuing suspected serial killer Yō
Haibara in 1970, detective Chōshirō Kirishima discovers five girls Haibara had abducted,
all of whom have lost their memories.
The island they were taken to is hit by a catastrophe that wipes out the inhabitants
two years later.
Eight years after that, two of the girls die mysteriously, prompting the other three to
return to the island to discover what happened to them, where one of them is killed almost
immediately.
Ruka Minazuki learns that it was yet another failed ritual that wiped out the inhabitants
of the island.
Chōshirō is actually a spirit, having tackled Haibara off a roof to their deaths around
the time of the catastrophe caused by the failed ritual performed by Haibara's sister,
Sakuya.
Ruka helps Sakuya complete the ritual, laying the spirits of the dead to rest, making this
the first time a human sacrifice is not the solution to the problem.
The two endings only determine the fate of the final girl, Misaki - either disappearing
offscreen, or being confirmed to survive.
There is no canonical outcome to the game.
Snake 2012 saw two entries release.
The major one was Project Zero II: Deep Crimson Butterfly, a Wii remake of the second game,
using the gameplay and Koei-standard artstyle of the fourth.
While localised and released in Australia and Europe, there was never a release in America.
The story is largely unchanged, aside from ageing the twins up by two years, and adding
two new endings: Shadow Festival sees the twins stay together as darkness envelops the
village, and Frozen Butterfly has Mayu strangle Mio instead.
Neither one really feels like it really fits in the original story, but this version of
the game has replaced the original in the canon, as we all know from the episode on
game remakes.
Also, Mio and Mayu look absolutely fucking adorable now.
Angel The other was Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir
on the 3DS.
It's is an AR game using the 3DS itself as the Camera Obscura.
It's set in our reality, so it's not likely considered canon.
Snake And this brings us to the latest entry in
the franchise: Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water from 2014.
This entry released on the Wii U, using the gamepad as a Camera Obscura, which is a fun
gimmick for a couple hours, before getting kinda monotonous.
The game follows three protagonists: Yuri Kozukata, whose biggest contribution is ruining
Rule 34 Google searches; Ren Hojo, a descendant of Dr. Asou, one of the few male members of
the cast, and the only member of the cast to not be influenced by the cursed mountain,
further supporting the idea of women being more in-tune with the spirits; and Miu Hinasaki,
Miku's seventeen year old daughter.
Miku herself makes an appearance, now aged thirty-seven, as the game is set in 2006.
In the name of brevity and good taste, and because this script took longer to write than
expected, I moved discussion of her father to Wasted Plotential, so we can just move
on.
Sound good?
Angel Yeah, I'd rather not think about that whole...
thing.
Instead, let's discuss the less unsettling subject of failed rituals that lead to hundreds
of deaths!
The story is set on Hikami Mountain, a mountain known for suicides and spiritual happenings.
Yuri lives with Hisoka Kurosawa, a relative of Rei's, who goes missing on the mountain.
Ren comes to investigate the failed rituals and the dreams he's been having surrounding
them.
And Miu is searching for her missing mother.
Rather than standard game endings, each character is given multiple endings to their individual
storylines.
Miku either crosses into the spirit world to be with Mafuyu, or is convinced to stay
with Miu.
Ren has four endings, depending on which of the two brides he chooses to fulfil his ancestor's
prior commitments with, and how each situation is handled.
He lives, regardless.
Yuri's ending depends on whether she defeats the final boss above or below water, leading
to either her survival or her suicide.
Snake There's also a side story in the game following
Ayane from Dead or Alive.
As I discussed in the DOA/NG episode, there are no connections to the main FF plot, or
even a Camera Obscura, so I don't consider it as part of the Fatal Frame universe.
I see it as part of the DOA world instead.
Angel O...kay...
Well, with that all done, let's try and delve into the supplementary material.
I say "try" because most of this stuff only exists in Japanese and in some cases, we can't
even verify their existence beyond mention on fansites and wikis.
Snake The Himuro Investigation Record is a website
that documents an unknown visitor's journey through the Himuro Mansion.
It exists to fill in some details that weren't included in the game.
Their description of the Narukami Shrine mentions that something is enshrined there, which would
be the Holy Mirror fragment Miku obtains there in the game.
Likewise, there's no mention of the five Buddha Statues Miku uses to access the fragment.
Despite the investigator not encountering any ghosts, and getting further into the mansion
than they probably should be able to without completing the puzzles Miku does, the fact
that everything lines up with the layout at the start of the game, seems like a very intentional
decision on the part of the creators of the site.
As such, we'll place it prior to the game.
Angel In 2002, an audio drama named Zero Sound Horror
released for DDI Pocket-brand phones.
Yes, those specifically.
Information on the plot is scarce, but Shibata said on Twitter that it follows some people
who explore the Himuro Mansion after the events of the game.
They are attacked by very specific ghosts from the game, which we're not sure should
be possible, given how the game ends.
Snake Word of God does place it after the game,
and at least one of the characters has a mobile phone.
From my research, proper mobile phones came to Japan in 1988.
This coincides with the year Fatal Frame III takes place, in which Miku briefly encounters
Mafuyu again in the Manor of Sleep.
What's the relevance of this?
This suggests, to me, that Zero Sound Horror takes place after III, in which the mansion
became re-haunted, because Kirie got pissed that her eternal companion fucked his own
sister.
Angel Ugh, I thought you said we weren't going to
talk about that!
Snake Yeah, but that was before I thought up this
joke, and it really doesn't work without the bluntness of being open about it.
Angel Moving on before you ruin the series any more
for me, Zero Novel is a short novel supposedly inspired by a glitch during testing of the
first game's PAL version, where Mafuyu would run around taking pictures, even when no one
was touching the controller.
It follows Mafuyu as he is asked to write a novelisation of the game, only to discover
that he shares a name and likeness with one of the games's characters.
His real life sister Miku disappears, prompting him to travel to the real Himuro Mansion with
some of the game's staff to find her.
Obviously, it isn't canon.
Snake There was a mobile game called Real Zero:
Another Edition, which doesn't seem to have a story, but we have to mention it.
Then, there's the Zero 3 Comic Anthology, which I don't count, as it was produced by
fans.
Angel But Tecmo did apparently give the anthology
support, whatever that means.
It's a series of ten short stories, three being parodies.
The seven serious ones focus on characters from FFIII, ranging from a story about Miku
waking up from a bad dream to an entire backstory created for the Osaka twins.
There are some continuity hiccups, like the name of the hospital being different, but
it mostly fits into the canon.
Most of the stories take place during the game, but the Crimson Dream chapter takes
place prior to II's backstory, and the Hesitation chapter is set during III's backstory.
Snake Fatal Frame: Shadow Priestess is a manga with
a story developed by Koei-Tecmo and released in Japanese and English on MangaBox in 2014.
Unfortunately, neither version is available anymore, and wiki summaries are mostly incomplete,
making it difficult to say for sure when it's set.
It began publication prior to the fifth game's release, so we'll place it there.
If anyone can verify anything about when the manga is set, please let us know.
Angel Zero The Movie also released in 2014, based
off the novel Fatal Frame: A Curse Affecting Only Girls, which released that same year.
It centres on a curse at an all-girls Catholic school that relates to a group of lesbian
students that formed a suicide pact due to societal disdain towards same-sex relationships.
Again, there are no clear dates, so we'll place it between the manga and fifth game,
since that's how it released.
Snake And that's the series up to now.
We can place the years for the five games, but not for the other media.
It's a shame, really.
Angel But we have the order, and that's what matters
most.
So without further ado, the Fatal Frame/Zero/Project Zero timeline goes a little something... like
this.
Fatal Frame Timeline by The4thSnake Snake
13th December 1837 - The current Rope Shrine Maiden, Kirie Himuro, refuses to take part
in the Strangling Ritual, following the murder of her lover.
1347 people are killed in the ensuing Calamity.
Unknown Year - Kyozo Kururugi slaughters the shrine maidens and priests on Mount Hikami.
The current Maiden of Black Water, Ouse Kurosawa, fails her ritual to become an Immortal Flower
as a result.
The Black Water floods the mountain, cursing it.
After losing her family in a disaster, Reika Yukishiro is adopted into the Kuze family
to become the next Tattooed Priestess.
She falls in love with Kaname Ototsuki, who later interrupts the ritual by awakening her
from her slumber.
His grandmother, Yashuu, murders him as a result.
Reika's grief causes The Unleashing, spreading the Rift and cursing the villagers.
Yae and Sae Kurosawa attempt to flee Minakami Village to avoid taking part in the Crimson
Sacrifice Ritual.
Yae escapes, while Sae is captured and hanged to complete the ritual.
The ritual fails, causing The Repentance.
The villagers are wiped out and the village disappears.
25th February 1936 - Suzume Umishima is murdered by the principal of Karasawa Elementary and
buried in the school's foundations.
17th September 1970 - Suspected serial killer Yō Haibara abducts five girls on Rougetsu
Island to perform the forbidden form of the Kagura Dance ritual with his sister, Sakuya.
The ritual fails, causing Sakuya to fall into a coma and the girls to lose their memories.
Detective Chōshirō Kirishima saves the girls and continues his pursuit of Haibara.
17th September 1972 - Kirishima tracks Haibara to the Haibara Hospital, and both fall from
the roof to their deaths.
Sakuya awakens from her coma, suffering from Luna Sedata Syndrome.
She wanders the island, spreading the infection until the entire population is wiped out.
17th September 1980 - Following the deaths of two of the abducted girls, the remaining
three return to the island to reclaim their missing memories.
Ruka Minazuki helps Sakuya's spirit to complete the ritual, laying the spirits of the dead
to rest.
1986 24th September - Mafuyu Hinasaki disappears
in the haunted Himuro Mansion while searching for his missing mentor, Junsei Takamine.
3rd October - Miku Hinasaki travels to the mansion to find her brother.
6th October - Mafuyu chooses to stay with Kirie to keep her company, while Miku leaves
alone.
She is taken in by Mafuyu's friend, Yuu Asou, and his fiance, Rei Kurosawa.
1988 July - Mio and Mayu Amakura become lost in
Minakami Village.
The two are forced to complete the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual to release the souls of the
dead.
Mio is found alone in the woods a week later.
She is taken in by her uncle, Kei.
Yuu and Rei are involved in a car crash in which Yuu is killed.
September - Mio, Miku and Rei begin showing symptoms of the Tattooed Curse.
Miku and Mio fall into comas, during which Miku meets her brother's spirit, conceiving
a child.
Rei helps Reika and Kaname find peace, ending the curse.
Mio is introduced to Rei and Miku by her uncle, Kei.
1992 - Miku travels to Mount Hikami to take part in a Ghost Wedding with Mafuyu, leaving
their daughter, Miu, with an acquaintance.
Unknown Year - Three people travel to the Himuro Mansion and are attacked by ghosts.
Sara Washizuki investigates Karasawa Elementary with her Modern Architecture Group.
She exorcises Suzume's spirit, ending her curse and causing the building to collapse.
Students enrolled in a Catholic all-girls school begin disappearing and turning up dead
as the alleged result of a curse.
Aya Tsukimori and Michi Kazato uncover the involvement of the school nun, Mayumi Aso.
Mayumi and her brother commit suicide as the authorities close in.
2006 - Miu travels to Mount Hikami to find her mother.
She successfully does so, while Yuri Kozukata and Ren Hojo lay the spirit of Ouse Kurosawa
to rest.
Well, that was... something.
I honestly didn't expect this series to be quite so complicated.
What about you, Angel?
...Angel?
Helloooo?
Hmm...
I have two theories: either she's still mad at me for talking about the incest thing,
or she's been spirited away to Mount Hikami because REN DIDN'T THINK TO LOCK THE DOORS
WHEN THERE'S CLEARLY A PATTERN OF WOMEN BEING SPIRITED AWAY FROM HISOKA'S HOUSE, YOU STUPID
SON OF A-
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