It's no secret that anime can get pretty twisted.
There's a reason that a lot of it is rated for adults only.
But typically, all of the strange and upsetting things about an anime are confined within
the boundaries of the show itself.
Not so with these famous anime characters, whose backgrounds reach over and into real-world
influences, references, and inspirations.
Here are 10 anime characters with disturbing secrets.
Dragon Ball Z – Goku, Gohan & More This brings new meaning to any shot of Goku
eating a carrot, or Gohan eating rice.
Early in Dragon Ball Z, we learn that Goku's Saiyan birth name is “Kakarott,” which
is based on the word “Carrot.”
The first foe he fights is a green alien named Piccolo – which is to say, “Pickle”
- and that's quickly followed up with fights against Radditz, Napa (a variety of cabbage),
and Vegeta.
Yes, almost every character in DBZ is named after some kind of food – even Gohan means
“rice.”
The major exception is the Briefs family, who – you guessed it – are all named after
things you wear on the lower half of your body.
It's pretty funny to think about, but it's also kind of disturbing, especially with all
the food names.
Pokemon – Spinda Most Pokemon don't vary much from specimen
to specimen, but if you look closely at Spinda – an otherwise mundane and not particularly
popular Pokemon – you'll find that no matter how many of them you see, they never have
quite the same pattern of spots.
This is by design – ever since Spinda was added to the Pokedex in 2002, the game developers
have included enough possible spot positions that the chances of two Spindas having identical
spots is said to be less than 1 in 4 billion.
Each Spinda that appears in the anime also has its own slightly different and unique
pattern.
Why did the minds behind Pokemon choose to lavish this kind of attention to detail on
Spinda, of all things?
What do they know about Spinda that we don't?
Attack On Titan – The Captured Titans Attack on Titan is not a show for the faint
of heart – the eponymous titans, enormous, man-eating monsters that look like giant humans
without skin, are scary enough to rank right up there with any of the classic horror creatures.
But the nicknames given to two of the titans after they're captured by the human resistance
- “Sonny” and “Bean” – are connected to a bit of Scottish folklore that's just
as dark.
According to this medieval legend, the cannibalistic Alexander Bean, known as “Sawney” Bean,
took up residence in a remote cave with his cannibalistic wife, raised a lot of cannibal
children, and spent decades killing and eating unfortunate travelers who happened to pass
by.
Some versions of the tale claim the Bean clan murdered up to 1,000 people.
This story is also the basis for the infamous horror film, The Hills Have Eyes.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure – Jotaro Kujo (and his hat)
Jotaro Kujo, one of the main protagonists of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, is almost never
seen without his trademark visored cap, so it typically doesn't take too long for new
viewers to notice that something's a little off about it.
It appears to merge into, or grow out of, his thick, black hair.
The question of what, exactly, Jotaro's hat is supposed to be has never been completely
answered.
The character's creator has joked that it's an outgrowth of his body, which would at least
explain why he becomes enraged when people try to remove it.
Others think it's a very carefully styled hairdo that just look like a hat, or that
it's a subtle jab at the character design tropes of the genre.
In any case, there's clearly something not normal about it – and it's likely that we'll
never know the ultimate truth of Jotaro's mysterious hat.
One Piece – The Shichibukai At first glance, the idea of One Piece's villainous
Shichibukai – vicious pirate captains hired by a legitimate government to do its dirty
work – seems too melodramatic to be true.
But in fact, despite all of One Piece's fantastical flourishes, the basic idea behind the Shichibukai
is grounded in historical fact.
During the age of high-seas piracy, many European powers were struggling against each other
to become the dominant naval and trade power on Earth, and any sea captain with a crew
and a ship could be granted a “letter of marque” to operate as a pirate against his
nation's rivals.
Many famous pirates, including Henry Morgan and Jean Bart, were technically privateers.
In fact, considering how ruthless and bloody the work was, operating under a letter of
marque was about the only decent shot a pirate had at retiring instead of being hanged for
his crimes.
Naruto – The Nine-Tails In this popular anime, Naruto Uzumaki has
great reserves of chi power due to a mythical beast that's bound inside of him, the nine-tailed
fox spirit known as Kurama or “The Nine-Tails.”
As a being grounded in Japanese and Chinese mythology, Kurama's many-tailed forebears
feature in some pretty disturbing east Asian folklore.
According to one legend, a nine-tailed fox demon is said to have possessed the body of
a woman named Daji, the consort of the Chinese emperor Zhou, around 3,000 years ago.
The demon spent years driving Emperor Zhou to indulge in many terrible pastimes, including
torture, murder, and all kinds of depravity.
Zhou, a historical figure, actually did these things, and, to this day, is remembered as
one of China's worst emperors.
And it all ties back into the bloody family history of Kurama, the nine-tailed fox spirit
inside Naruto.
Ghost In the Shell – Motoko Kusanagi Mamoru Oshii's seminal 1995 anime film adaptation
of Masamune Shirow's famous Ghost In the Shell manga is considered by many fans to be the
definitive animated version.
Though it varies significantly from the manga in a number of ways, its breathtaking animation
and attention to detail made it an instant classic upon its release.
Over the course of the movie, main character Motoko Kusanagi spends time in between hunting
down a mysterious hacker to contemplate the nature of her own existence: because her body
almost entirely man-made, she wonders if there is any genuine humanity left inside her at
all, or if it's merely an illusion.
The anime provides a brilliantly subtle backdrop to this driving question: she basically never
blinks.
It unsettles us even before we can put a finger on why we're unsettled, by reminding us just
how much of Motoko is artificial.
Dragon Ball Z – Shenron Shenron – the mighty wish-granting dragon
who can be summoned by anyone who collects the Dragon Ball series' seven titular orbs
– may be fantastically powerful and shrouded in mystery, but we know maybe a little too
much about the Dragon Balls that summon him.
They're a key literary element of a massive, early 19th-century Japanese novel that's considered
something of a classic in Japan, but hasn't gained a lot of recognition abroad.
That story has 8 balls instead of 7, but they go flying off in every direction just like
the Dragon Balls after they're used.
So where did the original orbs come from?
To put it plainly, a princess having sex with a dog.
Yep, not much more to say about that.
Cowboy Bebop – Spike's Gun The beloved one-season anime series Cowboy
Bebop follows the exploits of Spike Spiegel, a bounty hunter with ties to the Chinese mob,
his partner Jet Black, and a few other motley characters as they try to make ends meet and
outrun their pasts.
It's set in a future where Earth is sparsely populated, and most people live in colonies
elsewhere throughout the solar system.
A lot about the show is speculative, but the creators did their best to ground it in a
sense of reality.
Case in point: Spike's signature handgun.
It's a modified IWI Jericho 941 semiautomatic – a deadly and very real weapon manufactured
for use by Israeli police since 1990, and now used by military and police forces around
the world.
Considering the show takes place in 2071, we're betting that the gun has a few grim
stories of its own to tell.
Fullmetal Alchemist – Scar Fans of Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist
– both the manga and its two anime adaptations – know that racial oppression and genocide
are a major recurring theme in the tale.
As the Elric brothers see more and more of the world, they begin to realize that the
lighter-skinned Amestrian people – their people – are slowly driving the darker-skinned
Ishvalans to ethnic and cultural extinction.
This is why Scar, an Ishvalan, is killing State Alchemists – to avenge the destruction
of his family and people.
And as it turns out, the Ishvalan versus Amestrian aspect of the tale was heavily informed by
the actual history of Hokkaido, the island where Arakawa was raised.
Hokkaido was historically home to the Ainu, Japan's indigenous people, who were historically
subjugated and decimated by the Japanese through a combination of forced labor and deadly disease.
So, what's the creepiest or weirdest story you know of that's connected to an anime character?
Any disturbing fan theories you'd like to share?
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