Every rose has thorns and this dress is no exception
Cursed One-Piece (Noroi no Onepiece) is a 1992 Japanese horror OVA created by the late veteran animator Yoshiji Kigami (Munto, AKIRA and Grave of the Fireflies) as his first directed work.Based on Shungicu Uchida's manga, the Omnibus follows three girls, Yuuko, Kaori and Michiyo, who all come into possession of a stunning rose-patterned yellow dress (the aforementioned one-piece as it's called throughout the OVA) in hopes of attracting the man they like in their lives. But is the dress just an innocent gift or is there something more sinister at play?
The one-short can be viewed in three parts on YouTube for
each girl and shouldn't be confused with curse-images of One Piece.
Contains the following tropes:
- Clingy Costume: When Kaori had her go with the one-piece, the dress somehow finds its way onto her body no matter how many times she tries getting rid of it until it becomes her skin.
- Dead All Along: The twist in Michiyo's story reveals Togashi, who supposedly sent her the one-piece and picked her up, was killed in a highway pile-up before he had the chance to move to the countryside. This means Michiyo had run off with someone impersonating her crush, never to be seen again.
- Destination Defenestration: Yuuko was subjugated to this by Doi after she savagely ran at him Exorcist-style. Doi threw her entire body at a french glass door which instantaneously shattered into pieces but Yuuko somehow survived with minor cuts and bruises.
- Downer Ending: All the stories to varying degrees.
- Yuuko has arguably the least tragic of the endings. While she scarred her crush Doi for life, made him transfer schools and sustained injuries after said crush threw her out the window, Yuuko is freed from the one-piece's influence. However, she is haunted by her actions and the knowledge of how her crush actually loved her back all this time but blew it hard because of the dress.
- Kaori locks herself and spends the rest of her days in her room, permanently wearing the one-piece as her skin while her mother is driven insane by the revelation and her husband's infidelity.
- Michiyo ran off with a shady figure who was pretending to be her crush Togashi, never to be seen again while the real Togashi was Dead All Along. What's worst is Michiyo's sister became the next target of the one-piece as evidenced by the same shady individual delivering an identical package Michiyo earlier received on her doorstep.
- Flower Motif: Red roses are very prominent in the OVA such as the pattern on the one-piece and the petals flowing in the wind during the beginning of each segment. The flower symbolizes romance and passion (What all the girls want to obtain with their crushes) but can also mean jealousy, conflict, and infidelity (Problems which Yuuko, Michiyo and Kaori respectively faced) in a negative light.
- Innocently Insensitive: Michiyo's mother, Masako, jokingly makes insensitive comments about her daughter like how she's next to useless in basketball to which her friend calls her out. Masako later finds out about Mihiyo's crush and remarks how she should have been more lady-like within her earshot, inadvertently fueling her choice to wear the one-piece and meet "Togashi" which leads to her disappearance.
- Mind-Control Eyes: When Yuuko becomes completely obsessed on wearing the one-piece to impress her crush, her eyes turn into roses similar to the pattern of the dress, reflecting how it's brainwashing her.
- Mirthless Laughter: Kaori's mother could do nothing but this after the reality of her daughter's one-piece becoming her skin sinks in.
- Missing Child: Michiyo straight up vanishes when her family is out shopping and rumor has it she ran off with a shady-looking man. As if the situation couldn't get any worse, Michiyo's little sister is the next target of the one-piece
- Omnibus: Contains three segments of three girls, all connected to their Unrequited Love and the titular one-piece.
- Pie-Eyed: The shine on the characters' eyes makes them have this.
- Sanity Slippage: Kaori's mother suffers through a mental breakdown over his husband's infidelity and became substantially worse after Kaori couldn't remove the one-piece no matter what.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Michiyo has a wiry, androgynous appearance with her incredibly short, boyish haircut and equally boyish clothes and plays basketball in her free time. Yet she also expresses a desire to be more lady-like to be with her crush and happily wore the one-piece without question.
- Unrequited Love: The main theme of the omnibus is the girls pinned for a guy they like but cannot reciprocate due to various circumstances. The one-piece manifests these desires of its wearer for the worse.
- Yuuko wishes to impress Doi with nicer clothes and is incredibly jealous of Mayumi's easy access to fancy outfits until she receives the one-piece. However, it slowly corrupts her mind and almost got her killed when Doi threw her out a window.
- Kaori harbors a major crush on Takayuki, her married uncle while facing family problems. The resulting loneliness from her father's infidelity and the yearning for someone who cannot return her feelings nor stay by her side causes the one piece to cling onto Kaori. She's unable to take it off as every time she does, the dress continues to reattach itself in her sleep until it fuses with her skin.
- Michiyo regrets not talking much to her crush Togashi before he moved to the countryside, leading her to question her tomboyish looks. She was given the one-piece through the mail by allegedly Togashi and then the conflict took a turn for the worst when she overhears her mother how she let him get away for not being feminine enough. This causes Michiyo to run away wearing the one piece and hallucinating Togashi picking her up when it's actually the shady figure who sent the package.
- Yandere: Yuuko turns into one under the influence of the one-piece to the point of going into a frenzy after seeing Mayumi holding onto Doi, running towards him Exorcist-style.
