Line #55 Main/Shinigami


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6	The Japanese version of TheGrimReaper. Contrary to popular belief, they [[NewerThanTheyThink aren't part of traditional Japanese mythology]], but got imported from Europe in the 19th century. Originally used to refer to a single entity featured in the play "Shinigami" (usually translated as "death god," but the word is "''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kami kami]]'' of death" with its own set of connotations), the term has since evolved to refer to an entire race of {{Psychopomp}}s in Japanese culture. [[Manga/DeathNote Or, evil demonic soul eaters]]. [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Or, those assigned to kill]] [[Manga/BlackButler evil demonic soul eaters]]. [[OurMonstersAreDifferent Each tale tells it differently]].
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8	Japanese religion and spiritualism being highly syncretic, features of preexisting Taoist, Buddhist, and Shinto death entities appear to varying extents in different depictions of shinigami. For instance, the idea of [[CelestialBureaucracy a highly stratified and bureaucratic society of psychopomps and divine judges]] seen in series like ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', ''Manga/DescendantsOfDarkness'', and ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' originated in Chinese Buddhism, on the model of the massive UsefulNotes/{{Han\|Dynasty}} bureaucracy in the living world.
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10	Since being with ''every'' human who ever dies would require omniscience to a story-breaking degree, it's often explained that shinigami are only related to special cases of death, and hopefully whatever universal mechanism in place applies to non-special cases. For these reasons, opposing the work of a shinigami is harmful to both [[TheProblemWithFightingDeath the dying]] and [[EnemiesWithDeath the opponent]].
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12	Shinigami are sometimes depicted as goblin or skeletal creatures who cause death and accidents, but some popular and more recent depictions of shinigami are closer to [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Western vampires]], with them being portrayed as [[{{Immortality}} immortal]], attractive, hip, young people who wield a [[ComboPlatterPowers variety of superpowers]], chief among them SoulPower ([[TheDeadCanDance dancing skills not included]]). They will usually either cause death to sustain themselves, [[DarkIsNotEvil peacefully escort souls]] to the afterlife (see {{Psychopomp}}), slay demons and poltergeists who cause unnatural deaths, or be the result of unnatural deaths, themselves (interestingly similar to the ''first'' definition of shinigami, though this is almost never brought up). Or, various combinations of the above.
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14	In a few instances, their counterparts are "[[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]]". Only superficially the Judeo-Christian variety, as they tend to be ex-humans, too. A mix of Myth/JapaneseMythology and FluffyCloudHeaven. Compare and contrast ArchangelUriel.
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16	Compare TheGrimReaper and {{Psychopomp}}. Also, try not to confuse these with [[UsefulNotes/{{Onmyodo}} shikigami]].
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19	!!Examples:
20	[[foldercontrol]]
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22	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
23	* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' is an manga and anime series about a whole society of shinigami who seemingly spend more time fighting TheHeartless than actually acting as psychopomps. Ferrying the dead to Soul Society is a job left to low-ranking shinigami whereas the more powerful shinigami focus on protecting the world from dangerous supernatural threats and administrating the low-ranking shinigami duties. The official English translation calls them "soul reapers", a translation that met with Creator/TiteKubo's approval.
24	* ''Manga/DeathNote'' features shinigami who come in a variety of monstrous forms, from Ryuk, who resembles a MonsterClown, to Rem and Sidoh who both look like [[{{Mummy}} mummies]]. They all have retractable wings that can be used for flight, they're immune to any human weapons, and can [[IntangibleMan phase through objects]]. They're InvisibleToNormals, unless said normal touches the death note or a piece of paper from it owned by that particular shinigami. They sustain themselves by writing names down in their death note; which magically kills the person and then gaining the remaining years that person would have lived. Despite their power, they're very lazy as a society, and do little more than play cards. Ryuk only drops a spare death note into the human world because he was incredibly bored and wanted to see something interesting happen.
25	* In ''Manga/SoulEater'', ''the'' Shinigami is a near PhysicalGod-like being who lives in Death City and has apparently made it his life's mission to keep humanity free from the yoke of witches, malign supernatural beings, and corrupted humans. For this purpose, he formed an ExtranormalInstitute for humans who are sent out into the world to hunt down and eradicate such beings before they can become a threat to humanity. Shinigami-sama (as he is called) also has a son, called Death the Kid; both of them are referred to as Shinigami, implying that they're also a class of supernatural being.
26	** In spite of the name, the series' version of the Grim Reaper actually uses Western influences, too, with the most glaringly obvious being Shinigami himself, formerly known simply as Death.
27	** Later chapters hint at [[EldritchAbomination what]] [[HumanoidAbomination class]] of being Shinigami and Kid are.
28	* Sesshoumaru's Tenseiga in ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' actually works by slaying goblin-like shinigami near recently deceased corpses.
29	* ''Manga/MurderPrincess'' features a shinigami which is goblin-like, but still hip and young; the fact that he ''works'' for the titular character speaks on how badass she is. At the start of the series when she sees her own body, she assumes that she's dead and tells him to show her the way to Hell.
30	* In ''Manga/RiskySafety'', Risky is a shinigami in training (basically a mini-Grim Reaper) whose job is talking people into commiting suicide. She's also six inches tall, ''adorable'', and on a [[JekyllAndHyde body time-share]] with a cute little angel who tries to undo her work. It's a comedy series, despite the dark-sounding subject matter.
31	%%* ''Literature/BalladOfAShinigami''.
32	* The shinigami in ''Manga/DescendantsOfDarkness'' are of the [[{{Bishounen}} attractive]], angsty, superpower-wielding ex-human kind. They are most often seen fighting [[strike:crime]] vampires, demons and evil doctors, but their overall function is to make sure fate is carried out and souls die when they are supposed to.
33	* ''Manga/FullMoon'' has two cute spiffily dressed shinigami (Meroko and Takuto) giving [[OlderAlterEgo age-inducing]] IdolSinger powers to a charge who will die within a year to throat cancer. (It's actually a lot more complicated than it sounds.)
34	** According to revelations at the end of the series, shinigami are taken to be humans who had committed suicide, and becoming a shinigami is supposed to be a punishment for "committing the crime of suicide". The apparent shinigami job is to extract the soul from the body when someone dies, fulfilling the perception of the ideal. However, Mitsuki looks into this a bit further and asks the question: [[spoiler: "Who decided that you are shinigami"]]? The answer is that [[spoiler:the first shinigami got this label from the first girl whom she extracted a soul from and based everything on that. Mitsuki, however, disagrees with these labels: the shinigami, born out of a soul tormented by life, has the job to ''guide'' a soul to the afterlife peacefully after one's death. She then states that she has a name for people like this: angels.]]
35	** As for the reasons that lead humans to kill themselves and become shinigami, they're varied. Meroko [[spoiler:mistakenly believed that her best friend and the guy they both loved would desert her ''and'' was almost raped by another guy]]. Takuto [[spoiler:was in a promising BoyBand but lost his voice when a cancerous tumor was removed from ''his'' throat]]. Meroko and Takuto's companion Izumi [[spoiler:stood in the way of a train after his mother's mistreatment definitely broke him]].
36	* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' the Shinigami is a powerful summon spirit that looks a lot like the ones in ''Manga/DeathNote'': a giant ghost/goblin with long white hair and several arms. It is able to eat the soul of the user and its target, forcing them to [[SealedEvilInADuel fight against each other endlessly]] in its stomach. [[spoiler:That is, until a previously not-even-hinted-at artifact is used to remove all of their souls, allowing them to be resurrected as [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombies]].]]
37	* Clamp's manga ''Manga/{{Wish}}'' depicts demons as shinigami, eating human souls for sustenance. They're {{Punchclock Villain}}s in this regard, though.
38	* In ''Literature/KyouranKazokuNikki'', "shinigami" is [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep the title given]] to BloodKnight, skull-mask-wearing monster-exterminators.
39	* Botan from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' is a shinigami with character details (such as the oar she rides on and her blue hair) referencing the Japanese Buddhist myth of the Sanzu River, analogous to the Western River Styx. Her primary function is as a psychopomp, although that appears less and less as the series focuses more on Yusuke's battles with demons, and she becomes Yusuke's [[TheHandler handler]] more than anything else.
40	** The English dub has her call herself the Grim Reaper and Guardian of the River Styx instead.
41	* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' just loves the shinigami trope. To wit:
42	** The most famous example is Duo from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', who calls himself "Shinigami" because of his tragic past (namely, his surrogate families dying around him). The US dub renders this directly as "God of Death", with the cable TV edit replacing this with "The Great Destroyer".
43	*** Censorship aside, this leads to a bit of subtle FridgeBrilliance considering a line from the Bhagavad-Gita once quoted by J. Robert Oppenheimer: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
44	*** At least one piece of official art shows Duo in a black robe and cloak, a scythe in his hands and a rosary around his neck. His [[HumongousMecha gundam]] also uses a [[LaserBlade beam]] scythe as its main weapon.
45	** In ''MS IGLOO 2: The Gravity Front'', the Feddie soldiers referred to the Zakus as shinigami. This was before the Federation produced Mobile Suits and the only methods they had of anti-MS combat at the time were tanks and guided missiles, both of which usually failed, so fearing the Zaku was quite understandable.
46	*** Lieutenant Ben Barberry, the protagonist of the first episode, is also referred to as a shinigami, because the men with him in the Anti-Mobile Suit Unit usually die and because he holds the highest MS kill count at the time.
47	*** Also, that [[Creator/KikukoInoue shinigami with a familiar voice]] describes herself similarly to a Zaku with an "I have landed on this planet" reference, showing that she may be Lieutenant Barberry's delusions of a shinigami.
48	** ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' has Kyral Mekirel, Nepal's pilot, who is called "Shinigami" because he kills his opponents outside the ring before their scheduled fight. [[spoiler:After Domon beats him up, he undergoes a HeelFaceTurn and joins the heroes.]]
49	** Terry Sanders Jr. from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam'' was given the "Shinigami" nickname as an insult, because both of his previous units were wiped out on their third mission, leaving Sanders the SoleSurvivor. He actually attempts to get transferred out of the 08th Team after their second mission, but Shiro convinces him that it's all just superstition and to believe in his teammates. [[spoiler:It turns out the third time IS the charm for Sanders, at least this time around.]]
50	* ''Manga/BlackButler'' uses these pretty standardly, as supposed-to-be-neutral beings managed by a bureaucratic regimen (e.g., much grumbling about overtime), who review the lives of people destined to die, deciding whether or not they should live. They hate demons, and part of their role is to protect the souls they review from demons (like the [[VillainProtagonist protagonist]]) who would try to steal and eat them.
51	* ''Manga/{{Rinne}}'' has the eponymous hero ([[MeaningfulName named after]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa%E1%B9%83s%C4%81ra Samsara]]), Rinne, act as a "sort of shinigami". His grandmother Tamako is a full shinigami who has fallen behind on her quota and he has to help work off her debt. Though, most of the debt on Rinne's shoulders was put there by his CorruptCorporateExecutive, deadbeat, {{Jerkass}} father. In this universe, shinigami are ''really'' like grim reapers because their main instruments are scythes.
52	* ''Literature/SoICantPlayH'' is full of these. There are actually two opposing factions driving the main conflict. Lisara's side take pity on humans, and regularly allow them to live longer than they're supposed to. On the other hand, [[WellIntentionedExtremist Gardarblog]]'s side believe this practice has upset Earth's balance, and the resulting overpopulation is causing unnecessary suffering for humanity via famines and wars.
53	* In ''Manga/VirginRipper'', they are souls who committed the sin of suicide but met certain requirements and so were given the opportunity to redeem themselves by taking this job. Their duty is to escort the souls of the deceased to the Gate of Judgement, where it will be decided whether they are to go to Heaven or Hell.
54	* In ''Manga/ShouwaGenrokuRakugoShinjuu'', the Shinigami play mentioned above is performed by Yurakutei Yakumo, inspiring Kyoji to follow in his footsteps. In the play, a shinigami is also one of the characters.
55	* The Korean version, Jeoseung-Saja or "Messenger of the Other Side", shows up once in a while in manhwa. They tend to be much creepier than their Japanese counterparts, possibly because Sajas, with their traditional jerkassness, are an integral part of shamanic funerals, which are still practiced in most rural areas. They're traditionally portrayed as corrupt government agents, sometimes threatening to abuse the departed soul in their custody unless bribed with offerings (usually food or some clothes).
56	** Although they are dreaded by most people (then again, who wouldn't be afraid of ''death''?), many Korean folktales portray them as AffablyEvil beings, sometimes making mistakes or taking pity on someone and reviving them. This is probably because they were also humans, before being charged with work to keep the reincarnation system working. Still they are still considered scary, as evidenced by an anthropologist studying Korean shamans who reported that when the shaman was [[PowersViaPossession playing]] Saja, ''it scared the hell out of her''.
57	** Their appearance is usually that of pale-faced men, wearing Joseon dynasty gentlemen ('Seonbi')'s outfit, with a large '''black''' hat (called 'Gat'), '''black''' clothes, and shrouded in mist. The idea that they like black clothes is carried over to manwhas, where they are sometimes depicted as wearing black suits and black sunglasses. But, in some paintings they are depicted as warriors wearing multi-colored armor and carrying a large halberd (possibly to arrest souls refusing to go to the underworld).
58	** Plus, unlike the Japanese folktales, Korean folktales have named the three most powerful Jeoseung-sajas; Hae Won-maek (who takes care of the Underworld matters), Yi Deok-chun (who is in charge of the human world), and Ganglim-doryeong (also known as King Ganglim, and direct subordinate to the Yeomra-Daewang, ruler of the underworld). These three are the leaders of every Saja and the most well-known of the Jeoseung-sajas, mostly thanks to the KoreanWebtoon [[http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list.nhn?titleId=119877 Shingwa-Hamkke('Together with Gods'),]] which deals with Myth/KoreanMythology.
59	* In ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', several characters have stated that Hayate must be being followed by one on a regular basis.
60	[[/folder]]
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62	[[folder:Comic Books]]
63	* ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan''. While in Japan the protagonists are watching a play in which an actor playing Shinigami says he [[{{Gendercide}} killed off all the men]] because of their arrogance and indifference to the plight of women.
64	* ''ComicBook/PrettyDeadly'' imports the modern Japanese fantasy-style shinigami into a Western context - there is one capital-D Death, served by a team of "reapers", most of whom were originally human beings and who each specialise in deaths related to a particular kind of concept, including Vengeance, Cruelty, War, Courage, Grace, and others. Ginny, the Reaper of Vengeance, is particularly supernatural, as she is the daughter of the original Death with a human woman.
65	[[/folder]]
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67	[[folder:Fan Works]]
68	* In ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7630438/1/Shinigami-Jones-the-Hunter Shinigami Jones, the Hunter]]'', the Tenth Doctor lampshades the origin (and misapplication) of the term by purposefully misunderstanding Jones' reason for choosing it as part of his name.
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71	[[folder:Literature]]
72	* ''Literature/TheDarkArtifices'': Shinigami are a type of winged demons. In [[VillainWorld Thule]], Livia recounts that one of them was responsible for the death of Tiberius, while another kidnapped Octavian, who was never seen again.
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75	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
76	* In ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'', the card Shinigami is represented as pretty much the Western conception of the Grim Reaper (though hovering).
77	* Even though they're not called by the name per se, the player characters in TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters in many ways seem to be the shinigami trope re-exported back into the US based on the "cool dead people with ghost superpowers who act as psychopomps" version popularized through modern anime (though the author claims that the shinigami similarities were unintentional).
78	* The shinigami of TabletopGame/{{Scion}} are the most powerful minions of Mikaboshi, prime avatar of the Titan of Darkness. They can kill with a touch, and are a serious threat to ''gods''.
79	* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has both an entire race of TrueNeutral outsiders called the {{Psychopomp}}s who are responsible for collecting, guarding, and guiding the souls of the dead, who range in nature from creepy little masked bird-things to festive skeletons in flamboyant garb to huge, feathery raven-dragons, and also a race of LawfulNeutral outsiders called shinigami, who serve much the same purpose. They are implied to be responsible only for the Tian region, which is an expy/mishmash of China, Japan, and Korea, and appear as pale-skinned Asiatic-looking humanoids with [[GoodWingsEvilWings large, bird-like wings that are totally naked of flesh, making them nothing but bare bone]].
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82	[[folder:Video Games]]
83	* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'': Shinigami are trendy, young, dead people resurrected with amazing powers who exist to [[spoiler:test human souls to let them live again or become reapers, themselves]]. Furthermore, they look like what would happen if ''Bleach'' and ''Death Note'' shinigami ever mated. Likely intentional as those two anime/manga tend to be most closely associated with shinigami.
84	* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'':
85	** Komachi Onozuka is [[TheSlacker the laziest shinigami on this page]]. Unfortunately for her, her boss can see ANYWHERE, so there's very little chance for her to slack off. Or at least, little chance to do so without getting caught. Also note that her role is more of a [[Myth/GreekMythology Charon]] [[TheFerryMan analogue]] than the GrimReaper - her job is to ferry the souls of the dead across the Sanzu River and into the afterlife proper.
86	** There are other (unseen) shinigami who have the Grim Reaper role. One character, the [[LightIsNotGood celestial]] Tenshi Hinanawi, achieves de facto {{immortality}} by [[EnemiesWithDeath beating up the shinigami who come to collect her]]. Komachi defeats Tenshi, but has to let her go because she's not allowed to reap souls -- she's the wrong "type" of shinigami for that. She does, however, warn Tenshi that even celestials are eventually reaped, indicating that she has only managed to temporarily stave off her eventual and inevitable demise.
87	* Shinigami appear in ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'' as the keepers of the Underworld of Endelphia. They're also known as [[{{Woolseyism}} Halja]] in the English dub. They're huge, [[NightmareFuel scary, rotting wraiths]] with [[EvilSoundsDeep deep voices]] (they're voiced by Creator/NorioWakamoto, naturally) and large, curved [[SinisterScythe sickles as weapons]]. They're fought as minibosses several times, usually in the Underworld.
88	* The protagonist of the upcoming ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrpsg2KDGh4 Ushiro,]]'' whose powers include possessing the suicidal and [[NightmareFuel thoroughly creeping out the player]].
89	* Shinigami are a demon classification for deities involved in death (such as Hel, Chernobog, or Mot) in ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei''. They are known as reapers in the West.
90	* In ''Franchise/BlazBlue'', Ragna The Bloodedge has earned the [[RedBaron moniker]] of The Grim Reaper (or Shinigami in Japanese) due to his BadassLongcoat and SinisterScythe. However, he has shown that DarkIsNotEvil.
91	* ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors 3'' seems to suggest that [[spoiler:Okuni is a Shinigami, as she leads dead souls to the afterlife]].
92	* In ''VideoGame/MasterDetectiveArchivesRainCode'', Shinigami (Shinigami-chan in Japanese) is haunting {{Amnesiac Hero}} Yuma Kokohead due to a pact they made. While the spirit form she takes on in the real world resembles a cartoony ghost, her true form is humanoid and resembles a young woman. By changing into her true form, she can access the Mystery Labyrinth, an alternate universe where mysteries from cases in the real world materialize. [[spoiler:Solving a case in the Mystery Labyrinth allows Shinigami to reap the soul of a case’s true culprit(s)]]. It's also implied that more death gods exist.
93	* In ''{{VideoGame/Feral}}'', Shinigami are a playable species that resemble lanky, floating humanoids with jagged teeth, claws, a barbed tail, and a mane of fur that drapes around their chest and shoulders.
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96	[[folder:Web Comics]]
97	* In ''Webcomic/ShinigamiDeathPunch'', all of the main characters are shinigami of the {{psychopomp}} variety. They're also decidedly young and hipster, with a structured bureaucracy dictating most of their actions.
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100	[[folder:Western Animation]]
101	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' introduces an old friend of Karai's from Japan. She is a kunoichi who only goes by her byname, Shinigami, [[NonIndicativeName though she takes more after a traditional Western witch than a Japanese god of death]]. She combines [[KungFuWizard ninjutsu]] with [[DanceBattler dancing]] and uses [[HotWitch seductive and hypnotic weapons and magic tricks]] to keep her enemies off-balance. [[DarkIsNotEvil Despite all this, however, only evildoers have anything to be afraid of]]. Oddly enough, among the Foot clan, [[TokenHuman she is now the only non-mook who is (still) 100% human]].
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Context Main / Shinigami