Magabanashi: Ghost Stories Spreading on Social Media - Vol. 2 Ch. 19 - Ceremony of the Corpse

[MangaDex]

 

[Skullkrusher]

I don't fully understand this one, but I'm assuming that they had to sacrifice the girlfriend because of the whole "japanese extended family keeping a superghost as a generational pet" trope.

 

[EchoGirl]

i know it's prolly pronounced like Yo/Yoh but always interesting to see "you-chan/kun etc" as a name

dang sounds like a suspicious trap esp lead in the middle of the night tho idk if he could've run away

 

[sotokouya]

it's kinda simple that he had to broke up with her so he didn't get involved but the being is still really ambiguous

 

[nobody_9991]

maybe they need to breakup because the male mc see corpse different way than the family of his gf hoped he saw, he supposedly saw corpse neatly, then he will be alright, like his gf say in the end, but he saw the corpse scattered mean maybe something wrong with him(?) personality or such not comptible with those fam idk. maybe its her that they sacrifice or the whole family just get sacrificed? alot of missing context imo

 

[farranpoison]

Gonna need some context for this one, made zero sense.

I can guess that the family was cursed by something or someone, and they needed the guy to check to see if they were still cursed, but that's all I can glean.

 

[Arexty]

Also requesting some background info on this one, as it's a Japanese Creepypasta I'm not familiar with..
I was glad the MC survived as I was preparing myself for him to be a sacrifice once he entered the underground cave of the corpse like how these sorts of stories usually go. But for the poor guy, I wouldn't call this a Good End either. Thanks for the TL.

 

[solamente]

that was incredible. definitely one I'll find myself rereading

 

[cybeast21]

I think the corpse being scattered at first means the ghost is not pleased with the family, either because Natsuko leaves her hometown or something else.

The corpse being neatly arranged in the end means it's appeased by the family being ruined, and all their bloodline, most likely, ends up dead, including the servant.

MC was saved because Natsuko cut her ties, leaving him as a stranger (and they probably haven't do it yet so he's still count as "outsider"). The ending was basically Natsuko's ghost inviting MC to see if he was safe. Probably MC'd met the same fate if what he saw was scattered bones.

 

[tunicul]

my take: the family did not know the condition of the bones for a very long time. they could not check themselves since the ghost would probably kill them specifically. but the guy saw it was scattered which implies the ghost broke out and we see how the ghost haunted the gf. we see the girl crying after the family heard about the scattered bones and she said she does not want to be separated from her bf. the servant called the guy in the later part and he implies everyone associated with the family (including the servant) will get in trouble. probably haunted and taken to the basement (fresh meat chunks implies this). in the guys dream he sees the bones rearranged again. he tells this his gf and she says he is safe meaning the ghost is like back or sealed and won't harm and look for someone else. my guess is a ancestor of her family broke the village customs and witnessed a suicide and then got haunted by that person putting a curse on him and his descendants

 

[Skullkrusher]

my take: the family did not know the condition of the bones for a very long time. they could not check themselves since the ghost would probably kill them specifically. but the guy saw it was scattered which implies the ghost broke out and we see how the ghost haunted the gf. we see the girl crying after the family heard about the scattered bones and she said she does not want to be separated from her bf. the servant called the guy in the later part and he implies everyone associated with the family (including the servant) will get in trouble. probably haunted and taken to the basement (fresh meat chunks implies this). in the guys dream he sees the bones rearranged again. he tells this his gf and she says he is safe meaning the ghost is like back or sealed and won't harm and look for someone else. my guess is a ancestor of her family broke the village customs and witnessed a suicide and then got haunted by that person putting a curse on him and his descendants

You gotta love the Japanese psyche, "Oh, you brushed your teeth with your left hand on a thursday while the moon was waxing? I CURSE THEE FOR THY TABOO AGAINST THE NATURAL SOCIETAL ORDER, THE SOULS OF TEN THOUSAND GENERATIONS STRAIGHT TO TURBOHELL UNTIL YOUR BLOODLINE EXPLODES INTO GORE CHUNKS"

 

[welcome2atlantis]

Hm, I don't understand.

 

[kaladbolg]

Honestly the ambiguity in this one isn't even that bad imo, it kind of feels appropriate from the perspective of the outsider bf looking into the family. Like it makes it feel more real in a way. Plus it's still pretty sad even without "getting" it.

 

[Spiraphobia]

My theory is that there are two entities tied to the family here - the man who killed himself, and the person who broke the rule by witnessing his death centuries ago. The witness and his bloodline (which is the girl’s family) are caught in some kind of eternal punishment.

The bones belong to the man who killed himself, and they need to remain intact - like a seal. The chunks of flesh probably belong to the witness, who’s trapped in this endless cycle of being mutilated over and over to appease the other man's spirit. That would also explain the moaning sounds as he is still suffering eternally. Also pay attention to the clothes they are wearing - person who killed himself is wearing plain white kimono (same ghost who haunted the girl) while the person who witnessed it is patterned which matches the clothes the boyfriend finds in the cave with the flesh.

In the end, maybe, in some way, someone in the family (possibly Natsuko) went down there and re-arranged the bones to reseal the curse. That would explain why the bones are suddenly neatly placed at the end, and why she disappears (more likely she's dead) afterward.

 

[fight2live]

 

[strawberrywarrior]

The details are sparse (makes sense - it's an outsider POV) but it's fairly straightforward:

Long ago, a taboo was broken, and now, generations later, the family still has to deal with the consequences of it. Yousuke, the steady boyfriend, just happened to be someone who is invested in being in the good graces of the family and is trusted by them while still not being completely part of them. They used to him check on the status of whatever appeasement rites the previous generation did.

The scattered skeleton was a Bad Omen, so the family and Natsuko basically wiped their social life to prevent the curse/vengeful entity from catching anyone else they might treat as "family". It got to the servant after all, so the it acknowledges non-blood relations as well. The house being in ruins when Yousuke goes to visit again could have been the result of the curse getting aggressive, or just the family further isolating themselves to prevent the curse from spreading to other people.

The dream is likely Natsuko visiting Yousuke from the afterlife. Either way, Yousuke saw the skeleton whole when Natsuko left, probably meaning the curse doesn't consider him part of the family anymore. And he wakes up with a sad closure about Natsuko's disappearance.

There might be creepypasta or folklore context we're missing but it's still understandable without it!

 

[fennec]

I wonder why Natsuko apologized at the end. "I did something terrible, didn't I..." Did she do something that exacerbated the curse, in an attempt to stay with Yousuke?

...Actually, alternatively... Maybe she wanted him to be cursed by seeing the scattered skeleton again, and thus let them be together again.

 

[sotokouya]

You gotta love the Japanese psyche, "Oh, you brushed your teeth with your left hand on a thursday while the moon was waxing? I CURSE THEE FOR THY TABOO AGAINST THE NATURAL SOCIETAL ORDER, THE SOULS OF TEN THOUSAND GENERATIONS STRAIGHT TO TURBOHELL UNTIL YOUR BLOODLINE EXPLODES INTO GORE CHUNKS"

this should be joked more like the courting dead one for chinese story

 

[izumabakumatsu]

I love the discussion of what's going on with the skeletons and both the person who did suicide and witnessed it, but I'm also very interested in how Natsuko's family were saying even if Natsuko had a child with You, the child might not be human. I feel like I'm missing something here. Feels like there's a folklore that might give this story a bit more insight but it's probably a regional one so outsiders won't understand the nuances.

 

[Spiraphobia]

I love the discussion of what's going on with the skeletons and both the person who did suicide and witnessed it, but I'm also very interested in how Natsuko's family were saying even if Natsuko had a child with You, the child might not be human. I feel like I'm missing something here. Feels like there's a folklore that might give this story a bit more insight but it's probably a regional one so outsiders won't understand the nuances.

Ah, I was thinking that since the bones were scattered, the soul had broken free and is now trying to reincarnate through Natsuko (if she and Yousuke will have a child) - that's why it's considered 'not human.' It’s interesting because there could be a lot of interpretations here and it might even be based on actual folklore - but that’s the explanation that made the most sense to me.