Osore: Reiwa Kaidan - Vol. 5 Ch. 48 - Money Transfer

[MangaDex]

 

[panzerkampfwagyu]

Kinda boring twist, tbh.
I really question what is supposed to be interesting about "Oh, someone randomly does this death curse without telling the afflicted anything and the afflicted dies because he only found out about the rules way too late"
Like, the proper way to write that type of curse, is to have the accursed know about the balance = Lifespan from the start and have him be responsible for his own downfall (Either that or, something way more interesting, turn the curse on the head and instead increase the balance to really mess with the entire lifespan concept).
Either way, this was just dull

 

[Vainfire]

"Bro... do you remember that movie where time is money?"
"Yeah, didn't it have like, Justin Timberlake as the main star?"
"Did it? It was so long ago. Anyway, what if the main character wasn't told?"
"Wasn't told what?"
"That time is money."
"I don't get it. The entire society is set up around time being money, they have it on their arms."
"No, no, no. The society is our society, right? But... if you run out of money, you die."
"Bro, I think that's just real life."
"Dude..."

 

[Spiraphobia]

Guy with the phone on pg. 14 looks like the cult speaker from ch. 19.

Might be interconnected after all.

 

[Skullkrusher]

I really question what is supposed to be interesting about "Oh, someone randomly does this death curse without telling the afflicted anything and the afflicted dies because he only found out about the rules way too late"

With a few notable exceptions, random death for no reason other than "just because, lol" seems to be a staple of Japanese horror. Someone a while ago once explained to me that it was a cultural thing.

 

[EchoGirl]

3000 yen a day seems like a lot versus only eating out once a week unless ur forced to go to office drinking parties

LOL recently saw a korean webtoon where it's like "you'll be able to draw millions of won a minute but it 'takes' something from you back'

I get the temptation of going to a hostess but at least shave and get a nicer suit first. shame we can't get treated with no repercussions though but other than winning the lottery legitimately even a non supernatural wouldn't trust money from a rich person either

But then again if you got nothing to lose might as well go all out and then die lol

 

[Spiraphobia]

With a few notable exceptions, random death for no reason other than "just because, lol" seems to be a staple of Japanese horror. Someone a while ago once explained to me that it was a cultural thing.

Yeah, totally - I think that’s kind of the point though. In a lot of J-horror, there’s no moral logic to the curse. You don’t "earn" it, it just happens. That unpredictability makes it scarier for me than the usual "punishment for a mistake" approach.

 

[Arexty]

And this is why I sleep with my savings stuffed under my mattress... /s
Also, theoretically if the guy never spent the money would he live forever?

Yeah, totally - I think that’s kind of the point though. In a lot of J-horror, there’s no moral logic to the curse. You don’t "earn" it, it just happens. That unpredictability makes it scarier for me than the usual "punishment for a mistake" approach.

I think it goes back to Japanese feudal times (or even before) where folks would suffer all manner of famines, plagues, and other seemingly natural disasters. It's human nature to always look for logic or order in chaos especially when the results are so devastating so the idea of local gods and youkai and curses were devised to lay blame on for the cruel seemingly-random realities of ancient life. This traditional approach to the supernatural extends to their portrayals in modern times as in this chapter (thanks for the TL).

 

[SMAXZO]

Reminds me of that one chapter of Doraemon where Nobita is given a card from a demon from the future. When he shakes the card, money comes out but the price is..his height.

 

[Spiraphobia]

And this is why I sleep with my saving stuffed under my mattress... /s
Also, theoretically if the guy never spent the money would he live forever?


I think it goes back to Japanese feudal times (or even before) where folks would suffer all manner of famines, plagues, and other seemingly natural disasters. It's human nature to always look for logic or order in chaos especially when the results are so devastating so the idea of local gods and youkai and curses were devised to lay blame on for the cruel seemingly-random realities of ancient life. This traditional approach to the supernatural extends to their portrayals in modern times as in this chapter (thanks for the TL).

Yes exactly! It's a kind of fatalism that’s rooted in Shinto-Buddhist cosmology where spirits, nature, and death coexist without clear hierarchy or fairness.

I like it when the horror comes from realizing there’s no human logic to cling to. It’s the same reason why so many J-horror protagonists die even after doing everything "right" - cleansing rituals, apologies, whatever. You can’t negotiate with the supernatural - you just collide with it (e.g. tech-age stories like Ringu or Chakushin Ari take that same structure: no villain, no sin, just inevitability. The curse becomes a mirror for powerlessness in modern society.)

I'm obviously a sucker for J-horror... felt like I need to defend it at times

 

[Skullkrusher]

Yes exactly! It's a kind of fatalism that’s rooted in Shinto-Buddhist cosmology where spirits, nature, and death coexist without clear hierarchy or fairness.

I like it when the horror comes from realizing there’s no human logic to cling to. It’s the same reason why so many J-horror protagonists die even after doing everything "right" - cleansing rituals, apologies, whatever. You can’t negotiate with the supernatural - you just collide with it (e.g. tech-age stories like Ringu or Chakushin Ari take that same structure: no villain, no sin, just inevitability. The curse becomes a mirror for powerlessness in modern society.)

I'm obviously a sucker for J-horror... felt like I need to defend it at times

It's a very careful balance that needs to be struck with such an element of randomness. You make it feel too random, and the story ceases to be horror and instead becomes nonsensical. Imagine a story that goes like:

"One day Steve woke up a little late. He had breakfast, grabbed his coat, and left his apartment. He went to the corner store, picked up a bag of chips, and exploded into bloody chunks with the force of a hand grenade. It turns out Steve's ancestor in 1812 had unknowingly run over a spider with the wheel of his horse-drawn carriage. However, that spider was actually a minor god of spiders, and it had cursed his family to explode in 77,777 days like it had. This was unavoidable fate. The end."

There is no human logic here, just something that was set in stone and there was nothing Steve could have done. Just an inevitable death. Despite meeting the criteria, It feels like a bad story because it relies on a "gotcha."

It's also a thing with individual culture of horror. American horror, the protagonist is an individualist and tries to fight the horror. European horror, the protagonist tries to use his knowledge of history and legacy to evade the horror. Japanese horror, the protagonist dies to the horror because he is a replaceable cog. So this can factor into the perspective one takes into the story as well. An American will ask why he didn't fight. The European will ask why he didn't try to escape. The Japanese will ask why you won't accept your lot.

 

[77BLc9JwJGpLVARkamJx]

Probably one of the better hauntings you can get, you get to spend whatever way you want and die knowing you didnt languish for decades.Turning into some ghost after death would be bad tho.

 

[Spiraphobia]

It's a very careful balance that needs to be struck with such an element of randomness. You make it feel too random, and the story ceases to be horror and instead becomes nonsensical. Imagine a story that goes like:

"One day Steve woke up a little late. He had breakfast, grabbed his coat, and left his apartment. He went to the corner store, picked up a bag of chips, and exploded into bloody chunks with the force of a hand grenade. It turns out Steve's ancestor in 1812 had unknowingly run over a spider with the wheel of his horse-drawn carriage. However, that spider was actually a minor god of spiders, and it had cursed his family to explode in 77,777 days like it had. This was unavoidable fate. The end."

There is no human logic here, just something that was set in stone and there was nothing Steve could have done. Just an inevitable death. Despite meeting the criteria, It feels like a bad story because it relies on a "gotcha."

It's also a thing with individual culture of horror. American horror, the protagonist is an individualist and tries to fight the horror. European horror, the protagonist tries to use his knowledge of history and legacy to evade the horror. Japanese horror, the protagonist dies to the horror because he is a replaceable cog. So this can factor into the perspective one takes into the story as well. An American will ask why he didn't fight. The European will ask why he didn't try to escape. The Japanese will ask why you won't accept your lot.

Absolutely great distinction. Though some of the best J-horror walks that line intentionally. It’s not about why it happens, but about how the characters process something they can’t reason their way out of.

Western horror usually externalizes the threat - you fight it, outsmart it, or at least understand it. Japanese horror, by contrast, turns inward. It’s about psychological collapse when logic fails. That’s why stories like Ju-On or Noroi linger - the characters’ attempts to rationalize the curse only make the horror more real, not solvable.

In a Western lens, "giving up" feels like weakness. In a Japanese lens, it’s often enlightenment or inevitability. The horror isn’t that you died - it’s that you realized you never had control to begin with.

 

[farranpoison]

It's a very careful balance that needs to be struck with such an element of randomness. You make it feel too random, and the story ceases to be horror and instead becomes nonsensical. Imagine a story that goes like:

"One day Steve woke up a little late. He had breakfast, grabbed his coat, and left his apartment. He went to the corner store, picked up a bag of chips, and exploded into bloody chunks with the force of a hand grenade. It turns out Steve's ancestor in 1812 had unknowingly run over a spider with the wheel of his horse-drawn carriage. However, that spider was actually a minor god of spiders, and it had cursed his family to explode in 77,777 days like it had. This was unavoidable fate. The end."

There is no human logic here, just something that was set in stone and there was nothing Steve could have done. Just an inevitable death. Despite meeting the criteria, It feels like a bad story because it relies on a "gotcha."

It's also a thing with individual culture of horror. American horror, the protagonist is an individualist and tries to fight the horror. European horror, the protagonist tries to use his knowledge of history and legacy to evade the horror. Japanese horror, the protagonist dies to the horror because he is a replaceable cog. So this can factor into the perspective one takes into the story as well. An American will ask why he didn't fight. The European will ask why he didn't try to escape. The Japanese will ask why you won't accept your lot.

Thing is, even Western Horror can be like this. Stephen King, an author that some would call a master of horror stories, sometimes delved into this style of horror with imo great effect. One story I remember he wrote basically was about a dude who one day found a moving finger sticking out of his sink, and he tries to unsuccessfully deal with it in multiple ways, with the story ending with him basically defeated.

King wrote in his notes about that story that it was an aspect of horror that he particularly liked, in that sometimes, shit happens to people even if they didn't do anything to deserve it. And that's how J horror often feels, shit happening to people who often don't deserve what's happening to them, they were just unlucky.

 

[fight2live]

okay, what if i invested some of that money and it succesfully grows? will it adds to my lifespan?

 

[solamente]

Absolutely great distinction. Though some of the best J-horror walks that line intentionally. It’s not about why it happens, but about how the characters process something they can’t reason their way out of.

Western horror usually externalizes the threat - you fight it, outsmart it, or at least understand it. Japanese horror, by contrast, turns inward. It’s about psychological collapse when logic fails. That’s why stories like Ju-On or Noroi linger - the characters’ attempts to rationalize the curse only make the horror more real, not solvable.

In a Western lens, "giving up" feels like weakness. In a Japanese lens, it’s often enlightenment or inevitability. The horror isn’t that you died - it’s that you realized you never had control to begin with.

GOOD post spira do more like this

 

[K_Takuya]

i like the concept, but far too short for it to really set the dread in.
I'd like it more of there were a lot more anguish shown

 

[Homura]

u get to spend a lot of money AND die!?
where do i sign up?

 

[Gunlord500]

Time...truly is money...

 

[nikipa]

Wasn't this what he wanted though? To not spend the rest of his life in a "dull" reality and have "fun". Though I bet he didn't expect the fun to be so short lived, literally.