Spirit Camera: Japanese Mini-drama
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The Spirit Camera mini-drama first aired on Nintendo's website for the game Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir on January 6th, 2012. It tells the story of three girls playing the videogame with the cursed book in hand, and what happens to each one of them soon after. It was created to promote the new 3DS game in Japan.
Shortly before the Spirit Camera release in North America, an English-language mini-drama was also released.
Characters
Rina - A girl who buys the video game that is said to be cursed. She invites her two friends over to play it with her. That night, she is possessed by a ghost and vanishes.
Kaori - Rina's friend, who plays the game with her. The next day she receives strange phone messages from Rina and is driven mad with fear when she sees a photo showing the woman in black standing behind her.
Saki - The narrator of the story. She plays the cursed video game with Rina and Kaori. She witnesses Kaori's fate and goes to Rina's brother for help, but is eventually taken by the woman in black.
Rina's brother - Looking for information about the disappearance of his younger sister. He tries to help Saki investigate the cursed game, but he too is taken by the woman in black.
Summary
Rina invites her two friends, Kaori and Saki (the narrator) to visit her house and play a new game she has bought. The game is reputed to be cursed, and anyone who plays it will be possessed by a woman in black.
Story 1: Rina
While the three friends are playing the game together, Saki starts to feel vaguely uneasy, looking around the room as if she senses a presence. Rina teasingly says that the woman in black is behind her, and Saki laughs it off. Later, as she and Kaori are leaving, Saki asks whether Rina will be all right on her own, but Rina says her brother will be home soon.
Night falls. Rina is sitting in her bedroom when she hears the door open behind her. She assumes it is her brother and calls out a greeting, but there is no response, and when she goes to look for him the house is empty. As she walks back to her room, she passes a mirror, and her reflection lags behind her by several seconds, but Rina doesn't notice: she is distracted by the fact that her bedroom light is now switched off. While she is trying and failing to turn it back on, her 3DS lights up of its own accord. Nervously, she turns to look over her shoulder, and whatever she sees there makes her scream.
Rina doesn't show up for school the next day, and Kaori playfully speculates that she might have been cursed by the woman in black.
Story 2: Kaori
On the way home from school, Kaori and Saki stop off in a park, and Kaori attempts to call Rina, but gets no answer. She suggests they pay her a visit to make sure nothing has happened to her. Saki admits that she thought she saw something while they were playing the game, but before she can explain, Kaori receives a text message from Rina that says only, "I've been waiting for you."
Thinking this might mean that Rina is hiding somewhere nearby as a joke, Kaori starts looking around and calling for her. Another message from Rina arrives, this one containing photographs of Kaori and Saki taken only moments before. Kaori is starting to feel nervous when another photo arrives, this one a close-up showing a shadowy figure standing behind her. Frightened, Kaori drops her phone and turns around, and starts screaming at something that Saki cannot see. Saki asks her what's wrong, but Kaori panics and runs away. She is on a bridge above a road when a ghostly hand grabs her and pulls her up against the railing. She doesn't fall, but collapses to the ground, and Saki hurries over to help. Unnoticed by either, a woman dressed in black has followed them onto the bridge and is watching.
Unsure where to turn for help, Saki goes to Rina's house and finds Rina's brother, who has been looking for information about what might have happened to her.
Story 3: Saki
Saki explains to Rina's brother that Rina has been taken by the woman in black. At first he is sceptical, but Saki shows him the photograph that frightened Kaori, saying that the figure behind her is Rina. Rina's brother decides that they should play the game again to learn more, and as they are playing he and Saki see Rina, apparently inside the game. Before they can decide how to proceed, the lights go out, and a series of handprints appear on the wall and ceiling, as if someone invisible is crawling towards them.
The two attempt to flee the house, but in the entrance they hear footsteps on the porch and see the shadow of a woman. The woman in black opens the door. On the side table, the photograph of Rina and her brother becomes distorted, both of them seeming to weep black tears.
In the final scene, Rina is shown alone in the park, sitting on a swing with her 3DS and laughing to herself. A pair of hands emerge from under her long hair and pull her head back, and a disembodied voice says, "I've been waiting for you..." The next shot shows the 3DS abandoned on the swing, with the Spirit Camera logo on the screen.
"The more you let your imagination work, the more fear will penetrate your everyday life."
Links
| Characters |
| Major Characters/Ghosts |
| Maya - Kaito Hasebe - Woman in Black |
| Minor Characters/Ghosts |
| Seamstress - Akira - Shiori Hasebe - White Hand |
| Terms |
| Camera Obscura - Spirited Aways - Tokoyomi Ritual - Vessel |
| Locations |
| Old House - The Village |
| Gameplay |
| Camera Obscura - Purple Diary - Voices of the Dead |
| More Pages |
| Items - Notes - Costumes - Mini Drama - Japanese Mini Drama - Another Story |