C³

Cube×Cursed×Curious, which can be shortened to C Cube or C³, is a Light Novel series written by Minase Hazuki. It has since been adapted into a manga by Akina Tsukako and a Fall 2011 Anime by SILVER LINK.

Haruaki Yachi is yet another Ordinary High School Student, noteworthy only for being highly resistant to curses. Because of this ability, his Walking the Earth father frequently sends him cursed tools and items he finds during his travels to be purified, as their home is built on sacred ground that erodes negative energy, and Haruaki is able to safely keep watch over these troublesome items.

One day, he receives a strange metallic cube, which he decides would be better left alone. That night, he wakes up to find a naked girl eating rice crackers in his house. The girl's name is Fear, and she is, in fact, the cube itself, an Artifact of Doom that brings painful death to her bearer and all those close to him. Having gained a human form and human emotions, she wishes to be freed from her curse. Haruaki agrees to help her, and she begins living with him and Konoha, another sentient cursed artifact, but none of them realize the true extent of the problems Fear's curse presents, both directly and indirectly.

If you're going to check out this anime, keep in mind that it has a highly Non-Indicative First Episode, and thus you won't get a good impression of what the show's about until the plot picks up in the second half of Episode 2. Try to watch it at least up to that point before deciding whether or not this is a show for you.

Not related to another anime shortened to [C]. And not to be confused with F³.

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Tropes used in C³ include:

• A-Cup Angst: Fear's two biggest problems with Konoha, who she declares to be "the enemy of the flat-chested". To be fair, Konoha was pretty rude to Fear at their first meeting.
• Action Girl: Konoha and Fear.
• Adaptation Dye Job: According to the light novels, Fear's hair is supposed to be silver. Although the cover of the first light novel certainly looks like she has blue hair.
• Afraid of Blood: Konoha. This is because she's fighting her nature as a sword cursed with bloodthirst.
• An Axe to Grind: Peavey's new weapon after Konoha and Fear disarm her.
• Anti-Magic: Haruaki is a mild version, being resistant to curses.
• Artifact of Doom: Fear and Konoha.
• Art Shift: When we see a flashback of Peavey's life, well, let's just say it wouldn't look out of place in a witch's barrier.
• Ax Crazy: Peavey.
• Back From the Dead: Mummy Maker made a reappearance and was shown alive in Volume 10 of light novel. Himura actually saved her from fatal condition. Although in the first volume she was shown drowning in her own blood as well as Peavey's announcement of her death to the gang, it turns out that Himura was hiding in the same building where Mummy Maker was supposed to be killed using a stealth-function curse tool. After Peavey soaked Dance Time (the cursed axe) to activate the curse, she left the building. After that, Himura uses that opportunity to rescue Mummy Maker. Peavey didn't confirm Mummy Maker's death, that's why when she confronted the main characters, she said that Mummy Maker is already dead.
• Badass Adorable: Konoha and Fear, although for the latter the "adorable" part is questionable, to say the least.
• Bad Powers, Good People: Neither Fear nor Konoha want to hurt anyone, they just want to live out their lives peacefully, but the nature of their powers makes that rather difficult.
• Batman Gambit: Fear pulls off a pretty good one in episode 8. See, Shiraho doesn't want Sovereignty's curse to be broken because she doesn't want to know if her feelings for Sovereignty are fake or not. However, if things keep going the way they are, either Sovereignty will kill Shiraho, or they'll be unable to be together, forever. So she works out a plan to get rid of the blades hidden in Sovereignty's body, PLUS cracking Shiraho's defenses. Not bad for a self-proclaimed idiot.
  • The plan was based around understanding how people react to torture or watching their loved ones get tortured. If there's one field that Fear would be an expert in, it's that.
• Battle Aura
• Bandage Babe: Peavey's partner Mummy Maker aka Amanda Carlot
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Inverted: Fear as a cube doesn't look remotely human, but certain parts of her cube form directly correspond to certain parts of her human form.
• Blush Sticker: Kuroe seems to have a permanent version.
• Break the Cutie: Episodes 2 and 3. So very much.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: The principal, who wears a gas mask and has a very occult-looking office.
• Buxom Is Better: Konoha, much to Fear's irritation.
• Catch Phrase
  • Fear's "I'll curse you!"
  • Kirika has "ludicrous."
  • Peavey's "Bitch!"
• Caught with Your Pants Down: At the end of the OVA the gang catches Shiraho wiggling on top of Sovereignty's sleeping bag and breathing in her scent. Shiraho doesn't take it well.
• Cerebus Syndrome / Mood Whiplash / Bloodier and Gorier: The anime coaxes you into believing that this show is a normal lighthearted Slice of Life series with fantasy elements. This lasts until about halfway through episode 2.
• Chaste Hero: Fear
• Childhood Friend Romance: Konoha has known Haruaki since they were young.
• Class Representative: Kirika.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Konoha does not take well to seeing Fear on top of Haruaki.
• Cluster F-Bomb/Refuge in Audacity: After Peavy's weapon is destroyed she goes crazy letting out bitch.
• Color Failure: Konoha and Fear each get one in episode 2.
• Combat Sadomasochist: Peavey.
• Cool Sword: Konoha's alternate form. It's her name.
• Cry Cute: Fear in episode 3.
• Cute and Psycho: Fear, although in her case it borders on Super-Powered Evil Side.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Shiraho who is really Sovereignty.
• Cute Little Fang: Fear.
• Cuteness Proximity
  • The entire class, Kana especially.
  • The Principals assistant, Zenon, has a weakness for cute things.
• Dancing Theme/Credits Running Sequence: Elements of both, in a single opening.
• The Danza: Haruaki's classmate Kana is voiced by Kana Asumi.
• Dark Action Girl: Peavey.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Fear.
• Deadpan Snarker: Haruaki.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Shiraho after Fear cracks her shell wide open in episode 8.
• Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune: Yukari Tamura (Fear) sings the first opening, "Endless Story", and the second ending, "Sympathy of Love", while Eri Kitamura (Kirika) sings the first ending, "Hana" ("Flower"), and the second opening, "Shirushi" ("Sign").
• Does This Remind You of Anything?
  • That slot.
  • The Stinger in Episode 5.
  • Sovereignty covered in white sticky stuff in episode 8.
• Dojikko: Shiraho
• Elegant Gothic Lolita
  • Peavey. But she's far from elegant.
  • Sovereignty, or rather, the real Shiraho.
• Epic Fail: Fear's attempt at cleaning or putting up a tent.
• Expressive Hair: Konoha's hair changes shape with her mood, a la Bakemonogatari.
• Eye Scream: Peavey gets hit with a rather large shard from her broken weapon smack dab in the eye. Ouch.
• Fan Service
• Fantastic Racism: Peavey and her colleagues believe that cursed items like Fear and Konoha don't have a right to exist.
  • Freudian Excuse: It's hinted and then confirmed that Peavey had a brutal experience with a cursed tool in the past. Having your father go crazy and attack both you and your mother would explain her extreme hatred.
• Finger-Suck Healing: Fear does this to Haruaki in Episode 4.
• Gainaxing: Konoha
• Gender Bender: Sovereignty has two different forms.
• Girl with Psycho Weapon: Fear, Peavey, and Kirika's weapon is literally psycho.
• Girlish Pigtails: Konoha.
• Godiva Hair: Fear during her Naked First Impression. Peavey later on.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Peavey slices Kirika open in episode 5. The audience just sees a dark sceen the splits in the middle to reveal Peavey. Fortunately, Kirika got better.
• Gratuitous English
  • "Curse Calling".
  • Also, the entire incantation read by Sovereinty the real Shiraho in order to animate the other dolls in the room in episode 6.
• Green Eyed Red Head: Konoha
• Hair Decorations: Peavey does indeed wear a frilly hair ornament.
• Hollywood Pudgy: Hilariously, Fear's weight seems to be constant between her human and cube forms.
• Humanity Ensues: An unusual variant, in that these are inanimate objects gaining human form. Haruaki claims that such cases are not unheard of.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: Fear's 32 torture instruments.
  • BFS: She's shown at least two so far. Though they aren't really all THAT big, they're still around her height.
  • This Is a Drill
  • Epic Flail: Due to all her weapons being connected to her via a Variable-Length Chain, she can turn them into these.
• I Am Not a Gun: Part of the reason why Konoha and Fear want to have their curses lifted.
• Idiot Hair
  • Konoha. Her actual level of academic prowess has yet to be seen.
  • Shiraho Sovereignty has an even bigger piece of Idiot Hair. It's so big, it loops.
• Immortality: Kirika's body armor grants her this.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: Moreso than merely implied. Fridge Logic from the apparent looks of said armor with the inability to remove it, says it doubles as a chastity apparel -- unless partial removal is allowed. It can be partially removed.
  • Taking the Bullet / Immortal Life Is Cheap: Episode 7
• Immortal Immaturity
• Informed Ability
  • Haruaki's supposed "immunity" to curses has yet to be seen in action.
  • Subverted as of episode 7.
• Innocent Cohabitation: Fear lives in Haruaki's house, Konoha lives in an adjoined home next door.
• Instant Fanclub: The entire class must have a Cuteness Proximity, to fawn over Fear like that.
• I Will Protect Her: Haruaki towards Fear.
• The Klutz: Shiraho, who is actually the real Sovereignty.
• Knight of Cerebus: Peavey shows up halfway through Episode 2 and completely uproots every expectation the first episode and a half set up.
• Kuudere: Shiraho after she defrosts.
• Little Miss Badass: Fear.
• Love Triangle: Right off the bat, there's a blatant setup for a Konoha/Haruaki/Fear triangle.
• Loves the Sound of Screaming: Fear, when she goes out of control.
• Madness Mantra: Peavey goes through these quite often.
• Mask of Power: The principal wears a gas mask.
  • Multiple Choice Past: He has told everyone a different reason for why he wears it.
• Mayfly-December Romance: Maybe. Konoha indicates that cursed items don't grow or age, but whether that remains the case when they're completely cured hasn't been confirmed. If Kuroe's any indication, they don't.
• McGuffin: The Indulgence Disks, items that weaken Fear's powers, and thus weaken her curse.
• Meaningful Name
  • Konoha Muramasa
  • Also Sovereignty. She's a doll with sovereignty over other dolls.
  • KUROe NINGYOhara. Kuro means black, Ningyo means doll. She's a black-haired doll. It also helps that she named herself. It looks more of a very dark green in the anime, however.
  • Fear Kubrick; if you've ever seen one of that director's movies, (for example Full Metal Jacket) then you know it was done entirely on purpose.
• Meganekko
  • Konoha
  • Alice has half a pair of glasses. Maybe a combination of this and High-Class Glass?
• Meido: Sovereignty is forced to dress like one after the events in episode 8
• Missing Mom: Haruaki's mother is never mentioned.
• Mood Whiplash: The easiest way to see this coming is the shift in Fear's voice.
• Naked First Impression: Justified. Fear's a cube, and cubes don't wear clothes.
• Named After Somebody Famous: "My name is Fear Kubrick. I am in no way related to the movie director."
  • Punny Name: The Japanese pronunciation makes it sound like "Cube-brick". She is a cube.
    • Her name also sounds like Rubik, and she carries/is a cube.Rubik's Cube
• Nice Guy: Haruaki
• The Nicknamer: Kuroe pretty much calls every characters in the series with nicknames, while Fear, to some extent.
  • Haruaki: Haru(ハル) by Kuroe. Harenchi Kozou(ハレンチ小僧) by Fear
  • Fear: Ficchi(ふぃっちー)
  • Konoha: Kono-san(このさん) by Kuroe. Cow-tits(ウシチチ) by Fear.
  • Kirika: Kiririn(きりりん)
  • Sovereignty: Save-chan (Sovereignty's name is pronounced as Saverenti in this series; サヴェちゃん)
  • Setsuko: Secchi (Volume 6+)
  • Izoei: Countryside Girl(イナカ女) by Fear (Volume 8+)
  • Kaidou Imi: Scottie (Yes, a pun of that tissue brand. Haruaki even mentioned it to his tsukkomi). Why Kuroe called her Scottie is because Kaidou always carry a shovel around and she is a teacher. Take the first two kanas of Scoop/Shovel (スコップ) + Teacher (ティーチャー) = Scottie (スコッティ)　(Volume 6+)
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: When Haruaki thought he was going to see Konoha as a naked human in eps 6, but then didn't get to.
• Nigh Invulnerable: Kirika is the Healing Factor type due to a cursed tool.
• Non-Indicative First Episode: Episode 1 made this look like a pretty lighthearted show. Cue Episode 2.
• Not What It Looks Like
  • Of course, Konoha would walk in a second after Fear falls over and lands on Haruaki.
  • The end of episode 3 takes this Up to Eleven.
  • The end of episode 5 manages Serial Escalation.
• Of Corsets Sexy: Peavey
• Only Sane Man: Haruaki
• Ordinary High School Student: Haruaki, mostly.
• Panty Shot: Several within the first 20 seconds of the opening sequence.
• Patient Childhood Love Interest: Konoha
• Pet the Dog: Peavey tells her backup to take off the bandages she's wearing (since Peavey hates cursed tools), and the girl is reluctant, saying that she feels her body is ugly, but does so. Peavey tells her that she's nothing of the sort, and that cursed tools are for more ugly then she'd ever be.
  • Kick the Dog: Then Peavey kills her because Amanda set up a plan that wasn't bloody enough for her.
• Pettanko: Episode 10 features Fear and Kuroe forming the Modest Breast Alliance.
• Phenotype Stereotype: Averted. Peavey is indeed blond, but her eyes are green rather than the stereotypical blue.
• Pinocchio Syndrome: Fear's wish. Konoha can be inferred to be in the process, as she still has some unnamed power remaining from her own curse.
• Please Put Some Clothes On: Haruaki's reaction to his Naked First Impression of Fear.
• Power Fist: Peavey wears these, which cover her entire arms.
• Power Incontinence: The only thing preventing living artifacts from living peacefully.
• Prehensile Hair: As a cursed Japanese doll, Kuroe can grow and control her hair.
• Rapunzel Hair: Fear and Kuroe.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Haruaki's hobbies and skills are mostly domestic in nature.
• Really 700 Years Old: Cursed artifacts are ageless.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning
  • Fear is both a straight example and a Subversion. No doubt she's cute, but episode 3, HOLY CRAP!
  • Also Kirika and Shiraho aka female Sovereignty
• Refuge in Audacity: Peavey. None of her lines were censored, so when she goes Cluster Bitch-Bomb, a potential censor in an English dub would have lasted for two minutes straight on a specific time, and about five minutes for a combined total.
• Rei Ayanami Expy: Mummy Maker/Amanda bears some of these traits.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Konoha, sometimes.
• Sempai-Kohai: Invoked by Haruaki as the relationship Fear and Konoha should try to build. It doesn't work.
• Sequel Hook: Episode twelve is a very blatant sequel hook.
• Serious Business: To Kirika, lunch is serious business.
• Shana Clone: Fear is a relatively mild example. She's still quite full of herself, but beneath that she's actually just a naive and endearing girl. Most of the time...
• Shotacon: Konoha has known Haruaki for ten years, and seems to have had a crush on him for a good portion of that time. Her body hasn't aged a bit. Do the math.
• Shout-Out: Episode 8 features a familiar Art Shift when Fear runs her Batman Gambit, almost as if she is channeling Furude Rika.
• Slasher Smile
  • HOLY...! The end of episode two has a complete outbreak of these. Fear's is particularly scary.
  • The trend continues into episode three. Complete with sinister laugh
  • Shows up again in Episode 8, except it's all part of Fear's Batman Gambit to give Shiraho and Sovereignty a happy ending.
• Slice of Life: Starts off along these lines, but this is a trick the writers are playing on the viewers, see Cerebus Syndrome.
• Talking Weapon: Konoha's true form.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: Half of Peavy's lines would have her say Bitch.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Fear's is rice crackers, Konoha's is meat.
• Tsundere
  • Fear, since everyone who got close to her up to this point has gone mad and died. It's only natural she'd instinctively push away anyone who gets too close.
  • Peavey accuses Konoha of being one, but if she is she's Type B and even that is debatable.
• Twelve-Episode Anime
• Unstoppable Rage: Fear, in episodes 2 and 3. It ain't pretty.
• Villainous Breakdown: Peavey in episode 5. You might actually feel sorry for her.
• Voluntary Shapeshifter: Cursed items like Fear and Kohoha can switch between their human and item forms at will.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: Peavey twice, once in episode 4 because of her dislike of cursed tools, even the one she has to now wield, and the second in episode 5 when Fear gives her a Shut UP, Hannibal.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Haruaki is stated to be this, and he definitely acts more cool-headed than most shounen protagonists.
• Why Did It Have To Be Spiders: Fear freaks out at the sight of them.
• Word Salad Title: The word "Curious" in particular seems like it might have just been thrown in to round things off, but it still fits: Fear is a Cube that is Cursed, and she is Curious about normal human life. This becomes more evident as the show goes on.
• Yandere: Konoha is a mild form of this - meek until Harukai is threatened, then watch out!
• Years Too Early: Fear notes that she's hundreds of years more experienced than Peavey. She really means it.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair
  • Fear. Yes, it's really blue.
  • Also Sovereignty when male.
  • Kirika's is purple.
  • Shiraho's aka Female Sovereignty is a nice shade of pink. Though the actual Shiraho falls under this trope as well.
  • Konoha's split personality's hair is blue as well.
• You Remind Me of Me: Fear reminds Konoha of herself. In episode 10 it's revealed that Konoha Muramasa has a split personality identical to Fear's
• Zettai Ryouiki: Both Fear sports this in Grade A, Konoha has Grade S. Kirika's is around C or D.