History Main / HanahakiDisease

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[[quoteright:350:[[WebAnimation/WhenTheFlowerBlooms https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hanahaki_disease.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Not the [[UsefulNotes/TheSixties flower child]] you're probably used to.]]

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* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' fic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/15784401/chapters/36725706 Bluebells]]'', Leafpool gets the disease because of Mothwing. She initially thinks it's greencough ([[CallARabbitASmeerp pneumonia]]), but she begins coughing up flowers alongside blood. Eventually Leafpool begins [[BodyHorror sprouting flowers out her chest]]. Right before she dies, she confesses to Mothwing, who says that she likes her back. This cures Leafpool of her Hanahaki Disease. There is also a MultiAnimatorProject [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IOYyGe2nVg based off of the fic]].
* ''Fanfic/DanganronpaMementoMori'': [[spoiler:Haruhi]] turns out to have the disease, requires medication to alleviate her symptoms, and as her condition worsens she coughs up more rose petals. Uniquely, there is no indication that unrequited love was the cause.
* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/12746277 Petals]]'', a ''Franchise/DanganRonpa'' twoshot, is about Mukuro having hanahaki disease from being in love with Sayaka. [[spoiler:The disease ends up [[DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation killing her instead of the Spears of Gungnir]].]]
* In the ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' one-shot ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/24689359 forget-me-not]]'', Misty gets the disease because of her feelings for Ash.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' SlashFic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13315029/1/Hanahaki-Disease-A-Co-written-Sonadow-Story Hanahaki Disease]]'' is about Sonic coughing up pink rose petals because of his crush on Shadow.
* The ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' oneshot ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/19144327 i'm so full of love i can hardly breathe]]'' is about Pearl suffering with the disease because of her feelings for her best friend Marina.
* In this ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' [[https://www.deviantart.com/millefaller/art/Comic-You-don-t-need-to-suffer-Goretober2020-858532185 fanart,]] After Wendy tell him that she's not interested, a heart-broken Dipper begins having flowers growing out of his eye until Pacifica begins showing him her feelings for him.
* The ''Series/GoodOmens'' fanfic, ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23008993/chapters/55014790 Somebody to Love]]'' embraces all the UnfortunateImplications of the trope and turns it into something horrific. It is a curse placed on all the demons by Satan and the whole "requited love cures the condition" is more of a loophole rather than the standard. The murder flowers issue is also triggered by ''[[TheFourLoves all kinds of love]],'' not just romantic love. Which means that even feeling some form of affection for the nice angel that Crawley met on the walls of Eden was enough to start the process.
* The long ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' oneshot ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/25981507 if this is love, please don't break me]]'' has Amity suffering this illness after realizing she's in love with Luz, who tries to reciprocate the former's feelings throughout.
* The Music/{{Vocaloid}} fanfic Rotting Camellias turns it on its head, having the infected slowly turn into petals as they become more depressed and in despair.
* The ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/29865705/chapters/73491375 Silver Bloom]]'' has this as the main plot as [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony Kirumi Tojo]] is hired by Shuichi Saihara's family as a maid and ends up falling for the detective, despite her belief that maids should not hold an emotional attachment to their masters, thus catching the Hanahaki disease. As such, she does try and hide it to keep working, even willing to undergo a procedure that could render her unable to feel emotions ever again. Eventually, [[spoiler:it is revealed that Shuichi had the disease as well. Thankfully, the two are finally able to confess to one another and become an OfficialCouple, overcoming the disease and surviving.]]
** The fic does also work to try DoingInTheWizard by giving a scientific explanation for how the disease occurs and gives a grim prognosis. The starting point of the disease is a strange imbalance in the brain, and suppressing emotions increases the likelihood that someone catches it. It also explains that the disease is far more dangerous, as flowers within the body will cause problems in breathing, digestion, and liver and kidney function. Additionally, there are ways to reduce the symptoms, namely by introducing microbes and larva that eat the flowers to keep the symptoms at bay.
* PlayedForLaughs in the ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/26110129 Hanafunki]]'', which must be seen to be believed.
* The ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' fanfiction ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/33102445 The Mind and The Malady]]'' explains the affliction to be the result of pent-up magical energies manifesting physically, only seen in powerful mages who find themselves suffering from unrequited love. The disease is terminal if left untreated, though "confession and reciprocity" can cure it (as can a spell that will erase the sufferer's affections). The fic follows one such afflicted mage, Essek Thelyss, as he charts the progression of his illness and attempts to manage the symptoms, all while trying to keep the subject of his pining in the dark and helping the Mighty Nein save the world.

* In the ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'' fanfiction called ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/43773624 A child rapist gets hanahaki disease and the only medicine is reality]]'', UnreliableNarrator Humbert horrifically uses Hanahaki Disease as justification for his attraction toward little girls.

* In the ''Anime/YuriOnIce'' fic series ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/794373 a mess, it grows]]'', Christophe, who has been in love with Victor (who is already in a relationship with Yuri K.), has gotten into the last stages of Hanahaki, so he resigns himself to die from that and as such he lets Pitchit accompany him on what he believes to be his last days, only to discover during a medical check that the flowers in his chest are dying, making Christophe realize that he has gotten over Victor [[spoiler:and has now fallen for Pitchit]]. The implication is that if you manage to survive Hanahaki for long enough to fall out of love with the original target [[spoiler: or fall in love with another person]], the disease will disappear by itself.

* Played with in ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' "[[Recap/TorchwoodS1E5SmallWorlds Small Worlds]]", where a man dies from what appears to be this (complete with VomitIndiscretionShot) but it later turns out to be [[spoiler: TheFairFolk [[MurderIsTheBestSolution protecting]] a child from the ''[[PaedoHunt unsavoury]]'' [[AssholeVictim character]].]] The feelings are obviously unrequited, but in this case that's definitely a ''good'' thing.

* Music/{{Cheekface}}'s "Next To Me", a [[LyricalDissonance cheerily upbeat song about heartache]], has a line about our unfortunate singer "getting nauseous and puking up flowers" as part of the trials and tribulations of an unrequited crush or breakup.

* Played with in ''[[https://rosesrot.itch.io/seraphim-slum Seraphim Slum]]''. It's not quite Hanahaki disease, but not only is the protagonist Ezekiel is hacking up flowers and and branches, her ''flesh'' is opening and spitting them out. One interlude describes Ezekiel's arms opening to drop apples on the corridor floor. [[spoiler: The twist is that it isn't happening because of unrequited romance between her and her girls; it's happening ''because'' it's a symbol of the love between Ezekiel and her plants.]]

* The video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsZYjDo-ky0 "reverse fanfiction tropes"]] by WebVideo/{{ColeyDoesThings}} [[InvertedTrope inverts]] this trope, along with many others, as the title would suggest. The new inverted disease [[spoiler:causes people who are experiencing requited love to ''eat'' rose petals.]]

[[folder:Live-Action Television]]

* [[Music/{{Cheekface}}]]'s "Next To Me", a [[LyricalDissonance cheerily upbeat song about heartache]], has a line about our unfortunate singer "getting nauseous and puking up flowers" as part of the trials and tribulations of an unrequited crush or breakup.

* Cheekface's "Next To Me", a [[LyricalDissonance cheerily upbeat song about heartache]], has a line about our unfortunate singer "getting nauseous and puking up flowers" as part of the trials and tribulations of an unrequited crush or breakup.

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[[folder:Video Games]]
* Played with in ''[[https://rosesrot.itch.io/seraphim-slum Seraphim Slum]]''. It's not quite Hanahaki disease, but not only is the protagonist Ezekiel is hacking up flowers and and branches, her ''flesh'' is opening and spitting them out. One interlude describes Ezekiel's arms opening to drop apples on the corridor floor. [[spoiler: The twist is that it isn't happening because of unrequited romance between her and her girls; it's happening ''because'' it's a symbol of the love between Ezekiel and her plants.]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7syiUR4jxYI When The Flower Blooms]]'' is an {{animesque}} original short based on this trope. It's about a teenage girl who becomes sick with the disease. She begins coughing up bloody cherry blossom petals. It turns out that she's dying of a known terminal illness that comes with unrequited love. She's cured when her LoveConfession is accepted, however [[spoiler:[[HereWeGoAgain her best friend gets sick with the disease]]]].

[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/WhenTheFlowerBlooms https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hanahaki_disease.png]]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hanahaki_disease.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Talk about a really bad case of hay fever.[[note]][[https://www.instagram.com/p/BdymYq3BOvJ/ From Hakukaze on Instagram.]][[/note]]]]
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* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' SlashFic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13315029/1/Hanahaki-Disease-A-Co-written-Sonadow-Story Hanahaki Disease]]'' is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, about Sonic coughing up pink rose petals because of his crush on Shadow.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/12746277 Petals]]'', a ''Franchise/DanganRonpa'' twoshot, is about Mukuro having hanahaki disease from being in love with Sayaka. [[spoiler:The disease ends up killing her instead of the Spears of Gungnir.]]

* Played with in [[https://rosesrot.itch.io/seraphim-slum Seraphim Slum]]. It's not quite Hanahaki disease, but not only is the protagonist Ezekiel is hacking up flowers and and branches, her ''flesh'' is opening and spitting them out. One interlude describes Ezekiel's arms opening to drop apples on the corridor floor. [[spoiler: The twist is that it isn't happening because of unrequited romance between her and her girls; it's happening ''because'' it's a symbol of the love between Ezekiel and her plants.]]

* Played with in [[https://rosesrot.itch.io/seraphim-slum Seraphim Slum]]''. It's not quite Hanahaki disease, but not only is the protagonist Ezekiel is hacking up flowers and and branches, her ''flesh'' is opening and spitting them out. One interlude describes Ezekiel's arms opening to drop apples on the corridor floor. [[spoiler: The twist is that it isn't happening because of unrequited romance between her and her girls; it's happening ''because'' it's a symbol of the love between Ezekiel and her plants.]]

* Played with in[[https://rosesrot.itch.io/seraphim-slum Seraphim Slum]]''. It's not quite Hanahaki disease, but not only is the protagonist Ezekiel is hacking up flowers and and branches, her ''flesh'' is opening and spitting them out. One interlude describes Ezekiel's arms opening to drop apples on the corridor floor. [[spoiler: The twist is that it isn't happening because of unrequited romance between her and her girls; it's happening ''because'' it's a symbol of the love between Ezekiel and her plants.]]

* Played with in the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/SeraphimSlum video game]]''[[https://rosesrot.itch.io/seraphim-slum Seraphim Slum]]''. It's not quite Hanahaki disease, but not only is the protagonist Ezekiel is hacking up flowers and and branches, her ''flesh'' is opening and spitting them out. One interlude describes Ezekiel's arms opening to drop apples on the corridor floor. [[spoiler: The twist is that it isn't happening because of unrequited romance between her and her girls; it's happening ''because'' it's a symbol of the love between Ezekiel and her plants.]]

* Played with in ''[[https://rosesrot.itch.io/seraphim-slum Seraphim Slum]]''. It's not quite Hanahaki disease, but not only is the protagonist Ezekiel is hacking up flowers and and branches, her ''flesh'' is opening and spitting them out. One interlude describes Ezekiel's arms opening to drop apples on the corridor floor. [[spoiler: The twist is that it isn't happening because of unrequited romance between her and her girls; it's happening ''because'' it's a symbol of the love between Ezekiel and her plants.]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7syiUR4jxYI When The Flower Blooms]]'' is an {{animesque}} original short based on this trope. It's about a teenage girl who becomes sick with the disease. She begins coughing up bloody cherry blossom petals. It turns out that she's dying of a known terminal illness that comes with unrequited love. She's cured when her LoveConfession is accepted, however [[spoiler:[[HereWeGoAgain her best friend gets sick with the disease]]]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsZYjDo-ky0 reverse fanfiction tropes]] by WebVideo/{{ColeyDoesThings}} [[InvertedTrope inverts]] this trope, along with many others, as the title would suggest. The new inverted disease [[spoiler:causes people who are experiencing requited love to ''eat'' rose petals.]]

* In the ''Anime/Pokemon'' oneshot ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/24689359 forget-me-not]]'', Misty gets the disease because of her feelings for Ash.

The trope carries some UnfortunateImplications, as the person being pined for is either forced to return the victim's feelings (something that cannot truly be forced from someone and that no one should feel obligated to do under any circumstances) or be responsible for their death. Alternate versions of the trope have been proposed to avoid these implications, either by making the disease an inconvenience rather than life-threatening or by shifting the disease's trigger to the victim not confessing their feelings without regard to whether the other person returns their feelings or not.

Sub-trope to IncurableCoughOfDeath, HopelessSuitor, FlowersOfRomance, and AllLoveIsUnrequited. Related to BodyHorror and VictorianNovelDisease. If the LGBT character coughs up relevant flowers, see QueerFlowers.

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7syiUR4jxYI When The Flower Blooms]]'' is an {{animesque}} original short based on this trope. It's about a teenage girl who becomes sick with the disease. She begins coughing up bloody cherry blossom petals. It turns out that she's dying of a known terminal illness that comes with unrequited love. She's cured when her LoveConfession is accepted, however [[spoiler:her best friend gets sick with the disease]].

This trope is popular because it has a lot of melodramatic angst potential, while also being pretty. Death by Hanahaki Disease is tragic but beautiful. The victim is killed from within by something as beautiful as flowers. Haunted by their unrequited love, the person usually [[SecretlyDying tries to cover up]] their illness. They'll leave behind trails of bloody flowers, which are both horrific and aesthetically pleasing. FlowerMotifs are often used, which adds to the symbolism. The flowers are frequently associated with their unrequited love interest: it could be their favorite flower, their favorite color, [[FloralThemeNaming a flower they're named after]], or something along those lines. (So, for example, if Bob is in love with Sakura, he might cough up cherry blossoms.)

* The TropeCodifier is the 2009 {{Shoujo}} manga ''Hanahaki Otome'', or "The Girl Who Spit Up Flowers", by Naoko Matsuda, which is about a girl with unrequited feelings who begins spitting up flowers. The symptoms are: strong chest pains and flowers coming from the heart or lungs, and then throwing them up.