The red spider lily, or Lycoris radiata
, is a flower native to East Asia and known for blooming during the late summer or autumn, usually after heavy rainfall.
Because its distinct blossom usually doesn't last before the leaves grow out, it is commonly associated with a pair of lovers who can never see each other again. It is also considered a symbol of death in general because of its poisonous parts (which made it common for farmers to grow these to deter pests from their rice paddies). Japanese culture in particular refers to the red spider lily as higanbana, or "flower from the other side/shore," amongst many other names. As part of an autumn festival, many people would leave these flowers around graves and cemeteries as a tribute to the dead. To this day, Lycoris radiata continues to be a common Flower Motif, especially in Japanese Media.
Compare with Cherry Blossoms, another Flower Motif that is popular in Japan, The Tragic Rose which is used to portray tragedy and beauty, or The Poppy which is symbolizes those who died in war. Also compare with the Soulful Plant Story, which can focus on any plant to portray strong emotions.
Examples
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Anime & Manga
- In Canaan, red spider lilies are used as a visual motif whenever characters discuss the Ua Virus bioterrorist attack, which occurred in its prequel 428: Shibuya Scramble.
- Dororo (2019): A flashback shows Dororo's mother dying in a field of red spider lilies, leaving her orphaned.
- Higurashi: When They Cry: Red spider lilies feature prominently in the OP of the anime. The series focuses around a "Groundhog Day" Loop where all of the main characters get brutalized multiple times over, so the OP spares no detail that a lot of death will be featured.
- Inuyasha: The shonen series' first ED, "My Will" opens and is interspersed with shots of red spider lilies clashing with a black background. Contrasting with the OP's adventurous tone, the ending is more somber, with shots of the lilies being interspersed with scenes of three characters: Sango, introduced praying for her deceased clan; Kagome, alone on a ferris wheel in the snow; and Kikyo, shrine maiden and formerly Posthumous Character. The last shot of the lilies shows their stems all being broken by Kikyo.
- Lycoris Recoil: The Lycoris are a group of schoolgirl assassins who covertly kill criminals in order to maintain the facade of Japan being a crime-free nation, just as their namesake is used to protect farms. The organization they work for, DA, also has an advanced AI called Radiata that controls information and covers up Lycoris activities.
- In episode three of Mnemosyne, red spider lilies on a black background is a visual motif used when discussing the bioweapon "Higan", which was Tested on Humans on the so-called "Death Island".
- The fourth opening of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans features the red spider lilies which symbolize the fall of Tekkadan as they slowly lose their members towards the end of the show including their leader Orga and their Ace Pilot Mikazuki.
- Paranoia Agent: During a scene building towards the show's finale, Misae Ikari the terminally ill wife of Detective Ikari, gives an extensive monologue to Li'l Slugger about her complicated relationship to optimism and the struggles she's experienced with depression. As she seems to be building up to a Despair Speech, Spider Lilies begin to cover the foreground of the scene... before she laughs it off, revealing this to have been a Patrick Stewart Speech all along. The flowers wither and fade the moment she laughs.
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion: A motif used by Homura's witch form, Homulily, to the point of having one replacing much of her head. She willingly stayed in that form to keep Kyubey from capturing Madoka, even if it meant Homura can't see her again. This trope switches to Cherry Blossoms when Madoka and her friends successfully reach out to Homura and stop Kyubey.
- Tokyo Ghoul: When Ken Kaneki is tortured, the sequences in his mind show a meadow of white carnations slowly turning into a field of red spider lilies, symbolizing the death of his previous Nice Guy personality and his change into a very ruthless Anti-Hero.
- Zekkyou Gakkyuu: In the prologue of many chapters and on 3rd volume cover, Cute Ghost Girl Yomi holds spider lilies to further set the tone of the ghost stories.
Literature
- Farming Life In Another World: In the first episode, Hiraku worries if the plant sprouts created by the Almighty Farming Tool are edible, or just decorative plants. Red Spider Lilies are used in an Imagine Spot, reflecting how such an outcome would spell his doom right when he just started his new life.
Video Games
- Digimon Survive has a very prominent Spider lily Flower Motif, employed liberally throughout both promotional material and in the game itself. This, along with the associated colors, somber music, and more realistic character designs lets you know that this game will not be another lighthearted romp with the 'mons.
- In Final Fantasy XIV, Yotsuyu, the cruel tyrant known as the "Witch of Doma" is strongly associated with spider lilies. She tortures Doman citizens and is willing to force a man to kill his friend and then his parents for nothing but her own amusement. She wears a spider lily in her hair and her kimono is the same blood red color of the red spider lily. After transforming into the primal Tsukuyomi, her signature attack is "Nightbloom", which conjures a field of red spider lilies that all explode with the power of her hatred. As it becomes clear that she will die in battle against the Warrior of Light, she mutters that a flower will bloom on the site of her demise.
- Flower Knight Girl: The Flower Knight Red Spider Lilynote is a mischievous fox girl with nine tails, whose backstory represents her Language of Flowers: "Sad Memories" and "Independence". She was born with a potent and excessive magic power that manifested in her since she was a child, and was subsequently persecuted for it in her home village — being forced to run away or die. All the way up until her life changes for the better in the modern day, she would live the rest of time growing up as an outcast, learning to control and limit her magic power without aid from anybody else.
- Girls' Frontline: Sangvis Ferri's head researcher Lycoris is the one who created a powerful AI known as Elisa. Just before he died during the Butterfly incident, he gave Elisa complete authorization over the company's resources. What she does afterwards would kickstart the initial plot of the game.
- HoYoverse games:
- Genshin Impact: The Dendrobium flower is notable for growing in the Inazuman regions of Kannazuka and Yashiori Island, where most conflict in the nation occurs during the time of the Archon Quest. Its item description states that Dendrobium was assumed to be extinct until growing where blood is spilt and that poets explicitly call it "lycoris." One can also get an achievement for leaving a Dendrobium at each Weapon Tombstone on Yashiori Island.
- Honkai Impact 3rd: One of Seele's battlesuits, Stygian Nymph, has the original name of "Twin Red Spider Lilies" in Chinese and Japanese. This is due to Seele embracing her "other self" for the first time, who has "death" imagery and is more sadistic, shown in her Ultimate where she transforms into her other self for stronger attacks. Her costume for this battlesuit, "Mirrored Flourishes", has red spider lily ornaments for her "Dark Seele" side, bringing the motif clearer.
- Honkai: Star Rail: Blade has a spider lily motif (particularly in his splash art) which alludes to his repeated deaths and many lost loved ones. His burst animation also explodes outwards in a way that resembles spider lily petals.
- Nioh: The tears of the Ogress fill the area you fight her in with these flowers. She's really the spirit of Senahime, who's still bitter over Ieyasu ordering for their son to be executed.
- Persona 3 Reload: The intro cinematic has a Freeze-Frame Bonus moment of Elizabeth wrapping her hands around one as the camera zooms out of the Velvet Room, which ties in to the game's central theme of memento mori.
- In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the arena where you fight Wally at the end of Victory Road is full of these flowers, symbolizing that this is the point in the journey where Wally's frail self metaphorically dies, and is reborn as a capable, competent trainer.
- Touhou Project:
- The Road of Reconsideration is a distant area of Gensokyo lined by red spider lilies where suicidal people from the Outside World and those without family often end up on their way to Muenzuka. The Great Hakurei Barrier is at its weakest due to intersections from the Outside World and the Netherworld, and so malicious youkai have learned to prey on the hapless humans from the Outside who end up here. The Road gets its name from the fact that, ironically, when a suicidal person interacts with the toxins of the red spider lilies, they gain an increased will to live, inverting the trope.
- Muenzuka is a wooded area in Gensokyo that is also known for its red spider lilies, and also serves as a graveyard for the nameless dead, most often those without family or those slain by youkai. Much like the Road, the barriers between the Outside World and Netherworld are much weaker here.
- In Touhou Kaeidzuka ~ Phantasmagoria of Flower View, red spider lilies sprout up all over Gensokyo because Komachi Onozuka, ferrywoman of the Sanzu River, has been slacking off and thus a lot of spirits have been unable to get to the afterlife. In addition, Higan, the far side of the Sanzu River where souls wait to be judged, is shown to be a garden filled with red spider lilies.
Western Animation
- Steven Universe: Pink Diamond's garden prominently features red spider lilies, which alludes to her abandoning Spinel in the garden for centuries.
