Video Game / Jade Cocoon

"Our enemy we love and for the tormented we pray. Grant us, the Beasts of Knowledge, the power to touch the spirit."

The Jade Cocoon series (Tamamayu Monogatari in Japanese) currently consists of two games that revolve around capturing Mons and having them fight for you. The series was developed by Genki, with character designs by Studio Ghibli artist Katsuya Kondo, who was also the animation director.

The first game's premise has the protagonist Levant sent into the divine forest to find a cure for a deadly sleep-sickness brought to his village by demon locusts.

The second game, set a century after the end of the first, has Idiot Hero Kahu attempting to cure himself of a nasty curse which threatens to consume his mind.

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Tropes:

Jade Cocoon

• Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: You're Syrus' only chance to cure the sleep sickness and prevent the village from being swallowed up by the forest, eh? You're still paying for equipment and supplies.
• Arranged Marriage: Mahbu, as a Nagi woman, is destined to marry a Nagi man, like Levant, so he can become a Cocoon Master and she can purify his cocoons. However, the trope is subverted because Levant and Mahbu already like each other, meaning that there's none of the tension usually associated with the Arranged Marriage trope. It can't really be considered a Perfectly Arranged Marriage, either, because it lacks the part of that trope where they hated each other as kids before coming to love each other as adults.
• Barrier Change Boss: Cushidra swaps between the four elements in a cycle.
• Because Destiny Says So: Riketz, as the Chosen One of Darkness, has to be defeated by you, as the Chosen One of Light, to prevent a Dark Age from overtaking the world 'until the next transmigration'. Why? Well, Elrihm wants it that way.
• Bonus Dungeon: The Eternal Corridor, ridiculously hard, and accessible only after beating the game.
• Capture Balls: Cocoon Masters trap wild Mons inside silk cocoons as part of the process of taming them. Playing Magic Music on a musical instrument during the capture calms the beast enough for the cocoon to seal it, then a Nagi shaman can purify the cocoon of evil and make the beast inside a loyal servant of the cocoon master.
• Checkpoint Starvation: You have to go through the 4th forest without being able to save the game nor fusing monsters due to story elements, namely that everyone in your village has been Taken for Granite. The chieftain in the next area comments on your endurance.
• The Chosen Many: A minor example, as there are two chosen ones: you and Riketz are the Chosen Ones of Light and Darkness, respectively.
• Clip Its Wings: Some minions have access to a 'Rend Wings' attack which is especially effective against flying monsters (there's also a 'Break Legs' attack which is more effective against monsters that are land-bound).
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The Death spell when anybody but you uses it.
• Copy-and-Paste Environments: The Netherworld Forests have the exact same layout as the normal forests, with only palette swaps and new monsters.
• Creature-Breeding Mechanic: There's a Merging mechanic that allows you to fuse two minions together. The resulting minion's body shape and color scheme will be blends of its parents, with the shape primarily of the first parent, and the colors primarily of the second. It will try to have the special attacks and elemental attributes of both, but there are restrictions (ie: your special claw attack can only ever deal one type of elemental damage; fusing a monster with a special fire claw attack and a special water claw attack will yield either one of those, or a Non-Elemental claw attack).
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: Elrihm, God of the Forest, is this for Jehovah. He's largely ignored in the sequel, though.
• Cute Monster Girl: Mahbu, in the second half of the story, becomes something like a fairy.

• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Riketz left so Levant's mother wouldn't have to suffer the cursed brandings. He also tries to find a cure, in the process becoming the catalyst for the entire plot of the story.
• Dark Reprise: When Mahbu spins a monster's cocoon into silk, her prayer is a proud one that wishes the minion's return to the place of Elrihm. Ra, her successor in the Nagi Temple, instead asks if the minion will ever know good fortune, as it will never return to Elrihm.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: If Levant loses all of his HP, his nifty magical earring kicks in and he's whisked away back to his village. The only penalty other than having to trek all the way back to where you were is a slight loss of XP that can be easily earned back by catching more minions.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Tamamayu means Jade Cocoon, so 'Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu' means...

• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: "Earth withstands Water, Water douses Fire, Fire consumes Air, and Air blows away Earth."
• Endless Corridor: The Eternal Corridor.
• Enemy Summoner: The Poacher, a reoccurring miniboss, always also summons a minion (Goat, Lagoat, or Gigoat) to fight alongside him.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": You never learn The Poacher's real name.
• Evil Chancellor: Jibara is descended from a noble family of the ancient civilization of Gehena Pale, and she acts as an advisor to the chieftain. Her plan to capture the Divine Tree results in the whole village getting turned to stone.

• Final Boss: Riketz and Cushidra.
• Final Boss Preview: Subverted. The unwinnable encounters with the Dream Man and Minion look to be this, but in the final battle Riketz ditches Minion and instead uses Cushidra to fight you.
• Find the Cure!: Levant is tasked with finding a cure for the sleep-sickness. His father, Riketz, left the village long ago to find a cure for the cursed branding that was afflicting his wife.
• Follow in My Footsteps:
  • Levant following his father Riketz in becoming a Cocoon Master.
  • Subverted with Kelmar, the blacksmith's son, who does not want to be a blacksmith.

• Game-Breaking Bug: Save with any unpurified firefly cocoons and quit and when you reload the game their magical abilities are lost forever.
  • Can be turned into a Good Bad Bug with knowledge of how spells and elemental / non-elemental special attacks combine when merging. Unwanted elemental attacks can be removed by overwriting them with an attack of another element, and then remerging the resulting half-elemental with 'defanged' versions of the original until it's fully back to its old element. Unwanted non-elemental attacks can be removed in the same way, and unwanted spells don't matter because you have unlimited spell slots. Doing this allows you to create a minion with a full set of varied special attacks, and until the end of the Spider Forest you have full control of which minions you capture and manipulate.
• Gainax Ending: Well, the whole plot is something of a Mind Screw due to Purple Prose in which it's told to you, combined with the Blue-and-Orange Morality that the gods follow, and that the people sort-of follow by accepting this from the gods. But it seems to be that Riketz upset the divine balance of things, and you have to make things right, not by undoing his actions, but by beating him in combat at the base of the World Tree. Doing this also undoes the calamities afflicting your village and uncurses Mahbu, despite these things having nothing to do with Riketz.
• Gender-Restricted Ability: Only women can perform the Ritual of Purification that turns firefly cocoons into white cocoons, calming the soul of the beast inside and allowing a cocoon master to summon it into battle. A man who attempts the same ritual will create a black cocoon, a thing of great evil that fills all it touches with despair.
• Give Me Your Inventory Item: Yami and his entire family demand something from you.

• Gone Horribly Wrong: Levant is told to capture the Divine Tree. It was a bad idea.
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: There are 171 minions to capture.
• Guide Dang It!: There are 171 minions, two can only be acquired by MERGING four different minions per. There is no in-game hint on which four to use and the only hint they exist (besides the Interface Spoiler) is a rare tablet. Worse, there are two tablets, one for each, and one of them is not actually unobtainable.
  • Once you receive the Moth Key, you are directed to complete the Moth Forest. What the game doesn't tell you is that there's two new minions to find in the Spider forest (and ONLY in the Spider Forest), the only time you can get them during the course of the main game.
• Guns Are Worthless: You can use your weapon at any time and can upgrade to better ones but they are mostly useless after a while as your minions can deliver loads more damage than any weapon you'll get.
• Heal It with Water: Each of the four classical elements is associated with a particular strategy in battle, with water representing healing.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Levant, averted in the sequel when the character returns.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Riketz attempting to purify a cocoon by himself was essentially this - he did not wish for his wife to endure the stress and cursed brandings caused by purifying cocoons, though he risked creating a black cocoon and corrupting his mind.

• Hopeless Boss Fight: Both fights against Dream Man at the start of the game. Particularly cruel in the second battle in that you can easily defeat the Pataimel he throws out first, before he switches to his utterly unstoppable silver dragon, Minion.
• Humans Are Bastards: The King of Gehenna Pale boiled fairy cocoons alive to get their silk.
• Impossible Item Drop: Many minions will give you various potions and oils, others will drop clothes and weapons. Very rarely one will even drop an entire "Secret Minion" tablet.
• Infinity +1 Sword: Icicle, a ridiculously long sword that can reduce the HP of anything it hits to 1. This is made Awesome, but Impractical by the fact that it can only be bought in the Bonus Dungeon.
• Interchangeable Antimatter Keys: Keys of Gehenna Pale are only good once, but they'll open any locked chest in the game.
• Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: The hero and Riketz are the Chosen Ones of Light and Darkness.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Dream Man is actually Riketz, Levant's father, who was corrupted when he attempted to purify a cocoon.
• MacGuffin: The Calabas herb, at least at the start of the game - it isn't the MacGuffin for very long.
• Magic Music: Catching and summoning minions is done through playing music. Levant does it by playing an ocarina-like flute, the Poacher makes sinister pan flute-like noises when summoning, and the dream man uses an early acoustic guitar - possibly a mandolin, or a lute. The game ends with you and Riketz playing music together to 'unite light and darkness'.

• Mix-and-Match Critters: Taken literally with Sherick and Tweengo. Secret tablets list four features each and four beasts which separately have those features have to be merged together to create the respective Mon.

• Mons: The main thrust of the gameplay is capturing Minions and using them in combat.
• No Name Given: The Dream Man's silver dragon minion is simply called... Minion.

• One Stat to Rule Them All: Speed affects how quickly minions act in combat. A fast minion might get 1.5-2 turns for every 1 turn of a slower minion. That alone makes Speed very powerful, but it also improves accuracy with physical attacks and the chance to dodge enemy physical attacks (magic attacks always hit).
• Optional Boss: After beating Birdman the first time, you can return and fight him as many times as you want.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: The Masked Boy is very obviously Lui, and even stops trying to change the pitch of his voice after being defeated.
• Permanently Missable Content: Several minions are only accessible in the first four forests. After you complete the fourth, you lose access to the first four and with it all the minions contained there. Half of them can be found in the Eternal Forest, but the other half can't. Guess which half were more likely to have extra abilities or spells?
• Point of No Return: Several, after triggering the cut scene where everyone in the city is turned to stone you can no longer buy supplies or get new minions. After completing the Moth Forest you can no longer access it or the forests before it. As well as after each Netherworld Forest.
• Power at a Price: While Mahbu has the ability to purify cocoons and heal/merge minions for Levant, doing so results in markings called "cursed brandings" that conventionally appear on her lower arms, then her body, then her lower face, all of which she covers up.
• Screw Destiny Levant's father leaves to prevent his wife from getting further cursed brandings.
• Skippable Boss: In the Beetle forest, if you choose the left path as opposed to the right you completely skip the battle with Lui. If you do not complete the level (and speak with the Blue Cocoon Master), you can return and fight him. Otherwise, he will be gone the next time you return.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: Subverted. Minions will usually run towards you and attack, but if your minions are of a sufficiently higher level than the enemies then they will run away and cower.
• Take Your Time : At several points of the game, everybody stresses how important it is to find the herb and save the day, however you can still get Mahbu to perform magic, buy armor/supplies, and speak to the Old Man even if everbody senses something bad is about to happen.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Tuturis, boss of the Ordeal of Fire, makes using minions of the appropriate element necessary for the first time in the game - his powerful Fire attacks will wreck anything but a strong Water minion.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Riketz kicks off the plot by trying to find a way to purify cocoons without the woman who does it developing cursed brandings. The goal of the game is to reset the balance he disturbed by defying divine decree in doing this. The actual plot of him finding a better form of purification never gets resolved; you never hear if he succeeded or failed, or if this form of purification is even possible.
• "What Now?" Ending: A quasi-example. Beating the game earns you a quick speech from Riketz, some narration, and a sequence wherein a ritual makes everything all better in Cyrus. What you don't get is a follow-up about any of the characters, or humanity's fate as a whole.

Jade Cocoon 2

• All Deserts Have Cacti: Some of the Wind forests contain your stereotypical cacti.
• Arbitrary Headcount Limit: The beast-amulet can hold up to a maximum of eight minions, once you've acquired the proper licences.
• Artificial Stupidity: It is quite common for an enemy with Tishous (an MP-restoring skill) to use the skill on itself during combat, even though it can do nothing that would reduce its MP anyway.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Fossa Magna and Ad Mumarnite. Fossa Magna will cut the target's HP to 1 regardless of how much HP they have but this move has very low accuracy and the kalma you need to merge with to get this attack also comes with Blind X, which makes Blind status even more effective. Ad Mumarnite is the game's instant death spell and can hit all three monsters on the field, but it has low accuracy, beasts can learn an ability to resist it, and the kalma that comes with this attack also has Larvalize, which eliminates your beast's ability to evolve.
• Barrier Change Boss Lilith periodically changes her tactics and elemental affinity.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Choco loses a fight with Kahu and accuses him of using a hack code. Nico gets worried that the censors won't let the game be released due to a bullying scene.
• Call-Back:
  • The battle system of Jade Cocoon 2 is different from the one present in the first game, but one of the final boss fights has, in reference to the first game's gameplay, Levant switching back and forth with a water dragon minion, which is another Call-Back to the first minion Levant receives in the first game. Makes sense since the boss is the Player Character from the first game.
    • The boss you fight immediately afterwards, Lilith, is a Barrier Change Boss, reminicient of Cushidra, the minion used by The Dream Man from the first game.
  • The challenges in the dark forests of both games, and the emotions they are themed around, mirror one another:
    • Water: Like Levant in the Moth Forest, Cure is burdened by solitude.
    • Fire: Wu and Koris both feel sorrow over the destruction of their villages.
    • Air: Gil and Kelmar are both jealous of the Chosen One, albeit for different reasons.
    • Earth: Cocona and Mahbu both dislike the responsibilities forced upon them.
• Cherry Tapping: Killing a boss with a larval minion probably counts as this, though there's nothing stopping you from raising a terrifyingly powerful larval.
• Collection Sidequest: Medals and Figures, though the medals are actually useful.
• Contractual Immortality: Levant from the first game, having merged with Kemuel, a divine spirit. It is implied that he is over a century old.
• Cool Old Guy: Wu. Wu also dabbles in a bit of Cherry Tapping; the hardest battle in the game, The Grand Slam, consists of Wu and his eight larval Mau minions. You're very likely to have your arse handed to you by a bunch of Ridiculously Cute Critters and a kind old man.
• Cute Monster Girl: Cure. Until her Superpowered Evil Side kicks in, anyway.
• Cursed with Awesome: Kahu gets a Superpowered Evil Side when he touches a fairy cocoon. He sports a cool-looking spiky tail for most of the game, and the Superpowered Evil Side will occasionally take over in combat to administer a beatdown . Unfortunately, it's slowly taking over his mind.
• Dark World: The forests within the Kaya Gate, representing the dark half of the forest.
• Deadpan Snarker: Most of Nico's dialogue is snark at Kahu's expense.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Lose all of your Shields in combat? No big deal. You're just kicked back to the village, minus your items. Losing your stuff is no big concern to anyone who uses the storehouse for important things like Eggs.
• Double Entendre: The game's script is absolutely littered with these, usually involving the Sweet Knights or the Na Beasthunter. Nico is normally the one that calls attention to them. One notable example is when Dr. Gil, when describing a woman he used to work with, says that he visited her house one evening and did not leave until the morning. The music stops for a beat while Nico says what the player is already thinking.
• Dragons Up the Yin Yang: Beast amulets have a yin-yang pattern decoration.
• Earth/Wind Juxtaposition: Each of the 4 classical elements is associated with a strategy in battle. Air minions tend to be fragile Combat Pragmatists who rely on enemy weakening attacks, inflicting Standard Status Effects such as Sleep, Blind, Poison or Confuse or reducing their enemies' defense stats. Earth minions have a focus on Status Buffs and defense, and have abilities like boosting their allies' defenses, summoning a stone wall to prevent enemy attacks, and attacks that get stronger if used on consecutive turns.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Even if you were to acquire 9999 Reputation, you're still just some kid with a tail.
• Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: One of the Mau Beasthunters. The other one has a Verbal Tic and ends most of his sentences in squeak.
• Everything Fades: All minions do this when they're defeated in battle. Kahu and the other Beasthunters fall to the ground when they lose all of their Shields, but remain distinctly corporeal.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Levant's voice drops several octaves when his Superpowered Evil Side kicks in.
• Expecting Someone Taller: When Kahu finally meets Mint she's surprised by how normal-looking he is, given that he's just saved the world from Levant and Lilith.
• Flying Seafood Special: Most Na Genus beasts, with the exception of the squid-like Muchinach line (which grows legs when it reaches stage 3 evolution).
• Foreboding Architecture: Ogrevines containing Kalma are very small on the inside.
• Fungi Are Plants: The Leif genus of beasts consists of monsters that resemble giant plants, but also includes three that look like mushrooms, Mash, Mush and Shroomie.
• Fungus Humongous: Shroomie, the final monster in the Mash line. It's a giant helicopter fungus, even.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Mahbu gives Kahu a pair of angel wings, symbolizing his role as Elrihm's champion. Levant, as the Chosen One of Darkness gets a pair of Purple dragon/demon wings post-transformation.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: After touching the fairy cocoon, you're thrust into one of these. When you fight him again later, he's a pushover.
• I Ate WHAT?!: Cure tricks Kahu into eating Ginui powder at one point (Ginui being a race of newt-like monsters that live in the water forest). Kahu initially enjoys it, but freaks out when Cure tells him what it is.
• Idiot Hero: Kahu. His signature is a scrawling of his own face and an illegible scribble, for example, and he doesn't realise that there haven't been any cocoon masters in over 100 years.
• Killer Rabbit: The True Final Boss is a rival Beasthunter with a team consisting entirely of larval Maus.
• Klingon Promotion: Defied. The Bug clan-leader tries to make Kahu the new leader after being defeated, but Kahu isn't interested and tells him to keep the job.
• Large and in Charge: The beasthunter clan-leaders you can fight late-game are noticeably taller than Kahu and their subordinates.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: The Tomakana line of beasts from the Na Genus, which appear to be a mix of swordfish, puffer-fish and manta ray. There's also a monster in the Ku genus which looks like a dog but with boar's tusks, a lobster's tail and a single horn on its forehead.
• The Resenter: Dr. Gil otherwise respects Kahu and is very friendly to him, but in the final dungeon you have to fight a physical manifestation of his jealousy over the fact that the Forest chose Kahu to be the Chosen One over him.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Most larval minions are this, especially the Mau class.
• Shout-Out: One of the sub-plots in the Fire Forest revolves around Nam being accused of stealing another beasthunter's cocoon. During one of the dialogues, the beasthunter will describe the stolen cocoon as his precious.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Kahu, Cure and Levant.
• Suspicious Videogame Generosity: Highly averted. You have no idea (without looking it up) what any given Ogrevine might contain until you enter it, and if it happens to be a boss, you're thrust straight into the fight.
• Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: Overlaps somewhat with Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors:
  • Fire minions have the strongest attacks; they can overwelm water minions but struggle against well defended earth types.
  • Earth minions have abilities that boost the capability of their allies; their good defences can stop fire minion's strong attacks, but their special defence is weak and can be pierced by air-types.
  • Air minions have attacks that weaken the enemy; they are most useful against earth-types, but water types have an innate resistance to most of their abilities.
  • Water minions provide healing for their allies; they also have good special defence but poor defence, making them useful for withstanding the attacks of air types, but quickly overwhelmed by fire types.

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