"Hey, do you know the 'Kudan' urban legend?"
The Curse of Kudan (originally called Kudan no Folklore in Japan) is a Yuri Genre visual novel created by SukeraSparo. It was originally released in 2019 as a Japan-only game, but eventually got a remastered version in 2020 that is also localized in English, simplified Chinese, and traditional Chinese.
The story follows Sakuya Kudan, a high school student at Kudan Girls' High School. One day, she runs into a cooking teacher named Touko Shima and decides to enroll in Touko's cooking classes to get to know her better. However, she soon finds out that Touko has run afoul of the urban legend known as "Kudan." According to rumors, Kudan appears as a one-handed woman in a Western mourning dress. If you lay eyes on her, you will encounter misfortune after seven days.
Helped by her childhood friend Karen Azuma and the young president of the Occult Research Club Koto Akinashi, Sakuya attempts to discover the truth behind the Kudan urban legend.
The Curse of Kudan contains examples of:
- Aggressive Submissive: While Sakuya is normally the masculine headstrong leader who always makes the first move in public, she's really embarrassed to admit she's a clingy bottom in the bedroom.
- Ascended Fangirl: While Koto's one of Sakuya's good friends (and one of her love interests) now, she's horrified when one of her old classmates spills that she used to do kendo and was a massive Sakuya fan.
- Broken Pedestal: The True Route has Koto discovering to her horror that Niina, the one she admired and spent most of the game trying to avenge, is an unrepentent killer.
- Catch the Conscience: Koto's Yauri is based heavily off of the story of Niina's death hoping that the guilt would get to Touko, her suspected killer. Since Touko's innocent it naturally fails.
- Conspicuous Gloves: Touko always wears her signature high gloves, even wearing a special pair in the pool. Koto thinks she's hiding a prosthetic hand - the smoking gun that she was Niina's killer - but she's actually covering up a birthmark. Sawako also wears a pair of gloves as Touko's assistant though she actually is covering up a fake hand.
- Distinguishing Mark: In the True Route, it's revealed that members of the Shima family bear a butterfly-like birthmark on their right hand, and the reason Touko wears long gloves all the time is to cover up this birthmark. Unfortunately for her, this birthmark makes her the target of Niina, who wants to cut off her right hand.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Both Sakuya and Karen have scores of fangirls, though the fact that this is a yuri game probably should have tipped you off to that.
- Evil Twin: The reveal that Touko has a twin she never knew about who could have been Niina's killer sets up an evil twin reveal, but it's ultimately subverted. Not only were all of Niina's sociopathic actions blamed on Souko due to superstitions about evil twins, but she was ultimately blamed for her own attempted murder, causing her to be locked in a hidden room for years until she eventually starved to death while her would-be murderer roamed free. So not only is Souko completely innocent, she's also the most extreme victim of Niina's crimes precisely because of the Evil Twin trope.
- Imposter Forgot One Detail: While Mayu did a good job impersonating the ghost of Yuu's mother, the lack of her signature locket was what ultimately gave her away.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Karen has romantic feelings for Sakuya, but never makes a fuss about Sakuya being in love with someone else.
- Multiple Endings: There is an ending where Sakuya hooks up with Touko and an ending where Sakuya hooks up with Koto. The True Ending is only unlocked after you see the previous two endings, and that one ends with Sakuya hooking up with both Touko and Koto.
- Never Heard That One Before: Koto has been ribbed about her name many times and is exasperated by it. In the original Japanese version, people joke about her name because it uses the kanji characters for "little rabbit." The English version has Sakuya joking about her playing the koto
instead. - Opposites Attract: Sakuya and Touko both admire how the other has what they lack. Sakuya admires Touko's traditionally feminine beauty, elegance, and kindness, while Touko admires Sakuya's confidence and decisiveness.
- Recurring Dreams: Sakuya frequently has a nightmare where she is on a cliff trying to pull a woman to safety...only for the woman to laugh maliciously and attempt to drag her down to her death. It's revealed that these dreams are caused by Sakuya's repressed memories from childhood, where she witnessed Niina attempting to kill Souko.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: All of the ghosts and paranormal phenomena are ultimately just people manipulating or creating stories for their own gain.
- Taking You with Me: During the True Ending, Niina falls off a cliff and attempts to drag Sakuya with her. Thankfully, Touko and Koto are able to grab ahold of Sakuya before she falls.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Touko, one of Sakuya's love interests, runs a cooking class. Sakuya attends her class to be close to her.
- Woman Scorned: One of the mysteries involves one such woman; Kayano, one of Touko's students, has a fiancé who ended up falling in love with Touko. This drives Kayano to dress up as Kudan in an attempt to frighten and hurt Touko in revenge.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Touko. She's a gentle woman of means who happens to be an amazing chef.
