The List

7 Unlucky Reincarnations

Anime characters are reincarnated from everything: royalty from lost civilizations, alien ancestors, historical figures, or some kind of mystical being. Usually this quality gives main characters unique abilities, an easy back story (especially if the love interest is also reincarnated!) or some kind of upper hand against foes. Then, on rare occasions, the ancient ancestor provides no foreseeable benefit to the character. Or their karma really sucked and they went down a couple of realms in their next incarnation.

7. Jiyu Nanohana (Jubei-Chan The Ninja Girl - Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch) Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi is a famous historical samurai and a common romanticized character in Japanese literature. His father was an esteemed member of Tokugawa's court and trained three of the era's shoguns. Imagine the disappointment Yagyū Jūbei must feel when he finds himself reincarnated into the decidedly average (except, apparently, her cup size) Jiyu Nanohana who regains Jūbei's sword prowess by putting on a heart-shaped eye patch.

6. Torakuma (Otogi Zoshi) During the Heian arc of Production IG's Otogi Zoshi, lead character Hikaru meets Torakuma to retrieve the magatama of water. After suffering misfortune due to the magical object, Torakuma hands it over. The series fast-forwards to the Tokyo era with the main characters all receiving reincarnated counterparts, except Torakuma. His reincarnation doesn't show up until the TV special where he's shown not to be human, but a stray cat, and not the cuddly kind either. Unable to do things on his own, he somehow manages to enlist Urabe to help him resolve the episode's main plot. Overall, he gets the short end of the stick when the other lead characters get actual human forms to solve the mysteries in the series.

5. Angel Tales Cast (Angel Tales) PETA would have a heyday with Gorō Mutsumi, the world's worst pet owner. The harem's plot hinges on the fact that all of Gorō's deceased pet are reincarnated into humanoid angels desiring his love and affection. While a similar plot device might be used to have a male living with deceased famous actresses or something, Gorō gets a snake, rabbit, turtle, goldfish, parakeet, hamster, fox, tanuki, cat, monkey, dog, and frog. The reincarnation is a slight upgrade for the pets whose personalities are only a bit more interesting in human form, but it's pretty unlucky for Gorō.

4. Aya Mikage (Ayashi no Ceres) Aya's reincarnation as celestial being Ceres lets her fly, teleport, and manipulate energy but she also gets the Hulk-smash personality and the bonus of her family trying to murder her. At the end of the series she also gives birth to her son Aki who is named after and also a reincarnation of her deceased twin brother. Whether the child will have similar doomed personality issues that cursed her brother isn't elaborated on but it seems neither Aya or her offspring can catch a break.

3. Setsuna Mudou (Angel Sanctuary) Setsuna's life was complicated enough without also being the reincarnation of female angel Alexiel. Due to a curse, all of Alexiel's human incarnations are destined to die a slow, painful death. Setsuna also finds himself wrapped up in a battle between factions of Heaven and Hell, afterlife politics, and a bunch of crazy superbeings bent on taking over.

2. Misuzu Kamio (Air) Misuzu's status as the reincarnation of Kannabi no Mikoto, the last winged being, afflicts her with a degenerative disease that makes her die young. Her other symptoms include crying whenever she feels an attachment to someone and dreams predicting her death. The curse is the work of monks many centuries ago that holds to every reincarnation since. If the end of the show, the curse appears to be broken, but it doesn't change the tragic outcome.

1. Tatsuo Nagumo (Legend of the Overfiend) In the story of Urotsukidōji, three worlds exist simultaneously: the world of humans, the world of demons, and the world of man-beasts. Every 3,000 years beings are able to travel from one world to another to usher in the god-like being Overfiend. In this case, the shy Tatsuo Nagumo is this cycle's Overfiend and destroyer of all of humanity so he can usher in his own...seed. The demons take it upon themselves to try to kill Tatsuo while the man-beast Jyakku does his best to save him.

The new poll: Which of the listed guitarists would win at Battle of the Bands?

The old poll: Last week's poll asked which heroine from a Junichi Sato anime is your favorite? Here's the full results:

1. Sailor Moon (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon) 28.5%
2. Ahiru (Princess Tutu) 23.9%
3. Akari Mizunashi (Aria the Animation) 13.1%
4. Sora Naegino (Kaleido Star) 9.8%
5. Natsumi Hinata (Sgt. Frog) 6.3%
6. Nonoha Itou (Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God) 4.9%
7. Sae Sawanoguchi (Magic User's Club) 3.0%
8. Himeno Awayuki (Pretear) 2.9%
9. Fu Sawatari (Tamayura - Hitotose) 2.3%
10. Koyuki Azumaya (Sgt. Frog) 2.0%
11. Ruriko Ikusawa (Gate Keepers) 1.9%
12. Kanon (Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~) 0.7%
13. Fine (Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime) 0.3%
14. Marin (Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~) 0.2%
15. Rain (Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime) 0.1%
16. Haruno Shiozaki (One Off) 0.1%

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Alright everybody, see you all next week! I look forward to your input in the comments and feel free to follow me on Twitter @ANN_Lynzee or e-mail me at [email protected].