Additional info about the story of Shiro no Noroi

The following is translated from namahage2's website. Take care not to read before clearing the game if you don't want spoilers!


About Curses and the shrine

The shrine is a place where people visit to pray their various feelings, and is the easiest place for people's feelings to gather. As people's feelings gather, the shape they become is what are called "Curses." In other words, Curses are prayers.

About the dream spider, Eight Woman

She, who manipulates spiders, is a Curse who shuts people within dreams. She was born from the loneliness of being unloved and unneeded. She takes advantage of those with lonely hearts, and attempts to acquire love by granting their wishes. She is not known much about in the game itself. Therefore, there would probably be many who wonder who exactly she is. The reason why she wasn't talked much about, was not to distinguish her too much from the other curses.

It is not only her, but all the other curses weren't talked too much about either. It is because I wanted those who played to imagine for themselves why those curses needed to be born.

Difference between Hachi and other curses

As opposed to how Eight Woman attempted to shut Mashiro in a happy dream and grant her wish, Hachi instructed Mashiro about the importance of telling her feelings, and urged her to take positive action. Even looking at this Hachi is different from the other curses.

The decisive decision between Hachi and the other curses is in either being born from a prayer just for one's own self, or born from a prayer for other people's sake. Of course, Hachi is the latter. Prayers made only for one's own self, work only to satisfy themselves, and do not have consideration for others.

Haru's feelings

Haru was the ghost of a girl who could not go to peace due to loneliness. Haru's true identity is nothing more and nothing less, so there's no meaning to reading too much into her. In the bad ending, she ends up being taken advantage of by Eight Woman, and went along ignoring the others' feelings. If Haru is able to not feeling lonely, and is able to continue feeling sympathetic with Mashiro and Hachi, one can arrive at the true end.

The beginning of Shiro no Noroi

When Mashiro prayed at the shrine, "let there be one day when I can live together with father," that was when Eight Woman began to set to work. First, in order to drag Mashiro into the double world, she split her soul from her body, and handed off the stolen souls to the various Curses, spreading the souls. With this, Curses begin to appear that have been strengthened with Mashiro's souls, and as Eight Woman invites Mashiro to sleep, she attempts to grant her wish in a dream. Also, in the bad ending, the reason why Hachi was sleeping was because he showed a weakness of heart to Eight Woman, and was taken advantage of.

Yeah is this horror (lol)

Apologizes, I did wonder a lot about this when I tried classifying it. From just appearance, it's horror-like, but... I think that it's in the space between fantasy and horror. I'd classify it now as a Curse game. De-da-da-daaa-n.

How Shiro no Noroi was born

What made me start thinking about the story for Shiro no Noroi was when one of my relatives fell into some bad circumstances, and was not able to do anything other than pray.

People, if they would notice it, are neglecting the heart of someone, like family or friends, who is trying their best. And when something happens, when one realizes that this something happened, one regrets it. I think that in that time, it is not for one's own self, but for that person's feelings, that one would be able to live one's life.

In all eras, people have prayed for people important to them. For people to make such prayers is because of just that, that people feel someone to be important to them. There are times when prayers are cruelly town apart, but even then people don't stop praying. I thought that that kind of heart is more precious than anything else. I think that it would be great, after going through Shiro no Noroi, that you would be able to feel one's family and friends to be important to you.

[Note: the creator of this game has made various illustrations of Shiro no Noroi! Go here if you want to see.]