C3 (novel series)

C³
Cover of the first light novel
Genre	Action, Comedy, Harem, Romance, Supernatural
Light novel
Written by	Hazuki Minase
Illustrated by	Sasorigatame
Published by	ASCII Media Works
Imprint	Dengeki Bunko
Demographic	Male
Original run	September 10, 2007 – June 7, 2013
Volumes	17
Manga
Written by	Tsukako Akina
Published by	ASCII Media Works
Magazine	Dengeki Daioh
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	February 26, 2011 – January 26, 2013
Volumes	3
Anime television series
Directed by	Shin Ōnuma
Written by	Michiko Yokote
Studio	Silver Link
Licensed by	NA: Funimation
Original network	AT-X, BS11, Chiba TV, KBS Kyoto, Sun TV, Tokyo MX, TV Aichi, TV Kanagawa, TV Saitama
Original run	October 1, 2011 – December 17, 2011
Episodes	12
Original video animation
Directed by	Shin Ōnuma
Written by	Michiko Yokote
Studio	Silver Link
Released	April 25, 2012

C³, also known as C Cube (シーキューブ, Shīkyūbu) or Cube×Cursed×Curious, is a Japanese light novel series written by Hazuki Minase and illustrated by Sasorigatame about Haruaki Yachi who receives a mysterious black cube from his father. That night, Haruaki is woken by a noise and finds a girl named Fear in his kitchen eating rice crackers. Haruaki then has to protect Fear from organizations that seek to capture or destroy her. Luckily, Haruaki has plenty of other friends like Fear willing to help. It was adapted into a manga and anime series at the second half of 2011.

Plot

The story begins with high-school student Yachi Haruaki receiving a mysterious package, a super-heavy black cube from his father overseas. That night, Haruaki wakes to a suspicious noise in the kitchen and discovers a cute-looking stark-naked female stealing rice crackers. After the embarrassing moment, the girl presents herself. Her name is Fear (pronounced "Fia" in Japanese), and she is the first of several surprises that Haruaki is to receive.

Characters

Main characters

Haruaki Yachi (夜知 春亮, Yachi Haruaki)

Voiced by: Yūki Kaji

The male protagonist. His father has a habit of sending him cursed artifacts to remove the curses within, as their home is a blessed location, a focal point for Positive Energy which gradually removes curses, and he is immune to the curses. So Fear's curse can't urge him to use her to torture people, he is immune to Konoha's injury-curse when she is in sword-form and he must fight with her, and Kuroe's curse to drain Life Energy from her owner isn't activated either. Due to the fact that his mother was never seen or mentioned in the series and his father is traveling, he developed a talent in cooking. He has a very stubborn but friendly personality, and does not hesitate when it comes to protecting his friends. Haruaki is somewhat aware of all the girls' feelings towards him. He is shown to have healthy sexual feelings in Volume 3 Epilogue, when he can't keep his eyes off Kirika's wet T-shirt, but it is hard to tell if he has more feelings for one girl than for the others. He appears to be a bit of a prude and tries to squelch or extract himself from their public displays of affection towards him.

Fear Kubrick (フィア・キューブリック, Fia Kyūburikku, also "Fear Cubrick")

Voiced by: Yukari Tamura

The female protagonist. She's actually a cursed tool, a fictitious device called Fear In Cube, a terrible torture device that looks like a solid metal cube. In the anime there are linear grooves on each face, and a 4 inch diameter glass lens centered on one face. In the light novel several faces have concealed openings; there is no glass lens on any face of it. In size, when resting on the floor it reaches to Haruaki's knee in height, about 55 cm on a side. Fear in Cube has, according to the novel, 32 torture capabilities, such as a guillotine, an Iron Maiden, a giant drill, and more. Some of its capabilities are currently unavailable. This is determined by indulgence disks.

Developed during the height of the Inquisitions, Fear has caused countless people's agonizing deaths to the point she risks going homicidally insane upon hearing someone scream in pain. Eventually she developed a curse of her own, causing anyone who owns her to go insane. This insanity drives the owner to want to use her to torture people and revel in their pain and screams. Due to her extended time in the depths of a Spanish castle Fear has also developed animosity for spiders, as they would build cobwebs around her original form. Out of disgust at her past Fear prefers to stay in human form. She regards Haruaki as her owner, and her anxiety is eased by his assurances that her curse can not affect him.

Since Konoha, on their first meeting, referred to Fear as a "child", Fear expresses animosity towards Konaha by referring to her as "Cow Udders" and the like, and by playing to Konoha's worries that Haruaki might do something perverted with another girl (often Fear). Fear's favorite catchphrase is "I'll curse you". Fear also has an incredibly strong addiction to rice crackers. She was given a family name by either Haruaki's father or the school superintendent at the time she was enrolled into the high school. Haruaki considered it a poor attempt at a joke (in the novel volume 2 prologue, Haruaki explicitly notes that the spelling of Cubrick is off, presumably to reinforce the pun of combining "cube" with the name of movie director Stanley Kubrick, and he felt obliged to teach Fear to respond to others by denying any relation to the person.)

Konoha Muramasa (村正 このは, Muramasa Konoha)

Voiced by: Minori Chihara

A long resident at the Yachi compound. Like Fear, she is a "cursed tool" who gained a will through the pain and hate that had long surrounded her. Konoha's true form is that of a katana. As the human form of a cursed tool she can do sword things as a human. She can harden her skin to that of steel, stopping bullets, and give her karate chops a sharp edge like a sword. When angry she sometimes breaks things as if they had been struck with a sword.

Items about her background have been revealed in little bits slowly over the course of the story. In the anime Konoha's curse is that her wielder also suffers from the injuries she creates on any living opponent. In the Light Novels her curse is for her to want to see "fresh blood" and induce her owner to do the same. When Konoha sees blood for an extended period, she sometimes begins to revert into a blood thirsty personality similar to Fear.

In the novels Konoha's curse has been nearly lifted, thus she tends to faint at the sight of blood. In the Light Novels it's revealed that her hemophobia is a result of self hypnosis in order to keep her blood lust from overwhelming her. Her glasses help block her vision to help suppress her curse. As she has worn the glasses for years, even when sleeping or bathing, they have become a part of her. As the glasses were specially built to be her 'scabbard' they don't fall off when she shifts to sword form. Haruaki, when fighting with her sword form, keeps the scabbard on to avoid shedding blood, exposing the blade only in a 'sword killing counter' blow. In this ability Konoha concentrates on the enemy's movements, find an opening, and destroy the enemy's weapon by striking its main weak point. This is a skill she taught herself as a means of defeating an enemy without drawing blood. When she so concentrates she is less able to aid Haruaki in parrying the enemy's blows and he must do that himself. When she transforms back from sword form she is naked. The first time this is shown it was milked for a gag: she was so concerned for Haruaki and his injuries that Haruaki in embarrassment reminds her that she is naked, and she runs off to fetch her clothes.

Little is known of her history before the start of the story. She came to the Yachi compound many years ago, when Haruaki was a child. He addressed her then as onee-san, 'older sister'. They agreed when they entered high school that he would stop doing that, but he sometimes does it in order to obtain a special favor from her. She was given the family name of 'Muramasa' and dislikes it, probably for 'double-meaning' reasons evident to Japanese audiences. To the outside world she and Haruaki are related cousins. In high school she and Haruaki are in different classes. She is a member of the student council. She sometimes works part time for a bookseller on the shopping street where Kuroe's shop is located. Before that she worked part time for a launderer on the same street.

When Konoha first met Fear she referred to Fear as a 'child', and continues to sometimes do that. Fear resents it and in turn disparages Konoha as 'Cow udders' or the like. Konoha has a crush on Haruaki, and gets jealous. Fear plays to this and Konoha's worries that Haruaki will do something perverted with another girl, often Fear. Anything that might be mistaken as intimacy between Haruaki and Fear gets interrupted by Konoha, who assumes the worst about it at first. An example of the conflict between her reason and emotions can be seen in Volume 2 chapter 1: After Shiraho stumbled and fell onto Haruaki, straddling him, Konoha exclaimed "Oh no! N-Not allowed, whether Haruaki-kun is hurt or not this will strain his body such intimacy I cannot ignore this even if it is an accident, ok.", the last dozen words spoken so quickly that they were printed without spaces, and she deftly separated Shiraho and Haruaki. Because of these concerns Konoha moved from the outbuilding that she had shared with Kuroe into the main building, into a room next to Fear's. In the light novel this happened at the end of Volume 1, after the inserting-the-indulgence-disk-into-Fear event. In the anime this happened at the end of episode 3, two days earlier, after Haruaki had fished Fear out of the ocean, and Fear insisted on washing Haruaki's back in the bath afterwards. In the Light Novels Konoha is aware that Kirika not only loves but is a rival for Haruaki.

Kirika Ueno (上野 錐霞, Ueno Kirika)

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura

Classmate of Haruaki. She is in student government. In the light novels he addresses her as "Class Rep"; in the anime he addresses her as "Prez". She has two cursed tools called Ginistrang's Love, a bdsm-style outfit that when worn the user will heal from any injuries, including fatal ones, but in exchange the user will die if it is removed and therefore has to wear it for life. she has been shown to slip her hand between the leather and her skin for things like showering, but little else is known about the limits of this waas. In the Light Novels it's explained it originally belonged to a sadist who wanted the women he tortured in it to not only stay clean and beautiful, but live longer whiles he's torturing them. As a result while it can heal any wound it doesn't prevent feeling the pain from the injuries. If her arm is broken she feels the full pain of a broken arm until it heals. As result she feels disgusted with her body. Due to Lab Chief's Nations' "testing" if a limb is cut off a new one will grow back, although the process is significantly faster if the original limb is held in its original place. In the Light Novel it also keeps her clean making the showers she takes redundant. The other, The River of Black Strings (or Tragic Black River), formerly owned by a serial killer, has the ability to expand and contract in order to bind or subjugate opponents. In the anime its curse is to make the user want to hurt or kill somebody with it. Kirika usually satisfies the curse by using herself as the victim since the bondage suit will heal all her injuries. In the novels she also uses herself to fulfill the condition of binding, breaking and strangling someone to death and is somewhat unwillingly a member of a group called 'Lab Chief Yamimagari Pakuaki's Nation', founded by her older brother. This group studies and researches cursed tools as the ultimate mysteries to explore. In the anime she used to be part of an organization called Nightcrawlers, along with her older brother. She has a crush on Haruaki, and (for some strange reason, as Haruaki puts it) often competes with him over whose cooking is better during lunch period. In the Light Novels this becomes love when he treats her the same after not only finding out about the cursed bondage suit, but what she has to do to satisfy the curse of Black River. Not only that, but little things like taking her into a pool for the first time since the bondage suit was put on while dispelling her fears of the suit being seen. She has always been fond of him since they met even though she was originally sent to the school to watch Konoha and him as an observer from afar who isn't suppose to get directly involved with them. But she hasn't confessed her love to him, only making oblique references to it. In the Light Novels her catchphrase of "Absolutely ridiculous!" is revealed as an expression of shock and anger that was initiated by Himura's explanation for a terrible deed he did to her due to his obsession. She's never forgiven or let her guard down around him since.

Kuroe Ningyouhara (人形原 黒繪, Ningyōhara Kuroe)

Voiced by: Yui Ogura

A cursed doll who has recently returned to Haruaki's house. She has a very friendly and calm personality, and is very direct in her communication. Usually she seems emotionless and half asleep but anyone who knows her well, like Haruaki, can tell if she's feeling a particular emotion such as interest, rage, surprise, etc. Kuroe stated in Light Novel volume 3 chapter 1 that as her family name suggests, she is a Japanese doll with extendible hair, and that she chose the 'e' kanji of her name to give the impression of "pretty as a picture". Kuroe can freely control her hair like tentacles for many purposes, such as moving things like she was using hands not hair, or to manipulate life energy to speed up the natural healing process of others. Due to the trust and thanks from her customers and fellow shopkeepers she has completely removed her curse. While not specifically given a "title" for her capabilities, Kuroe's original curse was that she would attempt to leech energy from her owner night after night weakening the person little by little until he/she dies. This was done by cutting off short bits of the owner's hair (along with part of their life energy through the curse) and absorbing it. In the Light Novels she can use her hair to put life energy into wounds healing them as long as they're not too deep or severe but needs to replenish the energy used. This doesn't instantly heal the wound but significantly increases the speed and efficiency of healing. Hence a severe wound would require more life energy than she can provide without tapping into her own life energy. She recharges by running a (very popular) salon where she cuts peoples hair and then feeds on the residual life energy inherent in the cut hair after closing, partly to keep her life energy up and partly because she finds the hair delicious. (e.g. unlike the curse which drains more life energy into the cut hair, this is only the life energy that the hair itself contained like body warmth as it's still LIVING hair. If she waited a few weeks there wouldn't be any energy or 'warmth' because the hair would be dead since it wasn't connected to a live person for awhile.) This way she can completely refill her energy without creating victims. Kuroe can be very perverted at times, especially in her practical jokes, as the time she intruded on Haruaki and Fear with a video camera thinking they were having sex (Haruaki was actually putting an Indulgence Disk into Fear in cube form at the time.) Although she does have feelings for Haruaki too, it's more as family and she isn't acting on it and is encouraging Kirika instead.

Taishuu High School

Gabriel Sekaibashi (世界橋 ガブリエル, Sekaibashi Gaburieru)

Voiced by: Shūichi Ikeda

The eccentric superintendent of Taishuu High School who wears a gas mask over his face for unknown reasons. Gabriel constantly spins different stories as to why he wears the mask, but Fear and Shiraho just think he's perverted. Volume 8 of the Light Novels reveals the reason he wears the mask along with the fact that he feels nervous without it after having worn it for so long. He is a busy person, allowed the freedom to do many things besides show up to run the school. Usually he is off on travel and rarely in the office. When first seen in Vol. 2 he had only gotten back to the school at 11:00 am, and had to catch a flight on another trip that afternoon; he would return in a week. His interest is in collecting what he thinks are cursed objects, however he claims that Haruaki's father is far ahead of him in identifying them. He is currently looking for a way to heal and bring back to life a destroyed Cursed Tool due to a past incident with the Draconians. This prompts him to go on numerous trips seeking Cursed Tools but usually getting junk as he can't identify whether something is a Cursed Tool or not. Due to the incident his health is poor so while he can do one strong attack he's completely wiped out and would be unable to do anything other than walk away after the one attack. Zenon and her sister have been his subordinates since before the incident. He is very skilled with throwing things and seems to have a lot of clout and pull with important people in the city.

Zenon Houjou (北条 漸音, Hōjō Zenon)

Voiced by: Ai Orikasa

The superintendent's secretary who manages the office when he is absent. She has a deadpan personality. However, she has a soft spot for cute things, as her cellphone ringtone is a jingle in the series' fictional children's show called "Meow Meow Paradise Hell". She has a strong interest in cute things, especially outfits, whether for herself or someone else (like Fear or Sovereignty) and tries to hide this from others. Unfortunately for her, her figure and appearance is better suited for mature, serious, business type outfits rather than cute things. She is skilled with throwing knives and was also involved with Gabriel's incident with the Draconians. A running gag involves her letter of resignation. In the first example, after the trunk she had custody of proved empty, Gabriel mused about docking her pay, but since he had a camera handy proposed taking a picture of her smiling instead. She then pulled a Letter of Resignation with intent to use it, and declared that her severance pay could be swinging her fist at him. Gabriel declared he was just joking, and she put the letter back in her pocket. She is aware of the existence of Cursed Tools along with the fact that Konoha, Fear and Sovereignty are Cursed Tools as well as Kirika's and Izoey's involvement with Lab Chief's Nation.

Ganon Houjou (北条 ガノン, Hōjō Ganon)

Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi

The (incredibly lazy) school nurse of Taishuu High School, who is Zenon's sister. Has developed her own method of fighting that resembles Drunken Mastery which makes it seem she is doing one thing while actually doing the exact opposite such as appearing to be withdrawing while actually attacking and vice versa. Likes to sleep and drink while finding any activity to be too bothersome and tiring. Although when need be she can actually be reliable occasionally such as giving Haruaki a 10,000 Yen bill (about $100 in US,) calling a taxi and giving him Kirika's address after she fainted. Like her sister she is aware of the existence of Cursed Tools along with the fact that Konoha, Fear and Sovereignty are Cursed Tools as well as Kirika's and Izoey's involvement with Lab Chief's Nation.

Shiraho Sakuramairi (桜参 白穂, Sakuramairi Shiraho)

Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō

A former talented performer in a famous theatrical group whose family owns an antique shop. She is lonely and cold-hearted and likens herself to a 'doll', but after Sovereignty addressed her during one of her wanderings in the antique shop she takes a liking to him, asking from the first "Can dolls fall in love?". In the novel, volume 2, she is first seen at the door of an empty classroom. Haruaki, Konoha and Fear mistake her for Sovereignty, and she chooses to use that mistake to her advantage. She was found out when Haruaki and Fear check her medical form at the school nurse's office. Shiraho was enrolled but never attended classes at Haruaki's high school up until Sovereignty got his/her Killing Organ destroyed. After that, as part of the punishment for all the trouble they caused she has to attend school normally. Due to skipping school for so long she's failing everything initially and is reluctantly studying with the others to get her grades up. While her grades are terrible she is a top class actress who can capture an audience's attention with her exceptional performance even if she had no time to prepare or rehearse beforehand. Her personality is still cold from being treated as a doll by her mother to perform on stage, being highly praised for performances she put minimal effort into, and talks like she is a doll and humans are beneath her. Although she has lightened up somewhat and able to talk to Haruaki's group fairly normally, it's still with scathing remarks and treating Haruaki as a miserable excuse for a human whose only value to the world would be dying ASAP. However, while grateful for their help she finds the group extremely irritating for interrupting her time alone with Sovereignty. This shows when she helps the group, muttering numerous protests and complaints, but pitches in if she truly is needed, albeit almost always at Sovereignty's behest. However, if there is a fight and she and Sovereignty can only hinder and not help she'll make an excuse or protest about helping further, grab Sovereignty, and leave. The main reason she's willing to talk or help them is because Sovereignty likes them and her own gratitude for the times they helped Sovereignty. She still loves and lives with Sovereignty despite the curse still being present. Even though Sovereignty's curse makes the owner fall in love with him/her she doesn't want to relinquish ownership so her love for Sovereignty won't decrease at all in case some or all of her love for Sovereignty is from the curse. She is one of the few female characters of Haruaki's age group not head over heels in love with him. Although it's hard to tell if she really hates him as much as she says or thinks of him as a friend as she conscripted his help on a few occasions rather than somebody else. However she feels about Haruaki, her one true love is Sovereignty.

Sovereignty (サヴェレンティ, Saverenti)

Voiced by: Yuka Iguchi

Her/his true name is Sovereignty-Perfection-Doll. An androgynous cursed doll (which Shiraho refers to as a male) whose curse causes his/her owner to fall in love with him/her unto death. Is able to appear as a beautiful boy (with a feminine influence) or a cute girl with (B-C cup?) breasts. Sovereignty says the female form can decrease and increase the size of her breasts by having them rubbed, and in the Light Novel used this on self the first time Haruaki and the rest witnessed Sovereignty change from male to female. She/he possesses a killing mechanism called Killing Organ with blades hidden in her/his body, specially designed to activate only when the Killing Organ detects a certain level of love from the owner which activates "Last Embrace." Last Embrace is where Sovereignty unwillingly embraces his/her owner while numerous blades pop out to kill the owner. This was because his/her creator had wanted to create the most perfect doll for any owner, (hence the ability to switch genders as some people prefer female dolls and others male dolls for various reasons) but before finishing went insane and included the Killing Organ and blades in order to have the "perfect doll" bring a conclusive "end" to the romance between doll and owner. While she/he is able to resist the urge to kill somewhat, it gets harder and harder the more love between the two exists until she/he can't stop the Killing Organ from killing the owner. Sovereignty is able to confuse the Killing Organ somewhat by taking the strong feelings of love from others causing the victims to faint and suffer a condition similar to anemia, although being with or touching the person they love speeds their recovery. Sovereignty also has the ability to control "replicas of life". Sovereignty sometimes does it by declaring: "I speak with sovereign right. All models of life are my subjects. Obey! Obey me!" This can control anything vaguely humanoid, whether a bent bedframe, Cursed Tool in Human Form (if the Tool cooperates and doesn't resist,) straw dolls, skeleton and anatomical models, puppets, etc. It is unknown whether Sovereignty can control replicas of humans, since Sovereignty didn't attempt to control the replicas of Alice Vivolio created with the Suicidal Beautification Mirror. Sovereignty can also control replicas of life without the declaration.

Konoha used her special ability to destroy the Killing Organ and break all the knives after Fear staged a performance in order to fully draw out all of the knives. Afterwards Sovereignty still loves and lives with Shiraho. Sovereignty is still cursed. As feelings of love accumulate Sovereignty must embrace Shiraho. With the Killing Organ excised it is not fatal, and the curse is sufficiently satisfied that Sovereignty can let go, instead of embracing Shiraho forever. Shiraho calls it a curse to hug. The Superintendent's requirement for Sovereignty is that she must work as the Secretary's (Zenon's) Assistant, doing and wearing what Zenon directs; her first job is to dress as a maid and serve tea treats. In the anime she is a major klutz. In the Light Novels she shows a mix of klutz and poise, tripping and falling on her face while serving tea treats, yet holding onto the tray so that only one cream puff was lost. Because of her job she is obliged to be female on the job and at school. She apparently carries the obligation over to her dealings with Haruaki's household. During a side story with a stalker it seems that while Sovereignty loves Shiraho most, s/he might also be developing feelings for Haruaki as well.

Taizo Hakuto (伯途 泰造, Hakuto Taizō)

Voiced by: Takuma Terashima

Haruaki's friend and classmate. While not as eccentric as Kana, Taizo gets extremely jealous when he discovers Fear is living with Haruaki. Has a bit of a crush on Konoha and completely unaware of the existence of Cursed Tools. Is one of the judges for Haruaki's and Kirika's lunch battles.

Kana Miyama (実耶麻 渦奈, Miyama Kana)

Voiced by: Kana Asumi

Kana is another classmate of Haruaki. She takes an instant liking to Fear, constantly obsessing over her like she's a cute animal. Kana served as class captain of the dance team for the upcoming sports festival. She is completely unaware of the existence of Cursed Tools much less the fact that Fear and Konoha are Cursed Tools. She is one of the judges for Haruaki's and Kirika's lunch battles.

Antagonists

Peavey Barowoi (ピーヴィー・バロヲイ, Pīvī Barōi)

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara

Known as the Balancing Toy, Peavey is a member of the Battlefront Collection Knights. Because of a traumatic childhood experience Peavey became a masochistic, violent woman. In the novels it involved her father bringing home a cursed whip from an antique store. In the anime it involved a serial killer slaughtering her family with a Wathe (later revealed to be Ueno's "River of Black Strings"). Her only goal in life is to destroy all cursed tools, hence why she joined the Battlefront Collection Knights. Even Mummy Maker states that Peavey has by far the most hatred for Cursed Tools out of anyone in the organization. She has a habit of calling out Bitch and is a heavy smoker. Peavey is eventually captured by Ueno after she attacks Haruaki and company for the second time. She is the principal antagonist of the novel volume 1. Her first weapon is a powerful machine armor for her arms that's similar to a Cursed Tool, but not cursed that greatly increases her arm strength so she can smash concrete with one punch, however, using causes severe damage to her arms in the process. Also, it's extremely heavy causing her to wobble when moving earning her the nickname "Balancing Toy." The second weapon after losing an arm and half the armor is a Cursed Tool called "Dance Time." It's an Ax that can replicate every swing or blow it's ever made, or make illusions to strike different blows at the same time as the real one. However, it keeps swinging on its own once it starts on its own and requires it to be used to murder someone before its special abilities can be used. In the Light Novels and Anime Peavey only uses it as a last resort but is so sickened mentally using it that she has to pause to throw up a few times.

Amanda Carlot (アマンダ・カーロット, Amanda Kārotto) aka Mummy Maker (マミーメーカー, Mamī Mēkā)

Voiced by: MAKO

An Auxiliary who often speaks like a machine, Mummy Maker aids Peavey in her missions. She is attired in a bandage, like a mummy, wearing a mantle over it. The bandage is a worst called 'chupacabra bandage' and has wound-closing healing powers, but at the cost of painfully sucking blood from the persons bandaged. Mummy-maker has burns over half her body because her parents had locked her in a closet while setting the house on fire for the insurance money. After being rescued her mother tried to strangle her in the hospital screaming "Why didn't you die, now we can't collect on the Insurance!" In return for affection Peavey showed her she attempted to convince Haruaki to either turn over Fear to the Battlefront Collection Knights, or to not interfere when Peavey returns to destroy her. This was all to protect Peavey, the first person to ever treat her kindly as most people are sickened or afraid to get near her due to her burns. After being tricked over Amanda's intentions Peavey kills her in a rage, claiming there is no compromise and that she will have revenge. In the Light Novels it's discovered that while on the brink of death, Amanda survived but is broken mentally.

Alice Vivolio Basskreigh (アリス・ビブオーリオ・バスクリッハ, Arisu Bibuōrio Basukurihha)

Voiced by: Rie Tanaka

Alice, also known as the "Mother of Canonical" or "Matriarch", is the founder of the Vivolio Family, an organization that adores the curses of the Wathe and believes that they were saved by Wathe. And to affirm a Wathe's existence it shouldn't hold back on embracing their curses or any impulses they have, even if it results in death. If a Wathe's curse drives someone mad it should happily drive them mad, if they have urges or hatred they should act on them without holding back even if it means killing or torturing someone to death. In fact, the members embrace this so much that they consider it an honor to sacrifice their lives to Wathe and are even willing to help secure victims according to a Wathe's preferences. Alice originally hoped to talk Kuroe into joining the Vivolio family, but after she discovers Fear in Cube she turns her attention to making Fear join the Vivolio family instead. Alice carries two cursed tools: Carnival Cooker and Suicidal-Beautification-Mirror. The Carnival Cooker, in spite of its name, more closely resembles a combined butcher's knife and meat tenderizer. It can remember any action it has taken and repetitively reenact the process again, in a very rapid succession that almost overwhelms Fear. The Mirror has three uses: the ability to make the user beautiful, render a target immobile and create countless clones of the owner and anything they're carrying (except the mirror.) The drawbacks to using the mirror is that Alice must cut herself on the wrist every once in a while, and the clones only last for 10 minutes from the moment they came into being. The drawback to Carnival Cooker is that since it was used to chop up and cook human bodies, its curse forces the user to want to kill and eat people. Alice often hides Carnival Cooker inside a massive viola, as she claims it would attract too much attention from the police if she walked around with it in the open. She has no conscience as she is the owner of Abyss (true form a large cross,) aka the Patriarch, whose curse completely suppresses the conscience of his owner allowing them to do anything they desire without reservations or guilt.

Another member of the Family is Kururi Nikaidou, a young female juvenile delinquent murderer possessing a knife wathe. She was picked up by Abyss and joined the family off-stage during volume 3 / anime episode 12. She is first seen in volume 4 chapter 2 part 3 & in cameo in anime episode 12.

Sunao Himura (日村 素直, Himura Sunao)

Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki

Math teacher at the school and homeroom teacher of Shiraho's class 7. Also a member of the Laboratory Emirate and Kirika Ueno's partner. He often uses his superior position to torment Ueno by constantly goading and flirting with her, much to her disgust. Most confrontations between the two usually lead to Ueno hitting him or nearly choking him to death with her River of Black Strings. It's later revealed that he is literally obsessed with Kirika and had gained her trust and respect before snapping and doing something terrible to betray that trust and respect. His original mission was to observe and record Haruaki's attempts to dispel the curses on Wathe, and the actions of Haruaki and Konoha in school. He installed a multitude of surveillance devices in Haruaki's and Shiraho's homes. Kirika insists that he disable the ones in Shiraho's home.

Himura possesses a Wathe called "He in the Bastille" (named after the first person to use it), which is a large helmet that can render the user and one other person imperceptible. Whether it is sight, sound, smell, touch or taste when activated the user isn't detected. However, its curse causes the user to become more and more imperceptible after each use even when not wearing the Wathe. Like their presence or acknowledgement of their existence fades away from everybody's, including the user, perception. So extensive use would cause the user to forget their own existence. In the Light novels it's noted by all the students that he has very little presence at all. As time passes he tries to make Kirika his in various ways such as blackmail and trying to get Haruaki killed without revealing any connections to the deed.

Himura and Ueno work for Kirika Ueno's older brother, who has vainly renamed himself Yamimagari Pakuaki and runs a institute that researches cursed tools. Yamimagari Pakuaki and his assistant Un Izoey are first seen in volume 5 of the novel and in cameo in the closing scenes of anime episode 12. Yamimagari Pakuaki is well aware of Himura exceeding his authority, and in volume 5 changes assignments and reduces Himura's authority. He says that he will assign another worker, partly to replace Kirika and partly to watch Himura.

Media

Light novels

No.	Release date	ISBN
01	September 10, 2007	978-4-8402-3975-2
02	January 10, 2008	978-4-8402-4143-4
03	April 10, 2008	978-4-04-867023-4
04	August 10, 2008	978-4-04-867178-1
05	December 10, 2008	978-4-04-867422-5
06	March 10, 2009	978-4-04-867597-0
07	July 10, 2009	978-4-04-867899-5
08	November 10, 2009	978-4-04-868143-8
09	March 10, 2010	978-4-04-868397-5
10	September 10, 2010	978-4-04-868879-6
11	April 10, 2011	978-4-04-870421-2
12	October 10, 2011	978-4-04-870957-6
13	December 10, 2011	978-4-04-886246-2
14	July 10, 2012	978-4-04-886707-8
15	October 10, 2012	978-4-04-886982-9
16	March 10, 2013	978-4-04-891433-8
17	June 7, 2013	978-4-04-891677-6

Manga

Very little information is known about the manga adaption. The series started in late 2011, and is complete with a total of 3 volumes.

Anime

An anime television adaptation of C³ was announced in the April 2011 issue of ASCII Media Works's Dengeki AnimeStyle pamphlet. The series was produced by StarChild and Silver Link under the direction of Shin Ōnuma with Michiko Yokote as script supervisor. The opening theme song for the 8 first episodes is "Endless Story" performed by Yukari Tamura and the ending theme song is "Hana" (雪華, "Snow Flower") performed by Eri Kitamura. From episode 9 onwards, the opening theme is "Shirushi" (紋, "Sign") by Eri Kitamura and the ending theme is "Sympathy of Love" by Yukari Tamura. Funimation licensed the series in North America.

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No.	Title	Original airdate

External links

• Anime official website Template:Ja icon
• C³ (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia