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Kari sick 3372
Cquote1
"The first [witch], by name Asha, was sick of a malady no Healer could cure. She hoped that the Fountain would banish her symptoms and grant her a long and happy life."
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The ill girl is almost inevitably a sympathetically cute girl[1]. The disease can be anything from anemia to organ failure. Smart writers avoid such specifics, making it a Soap Opera Disease. It will never disfigure or impair her cuteness, but usually prompts an older brother or sister figure into shady business to help pay the medical bills. Or prompts them to rush into some dangerous/brave deed while she cheers them on.

A common cliche is the character being sick in autumn, noticing leaves falling off a tree by the window, with the prediction/hope she'll at least stay alive long enough to see the last one fall. This is taken from the O. Henry story "The Last Leaf".

This character type is probably indirectly descended from the Western romantic "consumptive heroine" (most recently seen in the form of Nicole Kidman's "Satine" in the film Moulin Rouge).

Only occasionally related to Definitely Just a Cold. See also Littlest Cancer Patient, Bandage Babe, Too Good for This Sinful Earth, Incurable Cough of Death, Utsuge and Soap Opera Disease.


Subpages[]


Mixed Examples[]

Anime and Manga[]

  • In The Twelve Kingdoms, the holy beasts named kirin choose each of the rulers for the realms. If said king or queen doesn't do well and the land suffers, the kirin get struck with a fatal illness named shitsudou, manifesting itself via Facial Markings and physical weakness that quickly kills them and, some time later, kills the ruler too. Only the full redemption (which has never happened) or the Redemption Equals Death ( Joukaku of Kei and Shishou of Sai) of the sovereign can save them from death. Kirins of both genders (Hourin, Kourin and Sairin are females; Keiki is male) have gotten it due to their masters's mistakes or madnesses: Sairin and Keiki got better, Hourin and Kourin did not.
  • Gangsta has the Twilight, a group of people who will die of either their congenital illnesses or of drug overdoes (coming form the drugs to keep said illnesses at bay) before turning 30. If they have children with normal humans, they're called the Hagure and are still ill, but the sympthoms will be somewhat less severe and may live until their late 40's.

Fan Works[]

  • In Lucky For Hope, we have this with several characters: Mako, who is slowly dying from DTR (Deteriorating Tremor Rebounds); Gamagoori who has a form of leukemia (which doesn't have any obvious symptoms); Nonon, who, although not sick per se, is suffering the side effects of clinical trials; and Uzu, who seems to either be ill with something or the treatment thereof affected his breathing and eyes (his eyes are described as "smoky" and he has breathing tubes in his nose).
  • In Distance, we have Sakura, who has leukemia, and Deidara, who is dying of a terminal illness.

Video Games[]

  • The quarians from Mass Effect are an entire species of Ill People. Since their forced exile from their homeworld 300 years before the events of the games, quarian immune systems (which were already weaker than those other species) have deteriorated to the point that all quarians must wear environmental suits at all times just so they don't die. Every quarian Shepard meets in the games--from Wrench Wench party member Tali'Zorah to Badass marine Kal'Reegar to the valley girl complaining about her boyfriend on Illium--is one suit breach away from potentially deadly sickness. That said, they don't appreciate the stereotype:
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  "I'm not gonna die from an infection in the middle of a battle. That's just insulting!”

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  • The main characters of Narcissu are a terminally ill boy and girl. The prequel adds two more ill girls to the cast, one of them an eight-year-old orphan. And the third game... let's just say the whole series pretty much revolves around this trope.

Web Original[]

  • Iriana Estchell fits the typical characteristics, but she's not EXACTLY sick. However, she only has a handful of non-artificial organs and is very limited in the physical activities she's capable of doing, and will definitely go into a coma after five minutes outside. Why? Because she was made for the sole purpose of being the titular mech's pilot, without the intent of ever leaving it. Her body IS capable of regeneration mostly as a side-effect of her internal recycling so as to not require nutrients, but her source of energy is the mech. Without her battery, she's essentially immortal inside her Ilivais, but if she stays out too long, she'll eventually die.

Footnotes[]

  1. though lately, more and more handsome males are taking up the role