This paper examines the transcultural adaptation of the Brothers Grimm’s Cinderella in the Cinderella-focused episode of the Japanese anime anthology The Grimm Variations (Netflix, 2024). Employing a comparative transcultural framework informed by theories of intertextuality, cultural translation, and affect, the study investigates how Grimm folklore is transformed as it is relocated from nineteenth-century German Märchen traditions into a Japanese setting situated around the turn of the twentieth century, a period marked by cultural transition. The episode situates its characters within a world where traditional kimono coexists with emerging Western-style clothing, visually foregrounding Japan’s negotiation between inherited customs and imported modernity. Particular attention is given to the reconfiguration of the Cinderella figure into Kiyoko, whose characterization is shaped by grief, vengeance, and psychological fragmentation. The introduction of a Japanese doll traditionally given to girls’ functions as a culturally specific symbol of memory, attachment, and emotional containment, embedding Japanese practices of girlhood within the imaginative space of a German fairy tale. This transformation disrupts the moral clarity, narrative closure, and didactic function typically associated with the Grimm version, replacing them with ambiguity and emotional unease. While the episode retains recognizable motifs such as familial conflict, punishment, and metamorphosis, these elements are reframed through Japanese Gothic sensibilities that emphasize repression and enduring trauma. Ultimately, the series illustrates how horror aesthetics can serve as a site of transcultural dialogue between Germany and Japan, revealing the enduring adaptability and global resonance of Grimm’s fairy-tale imagination.

Authors:
Kyung Lee Gagum, Midwestern State University Texas, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Kyung Lee Gagum is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Midwestern State University Texas in United States

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