Josephine is a large tanuki statue bought by Anastasia Yngling shortly after her arrival in Death City. It is her favorite purchase of her time in the city. Anya is also the one who named it.[1]
Description[]
Josephine is a statue that is almost as tall as its owner and a lot broader. It depicts a tanuki standing on its hind legs. It has a hat held on with rope tied under under its chin, a flask of sake in its left paw, and a promissory note in its right paw. Anastasia pretty much decided she had to have it the moment she saw it. At the high price of $1,200, what Anastasia had left of her weekly allowance was not enough to obtain the statue and so she traded in her family crest brooch for it without hesitation and without ever regretting it.[1] Some time later, Anastasia and her roommates noted there was an odd similarity between the statue and their dormitory neigbor Kim Diehl, but they kept it to themselves out of fear of angering her.[2] Ironically enough, Anya chose to dress up Josephine as a witch during Halloween.[3]
Trivia[]
- Josephine is only named in the anime. The statue does not receive a name in the manga.
- Japanese folklore regarding tanuki holds that the males of the species have a huge scrotum. This imagery is a central part of tanuki symbolism, representing financial fortune, so that male tanuki are generally the only tanuki ever depicted. This is the basis of the joke in episode 2 of the Soul Eater NOT! anime when Tsugumi glances at the statue's scrotum after Anya calls it Josephine. Not only does Anya evidently fail to recognize a rather obvious part of the statue, but it also once more highlights her cultural naivity, while Tsugumi, either by being Japanese or by being a commoner, is aware of what details are to be expected in a tanuki statue.
- There's eight traits total that Japanese tanuki statues typically have and that Josephine too possesses. One is that above-mentioned large scrotum for financial luck. The other seven are a hat as an object of protection, big eyes to perceive and make sound decisions, a sake bottle that represents virtue, a big tail that provides steadiness and strength, a promissory note that stands for trust, a big belly that symbolizes decisiveness, and a friendly smile.