| “ | Red paper or blue paper..? | „ |
| ~ Aka Manto's request |
Aka Manto (Red Cape/赤マント) is an Japanese urban legend, according to what it was written, Aka Manto is a ghost who haunts bathroom stalls; usually the last stall of all the stalls.
Appearance
Often described as a beautiful man in life and hounded constantly by admirers, he supposedly wears a mask to hide his face.
Story
Aka Manto hides in bathroom stalls (usually the last one) and if someone enters the bathroom stall that Aka Manto is hiding in A mysterious voice will ask him or her if they want red or blue toilet paper.
If the person answers that they want red toilet paper, he or she will be sliced apart until their clothes turn completely red with blood.
If the person answers that they want blue one, he or she will be strangled until their face turns blue.
Any attempt to outsmart Aka Manto by asking for a different color will result in them being dragged to the hell (netherworld) by Hanako-San, Aka Manto's assistant.
How to Escape Aka Manto
Ignoring him or replying that you do not need any paper will make him go away as he will see he has failed to get you to want some of his toilet paper.
Alternate Version(s)
Aka Manto is sometimes referred to as Aoi Manto (Blue Cape/青マント).
Sometimes the voice will ask them if they want a cape rather than paper. If they agree to red, the skin on their back is ripped off to resemble a red cape. If they ask for blue, all the blood is drained from their body.
One popular version of the story changes the question if one would like to wear a red vest or red shirt; answering affirmatively allegedly results in being decapitated so that the victim's upper clothing is stained red.
Another version of the story says that if they ask for a yellow cloak, they will have their head forced into the toilet they've just used but they will dead being drowned.
In Fiction
- The Aka Manto appears in an episode of the Ghost Stories and Ghost Hunt.
- Appears in the Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children video game series.
- Aka Manto appears as "A" in Hell Teacher Nūbē volume 4, chapter 24.
- Aka Manto is part of the supporting cast of Haunted Junction.
- The Aka Manto is also referenced in episode eleven of the anime series Little Busters!.
- In episode 6 of Kanamemo, Nakamichi Kana, while panicking on the toilet, is seen to repeatedly scream "a blue paper roll, a red paper roll, a yellow paper roll."
- The Aka Manto legend is transposed onto a modern setting in Maarten Groen and Nils Vleugels' 2015 short horror film "Arrêt Pipi".[1]
- A version of this legend is told in episode nine of the Fox comedy horror show Scream Queens.
- The Aka Manto is referenced in chapter 99 of the Gugure! Kokkuri-san manga.
- Aka Manto appears in Urban Legend in Limbo as Toyosatomimi no Miko's Urban Legend.
- Aka Manto appears in episode 37 of Urusei Yatsura, where he dances with Lum during a disco dancing contest.