Monkey Shines

* Anime
* Manga

The Monkey Shines are creatures of the Otherside that haunts the train that is always passing by the Kisaragi Station.

## Appearance

The Monkey Shines are described as terrifying ape-like creatures covered in dark, black fur that were using pliers, knives, and electrical tools to brutally kill the passengers of the "Meat Train", which periodically arrives at Kisaragi Station.

## Background

The Monkey Shines are only seen on the trains that arrive periodically at Kisaragi Station. The first characters to encounter them were the US Marines of the Palehorse Battalion. Upon reach the Station, the Marines initially took shelter there until the arrival of the first train, from which a number of Monkey Shines exited and killed several of the Marines. It is implied that at that point, the Marines had only been in the Otherside a short period of time, and as such were not sufficiently "aligned" with the Otherside, meaning their small arms fire had no effect on the Monkey Shines. After this incident, the Marines dubbed the trains that arrive in Kisaragi station the "Meat Trains", and set up a camp some distance from the station, avoiding spending extended periods of time near the station.

After Sorawo Kamikoshi and Toriko Nishina ventured into the Otherside and encountered the Palehorse Battalion, and became involved in an incident where Sorawo killed the Face Dogs, the train arrived and Sorawo recognized the urban legend associated with it and realized it traversed between the Otherside and the "normal world". Using Toriko's ability to touch Otherside entities, she was able to board the train, briefly witnessing the Monkey Shines killing the passengers before escaping.

At some point after Sorawo and Toriko's escape using the train, Sergeant Major Greg, a soldier of the Palehorse Battalion, having been rendered mentally unstable spending an extended period of time in the Otherside, led a force of Marines on a counterattack against the train before any of the higher-ranking officers could stop him. Greg managed to rig the train tracks with explosives and detonate them as the train passed. The train was derailed by the explosion, and Sergeant Major Greg presumably killed a number of Monkey Shines in combat, proving that, after spending extended periods of time in the Otherside, humans could be come "attuned" with the Otherside (albeit at the expense of their mental health), allowing them to harm Otherside entities with conventional weaponry. Greg was, however, eventually overrun and killed by the Monkey Shines exiting the train, however, after the incident, the Monkey Shines were never encountered by the Marines again.

The destroyed remains of the train and the tracks were seen by Sorawo and Toriko when they returned to the station in order to rescue the Palehorse Battalion from the Otherside.

## Lore

The Monkey Shines are based on *“Enmu”* (Monkey Dream) posts that first appeared in *“Shinu Hodo Share ni Naranai Kowai Hanashi wo Atsumete Minai?”* (Do You Want to Gather Ridiculously Scary Stories?). It is a story about a man who is aware that he is in a dream and found himself in a deserted, dimly-lit railway station. After a cryptic announcement, a train stopped in the station. However, it looked more like an amusement park-like rollercoaster or a monkey train found in a zoo. There were passengers in the cars and their faces were very pale.

Curious about his dream, he chose to ride the train in the third car. He suddenly felt uncomfortably wary and began to wonder if he's actually dreaming.

When the train began to move, the horror had begun. He saw four hunchback midgets dressed in rags surrounding their victim. The dwarfs were wearing monkey masks and brandishing large, sharp knives. They began cutting the victim to pieces, filling the air with the overwhelming stench of blood and screams. The man forced himself to wake up, as it was his turn, and was about to be grinded by the dwarfs. He woke up before it happened, escaping the nightmare. Four years later he had the same dream, but before he woke up, he heard the announcer saying he wouldn't get away the next time.

## References

1. ↑ Monkey Dream Scaryforkids.com
2. ↑ Monkey Dream Plus kowabana.net