Kowabana Encyclopedia: Crunch Crunch

Found in: Kowabana 34: Dreams that kill

It might sound like a strange name, but “crunch crunch” refers to a creature that appears in people’s dreams and attempts to kill them. If you die in your dream, then you die in real life as well. Beware…

In Japanese, it’s known as “Baribari,” which can be translated numerous ways, one of which is a vigorous crunching sound. After discovering what the creature does, well, the name shouldn’t be too surprising.

The narrator tells us that after seeing the “Monkey Dream” story, he was reminded of a dream he himself had that was similar but different. In the dream, he was back in junior high, and because everything was so quiet, he was quite aware he was dreaming.

As he walked down the halls, he reminisced on how he spent a lot of time in the toilet as a student due to stomach troubles. And then, next thing he knows, he’s sitting on the toilet and wondering what he’s doing there. Hearing a sound in his jacket pocket as he looks around, he pulls out a piece of paper with just one thing written messily all over it. “Baribari,” or “crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch.”

But then, he hears that exact same sound coming from the next stall. Peering over the top, he notices a girl who looks exactly like Hanako-san, and that crunching sound is her chowing down on a fresh severed head.

The narrator takes off, realising he’s on the third floor, and runs all the way down to the first. There, he again sees something strange. A boy standing by some shoe boxes missing a leg, a girl in Japanese-style clothing next to him, and all sorts of yokai-looking creatures around the place. They look evil, but they don’t seem to care much about the narrator.

After trying several doors, all locked, he finally finds one that’s locked on the inside and thus he’s able to get out. “I did it! I’m safe!” he screams, but that’s an odd thing to say, right? He realises he’s had this dream before, and that piece of paper he found in his pocket was something he himself wrote previously. A type of warning should he end up in this dream again.

He recalls that the last time he had this dream, he woke up upon exiting the door. But this time, he’s still here. There’s a fence to his right with a section cut out like a door, but unlike in real life where it was always open, now it’s padlocked shut. How is he supposed to escape?!

Looking up, the narrator sees the crunching creature looking down at him from the toilets. Remembering a gate the lunch truck used to come through, he decides to try his luck there. He has to be quick though. That creature is on his tail and she’s fast. Fast enough to catch up almost in an instant from just 50 metres away.

Luckily, he reaches the gate and throws himself out. He did it. He’s safe again. Turning around, the crunching creature is right there. She reaches out for him, and then speaks. “Huh. I thought I’d get you this time.”

Awake and drenched in sweat, the narrator looks for something to write his dream down. Finding a notebook, he’s shocked when he opens it. Again, the last page is covered in just one thing. “Baribari.” “Crunch crunch crunch crunch.”

The first time he had the dream, he felt like he escaped easily. But each time after that has been getting harder and harder. The dream goes on for longer, and the crunching creature gets closer. He fears that the next time he has the dream, that’ll be it. If you ever happen to see a newspaper article talking about a man who died in his sleep, well, he fears that might be him.

From this story, we’re able to put together a few certain facts. The dream takes place in the narrator’s old junior high, and in particular, he first runs into the creature in the toilets. She also looks just like Hanako-san of the Toilet, so she has a short bob cut and presumably the same red and white outfit as well. And while in the toilet, you can hear her making a loud crunching sound as she chews on a human head. Delicious.

But the narrator also realises that he’s had this dream several times before. He tends to forget about it afterwards, but it’s not entirely wiped from his memory. It just takes some time to come back, and so to help himself, he wrote a note he’d be able to find with the “baribari” or “crunch crunch” all over it. A hint as to the creature he’s running from.

It’s also evident that each time the dream takes place, it’s slightly different. The narrator mentions the front doors all being locked except for the last one, meaning he likely used those to escape previous dreams (cuing his “I did it! I’m safe!” statement each time). To stop him escaping the next time, the crunching creature locks them. She’s intelligent. She recognises the changes and takes measures to stop it from happening the next time.

She’s also incredibly fast, covering a distance of 50 metres in just moments. And if she catches you, well, it’s probably a safe guess from her name, and how the narrator finds her, that she takes your head and then proceeds to (“crunch crunch”) devour it. And when you die in the dream, you die in the real world too. Just like Monkey Dream.

So, if you ever find yourself in a familiar, nostalgic setting with a strange crunching sound taking place nearby, beware. It might not be the first time you’ve had this dream, but chances are high it might be the last…