Hisa and Yuka are two minor characters from the DreamWorks•Apple TV+ series, Curses!. They appear in the episode "The Japanese Painting".
Background[]
Hisa and Yuka are twin sisters. Both are young, Japanese women with black hair. They share a talent for painting unmatched by anyone but each other.
Role in the Series[]
Hisa and Yuka lived in Japan during the Sengoku period. From young age the two girls practiced on their painting skills, but while both clearly had talent, Hisa was generally considered the better painter, being renowned far and wide. As kids, the girls would playfully challenge each other and keep each other sharp, but as they grew up this changed into bitter rivalry. This came to a head when the Shogun challenged them both to a painting contest, where the winner would be declared the best painter in the land. Hisa made an incredible painting of the Shogun. Yuka, knowing she could never top this, destroyed the painting and thus won the contest. Enraged, Hisa made a deal with a Youkai, a Japanese evil spirit, to get revenge. The youkai gave her a hexed paintbrush, with which Hisa created a magic painting and trapped Yuka inside. She also several Noppera-bō in the painting to keep Yuka from escaping. Afterwards however, she regretted her actions, but rather than undo the curse, the Youkai trapped Hisa in the same painting as well. From that moment on, both sisters would be trapped in the prison created by their own envy, forever seperated by the Noppera-bō, with each of them having only a small house with a protective talisman as a safe place to hide in. This is the reason Hisa and Yuka vanished at a young age and their work is considered extremely rare in the present day.
In his time as a pirate, Larry stole several of their paintings. Most he sold on the black market, but he kept a few for personal use.
The cursed painting containing the girls eventually found its way into the collection of Cornelius Vanderhouven, and so did the hexed paintbrush.
In "The Japanese Painting", one of the Noppera-bō drags Pandora Vanderhouven into the painting and takes her place in the real world to search the paintbrush. In the painting, Pandora meets Hisa. They have some trouble communicating as Hisa only speaks Japanese. Both can hear what people outside the painting are saying, and Pandora learns the full history of Hisa and Yuka when Stanley tells Horus Vanderhouven and Sky Vanderhouven about it. Later in the episode, Larry is also send into the painting and ends up at Yuka's side. He crashes through the roof of Yuka's house. Larry is thrilled to meet Yuka, as he is a great fan of her work while Yuka is naturally scared by meeting a talking skull. Unfotunately, when he crashed into her house, Larry accidentally causes Yuka to lose her talisman, and the wind blows it to Hisa's house. Now nothing can keep the Noppera-bō from entering Yuka's house.
Pandora realizes Yuka is in danger. With some effort, she convinces Nisa to go see Yuka and make amends, comparing their falling out to the arguments she sometimes has with Russ. Pandora volunteers to distract the Noppera-bō, while at Yuka’s house Larry volunteers to do the same. Thanks to Pandora and Larry, the sisters reunite and this breaks the curse. All prisoners are released from the painting. Hisa and Yuka thank Pandora for her help before vanishing to an unknown place.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Both characters are voiced by the same voice actress; Sachiyo K. Both only speak in Japanese.
