#fumetsu monday

[thominospizza]

To Your Eternity: The Second Season Begins...

After months of avoiding the manga and waiting patiently to see where the journey of Fushi takes us, I actually ended up forgetting numerous times that it was coming back - coming back soon too. It's not because I didn't like the previous season but because of my nerves about where they were heading. Was I justified in being nervous? Let's find out how it went.

It has a pretty fucking harrowing beginning as an anonymous villager is mauled to death in a Nokkers attack in front of their child. So yeah. That's how it's going.

It comes back to Fushi who's body of the estranged inuit is now forty years older so he's aging pretty well all things considered. The sitrep is thus: DILF Fushi has been staying on the same island in which Pioran passed away. He's been surviving and getting to know the ocean a bit. They skip over him venturing into the sea world's life and getting to know the beings in the ocean which might've been fun but at the same time; we've probably seen everything we need to. He drowns as a crab and is chased off by a squid. Fushi's been living off of Nokkers meat which is metal as fuck.

It's an ongoing project now that the Nokkers have stopped bothering him. Fushi seems more pally with The Beholder despite still calling him "The Black Thing" but he informs Fushi that there's an attack going on elsewhere. It's too late to do anything about though which was mighty helpful. This is when we get...

This bitch.

It's a third generation descendant of Hayase who was left to definitely die off-camera after being left in the middle of the ocean with the Nokker ball. She's all nice and stuff but does have the ball shoved up her arm and is treating it like a pet leech. I can't remember her name but it's not important right now - probably. It may as well be Hayase.

The animé doesn't do a very good job of convincing you that she's actually nice and is not like Hayase at all. The attachment to Fushi is just bred into her and she wants to convince the immortal boy that she's out to 'protect him'. Sure. You can't believe anything she says for a moment.

And low and behold, she attempts the fucking Morning Glory poisoning thing on Fushi - twice - on their way to the Nokkers attack. He falls for it a second time which put little work into pissing me off no end. I don't understand the point in all this evolving in maturity if he's gonna fall for the same thing again. The same way too. Low and behold, Mini-Hayase prepares a grand greeting feast with all her spooky shadowy guards and he's out cold.

Tell you who doesn't fall for it though.

An ally for Fushi arrives to let him know that Hayase Jr. just wants to capture him. Yeah. No shit. But we walks right into it anyway. You don't know who these two people are but they inform Fushi that he's a hall-of-famer round these here parts. I'll skip to the end - it turns out the girl is Tonari who has built up a resistance to poison with perseverence. Not a doctor but I'll let it go.

It's still cool though and I'll tell you why:

I didn't really like Tonari. I mean, she's okay but I found the whole prison island arc with the zombies kinda lame. The last season had a really good sprint but was dragging it's bloated knuckles over the finish line with the inevitable end sloppily revealed in the opening sequence. A bloated cast of new characters that you couldn't find yourself attached to before they kicked the bucket. Whilst it was directed as beautifully as the rest of the show, it still landed as a damp squib.

Because of that same direction, I am emotionally invested in the seasoned veteran Tonari who is older, wiser and far cooler. That explorative angle will make her character and make the series. Well, I hope so anyway because if this series follows the same format as the last one with the central character dying at the end of the arc, I'm not gonna be a big fan.

The long and the short of it is that I'm glad that Fumetsu Mondays are back once again to grace my TV screen. I love watching this show and writing about it. Despite my complaints, I still love the way Brain's Base executes To Your Eternity.

I'll see you next week.

***1/2 / ***** - MAL: 7/10 - A Welcome Return

[thominospizza]

Finally: Some Evolution in To Your Eternity

I can't believe it. Stuff actually happened in this episode. It wasn't much but I would take week-old bread at this point. That's how dull this series has been so far.

Having said that though, I do feel like they committed to a drastic change in direction, presentation and writing of the Prince. I haven't bothered to learn his name and he doesn't really deserve it so we'll only refer to him as "Prince". Anyway, they have changed said prince in lieu of the flashback and, in order to explain what I mean, I have to spend the next few minutes sounding like an English Literature student.

This is a tactic deployed in writing on cinematic mediums to deliver an unearned poignancy through flashbacks when it's convenient for the narrative with the purpose of changing your mind on a character. A good example of an effective use of flashbacks is in Great Pretender. I could point to various flashbacks but I'd rather refer to their overall use of the narrative device.

Pretender uses flashbacks throughout to often echo what the characters are thinking in their head by showing us their memory. They all think about their past and they have good reason to. It's effective because they're all latching on to baggage from their childhood or teenaged years and their past is coming back to haunt them all in the present. In that sense, you're put in their shoes which isn't easy because there is only one protagonist. Abby, Makoto and Cynthia have all got shit on their mind and monkeys on their back that they need to shake off.

A bad example of this is in Re:ZERO so spoilers if you're yet to get around to the second part of the second series. So they try and make Otto interesting by introducing the fact that he can communicate with animals like Dr. Dolittle and as soon as they do, we're put through a fifteen-minute long flashback that explains this. This is a big no-no from me because the writer is effectively treating the audience like they're playing them in a card game by deploying a flashback card to try and win the game. This is opposed to treating your playing cards like you're a magician. You should be thinking about wowing and mystifying - entertaining. However, they just want you to feel unjustifiably bad about Otto even though as a character, he is fine the way he is.

Live footage of Re:ZERO fans reading negative criticism

Simply put, as a writer, you have to effectively plan out your character development and present it in a natural manner. It's particularly egregious in the case of the prince because the flashback seems to have nothing to do with they way he is acting now. They are just visually acknowledging that he can see the spirits that have passed to explain how he identified Fushi in the first place. I know all this stuff happened in the previous episode but I'm going somewhere with this.

For some reason, in this episode, he is acting completely differently with no real explanation at all. Sure, he is still flamboyant and show-offish but nowhere near as intensely irritating as before. The prince was arrogant, self-serving and demanding. Suddenly, he cares about Fushi, his well-being and his emotions after he was all for killing him in his initial episode. I could go on but my point is this: his change has happened for no reason. They have presented you with a backstory packaged in with an attempt at sympathy and an explanation for who he is. After said flashback is over and we return to the present, he is now acting in accordance with what the writers hope is your changed mind.

You can think this isn't important and you're probably right. It isn't important but what I would rather is that the same effort was put in to the storytelling that was ever present in the previous arcs. When I see/read/hear stuff like this, it just represents a loss of confidence in yourself to deliver compelling characters and your reader to be able to grasp the basics of story based on what you've delivered to them.

Anyway, the episode. It was fine overall. I just needed something to talk about because heaven knows I'm running out. It was probably the best episode yet but that isn't really saying much. There was actual plot progression. I liked that Fushi's concept and perception of love was analysed based on what he has experienced and how Mr. Hayase is analysing Fushi himself in the story progression. You can feel the undercurrent of malicious sociopathy at any point in which he is interacting with or discussing Fushi.

Fushi is now able to regenerate life which is kind of a big deal but because of the nature of how they framed it, you can't really enjoy it. Hopefully, there's still time to feel some type of way about it. Fushi doesn't know about it and prince guy won't tell him because stupid plot reasons. It's not explained how he suddenly can do it but I trust that it will. Hayase Jr. asks Fushi to marry him but because animé is heteronormative (and this show has demonstrated it is no exception), it has to be written into the story that man-Hayase has to talk himself into Fushi being a woman because he likes dolls or something? So then, it's okay for him to pursue Fushi romantically? I get what they're doing but I don't care for it.

Oh yeah: There was a fight scene but it was over before it really went anywhere interesting.

I don't know really what to say other than what I've already written. It was fine. Hardly a return to form but it's sad to think about what I was writing about this show this time last season. Here is a taster:

"I simply cannot get over how good this was." - S1E1: The Last One "I love this very, VERY much." - S1E2: The Rambunctious Girl "This episode was incredible." - S1E3: A Small Evolution "The ending was a heartstopping conclusion, the likes of which I don’t think I’ve seen before." - S1E5: Those Who Follow

Now, I'm not saying that I'm entitled to the dizzying heights from yesteryear and that I should be expecting the animé to best itself week-on-week. I'm not even suggesting that this is a dramatic fall from grace from the once great highs of the first season because it was dropping off slightly towards the end. It's just been too long now.

I know you have it in you.

**1/4/***** (Two and a Quarter Stars) MAL: 5/10

[thominospizza]

To Your Eternity: Trying to Summarize my Thoughts and Feelings

This is the third attempt at writing this and I’m very quiickly realizing that getting my opinions together on To Your Eternity would be a little more complicated than I initially thought. For context, my prior effort was over 5,000 words long.

The following blogpost will contain spoilers and will probably be very long. It also isn’t written very well either (but I’m not writing it again).

Nihannah and Yanome

The parts where I’ve loved the series are the moments where the idea of Fushi’s character and situation is analysed in conjunction with the melodrama around him. It also helps when the story around him is interesting and exciting and frankly, that isn’t always the case. The trouble that I have with this series is that the first arc trumps the rest of the show in every possible way and, after the seventh episode, it struggles to top March’s storyline.

What I loved about the first six episodes was that it created surprise and intrigue constantly. The way they built the world of Nihannah and Yanome without revealing all too much was compelling and I always wanted to know more. I thoroughly enjoyed the way they concluded March’s story because it’s clear that the storytellers prized quality over quantity. The direction team understood how to reel you in and get you interested by grounding you in this universe with these characters in what is otherwise a fairly high-concept idea. Fushi’s growth and development is woven fantastically into the narrative and they somehow find a way for the audience to get behind the motivations of a mute baby trapped in a man or indeed a wolf’s body.

My Issues

I began to fall off with the animé in the second arc where the characters of Gugu and Rean are introduced. It started off quite well and you are somewhat, blindsided by the new direction. An antagonist is involved now - “the Nokkers” and Fushi confronts his creator. You are in a new setting. Things are interesting and surprising. The character of Gugu initially feels new and fresh in the universe and you don’t feel like you miss the former arc at all.

But when you get about four episodes in, the arc started to feel boring and directionless. From episode-to-episode, it feels like there is no plot developing and that there isn’t any real danger. Fushi is barely in it, in fact. It’s all about Gugu and Rean and the dynamic between their intertwined existance. I felt like there was too much Disney about the way the storyline was structured with folk falling out with each other. Fushi has some character development but it isn’t a great deal.

I don’t have too much venom for Gugu, Rean and the booze man in isolation but they do contribute toward the building blocks that turn an existential melodrama into a slice-of-life teen romance where an immortal man in the background summons pears sometimes.

The less said about the way in which the arc ends, the better.

The Prison Island

I think the Jananda Island one struggled a bit on all fronts and it’s easy to say that the pace was rushed or that it was structurally poor. However, on reflection, I think that those elements were the least of this arc’s problems.

As a viewer, I never really felt like I was on Jananda Island at any point. Advice that always sticks out in my mind whilst writing and improving my craft was that places need you, as a writer, to go to them and then deliver them to the reader. They never really delivered Jananda. it’s just a prison island with some vague religious influence but other than that, it’s a complete wasteland which would be fine. But they expect you to give several fucks about the place and it’s inhabitants because that is what is in grave jeopardy when all is said and done.

The antagonist comes back for her revenge in the third and final arc and this is admittedly very cool to begin with but I feel like it ultimately falls flat. Instead of being an unhinged, cerebral killer, she is essentially an abusive girlfriend. Whilst she is definitely hateable, it doesn’t come across like she is a great threat. Especially as they finish up with her as soon as she enters the frame of the story.

Throughout this arc, I was lost, uninspired and vaguely disappointed. I felt like nothing was paid off and any garnered sympathy for Tonari was just about earned but they were clawing for it a lot of the time. Tonari was too forcibly hammered against our brains and her story with her father was doing A LOT of heavy lifting.

But I Still Liked It

To Your Eternity has something about it that makes you want to keep watching it. The show has surprises despite it being incredibly medial sometimes. It creates small tragedy in pockets and does well to get across to the viewer, the concept of an immortal person struggling with relationships, motivation and how to make sense of the world.

The animation was still really good although it struck some inconsistencies in the third arc A-1 Pictures-esque. It’s directed really well. Fushi’s Japanese and English voices are very good at convincing the audience that someone is learning how to speak the language. Relative newcomer Jacob Hopkins, oddly of Gumball fame, is fantastic as Fushi and I think all of the voice actors across English and Japanese languages deserve their props.

It does struggle to hit the highs of the first few episodes but overall, I do think it is good viewing and I am very much looking forward to the second series coming next fall. I’d find it hard not to recommend it at only 20 episodes where 3/4 is fairly good with the other quarter being downright outstanding.

[thominospizza]

To Your Eternity - Episode #17: “The Defeated”

It’s been a while since I’ve watched this and I’ve been holding off on it so I could finished my dissertation for my MA in creative writing. Also, this show was falling into a damp squib and it was a dredge to write about apart from the surprise ending in the previous episode. Anyway, I apologize that this isn’t at all topical as the show ended over a week ago now. Let’s get on with it, shall we?

The following post briefly contains content which may be distressing for some readers.

I think the downward trend in structure, pacing and animation continues in this episode unfortunately. It starts with a speech from Hayase that goes on for way too long where she spins a tale of Fushi belonging to her and him deserting her. The reason she’s arrived on the island is to try and recapture him because he’s very valuable. Despite Hayase shoving spears into his eye sockets and Fushi voicing his venomous hatred of her after she laughed about killing his friends, she successfully convinces enough the crowd.

What bothered me most about this scene is that chiefly, it goes on for far too long because the writer insists on making the event more complicated than it needs to be. We know that Hayase is now the leader and because she’s an awful bastard, she is obviously going to use it for ill so this scene could be cut out. We can gather all this information and any extra stuff that we don’t know can be inferred through the narrative. By “any extra stuff”, Hayase wants Tonari dead because of course she does. It’s an animé so teenagers are prime targets for murder and execution by grown adults.

When the scene is finally finished, you know that Mystery Incorporated are going to plan to get Fushi back from Hayase the Tyrant. Fushi, who is still drugged, is being carried away to a chamber. What happens now is probably the best bit in the episode because it explores Fushi as a concept and as a person which, as I’ve said time and again, is when To Your Eternity is at it’s best. Fushi is in a dream state back at the brewery with Rean and the old fucker (or whatever his name is). It’s a lot of introspection about Fushi’s end destination and what he’s going to do about the situation he’s in. The actual content in the script isn’t terribly interesting but what is intriguing is that he is having existential thoughts at all.

I don’t know if it’s supposed to be ambiguous or not but Fushi is in a paralytic sleep state whilst Hayase is supposedly attempting to have sex with him whilst he’s asleep which...

Why?

I don’t know but it succeeded in making me feel uncomfortable and I say that in the least complimentary way possible.

So it turns out Fushi exited his vessel into the small mole thing and left the small boy as a shell when nobody was looking. He’s a clever boy now. They carried fake Fushi down into the underground whilst mole Fushi hid under the bed. The scooby gang get all the guards but are ultimately cornered because dispatching of a athletic, unpredictable, mentally unhinged killer wasn’t as easy as they thought it was. But Fushi appears out of nowhere to try and hold Hayase hostage but not before explaining the brief plot twist. He then proposes that everyone leave the island in favour of him staying on the island.

The episode is moving so terribly fast and before you know it, all the young kids are getting put on to the ship because there isn’t enough room on the ship but Tonari and the ghostbusters are held hostage before they get on the ship and knocked out. But Tonari wakes up and decides to leave the ship on a wooden dinghy to go back and get Fushi and then the episode is over.

That’s what of my big issues with this particular arc is that they are speeding through the story and are obviously cutting stuff out from the source material from time constraints. Obviously there isn’t a lot you can do about it except structure it in such a way that disguises the cut content better. Without reading the manga, I couldn’t possibly suggest anything. The tension doesn’t have any room to build because the next thing has to happen. I find it frustrating that it’s only twenty episodes long and that they seemed to spend so much time dicking around in the Gugu arc which I personally found really boring.

It’s just plot point, plot point, plot point, plot point in a really un-natural and egregious way and I wish the structure would improve without people who we are supposed to care about dying at the end with Fushi obtaining their bodies.

[thominospizza]

To Your Eternity - Episode #20: “Echoes”

It’s the big finish. And it was a good one.

T/W: Dimentia and Alzheimers

This episode is what I feel like To Your Eternity is really all about because it’s what it is best at. Exploring life and death and the ravages of time, tragedy and error are all what this show has proved to be extremely good at. It’s what the Jananda Island arc was missing. The Gugu arc, whilst being a bit boring at points, at least explored life lived in a short time as well as the value of the life of someone like that. This episode rounded off Pioran’s character very, very well indeed.

It starts off with Fushi being in two minds about Pioran. He seems worried about confronting her. He is constantly going to leave and finding an excuse to come back for her and then changing his mind. My immediate thought during these moments was that the animé was just doing ye olde killing time again because it had nothing to offer, in terms of story, to fill up 25 minutes. Actually, it subtly explored Fushi’s concern about welfare and leaving characters behind to be left to their own devices. Simultaneously, it also delves into the attachment that he’s developed for Pioran who he has been with nearly the whole time, lingering in the background. Fushi doesn’t know how to deal with elderly people.

Pioran is very, very old at this point. She can’t really speak. She doesn’t have any money and she’s very vulnerable but Fushi is always talking himself into leaving her be. It gets to a point where The Beholder has to ask what his real problem is and essentially, they live in two different worlds now which Fushi can’t really accept. If he’s being honest with himself, he doesn’t want time to be wasted. There is surprisingly some very good dialogue in this episode and it’s been a long time since I could say that about To Your Eternity.

Pioran eventually recognises Fushi despite him being in Mia’s shell. So Fushi is caring for Pioran for what will probably be the last days of her life. His character is developed a lot by this point and this sequence really gets across how mature he is. He opts to run away from the Nokkers when The Beholder makes them aware of their presence because he won’t be able to fight them just yet. What I like a lot about this is that, without saying it out loud, Fushi is basically an adult now and has taken on a parental instinct naturally. Like the first few episodes, how humans react to certain emotional stimulus versus how Fushi would react is highlighted in the narrative to drive the concept home.

Pioran grows forgetful and weak and Fushi pushes through and lives with it. He carries her everywhere because she’s always falling off the donkey. The Beholder tries to tell Fushi the truth but he won’t listen. This is all great because the immortal man from out of space doesn’t fully understand the human timeline and probably never will be able to and that’s where the tragedy is. Fushi deals with it in stress and anger but does his best. It’s a very upsetting image and anyone who has had to deal with a family member suffering with Alzheimer’s disease knows how awful it is and some moments in this episode really capture that confusion, anger and the struggle of acceptance without overdoing it.

Before Pioran dies, she calls upon The Beholder to make her into something useful for Fushi before she reaches Paradise. One of the best moments in the series is the glimpse of Pioran as a much younger woman wondering the beach in Paradise and releasing her ideal body into the orb. You can assume that this means that she’ll be in the afterlife as an old woman as opposed to being the ideal self that everyone else gets to be. It has to be said at this point that the direction and animation in this episode is easily the best in the whole series. Everything just looks great and the team really gave it their all for the finalé which I can really appreciate. It seemed like they cared a lot more for this against the whole Jananda arc. One of my favourite bits here is when the dim smoke in the fire eventually runs out and is extinguished altogether as a nice symbol for Pioran’s final moments. It’s stuff like that I live for.

Fushi discovers that she’s dead and easily the most upset that he’s ever been about any death in his life but he pushes on. The episode ends with a timeskip for “several decades” as The Beholder explains that there is nothing of note to tell about Fushi during this time. The final shot is him successfully - and perhaps, easily - dispatching of the Nokkers as a fully grown adult.

A great way to wrap this series up that I wasn’t expecting. It was a nice surprise to go back to Pioran and end her story in this way. I really appreciated the economy in which this episode was directed and produced. No time was wasted and I enjoyed every frame. An excellent entry into To Your Eternity that rivals the episodes at the beginning of the series. The big reveal at the end is that there will be a SECOND series. What do I think of that? Well...

Tomorrow, if you’re interested, I’ll be uploading my overall thoughts and feelings on the whole series.

[thominospizza]

To Your Eternity - Episode #9: “Deep Memories”

Before I watched this episode, I hoped that this would be an improvement on the last episode and I mean that in the least scathing way possible. The last episode was just a fine one but by the standards set by the series so far, it just doesn’t match up to the others. It was far too basic a plotline with a clear ending but it still taking ages to reach the inevitable conclusion. I don’t expect every episode of this animé to reach the lofty heights of the first episode or the third episode or indeed, the fifth episode which are all of extremely high quality. I just desire the carthartic euphoria blanketed with miserable tragedy that Fumetsu no Anata is good at providing. That’s all. Not two brothers falling out in short order before realising that they’re better together than apart in ten on-screen minutes.

Anyway,

This episode was pretty simple but I didn’t mind it all that much. Despite not a great deal happening in it, it flew by pretty quickly and I think I was satisfied by the cliffhanger they left us on. It was a good set-up and I feel comfortable with where the plot is going forward. I have no qualms. As of yet.

The majority of the episode was a lengthy back-and-forth between Rean and Gugu about their upbringings and their attitudes to life. It wasn’t particularly well-written or deeply philosophical but I enjoyed it for what it was and it felt grounded which is part of what I like about this show. Intertwined with all of that are flashbacks to both Gugu and Rean’s upbringing. Gugu and his brother were left behind by a supposedly affluent family but the specifics aren’t really explained. It’s just that the two had to fend for themselves.

It appears that Fushi taught himself how to summon food from his hand like the weapons he was attacked with just so he could feed Gugu. It’s interesting to me that the orb is now developing a sense of will to try and do things that are supposed to be outside of it’s jurisidiction. Seemingly, in no time at all, Fushi has gathered a certain level of independence for himself as a being. You barely see Fushi in this episode though as he runs away to get Gugu’s helmet from the lake because he thinks that Gugu will leave the tent.

Rean just pitches up at the tent asking Gugu to come with her back to the shop because they all need him and Gugu can’t do it because he feels that the can’t live a human life anymore now that he’s abandoned any kind of face protection. Rean shows Gugu her wound that she’s been hiding ever since he saved her from the oncoming log and the big reveal is just that it’s a tiny scar on her arm. The whole message of the scene seems to be that Rean’s different life means that she has a different scale of toil compared to Gugu who has been thrown in at the deep end to some extent. Gugu’s character is that he is independent outside the confines of his brother, Shin whereas Rean ran away from home to join the brewery because she desires independence. Her backstory is that her family are overprotective of her and she feels conscious of her own sheltered upbringing and wanted to change it.

Gugu finally gives in and they go off together to go and find Fushi whom Gugu trusts will be able to find both the helmet and them just because it’s him which is a healthy reminder that Rean doesn’t know about Fushi’s ability yet. Rean then gets kidnapped by somebody but Gugu rescues her in short but quite unbelievable time and they run in the opposite direction. During this time though, Fushi is being confronted by The Beholder who is reminding him to stay on his guard because the enemy is lurking about but Fushi is trying to attack with apples from his palm. Its weird to know that Fushi doesn’t like The Beholder as well as the entity that is trying to steal it’s souls which didn’t really come across in the previous encounter.

What I liked the most about this episode was the ending sequence because the three reunite to then be confronted by a woman who is looking for Rean and they all run off into the forest (where the big bad monster lives). I am a particular big fan of the set-up for the next episode and how that looks to be shaping up. Fushi stays behind and becomes March and he uses the arrow injury that she has on her dress to pretend that she’s an injured child lost in the woods which I thought was a pretty clever and innovative set piece.

What I found to be confusing though was that it was unclear whether or not Rean had seen Fushi use his ability or not which is something she isn’t supposed to know. I don’t think she did because she asks Gugu if he’ll be alright but I don’t know if that is conclusive evidence or even if this point is worth milling over at all. Just food for thought.

The episode closes with Gugu going back to see if Fushi is alright after hearing the woman scream and it turns out the body-snatcher monster has taken March’s form and her body is lying there not moving. An excellent cliff-hanger for quite a boring episode if we’re being honest. I’m not a huge fan of ‘rich woman who doesn’t like being rich’ character nor am I fan of Gugu and Rean - or any character in anything - just getting into a circulur argument where one is saying yes and the other is saying no. Not a lot happens apart from Fushi learning he can make an apple out of nothing and the vaguely interesting musings from Gugu about Fushi’s emotional attachment to death. I thought it was an interesting idea that Fushi feels physical pain and is then able to create the object that caused the pain and that conversely, the emotional pain causes him to become the person who caused him said toil.

Unfortunately though, it was just a lot of talking and I was bored until the last few minutes. There is always the tease that you’ll see Gugu’s injured face in it’s full glory but he is constantly refusing to show Rean his face no matter what which is at one end, a nice dangling carrot for the viewer but on the other, it’s just frustrating that he won’t give us a proper good luck. I feel like Gugu has had enough character development by this point and we’re reaching the end of our time with him so it’s got to happen at some point. It was structured more like a romance animé which doesn’t really compute with me. Something absolutely has to happen in the next episode to point the animé in a different and new trajectory.

Not a bad episode, just an “okay” one.

[thominospizza]

To Your Eternity - Episode #16: “The Children’s Dream”

This episode was actually really good and I say actually because it started off with all the hallmarks of a boring slog with all the gang gathered around a campfire delivering exposition about their characters. It then kicked off it’s main feature with Tonari randomly deciding to write about her origin story in her diary just because she... felt like it... I guess.

This didn’t fill me with promise because I can’t say that I’m a massive fan of episodes like this where they find an excuse to produce a lengthy flashback. Not that they are necessarily bad in quality or in content but because of their egregious placement in the story and this was no different. I also didn’t think I was going to like it because it concerns a character that I’ve only hung around with for five seconds.

But guess what? I enjoyed it. I thought the short story was interesting and compelling and made me feel sympathy for Tonari whilst also creating a certain element of mystery about her at the same time. The concept of the diary containing all of her personal thoughts or “dreams” creates an interesting plot device; what is written in the journal versus what actually comes out of her mouth. Whether she is actually genuinely likeable because of this though remains to be seen.

Essentially, her father was accused of murdering her mother by the church and was then promptly shipped off to the prison island. Tonari made the conscious decision to come with him because she believed in his innocence. So his dad says he’s going to go into the tournament to win so he can escape and you think “oh no, he’s going to die now” but he doesn’t. Actually, it goes with the Oscar Wilde paradigm that “There are two tragedies in life; one is not getting what one wants and the other is to get it”.

Tonari doesn’t recognize her father anymore after he wins the tournament and then is ignorant to the fact that her father is being poisoned because she found a diary left as a birthday present. It’s supposed to show that being the leader isn’t really all that it’s cracked up to be because you can’t really get away with murder.

An important detail before we move on is that Fushi generated a load of food for them to eat but accidentally tranquilized them because he generated the same food that knocked him out in Yanome in Episode 4. It’s presented as an important plot point so you’re reminded about Hayase even though you know it’s obviously Hayase anyway.

Fushi climbs up to Pioran’s prison cell as March because she can just climb anything like Spider-Man now. Fushi tells her he’s going to win and then everyone is going to be free and I don’t know if I’m such a big fan of Fushi suddenly turning a corner on the inhabitants of the island because they helped him kill the monster. Actually, they killed the monster to help and save themselves. Fushi helped them by generated all those gunpowder arrows out of his magic palm.

Anyway, the fight happens now and it’s revealed to be Hayase like it’s some giant plot twist. It would probably have helped if they didn’t give the viewer so many hints. It’s still cool though. I enjoy cheesy, star-wars, one-on-one stand-offs that make me feel like a ten-year-old. Hayase is easily established as a horrible bastard in a few seconds despite being easily unlikeable anyway. She brags about killing March and decapitating Parona.

Hayase has an answer for everything and then suddenly renders Fushi incapacitated with the tranquilizer which they had to annoyingly and obtusely remind you of earlier in the episode like it wouldn’t trust you to remember. So Hayase wins and is declared the leader which was, admittedly, a bit of a surprise.

So that’s bad news innit?

Quite a good episode despite quite a lot going against it. I was pleased with how they did things in this episode despite a lot of plot points being incredibly obvious and it raised more death flags than a fleet of pirate ships. Tonari and the gang are suddenly full of promise and hopes and dreams and Tonari herself writes in her diary that things are finally turned around for her with the arrival of Fushi. So it doesn’t look good now.

Hayase is an exceptionally good antagonist and I’m glad she’s back. I think that’s all that matters.

[thominospizza]

To Your Eternity - Episode #19: “Wandering Rage”

Despite the niggling overarching problems that were present in the last episode, we are cooking with gas now. Stuff is happening and it actually feels like we’re heading towards a climax of some kind. Sort of. A lot of people are dead. Hayase is still loose. Pioran is... on the boat, I think?

This episode was actually quite good although it is still wrought with the same problems as the previous ones. I get the feeling that this review is going to be very similar to the last one. That is because a lot of it is the same except this episode had more of a conclusion. A conclusion which, I’m not entirely sure that I am satisfied by but I can’t say that it wasn’t good.

It has a very melodramatic start which came off as obnoxious in the context of the previous episode where they tried to press the same emotional buttons. It’s like they think that if they keep pressing that button, it’ll be more sad and more epic when actually, I get it now. I get it. The three guys from the gang are the walking dead and they have to kill them or at least do something about them.

What I am acutely bothered by is Hayase’s encounter with the Nokkers in which the being inserts itself into her body but she actually talks the being out of it. Hayase basically advises that, instead of attacking Fushi hand or foot, the Nokkers should attempt to get into an abusive relationship with him. How they would go about that is not to known to me, I’m afraid. But it is enough to get them to evacuate mid-infection.

An annoying and predictable trope then occurs (who’d a thunk it) when Fushi crushes Hayase as Inugami. He sticks his claw into Hayase’s cheek but Hayase, again, talks him out of killing her on the spot because he needs to go and save his friends which he does post-haste. Because, if there’s anything that takes a long time, it’s a gigantic bear with massive claws killing a tiny human. I would hope that this series would resist tropes and clichés like this where the hero refuses to kill the antagonist when they are in pole position to do so. It isn’t even the first time that it happens in this series or the last time in this episode.

Fushi goes ham on all the zombies with Gugu’s fire-breath to save Tonari and the other boy who I cannot remember the name of. Of course, the last ones left are Uroy, Mia and Oopa (see, I know them now) and Fushi gets put into a predicament when Hayase is holding Tonari over a fiery pit. She attempts to negotiate a really simple deal with Fushi but in an extremely complicated and contrived way when Tonari drags Hayase down into the pit with her. Fushi jumps in and saves BOTH of them. Fushi somehow puts Hayase to sleep and it doesn’t explain exactly how but I guess it doesn’t really matter. They tie her up and then she’s forgotten about until the end of the episode.

It appears to do somewhat of a timeskip where the people on the island are all working together to make a more friendly and agricultural society. Everyone is treating each other for their wounds. It goes full circle in a way because Fushi is seen to be handing out fruit and vegetables for everyone who is hungry and everyone is thanking him en masse. I thought it was nice to highlight Fushi’s general role in society and how it’s changed since the very start when March was teaching him to say thanks. GOOD.

Tonari stays on the island to help rebuild and defend Jananda. Fushi goes off on the boat with the unconscious Hayase who I guess has been asleep for a very long time. She wakes up and attempts to force herself onto Fushi once again before demanding that Fushi kill her and become her which begs the question why she wasn’t okay with it before. Unless she knows that it’s reverse psychology and Fushi wouldn’t have the guts to kill her. What Fushi does is generate another boat for him to use and leaves her tied up by herself in the middle of nowhere like a fucking mob boss.

Then the Nokkers appear out of nowhere to stab her and she screams. It’s deliberately left ambiguous whether or not she’s dead but I guarantee that she definitely comes back somehow. I would put my house on the idea that the Nokkers have interacted with her vessel in such a way that she is still alive whilst being possessed by it. It would obviously be really bad with the Nokkers had Hayase as a form because she is really dangerous. So no-one is buying this fake death... surely?

Anyway, the episode ends with Fushi going to look for Pioran to reunite with her... I think.

Quite a good episode. A better episode in a different arc, probably. I just don’t care about Tonari’s mates. Tonari is alright now in my books but it was heavy going for a while whilst they were shoving her abandonment and trust issues in our faces constantly. I’m bothered by them always writing themselves into a corner with Hayase’s character and how she is used in the story is very befuddled and mismatched. There appears to be a constant fight between having her sitting on the throne and pulling the strings versus her being vulnerable and damaged versus her being genuinely pure evil and the pendulum in fighting to keep the balance.

This next and FINAL episode looks to be more of an epilogue which I’m never really a huge fan of in animé but we’ll see where it goes.