Stay weird, Fumetsu.

Without a question Fumetsu no Anata e is the strangest series I’m following at the moment.  Not strange in a madcap, Pythonesque way like Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita or even Golden Kamuy.  Rather, strange on the elemental level.  In its narrative style, pacing, exposition, and its themes.  I’m never quite sure I understand what’s going on with this series anymore, yet somehow I don’t find that nearly as annoying as I should.  The word that keeps coming to mind for me is “bemused” – To Your Eternity is both confused and confusing, but in interesting ways.

Here’s what we now know, if Kahaku (what a creeper he is) and his pet nokker can be trusted.  Nokkers can communicate via images (and they do, at the expense of words).  But they can’t see the images in another’s mind without their permission – not humans, and not even each other.  That could be BS, but it kind of rings true – especially since, as Fushi recalls, the Man in Black said something very similar about himself.  It’s hard to know exactly how that fact will impact the plot but having been spotlighted as it was, it seems certain to.

Much less clear is what’s happening with these “immortals” Bon was telling Fushi about.  Back in Uralis Bon’s little brother is making a selection for the army to defend Renril, though obviously under Bon’s direction.  The men are giving a clear indication that this likely a suicide mission, and given the chance to recuse themselves, but only one does (except he doesn’t).  That man is Kai Renald Rawle (Kase Yasuyuki), an ex-soldier and one of the three men Bon has recruited as immortal allies for Fushi.  The others are the sharp-tongued Messar Robin Bastar (Miyashita Eiji) and Hairo Rich (Ishikawa Kaitou).

I’m not certain whether Fumetsu is being intentionally unclear about just what exactly is happening with these three, or I’m just being dense.  The gist of it seems to be that Bon has recruited them to lay down their lives and have Fushi resurrect them, thus giving himself more weapons in the arsenal in case he loses more of his stable during the upcoming fight.  But why these three, specifically – is there something special about them?  What kind of immortality has Spring Roll promised them – and what, exactly, can Fushi deliver?

It’s easy to see when Bon feels guilty about this, since by all appearances he’s about to kill these men (albeit with their permission).  But it also causes a rift between he and Fushi (which Kahaku very creepily tries to exploit).  Fushi has many valid reasons to be perturbed here, though what exactly is most bothering him isn’t made clear.  He’s certainly being asked to do something he’s uncomfortable with, but also Bonchien is in effect admitting that Fushi has the ability to bring people back from the dead.  And in doing so, admitting that he’s been hiding this knowledge from Fushi.

There are a lot of practical issues in play here, not least of which is the process of winning over the trust of the people of Renril.  But I’m most interested in the fate of these three.  Is this really nothing more than Bon recruiting three useful vessels willing to lay down their lives for Fushi’s cause, or is there something special about these men that lends itself to genuine immortality?  What happened with the nobleman’s daughter – which Bonchien has been hiding from Fushi – is fundamentally different from the likes of Gugu and March et al.