If Kahaku is the voice of reason, you know things are seriously fucked up. But he has been the past few weeks – until he totally wigged out, anyway. This whole situation is just a royal mess, no pun intended, and Fushi has been getting some very bad life advice along the way. He deserves better. But then, one of the consistent elements of Fumetsu no Anata e is that Fushi always deserves better. Every step of the way he deals with stuff that isn’t his fault and gets punished for trying to do the right thing. And now, with friends like these, who needs enemies?
It’s always interested when things are seriously misguided and twisted (not rare in anime of course) and then the narrative acknowledges it. With something like Your Lie in April it becomes clear pretty quickly that the mangaka fully endorses the ghastly behavior of most of his cast. There’s no need for interpretation. But when a show does what Fumetsu does, you have to wonder if an acknowledgement of reality is also a condemnation. Does Fumetsu realize how horrible this is for Fushi, how misguided his entire life journey has become? And whose fault it is?
The bulk of sentiment will surely be to throw Kahaku under the bus here, but – and it’s ironic for me of all people to defend him – I think Bon is the real villain of the piece. Kahaku is a crazy creeper, don’t get me wrong. At this point he seems to have totally snapped, whether it’s the result of his appendage or his nutjob genes. But he’s been the only one speaking truth to power about Fushi lately. And Bon’s decision to keep the truth about his own powers from Fushi while taking advantage of those powers is really reprehensible. He’s the engineer behind this entire turn in the story, make no mistake.
It’s just gotten really depressing lately. And more than the usual Fumetsu stuff with characters dying left and right and general despair, the source is the existential bleakness of Fushi’s situation. Basically he’s being turned into a WMD here – I’m guessing Ooima-sensei gets how tragic that is, but I can’t be 100% sure of that. Fushi was the one finally asking all the right questions this week – what’s the endgame here? What’s the plan? This is not the existence Fushi wanted for himself, nor is it one he can sustain.
The jig is clearly up with Bon, anyway. Kahaku has certainly figured out the truth, and once Bessar begged Fushi to bring Alme back to life (Alme dying can just take a number and wait its turn), Fushi pretty much did, too. Where that leaves us is less certain. Fushi seems to be nearing his breaking point in more ways than one, and March’s return to the arena certainly figures to move things along a bit. The game is up with Kahaku too after that last display, so one way or the other the fellowship of the immortal is probably broken for good.
DukeofEarls
February 21, 2023 at 7:46 amWell, we knew the arm would make its move eventually, but it was still executed quite well. The creepy Kahaku cuddling up to an exhausted Fushi before the attack was great – really disturbing actually.
I also was a big fan March coming in as a maternal protector – “Mommy’s here” had me tearing up a bit. She and Gugu are probably my two favorite characters we’ve met thus far. The narrator acknowleding she’s basically a time traveller from 200 years ago in the preview was a nice touch. I find that part of Fushi’s resurrection power the most interesting. Maybe we can even figure out who the hell his main host body was during life at some point.
Guardian Enzo
February 21, 2023 at 8:06 amDo you think there’s a hidden story behind the boy beyond what we saw in the first episode?
DukeofEarls
February 21, 2023 at 9:30 amNot particularly, I’m guessing that was all we’ll get, but one of my favorite parts of this show is the “anthropological” world building. We’re getting little glimpses into a bunch of different cultures across the world and over different periods of time. The show makes no effort to explore them, which adds to the intrigue as a viewer.
It’s not really the type of show to give you these big exposition dumps about the history of a place, which is fitting for the story they’re telling. That said, the intrigue this method builds for someone like me — I’m wondering who were those people that all got wiped out in that arctic tundra area? What was their story, and how do they fit in with the people that Fushi later encounters in the more temperate regions as he progresses? I almost hope we don’t get answers in a sense because filling in these details is a more difficult task narratively than just giving you this mysterious, “lived-in” world. The mystery keeps you invested as you speculate what the answers are on your own.
Guardian Enzo
February 21, 2023 at 9:35 amWell I agree, that’s one of the most appealing elements of the series. It’s a shame we’re not getting more of it lately.
Rasu
February 21, 2023 at 12:11 pmI have a doubt. Was the mother whose son died by the hands of the burglar Hayro’s nun? The one who had to be punished by giving up her teeth? I’ve never noticed it until he called her by a name I didn’t recognize.
Another interesting thing I noticed was how all the inmortals had to endure some kind of moral test before failing at protecting what they wanted to protect, but then ended up becoming part of Fushi’s eternity; like March being nice towards the bear in its final moments, Gugu with Rean (or by forgiving his brother), Hayro and the robber, Mezar choosing to protect the citizens first instead of Alme, etc. (I guess even John was loyal enough as to die while trying to return to the nameless boy side instead of chosing his own survival). Kahaku said that maybe they were robbed from their dignity, but it kinda seems like it’s actually the opposite (all of them are truly noble or selfless at their core), and that it is also something the Hayase clan/reincarnations will never be able to achieve.