We still have a month to go, more or less. But in the end I think Spring 2025 is likely to end up right where it looked like at the beginning, with Kowloon Generic Romance as the clear best series. There have been bolts of genius elsewhere, and some pacing issues here. But in the end I think Kowloon is doing a better than decent job at managing the Herculean task of adapting almost a volume per episode (Iwasaki Yoshiaki has been directing anime for a quarter-century). And everything else about it is clearly on another level from anything else on the schedule.

It’s certainly clear than the goldfish metaphor is a big part of what Kowloon Generic Romance is laying out. It works as a sort of all-purpose metaphorical framework, because there are three distinct elements that all could fit. The goldfish grows only as large as the container it’s kept in. The goldfish has an extremely short memory (though Mythbusters proved it’s nor as short as legend says). And the world the goldfish sees looking out is distorted by the walls of its container – be it a plastic bag, a bowl, or an acrylic tank. The question is the proportion these three elements occupy in the overall mythology.

My increasing conviction is that this this third Kowloon is all or partly a projection of Kudou-san’s mind. A function of his regret over the loss of Kujirai-B. And nothing that was said this week makes me think differently, for example the fact that he seems unaffected by the phenomenon of Kowloon food (or drink) wiping memories. Or Yulong noting that perhaps it was a function of things people were sad about, that had disappeared. Maybe it isn’t only Hajime – it could be some sort of mass self-hypnosis – but Hajime is clearly a big part of it. And his obsession with nostalgia fits that theory perfectly.

If there was one scene this week that was particularly brutal, it was Hajime’s visit to Reiko’a apartment. He came there seemingly in a good mood, not giddy (he doesn’t seem to have that function anymore) in the afterglow of their night together, but comfortable with it. But the presence of the stick sugar in the coffee bag derails everything emotionally (I’ve used sugar on cooked french toast instead of maple syrup but never before cooking – and doesn’t the batter drip all over the toaster?). His obsession with quirks foils him here, as he remembers this one of Kujirai-B’s. And the impact his curt departure has on Reiko is hard to watch.

I get it, from Kudou’s perspective. In his mind, he’s cheating on the woman he loved – and it probably feels like he’s doing so with her younger twin sister. But Reiko is for all intents a real person – he seems to view her that way at least – and there are consequences to his actions. Reiko is in literal danger too, from both camps in the ongoing power struggle over Kowloon. Hebinuma-papa (for obvious reasons) wants to know for sure what happens when a clone of  a dead person leaves Kowloon, and is prepared to use Reiko to test it. And Yulong – on Miyuki’s behest – seems willing to make the same move.

Xiaohei – the “original” one – is caught in the middle here. His spy visits to Kowloon draw him close to Reiko and Yaomay, and he can’t help starting to see Reiko as a real person. He’s an interesting wildcard here – a guy with an interest in cross-dressing, who Hajime saw as a woman (which is why he likely showed up as one when Kowloon reappeared). I wouldn’t swear it but I don’t think we’ve seen female Xiaohei since this one came to Kowloon – did she disappear, or does Hajime’s mistake exempt her from that? In the end it seems that Xiaohei is going to be recruited-blackmailed by Yulong, who knows about his undercover role for Hebinuma – though for now, his mission may not be materially different.

There are more mysteries here to be sure. What is “that”, which Hebinuma orders Xiaohei to destroy if he finds any of in Kowloon? And we don’t know the full story on why Reiko sees Kujirai-B’s memory when she dons her glasses – and if that’s all it is, or it represents the first step of reverting to her identity. It’s also going to be fascinating to see if Miyuki – who it seems gave up everything to assume the role of Hebinuma heir – will finally heed the urging of everyone in his life (even Yulong) to abandon his revenge mission against his father. And in the process, prove himself to be the better man.