How seriously am I supposed to take a character named Bonchien Nicoli la Tasty Peach Uralis?

I’ll say this for S2 of Fumetsu – it’s definitely weirder.  S1 was certainly unusual in the yawning gaps between its best and worst episodes, but this one is more just plain weird.  The timeline has gotten rather uneven and the overall tone has shifted.  I’m still not sure whether I’m a fan of this or not to be honest.  I’m kind of leaning towards “yes”, since if nothing else it makes the viewing experience rather interesting.  But some of the stuff we’re being asked to swallow has me a bit uncertain of myself.

Let’s start with Kahaku, the first male descendent of Hayase to make contact with Fushi.  The rule is that her inheritors (and that of her nokker) must be female, but Kahaku’s mother died before having a daughter so an exception was made.  Don’t worry, Kahalu assures Fushi, “I’m only interested in girls”.  That’s a Chekov’s Gun if I’ve ever heard one (and I have).  And so soon enough Fushi has taken on Parona’s form as a sort of Goldilocks cover (Tonari is too famous, Pioran too arthritic, Rean too fashionable).  And naturally, Kahaku is immediately dizzy with infatuation.

While he is pretty annoying with Fushi in Parona form (and why is he calling “her” Joann, the dog’s name?), Kahaku does seem somewhat less predatory than his female predecessors.  Still, it’s soon obvious to Fushi that he wants the same thing they wanted in the end – he’s their prize.  Going around helping the Guardians save people from the nokkers (apparently 13,036 of them have died according to Johnny Cash) is a worthwhile enough diversion, but it’s not getting Fushi any closer to finding meaning in his existence.  And the man in black puts the kibosh on his idea of letting the nokkers have him next time and putting an end to his endless cycle of loneliness and frustration.

The Guardians want him as a trophy God, the “Church of Bennett” wants to execute him as a demon, and the commoners pretty much either love him or loathe him.  Fushi’s dream of finding friends who understand him is noble, but how does a singular immortal creature do that, exactly?  Gugu is the closest he’s ever come, and his time with Booze Man and Pioran at least saw Fushi surrounded by people who accepted him (eventually) for what he was.  But that was a very long time ago now, both literally and spiritually.

Enter the aforementioned Bonchien Nicoli la Tasty Peach Uralis (Koyasu Takehito, as if it could be anyone else).  All you need to know about Bonchien (like hell I’m typing that whole name every time) is that his moniker is probably the least silly thing about him.  He’s an utterly ludicrous popinjay with a ludicrous name, but the sense is that he’s going to be playing a significant role in the story.  Thus the question – how seriously am I supposed to take him?  His tone, his mannerisms, his clothes, his family – they all come off like a weird comic relief very different from Fumetsu’s usual style.  But he’s obviously important.

Bonchien drags Fushi and Kahaku back to his palace to meet his ludicrous family (the little brother seems sort of normal), and they start debating what to do with him.  The Church of Bennett shows up demanding he be handed over, but Bonchien is having none of them.  There are odd things about Bon in addition to his overall absurdity – is he really talking to himself, for example, when there are obvious alternate possibilities when Fushi is around?  How does he seem to know so much about Fushi’s portfolio that he’s able to nip any escape attempts in the bud?

I was pretty close to classing Bonchien’s introduction as a big misstep, but this whole scenario is odd enough to have me curious about where To Your Eternity is going with it.  About the worst place you can find yourself with a sequel is “bored” and at least that’s not the case here – the series has kept me guessing about where it’s headed.  That can only sustain it for so long, but for now I’m happy enough to play along and hope there’s a decent payoff coming.