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RafaelDeJongh said: In a nutshell, it's about Japan's stress-filled culture and suicide problems.This last episode sure didn't stop being less weird or disturbing, I mean damn that dog really? Seriously though this anime is pretty fucked up and I still can't figure out what I actually watched in the end, what was this about anyway? It was interesting though but still weird and fucked up! |
| Anyone who doesn't hate anime hasn't watched enough anime. - Anonymous |
| Interesting concept, interesting style. I don't think the execution went as well as it could have, but I'm using traditional anime as a standard so it's hard to evaluate. I enjoyed the idea of how escaping reality is much easier than facing our problems. It's a conundrum that I face every day - watching anime or writing to get through a hard day, while postponing work that needs to get done. But in the end we'll always do it again, even if we remedy what we've done in the past, as shown by the people yelling "it's not my fault!" on the train once more, and Maniwa taking over the previous old man's job and finding the same answers. I give the anime an 8 out of 10. The idea has incredible potential. But, I rate on enjoyment purely, and while this show had some incredible moments, in the end it became too dense and convoluted. Maybe that was the point, and if I were more interested I might have enjoyed picking out all the symbolism and representation. |
fishergirl16Sep 17, 2014 2:18 PM
| In the end I feel like all the speculating what everything really means doesn't matter, and you should see the show as an episodic thing instead of one big narrative. It's a show about people running away from their problems. That's all you need to know. |
| feels like Paprika. I still prefer the first half of this show. |
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| So, this was an odd mix of Paprika and Perfect Blue. 8/10. |
| one of the greatest anime ever. can't believe no one really talks about this anymore. this has the best directing of any anime tv series i've yet seen. the episode with the three suicidals is one of the greatest things......in this world. |
BigSimo said: one of the greatest anime ever. can't believe no one really talks about this anymore. this has the best directing of any anime tv series i've yet seen. the episode with the three suicidals is one of the greatest things......in this world. No. |
| This was a bad series and I only kept watching it because of the amazing opening. I kept thinking, "maybe it's going to get really interesting in this next episode." Half of the episodes are about random characters that are never seen or heard from again. The other half is just a random urban legend story. |
| I was pretty ambivalent towards this series at first, some of those episodes that didn't seem to relate to the main plot were pretty boring, whereas others were more interesting. But overall, I did really enjoy this anime, even though I couldn't quite wrap my head around exactly what it is the anime is trying to convey. It also has one my favourite opening themes, and I love how eerie and bizarre the intro of the laughing people is. |
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| As expected with Satoshi Kon. This was quite the watch. |
devinderOct 5, 2016 10:46 AM
| These last 3 episodes were just too much for me, too much suspension of disbelief, not enough coherent mystery, too surreal and bizarre and lacked any suspense. Maniwa randomly being a super hero with no explanation really got on my nerves, it was so detached from the rest of the series that it felt like I had missed out on a few episodes because it's just randomly there in your face without any explanation. As for Shonen Bat himself, kind of interesting, but not interesting enough for me to care at this point, it's gone on too long for me and it's gotten too ridiculous. Morphing into a giant tidal wave of black sludge is too much for me to realistically believe or care about. The detectives story was also underwhelming and cliche(and by cliche I mean in that general weird dreamlike state you see in a million shows that happens for characters to come to some sort of realization), the fake world he was in was amusing but the way he comes to his realization that he needs to stop hiding from reality to me was too cliche and honestly never redeems the character for being a gigantic piece of shit for abandoning and avoiding his wife. If he had some mental breakdown and started pleading to her or made some actual attempt to talk to her before she died maybe then I'd give a shit, but he doesn't, like almost every character in this show he's mostly unlikable. There's also the bizarre thing with Maniwa basically becoming the old man which I'm sure has some sort of clever meaning I'm not seeing but it's so on the nose and again unbelievable, now he's an old crazy man doing the same shit the other one was after being a superhero for no apparent reason for 2 episodes. I can't suspend my disbelief this much, I could handle Shonen Bat being some sort of ghost/mythological being that attacked those in need of escape from their current predicaments but that was about as far as I can go. Overall, a disappointing end, but not bad, just not as good as I'd hoped. Some very good episodes throughout but ultimately it doesn't all come together as well as it should for me. 7/10 |
PANDEMlCJun 20, 2015 6:52 PM
09890 said: Highly disappointed in this series. The first four episodes were great, then episode five was ridiculous and just threw the whole series off for how great it was getting. Then there was a bunch of good episodes, and then this ending to top it all off.. I can't say that I am satisfied with how it ended at all. True, the story was very sad about how the puppy was hit by the car, but it's pathetic how it caused the world to get so destructed and to even come to the end of the world. Just wait, what? is this show taking itself seriously? It seems that the show was given all this complexity within its plot, but in the end, it was all for a little reason. Especially taking in account that there are so many more people who suffer far more pain, suffering, distress than Tsukiko. Although I do think this Anime is clever and interesting in its own light, it was like the show was just trying too hard to be complex and deep. It truly started off so great, but ended so terribly and so I rate it 6/10 Totally agreed 6/10 |
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PANDEMlC said: These last 3 episodes were just too much for me, too much suspension of disbelief, not enough coherent mystery, too surreal and bizarre and lacked any suspense. Maniwa randomly being a super hero with no explanation really got on my nerves, it was so detached from the rest of the series that it felt like I had missed out on a few episodes because it's just randomly there in your face without any explanation. As for Shonen Bat himself, kind of interesting, but not interesting enough for me to care at this point, it's gone on too long for me and it's gotten too ridiculous. Morphing into a giant tidal wave of black sludge is too much for me to realistically believe or care about. The detectives story was also underwhelming and cliche(and by cliche I mean in that general weird dreamlike state you see in a million shows that happens for characters to come to some sort of realization), the fake world he was in was amusing but the way he comes to his realization that he needs to stop hiding from reality to me was too cliche and honestly never redeems the character for being a gigantic piece of shit for abandoning and avoiding his wife. If he had some mental breakdown and started pleading to her or made some actual attempt to talk to her before she died maybe then I'd give a shit, but he doesn't, like almost every character in this show he's mostly unlikable. There's also the bizarre thing with Maniwa basically becoming the old man which I'm sure has some sort of clever meaning I'm not seeing but it's so on the nose and again unbelievable, now he's an old crazy man doing the same shit the other one was after being a superhero for no apparent reason for 2 episodes. I can't suspend my disbelief this much, I could handle Shonen Bat being some sort of ghost/mythological being that attacked those in need of escape from their current predicaments but that was about as far as I can go. Overall, a disappointing end, but not bad, just not as good as I'd hoped. Some very good episodes throughout but ultimately it doesn't all come together as well as it should for me. 7/10 Maniwa, Tsukiki, and the pack of them were all dealing with some level of psychotic hallucinations? The show strongly hinted to that.... well, until it confirmed the destruction of parts of Tokyo (in episode 13) to be real, which is where the suspension of disbelief gets truly broken. (Also you mischaracterized "suspension of disbelief". It's the normal thing you do every time you watch or read fiction. It's the breaking of suspension of disbelief that is a bad thing). |
| so disappointing tbh |
| So the message of the story was to face things as they are, to own up to the reality of things. Which was emphasized by the cop I forget his name, when the girl took on the form of his daughter, which was a lie. When the wife kept appearing as a young lady which was a lie. The times when they appeared in that fake city was when they were intoxicated or on drugs, excluding the little girl, which was to escape reality. Which is why the thief that the cop reunited with seemed to be familiar with that fake imaginary world, because he had been escaping too. The cops partner the guy with the sword never existed, but he manifested into the real world from the old man, which is why at the end he was drawing on the ground with the chalk. If you pay attention he took serious injuries when fighting shounen bat he somehow survived all of it. The old lady is the same, she does not actually exist, which explains how she survived the tsunami. Basically everyone was trying to escape from something, and they either got confronted by shounen bat who took them out of their misery so to speak, or took to masomi or w.e the dolls name is to escape as well. Which is why when she accepted that it was not shounen bat, and hugged the dog, shounen bat left her alone said goodbye. Also to prove the point further, when the cops wife confronted shounen bat, look at how she is accepting things, and how he goes crazy because of her complete acceptance of reality. My guess is that she showed up there because the doctors drugged her. I probably did not explain everything but you get the gist of it, anyway I liked the idea, and the way they presented it was pretty good, but for choosing such a small problem, they kind of took away the impact of the story. With this in mind the episodes that I thought had no meaning actually contributed greatly to the story, but just like perfect blue its hard to realize things WHILE watching, it isn't until the end that you get that aha moment. |
SnipaNov 14, 2015 8:48 AM
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RafaelDeJongh said: This last episode sure didn't stop being less weird or disturbing, I mean damn that dog really? Seriously though this anime is pretty fucked up and I still can't figure out what I actually watched in the end, what was this about anyway? It was interesting though but still weird and fucked up! |
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| That was some ending. I really didn't expect the old man in the end to be Mariwa; I gasped when I saw his face, how tragic. The two or three episodes that seemed irrelevant dropped my score from an 8 to a 6, but these past two episodes have bumped it up to a solid 7. Not the best anime ever, but definitely worth watching. |
| "It's a tragic misunderstanding that could have been easily avoided if he just finished his sentence in time!" — Richard Watterson (The Amazing World of Gumball) |
| Well it was mostly predictable (besides it happening cause of a dog...) and was not to my liking. The first half was good I thought then it just went left field with everything for no reason. Before anyone replies to this saying I didn't understand it; I understood everything perfectly well and I still think its a crap show. I don't understand how people can see this as a masterpiece, but to each his own. I love psychological anime with crazy twist and heavy symbolism, but this just seemed like someone put together a bunch of random things to show a message about escapism, delusions, and facing reality. I wish I could get my time back for the 13 episodes I watched. 4/10 |
| My favorite episode is Suicide Grup |
| Good show with a good plot, I didn't think it was confusing at all, but it was a mess, it kind remind me of Paprika (except that in Paprika I feel like the mess was intended/better worked) like you can't even say if that supernatural stuff is canon, a bad point (for me), but overall a good show. 7/10 |
charlerwMar 18, 2016 8:02 PM
| Well that ending is actually quite beautiful for this anime. I know you guys wont wanna read my novel. But Ill just say this. Basically I believe there are mnay ways you could've perceived what happened. First off ,we know Shounen Bat really didnt exist. Sagi made him up. But what about everyone getting attacked? Amnesia etc? Well I think this is because this entire anime/story was told from how SAGI saw the world... except the Detective, Maniwa, who her dog(who was like.. her ptotective consicious, literally in denial of truth! We know that for a fact now) kept saying not to listen to etc, just live in her delusion. So I think all taht was was the delusion. ANd at the end we saw things a bit different. And I bet no one got attacked... maybe Taeko didnt find out her dad was a Pedo.. etc etc. Second version would be all those things actually happened, and the whole "Shounen Bat" literally, and really was some mental facade everyone was buying, and literally beleived when brought to mental trauma/nervous breakdowns.. Now I dont know if they beat themselves with something.. or what, but its the best I got right now and it makes sense. Cause taht was a BIG message in this anime. People in denial of reality. Maybe Ichi... Taeko and the others really bought the whole SHounen Biker thing... either kenw he wasnt real, did it to themselves or truly thought they saw him in a pitch fever of mental trauma. No one will ever know for sure. And like it was said after the ED here. Eternal ending, questions, answers.. Kind of way a true psychological anime/manga can leave you. Been a fan of these types for years, and this.. was a little weak, BUT, it was very deep in the respect theres so many possibilities and I appreciated the messages. I'm a Psychological anime veteran and it took me a long time to finally watch this... lovely OP btw. It brung me back since it came out in 04. Back then, as a kid, I didnt know 1/8th of what I know now about life. I was innocent to the cruel side. So the messages etc resonated with me too, cause I wondered what I wouldve thought if I watched this as a kid... miss being one already. Edit: ANd holy crap didnt realize that was supposed to be Mariwa... taht literally means hes been witnessing ending after beginning after ending after... wow. Deep. Wouldn't be surprised if each loop is based off perception. And btw.. if you were watching this for suspense you should've clocked out like.... on episode 7. |
| I suppose the way you approach this series affects your opinion; people who expect an engaging thriller will likely be disappointed and I can't blame them. I, however, hoped since the start that the series conveyed this kind of message behind it and was satisfied with the result. 8/10 |
| So we're all watching anime due to an inability to cope with our daily life's reality? Nothing I wasn't already aware of. |
| Mindfuck overload, just the way I like my Satoshi Kon 8/10 |
 Nico- said: Conversations with people pinging/quoting me to argue about some old post I wrote years ago will not be entertained@Comic_Sans oh no y arnt ppl dieing i need more ppl dieing rly gud plot avansement jus liek tokyo ghoul if erbudy dies amirite |
| Pretty intense and ghoulishly random depiction of how society's lies among other things can manifest itself lol... 6/10 |
| It was ok. I expected something more of a mindfuck. I already thought Shounen Bat was never real and something conjured up and used to escape reality. I didn't know what Marumi was, so I guess that was interesting to find out. As for the ending, I thought it was the former detective and that during his caculations he realized something like Marumi/Shounen Bat was going to happen again. Maybe that's why we saw a new stuffed animal and heard the emotional worries of people (once more hoping to escape their worries). History is doomed to repeat itself, that sort of thing. |
...At least let me finish.   |
| WTF? Was it all because of some DOG THAT A CHILD COULDN'T SAVE? I mean... like seriously |
KusuriuriSep 26, 2016 11:28 PM
| I loved episodes 1 (emergence of Shounen Bat), 2 (social rejection), 3 (dissociative identity disorder), and 8 (suicide group), but found most of the other episodes to be a bit underwhelming. |
| Excellent show. It kept dropping little clues along the way to keep me interested. I was able to piece together what was happening around episode 11 or so. Definitely a show I'll rewatch at some point! 9/10 |
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on 
| the ending was a bit sad,bit weird?? I guess it tied together the main part of the story (the cops and shonen bat). The truth is, i dont believe that there was much to write for the police officers and thats why a lot of the middle episodes were included with these random one off characters. I didnt see those characters and their episodes as filler though because it helped the audience understand the concept of shonen bat more. Without those middle episodes existing and the story solely focusing on the main characters, i dont think the concept of the shonen bat would be explored as well as it was. Classic satoshi kon! |
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| Well that was rather disappointing, in my opinion. Yes, I see all the life lessons and stuff this anime portrayed, but the ending just felt really weak. I was drawn in by the first few eps where my theory about Shounen Bat kept evolving with the little pieces of information being revealed, but then everything after that pointed to S.B. being imaginary. Sure, we eventually got to learn how it all happened, but even that dulls in comparison to the several episodes that were spent telling the same story just with different characters (aka someone is in a tough spot, gets "killed" by S.B., and then others around them follow suit). Also, there were several things that just don't add up with the conclusion, and that's just infuriating. Overall, some of it was entertaining to watch, but the wasted potential earns this anime a 6/10. I know a lot of people really loved it, but I suppose I'm just not one of them. |
| That was confusing. I didn't like the ending as much as I did the series in general, but this was well worth the watch. |
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| After watching the entire show there's only one thing I can say for sure, and that's that I don't know what the fuck happened. Well done Satoshi. |
"At some point, I stopped hoping." |
| Damn, that was one hell of a ride. Nobody can ever say Satoshi Kon wasn't original. And while so many things were wrapped up, more questions spring up. The beautiful cycle continues. |
| what is that it? such disappointed tbh really have good mystery n thrilling in early n but ended with unnecessary non sense twist. last things was still wrapped in my mind so who is the attacker kawazu,yuichi, n the others? is Kozuka aka copycat actually death? killed or suicide ? |
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| Very interesting but still confusing anime def worth a watch ! All tho none seems to get how the city got destroyed in the end by that black matter ..Im pretty sure it was tsunami.If u go to ep 13 and skip to 19:50 ull see Sagi floating on the water near the city which suggests that water carried her away (Somehow shes "alive")and if u continue watching ull see how steps are wet and all the dead bodies look drenched (at last to me) Pls someone correct me if Im wrong or if I missunderstood something ? |
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| Is what we saw during the destruction of Tokyo really trustworthy? I mean, after all that's what Maniwa, Sagi and Chief saw that night, that was their point of view, and I mean, we learned that Sagi created a fictitious character to cover up her mistake during her childhood, ending up believing that. Chief was just returned from a fake world he wanted so much and, well, Maniwa we all witnessed what was up with him. So can we really trust what we saw? Tokyo's destruction happened, we know that, but how did it REALLY happen? We saw that the mass hysteria caused by the shortage of Maromin was of really large proportions, but may it have just been caused by people, shifting the blame on something external (black gas) like Sagi did initially? I'm more inclined to think so. This is a show about hysteria and psychological disorder, I wouldn't take literally ANYTHING I see. I get what started it all, but I have difficulties pinpointing where Lil'Slugger actually stands in all of this. So, 10 years passed after Sagi's incident. She designed a very successful gadget plushy which became a social phenomenon, and almost a means of escapism, even though we never actually got plain hints about this. But we always saw people wearing or carrying around something related to Maromi. One night, after feeling pressure from higher ups, Sagi recreated Lil'Slugger to escape from those pressures. After that, slowly but steadily Lil'Slugger kept growing and growing, becoming that social phenomenon that Maromi was. At first it only was considered a "normal" street assailant, but once we knew that the night of Sagi's incident there actually wasn't an assailant, and after having found a copycat which later died of suicide, Lil'Slugger became an urban legend, as someone who took the problems outta you, resulting in homicide. Rumors spread more and more, until stories about Slugger became even more absurd. Hysteria due to everyday pression kept growing, so Lil'Slugger related incidents seemed to broaden both in frequency both in intensity. Until Maniwa figured that Lil'Slugger was a projection of Sagi's rejection of responsibility. A mean to escape from reality. The events of 10 years after were the trigger to the return of Shounen Bat. She projected her way to avoid reality onto society. Shounen Bat represented neglection and shifting responsibility, while I think Maromin represented escapism from reality. |
| NOOOO not the dog D: why couldn't they finish this without showing the dog >: ok so what happened to Maniwa? It was weird enough that he was running around in that "super hero outfit". Why is he the new story teller? Why is there even still a story. It all started with Tsukiko and also ended with her when she apologized, didn't it? And they didn't jump back in time either so how could there still be a Shounen Bat? I kinda stay by my previous comment. The first half was damn nice but ep 8-13 were just too weird. Should have went with either a crime story or a supernatural story but the way it was combined like this it was lackluster for both kinds. |
| The show for me started off great with the first incident or attack of Sagi, then it went ahead to other victims. After that Shonen bat got caught only to be fake, then the fake died. After that the series took a mediocre turn, with those three who were embarking on a suicide mission and then again with those housewives who were telling stories about him. Then again with that short guy who was working on that Maromi anime, all of those killed my rating. But I will give it to them they were hilarious and Shonen bat's sudden changing appearance made it worse. On the upside it came back when Masae was talking to Shonen bat and Maniwa caught on the pattern. I must say that was a cool twist that all of that incident was caused by Sagi and the 2year time skip was good. But Maniwa becoming mad and replacing that old sensei of his was also a highlight ( I still didn't get that old man's role). The message was that "No mystery remains unsolved forever and no answer is ever without mystery ", and it had a nice ring to it. But because it wasted time to get to the good stuff it's a 6/10. |
lihle808Feb 7, 2018 3:07 PM
How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb --- Dr Strangelove  |
| Honestly went downhill after episode 6. 6/10 bleh. I liked the black comedy suicide episode but other than that it's been pretty uninspired although I can see what the episodes are trying to portray. Expected more tbh |
| It's surprising that most of the people here didn't get or at least don't appreciate the powerful meaning and message that this anime brings. 9/10 one of my all-time favorites. |
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