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Dec 19, 2022 7:03 PM

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Feb 2016
1314
i had a sudden urge to rewatch this show and binged the first 6 episodes. will try and take it slow with the last 6, since i feel like it takes a different turn post graduation that benefits from a slower viewing experience

there're so many things cramped in these episodes though, but especially 5 and 6, that it ends up being really easy to lose something otherwise important if you aren't aware that's supposed to be there. because, really, it just happens like it's something minor. like Hoshi change of heart towards Nagara and the crew's plan: it's supposed to be an important dilemma, but it happens so fast and amidst so many other things that you might as well not realise he did go against god's will, and it's so subdue that i'm not even sure, even now, about it. it's one of my biggest grips with the show.

also spoilers for the rest of the show:


anyway, onto the second half. may this time i be able to get a better hold of what seemed to be very loose treads back in my first viewing (even if the overall impact of the show was far greater than any perceived drawbacks)
llorandoDec 19, 2022 7:18 PM
Jul 19, 2023 3:29 AM

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May 2022
192
I'm totally hooked, I love that we only know as much as those kids find out.
Sep 11, 2023 9:29 PM

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May 2019
3291
Reply to MenchiK1
thepokemask said:
I am surprised no one has really mentioned the connection of the principal to the movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. In the movie, Peter Sellers plays a former nazi who is an expert on nuclear warheads. The movie is about a false attack from the Soviets leading to a US Air Force General ordering a nuclear strike on the USSR. The movie is a giant paradox about probability.

With a roll of dice, both powers could destroy each other and cause the end of the world. Just as the anime with a roll of dice they could return to their original world. Now does this imply the principal implies Dr. Stranglove, who, with a press of a button, could destroy the world? Does this make Dr. Strangelove the world of the governing world because of his ability to destroy it? Is the principal also the 'god' of the world they inhibit a copy of Dr. Strangelove? I believe that this connection is on purpose and could tell us how the series will end. This episode felt like the last episode of the series and, I had to check to make sure there were still more planned.

The principal's appearance is mainly meant to tell us that the characters do not control the world. Nagara cannot create worlds but can witness them. The characters see themselves in the graduation segment which, was an amazing scene. They find out that they lost a metaphorical coin toss and are the ones who lost. We are following the losers of this coin toss as they are bound to this world. This implies that they are useless and can never be their selves in the old world. They are forever stuck to this world and can never leave. However, they still might have a chance.

There is so much to unpack in this episode that it is really hard to grasp most of the ideas in it. Like how there could be a connection to the warheads in Dr. Strangelove. In the movie, there are two warheads shown. One says "Hi there!" and the other says "Dear John" both are references to American Civil War songs. Specifically, the "Dear John" song is known as Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye. This song is about a man who abandons his child to go to war. The song continues further and talks about how he comes back permanently damaged by war. He is welcomed back but only with pity. In the movie, there is a famous scene where the pilot flies to his death on a bomb. The bomb he was on was the "Hi There!" bomb. This episode, however, was hit with the "Dear John" bomb. We see all of the characters figure out everything is useless and they are worthless. They are only offered with pity as they are just copies of their true selves. They know they are copies, they are faced with the idea that they can't return, and all their efforts were pointless.

I might be thinking too much into this but, to shorten up the characters are powerless. They are just copies and a part of a choice of the principal. They had an illusion of the end light at a tunnel. Yet, when they faced this light with Nozomi's powers, it was false. She is dead in the real world and, the characters find out they are copies. And just as the ending of Dr. Strangelove using the song "We'll meet again" over a montage of bombs destroying the planet, they might have to say goodbye to their world. I could be wrong about all of this but, I hope my rambling cleared up something even if I don't fully understand the show. I look forward to the next episode I hope it's as great as this one.


I don't think too many people caught it, but as soon as I saw him I was like "oh shit these people are Kubrick fans we will never understand this". ;P

he even has the fake hand
@MenchiK1

FINALLY somebody who got the reference. I'm impressed how almost nobody had a clue about the very Dr. Strangelove being the God/Principal lol.

And this was not the only book/movie reference of this show. I'm pretty sure the 1st episode had a bit of inspiration in Stephen King's The Langoliers.
Sep 19, 2023 7:04 PM
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Nov 2012
8
I am having to stop and rewind and replay and stop and think and rewind and replay and reference other episodes. Really trying to absorb the message in this, and this episode was heavy for that.
Oct 3, 2023 7:40 AM

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Dec 2015
6450
Reply to St0rmblade
If Nagara's power is creating new worlds, can we really be sure that the "original" world is indeed the original rather than just another creation?
Nice mid-series "revelation", but I doubt cards needed to be reshuffled when so little has been established already.

4/5


@St0rmblade I was wondering the same thing. (Add to that the fact they "edit" their way into the supposedly real world.
Nov 8, 2023 10:59 AM

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Jun 2020
532
So aki looks like a another student who can change their body a guess?
This episode evrybody lost what they believed is real and what they trust in someway or another
Feb 18, 4:13 PM

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Sep 2014
4542
I thought they always teleport to the next world together, but them beeing apart in totally different scenarios implies the opposite.

Something about this show makes me feel like I missed an episode, but unlike other shows with wonky pacing, it happens even in the middle of watching an episode.

Its interesting but I cant say that I actually enjoy it to be honest.
"This emotion is mine alone.
It is for Madoka alone." - Homura
or how I would descripe Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica.
Mar 18, 6:49 PM
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Jun 2019
23
this ep experience was so nice. It's really confusing, but I enjoyed it somehow
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It’s time to ditch the text file.
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