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| I'm surprised most of you think the young guy went to heaven, it didn't cross my mind for a minute. To me that purgatory is also a last place for them ro repent, which the man did not - his speech was all about how he shouldn't be punished, and he killed the old guy to save his own ass. Not that that made him bad, not exactly, but it did show a darker side of his character. On the other hand, the old guy was a bully long ago, but apparently lived a fairly harmless life in childhood and old age. To me the evil grin was because he realized that as well. Or because there was something inside the elevator that showed him which way it would go, I don't know, I couldn't quite understand this part. I kept replaying this scene, by the way, to see if I could point which elevator was going up and which was going down, but of course it wouldn't be that simple, haha. Ah, but I have no idea about what the old guy said to the bartender. Perhaps he had been there before? I don't know. I just don't think it has anything to do with him giving up his spot in heaven, heh. |
 (THIS WAY FOREVER) |
| We're just assuming what hell and heaven is anyway. What happens after is not the point, I think. |
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gigglingidiot said: What are you doing being a bartender/referee for a heaven or hell game, Ginko? Perfect. Yanoflies said: We're just assuming what hell and heaven is anyway. What happens after is not the point, I think. If not, then what was the point? The younger man at the beginning was openly confident he would win the game and save his life at the expense of the older man with no apparent regret. When he realized he was likely going to lose to the old man and thought he would lose his life, he tried to kill the old man. When he thought he succeeded, he felt shock and guilt but tried to justify his actions instead of seeking repentance. He won the game, saw that the old man was not yet dead, and launches into this monologue about the situation not being on even grounds, despite what Ginko said, and that no fair situation could possibly be created between human beings. Ginko seems to be moved by this and remarks several times that the younger man proved that he must be "alive", which he himself has never been. Ginko seemed to be some sort of spiritual mediator in some sort of Purgatory or other In-Between Place, so he would have never experienced life as a human, but he seemed to me to be saying the younger man was still alive or something? Like he went back to earth after his near-death experience and would be able to share another one of those stories where people witness some In-Between Place and come back to life. They just brought him in to play with the poor old man just before his death. Ginko did mention that two people who die at the same time meet at the really well-designed and animated bar and play a game. As that did happen, the younger man must be dead. He also said something about the younger man 'changing his own fate'. Maybe Ginko's words were lost in translation, or I take things too literally. The men's faces in the elevator just got me. Even if the younger man did go to Heaven, he was so eaten with guilt accumulated from his bad actions that it would be meaningless to him. The older man's grin wasn't suggestive of realizing that he was heading towards Heaven either, though. Honestly, it creeped me out. Considering the well-done expressions throughout, I don't think that was a flaw in the artwork. He either was enjoying the younger man's painful descent to Hell or felt that Hell would be right up his alley. soredemoii said: One of the unknowns that interest me is the cause of old man's death. Most common answer would be that he died of natural cause, but if you ask me, I tell you, he's evil, and his wife killed him by poisoning his beer. But hey, that'd be just my preference. I honestly never considered otherwise. His flashback did not seem to warrant his wife's poisoning of his drink, though. He was a bully at one point, a soldier maybe at another (explains his shonen-worthy duel), a do-nothing at the end of his life, and drank and smoke. Perhaps one or all is enough for his wife, depending on the disposition of the writers. I can't imagine the wife has enough depth to have been evil herself (though that would be an interesting contrast with the evil adulterer murdered by the "innocent" wife). The old man elected to play the game immediately (I so would have as well after seeing those corpses), played the game seriously (after the younger man acted stupidly cocky) but did not necessarily think winning would cost anyone their life, and did little more than thank the younger man for a last chance to play. He did not spew his useless, immensely self-centered thoughts all over the place like the younger man and gave little indication of how he felt about everything. Bah. I just have a feeling he's a bad guy for whatever reason, and that thanks was some kind of true regret and wish to start anew as a more energetic and sociable person. (He did say it had been a long time since he played.) Bah. I still can't imagine what he could have told Ginko. Maybe everybody's right, and he just bargained himself out of Heaven for no real reason. That conclusion does not seem appropriate at all, considering the younger man had very little to say to prove his innocence or even decent personality and apparently learned nothing at all through their encounter. The old man is difficult to read, though. If he bargained himself into Hell, it was because he wanted to or say through some trick of Ginko's. My opinion: Old man went to "Heaven" and younger man - no idea. Back to life or Hell or even Heaven as well...bah. Ginko's reaction to the younger man's foolishness confused me far too much. The labels on the elevators would disagree with me, though. Either way, Heaven, Hell, and "Purgatory" are far detached from Catholic/Christian/whatever else is similar enough context. Heaven is properly where righteous people go. As there are no righteous people (all have sinned), the only way to be considered righteous is to be robed in Jesus' righteousness. Hell is for all who have sinned and not accepted Jesus' righteousness. Purgatory is a mostly European Catholic belief, I think, and I'm not very familiar with it. I understand it as a place where sinners go after death and eventually gain the righteousness needed to enter Heaven. Though it is not stated in this anime, the implications seem to indicate that it follows the common but false understanding that "good" people go to Heaven and "bad" people go to Hell. Purgatory exists at least for the purpose of entertaining those who die at the same time and maybe determining their final destination. Both them men be "bad" people in my book, though the younger man most of all. :| I find it surprising Ginko wouldn't even share details with the woman, but I feel she was almost acting as a surrogate there for us. "Wait, what happened! Explain please! Really? Bah! These things always gotta be open-ended..." Though, honestly, I feel the short was made with all the little hints (the younger man's speech, Ginko offering the younger man a hug and an apparent change in attitude, the old man's grin,...) so that the viewer could fill in the holes with his imagination. I assume each individual involved in the creation of the short has just as varied a take on the outcome of the game as the viewers do, and there is no "correct" ending to have realized. It's fun to guess about, sure, but I don't think this had any valuable perspective on life. |
CathedralJun 5, 2013 9:44 PM
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| I don't think neither of them actions throughout life warrant them to go to hell, and that little stunt at the bar shouldn't count if they already dead. I agree with the young man this is bullshit! |
| Ginko keeping secrets and the what-not.. besides the point I feel as if the young man either went back to ordinary life or went to hell and the old man went to some type of heaven. It's hard to tell because many things in this anime was labeled differently to confuse the watchers. Though after re-watching the ending several times I can say that there is either 2 possibilities, they both went to hell or the old man went to heaven and the younger man went to hell. |
Rance-samaJun 13, 2013 9:03 AM
| Very unexpected. 5/5 And that brings me to a 9/10 score. |
| Wow the art details of this one was quite exquisite. The old guy who was in coma when he died probably got in Heaven and the loser who got knifed by his girlfriend for cheating went to Hell. If they're in equal footing when they set foot on that place, the young man's action in there justified where he will go, although the masks at the top of the respective elevator where they exited seems to indicate otherwise. But what do I know, I could be interpreting things superficially and judging them at a very shallow level? LOL Wonder what the old guy said to the bartender though? >_< 8/10 |
| You see there's no need to wonder where your god is, Coz he's right here! ...and he's fresh out of mercy. |
| Ginko :O I wonder what happend |
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| Damn god... now I want to know what the old man said! 8/10 |
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| Damn that was surprisingly good, had me on the edge of my seat. Very thrilling. 9/10 Im assuming the young man went to "heaven" while the old went to "hell". Really wonder what the old man said to the bartender. |
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| that was epic imagine if we have a tv series out of this? how epic would that be? |
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| very interesting.. i like how we didn't get the answer :P |
| This was very impressive. Even more so when you know that this was done by a young animator. I'd like to think the old man wanted to give up his place in heaven for the young guy since he helped him finally feel "alive". Granted the young guy wasn't a saint at all - cheated on his gf, killed the old man when he knew he was going to lose. His monologue at the end did resonate with the bartender and I wonder if that had anything to do with where he'd end up. The cords did come loose after he said that. I don't know for sure why the old man grinned at the end. Did he lie and know he was going to heaven anyway? Interesting stuff... |
| -Nothing can stay unchanged. Even so, can you still keep on loving this place? -Be still my soul; when change and tears are past, all safe and blessed we shall meet at last. |
| I suddenly wanna play pool and become godlike |
| Wow, I really liked this. The atmosphere they set up was brilliant, my heart was pounding throughout. I really like the idea of each of the balls representing and being in sync with their organs. As for the ending, I interpreted it as the old man going to hell rather than the man like most people are saying. The elevator the old man went on had a devil's face on it while the man's elevator had the face of some calm doll thing (yeah I don't know what it was). Although it may not be that simple, that smirk the old man gave at the end made him seem like the evil one. |
| This was great. I didn't expect the old man to be such a badass when the young man attacked him. And I thought he was dead too...but I guess he was just playing dead? o_o It was also interesting to see their life flash before their eyes. Overall, really exciting, and it had nice themes. The young man's screaming and trying to justify himself was annoying though, but he did say some interesting things, and he represents how selfish people can be in close to death situations. The hug though by Ginko (lol) was touching, because he said that he never got to live. I really wonder what the old man said :/ |
| 3 options: 1 - young guy went to heaven, and the old guy went to hell. 2 - the masks above the elevators represents nothing, therefore the old guy went to heaven (hence the smirk) and the young guy went to hell. 3 - they both got fking trolled. I'm going with option 3. I will explain my reasoning for each option when I get back from work. Though I'd just like to point out that the "bodies" in that room weren't actually real human bodies, but manikins/human puppets. |
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| Wow, really great! I immediately loved the art, animation, and character design. I also like having Nakamura as one of the voice actors, though I don't know the others too well. It was really amazing, especially the fight scene. So mysterious as well ^^ I believe the old guy went down, and Otoko up, but that is only based on the appearance of the elevators they left in (the faces above the elevator). If only there were more episodes D= This will get either a 8/10 or 9/10 as my rating. I honestly would like to see a romance series from the same people, even just the quick flashback impressed me with the art and character design, I was already having some feels.  |
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| I was mindf*cked by this short film. I wonder why the old man smirked at the elevator... I loved the speech given by the guy... xD *edit* This needs to be serialized ala Jigoku Shoujo style. |
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| Rewatched with two otaku friends and enjoyed it once again. My friend got so confused by the ending LOLOL |
| This ended up as a rather overrated title for me. Really, nothing really happened in this very episode. It's almost as overrated as Little Witch Academy(which still turned out to be worse). Why? Because except for the interesting concept, good atmosphere and good quality visuals, there's nothing that really deserves a praise in this anime. The characters were nothing exceptional, we got next to none answers to most of the mysteries involved in the anime, the OST wasn't anything that good, the ending is unexplained(and don't give me anything like "the watchers decide the ending by themselves, because I've seen this done before and I can tell you it could have been waaay better). Hardily 4/10. Arve Rezzle: Kikaijikake no Yoseitachi seems to be the best Anime Mirai project this year around(though I can't get my hands on Ryo, sadly). |
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Meritas said: Dem opinions.This ended up as a rather overrated title for me. Really, nothing really happened in this very episode. It's almost as overrated as Little Witch Academy(which still turned out to be worse). Why? Because except for the interesting concept, good atmosphere and good quality visuals, there's nothing that really deserves a praise in this anime. The characters were nothing exceptional, we got next to none answers to most of the mysteries involved in the anime, the OST wasn't anything that good, the ending is unexplained(and don't give me anything like "the watchers decide the ending by themselves, because I've seen this done before and I can tell you it could have been waaay better). Hardily 4/10. Arve Rezzle: Kikaijikake no Yoseitachi seems to be the best Anime Mirai project this year around(though I can't get my hands on Ryo, sadly). |
Please learn about cel animation and its technical process. Learn how special effects and backlighting were done without computers. |
Meritas said: This ended up as a rather overrated title for me. Really, nothing really happened in this very episode. It's almost as overrated as Little Witch Academy(which still turned out to be worse). Why? Because except for the interesting concept, good atmosphere and good quality visuals, there's nothing that really deserves a praise in this anime. The characters were nothing exceptional, we got next to none answers to most of the mysteries involved in the anime, the OST wasn't anything that good, the ending is unexplained(and don't give me anything like "the watchers decide the ending by themselves, because I've seen this done before and I can tell you it could have been waaay better). Hardily 4/10. Arve Rezzle: Kikaijikake no Yoseitachi seems to be the best Anime Mirai project this year around(though I can't get my hands on Ryo, sadly). Looks like someone's sitting on a pretty high horse there. ;) I really liked the anime. |
| "The fool who believed in miracles now walks among the dead." ~ Blade of the Phantom Master |
| Damn, that was epic, i really enjoyed it and the little mindfuck at the end. |
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| Great. Well done all around, especially after you consider this is only one episode.. |
| Ginko is a bartender now. This was great. The episode flew by too quickly. |
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| I really fucking liked this. Wish it would get a full series. Did the bartender ever specifically say that one had to go to Hell and one had to go to Heaven? If not then maybe they both went to the same place. Neither of them really did anything worth going to hell over (at least from what we saw) ahhhhhh I wanna know what the old man said to the bartender and what was with his smile, it seemed so creepy. More pls. |
Meritas said: Arve Rezzle: Kikaijikake no Yoseitachi seems to be the best Anime Mirai project this year around(though I can't get my hands on Ryo, sadly). Really? Arve was way weaker than this IMO. At least Death Bills ended nicely. |
| The last words the younger man said were powerful. An episodic series of this would be amazing, each episode there would be 2 new people ( they could even do more people if they wanted) each with their own story and the roulette would pick a different game each time. Over the course of the series the bartender and hostess would learn about humanity. |
| Good animation. Good mystery with a twist in the end. Its major fault is that the creators took the easy way out in terms of plot and left things as an open-ending. 7/10. |
| My Reviews and Rants: http://bunny1ov3r.wordpress.com/ 痛就是爱 |
| I watched this because Maeno Tomoaki and Nakamura Yuuichi in it XD (LOL) . I did enjoy this for such a one-shot story. Yes the old-man is kinda badass XD 8/10 Still curious with what that old-man said, though i think that old-man decide to going to the hell. ==" |
| I'm thinking the blue pool balls was a representation of heaven and the red pool balls were a representation of hell. Originally, The younger guy was in reality suppose to lose ascending him to heaven, but in reality, the "winner" of the pool match would be sent to hell. Since the younger guy changed his fate through representing humanity which is targeted exactly to the audience, the old man ascends to heaven now while the younger man goes to hell. In reality, it wasn't fully a game of death, but a game more targeted of psychological composure which fate was already set for both of them before everything even started, but the younger mans instincts altered fate itself. I'm not even sure if my thoughts were even close to the original meaning of this one shot either. Lol, I'm over analyzing this a bit haha |
| both went to heaven case closed..! |
| I was reminded of all those times I used to play 8 Ball Pool on Miniclip. Haha. Unfortunately, the ending, though meant to be open for interpretation, didn't even really spark my curiosity. |
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| It always amazes me when I watch movie shorts or short OVAs/ONAs...I used to think you needed at least an hour to tell a story, but these only prove time means nothing, you can create a compelling story lasting only minutes. I really liked this one specifically because it makes you think, and it doesn't give you the answers when all is said and done. I agree with the guy above me, the signs above the elevators meant nothing...I don't really have a strong opinion on what the old man said, but I get the feeling he either told the bartender that he purposely lost, or asked to switch places. Either way no one will know, so anyone can be right on that. Very good movie short, 8/10 |
 "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment" |
| I was tickled to see Milevan shared some of my thoughts, mainly that the masks meant nothing, because the girl wouldn't have asked if they did. ALSO I'm sure some of you know that those are Noh masks from classical Japanese drama; while we COULD intemperate them on an aesthetic level (one was obviously demonic while the other was divine) everything throughout this anime was on a deeper, more obscure level than just surface appearances, so I think they where meant to mislead. (Isn't that what classical drama is based around? Deceiving and surprising your audience?) And maybe I missed it when I was skimming over the posts, but I didn't see anyone entertain the thought that maybe they BOTH went to heaven or hell, I did not see/hear any evidence that suggested they couldn't have, other than the girl's "which went to which?" question, but come on, if she said something like "Did they both go to hell?" That would have completely ruined the ambiguity of the ending. |
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RenegadeRainbow said: I was tickled to see Milevan shared some of my thoughts, mainly that the masks meant nothing, because the girl wouldn't have asked if they did. ALSO I'm sure some of you know that those are Noh masks from classical Japanese drama; while we COULD intemperate them on an aesthetic level (one was obviously demonic while the other was divine) everything throughout this anime was on a deeper, more obscure level than just surface appearances, so I think they where meant to mislead. (Isn't that what classical drama is based around? Deceiving and surprising your audience?) And maybe I missed it when I was skimming over the posts, but I didn't see anyone entertain the thought that maybe they BOTH went to heaven or hell, I did not see/hear any evidence that suggested they couldn't have, other than the girl's "which went to which?" question, but come on, if she said something like "Did they both go to hell?" That would have completely ruined the ambiguity of the ending. I'm probably the one who brought up the Noh masks in the first place, and it was merely another point of interest. I don't agree or disagree that they meant anything. However, the fact that the girl knows nothing, means nothing. If the mask had any meaning, then they were there for symbolism, for the viewer. It doesn't mean they were consciously labeling their doors. Or even if they were actively placed there, the fact that the girl is asking means she wouldn't know if it had any meaning, even if it did. Ambiguous endings are nice when there is something worth contemplating from the context, in which case it is up to interpretation. but this was just ambiguity for the sake of being open. They provided glimpses of both men's lives, yet nothing of substance, not enough for the viewers to extract and form their opinions on the destination of the men. So it's best just to leave it as is, an empty ending to a show whose draw was its mysterious atmosphere and tension. |
| How did Little Witch Academia get more hype than this?? This was awesome I wish it had a full series. |
| coooool stuff |
"Urushibara Ruka. The mannerisms and voice of a woman... No... More feminine than any woman. But he's a guy. Taller than Mayuri, but so very thin... But he's a guy. Looks great in a miko outfit... But he's a guy. It's already twilight And yet, it's so hot. The cicadas are crying. But... He's a guy." |
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