Takopii no Genzai Episode 6 Discussion

My god, six episodes in and Takopii is still the same annoying mess he was at the start. He finally got his memories back last episode, and yet he's still going around saying things like, "DoN't YoU WaNna SeE ShIzUkA HaPPy?" Like seriously? Please for the lvoe of god, FUCKING STOP. At least Azuma showed some actual development. Meanwhile, Takopii hasn’t changed a bit, still clinging to this version of Shizuka that barely even feels like Shizuka anymore.

But ofc, since it’s the final episode and we have to force a happy ending, we somehow manage to change the mind of a literal murderer in under three minutes, because that totally makes sense. And then we reset the timeline, effectively making everything that happened completely pointless. What a joke. Oh, and somehow Marina and Shizuka magically remember Takopii after all that, just conveniently enough to give us a feel-good bonding moment at the end.

God, the show was already awful, but this ending honestly rivals disasters like Darling in the FranXX, truly. And the similarities are hard to ignore, both are carried almost entirely by their animation, with everything else falling apart. That said, I’m still genuinely curious to see where the studio goes from here. ENISHIYA is easily one of the most interesting new companies to emerge this decade. I just hope their next project actually lives up to their potential instead of being another frustrating waste of talent.

Forget about AOTY, we all know that Solo Leveling will gonna get it anyways.

@IzanaSolos

Bro, what's wrong with you hating on Takopii?? Pls stop the the ragebait 🤣

some notes: first of all wasn’t the camera the murder weapon?? how the well did azuma give it back to takopii? second, i see teenage marina still has a scar at the end, so everything is still sh*t, except the girls have each other. three, azuma not being a part of the two girls’ life in the future is interesting. a curious choice by the author.

@FMmatron yeah you asked a good question, what is wrong with hating on this dogshit show lol. other than the visuals nothing abt this show was remotely well executed, this finale being one of those many such as the prospect of shizuka & marina reconciling feeling way too easy/convenient or takopii having the dumbass memory wipe shit out of nowhere. not ragebait if its the truth, expected more iq from someone that likes op tbh

@KingShisui The parents are not villains, we just don't see what messed them up. This is a story very explicitly about the fact that nobody's evil.

(If I'm amnoying, sorry for being this way)

@FMmatron yeah you asked a good question, what is wrong with hating on this dogshit show lol. other than the visuals nothing abt this show was remotely well executed, this finale being one of those many such as the prospect of shizuka & marina reconciling feeling way too easy/convenient or takopii having the dumbass memory wipe shit out of nowhere. not ragebait if its the truth, expected more iq from someone that likes op tbh

@FMmatron yeah you asked a good question, what is wrong with hating on this dogshit show lol. other than the visuals nothing abt this show was remotely well executed, this finale being one of those many such as the prospect of shizuka & marina reconciling feeling way too easy/convenient or takopii having the dumbass memory wipe shit out of nowhere. not ragebait if its the truth, expected more iq from someone that likes op tbh

Brooooooooo I was so happy when I read the description of the last episode, as it implied Takopi would find a way to save Shizuka, Marina and Naoki, cuz that's exactly the kind of ending I wanted to happen all along, but man did they fumble the execution.

First off, the camera being broken after killing Marina was the whole reason for this mess in the first place. The fact that Takopi could have make it work again at any time is driving me crazy. Sure he would have had to sacrifice himself, which explains why he didn't do it this entire time. But why wasn't this something he explained sooner? If not to the other characters, at least to us the viewers (through an inner monologue or something, or by trying to hint at it, but being cut off by other characters before he can finish his sentence) It would have been so much more satisfying knowing this entire time that he could do it, but at an incredibly cost. Hence why he went along with trying to find an alternative solution to solving the problem of Marina's death. It would have made it so much more impactful knowing that in the end depaite how hard they tried, the failed an hence Takopi's sacrifice was the only option in the end.

BUT THAT'S NOT EVEN TRUE. Cuz remember how that clock on his home planet still exists?!! Naoki even mentions it again in this episode. Heck he basically straight up tells Takopi, to use it to go back in time.

But the dumb octopus doesn't.

And even if the author wanted to still go the route of using the camera again, just say Naoki somehow managed to fix it. Does it make sense? No. But still more satisfying than what we got. You could even say Naoki wasn't able to perfectly fix, and that's why Takopi has to power it by sacrificing himself. But at least it would mean that Takopi couldn't have done it way earlier.

And speaking of things that don't make sense. How tf does Marina remember Takopi???? I get that the story is trying to hint at the fact that deep down Shizuka and Marina still remember him despite the time being reversed. Shizuka I can somewhat understand, since she met Takopi when she was in elementary school. BUT MARINA HASN'T MET TAKOPI YET??!?!?!? It's not until middle school that she remembers him. Are you telling me, she somehow has her memories of her older self from the previous timeline??? I'm sorry but that makes no sense whatsoever.

And it's not even like it was established before that you could regain your memories of a previous timeline after time is reversed. That would have been neat, like if Takopi had lost his memories due to time travel but eventually regained them. But remember, that's not what happened, cuz Takopi's mom erasering his memories was the reason he had lost them, not time travel itself.

Honestly, if only these two things (making the camera work and regaining your memories from previous timelimes) would have been foreshadowed in earlier episodes, it would have made this ending truly great. But without any foreshadowing, it just seems like these plot points were pulled out of thin air, which is just disappointing cuz it could have been done so much better.

Other than that, I find it weird that Marina and Shizuka are suddenly all friendly with each other now. But then again, it's not like there was a happy gadget that could have made them make up with each other... oh wait.

All in all, Episode 6 couldn't live up to the peak that was episode 5 imo. Imma probably still leave my rating of this anime at 10/10, cuz that's just how highly I think of the first 5 episodes. But know that right now as I'm writing this, I wanna knock it down to 9 so badly, just for the wasted potential in this episode alone. But it gave me a happy ending, so I'll be nice.

I THINK IM GOING TO CRY

Even Azuma knows that his own family is not exempt from the massive scale of Marina's murder investigation, with Takopi finally having known his original mission to kill Shizuka, but yet, couldn't find a reason to do so after her treating him with kindness. It's the same with Azuma having known his own sin to realize that saving Shizuka is a possibility, which did not turn out to be the case, and even more so for his older brother Junya to take over the family clinic. Even he shows the exact same expressions of Shizuka to Takopi with the Happy Gadget, which the octopus finally plucks his courage to stand against the bullied-turned-villain girl coming back to exact her murder.

Still, Takopi admitting that he did not try to understand the girl who wanted someone to understand and reach out their hands towards her, it's a culmination of devastation that can only be felt by only the both of them. And his sacrifice towards her to use the Happy Camera to turn back time to the picture he took of her when they met the very first time and which quickly became friends at that, it was a sacrifice to go back to 2016 and right the wrongs of the future they created and manifested.

With time turned back to 2016, Takopi finally understood what's going on between both Shizuka and Marina, as well as Azuma, and this time, it's his presence (like a drawing) that draws the bully and her victim ever closer, with the hope that they will grow into decent adults (which both girls do, thanks to the collective imagination of Takopi).

Such a 2-volume manga, turned into one of the most unadulterated, uncensored and poignant masterpiece stories of our time.
Simply put, this is pure gold.

I feel like you missed the point of the series. If you dislike it, then I can't do anything about that, nor will I try. However, let me at least clarify the message of the series.

1. Takopi is meant to be a representation of people who think in black and white. How often do you see people who genuinely think that bullying and child abuse are problems that can be solved? Only people who have never experienced it think they are solvable problems. Takopi is a representation of the people who think they can help victims, when in reality they are incapable of even understanding what they are going through. Making someone happy in tye moment can never undo the past.

2. This is not a happy ending. Nor is everything that comes after pointless. Takopi knew that he can't fix shitty parents or shitty lives. You just can't. Marina and Shizuka were irreparably damaged throughout their developmental stages. Even so, no one actually murdered anyone in the sense you're talking about. Marina killed her mother, but only in self defense. That is excusable. Takopi killed Marina, but it was an accident in the context of defending someone else. It's not excusable, but Takopi undid it and sacrificed himself in tye end, so I say that makes up for it, especially since it was an accident and there was no malicious intent. In the end, Marina still gets abused, still gets her scar from the glass. Shizuka still has a neglectful mother and a setting father who pretends she doesn't exist. Azuma still has an emotionally abusive mother.

However, Azuma still retains tye development he has with his brother and makes some actual friends, rather than the toxic codependency of Suzuka or Marina. Nothing about his arc is made pointless, because it still all happens. Same with Marina and Shizuka. Nothing was meaningless, as it all still happens. The only difference is that, since Takopi used his magic to go back in time while allowing the trio to remember their emotions, but not the events, Shizuka and Marina are able to bond over their shitty abusive/neglectful households.

Takopi can't fix anything, and so nothing is fixed. But while he is unable to relate to Shizuka or Marina, thry can relate to each other. So, in the end, with his sacrifice he is able to bring g tye two of them together. He can't fix their suffering, but he can allow them to suffer together and lean on each other through it. And isn't having someone to lean on, to relate to, and to remind ourselves we aren't alone what we all need?

Shizuka can't help Marina, and Marina can't help Shizuka. But they can not make anything worse for the other. And so, they simply find solace in each other. Marina did some terrible shit, and so did Shizuka. But they're like 9 year old. You can't blame them; it's the adults in their lives that completely fucked them up. They are children,, they don't know any better because they weren't taught any better. Even so, that doesn't mean they can't grow and change as people. There is no villain or hero in this story. There are only human beings...and Takopi; the alien who helped bring two victims together.

10/10.