Takopii no Genzai Episode 6 Discussion

I really want to like this ending, but it feels really unearned. I don't think any of Takopii's story really resonated with me and I don't buy his mutual connection to Marina and Shizuka bringing them together. Even in A Silent Voice, the MCs had to work hard for the ending they got. I think my favorite part of this story was Azuma's arc, and I'm glad my boy got a happy ending for himself.

🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙THE END🐙🐙🐙🐙
the best drama Psychological anime i ever watched
10/10❤
Anime that succeed make audience CRY ,simpatyi,trauma in GOOD way
Glad it end with bittersweet happy ending 😢

I've never been so moved by a piece of media like how this one has felt to me.

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.

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.

So the solution of the show about trying to save a bunch of kids from killing themselves, is for Takopii to kill himself. Truly incredible. Also none of the show actually happened because of time travel. So basically all the characters have vague memories of interactions but not really? I mean it's a good ending, like it had a positive outcome for the characters. But it's not very satisfying... Nevertheless, somewhat cute show. Very sad what happened in those dead timelines, good thing those just flat out didn't happen in the end. Not at all what I thought was going to happen, but it does wrap it up nicely I guess. The adult characters all being evil doesn't matter I guess because they just redirect your focus to how these two girls are now friends and everything is good now. Like good enough. Sort of a cop out though, since now Shizuka doesn't have to get over the removal of Chappy at all, and Marina still does everything for her mother and likely still gets beat at home occasionally, and Azuma's mother is still insufferable, at least some things were made slightly better thanks to Takopii's impact. And I guess that's the moral of the show. Pray that some outsider will come into your lives, watch you all unravel, then be the reason you make up. And for that I guess it was a good show. Sorta confused how Takopii survived Shizuka's wrath though, and that'll never be explained. Basically a movie length anime, and it was a pretty good movie for the most part.

I think that the "magic fixes everything in the end and none of the underlying issues were resolved" reading (that I have found all too common in this thread) of the ending to be really shallow and altogether missing the point of what this work is trying to say. Not just from this last episode but from the literal beginning of this show, it's made abundantly clear that 1) Takopii does not understand human psychology, and 2) all of the gadgets that are supposed to make people happy either only provide temporary reprieve or just actually lead directly or indirectly to further suffering. Magic never has and never will fix anything in this world. The only real "magic" is communication; being able to share one's trauma with others and work towards happiness together instead of having to struggle towards it alone.

This is why I don't have an issue with Takopii's sacrifice in the end. Takopii recognizes that he doesn't understand. As he's beaten by Shizuka, he states multiple times; "I'm sorry, I don't know", because he truly doesn't. Happians aren't humans, and while Takopii has over time perhaps come to understand them a bit better, even by the last episode he doesn't fully understand how a person could be both good and bad (a thing that Naoki understands so easily, because that's just how things are for humans). Takopii doesn't have any answers; his magic won't do anything for Shizuka and Marina. He can't dig into the kid's psyches and analyze their root traumas, and he can't address the adults and their traumas either. Think about how many times Takopii misconstrues the relationships and actions of the parents throughout this show. Takopii simply doesn't understand why humans act the way they do, why hurt people hurt people.

So what does Takopii finally understand? What did he learn from his experience on the Happy Planet? What was his final regret, his actual original sin? It's that he didn't talk to anyone before he left. This is the heart of this show. Even though Takopii is useless in actually resolving any real problems, he understands that simply by virtue of communicating; talking with others and listening to them in turn, happiness (or at least the road towards it) can be found. Takopii doesn't "fix" anything via time travel and going back to the original timeline. He doesn't "fix" Marina and Shizuka or their broken families. He can't see that the broken adults in their lives are brought to justice for their abuses. So what can he do? That's right. He can remind them of a shared experience. However faint of a memory, evoked by the tiniest of pictures, he can push Marina and Shizuka ever so slightly in a different direction. One where their lives still undoubtedly suck; but one where they can at least talk and sympathize in their experiences as survivors. Or maybe just about something completely absurd, like a ballpoint pen of a rabbit from Saturn.

While compared to the other timelines where Marina kills her mother/she is killed and Shizuka runs away, this ending is undoubtedly more "happy", though I don't actually see it as a truly happy conclusion. There is still unresolved trauma and broken families. Scarred lines made from glass still left on skin. Those things aren't so easily resolved, no Happian magic able to heal those scars. Takopii doesn't leave Marina and Shizuka with a happy conclusion; no, he leaves them with a memory of hope that one day they can maybe understand each other. What comes next is ultimately up to them.

I think that the critique of "no effort was actually made to find a real resolution" (ergo, the ending was unearned) just misses what the show is actually trying to do. Do you really think Takopii was designed and written to be the type of character that breaks down character's psyche's, makes them confront their trauma, and work towards realistic solutions to abusive family lives? Hell no! He's an alien with a warped view of happiness with initially zero understanding of human psychology. This story is about him learning about the contradictory ways humans can think and act, and finally understanding that when there is no magical route to happiness, communication with each other is sometimes all we have left. While I do think that the pacing could have undoubtedly been better, for what I believe this show was trying to achieve, this ending communicates enough about its themes to be quite poignant, at least for me personally.

There are of course other valid critiques of this show that I fully acknowledge. The depictions of abuse and domestic violence I have heard felt sort of "un-real" and over dramatized by some people, which is something I can fully understand. The general tone and writing of the show I have also seen critiqued multiple times as well, and while I very much hesitate to call the show manipulative (as I believe it does tread carefully and maturely around most of its sensitive topics), I think it's inevitable with any work of this subject matter to face scrutiny over how it can potentially play with viewer's emotions (and if that is actually earned or just cheap melodrama).

I will also say that I am extremely happy that they decided to use the full version of Glass Lines for the final ED. While the shorter version used in episodes 1-5 is also great, I do genuinely think that watching the music video for the full version of the song can really enhance one's experience of the show, especially if done after watching episode one. There are just so many lyrics that fit into place once you watch the video and then go on to complete the show; a few that have I have referenced in this post already. Screenshots of some of those lines featured below!



https://youtu.be/drS7STiDBCY?si=xHeQmAUhe6HKgTRV

Curious as to what I gave this show in the end? Check my profile :)

@OppositeDay, I was just about to write a lot of that post myself but you beat me to it lol. The only real differences I would have made were about the abuse, which I find horrifyingly plausible in comparison to some things you see in the news, and the two girls' relationship because I think they end up more frenemies than friends. Their mutual attraction comes from shared experiences, which somehow just about wins out over the hatred caused by those same experiences. Or at least, that's how I'd read that kick in the flash-forward at the end, which I see as a sort of ritualization of Marina's antagonism.