Why are you watching this show?

kawaii-despair said:
Because I like it.

soulelle said:
My goodness, people, I don't understand what is so complicated about this show that everyone has troubles comprehending. Everything's very, VERY simple.

There are two main characters in this show, around who evolves the main theme of the show: feeling oneself at home.

Jonathan is not a mere chicken! Learn your director already! Nishimura Junji uses chickens all the time in his shows! This is his freaking trope! Go watch True Tears if you don't believe me. It also has snow and chickens. As for Glasslip, most of the times Jonathan represents Kakeru himself. To be more precise it represents the problems that Kakeru struggles with.

Remember the 1st episode? The scene where Kakeru meets Touko at school for the first time? The dialogue about free-range Jonathan vs living in a cell? Have you all forgotten about it? If yes, it's now the best time to recall it! Kakeru, having no particular place where he feels at home, is the one who DOESN'T like the concept of free-range animals. Kakeru shows Touko how dangerous a life for Jonathan is if it's up to go around wherever it wants. Kakeru is the one who says that he'd rather live in a cell - he's tired to change his place of living all the time. He wants his home to be set in stone like a cell for an animal.

Why the heck do you think Kakeru lives in the tent? Have you ever even tried to think about it? It's so freaking simple - because he changes houses all the time, because his family always moves from one city to another! So the only CONSTANT place for him where he can sleep and feel himself home is his freaking tent! This IS his cell that always stay the same, regardless where he is located geographically.

Do you understand why there's always such an accent on the sea birds crying in the show? They DO as well represent Kakeru - they keep changing their home from season to season. They spend winter in one area and then move back to another area for summer. This is what brings Kakeru troubles and loneliness. This is what Touko felt and got scared of - Kakeru will "fly away to another place once the season changes", e.g. when it gets too cold.

So Kakeru now faces a challenge. He has two options. Option 1 - he keeps "flying" with his mum, losing Touko, experiencing the loneliness he's so tired of. Option 2 - he settles down to stay with Touko who makes him feel home here. But option 2 is also scary, because then he's losing connection to his mother and has to actually start living his own life. Kakeru is obviously scared of this heavy responsibility - once he decides to stay, he won't be able to quit if something goes wrong by moving to another place. So he's frustrated in choosing between the two options.

And believe it or not, Touko is no less scared. Having lived in this one city for so long, she's scared that her friends will leave and they will no longer meet to watch the fireworks together. Again, THIS is what the show has started with in the first episode! She wants the people dear to her to remain close and connected to each other. And what's more, she's now even more scared to lose the one who she fell in love with. Because unlike the chicken Jonathan, who can't fly despite being a bird, Kakeru can actually fly away if he decides to go with his mother.

Because of their love, because of their fears, and because of their sensitive nature, Touko and Kakeru experience and share their emotions through imagination, otherwise known as "fragments of the future". It has nothing to do with alternate worlds, fates, other dimensiona[l], timelines, or other bullshit - it's just their vivid imagination. They learn about each other and about each other's feelings and emotions this way.
And THIS is what this show is about. Everything that happens around them is just a romantic slice of life setting that drives this dramatic world. People meet, fall in love, some have their feelings unrequited, some have to fight for and win their love, etc. The actual drama is however between the two main characters - will they stay together or not, will Kakeru find his home with Touko or will he leave till better times, will Touko find the way to see the fireworks all together or not? These are the questions raised by the anime.

pastiched said:
So, why are you still watching it?

MikelAL93 said:
For the sheer curiosity of why I felt the summer season's lineup this year was such a huge let down when compared to last year's lineup (when I said last year, I actually mean the Summer 2013 lineup, which I found to be better imo).

ChessKitty said:
the elitist types who say they're laughing at everyone else because it's just SO SIMPLE and then they post paragraphs and paragraphs of explanation.

kawaii-despair said:
Because I like it.