Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso Episode 9 Discussion

mayukachan said:
I'm liking the pacing actually. It's not too fast, not too slow.

I think Kousei won't be in the top 3, but I hope he still win.

His mom is too harsh, she should teach him calmly.

Yes the pacing is perfectly fine.

Werchiel said:
This episode was 3/10 at most. I'm sick of this already - there is literally no progress here. The same thing ever again - his mommy issues. She was an abusive bitch - we get that already.
It's just awesome - 3 episodes of build-up only to see 90% of flashbacks and another fail at the end. Fuck you seriously...

PrinceTY said:
LOL no he is not right. definitely not. This series has no terrible episodes. Even it's weaker ones are above average at the very least.

PrinceTY said:
I still don't get why you keep saying this is nothing special. This is clearly and obviously AOTY, or at least AOTS.

PrinceTY said:
And what are you talking about? This adaptation has been very religiously following the manga.

Pat_To_Do-List said:
I still do not understand why he has some kind of severe trauma just because of a mere cat. It feels overly dramatic.

surfboard_ said:
Its not the cat but associated memories it has with Kousei's life. Its more of a psychological trick/resource.

Pat_To_Do-List said:

I understand if it was a not-so-severe trauma, but be nauseated after seeing a black cat & dreaming/hallucinating(?) about the cat? That's a bit too much. Maybe there will be more explanation about this.

CLBGM said:
Dat Chopin Etude Op. 25 N° 11 arrangement at the beginning o.O

-Skyleo- said:

I guess he knows that well.
Did you watch this episode ? There was an (terrible) arrangement of the Etude at the beginning, with drums, guitar and other instruments if I remember well.

FloatingList said:
I'm just repeating what surf what sayin'. The cat is the "manifestation" of Kousei's trauma. And I don't really think having a cute ten yrs old kid got slapped by his mother simply cos he wanted to make her happy is what I'd call "not-so-severe trauma"...

Pat_To_Do-List said:

But why only the cat? And why the cat? It's like the cat was one of the most important thing to him & yet so far there is not any indications about it. Basically we need to see more than Kousei' memory of feeding the cat with chocolate bar to kind of feel the sadness of him losing the cat. That's why I called it "a mere cat," because the anime barely trying to make us care about the cat.
I never said Kousei got slapped by his mother was not bad enough to make him traumatic. I was talking about the cat, not the mother.

Pat_To_Do-List said:
But why only the cat? And why the cat? It's like the cat was one of the most important thing to him & yet so far there is not any indications about it. Basically we need to see more than Kousei' memory of feeding the cat with chocolate bar to kind of feel the sadness of him losing the cat. That's why I called it "a mere cat," because the anime barely trying to make us care about the cat.
I never said Kousei got slapped by his mother was not bad enough to make him traumatic. I was talking about the cat, not the mother.

FloatingList said:
That being said, nauseating over a cat is quite over-dramatic. That I admit.

FloatingList said:
Ah, I misunderstood you. Sorry, mate xD

Probably, the cat is the one thing that truly reminded Kousei that his "world" that time is "different".

Ah no, that wording is incorrect. Let us just try to lay it bare. Kousei got his cat, he was happy. Play too much with the cat, and his momma took his cat so he can focus solely on piano. This may sound as an over-interpretation, but that cat, according to Kousei, is a "symbol" that tells him that his life must solely focused on his mother's expectation. If you mix this interpretation with his trauma (about his mother's death), I think the reason between the "cat manifestation" will be (vaguely) revealed.

That being said, nauseating over a cat is quite over-dramatic. That I admit.

-Skyleo- said:
"Why the cat ?"
"Any indications ?"
Perhaps you need to rewatch the Episode 7, no ?

surfboard_ said:
I'm not a psychology student so I can't help you, but the little I know is that anything can give you a trauma being the situation favorable. Kousei had a traumatic relationship with his cat, like even it hurt him physically when he wanted to make it happy (like his mother was abusing him while he wished for her happiness). Little things like that can home big traumas depending on the person. Do you have a similar traumatic situation? At least I don't, but by watching realism fictional anime I can kind of get aware that its a possibility to see this kind of situation being real.

surfboard_ said:


If its a psychological trauma, it can't be over-dramatic. What if you had something similar you can't control? Its a case where we can only truly acknowledge one's situation when we experience it ourselves.

Pat_To_Do-List said:

Hm . . . , I am still not convinced. As a viewer, I do not feel it. It's the anime job to make the viewers feel what the protagonist feels, love what the protagonist loves, hate what the protagonist hates. So far, the anime succeed at that job, except the cat thing. If they want to make the cat as a "symbol/manifestation," then they should make us care/understand Kousei's feeling toward the cat. I want to feel the same as what Kousei feels.

FloatingList said:
They have, though. Plus, the anime actually doesn't solely focus on the cat. There is actually a "balanced" change between the "cat" and "mother". Notice that the "mother" scene is more focused in this eps.

Gr33ncar said:
first time in my life, i felt nervous while watching an anime

Pat_To_Do-List said:

I think you misunderstood what I said. What I mean was the anime needs to make me feel what Kouse felt toward the cat. Kousei was traumatized by the cat incident because he cared/had a certain connection with the cat, but as a viewer I did not feel what he felt. So the cat incident did not have the same impact for me as it had for Kousei.

Pat_To_Do-List said:
But still, the anime only showed that & did not try to make us feel that way. The anime basically just showed us 5 minutes or so scene about his cat & that's it. I feel like that's not enough. Like I said, if they want to make the cat as some kind of important thing for the story, at least make it feels important.

FloatingList said:
Maybe I did, maybe I didn't xD I said back there that the anime actually doesn't solely focus on the cat. What if, the anime simply "used" the cat as a mere "medium"? What the anime wants to make you feel is how Kousei felt toward the mother. That's why the cat scene didn't really stand out. It's understandable actually, if you can't feel what Kousei's felt toward the cat, since the anime doesn't really aim to that.

Of course, this, I think, is the difference between how we percept different things in this anime.

surfboard_ said:
We know this isn't your deep work full of messages, but if you can or cannot feel that way is literally your problem. We already know Kousei got his problems but its up to us with we sympathize or not. Any work (be it literature, cinema or music) requires a little of knowledge from the reader/watcher/listener and the creator in his own concioussess determines if informations and explanations are needed to make the experience better.

You know the type of anime you're watching, and while its completely right to complain about this and that, you also have to acknowledge and accept that certain things are there, like Kousei's trauma which is fairly explanated how it came to happen. And just to recapitulate, its not especifically the cat but the associated memories with his childhood times with his mother, and his unrequited wish to comfort his pet (he tried to feed it but it ended up scratching Kousei) only to get hurt and later he'd never see it again as his mother disposed of it. Suppresed desires, physical contacts as well the scratch, the sensation of negation from someone you cared and the sudden disappearance of it. You can't deny that these informations were shown to us.

Pat_To_Do-List said:
Just like what I mentioned above, if the cat incident(& all things related) had not been in the story, would there be any significant differences in the overall story?
It's not that I despise the cat, it's just weird that cat got so much attention but in the end it's just a cat that does not have any significant role in the story.

surfboard_ said:
Further consideration: we're only seen 9 episodes, so don't be overdramatic about a cat "getting too much attention".

Pat_To_Do-List said:
I brought the cat topic out because I thought it would be fun to discuss about. So do not worry too much about me.

surfboard_ said:
Goodka. We shall rage more later on the 10th episode.

Pat_To_Do-List said:

Yeah, but the cat has been emphasized as "an important thing" right from the start. Just look at the OP & all the scenes that have the cat reference throughout the episodes. It's like the anime tried to tell us that the cat is a quite important thing to the story & yet it's just a cat that happened to be owned by the protagonist. I think the cat is there just because. What I am trying to say is, the cat incident(& all things related to it. e.g. hallucinating/imagining a talking cat) could easily be removed from the story & nothing would change. And that's how you know something is not important/necessary in a story.

surfboard_ said:
we've only seen 9 episodes.

FloatingList said:
Hmmm, now that you've mentioned it, let's try to delete the cat part.

Okay, now we have Kousei, cat-less. Let's see, we still got to see him beaten by his momma, being taught strictly, and etc. Doesn't really change much, eh? But only that? Of course, to make kids got more obedient, gotta try by taking something that is important for them don't you think? Remember the time when our mommas took our toys to make us more obedient?

IMO, that's the cat's role in the essence of story. Like I said, it simply serves as Kousei's "symbol" so he know that he must live within her mother's expectation (or to say, obedient). The cat is one part that made his personality like that. The cat is what made him think, "Darn, I need to obey my momma." Of course, like I said, it is just a "part". There are a lot of things that made his character.

But that's from the essence view point. Now, try to took at the aesthetic view point. Aesthetic means to see the the anime as an "artwork", not simply a "story". If we look it that way, of course, the cat serves as a strong aesthetic support for the anime to projects Kousei's inner soliloquies.

And I don't really think the cat got a lot of attention, actually :/ Just because it's on the OP and appears several times, doesn't mean the attention goes to the cat... Or at least that's what I thought.

Rest easy. after all,

Pat_To_Do-List said:

So what you are saying is if the cat was not there to be taken by his mom, Kousei would not be that obedient? I do not think that's the case. The main reason Kousei had been obedient to his mom was the mom herself. And let's say that the cat served as a "toy," then its position could easily be replaced by something other than that. Any toy could do it.

Exactly. I think the cat is just one of the many things that happened/affected Kousei, & I would say it is just a fraction. Then what's with the emphasizing on the cat right from the start?

I would not say it's strong. Because the artwork of the anime itself overall is already gorgeous & colourful. So just a cat design would not change anything.

Sure . . . Let's ask that to the all of the viewers about that. And I am sure they would say that the cat got so much attention. I mean, really? It's pretty obvious.

So as a manga reader you are saying that the cat will have more important role?

FloatingList said:
Of course, the cat can be changed with other things, such as dogs, fishes, or even pokemon. But Idk, somehow Japanese has this strong relation with cats (see Shinkai's works, for example) so about why it should be cat, Idk.

Like I said, aesthetic purpose. The cat is a "symbol", nothing else. A "symbol" may not sound important, but it serves as a nice aesthetic support. Believe me, I've try it. It may not support as a physical aesthetic support, but something "deeper" than that (like being Kousei's "questioning", his "conscious", IMO it add more "beauty" to the anime).

Hmmmm.... at the current, I'd say people's attention goes to the mother. You can say at this page people said more about "Kousei's mother this, Kousei's mother that".

Not really, it still serves as "symbol", actually.