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Apr 29, 2009 5:40 PM
#1

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Jul 2008
5116
THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
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this is one of those episodes that show the future isn't as bright as we want it to be; very depressing series so far
the only way to stop a gamer from playing is either: beat them, or wait until they get bored (though 2% percent suffer seizures
Jun 10, 2010 4:01 PM
#2

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Nov 2009
769
that would be a very long film if it recorded there life in the film... this epi was AWESOME!!! that poor guy though married a fowl beast... (not the shinma haha...) also... i feel bad 4 the ppl who dont get a second chance... poor poor ppl!!!
Jan 9, 2014 7:13 AM
#3

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Aug 2013
179
A nice episode, poor guy just didn't want to live anymore. Though how come no one got killed when the movie was watched the second time because the audience who watched it first got pulled into the film, or was it because the monster was not in it while they were watching?
"Nothing is sweeter than your smile"
Jun 18, 2014 1:22 PM
#4

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May 2012
25827
Average episode, but well let's see what's next.
Aug 8, 2019 5:18 PM
#5

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Oct 2016
301
Good episode. I felt really bad for that old guy. Especially when his wife said she had thrown everything out. The want to relive the past is a strong one.
The Shinma for this episode had a cool design, so that was nice.
It was also interesting seeing a kind of "B-Story" following Miyu's friends.
I am really liking this show so far. It's like a comfy, cozy, horror anime that you can just watch casually, you know?
Also
>Miyu: "I have no intention of judging humans."
You liar!

Jan 23, 2020 8:53 PM
#6

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Jun 2010
1862
It was a great twist that the old man had actually married the love of his life and had lied about losing touch with her. It would have worked better if the wife had been introduced earlier to invite the audience into thinking he had married someone else and what a mistake it was.

So far the victims of the Shinma have been due to human folly in some way (girls who torment another and expect no resistance, women who are too willing to accept the compliments of a stranger, the boy so out of touch with a sense of personal identity he is taken over by a mask, the man preyed on in the wilderness because of he was on a pilgrimage due to past misdeeds) but most of the victims this time, such as the nameless man in the first scene, are just in the wrong place at the wrong time, which is less dramatically interesting.
Dec 18, 2020 9:20 PM
#7
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Dec 2019
384
I don't know what the intentions of the creators were, but I feel like this was one of the more layered and interesting episodes. Miyu says that it wasn't his fault, but I'm not so sure about that. Where there is light, there is also shadow. A man's dream shown so brightly that the shadows it cast consumed the lives around him. Reminds me of Spider Man 2, when Doc Oct's scientific pursuits started endangering everyone else and in the end, he had to give up on his dreams for the greater good. The professor clung so hard to his dream of being a filmmaker that he ignored the economic realities and forced his wife to go through a lot of hardship, and yet he still doesn't seem to realize that his wife didn't become bitter because he married her but because he was too selfish in his pursuits. He still clings to the beautiful image of his wife before they got married, clinging to that image of a perfect woman who has no ugliness written on her face. If only I didn't disturb the beauty of that flower by picking it, he thinks. But it didn't have to be that way. He could have been happy and she could have been happy, if he had been willing to sacrifice, to extinguish his light. He could have actually connected with his wife, if he didn't stick to an image of her. He could have avoided the deaths of so many audience members, if he didn't hold on so tightly to his dream, to his youth, and to a past full of potential.

On another level, this is also the story of a man who couldn't separate fiction from reality. He had this idea that he would marry the girl of his dreams and live happily ever after, and this idea that he would become a successful filmmaker, as if life was as perfect as the tailored story of a film.

On that note, I thought that the mid episode twist was exceptional, because it subverted the stupid romance cliche of meeting with the one that was meant for you all along. That perfect girl or guy that was meant to be your soul mate? That person can easily turn into a sour grape once you get with them for long, their pretty face contorted in ugly emotions.

Whole thing has a huge relationship with Millenium Actress, but there a person's pursuit of a dream is treated more positively (or is it?)

Very interesting. I love meta stuff like this. The relationship between reality and fiction is not interesting because of the metaphysical questions that it poses (is my reality really real? do I have free will? etc). I could care less about those because that's not practical. It's interesting because it explores the ways that we think about our lives in terms of narrative. The professor wanted his life to follow a certain narrative and when real life defies narrative as it usually does, he couldn't reconcile with it; he couldn't rewrite the script.
RecynonDec 20, 2020 10:20 PM
Oct 22, 2021 6:05 AM
#8

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Jul 2011
1004
I liked the twist that his wife was actually his old love and that things just didn't got as perfectly as he expected.

The movie shinma being a shadow and only existing in the light was interesting too.
Though once again, It ended badly for the people involved.
Apr 7, 9:37 PM
#9

Offline
Dec 2022
3182
that was fucking great. a love letter to the power of cinema

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It’s time to ditch the text file.
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