It represents the dilemma that we all share as human beings with minds. We can't know unless we communicate those feelings whether through language or facial expressions. By having the Kiznaiver experiment, it allows for them to feel the pain of others as well instead of having to understand it through another perspective..I feel this knowledge holds more truth because often times language cannot truly represent one's own emotion or feelings such as pain. You can't truly know the pain unless you've experienced it yourself
Why is this? Because pain for one person is not the same for the other person. Another person may have a higher tolerance to pain than another. Notice how the main character, Katsuhira, has no pain at all..cannot feel pain..cannot truly comprehend the pain that everyone around him is going through. Even for people who understand pain, emotional pain..mental pain..are even more difficult to describe versus physical pain..and those vary tremendously among each individual.
So in terms of story, I thought it was great in how it represented this. In terms of character, I thought it represented the many complexities that arrive when you try to understand another person's emotions and feelings. It started with physical pain and it led to more complex forms of pains such as emotional or mental which I think are the three main forms of pain.
I probably did a terrible job in trying to describe this broad topic, but it really is a great philosophy. I really encourage people to read more into philosophy of mind and the many theories that are behind it. Even the crazy concepts like Descartes's dualism are great reads. I think this is what the main purpose of the series is about..understanding the limitations to communicating how you feel, but in the end, you don't have to truly understand pain to connect with someone. Despite not being able to truly know another person, you can still connect with them on a deeper level and that's the take-home of the ending of the series.
Hopefully this will help some of you understand what was going on.
