Subculture Anime Blog

Hey, you’re not Fumika….and stop poking that bird!

Summary:

A young girl pokes at a bird, wondering why it isn’t moving. Her mother calls out to her as Fumika, explaining to her that it is dead and will not return to life. Fumika later leaves her home’s living room full of gossiping women to talk to her uncle Takehiko. She finds that he is having trouble coming up with something to paint, as everyone else in the house begins to leave. Takehiko takes Fumika to enjoy cake in the city, explaining to her that he is attempting to do his own painting rather than the work he has been forced to do in his workplace. Takehiko later visits the arcades with Fumika, but becomes distracted while playing game. The women from before talk together in a bar, discussing the unclear situation of Takehiko’s career. While Takehiko watches a movie with Fumika, he remembers a recent trip to the clinic. The doctor explained that he had developed cancer, and that it would not cure.

Takehiko gets into some trouble with two delinquents later, but is unable to defend himself against them. A pair of security guards come to his aid, but Takehiko is also given a fair amount of blame. Takehiko is questioned in the police station, but the interrogator ends up lecturing him about work after finding that he does not have a stable job. Fumika encounters a crying police woman while waiting for her uncle. In the woman’s hands is a Shigofumi, which Fumika has just delivered. The younger Fumika believes that Fumika has been picking on the police woman, but the woman explains that Fumika has delivered an important letter to her. When the younger Fumika wonders if there is a letter for her as well, the two Fumikas find that they have the same name. Takehiko is given a call from one of his work acquaintances after a confirmation from the interrogator. The man on the other end makes Takehiko realize that he would not be able to return to work, and is disappointed with Takehiko’s answer as he thought they were friends.

Fumika visits Fumi-chan again, with Kaname and Natsuka follow shortly after. Fumika has continued to visit, as she believes Fumi-chan can hear her voice. Takehiko talks on the phone with one of the women from earlier, becoming upset that they are setting him up for a normal job. He realizes that everyone would rather have him live a normal life, but he does not believe he has that option anymore. While Takehiko drives back with Fumika, he finds that she would like to visit the shop she heard the women talking about earlier. Takehiko tells her that she would be unable to go, making him wonder if she is envious of adults. Takehiko states that the adult world is not all that great, before stopping to the side of the road. He finds that the car will not run, so he leaves Fumika to wait for him. While walking down the street, Takehiko thinks to himself that he has started to lose everything. He believes that this is fine, however, as his life will end soon anyways.

Takehiko stops when he hears Fumika chasing after behind him. She suggests that she will go with him, making Takehiko realize that it is lonely being alone. Fumika interrupts Takehiko when her game beeps. When Takehiko sees the screen, he remembers that the characters inside were those that he created. With this, Takehiko has memories of the times he has spent up to this point. He had always painted pictures as a kid, making his way through college and eventually to his workplace at the game company. Takehiko thinks that he became a graphic artist because he wanted to make paintings, but further realizes that he just wanted to make people happy. A truck rushes towards Takehiko and Fumika shortly after, however, making Takehiko push Fumika out of the way. Realizing that this is the end, Takehiko believes that the situation is not bad at all.

Later at Takehiko’s funeral, Fumika is only able to believe that her uncle is sleeping. However, she realizes something when she touches his face. Outside, Fumika appears to deliver a Shigofumi to her. Inside is a single drawing of a sleeping Fumika. The younger Fumika asks Fumika if her uncle is dead, finally realizing that she will not be able to see him anymore. With this, she turns off the game she has constantly been playing. In the hospital elsewhere, Fumi-chan opens her eyes.

Preview: Awake.

Impression:

OSHI-! Okay, before we get all excited about the last five seconds of this episode, I’m going to have to talk about the other 20 minutes of it. Going back to the episodic style we had in the beginning of the series, this was definitely one of the stronger episodes for me in the past few weeks. I felt quite connected to this episode, even more so than some of the earlier ones. For one, I am a digital media student. Just the scenes themselves seemed familiar to me, but I loved even more the beliefs Takehiko held towards his work. Following “normal” lives just doesn’t work for artists, and they live to change the world in some way. At least, that’s what I believe. Watching Takehiko struggle with his life, I became intrigued at how mainstream Japanese thought works. Themes of death may be thought about a lot by a few here in the states, but it just isn’t introduced in the media the same way it is in Japan. Unfortunately in this episode, Takehiko died a convenient death before he could live on with his new realization.

The young Fumika was really cute in this episode, but I somehow doubt she will be making a returning appearance with only a couple of episodes left. The Animal Crossing type game she was playing looked like a lot of fun, and it even played well with the theme of the episode. I really love the role of symbolism video games are playing in this series, which was also introduced in one of the earlier episodes. The blank canvas Takehiko stared at earlier in the episode was beautiful, representing his own blank state at that point. Of course, everything in the episode built up and revolved around that. Takehiko’s expression to Fumika that the adult world was not all good also hit base with me. It is always interesting to see the envy that children have for adults, along with the wish adults have to return to their childhood. Fumika’s realization about what death really was by the end of the episode was excellent, as it is something everyone deals with at some point of their life.

Now to talk about the last five seconds. Fumi-chan woke up! OMIGOD! Yea, that’s all I really had to say about that one. The next episode looks quite interesting, and I’m looking forward to a strong end for this series soon. Fumika, what are you doing!?