Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita – 08
The shippers must’ve been all over this one.
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One would expect this episode to be all about answering the crazy questions raised in the last one. Especially since a time loop is a major portion of it. But Humanity Has Declined hasn’t always stuck to the formula. It’s a show that likes to leave things hanging, and this was no exception. That said, what was revealed was quite fascinating and provided plenty of laughter as well. |
This 13 year old can already die with no regrets. And he’s likely to soon, if he keeps following our main character around.
Telling the assistant’s character development through the main character’s viewpoint made for an unorthodox style. I’m not sure it was a great one, even if it was unique. Seeing the 2 versions of the assistant was jarring, and I’m still not completely sure I understand that ??? loop. The show at least explained clearly that he defined himself by others’ views of him, and that the massive number of the main character clones made him become as they pictured him. But what was the reason for his initial dirty and crass personality? No one had described him as such before. Does it have to do with his isolation which caused him to have no regard for others?
That meeting only took place when the main character got sent back “too far” according to the fairies. Normally I wouldn’t consider such a detail to be important, but dozens of clones were added in the 5th loop, compared to only 1 each in the first 4. It seems that whatever error the fairies made also resulted in a lot of loops we that we didn’t get to see. Perhaps it was during this time that the assistant went through his character change. Unfortunately, we weren’t provided much in the way of details. It’s all rather opaque or, as a certain doctor might put it, “obscure.”
Those things look good. Who cares about time paradoxes? I want some bananas!
To go off on a bit of a tangent, there were a few times in this episode when I was strongly reminded of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. A lot of those of you who went to high school in the US will be familiar the novel. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Jintai has taken inspiration from that book. Beyond sharing the general dystopian theme, they specifically share the concept of humans having over-engineered themselves to convenience in a ridiculous degree. In Brave New World, humans were produced in factories as one of 5 levels each designed to take pleasure in their respective duties, the government provided and encouraged the use of a recreational drug called soma, and sex for pleasure starting at a young age was pretty much required (a young boy “reluctant to join in the ordinary erotic play” with his female peers was sent to a psychologist). In Jintai, the factories churn out foods from questionable ingredients that are processed to the point of sentience, and humans are unable and the fairies unwilling to be productive, both distracted by having fun.
So when Gramps was describing the assistant, I was quickly reminded of the Savage, a man born of a “civilized” mother but raised among the “savages” and brought back to civilization (I’m glossing over some details here). But their similarities actually seemed to end there. Whereas the Savage’s rejection of sexuality led to self flagellation and eventually suicide, the assistant embraced and celebrated it – far too much, actually. Also, the dozens of clones of the main character reminded me of the dutiful workers of Brave New World, taking pleasure in their menial tasks despite lacking a proper grasp of their meaning. In Brave New World, these humans were produced by factories; in Jintai, they were produced somehow by time looping bananas that fairies engineered.
Those fairies sure are good at making other people work. They can multiply your productivity by many factors!
To be honest, I don’t think the comparison to Brave New World actually goes further than the similar general themes of over-engineering, which is why I call this a tangent. The problem is that Jintai drops a lot of ideas without fully developing them, making it hard to connect with any particular work. That’s criticism I’ve leveled against it from the start, so it’s nothing new. I do give it credit for implementing a time loop in an unusual, perhaps unique (definitely with regards to dogs) way. I just think it’d be even more fun if it was more coherent.
About lvlln
A math/science geek and a self-dubbed cynical optimist. I don't care if it's deep, if it can make me feel something or laugh, it's fine in my book. @lvlln
POWUH: iLurker with 4 comments
I’m about 99.7% confident (well, 99.999% to be honest) that Doc (or “The Ringo Kid”) was actually Watashi’s Grandpa. The Fairies sent her back “too far” and she encountered her Gramps. She was the pretty girl he talked about who gave him the sundial watch in the first place. She even says at the end of this ep, “You said she gave it to you, but you really stole it!”
I think Joshu-kun took his final form based on listening in on Watashitachi’s conversations in the forest, and the ideal assistant she was describing had elements of Grandpa (like the Hawaiian shirt, and general appearance) but an idealized version of him. Watashi loves her Gramps, but she imagines Assistant as someone gentler and kinder and less randy. I also think Joshu-kun basically knew that’s the sort of person he wanted to be, but needed to hear someone else describe it to give it a form he could see in his mind.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
Now that’d be quite the twist. And not at all surprising given what this show has done so far. Though that makes one wonder, to what end? Of what significance is this very unusual relation between Gramps and the Assistant?
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
“She was the pretty girl he talked about who gave him the sundial watch in the first place.”
!!! WOW !!!
POWUH: iLurker with 4 comments
I don’t think (and this is just my opinion) that there’s any deeper significance – I just think Gramps was fresh in her mind, and the male in her life she was closest to, and it has a certain poignancy that it adds to the story. Could be totally wrong, though.
As far as Ringo Kid being Grandpa though, I’m not wrong about that, I’ll take it to the bank.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Yeah, I agree that it wouldn’t really have much greater significance, just that Grandpa was a bit of a womanizing hellion in his youth.
There are always some things in this series that run contrary to normal TV and make me wonder which direction it’s intentional. Like Watashi stumbles on herself in the woods at the mysterious hearth. She finds a lot of herself. But she never outwardly recognizes them as either copies or dimensional subsets of herself. So as a viewer, I’m sitting here wondering “Does she realize that’s her? She’s got to, right? Is there a reason she’s not mentioning it? Is she so jaded by the antics of the faeries that seeing a clearing full of copies of yourself all making sweets isn’t even worth comment?” But then they also kind of acted like not really copies of her.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
She doesn’t seem too surprised, but she does comment that some of them aren’t wearing watches (then discovers that some are), which makes me think she is perfectly aware of who “they” are.
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 28 comments
I’ve been trying to discern any deeper meaning from this arc, but I’ve been unable to find much. It’s the first that I’ve been completely dumbfounded with Jintai and when a show like Jintai has constantly established itself as an anime with a point, it’s never good to have a message as incoherent and murky as this.
The most I can pull from this is that it’s about the futility of imitation. The failure to imitate, whether it be through Joshuu or Watashi’s clones, leads to clarity and originality for the leads. Still though, I can’t say this without talking directly from my ass, so that’s all up in the air.
Anyways, I happened to note that once again Watashi’s Gramps is made out to be the egomaniacal scientist. Even though it’s clear that he had no idea what the hell just happened, in the ending he still plays up the “keikaku doori” schtick. A lot of themes happen to circle back to him, so he’s certainly someone to look out for.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
To be honest, I think this show has avoided making a point most of the time, though this arc was certainly less coherent than others. It throws a lot of great ideas up there but can’t seem to fit them together into a whole. And it often goes for the low hanging fruit, such as the otaku parody in the 2nd arc, the likes of which we’ve seen plenty of in anime.
Since the Assistant got an arc, I wonder if Gramps will get one too. I noted that the main character’s comment at the end of episode 6 made me wonder if he often beat her. He’s clearly not made out to be likable and fits in with the show’s cynical theme, even if he does provide support.
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 23 comments
I gotta catch up with this