I drink and watch anime

To Your Eternity ep. 12 – Rebirth

Irina

I usually watch To Your Eternity as it airs, which for me means Monday evenings, and I review it right after. That’s just what works best for me, while it’s all fresh in my mind. But we’re Tuesday. I wasn’t feeling up to watching it yesterday. I was tired and I just wanted something happy. I ended up finishing Barkamon instead.

I’ve been saying that I don’t think this arc of To Your Eternity is that dramatic and I like that about it. But at the same time, this episode was bound to have some tragedy. Well, I was wrong again and also kind of right. Spoilers and all that.

Well, we all knew that Gugu’s time was coming and it did. But I was talking with Ramon about last week’s episode and mentioned that I wasn’t sure I would be sad about Gugu passing and that I wasn’t even sure the show wanted me to be. And I kind of stand by that.

The cinematic episode this week was nothing like the past times Fushi has gotten a vessel. The first half was all action and even had upbeat moments. It felt like a buddy cop action movie more than anything else. For a second there even I thought that maybe they were going to make it.

But then of course things took a turn and Gugu was trapped under debris with Rean. But even in those scenes, it wasn’t framed as horrible. Gugu’s last moments weren’t sad and lonely filled with pain and fear. They were full of love and happiness. The camera didn’t linger on his gasps or Rean’s sobs. Both of them just understood and accepted the situation and enjoyed each other’s company. It was kind of nice, to be honest.

And it was over in a flash, I couldn’t have dwelled on it even if I wanted to because there was this really exciting and potentially deadly battle happening. The show was pushing me to immediately move on.

Gugu’s ghost isn’t lost or frightened, his potential afterlife looked amazing but he chose to stay and he himself said he has absolutely no regrets. That’s a ridiculous statement for a character that started out so bitter and guarded. The evolution is something to behold.

So I think I was right in that To Your Eternity didn’t want me to be sad for Gugu. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t want me to be sad for Fushi! Oh boy! This is the first time he is developed enough to properly understand grief and it hit him hard. It was so sad for him but that’s a part of life also. As an immortal, he would have to learn that pain at some point.

Also, Rean is damn cool. There I said it. She really took everything this episode threw at her like a champ. She clearly wasn’t fooled by Fushi either but she played along. Maybe she wasn’t ready to fully accept her own pain but I like to think part of it was an act of kindness for Fushi. She realized how much he needed the charade so she played along.

I have a few random thoughts I don’t know where to put so I’ll add them here. Hearing a giant bear talk was kind of odd but I liked it. Fushi’s beat voice is cool. Seeing chibi Fushi again was surprisingly odd. In just a couple of episodes, I had gotten completely used to his more grown-up form. Finally, how did Fushi win? Did the enemy give up? Run out of the steam? Did the creator bail him out? I’m not entirely sure what happened there.

Ok let me do my wrap-up. This is going to end up very disjointed. Back to Gugu. Gugu ended his time surrounded by friends and family. With a brother who seemed to truly care, the girl he loves loving him back, the old couple considering him like a son and a younger brother who will never ever forget him. He was happy and I was happy for him.

He also seems to be sticking around in ethereal form, giving him even more of a continued life. We saw a little March there as well so I’m wondering if Fushi is going to end up with some strange ghost harem following him around. That could be fun.

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