I think I know To Your Eternity well enough now to know one thing: Tonari’s pretty much as good as dead. She got a ridiculously angsty backstory, they might as well be measuring her for a coffin right now. Not that she’s likely to get something as nice as a coffin. You know what I mean though.
And she was a very precocious 7-year-old. Theatrically forsaking her father as a matter of morals. The characterization is not working for me. I like Tomari as a Peter Pan to her merry band of lost boys. I don’t think there’s any need to create yet one more martyr in this show.
Especially as the lost boys work wonderfully. It’s a completely new type of group dynamic for Fushi to explore and his chance t be among peers, something that has never happened. Of course, I’m using peer very loosely here. Fushi is an immortal of yet unknown powers. He could be a god for all any of us know. He could even be the God. Now that’s an interesting way to learn how to sympathize with your creation…
All this to say, I thought the opening banquet scene was fantastic. The warm light brought across that sense of détente and celebration. The kids were for the most part allowed to be kids. The sun comes from the ocean – there you go, dream accomplished. It’s lines like that that make me love little kid characters.
And on to of that Fushi drugged them all. Not only was that hilarious and a great touch that I would never have thought of adding, it was also fantastic narrative continuity. Fushi did the only experience that particular dish drugged, so that’s the only way he knows how to make it. I’m not sure another show would have thought of that detail. And of course, it was Hayase that had drugged them, to begin with.
Hayase who’s been popping up here and there in the past few episodes. Hayase, who it turns out is responsible for Fushi and Pioran getting dragged to the island in the first place. Well partly responsible, I’m not letting you off the hook tat easy Tonari. I guess she’s pretty much dead so there’s no need to rub salt and all.
Point is, this episode, and potentially this entire arc, was leading us straight back to Hayase. If we can really call this Hayase the same woman we met at the beginning of the show. She seems different now. More importantly, she’s our antagonist. And this changes things.
Now I know I have said before that I really like the nokkers as antagonist(s). I don’t even know if it’s a single or plural entity. And I stand by that. I find the nokkers envigorating. A captivating obstacle perfectly crafted for this story. I think they elevate To Your Eternity. But, they aren’t exactly what I think of when I think of an antogonist. Nokkers are like a force of nature or maybe the loose embodiment of death or destruction. They’re a force.
Hayase, is a person. Someone with feelings, motivations and dreams of her own. And that’s where it gets messy. That’s where you start to draw lines in the sand and start figuring out on which side you want to stand. Fushi hasn’t ever hesitated to kill nokkers. It’s like the thought didn’t even cross his mind. He might not see them as alive per see. But Hayase is different. Having her as an enemy changes the core of who Fushi is.
Moreover, this is the second arc that has her as an antagonist. In practical terms, she’s currently the one person that has known Fushi the longest, maybe besides the Creator. She strings the disparate moments of Fushi’s existence together in a way other characters can’t. I’m also just curious about what she wants. If she just wanted revenge she could have poisoned Fushi in the night instead of licking him. I’m going to need an explanation for that scene.
Hayase had a line in this episode: “Death is Freedom”. Now that’s a supervillain line if I ever heard one. But it’s also kind of meaningful, right? It’s sort of the supreme insult you can throw at an immortal, isn’t it. No matter how much he learns and grows, as long as Fushi remains immortal, he will never be human. That particular freedom will always be beyond his reach. If death is freedom, then what is Fushi’s life?
Previous Posts
- To Your Eternity ep. 1 – Forever
- To Your Eternity ep. 2 – Precocious
- To Your Eternity ep. 3 – Manners
- To Your Eternity ep. 4 – Pain
- To Your Eternity ep. 5 – Orphan
- To Your Eternity ep. 6 – Maker
- To Your Eternity ep. 7 – Dreams
- To Your Eternity ep. 8 – Freaks
- To Your Eternity ep. 9 – Home
- To Your Eternity ep. 10 – Flamethrower
- To Your Eternity ep. 11 – Confession
- To Your Eternity ep. 12 – Rebirth
- To Your Eternity ep. 13 – Empathy
- To Your Eternity ep. 14 – Arrow
- To Your Eternity ep. 15 – Return