To Your Eternity 2 ep. 14- Awakened

Posted on by Irina

It’s a good thing I have all those screencaps of the episode because those last two seconds drove everything that happened before that right out of my mind.

That, my friends, is how you do a cliffhanger. One of the best I have ever seen. And it might not even be a cliffhanger at all which makes it even better.

I’m not feeling too great today. I have a headache and I’m tired. I was reluctant to even watch this episode of To Your Eternity tonight but as I have a pretty long week ahead of me, I wasn’t sure I would be able to squeeze it in if I didn’t. But I was unenthusiastic and unfocused. By no fault of To Your Eternity. Quite to the contrary, despite all that, I manage to get into the episode pretty quickly.

All the pieces are falling into place. Fushi’s last huge task in order to remake the entire city and therefore really get the home-field advantage like no one ever has before was to remake the castle. And it seems convincing the king and the princess was a much easier task than we were let on to believe. I’m starting to suspect she just wanted to play go and it never had anything to do with getting permission to tear down the castle.

I’m starting to wonder what a war looks like when the battleground itself is an active combatant. It’s an interesting concept.

There are two weeks left until the nokkers bear down on the capitol.

Even though he may forget sometimes, Fushi is not without allies. Nor has he ever been really. It was rather fun seeing the folks from Uralis make their glorious return. It really is a calm-before-the-storm sort of situation. And Ramon’s very favourite character Pocoa even came back. She was in full force this week. For a second, I thought I was watching a wacky slice-of-life comedy with a spunky but somewhat rude main character. I would watch that.

Somehow, the lighthearted silliness of this sequence didn’t clash too much with the tone of the rest of the episode. I’m not sure how they managed that. It should have. Everyone is tense. A decisive battle is just over the horizon and there’s no guarantee any of them will make it out alive. Not exactly alive…maybe… you know what I mean.

Yet, Pocoa being a complete menace while stalking any good-looking man she could find somehow felt like the most natural thing to do under these circumstances. I might have misunderstood because I really am under the weather. Did Pocoa insinuate that Eko is a boy? I probably dreamt it.

There is a week left now.

Now, this was truly unexpected. I understand the change in Bon’s characterization. I think it’s too abrupt and should have been given a little more room to feel earned but it’s logical. I can see how the character got from there to here. I do miss the old Bon though. However, I would never have guessed that Bon would be the one to finally get something out of the man in black. And I’m not sure what to make of it.

I’m not sure if we already know that the Man in Black made Fushi or whether I had just assumed all along. Either way, we know now. Although after this scene, I’m not sure if I believe it anymore. At least not completely.

It wasn’t spelled out but if the Man in Black made Fushi, there’s a decent chance he created the nokkers as well. Heck, he might have created everything. He is presented as a god-like figure. Once again, if you choose to believe him, he can control the nokkers which makes a lot of past episodes very cruel in retrospect. He also wants Fushi to replace him but in doing what? For all we know, all the Man in Black does is hang out with Fushi and annoy him. Seems like he can already take a vacation whenever he wants. There’s something they’re not telling us.

But the most intriguing piece of information is that the Man in Black can be stabbed and he bleeds. I realize that he had created a physical body so that everyone could see him but it was still a very shocking scene. And it obviously upset him as well. Which is odd if all that happened was that some random guy stabbed through an empty doll. The plot thickens and…

There are two days left before the attack.

The nokkers are at the gates. For a lot of these folks, it will be their first time seeing the enemy at all. I hope they’re not too disappointed. All this ado over a bunch of squishy soot balls. You can feel the tension in the air now. People are worried, that’s normal. Fushi is scared and that’s also normal. In many ways, Fushi is a pretty timid character. But for the first time, everyone involved in the fight at least has an idea of what they’re in for. And a fighting chance.

I wonder why Fushi kept Eko there. He told everyone else to leave but not Eko. Again, I could have just missed it or it wasn’t shown because Eko and Fushi haven’t been in the same place much this week so there was no opportunity to fit that scene in. Still, it does make it seem like Fushi treats her differently than everyone else.

I mentioned in my comments that Fushi’s tether is reminiscent of an umbilical cord. I did not know at the time how accurate that was. So his vessels, which really do look like dead bodies now, will not rot as long as they are bound by the chord. But how does Fushi know this? Obviously, he could have found out offscreen but it seems like the type of information they should share with the audience. It also seems wrong. As in Fushi is wrong. He either decided it was this way for unknown reasons and never tested it out or someone lied to him. Then again maybe he’s right, I’m still not 100% sure. Useful post, isn’t it?

Everything starts tomorrow!

The day is here and nothing will ever be the same. All this time and preparation. Fushi literally spread himself thin over an entire city. It will mark a whole new chapter in the war against the nokkers. It might even define how Fushi goes about things and even who he becomes from this point forth. And it’s off to an inauspicious start.

I have to admit, I’m not entirely sure why Fushi left his vessels all over the place. I know he explained it but I think I got distracted. I figured it was at strategic points so that he could teleport into the one best located at any moment and then turn into whatever he wants. I can’t imagine the plan was to have March fall right away. Then again, considering where they left her, maybe it was the plan.

OK, enough beating around the bush, let’s talk about these two seconds. Fushi created a husk of March. And as long as she is tied to the rope, she is a part of Fushi and will remain immortal as he is but also an empty vessel. That’s what we know and it’s what Fushi believes. However, in the attack, she slips from the wall, falls to the ground, and is no longer attached to the cord.

And then she opens her eyes.

Now there are two ways to interpret this. Fushi saw/felt March’s vessel fall and he simply inhabited it to make sure she doesn’t get taken by the nokkers or to just get her to a better spot. Or… March got back to her body. A body now infused with a touch of eternity. Those eyes that she had, they weren’t Fushi yellow eyes. They weren’t the eyes of a soldier ready for battle. They were confused and maybe a little scared. It might be wishful thinking, or maybe I’m just a little tired but to me, that looked like March. As in, not Fushi in March’s shape but actual March. Back when she was alive. And if that’s the case. Boy is this the worst possible moment to open this can of worms! I cannot wait for next week!

Season 1

Season 2

7 thoughts on “To Your Eternity 2 ep. 14- Awakened”

  1. I think the Black One originally came from a sphere, just like Fushi. It may be time for a replacement in the next umpteen hundred years. Reminds me of the magician in “Storm of the Century” in that way.

    Reply

  2. Indeed, I would walk through fire for my beloved Pocoa-chwan. I must say, she truly displayed her full potential as a grade A shit-stirrer. And there were shades of early Bon in her fiery speech to the soldiers. Nicest touch, calling them “Uraliboys”, as if they were some derivative idol group. She even dropped her cutesy intonation for the speech! 10/10 would listen again. You’ve just witnessed my new gym-workout hype-track.

    That’s March 200%, no doubt about it. I figured Fushi put her atop the wall because he needs someone up there to properly spread his vessels out, and if he does then why not put a good climber. Assuming that much thought was even put into the decision.

    I still think Bon is a certified idiot, to hide Fushi’s reincarnation powers from him. I really don’t see the point, beside giving us emotional reunions & juicy drama. Also found it weird how Bon left his interrogation of the Black One for the day of the attack. Nice dramatic foreplay before the Nokker invasion, but you’d think he’d have bothered trying six months ago. Again, the timing makes zero sense to me.

    Maybe you were onto something, when you said Bon was lobotomized.

    On a certain level, I like seeing the Black One as a representation of the mangaka. She too is a god-like entity in her universe, with a vested interest in putting Fushi through pain to make him grow. Those manga volumes won’t just sell themselves! And even if she’s gone one day, Fushi will forever remain with us, taking on her mantle to emotionally move people, and for eternity. *Takes another puff*

    Reply

    1. I do enjoy when Mangaka cast themselves as villains or at least morally ambiguous. It’s a nice reading there

      Reply

    1. Pressed submit too early: In any case, I do think it’s March. But considering the spirits tend to follow him, I wonder what’s with the surprise. Did she get… sucked into the body? Did she try to possess the body and not think it would work? What happened?

      Next episode, she gets killed by the Nokkers, and nobody ever realises that she came alive for a moment. (This is unlikely, and I’m cruel.)

      Also, I do think we knew from episode one that the man in black made Fushi. He was the original narrating voice; I’d have to check, but I think he told us he made him. And I’ve pretty much thought for a long time that he made the nokkers, too. They could have started out just like Fushi, as a single orb. There could be other orbs out there. Some might never have developed at all. One of the things to note is that if Fushi’s going to replace the man in black, the shape we know could have been a real man black who died… (Unless what the man in black thinks Fushi lacks is creativity: the ability to not only mimic but to invent people from scratch. In that case, the “man in black” could be a customised avatar. His reaction suggests otherwise.)

      I, too, can’t wait for the next episode.

      Reply

      1. Your unlikely cruel scenario pleases me! You should be a screenwriter.
        Maybe we knew from the beginning. It certainly wasn’t a surprise. Still this guy needs to let us know his motivations a bit better

        Reply

Leave me a comment and make my day!

%d bloggers like this: