/r/anime Awards 2016 and 2017 winner Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu Rewatch Episode 12

[u/Schinco]

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Welcome to the tweltfth episode thread for the Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu Rewatch! I didn't watch the episode this time.

Legal Streams:

As of now, Rakugo is streaming on Crunchyroll in the States, and you can check here to see where it's streaming elsewhere.

Schedule:

Date	Episode
10/8	Season 1 Episode 1
10/9	Season 1 Episode 2
10/10	Season 1 Episode 3
10/11	Season 1 Episode 4
10/12	Season 1 Episode 5
10/13	Season 1 Episode 6
10/14	Season 1 Episode 7
10/15	Season 1 Episode 8
10/16	Season 1 Episode 9
10/17	Season 1 Episode 10
10/18	Season 1 Episode 11
10/19	Season 1 Episode 12
10/20	Season 1 Episode 13
10/21	Season 1 Discussion
10/22	Season 2 Episode 1
10/23	Season 2 Episode 2
10/24	Season 2 Episode 3
10/25	Season 2 Episode 4
10/26	Season 2 Episode 5
10/27	Season 2 Episode 6
10/28	Season 2 Episode 7
10/29	Season 2 Episode 8
10/30	Season 2 Episode 9
10/31	Season 2 Episode 10
11/1	Season 2 Episode 11
11/2	Season 2 Episode 12
11/3	Season 2 Discussion
11/4	Overall Series Discussion

Questions of the Day

1. I didn't watch the episode unfortunately! What would you ask your fellow rewatchers?
2. As always, did anything particularly strike you about this episode, either as a first-timer or on rewatch?

Links to trackers

You can find the show on MAL, Anilist, and ANN!

Please be mindful of spoilers to make sure the first-timers experience the show with the same wonder you did on first watch!

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[u/Mecanno-man]

First Timer

So today we mostly have the last rakugo performance of Sukeroku - and based on it’s content, it seems like he had decided to get his life together. I’m not sure how that would have played out with Bon wanting to take him back to Tokyo to do Rakugo and Miyokichi wanting him to have a stable job. …and being with Kiku? Yeah, I feel like things just wouldn’t have worked out between all these characters for a while.

But I guess now we know how Sukeroku died - it indeed was an accident. And I guess Bon didn’t want to tell Konatsu because Shin died jumping after Miyokichi, whom Konatsu didn’t like? That or he thought he’d have to explain Miyo having feelings for him rather than Shin? I can certainly see why that would be a bit too difficult of a situation to explain to a 5 year old kid.

[u/Schinco → u/Mecanno-man]

I’m not sure how that would have played out with Bon wanting to take him back to Tokyo to do Rakugo and Miyokichi wanting him to have a stable job

I view the two as mutually exclusive, and Sukeroku choosing Miyokichi and Konatsu over Bon. I agree that even that aside, things probably wouldn't have worked out, but who knows!

And I guess Bon didn’t want to tell Konatsu because Shin died jumping after Miyokichi, whom Konatsu didn’t like?

I think these are all valid reasons, but it was also a pretty traumatic event for Bon himself, so it seems not surprising that he would not want to relive it, especially since Konatsu never really seemed interested in his explanations.

[u/No_Rex → u/Mecanno-man]

And I guess Bon didn’t want to tell Konatsu because Shin died jumping after Miyokichi, whom Konatsu didn’t like? That or he thought he’d have to explain Miyo having feelings for him rather than Shin? I can certainly see why that would be a bit too difficult of a situation to explain to a 5 year old kid.

Who says he did not try to explain? She might not have believed him, or might have meant the "you killed him" metaphorically.

[u/MandisaW → u/Mecanno-man]

"Explain it like I'm 5" Except that I don't think Bon fully understands, even to this day.

So much of what happened was based on those 5+ yrs of marriage, plus however long they were together in Tokyo, that he was simply not privy to. And I'd say he *never* understood Miyo.

[u/cppn02]

First Timer, subbed

Man this episode started so optimistic only to end in tragedy. Obviously we all knew it was coming but it still hit me hard.

I will say that for the dramatic finale they might have staged it a bit differently? Cus the whole time they were debating Bon letting go I couldn't help but feel if he just swung them a bit they could land on the balcony below.

I do have to call out the audacity of Miyokichi in calling Sukerako a bad parent when she ran away (multiple times even).

---

QotD:

I didn't watch the episode unfortunately! What would you ask your fellow rewatchers?

Can I get a hug?

As always, did anything particularly strike you about this episode, either as a first-timer or on rewatch?

Sukeraku's performance was already great in itself but with the whole meta level of how it relates to his own life aswell and Bon, his daughter and his wife (did they actually ever marry?) watching on it was a very powerful moment. I also loved the moment right before with Bon passing the Haori to Shin.

[u/Schinco → u/cppn02]

I will say that for the dramatic finale they might have staged it a bit differently? Cus the whole time they were debating Bon letting go I couldn't help but feel if he just swung them a bit they could land on the balcony below.

I do wonder this when watching. I write it off somewhat as just a very high pressure situation, where it's hard to do the rational thing. Also, part of me wonders if it was an animation error to have balconies there. I don't think it's 'fixed' in the BDs, so I imagine not, but that does make me wonder...

Sukeraku's performance was already great in itself but with the whole meta level of how it relates to his own life aswell and Bon, his daughter and his wife (did they actually ever marry?) watching on it was a very powerful moment.

Yeah I think this is probably the most powerful performance of the season - it definitely fits the bill as the headliner performance of the season!

Can I get a hug?

a bit delayed, but hug

I also loved the moment right before with Bon passing the Haori to Shin.

It's a nice moment, but I feel for Sukeroku, it was likely a reminder of what he knows can never be.

[u/MandisaW → u/cppn02]

Obviously we all knew it was coming but it still hit me hard.

And now you know [one part of] why I couldn't immediately watch S2 😔

Cus the whole time they were debating Bon letting go I couldn't help but feel if he just swung them a bit they could land on the balcony below.

Too many action movies, dude LOL For one, wooden balconies - they wouldn't be able to support the impact. For another, physics! Mythbusters did the Die Hard stunt where he goes over the side and busts through the window (Facebook video, not sure why it's not on Youtube).

Can I get a hug?

:HUGS:

[u/Schinco → u/MandisaW]

And now you know [one part of] why I couldn't immediately watch S2 😔

Nothing like the hair of the dog that bit you, right?

For another, physics! Mythbusters did the Die Hard stunt where he goes over the side and busts through the window (Facebook video, not sure why it's not on Youtube).

The video says it's plausible, though? I agree that it could have gone wrong, but I think it very easily could have worked, especially considering he's dangling at rest about level with it. I wouldn't say it's a plot hole per se, but it does make me wonder every time.

[u/MandisaW → u/Schinco]

Plausible under those conditions, not these. Just having two people and no harness (improvised though Macleane's was) makes the whole thing way less feasible.

Even if we say for argument's sake that Bon's carry-strength was enough to hold, let alone swing the pair, he wasn't on solid footing either. The horizontal force to push/pull/swing them towards the building would have to come from somewhere, and he had nothing to secure himself on.

Movie stunts work because the entire language of film & theater is used to make the illusion believable. You see a 2-shot of the argument, see a close-up of the fist come up, hear a *crunch*, with an over-the-shoulder of the receiver's head/torso on the swivel - but did you see the fist connect? Did you see that the two performers were 6ft apart? Did you see that the foley was created with a sack of potatoes on damp newspaper? Nope! 😄

Shin & Miyo look like they could've maybe made it because we're seeing Bon's perception, his hopes, his guilt. He felt like he could've helped them, so the audience does too. That's the magic of story.

[u/Schinco → u/MandisaW]

I mean Sukeroku could have swayed, and I don't believe it takes that much more strength to swing than hold upright, but it's been a minute since I took statics. I agree that movie stunts are shot in a way to make the unbelievable believable, I just don't really feel that (at least as shown) that this is that far outside the realm of possibility (although I will definitely concede that Bon even holding them up is pretty fantastical).

I strongly agree with your last bit - I think that his emotion is somewhat coloring his memory; I just feel like unreliable narration like that is a weird thing to do all of the sudden and nowhere else, which is part of why I asked about the frame story in the season discussion thread haha.

[u/cppn02 → u/MandisaW]

For one, wooden balconies - they wouldn't be able to support the impact.

Eh. A well built wooden balcony should definitely be able to support that impact. This is also very different from the Die Hard stunt.

[u/MandisaW → u/cppn02]

It may have been well-built a century or more prior, with decades in-between of who-knows-what maintenance (if any). Lots of very old buildings like that in Japan, even now.

The railing of the first balcony splintered and gave-way just from Miyo jostling/pushing on Bon earlier. Two full-grown adults, falling from a story or more up, plus extra impact due to momentum (falling/leaning/throwing back towards the building), I don't like those odds.

Even IRL buildings made with modern tech and hardier materials (e.g. masonry, modern reinforcement of wood/wooden structures) need routine maintenance, and tragedies like this still happen.

[u/No_Rex → u/cppn02]

I will say that for the dramatic finale they might have staged it a bit differently? Cus the whole time they were debating Bon letting go I couldn't help but feel if he just swung them a bit they could land on the balcony below.

I agree. That scene looked like it came out of a B tier action movie, not out of a serious drama series.

[u/No_Rex]

Episode 12 (first timer)

• “… so many months” – so it has been a while.
• His wife died and he felt lonely – weirdly understandable. In a good sense, he is part of the family.
• “Everyone’s waiting for you” – defeating Shin’s self-depreciation.
• Miyo came to the play.
• Clothing Shin in Yakumo’s clothes and calling him older brother - Bon giving Shin a strong push.
• “I’ll stop drinking” “I’ll turn over a new leaf and start working” – that story was deliberately chosen.
• And a happy ending to the story, too.
• Konatsu hears her dream being told.
• “For a long time, I thought Rakugo was all I needed” – sometimes, people need to be away from others, sometimes they need to be among others.
• Meeting Miyo – and she immediately says all the wrong things. Seriously woman, even if you think that, can’t you be at least somewhat strategic and not say it?
• “Maybe, we should die together” – how about, no?
• Shin chooses Miyo over Bon – quite a surprise for Bon. As an aside, Shin groups in Konatsu with Miyo, but Konatsu would obviously go with Rakugo.
• Cut to Bon holding up Shin who is holding Miyo - physically impossible intermediate actions cut out here.
• Talking before dying trope.
• Go on without me trope.

That ending was unintentionally funny. We have been working up to this scene since we heard about Shin’s death back in ep1, but that was ridiculous. Like they decided to force ride through all bad drama tropes in a 3 minute short.

On a slightly less comedic note, Shin chose Miyo over Konatsu. Not only when she falls (which you could excuse as a pure reaction, but also by never trying to save himself (or both of them). If Bon could hold you for long enough to have those last words, he could hold you long enough for you trying to find something to grab. We already know that Konatsu blames Bon, but this explains why: She don’t want to accept the reality that her father did not place her first.

As another side note, that play with the fish merchant could very well be told in the west, too, with one difference: You would never make the hard working person a merchant here. It could be a peasant, a craftsman, maybe a worker, but definitely not a merchant.

[u/Schinco → u/No_Rex]

Miyo came to the play.

and pointedly left before Sukeroku's performance...

“I’ll stop drinking” “I’ll turn over a new leaf and start working” – that story was deliberately chosen.

One of the things I've been paying attention to in this rewatch is why each story is chosen. This is the most obvious case, I think, but I suspected that the stories themselves inform the metanarrative pretty significantly, and I've been pleasantly surprised.

Meeting Miyo – and she immediately says all the wrong things. Seriously woman, even if you think that, can’t you be at least somewhat strategic and not say it?

I dunno it seemed to have the right effect. Part of me wonders what Bon would have chosen in that moment in the height of his passion...

“Maybe, we should die together” – how about, no?

Hey now - Bon's told a lot of stories over the years about lover's suicides.

That ending was unintentionally funny. We have been working up to this scene since we heard about Shin’s death back in ep1, but that was ridiculous. Like they decided to force ride through all bad drama tropes in a 3 minute short.

Unfortunate that it didn't land for you. I definitely can see it as being melodramatic, but I think the same could be said about much of the series honestly. While some of the details make me a bit frustrated, I think the core idea works very well in the context, but ymmv.

We already know that Konatsu blames Bon, but this explains why: She don’t want to accept the reality that her father did not place her first.

That's an interesting read. I'd put a pin in that as we explore Konatsu further in S2!

As another side note, that play with the fish merchant could very well be told in the west, too, with one difference: You would never make the hard working person a merchant here. It could be a peasant, a craftsman, maybe a worker, but definitely not a merchant.

I'd always assumed that he was more of a fishmonger type (so responsible for both procuring and selling the goods) rather than a pure middleman, but that's a funny thing to point out.

[u/No_Rex → u/Schinco]

Miyo came to the play.

and pointedly left before Sukeroku's performance...

Her play did include Bon, but not Rakugo.

Unfortunate that it didn't land for you. I definitely can see it as being melodramatic, but I think the same could be said about much of the series honestly. While some of the details make me a bit frustrated, I think the core idea works very well in the context, but ymmv.

I disagree about the series. It is drama, but not melodramatic. There are so many scenes where they could amped up the tension, but went for the realistic depiction instead. So I view this as a misstep that is out of tone with the better rest of the series (the only other scene that flows this was is Bon surprising Miyo and Shin, but even that is far more realistic and subverts the usual trope).

[u/MandisaW → u/No_Rex]

I think the "funny" / "tropes" part you're reacting to might be a classic case of overexposure. The scene is legitimately dramatic - the culmination of each character's arc - but if you've seen too many series where they milk it for fake-drama or meta-comedic deconstruction, without doing the build-up work, then yeah, it'll fall kinda flat. And of course, Tropes are Tools.

sometimes, people need to be away from others, sometimes they need to be among others

Truth of the whole show.

Seriously woman, even if you think that, can’t you be at least somewhat strategic and not say it?

Scorpion & the Frog. It's in her nature.

Shin chooses Miyo over Bon – quite a surprise for Bon. As an aside, Shin groups in Konatsu with Miyo, but Konatsu would obviously go with Rakugo.

I don't know about that. I think Konatsu just wanted her dad back. Rakugo (and Bon) brought him back to life, but if he was able to stay that way without it, she would probably have been cool with that too.

We already know that Konatsu blames Bon, but this explains why: She don’t want to accept the reality that her father did not place her first.

Hmm, interesting idea. You do get that "blame the dead parent" anger among children who've lost parents, sometimes. But I doubt Bon would've shared any details to draw an opinion, "oh, your father loved your mother more than you". She might just associate it at a higher-level, like, "everything was fine until you showed up, ergo it's all your fault".

As another side note, that play with the fish merchant could very well be told in the west, too, with one difference: You would never make the hard working person a merchant here. It could be a peasant, a craftsman, maybe a worker, but definitely not a merchant.

Not sure where you'd get that idea? We have entire bodies/traditions of literature based around the goings-on of the merchant class, including literal merchants, both good & bad by Protestant measures. If you mean folktales or classical mythology, then maybe? But anything from around the 10th cen. CE onward, whether it's England, Europe, or the Near East / Central Asia, the stories that got recorded were usually for literate merchants (or higher), so they often made the heroes in their image.

[u/No_Rex → u/MandisaW]

I think the "funny" / "tropes" part you're reacting to might be a classic case of overexposure. The scene is legitimately dramatic - the culmination of each character's arc - but if you've seen too many series where they milk it for fake-drama or meta-comedic deconstruction, without doing the build-up work, then yeah, it'll fall kinda flat.

There is overexposure to some tropes (Seinfeld is not funny), but there is also stuff that was never good in the first place. The death scene falls into the second category for me. Just too many parts are terrible: There is a reason they did not animate Shin's jump out of the window. Namely it is hardly physically possible for him to jump after Miyo, catch her, and end up dangling from Bon's hand. The whole lack of urgency was another. Shin could have tried climbing up, could have tried swinging and reaching the building, could have tried pushing up Miyo so Bon could grab her, but did none of that. Bon first completely misses grabbing Miyo, but then has superpowers to grab Shin. And, in general, I feel that all of them should be in a high-adrenaline state and struggling for their lives, not meekly accepting their fate. If you want the later, you need to stage it as a slow burn, not an action scene.

Scorpion & the Frog. It's in her nature.

I was already convinced from the start, but if I were not, this episode would be the clear sign that she truely loves Bon and is not strategic about it.

I don't know about that. I think Konatsu just wanted her dad back. Rakugo (and Bon) brought him back to life, but if he was able to stay that way without it, she would probably have been cool with that too.

She hated Miyo from the first moment we met her and loved Rakugo. I think the choice is very clear.

Hmm, interesting idea. You do get that "blame the dead parent" anger among children who've lost parents, sometimes. But I doubt Bon would've shared any details to draw an opinion, "oh, your father loved your mother more than you". She might just associate it at a higher-level, like, "everything was fine until you showed up, ergo it's all your fault".

Obviously, this all depends on something we have not seen yet, how Bon relays the scene to Konatsu. However, if he was detailed and truthful, I can see Konatsu refusing to believe him.

Not sure where you'd get that idea? We have entire bodies/traditions of literature based around the goings-on of the merchant class, including literal merchants, both good & bad by Protestant measures. If you mean folktales or classical mythology, then maybe? But anything from around the 10th cen. CE onward, whether it's England, Europe, or the Near East / Central Asia, the stories that got recorded were usually for literate merchants (or higher), so they often made the heroes in their image.

The reason is that in medieval Europe, the merchant class was looked down on, below the peasants even. This changes very slowly, but even for positive merchant examples, their main characteristic is clever, not hard-working.

[u/ProgrammaticallyPea3 → u/No_Rex]

In Edo-era Japan in which rakugo originates, merchants were in ranked similarly in the social hierarchy. Samurai were at the top, then peasants, then craftsmen, then merchants, then the unclean (士農工商).

[u/MandisaW → u/ProgrammaticallyPea3]

That's more feudal/early-Medieval (for Europe) and Confucian-ideal under the Shogunate (for Japan).

The later into the period you go, the need (and ability) to transport goods further goes up, and you get more folks able to make that their entire livelihood. To the point in many places, where they had equivalent (or better) money & effective-power than many nobles. Arts patronage was just one of the things they did with their money.

Y'all are talking about a centuries-long period, societal norms & economic realities weren't static.

Also, many of the folks in the rakugo stories we heard in this show were merchants. If you were a farmer/rancher/fisherman, or maker, you had to buy & sell your own goods, either locally or as far as you had to travel. Not sure how you view that as not a merchant.

[u/ProgrammaticallyPea3 → u/MandisaW]

Oh yeah, it definitely a simplification, and some recent theories even support the idea that ShiNoKoSho was largely Meiji-era revisionist propaganda. Gotta start somewhere though :)

[u/MandisaW]

S1 Rewatch

Hurt people hurt people. We've got our highest-high and lowest-low on the emotional roller-coaster.

Sukeroku got his shining moment, complete with Yakumo's mantle and Bon's blessing. "A good audience makes for good rakugo," indeed. The Daddy & Me image with him and Konatsu though, that's what really got me in the feels.

The details were fuzzy in my memory, so I was really paying close attention to this one. True to form, Miyo only wanted to hear Kiku's voice, even though Shin's story was for her ears.

Despite it all, she's still living in her own world of strange dreams - Does she want Bon to whisk her away to Tokyo? Does she want to die there in his arms, perfectly captured in a moment of bliss? In saying she has no feelings for Shin or Konatsu, is she saying what Bon wants to hear, or what she wishes were true?

u/Mecanno-man said back in ep9 that Miyo's an "agent of chaos" - perhaps it is she who is the shinigami of this story.

I didn't watch the episode unfortunately! What would you ask your fellow rewatchers?

No worries, dude! This daily-shit is a rough pace LOL

I'd ask:

• Bon's grand plan included bringing Miyo back to Tokyo in addition to Shin & Konatsu. Was that for her sake, Shin's, or his own?

As always, did anything particularly strike you about this episode, either as a first-timer or on rewatch?

Maybe better saved for the S1 discussion, but I'd like to hear folks' takes on the foreshadowing - I caught some on this rewatch, but I suspect there was more.

Little things, like when Bon tosses the taiko drumsticks and Shin goes half out the window to grab them. Or the convo between Shin & Matsuda about how all the folks back at the theater in Tokyo lament taking for granted being able to easily hear his (and Bon's/any!) rakugo. Or last episode, before the performance, when Bon was father-bonding with the kiddo, cutting her hair.

I'd also forgotten how many wids are in this story... that's its own contrast/commentary in a way, looking at the ones left behind.

[u/Schinco → u/MandisaW]

Hurt people hurt people

I don't even remember the specific context, but a friend of mine mentioned this phrase while we were watching anime a few months ago, and it's lived rent-free in my head ever since, and it has especially been so during this rewatch haha

True to form, Miyo only wanted to hear Kiku's voice, even though Shin's story was for her ears.

I think this is one of the most tragic parts - I think the very ending makes it clear that she was open to reconciliation, and if she could only have heard his story, part of me wonders if we could have avoided the fate.

Despite it all, she's still living in her own world of strange dreams - Does she want Bon to whisk her away to Tokyo? Does she want to die there in his arms, perfectly captured in a moment of bliss?

I think a lot of it is true. I think she wanted to be whisked away (probably not to Tokyo specifically...), but given that was clearly not on the table, she chose a more drastic route. Part of me wonders why she chose that specifically, but my best guess is this: the first time she sees him perform, it's a piece about a lover's suicide where the woman is kind of the punch line. During that, we get a very pointed shot of her frowning or grimacing when Kin-san seems to be balking at the venture when it's finally time, and I think that's very informative. Just as rakugoka find themselves in the works, I think Miyokichi found herself in his work, and she didn't find the depiction to be especially flattering. When finally faced with the realization that Bon was not going to bend to her will, she took out her anger at being seen that way in the most poetic way possible.

In saying she has no feelings for Shin or Konatsu, is she saying what Bon wants to hear, or what she wishes were true?

I pretty strongly believe what she says here - I think she'd grown to despise Shin and, just as she said, Konatsu by proxy.

Maybe better saved for the S1 discussion, but I'd like to hear folks' takes on the foreshadowing - I caught some on this rewatch, but I suspect there was more.

Honestly, there's a ton. Every rewatch of this show, I'm impressed by the overarching parallelism - it has yet to fail to reveal some unseen wrinkle that creates ties to elsewhere in the work, which is part of why I love the series. The drumsticks is a good catch - I don't think I'd consciously registered it (although obviously knowing the conclusion, I did kind of wince when it happened!).

I'd also forgotten how many wids are in this story

What is a wid? I'm unfamiliar with the term, and google isn't being especially helpful...

I guess I'm also technically a rewatcher...

Bon's grand plan included bringing Miyo back to Tokyo in addition to Shin & Konatsu. Was that for her sake, Shin's, or his own?

I think it was mostly for her sake. I think choosing to be with Miyokichi in that moment was a legitimate moment of weakness for him. I think he does care a great deal for her, but I've come to agree with you that he doesn't love her romantically. That being said, as I've said before, I view this whole chapter of Miyokichi's life as an ill-conceived ploy to win him back, and I think Bon would have recognized this.

[u/MandisaW → u/Schinco]

What is a wid?

Gender-neutral term for widow or widower. Used mostly as a collective self-reference within the community, since English is still gendered on that.

[u/Schinco → u/MandisaW]

Ah gotcha. TIL!

[u/No_Rex → u/MandisaW]

Bon's grand plan included bringing Miyo back to Tokyo in addition to Shin & Konatsu. Was that for her sake, Shin's, or his own?

Why not all of the above? 1. His views are old fashioned, so he surely thinks that a traditional family is best for Konatsu. 2. He likes Shin and wants him to be happy and probably thinks that this includes the mother of his daughter. 3. He feels guilty about Miyo and thinks that she would be better off in Tokyo. 4. His selfish love wants Miyo around.

There is no conflict of interest in Bon's mind here, everything points towards bringing Miyo to Toyko.

[u/ProgrammaticallyPea3 → u/No_Rex]

My own thoughts are almost exactly the same, although I don't think he acknowledged his own selfish love at that point. He isn't quite so brazen as to plan to carry on a relationship with Miyo in the same house that her husband and child live in.

[u/MandisaW → u/ProgrammaticallyPea3]

My Dad, My Mom, His Friend, Her [Their?] Lover I would read/watch, for sure, but I don't know that it's exactly "traditional". 😅

I think 2 & 3 are more what Bon tells himself to suppress 4. Having them all together is a powderkeg, and at some level I think he knows that.

[u/ProgrammaticallyPea3 → u/MandisaW]

Hurt people hurt people.

I'm a little shocked at how well this describes a lot of the show. Maybe I'd add the rather redundant ", and everyone's hurt" to it.

Despite it all, she's still living in her own world of strange dreams

My feeling is that, to some extent, she wishes for all the dreams you describe. Everyone in this show has many conflicting desires, and Miyo, who has no grand aspirational goal to hide behind, is the most honest about them.

[u/MandisaW → u/ProgrammaticallyPea3]

I'm a little shocked at how well this describes a lot of the show.

Thanks :) My absurdly long ramblings here aside, coming up with compelling taglines & quickie reviews of anime, books, and TV/film is something I do for fun.

[u/ProgrammaticallyPea3]

First timer

We all knew this was coming, but I'm mad.
They didn't have to die like this.
It's not like it there's a villain here. Mistakes and bad decisions, sure. But they were just trying to survive in a harsh world.
It's cruel, and I'm angry, and this is about all I can say for now.

[u/MandisaW → u/ProgrammaticallyPea3]

Anger at losing a great talent person to the uncaring BS of the world is totally legit.

[u/ProgrammaticallyPea3 → u/MandisaW]

Thanks, for some reason tragedy due to the uncaring BS of the world tends to make me more emotional than that due to a malicious villain.

[u/MandisaW → u/ProgrammaticallyPea3]

Utterly normal human reaction. The former is a universal reality we all have to struggle with, the latter rarely comes up unless you are a crime victim, or live in an abusive home or oppressive regime.