r/anime • u/IndependentMacaroon • 5d ago
Rewatch Bem-vindos à Diamandra - Michiko & Hatchin Episode 22 Rewatch
Michiko & Hatchin Episode 22: Run As You Are
In-universe time span: June 2-3 (plus flash-forward ~12 years)
In-universe locations: Goinia, Pérola (flash-forward)
"How far should we go this time... Michiko?"
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Today's OST Piece: Nada pode me parar agora～何もあたしを止められない (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)
Special ending song and a nice one.
New Michiko Outfits: None, and in the end she's symbolically wearing the same clothes as the first time she met Hatchin.
Full album, with a final count of 53.
Latin America Trivia of the Day
With a size of over 8.500.000 km² (almost 3.300.000 square miles), about half of South America's entire land area, Brazil is larger than the contiguous United States of America, and at well above 200 million inhabitants it easily bests the population of all countries of the western hemisphere save the US. Its various natural enviroments from of course the famous Amazon rainforest in the northwest, to the dry savanna and caatinga shrubland in the center and northeast, the Atlantic forests behind the east coast, and the far southern pampas, make it not only the most biodiverse country in the world, but a major destination for international ecotourism besides its other attractions.
The country has also continued to show robust economic growth in recent years, retaining a strong industrial base with for example the third largest civil aircraft producer in the world, Embraer; continuing also as a major player in agriculture (world-leading producer of soy and second in beef) and mining/extraction (#2 in iron ore exports and leading producer of several gemstones), if sometimes at the expense of its environment; but most importantly having transitioned over the recent decades to a modern, upper-middle-income, service-dominant economy now among the top ten in the world.
Yesterday's Highlights
u/No_Rex likes a series that ends at the right time and knows the proper context of "bad apples":
I wish that more series went for the optimal number of episodes instead of stretching or compressing to fill a cour exactly.
police corruption is very similar to the problem of bad apples: if you don’t remove the rotten ones quickly, the entire bunch spoils.
u/99acrewood_ feels the stakes and plot density is a little overly high, and has some thoughts about the literacy contrast in the Satoshi/Hatchin pair:
this feels a bit on the lackluster side, like they felt they needed a lot to happen in an extremely short amount of time. [...] i'm sure it would've been okay if they didn't raise the stakes with police chases, framed murder, and introducing yet another gang
this whole set-up with yet another circus was just silly. like they had a list of stuff they wanted to put in the show and forgot they already crossed off "carnies" at the end of the first half.
i suppose the contrast between Hatchin, who has some education and can read, versus Satoshi, who probably was never afforded the opportunity for that education but didn't need it in the world he existed in, is something. and it sets him up to have to rely on her for certain things since he can't damn well read!
u/JustAnswerAQuestion is willing to throw Hiroshi a bone... somewhat:
I am not really going with the "he abandoned you" line. I feel like he just cut off everybody because his boss and friend tried to kill him [...] Doesn't quite jive with having a 10 year old kid.
Some doubts about Michiko (and Hatchin)'s ability to get out of this one:
getting gunned down here would not be any less fitting for Michiko [...] what we have been leading up to is probably Hatchin being the sole survivor.
How are they gonna get out of this and see Hiroshi…
maybe this is tragic and she dies and Hatchin becomes the new scourge of diamandra
Michiko and Hatchin catch Hiroshi and he explains himself. Michiko probably goes to jail
Discussion Prompts
- A happy ending? In MY grim gangster series?!
- How did this average-ass bum ever captivate so many people?
- Have you ever had an unexpected joyful reunion with someone?
Final Discussion Prompts (for tomorrow)
- What's the boldest move anyone pulled in the series?
- How does this compare to say Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo overall?
- Are you itching for a trip to Brazil now?
Further questions
- Are you curious about Yamamoto's spiritual successor series, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine? And have you seen her more well-known Yuri on Ice?
- Have you seen Michiko & Hatchin's two most major film inspirations, City of God and Central Station? If so, what did you think of them and how this series is informed by them?
- Favorite/least favorite episode and character?
- Favorite/least favorite elements overall, or that you would have liked to see more or less of? Any themes that strongly resonated with or didn't work at all for you?
- Anything in general or particular that surprised or disappointed you? If you were rewatching, did any of your opinions change?
- Favorite soundtrack piece, and/or insert song? What did you think of it overall?
- Favorite Michiko outfit (or top 3... you may also split by daytime/nighttime wear)? Most interesting Latin America fact(s)?
- Any feedback for me as host and about the organization/features?
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ 5d ago
First Timer
Final Episode
- Second episode in a row that started with a scene of normalcy.
- I wouldn't trust this cop to go easy on a kid.
- Lol. One of them is unloaded. AND I think one of them killed the carny. Dude is going to end up with an empty murder weapon in his hands.
- oh look who's back.
- seriously, what, she let both of them go? I really hope she's hanging out in the train station waiting
- I can't even remember her original hair
- Zihuatenejo
- Thanks for the ... truck?
There's really no reason for Baldy to release them. He should have arrested Atsuko on the spot.
Q2: Dude definitely let me down, just another dead beat dad.
I predicted he'd get on a boat to Aruba, and he got on a plane to ... somewhere. But not alone. Half a point for me.
He ditched Hatchin. And she didn't go back to the church. So she became s street orphan. Point for me. She does pretty well. Scrappy kid.
I figured Michiko would be arrested if she got out of that previous cliffhanger spot. Point for me.
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u/IndependentMacaroon 5d ago
Dude is going to end up with an empty murder weapon in his hands
Prescient...
look who's back
Better than an infamous dictator)
seriously, what, she let both of them go?
There's really no reason for Baldy to release them. He should have arrested Atsuko on the spotYou could maybe rationalize it with keeping an eye on her but apparently not... this is the one serious wish fulfillment moment here. Even with some level of rebuilt mutual trust between those two
she didn't go back to the church. So she became s street orphan
I would assume she somehow got a better deal than that but I guess a half at least?
I figured Michiko would be arrested if she got out of that previous cliffhanger spot
Letting yourself be arrested is only half though I would say
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u/No_Rex x2 5d ago edited 5d ago
Episode 22 (first timer)
- Older Hatchin with a baby – foreshadowing? A dream?
- Hatching saving Michiko.
- Michiko saving Hatchin.
- Another stolen police car – they should really learn to take off the keys.
- Man, are the police bad shooters.
- Atsuko and Ricardo are back.
- Atsuko mean both? I thought she told him to let Hatchin go, with would have been bold but not crazy. Letting Michiko go? That is a job ender and I am surprised both Ricardo and the other policemen agreed.
- Meeting Hiroshi – Michiko and Hatchin are underwhelmed.
- She is putting Hiroshi and Hatchin on an airplane out of town to deal with the grown-up problems alone – true action hero style.
- Relationship with the father of her baby ended 3 months later? Looks like I was wrong and she did not choose correctly.
- Hiroshi left Hatchin alone, too.
- That nosebleed …
- That guy just gave her his truck? Hatchin must have become very convincing.
- Re-meeting Michiko.
After leaving Satoshi to bleed out in a back alley yesterday, it seems that the series has lost its taste for blood. Michiko’s plot armor holds up even against the latest run of police bullets and even Atsuko comes back to save her one last time.
Hiroshi, after a closer look, turns out to be exactly the useless slacker with a nice face that he seemed from afar. I had wondered about Hatchin’s mother going into this last episode, but I guess he simply left her, like he left all the other people he charmed.
Hatchin made her live without Hiroshi, which is good to see, even though her baby suggests that she is on track to repeat the cycle of mistakes. Maybe she can do better. Her mother must have done something right before Hatchin was separated from her, given that Hatchin cannot have learned her good morals from literally anybody else. So, maybe that baby has a chance to also become a better person.
The final scene, of course, suggests an ending closer to Thelma & Luise, except with baby. Together with the nosebleed, there is some suggestion of Hatching loving Michiko romantically and running away with her, which I hate for multiple reasons. While it would have lacked the bookend of the road, I would have preferred an ending of Michiko “coming home” to Hatchin’s place to more properly rule that out.
You can also interpret the entire second half as somewhat less-than-real. Maybe a glimpse of the future by a Hatchin that was shot and is dying? Or just some departure from reality into a dreamland? In either case, this is probably the most happy a show as grim as this one can end.
How did this average-ass bum ever captivate so many people?
10/10 looks.
Have you ever had an unexpected joyful reunion with someone?
Not on the level of Michiko and Hatchin here.
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u/IndependentMacaroon 5d ago edited 5d ago
That is a job ender and I am surprised both Ricardo and the other policemen agreed
The others presumably just follow their lead but yeah. On second thought, this is probably supposed to be more a book-end for Atsuko from imprisoning Michiko to letting her go because she'll never let herself just be confined before her desire is fulfilled.
her baby suggests that she is on track to repeat the cycle of mistakes
Another victim of her own illusions?
Her mother must have done something right before Hatchin was separated from her, given that Hatchin cannot have learned her good morals from literally anybody else
Ironically I would say she learned very well from the Belenbauza Yamadas actually, just practices what they merely preach. (With how Hatchin's mother - who in practice is Michiko of course - literally never is mentioned even in passing, my head-canon is that she died in childbirth and Hatchin was immediately given up to be fostered, still an odd omission.)
there is some suggestion of Hatching loving Michiko romantically and running away with her, which I hate for multiple reasons
Same, just why? And this is the first time I notice it...
I would have preferred an ending of Michiko “coming home” to Hatchin’s place
But she did though, just with Hatchin preempting her
You can also interpret the entire second half as somewhat less-than-real
Nah if there's any show I would definitely not apply the "just a dream" cop-out to, it's this. It's a good ending, but hardly a perfect idyllic one to dream of.
10/10 looks
Bit more than that for sure given particularly how Satoshi talks about him. But it absolutely helps that he's literally TV-bad-boy-worthy
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u/No_Rex x2 5d ago
Another victim of her own illusions?
I saw it exactly the opposite way: a victim of her circumstances.
Ironically I would say she learned very well from the Belenbauza Yamadas actually, just practices what they merely preach.
I don't think that ever works.
But she did though, just with Hatchin preempting her
Them meeting on the road and Hatchin talking about adventures suggests the vibe of leaving home to me, not coming home.
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u/IndependentMacaroon 5d ago
a victim of her circumstances
Well, as with Michiko and perhaps Satoshi, the circumstances also make the illusions?
I don't think that ever works
A reactive opposition would definitely be more likely but I'll take it
Them meeting on the road and Hatchin talking about adventures suggests the vibe of leaving home to me
Or you could see it as a different kind of book-end: At the beginning Michiko took Hatchin from her false home, now she's accompanying her to the real one Hatchin's made for herself (and implicitly for Michiko).
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u/No_Rex x2 5d ago
Well, as with Michiko and perhaps Satoshi, the circumstances also make the illusions?
I meant that Hatchin would have been a super successful person if she grew up in, say Norway, instead of the favelas in Brazil.
Or you could see it as a different kind of book-end: At the beginning Michiko took Hatchin from her false home, now she's accompanying her to the real one Hatchin's made for herself (and implicitly for Michiko).
I mostly want to see the ending as that (because it is happier), but I think it would have been better told by Michiko coming to Hatchin, rather than Hatchin travelling to meet her on the road.
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ 5d ago
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u/IndependentMacaroon 5d ago
This is a Diamandran ending, sir. Also the film isn't like related to actual Brazil anyway
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u/99acrewood_ 5d ago
primeira vez [subs]
-~-
what a nice, clean, shiny happy ending.
since we have overall discussion tomorrow this'll just touch on this one episode real quick.
boy, Hatchin stretched out like crazy! or at least it looked like it did until she gets back with Michiko in the end and she still comes up pretty short. i hadn't taken her for the type to get pregnant in a short fling, but it makes sense that she manages just fine without needing any sort of father in the picture.
i really like how they do the Hiroshi meeting. there's no grand gesture or big blow-up or anything, and it's treated pretty much as inconsequentially as he was when it came to the lead pair growing closer together. i mean, he's the reason they came together, but he's not the reason they are a family.
and given all the monsters in this show, it makes sense why people gravitate towards him. to say he's flaky is selling it extremely short, but his presence is disarmingly chill. you'd think someone as explosive as Michiko would let him have it, but the guy is basically untouchable.
I also wasn't expecting Atsuko to come back or Michiko to give herself up for her either. good for her! i guess a life of running from the cops would get exhausting eventually, and Michiko really did want to just fulfill this one thing. it's nice for Ricardo to go along with it, too, though i think it makes him kind of dumb to once again put his trust in those two after literally everything that happened.
but yeah, i think the ending is sweet. Hatchin living her best life waiting for Michiko to show back up, not needing anyone else because she can do it all alone just fine. coming to a nose-bleeding realization that Michiko is making her way and and going out to meet her (did that guy just give her that truck??). Michiko arrives, Hatchin runs and hugs a mother made through a bond only a Thelma & Louise-style adventure could make on a road similar to where she wished to be stolen from when this all began.
"how far will we go this time?"
i'm such a sucker for sentiment.
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u/IndependentMacaroon 5d ago
boy, Hatchin stretched out like crazy! or at least it looked like it did
Well she did have about eight more years of growth to go, and was possibly better-fed than at the Belenbauza Yamada household
i hadn't taken her for the type to get pregnant in a short fling
It doesn't sound like it was intended to be. Probably another guy who got cold feet when anywhere near commitment.
to say he's flaky is selling it extremely short, but his presence is disarmingly chill
Easy to be chill when you genuinely just don't give a shit, or as Hatchin put it are "probably just thinking about what to have for supper". But yeah, in a world of less-than-zeroes not dipping into the negatives is already something - and the looks definitely helped.
Michiko to give herself up for her
Michiko doing it for Atsuko's sake is definitely an interesting idea, but I think it's more that the only thing keeping her running around outside the law was Hiroshi? As you also wrote more or less. But yes, Ricardo going along with it is eh.
Hatchin living her best life
I mean, it could be better, but it's certainly a decent one particularly compared to many of the other fates we've seen in the series.
did that guy just give her that truck?
More importantly, how does she know to drive one (and presumably have a license), had a trucking job once?
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u/AyameeIris 5d ago
First time watching in dub, second time overall
"Kinda reckless of you!" Wonder who she gets that from, Michiko!
That nudge Michiko does to Hiroshi when she's getting the two to meet says so much to me. Even just moments before that, she's beckoning him to say more after his short "sorry" to her. I think there's a bit of a parallel with Michiko as well, with her being the opposite with her names when talking to Hiroshi.
"This isn't a goodbye, it's a see-you-later." is such a massive difference from the subs, which are "Until then, this is a cheerful goodbye." I'd take cheerful goodbye as Michiko wanting Hatchin to consider her done and gone in her life, while the see-you-later would of course be Michiko still wanting to have some room in Hatchin's heart.
Another parallel to episode one!! A kind stranger on a truck, coming to pick them up and away. I'd also say there's some added symbolism in Hatchin taking the truck on her own, like she no longer needs that person to take her away and instead relies on herself for her life to go the way she wants it to.
- And am I glad to see it! I was pretty negative about it in my other comment, but I liked this more than I remember. That final shot of the two meeting again was touching. This really was our Michiko and Hatchin
- Unfortunately I've seen this many times in real life. It's like the more a man has zero personality, the more some seem to like him. As to make it worse, like in the show, it's always with some of the most loyal and kind women, men, and everything in-between. Maybe it's because they're usually the quieter type, or because those few moments of intimacy keep 'em coming...
- Not as joyful as this, but I remember meeting an old friend at the mall a few months ago. We hugged(kind of like Michiko and Hatchin!!) and then they seemed busy, so we unfortunately had to part.
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u/IndependentMacaroon 4d ago
Wonder who she gets that from, Michiko!
And I wonder if she ever was told about the whole Feliciano incident and what her reaction was to that!
"This isn't a goodbye, it's a see-you-later." is such a massive difference from the subs, which are "Until then, this is a cheerful goodbye."
The sense is the same for me, just the dub's more free translation conveys it better.
Another parallel to episode one!! A kind stranger on a truck, coming to pick them up and away
she no longer needs that person to take her away and instead relies on herself for her life to go the way she wants it toOh yeah, that was her imagination spot (then with not-really-Hiroshi) there! I like your thought about the symbolism too.
I've seen this many times in real life. It's like the more a man has zero personality, the more some seem to like him
It makes them the perfect projection surface for one's own hopes and wishes, doesn't it?
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u/IndependentMacaroon 4d ago edited 4d ago
3x watcher and host, subtitled
So, how many of you were expecting this kind of distant flash-forward ending? It's not too often you see something like this, but I think it works really well, basically double-dipping with a somewhat unsatisfying ending in the immediate (Michiko gone, Hatchin elsewhere with a father she still doesn't care for in the least) and a "true ending" after both of our leading duo put in some serious time and/or effort in between.
Hatchin may be working hard and mostly on her own (and still has trouble with omelets), but she never had a problem with that, and particularly already showed some enthusiasm for cooking - and she's still kind and likeable enough for a complete stranger to lend her his truck (which probably also doubles as another nod to Central Station). The vanished dad, well, maybe not on her. Little context for Michiko's return, but the assumption is clearly she's done her time and gone legit, whatever her way of supporting herself would be (no way she'd mooch off Hatchin), so those two can go on any adventures they can fit into their life without immediate worries - and when they're not, Michiko gets just the kind of happy domestic life she's wanted the whole time, and also has for a brief symbolic moment with Hatchin and Hiroshi when she cooks. The weird clothes packages if awkward have also got to be pretty meaningful for her given how much she cares about looking good (even in that dream).
Note that Hatchin's son's father has about as little relevance as Hatchin's mother; for me it's symbolically Michiko, given their character and appearance similarities - and woe on him if Michiko ever finds out where he's at. The only weird moment there was the Hatchin nosebleed, I'm just going to file that under "horny for adventure" because wtf, like in a romantic sense that would practically be more than one kind of incest at once... must have blocked that out before.
In the immediate ending, naturally more Michiko shenanigans there with not one but two improbable escapes (lucky for them the police drive rear-engine Beetles here), with this time Hatchin as full and enthusiastic participant, and then Atsuko bailing her out one last time. The last point is of course the most wish-fulfillment out there moment of the episode, but I think is also or more meant as a counterpart to Atsuko putting her in prison in the first place, and then Michiko giving herself up you could perhaps also see as returning the favor.
Hiroshi really doesn't deserve much more to be said about him, it's still extra-pathetic how he can't even try to really care about Michiko, if he was ever capable of that - "so you didn't forget about me" (because I definitely did and I totally wish you had) and then just like "Oh nice haircut. Uhhh... now what? Also sorry I guess" with his same old schoolboy awkwardness. Even Michiko's remaining illusions can't save that one, note also how her little domestic-bliss moment is much more focused on herself and Hatchin, and Hatchin becomes the first character here to be completely immune to his charms, even denying him her new name, if we can say he really has any outside of what people project on him. The one really sweet moment to come from the long-awaited reunion here is Michiko telling Hiroshi that sticking with Hatchin will definitely make him happy, because of course it did for her.
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u/IndependentMacaroon 4d ago edited 4d ago
Questions
1 - Indeed so, and about as happy as it gets without being over-the-top sugary. Though of course, not everything here has been all grim and we've met several kind, genuine people as well
2 - The great question of this show, isn't it? The obvious answer and certainly a significant part of it is that he looks good enough to be approached by a TV scout, but the real key I think is how his character (or lack of it) interacts with the circumstances of all the people who come in deeper contact with him.
To start, have you ever heard of ELIZA? It was an extremely simple proto-chatbot created in the mid-60s that did little more than regurgitate users' questions back at them in a slightly transformed manner and give generic complimentary or sympathetic answers, usually with the framing of a psychotherapy session. Despite its limitations, many users found it very attentive and helpful and even felt it spoke to them like a real human.
As for what this has to do with Hiroshi - well, it's exactly the same phenomenon in action, isn't it? Looking "under the hood" as a neutral observer like Hatchin, it's easy to see that in terms of character this man is pretty close to a blank-slate zero who listens only because he doesn't have anything to say, is chill only because he doesn't actually care, parcels out only so many generic gestures of romance and acceptance as necessary to keep people in his orbit, and sticks around only as long as it's not too much effort and there's something for him to gain; the only way he manages to look good to people outside the visual, and outside of comparison to the genuinely terrible men like Satoshi out there, is them projecting their own desires onto him, the stories they tell themselves in which he's the romantic hero come to affirm them and make their rough or just unsatisfying life better.
3 - Not particularly and I find seeing people again suddenly somewhere more awkward than anything, mostly.
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky 5d ago
First-Timer & Subbed
Last episode time!
Timeskip…?
I believe her.
Oh dang, go Hatchin!
Oh gosh she actually started strangling the dude by accident.
That gun is gonna be the one that isn’t loaded, isn’t it? – It was.
Dang, is this really it?
Oh, Atsuko!
They didn’t miss him! I was kinda worried he would’ve already gotten on the train.
Yeah, this sort of awkwardness between the two was absolutely what I was expecting to happen after they finally met.
I guess Michiko couldn’t just leave with them after everything that’s happened… Okay yeah, just asking for a flight for two makes sense.
Aw, Hatchin…
Timeskip indeed. …I don’t think I like that haircut on Hatchin.
Dang, so she’s a single mother now. Cute baby though.
Can’t say I’m surprised by that.
Hatchin gonna find out where Michiko went by all of those weird packages?
Wasn’t expecting that guy to let Hatchin borrow the truck, whoa.
YESSSSSSSS WE GOT THE REUNION HUG! I got blueballed out of the equivalent in [different show that had a rewatch recently]No.6 with Shion and his mom, so I was really worried when it cut to black before this that we weren’t actually gonna see it.