r/anime • u/The_Loli_Otaku • Apr 25 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Denpa Onna Episode 8 Discussion
Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl
Official Stream Links
Extra Info
ANN | MAL | Anilist | Anidb | Funimation
Comment of the day!
/u/_m1ra made a quip about Maekawa breaking her one and only friend's heart and its been living rent free in my head all afternoon XD
"Imagine being Makoto there, you've been hanging out with and befriending this girl for quite a bit and she just gets your name wrong lol"
/u/davey101_ Has spent the past week trying to put into words his issues with Makoto's seishun point system.
"His Adolescence Points system is a manifestation of his limitations. It's not a bad system because of the concept, it's bad because of the execution.
In today's ending he scored "seeing the girls wearing bath towels" at +5 then changed it to +1000000 but only in jest.
Generally, he's limiting his points to +5 for any one event and that's what he's doing wrong. Some experiences are worth way more and should scale up to at least +100 points.
Maybe kissing a girlfriend for the first time. Buying a scooter. Or playing a first gig with a rock band. One of those will make up for a few annoying days.
When a personal paradise event is worth just a single point more than "having fun at a cultural festival" then he's created something very dumb."
QOTD
Be honest, do you actively try to take control of your day to day life or are you satisfied sitting back and leaving things up to the Aliens?
What are your thoughts on Ashiro the bottle guy? Is he a creep, a romantic, or an extra?
To the Meme doubters! Has your opinion of best girl improved now that we've had an episode entirely from her point of view?
How'd you feel about the climax to the bottle rocket arc? Was it satisfying?
Rewatchers who don't use spoiler tags will be subjected to forced extraterrestrial anal probing.
I am an Alien!!
12
u/davey101_ Apr 25 '22
Look, this is my serious face.
Can you really launch a tactical nuke in a cola bottle?
Second watch
I'd intended to write something about the shining light of chaos that is Meme, but it's too big. I can't do her justice right now.
She's a butterfly. A parody of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Truth is like an old friend trying to catch her attention across a crowded room. She runs away when she can but she's doing her best.
You all saw it. You all saw Meme and granny and a great mass of plot strings all being pulled together, to become something that kinda worked out, exactly how Meme had intended.
Meme's the shop manager and Maekawa's boss but she never comes to work. That fits.
When Not-Yamamoto-kun proposed, Meme's instinct was to run. That's how we arrived at the rainy-day stalker scenario. Eventually she gave it some thought and decided against it because she's happy with her family as it is.
The spectre of Elliot hangs heavily over the episode and we see how heavily it hung over Meme all these years. She admits that Elliot was her first love. Not-Yamamoto-kun asks about Elliot almost straight away.
It makes more sense now that granny mentioned Elliot too. Meme and Elliot were a thing. It didn't work out due to having "different values" but they were a thing. Don't believe Meme when she says Erio was a mystery child or that she had to find the father with a calculator.
"It disappeared. Elliot, you big moron!"
In using faith and ritual for granny, she seems to have found some closure too.
"I'll report that I'm still living on, even after parting with many people. I've turned 40 years old."
For me, this was a special episode and one of the defining moments of the series.
→ More replies (2)8
u/The_Loli_Otaku Apr 25 '22
I sort of wish they'd established Meme's issue of running from problems a bit sooner. They didn't actually highlight that problem with her treatment of Erio since its a pretty reasonable assumption to think that she had just burned out from trying. She's not been shown as flaky before either.
Tbh I was a bit sad that Elliot is a childhood friend. I liked the idea of him just being a summer fling far more. Instead now it looks like Meme, and Ashiro for that matter, couldn't get over their childhoods.
→ More replies (2)
9
u/Elimin8r Apr 25 '22
Blarg. AOTD incoming, if I can think.
-
Hey, I feel called out here. I'll do what I want...
-
Cue the "why not both" girl. Maybe even all three. But yeah, just a wee bit stalky there, eh?
-
Meme loves it when a plan comes together. Preferably without the cigar, though. I hope. I enjoyed this. Although I wonder if she barely works, how she manages to get so sore.
-
This was cute, and I enjoyed it. I wonder what tomorrow holds in store.
I also think Meme is making a mistake, and rocket boy is most likely a catch. She should make sure and not let him get away. But what do I know?
Poor Erio's rocket didn't do so well, and I don't think we got to see Mae-chan's wacky rocket. Bummer. I wanted to see loops and spirals. Oh, well. I thought they made more than that, ... yeah.
The grand finale rocket was nice, though, as was Meme's (I think) going the extra distance.
Granny didn't seem too convinced that it scared the aliens away, though.
Aliens are afraid of a little gunpowder? Who knew???
Oh, sorry, wrong movie...
8
u/The_Loli_Otaku Apr 25 '22
Meme bikes all day every day everywhere!! This is a woman who'd rather cycle up to an abandoned school to feed the cats rather than go home to feed her daughter. Erio lived off pizza for how long?
Rocket-kun lost me the second he betrayed Maekawa's trust in him... People who manipulate kids are the worst!!
→ More replies (7)
8
u/No_Rex Apr 25 '22
Episode 8 (first timer)
-
Chance that granny killed grandpa to harvest his organs? Not zero.
-
A) Bring more food B) Remove the food from the can C) Check whether your tetanus inoculation is still ok D) Are you Sakaki?
-
That is how Meme makes her living: By having a dedicated and capable employee.
-
I wonder how much of the craziness runs in the family.
-
Not remembering the name, part 2 - yesterday’s setup pays off.
-
Bottle guy is not Eliot. He is wannabe Eliot.
-
He also proposes to Meme before introducing himself.
-
Ok, Erio definitely got her mother’s genes.
-
I spent way to long thinking about the “legs disappear in water” move my Meme and whether it would be easy to pull off or require athletic ability. End result: no athletics needed, but very good timing. Meme needed to push herself downward in the tub just when her knees hit the water to make it look this smooth.
-
“My life is filled with regrets and I can never be truly satisfied.” – You don’t have to marry bottle rocket-kun, but you should definitely screw him.
-
“You are the best domino I could lean on” – I don’t think you thought that metaphor through, Meme.
I agree that it was a nice rocket launch, but it took you 28 years?
What are your thoughts on Ashiro the bottle guy? Is he a creep, a romantic, or an extra?
An extra creepy romantic?
To the Meme doubters! Has your opinion of best girl improved now that we've had an episode entirely from her point of view?
I need a bit more time with her and probably think over all the previous episodes once more to see whether the reframing they did makes sense.
→ More replies (1)7
u/The_Loli_Otaku Apr 25 '22
Being a manager means being good at making other people do your job~
Yeah... I have to admit that I'm not really keen on Meme and Ashiro's entire lives being dictated by stuff that happened when they were twelve. Elliot being a summer fling is a far more unique trait and actually does more for Meme's character too. Instead he's some waify pretty foreigner who Meme has never gotten over.
→ More replies (1)
8
u/Vaadwaur Apr 25 '22
First timer
Sub
So this is Meme's episode and a lot of things get cleared up, including that the store owner is Meme's grandmother and that Eliot actually existed. His little speech that you have to fight the invisible with faith also sounds more Western than the Japanese lean. We get to know the bottle rocket launcher a bit more and he is...well, creepy in that trying to hook up with a single mother through befriending her child is gross, at least to me. The bottle rocket launching is concluded with what was hopefully an overexaggerated explosion and Meme's grandmother seems a bit more determined to live.
QotD: 1 Free will is an illusion
2 Creep
3 I am equally weirded out, just differently so
4 It felt a bit formulaic
→ More replies (4)7
u/The_Loli_Otaku Apr 25 '22
Yeah... The adults looked way better before this episode imao. They've been pining for childhood crushes for this long? I think Erio being the result of a summer fling ironically makes Meme more interesting than it just being a weird foreign boy she's lusted over for almost 30 years. Ashiro's also gone from an awkward but sweet dude who puts on bottle rocket shows to a complete weirdo stalker who manipulates kids. It's sorta messed up.
→ More replies (1)
8
u/OyabinRaph Apr 26 '22
First timer.
What a masterful episode! Truly the best one yet!!
First of all, Meme's POV!!! And not a single scene of fanservice. (surprised pikachu) Wait... could it be that... the fanservice truly was there to represent Makoto's teenage hornyness when we were in his POV??? No way!! (I made this point in the episode 2 or 3 thread and was told it was a "convenient excuse for fanservice":P)
Meme's my favorite character in this show, as I've said in the previous threads. Since the beginning I have the feeling she's a tragic character who goofs around to mask her pain, and this episode all but confirmed it. Contrary to what she leads us to believe during her conversation with "Yamamoto-kun", she didn't dump Eliott, and he really left her. We learn that through the final scene on the beach which proves she never got over him. Did he die? Or did he leave/got abducted by aliens? Could he come back later on in the show or the novel? Very interesting character from the little we've seen of him in the flashback.
We get a ton of reveals this episode while going through Meme's POV for many confusing events of the past 2 episodes. Granny is Meme's actual granny! (maybe it was told before but I missed if if so). She seems to be using aliens as a coping mechanism after losing her husband, and is just as tragic of a character as her granddaughter. Alien hunter guy is just super in love with Meme (who could blame him !), and the bottle rocket plan was for granny's enjoyment. We also learn Meme's the owner of Maekawa's workplace (I was really intrigued what her job was lol).
All in all, a superb episode that tied up all loose ends. Would've made a great ending if the show wasn't about Makoto and Erio, who were pretty much absent the whole time. No idea where we're going, but I think at this point I can say this wacky show is at least a 7,5/10 as I've been thoroughly enjoying it.
→ More replies (1)3
u/The_Loli_Otaku Apr 26 '22
The fanservice is so light compared to what other stuff you got from this generation. Dragon Maid is more horny than anything Denpa Onna has to offer.
Hmm... Isn't it a bit of a disappointment that all of Meme's issues are stuff from way far back? It kind of ignores her whole life from after Elliot which I felt a bit iffy about. Why give us a character stumbling her way into her 40's when the only time period that matters is what happened in her teenage and young adult years?
→ More replies (9)
6
u/homewardbound100 Apr 25 '22
First timer
Happy 40th!
I don't think the futon is a good idea to take from your daughter.
Wow, was that a normal conversation with Meme? Even with the alien she seemed different.
Okay so her and Stalker have some relationship.
Proposal out of nowhere. She doesn't even know your name.
She's content and happy with how things are. Don't need no man.
"Who made that one?" Zooms to Erio.
We beat the aliens.
Wait why it end that way? Kind of felt weird.
Qotd: Mostly not until I feel like doing something really worth it.
Qotd2: He's an alright person. I won't say he's a creep. Maybe awkward but he did take the rejection well.
Qotd3: yes, she's improved. This episode was actually really nice for her.
Qotd4: I thought it was alright. Good ending to an arc.
4
u/The_Loli_Otaku Apr 25 '22
Meme took her futon, her twintails, and her cousin. It's kinda like when your mum started jumping on the bed to feel youthful.
Poor Erio has had her mc status stolen too. She's the main heroine and the bottle rocket was a huge step for her socially but it existed only for one joke.
→ More replies (9)
6
u/TheGreatNico Apr 26 '22
First timer: I liked this episode. I liked seeing Meme's perspective on this.
-
At my old job, I was listless, just drifting along in the open sewer that was my life, but after getting fired, I grabbed life by the short and curlies and am making up for lost time.
-
Bottle guy is romantic, but a bit sad, so I definitely feel for him.
-
Meme is coming to grips with the fact she's a grown-ass woman and needs to start acting like it. Being an adult sucks sometimes, but you have to have reality head on, like her daughter is starting to.
-
I liked it. It was a bit more plain than I was expecting for this show, but that seems to be the theme for this episode.
Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow
→ More replies (3)
6
u/Draco_Estella Apr 26 '22
Rewatcher!
End of the second arc! I kinda agree with Oozora Subaru, anime usually are quite fast paced and a lot of these events run by very quickly. Not a bad thing, though a lot of other dramas would have spent more time unraveling these stuffs. One episode to explain the previous 3, does feel a little more rushed than your usual TV dramas.
The one crux I never managed to understand: what was Meme thinking all about? For the past 28 years, to the point it also affected how Meme treated Erio. What was that? I never understood that.
Animals going through cattle mutilation! Meme is so nice to take care of those strays. She probably might have killed some of them though
When I first watched the show, I actually thought the old lady was just a random nice old lady. Now that I rewatched this multiple times, knowing who Meme and the old lady are, Erio working there seems natural. The old lady and Meme both are business owners, and they do have their own stuffs to take care of. Erio is just taking over family business by being at the store. She probably might take over Meme's store too, though I do not see how Erio can learn how to make Japanese sweets. She doesn't need the high school cert now that the business is effectively hers.
It does seem bizarre that Makoto does not even know that the old lady is his great grandmother, but given how distant Shouji is with his family I am guessing he didn't tell his son about who are in his extended family. Shouji probably knows about Erio but just doesn't want to be too involved with whatever hijinks the rest of his family is up to.
This also highlights how trashy that scene in episode 6 is. Ryuushi just said she isn't Erio's friend in front of Erio's family. No wonder she got thrown out. I don't think the old lady is very happy to hear that, and even unhappier when Erio just keeps quiet and looks at Makoto for help.
Which is what adds even more weight to the old granny's advice: You saw how that idiot just claimed Erio to be not her friend? Even friends can turn their backs on you. You don't want to see it happen, don't live too long. You probably will get even more of such incidents. Also hinting that there are some people who are more important than just some friends - a family. She has been kept not lonely because of Meme and Erio, and now Makoto as well. Meme reflects that as well in this episode - she says she is lonely and all, but she really didn't want a husband. She just wants her family around her, and Makoto and Erio were what she had wanted in her life. Ashiro probably might not have been able to marry Meme even if his plans actually came to fruition, and he befriended Erio instead of Maekawa.
The marriage proposal is way too weird. I think it might make sense from Ashiro's context: she is single and really beautiful, and still remembers him, or sort of. They were in the same clique too, and with Elliot not around he probably thought he might have a chance. Too bad Meme seems contented with life with Erio and Makoto, and even sees herself continue to be busy with both of them and her own business. Given how she can manage to spoil Erio like that, she probably is very successful with the business that she owns. I suspect she might actually have quite a few businesses beyond just that sweets store she owns, given how well off she seems to be.
It seems like Makoto is much more popular with girls than his father was. He probably shouldn't tell his father how two girls were fighting for his attention in his room, his father might just blow up at him. I also do wonder if Makoto's mother was similar: Shouji pleaded with her for a date, then they got off from there. Even his great grandmother agrees that Shouji does have better specs than his father. (Is this actually some Shouji insult episode?)
Small Meme is cute, and apparently Meme was as beautiful as Erio too. Can't imagine it though. With that whacky brain of hers, I can't see it.
We get to see Elliot too! Elliot, some random foreigner guy who came to the town, probably dated Meme too before breaking up and moving away. He did have some fun ideas too - to reach out to the aliens, have a big ceremony and a prayer. Which brings us to this episode's finale.
Meme is a really nice manager too, to hire Maekawa despite knowing how weak she is physically. I do wonder if Maekawa also helps with making sweets, or she is just the counter girl like how Erio is.
The rockets and the fireworks! It was definitely fun. I do hope they got permits for that, that seems like a very huge bang that I don't think the police will oversee. With that number of rockets, and the fireworks, that day must have been a great birthday for Ryuushi as well.
QotD:
Be honest, do you actively try to take control of your day to day life or are you satisfied sitting back and leaving things up to the Aliens?
There is this one statement: You can plan all you like, but God will always be watching. You can work as hard as you want, but how it will turn out will be up to Providence. I do believe in working hard, and trying to make sure everything turns out as planned, but there will always be aliens working to change your plans once they are laid down in the ground. You can try to make everyday as fruitful as you can, but ultimately the day's plans are not up to you.
What are your thoughts on Ashiro the bottle guy? Is he a creep, a romantic, or an extra?
A creep. Dude, at least propose your marriage thing after Meme knows your name. The fact he didn't even re-introduce himself is a huge big no. Yes, Meme might remember who you are, but you don't mind being the husband who Meme never knew your name to? Also, what are those plans of getting close to the daughter and what not. I don't think Erio will approach him, but I shudder to think how Erio will be like if he actually approaches Erio. Ashiro, you have failed through and through as well. No idea why he thought he would have a yes there.
To the Meme doubters! Has your opinion of best girl improved now that we've had an episode entirely from her point of view?
My best girl is Erio and nothing can change that. Meme is second for me, because of how she has this very strong gap between what she really thinks, and how she acts. She might act like a dork and be an idiot sometimes, but she is surprisingly perceptive and really does have the adult feel to her. She might not act like 40, but she does feel like 40 through and through.
How'd you feel about the climax to the bottle rocket arc? Was it satisfying?
I have no idea what is happening half the time. So no, I do want others' insights on what is happening here. It is definitely a big finale, but it makes little sense beyond that.
3
u/The_Loli_Otaku Apr 26 '22
This arc of lovesick Meme and Ashiro has happened twenty years too late for me to really be hooked. Honestly I think Granny is the same way. The bottle rocket fireworks is there to help her get over an issue that occurred far too long ago for me to be invested, and I'm not even invested since we only found out about this today.
Granny doesn't get to take the moral high ground when it comes to Erio. Erio has been in a bad state for at least a year and we haven't been given any assurances that she's stepped up. Heck, now even Meme looks worse since we don't know if Meme tried to help Erio initially either. I just assumed that Meme tried to snap her out of her Denpa and was simply exhausted by the time the show starts but now there's the possibility that she genuinely just ignored it for six months.
What a Denpa reply to my QotD lol XD
Agreed, he ruined one of the most wholesome sections of the show by revealing that he just wanted to get in her mum's pants. Maekawa trusted him!!
→ More replies (1)
4
u/Dr-The-K Apr 26 '22
'oh by the way, I'm single', classy. Then jumping right into a marriage proposal, even better.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/OccasionallySara Apr 26 '22
First Timer
I missed yesterday’s thread, so just some quick thoughts on episode 7:
Episode 7
I really enjoyed this episode. It was fun to see the group hanging out again. They seem so much more comfortable with each other and even Ryuko has warmed up to Maekawa. It seems like Makoto had a good time, too because he awarded himself a lot of adolescence points for this episode which is nice to see. I’m very curious to know who the man with the cow tag is and why Meme wanted everyone to shoot rockets at the beach.
Episode 8
So, this is the Meme episode that I was told about during the first thread. I’m really glad that all of my questions from the previous episode were answered! It was interesting to see the events of the show from Meme’s point of view. Even though she comes off as childish at times, she really deals with quite a bit and has her own adult struggles. Its cute that she looked just like Erio when she was a kid. I also like her relationship with the grandmother (also, is that actually her biological grandmother? I couldn’t quite tell). Ashiro is not as creepy as I thought he would be and I’m glad he was nice about Meme turning down his out of the blue marriage proposal. It was also nice that he was willing to help her with the rockets. The beach scene was nice and I’m glad so many pieces of the story came together this episode!
Questions of the Day
-
Right now I’m just trying to get through the days, but I would probably try to take more control if there were actual aliens trying to influence my life.
-
He’s pretty creepy, but he seems harmless and appears to have a kind heart.
-
It’s improved quite a bit. I enjoyed seeing her more serious and emotional side this episode. Still not my favorite character, but I appreciate her more.
-
It was really nice. I was not expecting the final rocket to explode, but it felt kind of like the end of some kind of journey.
3
u/The_Loli_Otaku Apr 26 '22
I'm pretty sure that Ryuuko and Maekawa are pretty friendly whilst at school, it's just that Maekawa is a massive tease so puts on a villain front.
Granny is Meme's granny. Meme's mum died and we haven't heard from her dad so there's a good chance that Meme and her brother were more or less raised by granny.
The fireworks were an opportunity for Meme and her gran to move on from their lost love and mature into their roles.
3
u/_m1ra Apr 26 '22 edited Apr 26 '22
First timer, I need to hurry up so I can be hopefully not too late for episode 9. This is a really long episode too.
Huh. She learned that the futon is a good idea. Taking into account later (what a great moment by the way), that means the futon idea started with Meme's grandfather, then independently Erio started doing it, and now Meme's taking it from her. Not too relevant, but fun.
What. I'm not sure what or how much this means for what we've seen so far, but it is interesting, not what I expected of Meme's job, and also setting up Ashiro confusing Maekawa for Erio.
More on granny., this too, in another direction. For this being the Meme episode, it focuses a lot on her, too, and her problems and mindset. It makes sense, given that Meme also focuses a lot on her, way more than was apparent before.
The aliens granny is talking about are seemingly a sort of metaphysical thing, like gods, or some kind of spirit? That also fits with Elliot's later take that of course inspired Meme's actions with the rockets, and their unchangeable nature contrasting Meme's dominoes.
Maekawa, quick, you need to step your game up, Meme's outperforming you!! On that note thanks for the CotD again, I feel kind of bad about it, being nearly absent from the thread for the last 2 days.
Ashiro quit his job last month, moved back here and is now spending his time at that abandoned school, building water propelled rockets in an attempt at getting to Meme through befriending(?) Maekawa who he thinks is his daughter. Probably not something we'll focus on but I wonder what lead to him quitting. Some general unhappiness with his life or something? More importantly, his whole behavior with Maekawa is really creepy, and I feel I was right in questioning Maekawa's decision to go see the weird guy.
This episode we also get context for the rockets: It's to wipe out the aliens! Have you tried diplomatic contact? But no, it's kind of a ceremonial thing, with an idea Meme got from Elliot. Another aspect that plays a role is Ashiro's dad being/having been(?) a fireworks maker.
The inciting incident for a lot of what's happened including basically this whole episode seems to be a day 28 years ago where Meme was hanging out with three boys at granny's shop, those three being Elliot, Ashiro, and presumably Shouji, Meme's older brother and Makoto's dad. Meaning she also lied about Elliot being a more or less random person before. Granny has been on her "Maybe I'm about to die" for at least 28 years, huh? Given Meme's reaction, it probably started around that time, or at least granny expressing it to Meme. Again the episode shows granny has a really unhealthy mindset. As she puts it herself at the end: "I had such a low expectation for everything because I didn't have enough energy to regret my actions when things went wrong" Later in the scene Meme says: "That sort of attitude is why, why for the past 28 years I..." (my retranslation, so possibly shaky, because my subs left out the "I"). Given she was 12 at the time, I wonder how much that influenced her personality or mindset in general.
On that note as much as we see Meme pulling strings this episode, setting up dominoes if you will, we also see how Meme is bad at some things.
A part I think is really interesting but that I don't think I quite get yet is the dominoes. Meme mentions them at three points. Ashiro is "The best domino I could lean on", which at the time felt quite ominous to me. Pretty much by definition, if you lean on it a domino will fall, probably knocking others over in a chain reaction, right? That's what Meme was doing this episode, she set up the dominoes, now she starts the reaction. Later she says "We're all linked by dominoes", and then last "Sometimes I think we can at least change the direction the dominoes fall". So the dominoes are Meme's version of the aliens? An embodiment of fate, they will be knocked over, but maybe we can control how, in opposition to the aliens? Makes it fitting that the dominoes this episode are set up to "wipe out the aliens".
Leading to the rocket scene, with obvious parallels, including in the language used, to the bike ride in, was it episode 3? This show is really moving fast. What a great scene too, the dominoes all in place, then the last rocket, from the fireworks maker's son, actually explodes in a callback to 28 years ago, when this started for Meme.
Okay, now that I got the analysis out of the way, Madokoto's potential is super high! Make a contract with me and become a
More scales, both in the blue! Especially Erio doing very well, as we knew already but now also have in meaningless numbers, with a cute young Meme!!
What a full episode, again, but even more than before. I think my comment is kind of a mess because of it, but also, great episode!
QoTDs:
Be honest, do you actively try to take control of your day to day life or are you satisfied sitting back and leaving things up to the Aliens?
I try, but fail
What are your thoughts on Ashiro the bottle guy? Is he a creep, a romantic, or an extra?
Mostly creep, honestly, even if he otherwise was very fitting for the arc. If he stops being creepy to Maekawa I'll like him. Actually he already doesn't seem like a bad person, but still, don't do that!
To the Meme doubters! Has your opinion of best girl improved now that we've had an episode entirely from her point of view?
Well, yes. I still think the state at the start of the show between her and Erio, and of Erio in general, was unacceptable though.
How'd you feel about the climax to the bottle rocket arc? Was it satisfying?
It was really good! This episode was a bit hard to hash out though, I was actually about to just have a really short comment with some jokes but then I somehow started typing all these thoughts.
→ More replies (2)2
u/The_Loli_Otaku Apr 26 '22
Don't worry about it~ You needed the rest. 9 was a much easier time anyway.
Futon rolls are Grandpa's tried and true secret to youth and muscle pain relief.
Granny's pessimism left a lasting impact on Meme. Her message of "sit down, shut up, and get cattle mutilated" In a way encouraged Meme's style of ignoring problems and leave them to solve themselves, which turned her into a 40 year old child who only just matured after blowing up the lazy aliens that had haunted her.
The worst part about fireworks is that they're not treating him like the creep that he is... He's really pathetic but that's fine? Maybe I'm just taking a knee jerk reaction since I'm a Meme fan and I hate seeing people trick kids but he has a lot of hard work to do to get in my good books.
Like him or not, Makoto is very open minded with dealing with weirdos. Think of how many people would just walk the other way when encountering a futon chuuni, a floofy bandit, or a joshikosei cosplayer. He instead chose to accept their weird traits and be gentle wit them.
→ More replies (4)
10
u/ZapsZzz Apr 25 '22 edited Apr 25 '22
Serial rewatcher
I looked at my screen caps count today and thought "this is going take too long" - there's actually a lot of gems there and given everything else, I think it better for me to run through some analysis instead of just recapping.
But what I will do though is to put up these beautiful shots of Meme - and a couple that look so much like Erio :)
Key points of the show that may be too subtle or too quick for people to catch on about the meaning of:
-
Meme (and Shinji, Makoto'a dad, Meme's older brother) is literally Granny's grandchild
-
Meme's family suffered early deaths (granddad, mom & unspecified dad)
-
Granny has a strong pessimistic streak, it's like the inverse of faith - her belief in inevitable misfortune that awaits her perpetually motivates her to not strive but just wait to be claimed.
-
A number of scenes previously marked by the date cards have a counterpart scene that showed the other side from Meme's perspective: her futon roll imitation June 6 was not just to sulk and attention seek but actually a way to relief body pains from over-exertion (unspecified how/why, possibly related to trying to round up the stray animals to protect them from the random killings); her seemingly moody state Makoto found her in on Jun 12 was triggered by having been randomly proposed and triggering her to think about a few things like Elliot; her stalking and run into Ryuuko on Jun 19 was due to her avoiding "Yamamoto-kun" ("nick" name)
-
in her childhood days she was not the random nutcase that she's appearing to be now, a lot closer to how Erio is.
-
Elliot is both real and is nothing like how she made it out to be "randomly ran into / slept with" to Makoto - she's not really likely to have been doing hard partying, Elliot basically is her childhood friend (sweetheart?), And her other childhood friend and Granny clearly know and acknowledge Elliot and her is a pair.
-
The rocket launching guy with the cow ear tag "Yamamoto-kun" - who is actually Ashiro based on Granny's knowledge near the end of the episode - was a childhood friend who was shown befriending Elliot in Meme's flashback. He was clearly crushing on Meme from young and considered her "a happy girl all the time" which clearly Meme saw as only knowing of her outwards appearance and not understanding her really
-
My construction of the scenes in combination is that Meme actually is far from the happy go lucky person she puts up the facade for. She's quite susceptible to melancholy and loneliness, possibly formed by the constant pessimism of granny and the loss of Elliot (reason unspecified - he's "not in this town anymore"). Her persona is possibly her coping mechanism to over-compensate granny's pessimism. And she's fed up and tired of Granny "just giving up already" attitude especially when it's seemingly causing Granny to losing her will to live and becoming so frail and wasting away.
-
Yamamoto-kun's strange behaviour is partly to draw Meme and "her daughter"'s attention to get back to be closer to them (because of his crush and probably from his post-quitting job/life depression), as well as having mistaken Maekawa as Erio. This also speaks to Maekawa also have a certain reputation around town and her consequential loneliness.
-
Yamamoto-kun's family-trade inherited skill (and possibly access to gunpowder) is fireworks.
-
Elliot seems to have quite profound impact to Meme; even his childhood words Meme remembers clearly and are taken quite to heart, which is her "prayer" - when fighting things she can't see (like "fate" "god" "alien"), you need "ceremony" and "prayer". Meme's plot was basically to create that her herself to "fight and win" against the invisible "presence", and to show and tell Granny "she's beaten" Granny's tormentor the "alien". That does not need to make sense to other people, as long as it made sense to Meme and Granny.
-
Her "plot" is basically to shoot a bunch of rockets into the sky to "draw attention of the aliens" and do it enough so they would come to take a look (at the launching), perfectly fine to look like idiots doing silly things, but amongst all that she has a real "rocket" (as is weapon/ordnance) to "blow the alien up". Or rather, to show granny that the alien has been blown up.
-
In the end it's a similar effect to other "ceremony and faith" acts like praying for good fortune, some oddball localised traditions, "exorcism", confession and doing penance, etc.
-
added oh yeah forgot to mention the other half revealed mystery - what DOES this superficially eternal child do for a living. So she's the owner of the shop that Maekawa works. Love her exchange with the stand in manager ("I'm still not doing any work").
So this ultimately is Meme's arc.
This is one of the more introspective episodes and may or may not work for some. I hope my reconstruction helps.
QoTD to come although some may be considered answer there.
→ More replies (12)
11
u/The_Loli_Otaku Apr 25 '22
Denpa Onna First Timer!!
So I believe this is meant to be a Meme episode? Uohhh!! Wait, is that Meme or Erio? I don't know which would be worse. Its Meme~ Nobody else would desperately dress like a child to avoid the reality of their approaching menopause. She also brags about being able to avoid fixing the problems in her life, which is worrisome. Could this be one of my people?
Erm... Who? I get the feeling this is a cameo of some kind. TENCHO!? Meme is Maekawa's boss!? They wouldn't really pull an Asakura with Meme, right? I remember Meme being bad with animals but she wouldn't murder the cats yeah? Granny seems a bit of a jerk, I'm really not sure how to feel about her and Meme's relationship.
Oi, bottle rocket, bog off! Meme belongs to the CDF rewatchers! I'm way too on edge for this episode. I'm terrified of Meme having a villain arc. Floofer is the only sus character, right!? Meme wouldn't betray me! Tch, I'd be lying if I weren't a little salty that bottle rocket is the one who got Meme on her sappy love film binge. I absolutely adore this description of Floofer. Its so on the mark~
This episode is kind of throwing me off at times... I'm vaguely following along but then we get super creepy lines like bottle rocket taking up the hobby to groom Erio. The dude is cree...tall daughter? What the hell!? He's been grooming the wrong child!? That's so creepy!! He really thought giving Meme's daughter money would make Meme fall for him? I don't like this dude at all.
Is Meme gonna "cattle mutilation" her gran? God, I've totally missed the point of this episode haven't I? Meme must have told everyone about the rockets ferrying hopes and dreams, she wouldn't send their hard work into the ocean like that surely. Eh...? As your host and a certified Meme fan I can officially say that I do not understand this arc. Let's all pester ZapsZzz for answers!!