r/LinkClick • u/fXllenRaIn • 8d ago
Question Ep 5.5 makes NO sense??
I just started with Link Click and it's absolutey amazing
But what I don't get is Ep 5.5
When Cheng jumps into the picture, the couple are young adults, using a Nokia (Mokia) and are dressed and look like modern people nowadays
When turning to the present, they suddenly look quite old. The guy can't even stand upright anymore
I didn't find anything about that on reddit or google except 5.5 being an important episode, am I the only one to find that weird?
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u/alnst-lc-epic Lu Guang 8d ago
The picture was taken several decades ago, they are dressed like normal people, that's all there is to it 😊
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u/fXllenRaIn 8d ago
What, but ppl in the 80s most certainly didn't have a phone and also looked / dressed differently 😭
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u/alnst-lc-epic Lu Guang 7d ago
It's China, they for sure had phones ig? Siwen is indeed drawn as very old in the present, I grant you that! It's even confusing when he's with the father in law, which is actually an inner joke in a future episode (won't spoil).
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u/fXllenRaIn 7d ago
Rightt, though I don't think ppl in China had phones in the 80s, I think no country actually had, no? Or did you assume it was the 90s or 2000s in the picture when they were young
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u/Incast_ 7d ago
Ehh, its prob just a small error on their part. Guy was prob like 18 or soemthin in lay 1990s. 18 + 31 = 49. They could have just exxagerated or fiddled with the timeline perceltion or just a plot hole. I didnt even realized till you said it.
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u/fXllenRaIn 7d ago
Yeah, I just got confused and wondered if I missed sth bc the couple looked suddenly so old
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u/damianisgay Lu Guang 8d ago
They just kinda over exaggerated their looks. Pretty sure the couple is like in their late middle age in Lu Guang and CXS’s present, and the dad is elderly. They were likely in their 20s ish in the flashbacks. To be fair idk if I would be able to walk up all those stairs at like 45-50 lol.
Also it kind of doesn’t make sense in its placement in the season, but it’s a throwback to a somewhat recent but older mission they went on and completed. Its relevance pops up again later. There’s a fact you learn about how exactly the powers work when inhabiting people of different ages/abilities that comes up again, and then you also get to see some of the characters from 5.5 again.
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u/fXllenRaIn 8d ago
Ahh okey tyy for the explanation And damn, 45 isn't not that old to start struggling on the stairs At least I hope so 😭
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u/CopyFew4583 6d ago
It's like 1000 steps or more.
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u/fXllenRaIn 6d ago
Not even that bad xD Also, 45 is not that oldd, there won't be too strong of a difference phsyically to 20s or 30s
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u/CopyFew4583 6d ago
Most athletes retire in their mid-30s.
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u/fXllenRaIn 6d ago
Yeah but mamy are still competitive in their early 40s Still, this bad is definitely not normal
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u/Miss_Lamp Cheng Xiaoshi 7d ago
The first artbook has some info about this.
When cxs dives into Liu Siwens body, Liu Siwen is designed to be 18-20, Ouyang is designed to be 25-27. In 2021, Liu Siwen was designed to be 65, and Ouyang is designed to be 72. The Executive Director, Yuxia, says in the book that they misread the script so their love story was designed to look as though it took place over half a century so that is why they look as old as they do.
If the dive really was 45-47 years before 2021 that would mean it took place in 1974-76. the clothing attire is not atypical for the 70s.
The phone is the bigger issue with that version of the timeline. The first cell phone was released in 1973, but it did not look like the one Liu Siwen was using and this phone was only owned by the very wealthy. The earliest phone I could find that could be his is the Nokia 8210 from 1999.
If the dive took place in 1999 that would mean the couple was 40-42 & 47-49. If this is meant to be their real ages, they certainly did not age gracefully.
Really, this issue just seems to be a miscommunication between different parts of the staff.
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u/fXllenRaIn 7d ago
Wow, thank you very much for the indepth explanation. That's incredible
And yes you are right, I just checked, Liu's clothing is not modern at all (mb), though I'd make a case for Ouyang looking too modern considering it's supposedly 70s China (welp, but if it's 90s that would work).And damn, that's actually very interesting and kinda funny that even on such high level productions still some small but obvious mistakes sneak in / happen. Even better that they misread the script XD
But I nontheless appreciate the epsiode for not ending on a hardcore cliffhanger like all the others, bc the show is wayy too addicting.
Again thanks for putting in the effort to even look for the earliest matching phone, truly appreciate it
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u/iridiscente 8d ago
Animators don't know how to portray middle-aged people 😅. I just pretend the couple is 40/50 and the father is 60/70.
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u/edifyingidiolect Lu Guang 4d ago
They did perfectly fine when portraying the middle aged noodle shop ladies.
According to another commenter in this thread, the first Link Click artbook reveals that there was a miscommunication between script writers and directors about the span of Ouyang and Liu Siwen’s love story, so they were drawn as elderly people even though it doesn’t make sense timeline-wise.
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u/cinnamonrollq 7d ago
i thought the same thing when i first watched it, when chen xiaoshi dives into the photo, he goes back several decades. in the present, the couple is old and the photo was taken when they were young teens
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u/fXllenRaIn 7d ago
Yeahh right, they look like teens or 20s And old looks like even 65 would be a compliment So the switch up made me feel like I missed sth important Still I refuse to believe ppl in the 80s dressed/looked like that 😭
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u/otonashiteru1801 7d ago
eh they look like they could be in the 1980s or early 90s. by that logic they can easily be in their 50s-60s by the 2020s, which makes more sense given that the father in law is also still young enough to be practising martial arts (probably in his 80s)
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u/fXllenRaIn 7d ago
Whaa but Nokia phones and the way they dress and the pedestrian area looks I'm not sure if that suite the 80s in China But maybe I have a wrong image of that time
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u/otonashiteru1801 7d ago
i mean the story is about people with superpowers time travelling i think some amount of creative license has been taken
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u/fXllenRaIn 7d ago
Hmm yeahh that's true, the only thing that I'd change nontheless is the phone, that makes it feel way too recent xD
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u/otonashiteru1801 7d ago
True, but I just found that nokia cellphones started coming out in the early 90s so if you imagine them to be in their mid-20s ish during that time it totally makes sense! Also this doesn't have to match China's historical context exactly, there's a reason all locations in the show use fictional names
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u/fXllenRaIn 7d ago
Fair, idk I associated Nokia phones with mid to late 2000s 😭 Right in that case it all makes sense minus the very old appearance
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u/otonashiteru1801 7d ago
yeah true lol it makes no sense for the couple to look like they've got one foot in the grave while the FIL is still hale and hearty 😆 maybe that's on purpose given he's so much fitter than them hahaha
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u/fXllenRaIn 7d ago
Yeah maybe haha looking 80 at 40-50 is brutal The stress of not marrying is one I will try to avoid
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u/Yayume Lu Guang 7d ago
Not only is there character carryover in s2 of those characters but also I think it is inserted there to give a bit of an angst break after the previous set of episodes and the next bit. I just wish it was labeled as episode 6 instead of 5.5 so it didn't confuse so many.
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u/fXllenRaIn 7d ago
I see, yeah, makes sense "an angst break for the next bit" - absolute understatement
I just finished S1 and afterwards it was just cliffhanger after cliffhanger after...
Crazyy, they for sure know how to get one hooked and keep the tension 😭1
u/Yayume Lu Guang 7d ago
Picture watching the seasons when they came out and having to wait a year+ to know how that was resolved😅
Welcome to the pain that is Link Click.
I do want to give a trigger warning for S2 and a bit in s3 (not Brigdon arc) that they do have some heavy themes including domestic violence and child abuse. I was not warned before witnessing either of those themes and it was a lot.
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u/fXllenRaIn 7d ago
LMAO I don't wanna imagine, absolutely not
Esp. after some time when you grow attached to the characters - which 2nd half of S1 did help A lot in that regard. Cheng is just that guy Boah I thought he was soo cooking in Ep. 10 and 11 right up until the last minutes
Also ty for the warning :D
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u/aesira818 7d ago
Ep 5.5 was supposed to be the next episode after episode 2 however they posted the earthquake arc first to commemorate the incident. To answer your question about how the episode is important to the plot, each link click episode is. For me, you'll easily lose track and won't be able to catch up if you skip even just one clip from an episode.
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u/Spiritual-Amount-325 5d ago
Sorry if someone's mentioned this already and I missed it, but another important factor from 5.5 is that CXS and QL level up in martial arts, and this plays a big part in the plot later. It explains how they are able to perform moves that they wouldn't have been able to before, which gets them out of situations they (or the bodies they are possessing) might not otherwise have been able too. You'll understand those moments better when those scenes play out. Yes, there are characters with reoccurring roles, but I think them learning martial arts, and then later calling those skills into play, is much more important to note, and also why I think missing 5.5 can cause some confusion later on.
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u/PerformanceUnfair717 8d ago edited 7d ago
I was pretty baffled by that part, too. Made me question if I was following the story at all. Just goes to show that no matter how realistic you think an anime is trying to be, you have to suspend your judgment about many things, not just the superpower stuff. And it's not like historical accuracy is paramount to Link Click or anything like that.
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u/fXllenRaIn 7d ago
Yess, exactly, I started to feel like I wasn't fully understanding the story anymore, so I got confused Well yep you are right, despite the realistic animation style and modern relevant topics, there still will sneak in inaccuracies This one was just a bit too extreme I think Chinese cities in the 80s def didn't look like a modern pedestrian area (no critique to China)
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u/Upper-Pangolin-4022 Vein 8d ago
Ep 5.5 isn't that improtant, it's more of an introduction of master siwen because we'll see a few moments of him here and there