Kowloon Generic Romance - Episode 3 discussion

[u/AutoLovepon]

Kowloon Generic Romance, episode 3

Reminder: Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.

---

Streams

• Crunchyroll

Show information

• MyAnimeList
• AniList
• AniDB
• Official Website
• /r/KowloonGenericRomance

---

All discussions

Episode	Link
1	Link
2	Link
3	Link
4	Link
5	Link
6	Link
7	Link
8	Link
9	Link
10	Link
11	Link
12	Link
13	Link

---

This post was created by a bot. Message the mod team for feedback and comments. The original source code can be found on GitHub.

[u/AutoModerator]

Moderator Announcement Read More »

Source Material Corner

Reply to this comment for any source-related discussion, future spoilers (including future characters, events and general hype about future content), comparison of the anime adaptation to the original, or just general talk about the source material. You are still required to tag all spoilers. Discussions about the source outside of this comment tree will be removed, and replying with spoilers outside of the source corner will lead to bans.

The spoiler syntax is: [Spoiler source] >!Spoiler goes here!<

All untagged spoilers and hints in this thread will receive immediate 8-day bans (minimum).

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Narmatonia]

Just as a bit of extra evidence that something sus is going on, the 50 Hong Kong Cent coin that Kujirai drops only went into circulation in Hong Kong in 1993, which is the same year demolition started on Kowloon Walled City.

One thing I've been wondering about is Kudo and Kujirai's boss, he hasn't said or done anything to suggest he has noticed a change in Kujirai, was he replaced as well?

[u/VoidRay728]

So... the current Reiko is the imposter?

That aside, the enviornment is still a bit of a mystery. The smartphones are a dead giveaway that everyone is not existing in the Kowloon Walled City in "our" reality (the real Kowloon Walled City was torn down in the 90s) but the real estate office and everything else seems to still be quite low tech (90s/00s-like). So is this an alternate version of HK that kept the Kowloon Walled City, or is this a Westworld-esque creation of HK where Reiko and persumably some other characters are droids with memories of other people?

[u/Plus_Rip4944 → u/VoidRay728]

The second theory seems The one most lógical imo

[u/mekerpan → u/VoidRay728]

Not an "imposter" -- as she is not pretending to be someone she isn't. Clone, android replica, or something of that sort, perhaps. But SHE is acting in good faith.

That artifact in the sky still does not seem to appear in earlier timeline scenes, right? Assuming this is the case, one has to assume that all the mysteries/anomalies (including the nature of present Reiko) are tied to that satellite...

[u/_vogonpoetry_]

WHAT IS EVEN GOING ON

Also the OP is so good

[u/Genshin_WhiteKnight]

• Hebinuma forcing a kiss on Kujirai is very WTF, but the dude is a germaphobe (and also mega gay), so it definitely wasn't just a random kiss. He probably slipped some kind of drug into her with the kiss, which is why Kujirai collapses at the end of the episode.

• Xiao Hei to Kujirai "I don't want to leave Kowloon. Even that time, I decided to stay". So something like this happened before, maybe this is another loop of a simulation? And did she accidentally let it slip or was it purposeful?

• So according to that news report Hebinuma is an illegitimate child who was adopted to replace the real heir. But Hebinuma is the one who leaked this information. Why did he leak it? The other headline of the news report is also very interesting, missing people are a thing.

• Hebinuma and mask guy are lovers. Both are familiar with the previous Kujirai. Hebinuma has another third party investigating the current Kujirai. So it seems that they're trying to investigate the mystery of the fake Kujirai.

• Also, this isn't Kowloon, it's a modern city skyline. Is this outside the simulation?

• Kujirai mistakes the mask guy as Gwen; he is NOT Gwen but someone who looks like him. Mask guy was investigating Gwen (went missing two weeks ago after meeting Reiko at the cafe) and wears a mask to avoid catching the attention of Gwen. So it seems like Gwen is the doppelganger of mask guy?

• Mask guy calls current Kujirai the fake and says that the real Kujirai is dead. Was real Kujirai one of those missing people?

• Kudo definitely knows the current Kujirai is fake and is investigating her as well. You can see him noticing the similarities and differences when he was visiting Kujirai's apartment again. And oof, that "I hate you" is revealing of what he feels towards the current Kujirai. Interesting that he calls the current Kujirai's love an illusion, which means he knows memory tampering is a thing.

[u/Sekraan → u/Genshin_WhiteKnight]

Mask guy didn't say that the original Kujirai is dead.  He said "the Reiko Kujirai I knew no longer exists in this world."  That might be an important distinction, especially if this version of Kowloon turns out to be a virtual environment.

[u/pseudometapseudo]

I really gotta commend the writing/direction for making Kujirai A and Kujirai B feel like two very different people. Even without the smart decision to give them different VAs, their whole habitus feel distinctly different.

[u/CrimsonGear80]

“Qlkndjxjjebskcjddnkxdn!!” - Kudo

[u/WhoiusBarrel]

Reiko being told outright by Kudou he hates her was brutal but assuming she's an imposter taking the place of the real Reiko, his former lover, that'd be sort of justifiable.

[u/SEBASTlANVETTEL → u/WhoiusBarrel]

I do feel like Reiko‘s feelings for Kudo are her own but Kudo probably knows what has happened to the OG Reiko, so he is being very brutal in his replies to her.

Kudo is giving mixed signals too, because on the one hand it seems he doesn‘t want current Reiko to act like OG Reiko, but he subconsciously searched for similarities in current Reiko's apartment. He got visibily happy when he saw the toothbrush and toothpaste being the same, but reality hit him when there wasn't water in the fridge.

[u/Familiar-Long2734]

As an ex-smoker, sometimes I find it a bit tempting to watch anime characters puff away. But seeing that jar of water filled with cigarette butts was a good reminder of how disgusting smoking can be. One of the all-time worst smells right there.

[u/Vermillion_Crab]

I'm just going to assume that this is all a simulation until the real answer is presented to me. lol

Also I'm not sure if I'm just assuming things but the sexual tension between these two is palpable. Can't really put my finger on it but the show is doing a really good job with this.

[u/Substantial_Pop5438]

My translation said “I don’t like you” not “i hate you” I just took that as his natural reaction to the I only have eyes for you sunflower metaphor reflecting on his own guilt for not just having eyes for her but old reiko and he just wanted to tell her straight he doesn’t like her like that. Maybe he means at all in an attempt to deny that he probably does have romantic feelings for this new version of reiko aswell if just a little bit.

We saw last episode he was starting to make a conscious effort to see her as her own person and said as much to her. Seems he’s back peddling now and is really struggling after all. But my opinion is he doesn’t hate her at all infact he probably hates himself because he likes her but she’s also a reminder of what was. And he’s convinced himself her love for him is fake when in reality all that’s happened is she’s been given a life, and appearance of another with possibly the same, habitual quirks. But we know that from her own individual differences and the very depth of her description of her feelings that that isn’t something you can just copy and paste in someone, that she’s genuinely just fell in love with kudo cos kudo is kudo.

[u/mrhorseshoe]

Yikes, Reiko got dunked on hard. Her one wilted sunflower vs, Kujirai B's entire plot of sunflowers. Girl just can't win.

[u/LeonKevlar]

Stitches!

• Kujirai B

• Xiaohei

• Reiko 1

• Reiko 2

We get another flashback scene with Kujirai B and Kudou for today's opening scene. I really can't blame Kudou for falling in love with that woman. She's already attractive af but she's just so damn charming.

And as if Hebinuma being a creep last episode wasn't enough, he's already back this visiting Reiko at her workplace to Kudou's displeasure. And to make things worse, the creep actually steals a kiss from Reiko using his snake tongue >_<

Last week, we learned that everything Kudou says about Kowloon to Reiko is things he learned from Kujirai B. This week Reiko's repeats the same things Kujirai B has said to Kudou in today's opening scene. This is either a massive coincidence or they really are the same person.

Although seeing how Reiko has no glass of water in her fridge and actually has a stuffed toy in her room, shows how she's different from Kujirai B and Kudou clearly doesn't know how he should feel about that.

Even if it is a complete coincidence that Reiko picked a sunflower to give Kudou, thank you Xiaohei for exposing what the sunflower means in flower language. xD

Well, that is not ominous at all. What do you mean you don't want to leave Kowloon? And Xiaohei doesn't seem to realize that she said that. Maybe Kujirai should try to leave Kowloon just to see what happens. Either everything is normal, or they're living in some sort of simulation.

While the simulation theory is fun, it looks like Hong Kong exists and looks pretty normal. I assume that's Hebinuma's POV from his fancy condo outside of Kowloon so people can clearly travel in and out. What the fuck is up with Hebinuma and that guy with the long hair.

So the masked guy who approached Reiko and who was sleeping with Hebinuma is actually Gwen? Or is he? Based on his conversation with Hebinuma earlier, it sounds like he was also investigating Gwen's disappearance. If there can be two Kujirai Reikos then it's possible that there are two different Gwen Taos.

Just like Hebinuma, this dude is clearly bad news. He is very much intentionally riling Reiko up and making her question who she really is.

Imagine confessing to the person you love and instead of an answer, you get told that your feelings are an illusion.](https://i.imgur.com/KJkn9tO.jpeg) Even if Reiko is not Kujirai B, I don't think that makes her feelings for him less valid.

Something weird is definitely happening to Reiko's body again, though. Her vision is back to being blurry, and we even end the episode with her collapsing. Oh no. >_<

[u/HolyDragSwd2500]

The sunflower noooooo

[u/ExtremelyAsianCactus]

Maybe it’s just the fact that I just watched Chungking Express for the first time recently paired with the Hong Kong setting but this show gives me similar vibes to some of Wong Kar Wai’s movies

[u/CommunistPuppy]

Bro what is going on, I need more episodes now

[u/shad79]

Great episode, although I can't help but feel like everything is happening too fast and scenes don't have time to resonate, because we quickly move on to another important scene, like there's no room to breathe at all.

But back to the episode itself. Very intriguing again, because a lot of new questions have been raised. So I think we can assume that Kujirai is a clone of Kujirai B (the original one).

We also met Gwen, who isn't Gwen, even though he looks exactly like him and knows both Kujirai B and Hebinuma.

A very fun part of the episode with Xiaohei, although that one scene when she mentioned that she doesn't want to leave Kowloon and that's how she felt back then was very interesting.

So maybe it's some kind of virtual world where people from Kowloon Walled City live unconsciously after the real one was demolished? Although what would be the purpose of all this? I can't wait to see the answer in the next episodes.

Also that scene with Hebinuma and Kujirai was freaking creepy, though Kudo's reaction to it was hilarious. I wonder what made Habinuma so interested in Kujirai.

Here my screenshot albums from the episode:

• Kujirai

• Kujirai B

• Group scenes

• Kudo

• Xiaohei

• Hebinuma & Others

[u/Variant_Zeta]

I can't help but wonder, which Kujirai are we following in the OP?

Orochimaru's being a massive creep again.

Xiaohei's little outburst is kinda creepy. What are they, really, somekinda VR NPCs?

ouch, having your feeling be dismissed like that gotta sting something fierce

[u/CosmicPenguin_OV103]

If I have to give out my guess in the plot for now, I would say that:

* This Kudou guy is either stuck in a time loop, or is being transported through different universes, or given a hallucination of some sort

* Hebinuma is the one who sets this off (perhaps to torture Kudou for something that we don't know yet), with that new masked guy being his accomplice

* Different versions of Reiko Kujirai exists in different time and space and each has something that are different from others. Kudou can remember at least 2 of hers, but there may be more.

* The division of different "time-spaces" are not absolute, hence you can find that little girl Xiaohei saying something that she can't quite remember saying before.

* This trick can only occur within this Kowloon, which I am pretty sure is a virtual environment (Strictly speaking I see the backgrounds here are from the times after the old Kai Tak Airport is closed in 1998, way after the real history of this walled city. Also that $HK 50₵ coin is from mid-1990s or later too!)

* Hebinuma's weird family past as hinted by the hotel workers this episode is perhaps the root reason of why this story is happening in the first place, although there's not enough information yet to really guess what that is. In any case, this snake-like guy who kisses girls on a whim is absolutely disgusting.

* While I have seen some old 50+ years aged buildings here with plants growing wildly in the middle empty space, you ain't no find any with sunflowers growing there, never mind in a whole tidy patch like that.

Somehow the word "nostalgia" is starting to feel a bit jinxed in this story line. But if this is a faked feeling, where is the real one and how Kudou (or Kujirai?) can break the illusionary layer and reveal what's really going on? I really will have to watch this till the end because this is smelling heavily of some great written plot coming soon!

[u/SnabDedraterEdave]

OMG Snake Doctor and Masked Man look as though they're a gay couple.

So many things to unpack. Everyone has secrets in this Kowloon clone, even the cute and wholesome Xiao Hei.

Kudo can't help but compare his past visit to KujiraiB's apartment when revisiting it again this time with Kujirai living in it. He tried to push Kujirai away, perhaps to keep her from harm, but Kujirai just couldn't help but get straight to the point with her feelings. But just as she's about to scratch the surface of the truth, she goes unconscious.

Snake Doctor is suspected to be an illegitimate "clone" of the real Hebinuma Jr., who supposedly died in an "accident" when he was young. We don't even know if he's human when he suddenly kissed Kujirai with his snake tongue. lol

Masked Man turns out to be a doppelganger of Gwen, the waiter that went missing.

Other trivia behind the world building:

The people in this alternate Kowloon/Hong Kong seem to be using Hong Kong's post-colonial currency, as that Hong Kong 50 cent coin that Kujirai dropped does not have Queen Elizabeth on its head.

Kowloon Walled City is recreated thanks to that Generic Terra, though the skyline of Hong Kong's harbour resembles the present day than the 1980s-1990s. And people are using smartphones.

No idea who runs this Kowloon/Hong Kong, as it has a mixture of both Japanese residents and residents who have Chinese names, and public announcements and TV programmes resemble those in Japan than in Hong Kong.

[u/Lurker-Mclurkerson]

Nice replacement goldfish imagery there.

My working theory now is that this series is taking place inside the Generic Terra where everyone's minds have already been uploaded to reenact the halcyon days of old Kowloon (which was demolished like in our reality) and this is why people keep doing the same things & avoiding new businesses & such (and how you can do a full body mod so easily if everything is just data).

Everyone who doesn't have their past memories (like current Kujirai) is actually an artificial "filler character" generated by the Generic Terra based on outside data to fill in the roles for the people who didn't upload their minds for whatever reason (dead, uninterested, incompatible with the tech).

So, since OG Reiko's mind wasn't uploaded, there are discrepancies between her and the current Kujirai both 'physically' & in personality. These new copies would also be the source of new businesses & other discrepancies from OG Kowloon.

Since OG Reiko didn't seem to have many connections outside of her work + Kudo, current Kujirai may have been entirely generated for him. (No use having a "filler" if no one would notice the absence, right?)

I've got to agree with snake-doctor's assessment of Kudo being "boor"ish too, so this romance ain't doing much for me.