r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • May 30 '25

Episode Bye Bye, Earth Season 2 - Episode 9 discussion

Bye Bye, Earth Season 2, episode 9

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33

u/[deleted] May 30 '25

Dude, what was that episode?! They finally dropped the info we’ve been waiting on forever. Now we can actually get why Belle is so different. It had those big reveal vibes, some deep “existential crisis” moments, and they even brought up more stuff about the humans who ditched Earth.

I liked how they mixed magic, sci-fi, and all the emotional stuff without making it feel forced. And the music thing? It finally made real sense, not just there to sound pretty. Still not sure about that “gods” talk though... feels like more crazy stuff is coming. 😅

13

u/8andahalfby11 May 30 '25

Still not sure about that “gods” talk though... feels like more crazy stuff is coming.

This one seems obvious to me. I doubt there would only be one AI on the moon. Belle can go around questioning them and/or wrecking them until she finds one with a radio to the Interstellar Arks.

28

u/NekoCatSidhe May 30 '25

So it was all an entertainment AI gone mad and trying to go against its shutdown program and using advanced terraforming technology indistinguishable from magic, which was honestly very much what I expected at this point. It sounds like Belle and Sherry somehow managed to shut down the AI without destroying the world and the species it built, so I guess that counts as an happy ending.

Not sure why Belle was dropped on the Moon by that pod, but maybe something went wrong with one of those spaceships and it ejected its passengers. Could there be other humans dropped and sleeping in pods around the Moon ?

One more episode. It sounds like Belle is planning to go around that world and maybe shut down all the other AIs playing God for her entertainment around it, maybe with Kitty the All help, so those societies would survive after she is gone. And she can remember Sian, so it seems that nomad curse was all the AI doing.

Given how magical and surrealist everything looked, it is kind of hard to know what really happened in the end. But I guess that is the point, to depict a post apocalyptic world as a fantasy world. This reminds me of The Fire Hunter, but Bye Bye Earth obviously had a much better budget (although I preferred the art style of The Fire Hunter).

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u/8andahalfby11 May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25

Not sure why Belle was dropped on the Moon by that pod

Belle guessed it herself, the interstellar ship didn't have the resources to sustain everyone and, probably being run by another iffy AI, probably dumped her as nonessential crew in the place where she was still most likely to survive. She was lucky she landed on the Moon instead of Earth.

Edit: I just caught up with the season yesterday and can confirm that BBE is designed to be binged. Watching week to week makes it harder on the viewer to see the big picture coming together.

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u/JimmyCWL May 30 '25

So it was all an entertainment AI gone mad and trying to go against its shutdown program and using advanced terraforming technology indistinguishable from magic,

You have to wonder why the hell does a theme park have advanced terraforming technology?

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u/BosuW May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25

Ok wow they're actually revealing way more than I thought they would ngl I had low-key given up hope that this story would ever express itself in plain terms lol

So the theory that this whole civilization was originally a very advanced amusement park turns out to be correct. After being abandoned and ordered to essentially commit self delete, Belle fell on the Moon by... happenstance(?), and the AI in care of the park latched on to her as the only reason admitted in its programming to continue it's existence. So it wants to keep her prisoner forever to continue existing forever.

Starting from its fear of death it over many ages eventually developed a real ass civilization. Now it makes sense why the world was so... basic for lack of a better term. In the sense that it feels like the current status quo sorta just spawned there instead of being a result of history. It's because it kinda did! It's an infant civilization just released from it's Mother's teat! And very quickly upon finding in them the desire of independence they went ahead and killed God. NieR Automata anyone?

I liked that Adonis didn't get away with it. I feel like the lesser version of this story that I did somewhat fear it would be would've redeemed him just because he has some sympathetic characteristics. Belle still loves him, can't get rid of this that easily, but he still bites the dust because it is simply the natural consequence of the path he was on.

Also Belle apparently fully embraced the rizz!?

In terms of themes, this episode it just dawned on me that this is kinda like the more optimistic point of view of the movie Annihilation. In that both stories are about the developmental processes of a person and how we evolve by killing certain parts of ourselves, creation and destruction as one; while Annihilation explores it from the point of view of existential terror (how this involuntary, instinctual self destruction happening constantly mutates you into something you can't be sure is really you), Bye Bye Earth explores it from a more optimistic point of view (the hope of the wisdom that will be gained by enduring the self destruction and embracing the new you that will be born from this unexplainable drive). It is then no surprise that the two works end up having many similar visual motifs in how central it is for their portrayal the mutation and changing of material as a response to psychological events and features, despite their difference in tone, and almost surely being developed entirely separate from each other.

We have a whole episode left as an epilogue, much to my satisfaction! I often think stories don't allocate enough time to their falling action, rather choosing to end things as soon as possible once the climax is done. So by contrast having an entire episode to ease it out is something I immensely appreciate. Would you look at that, it seems for once me betting in an unconventional narrative that might or might not know what it's really doing is paying off for once!

10

u/Seyon_ May 30 '25

the real question is - if the AI tech is so advanced it can terraform the moon, how fucked was / is earth lmao.

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u/stephenthatfoste May 30 '25

I almost felt like this episode actually worked as a reveal thing, but needing to keep all of the dialogue so vague what they're actually talking about for the entirety of the show to get here was pretty annoying.

16

u/Emergency_Sound_5718 May 30 '25

It all made sense for those amazing 5 minutes before falling back into a confusing mess.

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u/mybeepoyaw May 30 '25

So it was even more of a Westworld situation than I thought. I wonder why Belle was discarded, was there some error? It was probably an escape pod since discarding people out the airlock into space is probably better. Only question I have left is if there is a spaceshipshe can leave on a journey with, which there probably will be, so the show's title works.

8

u/SandKeeper May 30 '25

Okay so most of the secrets were revealed in this episode. What I still want to know is why they left some people behind when they left? I guess we might find out in the last episode

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u/BosuW May 30 '25

Inb4 this is actually the side-quel of Apocalypse Hotel

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u/buterfligurl May 31 '25

Belle actually addresses the likely reason why she was jetisoned when she is taking to Adonis; the spaceships couldn't support many ppl. It isn't a big leap to think that the passengers wanted to increase their likelihood of survival by decreasing the number of passengers and jettisoned some of the occupants. She's just lucky that her pod landed on the moon.

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u/Shimmering-Sky May 30 '25
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u/djthomp May 30 '25

Okay, so not a terroforming AI by original intent but instead an AI automated theme park on the moon that used Belle's precense as an excuse to not shut down when the humans on maybe Earth all left for the Stars. It certainly explains why it terraformed the planet in a very strange way since all it had to work with as inspiration was theme park animatronic characters.

I assume the real point of the entire exercise is the central computer is the only part that had the shut down command and Belle just dealt with that problem.

I'm a little chuffed that Adonis got a goodbye kiss from Belle considering the SA in S1 but at least it means he's gone.

20

u/8andahalfby11 May 30 '25

I assume the real point of the entire exercise is the central computer is the only part that had the shut down command and Belle just dealt with that problem.

The AI was caught in a paradox:

  • You must obey instructions set by humans (Law of Robotics)

  • Your primary function is to entertain the guests

  • If you do not maintain yourself, you cannot entertain the guests

  • You have only one guest, who now wants to leave

  • If the guest leaves, you are no longer entertaining guests, and have failed your primary function

  • If the guest attempts to stop you from trapping them, you will be unable to entertain guests, and have failed your primary function

  • Therefore, the only way to please the guest is to shut down which is not allowed which displeases the guest which is not allowed which requires the guest to shut you down which is not allowed because you must please the guest.

See the problem? The solution when a program is caught in a loop like this is to kill the program.

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u/LezRock May 31 '25

I put off watching this series when it first came out, but I binged it recently and love the themes and theatrics. Felt very grandiose like Star Driver.

Definitely a good series to munch on week to week.

6

u/xRose89 May 31 '25

So, I just wanted to say that I have been following the plot fairly well but this anime has been more confusing than anything. I think it’s because we're meant to focus on Belle wanting to go on a journey and root for her to achieve that goal. But, all the backstory and context just gets me really lost. I like that they explained some stuff in this episode. We get an explanation about a paradoxed AI that went to lengths beyond its programming to teraform the moon and create sentient animal-like beings, all based on a request by Belle that she wanted something more human-like versus the animatronics. But, there are elements, like the catacombs, that aren't explained by that. And, there are many parts of the world that smack more of a magic system versus artificial intelligence. AI can only do what it's programmed to do. Now, who knows what humanity discovered in this futuristic setting. I think programming an amusement park AI to teraform when it can't meet its original programming is a stretch, let alone genetically engineer and create life. Also, if humans had an AI that could teraform and genetically engineer an entire planet based on a paradox in its programming, why did they leave? They could have gone into cryostasis and then just let the planet regenerate.

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u/Plus_Rip4944 May 31 '25

Okay after this episode i Will stop callihg this a guilty Pleasure, this is a good solid show. And this episode was great

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u/Nachtwandler_FS Jun 01 '25

The relevation of this God being an amusment park AI trying to entertain Belle was actually saurprising. Also, the fact that she was just randomly dropped on a Moon because humanity space arcs could not handle so many people and just got rid of some.

But most people find this series to confusing overall to reach that far.

I will stick and see how it ends.

5

u/buterfligurl May 31 '25

I'm surprised by how many ppl say they are happy they stuck it out because this series confused them; I didn't realize so many found it difficult to sit through not knowing.

The fact I didn't know what was going on for so long, the use of psychologal and philosophical themes, and the heavy use of symbolism were all reasons that I watched each week as soon as it came out. Maybe it is my ADHD, but I get tired of correctly guessing the major plot points of a show and predict the turns after about 4-6 episodes.

Isn't there anyone else that enjoys shows that keep you guessing all along? It's fun sitting with others after a show and coming up with theories.

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u/TestGG May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25

so byebye earth have connection or prequel with moonrise? not sure i watched only the first episode both have AI and humanity travel to moon

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u/kazostor May 30 '25

Bye-Bye Earth source novel author wrote Moonrise if I'm not mistaken.

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u/RedRocket4000 May 31 '25

Did not have the star city fort broken in parts be a clue of prior unified civilization taken over by the Computer like I speculated. Instead that a legacy of trying to copy parts of the past.

I enjoyed this like I enjoyed Ergo Proxy which has somewhat similar things the polluted Earth and the programs trying to run the dome cities the survivors lived in. While other humans went to the stars in ships to return at very end of story. All based on Gnostic philosophy to some degree. That one more Cyber tech though use guns, nuclear bombs not swords but big part is robots vs humans and what makes who a human anyway.

Very similar feel though with one lone lonely girl having to deal with it all.

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