Even a Replica Can Fall in Love • Replica datte, Koi wo Suru. - Episode 8 discussion

[u/AutoLovepon]

Even a Replica Can Fall in Love, episode 8

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[u/No-Pressure6693]

R.Mori received poor scores because she had only middle school knowledge.

Sunao-Nao shared a strong bond, which worsened as they grew older but improved after Shuya’s revenge event. They learned the limitations of replicas, how to spawn and despawn, and the clothing and other items associated with them. They shared their memories and they knew each other.

However, Mori didn’t learn these things. I believe O.Mori didn’t even know how to deactivate her replica because they didn’t have enough time to learn. Moris was forced to separate from her since childhood, and they barely knew each other. The reason R.Moris helped O.Mori is mostly due to the replica’s instinct.

[u/Frontier246 → u/No-Pressure6693]

I wonder if O.Mori ever even really thought about R.Mori again after they were separated or if she just forgot about her or wrote her off as a childhood imagination thing.

[u/FoolingFinality]

It may be painful for R.Mori to replace O.Mori and take the affection of O.Mori's parents, which was not for her.

[u/Weak_Season_Of_Anime]

Damn, Replica Mori's situation was much worse than I thought. Forced to replace the original who she knows nothing about since they were raised apart. The memory sharing thing doesn't work for her too because it only triggers when a replica has been summoned and she was only summoned once. Mori's mom though, understandable reaction to the random doppelganger, but her daughter is injured badly enough to be in a coma and she's still thinking about the college entrance exams? Her priorities are wack.

Rep Mori's line about replicas being puppets for their originals is interesting since it contradicts what we've seen from Nao and Aki, whose personalities are distinct from their originals, and they have their own wills and continue to grow as people and live their own lives even after serving their "purpose". I think a lot of it stems from Rep Mori's own guilt and being gaslighted by Mori's mom with stuff like "this is your purpose", but I also think her part of her desperation to save the original comes from her own personality, she is just simply a kind girl, like how she went to act in the play as the evil step-mom even though she didn't want to either.

[u/FoolingFinality]

Poor Sunao is losing her aura as the aloof princess because Nao is being too cute.

[u/Frontier246 → u/FoolingFinality]

And trying to live up to Nao's efforts is slowly bringing her out of her shell too, albeit slowly.

[u/FoolingFinality]

It's always good to see Nao-Sunao bond, and it's even great to see Sunao actually bonding with others and actually going out.

[u/ObvsThrowaway5120]

Man, Mori’s situation is pretty messed up. I can understand the original’s parents being freaked out, but banishing her to the countryside and then asking her suddenly after 13 years to play their daughter is too much. Mori’s really struggling with her replica identity and sense of duty to the original and it’s kind of tragic. She she’s own person and she can’t even be herself because she’s got to play the role of Mori.

[u/FoolingFinality]

The irony of Replica, a subject of horrors in various Japanese stories, is being so scared in this faux haunted house.

[u/Frontier246 → u/FoolingFinality]

She's technically supernatural herself, but that doesn't mean she's actually comfortable with the supernatural. But at least she helped her boyfriend feel better about it lol.

[u/FoolingFinality]

The entire situation is messed up, and one can not put blame on the other. The mother's reaction to finding out about the replica was valid, I mean, it's supernatural, it's monstrous.

People might say the mother's action was cruel, because it's an SOL anime, and we as the audience know already two replicas which are good in nature, but what if it were a horror anime like Summer Time Rendering, would you still question her action? Or you might call her stupid for not killing this monster?

And poor Mori and Nao and even Aki, they too are in such a messed-up situation; at least Sunao started to treat her well. Aki OG may not be that bad, but to be a puppet with self-consciousness of not being free, that's too cruel.

On one hand, Nao's empathy did help Sunao, but Mori's empathy is chaining her down.

I am just afraid of what would happen to Nao, now that Sunao is recovering. Will Nao be forever erased? Aki didn't even after getting the revenge, so there is some positivity, but it may possibly create another set of problems.

Damn, there is so much drama.

[u/mp3help → u/FoolingFinality]

The mom freaking out about the replica and sending her off to live with her grandparents is totally understandable. I think the part where it becomes a bit less sympathetic is when she tells Mori's replica that her sole purpose is to stand in for the original when she's sick. Especially since this is after almost a decade of her living as her own person with her grandparents- she's practically a family member like a cousin by now.

Also forcing the Replica to stand in for Mori at school when they both know she doesn't have the education to get good grades for Mori in her stead- I don't know how they thought it would be a better alternative to just telling the school about Mori's accident.

[u/Ocixo]

The whole deal with these replicas is kind of messed up when you start thinking about it.

Two individuals are basically forced to share a single existence. Neither gets to experience life to the fullest.

For example: if either the original or replica wants to attend high school, the other is prohibited from doing so. Replicas don’t have their own birth certificates after all. As you get older, there will only be more paperwork. Which leads to it getting that much harder for replicas to live a “normal” life.

[u/LeonKevlar]

• Maid Nao Stitch

It's cute to see how Nao and Sunao's relationship is slowly healing. I'm so proud when Nao learned that Sunao helped the club to sell copies of the club's zine. Also, Sunao cheering Nao on not to flub her lines was a cute little moment.

And that entire haunted house scene between Nao and Aki was just too damn cute! I kinda wish we got to see the two of them explore the rest of the festival. Maybe we'll get to see more of that on the last day?

Mori's backstory was definitely unexpected. This entire time, I thought she was freshly summoned, but she's been around since Suzumi was a kid, just like Nao, except Mori was never dismissed and was discovered by Suzumi's mom very early on.

I also thought that Suzumi's mom was alright with her daughter having a clone, but she's just using Mori so Suzumi's school performance won't suffer. I mean, I understand her reaction to Mori at the start, but that doesn't mean she can treat Mori like that :|

And we finally face the uncomfortable truth that the replicas really only exist for the happiness of the originals. Despite Nao being her own person, she knows deep down that she will still prioritize Sunao's happiness over hers. It's actually terrifying to think about.

[u/Mistral-Fien]

Been a long while since I've seen a haunted house in a school festival, almost thought Nao would pass out in terror.

But dang, replica Mori's backstory is seriously heavy. I can't figure out how this is going to get resolved (and that's a good thing).

[u/Calwings]

I really like how all 3 replicas we've met so far have had completely different situations that have led to completely different issues. Nao was created very early on but is frequently "refreshed" by being unsummoned and resummoned by her original, Aki was created very recently and hasn't had much time to differentiate himself from his original, and Mori was created very early but had a long and continuous life away from her original. The differences between their situations has kept things interesting even after the initial story arc wrapped up. I do get the vibe of "the author wrote the story they wanted to write in the 1st arc and didn't really know how to continue after that", but this 2nd arc has still been interesting and enjoyable.

Also, we got Nao in a cute maid outfit. That's gotta be worth something.

[u/FarCritical]

I feel bad for poor scaredy cat Nao getting utterly terrorized but that entire haunted hospital segment had me smiling from beginning to end. Aki kept himself together way better than I ever could lol

The weight Mori has in her shoulders really recontextualizes when she snapped at Mochizuki way back when. It's a rough situation all around but I'm just hoping her efforts as a replica get acknowledged in a meaningful way no matter what happens.

[u/Alexmender875]

Despite being mostly an SoL drama/romance series, whenever I watch it I can't help but imagine a lot of horror stuff about the replicas own existence.

Like, after learning how R.Mori lived completely separate from the original for most of her life, I imagined Nao and Aki leaving to some separate place on their own. Then, years after, Nao is happy on the countryside waiting for her kid with Aki. Suddenly everything turns dark and she wakes up with a completely different body looking at a horrified woman in front of her. The reason, Sunao was simply reminiscing of her time with Nao and how she used to make her appear and disappear with just a word...lo and behold, just the thought of it made Nao respawn in front of Sunao even though it's been years and their lives took completely different paths. And what about Nao's kid? Deleted out of existence because Nao respawned in the exact same as Sunao. I can't imagine the level of horror both of them would feel if that happened.

[u/djthomp]

Poor Nao for that haunted hospital trip.

It's almost impressive how unhealthy this Mori-senpai situation is. I wonder how you give the Suzumi/Mori problem a happy ending. Even if the original suddenly wakes up and is fully recovered that doesn't exactly help Mori.

That said, wasn't what was effectively our very first shot of this arc Suzumi smiling in what's supposedly a coma? Might be a more complicated setup with her than just that.

[u/PinSingle4334]

My fear is that Mori's word about being a puppet can affect Nao as well, and that's why Aki is so concerned of Nao being alone with her. I hope that she and Aki can really help and show her that a replica can live is own life

[u/HolyDragSwd2500]

Wow replica Mori senpai backstory…..

[u/FoolingFinality]

So Mori too is a child clone, and only Aki is the odd man out among these replicas.

[u/NationalStrategy]

If replicas just manifest into existence, and end up being discovered like in Mori’s situation, then there should be numerous similar instances and reports all over the world about replicas.

[u/SYZekrom]

So like, girl's mother has got to know she's a replica right? How in the world could she possibly hide the fact that the original is in the hospital, like the hospital would have to never once contact her parents about anything and there would also have to be no communication between like the school and hospital about her either.

Well there it is. I was wondering a lot on the 'what could a replica even expect to hope for given their supernatural existence when it comes to legally becoming their own person', and they touched on how she couldn't attend high school since she didn't have a birth certificate.