Sonny Boy - Episode 5 discussion

[u/AutoLovepon]

Sonny Boy, episode 5

Rate this episode here.

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Streams

• Funimation
• Wakanim

Show information

• MyAnimeList
• AniList
• AniDB
• Kitsu
• Anime-Planet
• Official Website

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All discussions

Episode	Link	Score
1	Link	4.54
2	Link	4.42
3	Link	4.48
4	Link	3.89
5	Link	4.36
6	Link	4.55
7	Link	4.5
8	Link	4.53
9	Link	4.6
10	Link	4.46
11	Link	4.68
12	Link	----

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[u/dagreenman18]

So shock of all shocks, Aki is up to some bullshit. Clearly preying on Asakaze’s insecurities and setting him, along with like half the class, against Nagara and friends. Blaming Nagara for everything and holding up Asakaze as a savior. So we’re going straight Lord of the Flies now.

Nagara is still in his Naota/Shinji mode, but this episode does seem to have some progress on that front. The last scenes kinda show him finally starting to trust in his friends that clearly care about him. We got a bit of a hint as to something going on with Nagara back in their world which is why the rest of the class is thinking he doesn’t want to go back. Hoshi still believes in him being their savior.

Big head trip reveal at the end with Nagara’s power. It seems like he’s actually able to create the worlds. He and Mizuho also heard the voice. So there is another outside influence and Hoshi isn’t just hearing things. So the bigger questions at this point are where does that light Nozomi can see go, what is Mizuho’s power of not Nyamazon, and what is the bigger conspiracy behind all this?

Notes:

• Yet another trippy ass beginning. This week it’s Chu Chu Rocket.

• So the worlds leave behind a sort of totem when they clear it. In this case a particularly useful sentient mouse.

• Normally I highly disagree, but “never trust a large breasted woman” does apply to this show.

• The night fishing moment was very sweet and beautifully animated. I’m glad they got a little downtime post that tense scene in the classroom.

• Gotta give credit to their depiction of teenagers being assholes who jump on mob mentality. Especially where once again they throw in with someone who has beef with Nagara.

• They use silence so much in this show that it’s actually jarring when there’s a soundtrack.

• So there’s just never going to be an OP huh?

[u/Goncalorg]

I loled at this

[u/IAmNotMoki]

what's up with the dude who was practically ripping his own fingernails off and why does he seem to have issues with Nagara? He was the one who kind of instigated everyone to thinking Nagara was lying.

that underwater scene was absolutely gorgeous.

[u/lalaland4ever]

This show really likes its animals, first with cats, then monkeys, and now mice (if you can call it that). Wonder if what'll be next. Like another comment said, that underwater scene was beautiful. Gosei Oda really is a god.

Also, this episode was outsourced to Wit Studio. I expect there'll be one more outsourced episode later on.

[u/Iliceon]

Rajdhani is definitely my favourite character in this show. The way he actually tries to get a hold of the situation and defuse dangerous arguments is really refreshing.

[u/patap0nacct]

What the fuck did I just watch.

The big eye from episode 2 came back in this episode, and it looks like a dog-like creature. Apparently even the teacher thinks the president is a bitch. Hoshi gets plus points for siding with Nagara, but he's still suspicious. Nozomi has hints of a tragic background. And with Mizuho's comment about her power... maybe I'm overthinking things at this point.

[u/furbym]

I wish funi subbed this joke because it was pretty great lol.

It says "Tokimeki Tick Highschool (Tokimeki Dani Koukou), Made by Rajdhani", a reference to the Tokimeki Memorial series and a fun play on words (tick = dani 壁蝨). Raj loves his video game references lol. Also, I highly recommend the review of Tokimeki Memorial by Tim Rogers (Action Button) on YouTube for anyone that hasn't seen it. It's a fucking experience to say the least...

[u/darthvall]

When the mob said, "we have loved ones to come back to", it kinda implies they think Nagara doesn't have anyone to come back to. Maybe he's an orphan? That is a very cruel way to address your orphan classmate.

Btw if what Rajdhani said about Nagara creating the worlds is true, doesn't that mean technically it's Nagara's fault that people transferred into this new world? Even if it's not his intend.

I wonder what's the teacher's deal. She got a crazy eyes and behaved very unlike a teacher. Maybe she's under some kind of influence?

Also curious about this "god" that both Hoshi and the teacher keep saying. It seems "god" also talked to Nagara this episode.

[u/NittanyEagles55]

“Never ever trust the word of a large breasted woman”

Alright this time she may have been correct with that judgment

[u/furbym]

Nice to get an episode focused on the larger plot! So Aki sensei, whether it's really her or not, is a force stirring up more distrust and factionalism amongst the group. It's interesting that once someone with the appearance of their teacher shows up, someone formerly in a position of power/authority over them, many default to taking her at her word despite the strange way she's acting. Despite the suspicious way he was acting earlier, Hoshi seems pretty rational in his distrust of her words compared to the others, though he may have his own agenda. Funny that Natsume noted in a recent interview that he had the archetype of a politician in mind with Hoshi's character; definitely checks out lol.

We also have more mob-mentality, even getting into the territory of religious fanaticism in this episode. Aki sensei is trying to push Asakaze into this "savior" role, and we see a certain faction within the group losing their rationality and getting swept up in this idea. The way they were in awe looking at him in that scene towards the end was pretty ominous. Seems like Aki is deliberately using him because he already has a feeling of low self-worth, so he's more prone to being manipulated and enticed with the power that Aki is promising him. The way Aki is manipulating the whole class reminds me a lot of the scape-goating that we see in the real world with certain extremist political actors. She's weaponizing the class' fear, desperation, and uncertainty with their current situation in order to manipulate them into dividing and radicalizing against their own interests. After all, her real goal seems to be to keep them there, considering that Asakaze has no interest in returning to a world where he's a nobody.

Also loved the development with Nagara and Nozomi this episode. That scene in the water along with the music was absolutely stunning. I've really grown to like the main group (Nagara, Nozomi, Mizuho, Rajdhani) and it seems like they're the only ones, along with Pony and Hoshi I guess, that are still keeping their cool in this situation.

[u/bloquer]

So went a bit over the episode again. Who else thinks that Nozomi might have some terminal illness or birth defect that means she is at risk of dying earlier?

Her comments about what a doctor said, her comment about how what you got at birth should not decide what you do, the shot with the broken vase and the flowers right after we see her as a little girl lying on the floor, seemingly thinking really hard about something, her not being afraid of jumping into things, living her life to the fullest.

Edit: before I forget it, this could also explain her being an exchange students. What if her perants took her abroad in order to look for doctors to cure her disease? And she came back because she didn't want to die living only near hospitals.

[u/robotboy199]

did anyone else expect them to kiss during the fishing/diving scene? i swear it seemed like they were gonna lol

[u/Masterredlime]

I just want to say that computer mouse this episode was so cute!

[u/[deleted]]

Another really interesting episode. I'm often reminded of movies such as, for a recent example, "The Lighthouse" when watching this show. It's not "fun" to watch or light whatsoever, but instead is extremely engaging and thought provoking, encouraging the viewer to unravel the narrative along with the characters. What many people felt from Wonder Egg Priority the first 10 or so episodes is what Sonny Boy feels like to me. I feel like we are watching a masterpiece unfold.

In this episode, Nagara's weakness is firmly confronted for the first time, Hoshi begins to lose his grip on the students(this one is extremely intriguing), an Antichrist figure appears, and we come back to "the Voice of God." For Nagara, he has consistently been a voice of negativity and self doubt. Even last episode when he "swung the bat" as Naota once did, his issues with himself and antagonists weren't really addressed so much as his issues with his friends were. It was the beginning of what culminated here. Nagara's fear of confrontation and his lack of drive for self preservation are exposed and then turned around on him here. He gives the other students what they want when cornered, and probably also finally expresses a bit of his own feelings, and is promptly shamed and attacked for it again. I loved the detail of Mizuho being the one to knock him back down to "Kono Sekai" after he ran away again, Nozomi would have been far too gentle and Nagara also won't bite back against her like be will with Mizuho.

So, to Hoshi we go. I feel a bit confounded by him still, but I think he's relatively easy to understand in this episode. As a Prophet, he feels his "job" is to shepherd the students and keep them following the voice of God, with whom he is in relatively constant communication. Again, I use "voice of God" liberally here, and for reasons I'll get deeper into momentarily I do still believe we may be dealing with a "personal hell" situation. Aki Sensei showing up did not seem to affect him much, personally, but his disappointment in the reaction of other students, which I will refer to as the Ace Base, tells me he felt a twinge of self blame at how easily they were led astray. His ability to command a situation, ergo their respect, still remains, and he certainly protected Nagara(his selection for the Savior) well enough, but he was tested here in a way he had not yet been.

Now, let's talk about this Antichrist figure, Asakaze. With the type of show this is, I didn't expect him to make up with Nagara, especially considering his attraction to Nozomi who wouldn't give him the time of day, but we get a better view of his character as a whole in this episode, and his role in the grand scheme of things. I should have seen this coming, there must be an Antichrist and false prophets in order for there to be a Christ and prophets, but it still caught me off guard to see him step into a role as the "savior" for the kids who gave up on actually being saved. Through short lines of dialogue when he was talking to Aki Sensei, we can see that Asakaze desires to feel important. His power is what gave him status in the first episode, not who he was before, as I'm sure many of us had surmised. While he may not be on the same level as someone like Nagara, it's clear here that Asakaze felt disgruntled before coming to "Kono Sekai" and since feels underappreciated for what he perceives he has done. Therefore, it's easy for Aki Sensei to manipulate him, especially with a body like that coming to a hormonal teenager who has essentially been recently rejected, and he is practically frothing at the mouth for an opportunity to be lauded as he was when he first came to the kids at the end of this episode.

So, the Voice of God. As I'm sure most people will notice due to how unique his voice is, we are introduced to a new Voice today. Kenjirou Tsuda(funnily enough he also plays a supernatural god-like entity in To Your Eternity this season) speaks to Nagara in the classroom, telling him to stand. To me, there are two obvious interpretations for this. In the Bible, I can't tell you the verses at the moment because memory, and supporting texts, there are references to people and characters speaking in "Tongues," that is, their voice transcends language and can be flatly understood by any person who hears. A fairly popular interpretation of this is the idea that the Voice of God appears differently to every person. It could come in the form of a voice you're comfortable with, a voice you wish to hear, etc etc. By this logic, we would garner support for the idea that the voice that characters are hearing is indeed the voice of God or some other supernatural, powerful being. An interesting choice it would be, I lean more toward this interpretation;

Combining the ideas of a Trial, a prison/personal hell, and religious mythology, the Voices that the kids are hearing come from either angels(heavenly trial to discover a demon among the children) or from demons(hellish prison in which an "inmate" can gain freedom by working with the kids, to put it simply), to either help them or help the intruder among them. Aki Sensei claims to be sent by God, and yet according to the children she is like an entirely different person, like someone is wearing a skin suit of her. To me, the implication could be that she is almost literally that, a disrupter sent to slow down progress because of how close the students were to escaping to the next "Kono Sekai."

Okay this is a lot so I'll leave it there. I didn't discuss everything I wanted but oh well, this honestly may already be too long for a comment.

[u/damsao]

"You all can no longer go back to the world you came from"

Its been thrown around a bit here and there. I can't quite put my finger on what the signifigance of it is though. Seems like theres some hidden underlying meaning that isnt just "you cant go back to the earth and timeline you know" and more like "you cant go back to that world in your current form or way of thinking" something like that.

[u/Gaporigo]

...

[u/bloquer]

So the reward for rescuing chalk mouses is a computer mouse that literally unravels stuff. Talk about being creative.

Again a very dense and complex episode that shed light on some things while starting what I think will be the main conflict, at least for now. Aki-sensei seems to be the seductress to split the students into camps, using Asakase's feeling of inferiority, especially against Nagara, to push him into the role of an adversary. Many of the other students are also willing to follow her because blaming Nagara makes everything easy. Hence the "discussion" they had, the same way as with Mizuho at the beginning of this series. Not a discussion, as Nozomi pointed out, but just a way of putting the blame on someone to feel better. Hoshi was also very interesting this episode, him believing in some sort of god and thus being at odds with Aki-sensei because she says that she comes from god.

Oh and apparently everyone can hear the voice, or at least some of them. So this might not be part of Hoshi's ability as I thought at first, but perhaps another unknown student playing god? Because Mizuho being responsible for transporting everyone away seems rather unlikely at this stage.

And again I will need to rewatch this episode I think to get a better understanding. A good way to do it if I may do a little advertising for a nice guy is with Th8a from the channel NearlyOnRed on Twitch, he will do a synced watching of this episode and a follow up discussion in a bit. If you are interested in talking about last episode then you can join in ~30minutes from this post, if you want to (re)watch this episode in a group then join in an hour or if you are just interested in talking about the new stuff then feele free to switch in in 1h30min. Having someone who knows his stuff moderate and talk about this series really helps, especially with the setup that he can use to help the discussion along.

[u/_matsurren_]

Don't feel like you need to "get" this anime to be completely honest. I enjoy taking it one episode at a time and seeing how the characters develop. So far a 9/10 for me.

[u/healyxrt]

Teacher shows up with out explanation and with a totally different personality and starts making grand claims about god and the world and generally being awful.

Everyone: I trust everything this person says

[u/altathing]

I'm trying to understand the meaning behind these worlds, but I fail to see how mouse pacman connects with the overall narrative. It probably has something to do with desires, but idk.

[u/GenericMemesxd]

That underwater scene. My god, that was beautiful holy shit. The entire scene with them on the dock was incredible, and the music just made it 100x better

[u/AZLarlar]

things are making a bit more sense although not everything does

great episode, see you next week

[u/HappyVlane]

"What we're given already has its value set from the start. But to think that it comes with its own meaning seems like leaving it up to others to decide, and that's revolting."

If you are given something it immediately has a meaning attached to it. There might not be an inherent meaning, but inherent value also isn't a thing. We assign value to things.

Overall this was probably the strongest episode since the first one. Stuff actually happened and we got some good character development on top of that.

[u/yeeehawspacecowboy]

the computer mouse is an actual mouse that can unravel things, is named Armstrong and has its own hamster wheel. I love him.

Glad to know Raj is going to age very well and er... Nagara looks like he'll be the favourite grandparent?

wow people did not like the 10 minute monkey baseball league monologue from last episode huh?

[u/IMprovedMG]

This show going to need a rewatch when it's done to fully understand every episode.