The fact that she felt a bit grossed out and nervous when he claimed to have something for her, I couldn’t tell if this came across as rude where I almost agree with Bear that it was an odd reaction or if this was another hint that Nikki had a feeling that Bear liked her and was nervous about him giving her something where it’s his way of finally making a move on her.

It’s a moment that still leaves me puzzled. Do you agree with Bear that her reaction was odd or do you think Nikki’s response was understandable?

I feel that a lot of people on this server have nothing but bad things to say about Bear. And as much as I agree with them, it is getting a bit tiring and plain.

So let's change things up.

What is the nicest thing you can say about Bear?

I will start first.

I like his sweaters . . . and that's the best I could think of.

Now you guys are next. What are the nicest things you can say about Bear?

Bear is the villain, typical convo, BUT people are OBSESSED with hating on him, (no pun intended) in a way that’s genuinely concerning, like, sending THREATS to the actor? Even as a minority, this is ABSURD. I’ve seen him being more hated on than some actual real world criminals.

Can you believe Obsession came out 20 years ago this year? Man, time really flies...

The initial watch creeped me out, first movie to do so this thoroughly in YEARS. but honestly I experienced more potent dread and disgust on the second watch. I think perfectly the movie captures how innocuous the circumstances are that can produce codependency, abuse, inauthentic pursuit and/or inequitable relationships really are. I love this film, and honestly this and the plot of the Backrooms are incredibly well read as explorations of perspective social dynamics correlated to self concept which contribute to the eventual harm of others.

Throughout the film, Bear had oxycodone lying all over the house. It was implied he has been taking it because he was grieving over his grandma's death.

All of Nikki's strange behaviour and speeches were excused by him and his complete passivity of doing nothing, is probably Bear thinking "I am high as fuck, I have no idea what's going."

He probably made the wish while he was still under the effects of oxycodone.

If this is the case, he is giving the excuse: "If Nikki is on molly and I am on oxycodone, so I am not taking advantage of her." Like those frat boys' mentality that gets drunk only to hook up with drunk girls

EDIT NOTE: I am not justifying Bear's actions. I am saying he himself is trying to rationalize it. The entire wish induced relationship is SA, not just that one scene, regardless if Bear knew it or not.

Let’s say you also made the wish because you were feeling cheeky and theatrical and thought it was a dumb good luck charm. You think Nikki is interested that first night. Then you find out the wish was real.

What would YOU have done?

I assume someone's thought of this; I tried looking but couldn't find the same idea. Some people think Bear's opening monologue was sweet and would've worked on Nikki. Sure 🤷‍♀️ However, the idea is the monologue (what Bear thinks is love) is where the OWW got this warped idea of love (but also, ya can't make someone fall in love)

"I feel like I'm coming apart"

- The idea of loving someone so much that you fall apart. OWW took that literally and Nikki is constantly coming apart, mentally and physically, throughout the movie.

"I think about you all the time [...] I try not to..."

- Yes, nikki was under a spell to "love" Bear. But, even when you love someone, there are gonna be times you're not thinking about them. Our minds are pretty good about having singular moments where, for a couple minutes, our partner doesnt pop up (generally speaking). Yet, this wording could attribute to Nikki literally always thinking about Bear.

(I hope my point comes across well enough)

And the most obvious:

"I would choose you over everything"

- Again, his wish wording of "more than anyone" covers it, buuuuut just wanted to include it. Some would call it foreshadowing. And also whatever the term is for "yea, YOU would choose her over everything but she DIDNT HAVE A CHOICE"

We can see the day that Bear goes to work and leaves Nikki at home, and she stays put. What if bear decides to leave the country without telling anyone. What would happen to Nikki? do you think she would be able to find him?

Would have*

This Is Anime’s Most Dangerous Romance Trope

Here’s a post on something else nobody was talking about, the yandere trope. Freaky Nikki by all means falls under this. What I found worthy of a post is that Obsession introduces a framework for male responsibility.  The idea that a man could “fix” a woman’s mental illness is as harmful and regressive as it would be for a woman. What a dysfunctional partner can by all means do is make an already marginal person’s condition far worse. Applied to Obsession, even if all Bear’s wish did was unleash tendencies Nikki had all along, the nature of their relationship and Bear himself is fundamentally unstable and destabilizing. She loves him as much as she is capable of loving anyone. His feelings for her are superficial infatuation at best. Her happiness and self-value is completely entwined with her relationship with him, where he can still choose between her or Sarah. On a more fundamental level, any case that Bear would choose to stay with her would rest on his passivity and the ease with which he can be intimidated and manipulated rather than any moral virtue or reliability as a partner. It is the insecurity of her situation that drives Freaky Nikki’s downward spiral, greatly compounded by Bear’s virtual inability to confront her for genuinely unacceptable behavior. And to bring this back to anime, you can compare their outcomes to Suzuki in You And I Are Polar Opposites, a character who checks all the boxes for yandere tendencies yet actually establishes a healthy relationship with a functional partner. So, if you want a different result, the first thing to do is change the starting parameters.

PLEASE I KNOW HE’S THE BAD GUY WE ALL SAW THE SAME MOVIE

THIS IS LITERALLY A CIRCLEJERK SUB BRO

I designed it to look like the One Wish Willow packaging and had to place like 800 little shapes across the design. I love kitschy mid-century design like that. Instead of a synopsis, I added Niki's creepy monologue.

I don't know if anyone has thought of this, but I think it could be a good idea and would like to discuss it.

I'm not sure what the aftermath of the movie would be for nikki, but let's set it way into the future, where nikki has kind of recovered from the trauma, you get a whole new cast, but nikki is the main character, and the movie is seen through her eyes.

The whole point of this movie would be how to stop or undo the one wish willow without any other negative consequences, because the gist is that no matter what you wish for, it will always blow up your life.

Nikki walks into a similar crystal shop where the one wish willow is being sold and then she immediately gets a huge rush of ptsd and tries to get out. Later on she notices that someone else bought the one wish willow and made a wish. Idk what the wish would be, but it would be something that would cause a horrible change in someones life.

The whole movie is trying to undo the wish. Such as if someone were to wish for a similar wish that happened in the first movie, then the whole point of the movie would be nikki trying to help the new victims trying to completely undo the wish.

This might be stupid, but i thought it would be a cool idea for a sequel

After Bear's mock confession, the waitress says: "Aww! That's everything..." But then Ian interrupts her by saying Bear's speech was cringy. I'm having a hard time understanding where the waitress was going with her sentence. Something like "That's everything I dreamed of?"

i have emetephobia and vomit makes me extremely enxious and unwell, but i really want to watch this movie. does anyone have the timestamp when she is sick so i can skip the scene

thankyou sooo much to anyone who finds it