Forum - View topicWonder Egg Priority (TV).
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15495 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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It should not be up to a child to protect their parent, it should be their responsibility to be stable and give them the attention they need. Rika's mother does seem to be failing a bit, she seems to enjoy her own supply of the bar she runs, she just gave money for a birthday gift instead of something like an interest in figuring out what she likes, and birthday cake is just asking for her to eat it alone. Her mother does not seem the greatest, but I think that Rika needed to figure out that just throwing anger at her does nothing, in fact her mother is probably a lot like her, being someone in pain who might only be holding onto what she has because of Rika. Rika might need to protect her mother, at least because I suspect the way she was would just make things worse.
Rika probably deserves some sort of closure with regards to who her father is, but I do think it seems likely that she might not like the answer. At least what we saw, and real life that would not be enough, her mother did not look outright bad, the impression I got was that she cared about her daughter a lot, but whatever the circumstance is she probably blames herself a lot. That she can't give Rika what she deserves, like a proper father figure, and both drinks herself as a distraction and keeps a certain level of distance by thinking she is not worth it. Rika's mother probably needs a support network, like counselling, or it could be interesting if she talked to another single mother (Ai's mother). I was so worried that we were going to lose Rika, I don't think that it is a coincidence that some of these eggs have been the kind that almost look like they would try and convince the girls into killing themselves. Such as the hair one with Neiru, and I would raise eyebrows at the two idol fans. Dialogue seemed to imply that it does happen. And it was a child's (magic pet's) love that saved the day, which makes me feel a little better about those little critters. But man, this episode was heavy, we got a lot of imagery of self harm, and probably all to real parental issues. One thing I thought interesting when it was said was Rika saying that she did not understand adults, that the thinking is alien to her. And my thoughts was that at least to my experience you can be surprised by how little difference can be in the mind of adult, that when you become one it can rather illuminating how little magically changes and you carry over the issues you had before. And then what snapped Rika out of giving up was the little turtle that looks at her as its mother, relies on her, and does not want to see her hurt. At least my understanding at the moment is that Rika realised that she does not want to see her own mother hurt, and that looking the other way or making her mother think she wants to abandon her is not the right way. We should be kind to those who rely on our emotional support, because a bad turn can happen even unexpectedly. Although, there can be limits where some relationships can be toxic, which has me wonder if some other part of the show could explore that. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4093 |
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DP, I don't even know where to begin. In regards to Rika's mother, let's start at the word "prostitute" and then back away slowly as that's not quite the situation but. There's just so many things wrong with this situation that I can't even fathom how it passed the writers' room to get produced.
"There's no paternity tests in this world." Uh huh. "No condoms either." Uh huh. "Rika's mom was having unprotected sex with all these guys at the same time." Uhhhhhhh. Hopefully it's all just a lie Rika's mom told her to placate her while the truth is far more tragic. Yes, that's much better. |
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Beltane70
 Posts: 3896 |
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[quote="Animegomaniac"
"There's no paternity tests in this world." Uh huh. "No condoms either." Uh huh. "Rika's mom was having unprotected sex with all these guys at the same time." Uhhhhhhh. [/quote] There are plenty of stupid people that don't use condoms. While available, paternity testing in Japan doesn't seem to be quite that common and is pretty expensive. It's not unrealistic for Rika's mother to have not used condoms or not have had a paternity test. Plus, any of the men that her mother thinks may be Rika's father could have easily refused to take a paternity test or just as easily left the moment they found out that her mother was pregnant. Just because something is available, it doesn't mean that people will always use it. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4093 |
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What was her line of work when those photos were taken? I recognized it right away from her clientele but you think they were her boyfriends? I think the common denominator in the pictures wasn't Rika's mother being the same age while the men's age vary widely but wearing the same makeup despite who her company is. So for someone doing that not to use protection is insane. Or was I the only one who was repulsed a bit when the guys in the bar all turned their heads at once to watch Rika leave? Like mother, like daughter.... I'm just supposed to think the patrons are there for the alcohol? Not with that look. It's like this show's review for this episode which draws the line at "alcoholism". But as that's a symptom of Rika's mom's state rather than the cause of it... not to mention as being completely incompatible with having a public bar double as a home; drug dealers aren't drug addicts for many reasons... I feel the episode is asking for the audience to go a bit deeper than the surface level. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15495 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Maybe I am making too much of an assumption, but I was thinking that the photos in general are a lie. This is because Rika apparently has a memory of her father when she was very young, so her mother must know who he is, and apparently changed her mind to reveal the truth after the promise she made. Another point, I don't think shaming a woman as a prostitute is a pretty cool thing to do, although there are elements of being irresponsible if she was not using protection or a child was involved. Perhaps my reading is really off, but my assumption from those photos was not that she was necessarily dating all of them, but perhaps she was something like a hostess, she worked at a more professional bar and these were pictures with clients. Her makeup was the same because it was her work attire. But she at some point cashed out and bought a small bar, something that matched her skills, and she could do things on her own terms to be able to look after her daughter. Rika's father despite his line about a pretty lady not needing to pay for things, apparently this may have been a line he said to his infant daughter as he was actually asking for money from Rika's hardworking mother. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23831 |
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I liked the last episode because the dynamic between Rika and her mom was reasonably nuanced. You can imagine the "typical" way that backstory could have played out and I feel the episode avoided cliche. At this juncture, we don't know for sure that Rika's mom has a good reason for preventing Rika from meeting her dad, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt for now. She doesn't strike me as the kind of woman who would do that just for the lulz.
I thought the show did a good job of conveying Rika's mom's guilt over being what she knows is a subpar parent. She probably does feel like having and raising Rika restricted her options but she, in her own pathetic way, is trying to do right by her daughter. I thought how Rika came to get a better perspective on her own mother thanks to Turtle was pretty cool. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4093 |
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I agree with the Hostess assessment which is the intersection of companionship, alcohol and money yet I didn't say it conclusively because there's photos which she has herself and that implies some underhanded business dealings. Perhaps blackmail, perhaps... no, blackmail would explain a number of things from the need to have evidence of an affair as well as unprotected sex. And the obvious thing that didn't occur to Rika is that if the man she heard was really her father, it would mean the guy stuck around for several years... meanwhile her mother was in such situations with men at the time so either he's really understanding or it was his idea in the first place... Oh, it's the odd man out, isn't it? The man who clearly doesn't have money but who is with her mother while she's in her "work" make up? Yet we still can't say if that's her biological father. But he would be the guy who elicit the "men who take money from women are trash" comment from Rika's mother... definitely not the kind of guy who'd say "beautiful women don't need purses". What a situation; The photos on their own can't lie but what they mean is up for debate. Considering the rest of the show's production values, the fact she wears the same makeup when she's "on the job" has to be intentional. |
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ACｘS
 Posts: 896 |
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8:
Nobody: Literally nobody: A recap for a 12-episode series. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15495 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I wonder if the recap was something made because of schedule problems or something. It is not like this series is lazily made or something.
I could imagine otherwise looking at some of the specific choices of framing. Like at least with the subtitles I watched it said something about loved ones when showing Momoe and Haruka, it has been a bit vague over what exactly the relationship meant, whether Momoe might would have had any feelings. Considering how this series in some ways does not hold hands, it also talked had something about Ai is conflicted over different feelings in regards to her teacher. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23831 |
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Welp, at least they made it to episode 8 before needing to take a production break, unlike The Promised Neverland 2 which only made it to eppie 5 before crapping out. I actually didn't mind this recap... the refresher helped my memory about certain things. But yeah, looking forward to getting back to a real episode next week.
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15495 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 9
Not sure how I feel about the sort of sci-fi reveal, that Neiru's corporation is able to see into the dreamscape, and a revelation at the end that her assistant seemingly working with the Accas and are behind it in some aspect that would mean the girls would not do what they are if they knew the truth. I was mostly fine with it staying mostly in the land of allegory, rather than things really get explained outside of magic. Aspects of alternate world have also been mentioned. Also, Neiru's entire life situation is odd, that she is actually a child of arterficial insemination of a organisation of geniuses, maybe eugenically designed to be exceptional. A good portion of the episode seemed to point that Neiru is uncomfortable with being disconnected to everyone else, and was disheartened whenever it was implied. Neiru's real goal seemed to be that she wanted some sort of acceptance that the decision that she was about to take her vegetative friend off life support would be the correct decisions. Neiru apparently sucked at explaining to her friends why she needed to do it, and they reacted badly. But Ai went back and seemed to be able to get Neiru to open up a bit about it and why she had to do it, with Ai managing to help take off some of the burden. You know, with Ai's story of Koito doing the fortune telling thing to find out if her crush liked her, how Ai is quick to fill in that it was probably Sawaki, makes me wonder if we are being misled. Really hoping this is not something about looking too hard, and having yuri goggles, but could Koito have actually liked Ai. Like, Koito thought was thinking her crush because of the other finger on the coin. Koito tried to become Sawaki's model instead of Ai because she thought Ai might like him instead, and maybe the tears Ai walked in on between them was more relevant to Ai than she realised. It is still rather unlikely, because it sounds too much like what Momoe's situation might have been, which I suspect we might learn more next episode. It also stinks of me trying way too hard to stick to an early theory that is totally off base, so I am just embarrassing myself. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 896 |
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9:
I GOT MY WISH! Some revelation this episode turned out to be, and I will say one thing: I wish I can have a friend like Neiru. Why? Because I think it's fascinating to have someone like her as a friend. What is it like to be someone who doesn't have parents, not in the sense of losing them in some incident, but to be born in a lab? What is it like to be born as a lab specimen? It's fascinating because it would be something I can never imagine. Would I be sad to know I would never know my parents? Neiru isn't fazed at all, and that's amazing. I can never wrap my head around this idea. Kotobuki is your (stereo)typical scientist: way too caught up with the concept of life, so much that she doesn't care about her own life. We've heard of such people before: those who want to live in another planet, those willing to go into cryo-stasis, all in the name of science. Neiru isn't that different too―they're both brilliant lab rats―but in comparison to Kotobuki, Neiru's more emotional (even though she doesn't show it). So yes, she's not a stereotypical heartless robot: she's human like everyone else, despite her unique circumstances. Her decision to pull the plug on Kotobuki is essentially choosing to stop life support on a terminal patient in real life. In fact, Neiru's lucky to have a last word with Kotobuki before deciding to do this: at least she know Kotobuki's intentions and chooses to respect it. In real life, only doctors and family members can decide this, not the patient. Imagine being able to communicate with someone who's in a vegetative state in real life. It would be groundbreaking. The big elephant in the room: Neiru's company actually recorded and quantified the Egg World? Really!? Can you imagine how the scientific community (or the world, for that matter) would respond to a phenomenon like this? But then, several questions occurred to me: - Acca and Ura-acca are cahoots with Tanabe (gasp!). In fact, they seem to be familiar with each other. Are Acca and Ura-acca actually scientists too who, like Kotobuki, "went to the other side"? - Did Kotobuki discover this new world and got into trouble because of it? Kotobuki did say she chose to discard her life to learn about this new world, but did her discovery also got her into trouble, further driving herself to death? That would make sense; she didn't want the government to claim her body, so it seems like she got into a lot of trouble with the company (which Neiru now leads). - Acca and Ura-acca are the root cause that led to the girls' suicides. "Innocent sorrow/girls' sorrow" was the simple excuse to explain Kotobuki's death, but we know that's a lie (Neiru's already learned that from Kotobuki herself). So Acca and Ura-acca... drove the girls to death? How? Was Tanabe carrying out their orders to have them killed? Are the deaths of all the girls that the four have been saving this whole time, somehow connected? And why do Acca and Ura-acca want these girls dead? Does it have something to do with how the Egg World works? Is this whole "saving girls who committed suicide, and fending off See-no-Evils" just one big experiment? So many question now! |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15495 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 10
Wow, this episode was a whirlwind of emotions. First off, the episode was very explicit in saying that Momoe is a straight cis girl, not at all has any interest in girls. This was done along with a revelation that she Momoe had a date with a boy, who turned out to be gay and was not at all interested in a female Momoe. These facts alone would run high risk of some level of queer erasure, or maybe a negative comment on queer characters, since this Momoe seems unable to escape having things pushed onto her by queer people. Which made it such a nice revelation for who her egg ward would be this time, not a girl for once, but a trans boy, Kaoru. I have to wonder if there was some awareness, to have Momoe have so much about her be sort of queer related, that an episode that would lean so hard into saying that Momoe is indeed a girl despite a sort of masculine appearance, and only interested in boys. That the thing was offset by going so hard on trans boys are valid. Kaoru looked like they went through something horrible, he looked up to someone and asked for advice and ended getting raped and pregnant, his trauma really going into how pushed onto him being a cute girl. It is pretty horrific, but also in the context of the show is squarely on the side of support for queerness, just as saying it should not be forced onto someone who does not think it fits them. And I think that is a good message. And then Momoe managed to get enough to revive Haruka, making her now out of the game, but not before coming into contact with something horrifying, like a grim reaper that came to take for the life that was apparently returned. A girl with a head that seems to swap between a pupa and a butterfly. She killed crocodile pet and then forced Momoe to eat him. Poor Momoe is now too scared to even sleep. The parts about the Accas reveals that they were human, and apparently ready to be more open, although girl talk took precedent. They might not actually have been evil, although wanted to create warriors to take on this dangerous threat that this girl represents. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15495 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Also, forgot to mention that Kaoru was wearing jacket with trans colours, and his insistence of being a guy was not undone by the fact that he was wearing a skirt, something he was presumably forced to wear. How he wore a cap worked well with the dream Momoe had at the beginning of the episode of going out with a boy, which at the time had me wondering if the dream boy was a boy or not it was more explicit about it. That element kind of reminded me of an element I was trying to get over of trying to figure out if people were males or females by looking hard at them, which I recognised some part of internalised transphobia.
It works all with a statement about Momoe being a girl regardless of how she can come across as gender nonconforming. That you could have a cis girl who looks boyish, and a trans boy that looks more girlish, but both are valid by who they are on the inside. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 896 |
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10:
My head shook hard in the few first few minutes of the episode. "You two are human? Wait, founders of the company? So this whole world is an experiment and you lured us in, making us risk our lives to save dead girls in an alternate world? And you kept all of that from us--" "OMG SUCH KAWAII HAIRSTYLE!!1! MOMO'S SEEING SOMEONE!?!?" Best part of it? "Girls' talk, girls' talk". Yeah, just the thing this show wants to claim: girls are flighty and don't care about stuff that doesn't concern emotional problems. Imagine what I would do if I were them: "WTF did we sign up for? Who are we fighting, exactly? What else are you not telling us? Are you disciples of Kyubey!?" I'm not that fazed by Momoe's gender issues. She's a girl, in body and heart (aka cisgender). Met a gay guy who thought she's a guy, so she got rejected for basically looking like something she's not. Oof, and she was looking forward to this date so much. Big oof. Saved a transgender who gave her the pep talk she wanted so much. I guess because of that, her unresolved emotions finally received closure so she "got out". But apparently, that's not all: there's Thanatos (God of Death? Jeez) who's pure bad news, and Momoe had the dubious honor of being the first girl to see it. Obviously she's different from other Wonder Killers and we have many questions. Like, whose Wonder Killer is she, and why is this one particularly powerful? See girls, Acca and Ura-acca are not telling you stuff. Maybe you should ask these important questions of instead of being distracted by new hair or a friend's date. |
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