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EP. REVIEW: The Day I Became a God


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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 3:13 pm Reply with quote
stilldemented wrote:
Didn't get the impression that Yota was confessing to Hina or anything like that either. It struck me as telling a loved one that you love them more so than a love confession to a love interest. Yota even expands on it by saying that it isn't just him that loves Hina but all of them to try and emphasize that. But I could be wrong. Time will tell. But it'd be kinda weird for him to be crushing on Izanami all this time and then flip that script.

I dunno, "I want to spend my days with you...I love you, Hina! I love you so much," to the swell of dramatic music convinced me. Also, Yota had been giving off some romantic-interest vibes toward her for the last couple of episodes, so adding on friends and family who love her didn't do much to dispel the impression. More like a desperate attempt to get her to understand that, even if she didn't feel the same about him, there were many other people that cared about her welfare, so she should not just surrender.

I think Izanami, who also seems to be coming around to being interested in Yota, is just his spare girlfriend so we know he won't be forever alone when Hina bites it. But like you say, we'll see. Smile
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 3:20 pm Reply with quote
It was definitely framed like a confession scene. But the contents, context and development say otherwise.
Then again, when it comes to Maeda "1-cour story" and "bad pacing" go hand in hand, so it could go either way.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 11:42 am Reply with quote
Mr. Dupree, for what it's worth the end of Ep5 was a moment for me like yours here, so I feel you...Because of that, I wish the show hadn't gone there...
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DarkEXE



Joined: 10 Oct 2019
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 11:52 am Reply with quote
I'm going to hell for laughing at this week's episode.
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TanyaTheEvil



Joined: 11 May 2018
Posts: 331
PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 1:09 pm Reply with quote
I so love this anime and it touched my heart so many ways. This last episode really touched me in many ways.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 2:36 pm Reply with quote
There were a couple of things that bothered me about Hina's current situation. First, why would the world's governments not just euthanize her once they got what they wanted out of her head? Why the elaborate set-up for her care and feeding, which is an expense they have no reason to undertake? It's not like governments don't kill their citizens when it's expedient and apparently can be done in the dark, even "good" ones.

Second, what was up with the little detail about her being terrified of men? Terrified of people, ok, but that wasn't the implication. She didn't seem terrified of the men who took her away. Were there no female staff among the people who did whatever they did that so traumatized her? Why not? I kinda don't even want to speculate further, because where that leads makes even less sense in this context. Sad What I really think is that it was just thrown out there to "explain" why she was afraid of Yota, because the story wanted that bit of extra dramagedy and was incapable of producing it more organically.
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Punch Drunk Marc



Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Posts: 1742
PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 2:40 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I swear, The Day I Became a God is the most whiplash inducing series I've ever reviewed.


Im guessing you didn't check "A Centaur's Life" from a year or so ago.
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1529
PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 6:16 pm Reply with quote
That was surprisingly lukewarm, especially since the campy super-hacker was involved (and what was with that weird rule that they set upon him anyway?).

But picking up from last episode, NOW Suzuki is fond of the CEO? This is rubbing me the wrong way a lot. Suzuki had a grudge against adults because they used him for their ends and kicked him when he didn't comply and this CEO has been exactly the same, sending a child to death because it was "necessary" for a nebulous, abstract and unreal "good" (truly just scared adults rationalizing their violence). They better use those two remaining episodes to have her pull some string to redeem herself.

Gina Szanboti wrote:
Second, what was up with the little detail about her being terrified of men? Terrified of people, ok, but that wasn't the implication. She didn't seem terrified of the men who took her away.

... because she wasn't lobotomized yet. But literally her most recent memories before being left like that is of grown men forcibly restraining her and taking everything from her.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 7:26 pm Reply with quote
Yuvelir wrote:
... because she wasn't lobotomized yet. But literally her most recent memories before being left like that is of grown men forcibly restraining her and taking everything from her.

And again I ask, "Were there no female staff among the people who did whatever they did that so traumatized her? Why not?" Also, do they have no anesthesia available? Why would grown men have to forcibly restrain her when an anesthesiologist could just quietly give her a sedative, or a nurse give her pill to swallow? That could've been done before she suddenly decided now was the time to start violently resisting.
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 8:07 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
And again I ask, "Were there no female staff among the people who did whatever they did that so traumatized her? Why not?" Also, do they have no anesthesia available? Why would grown men have to forcibly restrain her when an anesthesiologist could just quietly give her a sedative, or a nurse give her pill to swallow? That could've been done before she suddenly decided now was the time to start violently resisting.

What gave you the impression that she got the trauma from the stabbity stab to her head?
Men took her from her home when she was at her happiest, men signed her death sentences and very probably men draggen her into and out of the operation room.
And even without all that... it just isn't even uncommon for traumatized people (and animals) to fear men as a whole. Men are by default bigger and more robust and their voices deeper. Men are scarier.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 12:29 am Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
...First, why would the world's governments not just euthanize her once they got what they wanted out of her head? Why the elaborate set-up for her care and feeding, which is an expense they have no reason to undertake?...Second, what was up with the little detail about her being terrified of men?... What I really think is that it was just thrown out there to "explain" why she was afraid of Yota, because the story wanted that bit of extra dramagedy and was incapable of producing it more organically.
I think you hit the nail very well, there is a lot about the present state of the story that doesn't realistically make sense. First, how does having a direct mental connection to the Wired make you an "all-knowing God", able to predict horse race winners and the future moment by moment movements of a random guy? Because supercomputer? Sorry, not buying it...

Second, a ton of SF stories have told us given similar circumstances that no one would resist either using such abilities or trying to reproduce them. A body of writers seem to agree that anything else would be too unbelievable with the rare exception of a few "destroy them for the greater good" twists. Evil shadow groups just kill people in such scenarios. My take is that if we just consider the decision being limited to Japanese officials, maybe Maeda wants to portray that their people would strive for a "kindler, gentler solution" rather than murder. Not to mention he would lose having anything meaningful to do for the last quarter of 12 episodes unless he really wanted to shift gears.

Third, I can't think I've heard of anybody that when traumatized became irrationally fearful of men that may have been randomly associated with said trauma. How common is it that a car crash victim starts hating or being fearful of men because the driver that hit them was a man? Much more common that they become fearful of cars...However, I noticed that Hina started yelling when Yota touched the back of her head, which I could definitely see as an anxiety trigger given the surgery and again when he yelled. No hate/fear necessary.

Fourth and lastly, like Yuvelir, I find Hacker-kun's attitude and/or motivation making a quick 180 from last episode unreasonable. Unless a future reveal holds some really good reason propelling such a turn, such as he is plotting revenge and is being deceptive (for no real reason I can see), I'd say it makes no sense. That just leaves me with the question "how low will this go"?
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 1:43 am Reply with quote
Yuvelir wrote:
What gave you the impression that she got the trauma from the stabbity stab to her head?
Men took her from her home when she was at her happiest, men signed her death sentences and very probably men draggen her into and out of the operation room.

My point is that she did not seem to fear the men who took her from her home at the time they did so. She's not dead (so that's moot), and the only reason men would need to be dragging her anywhere (especially not out of the operating room oO) once she had calmly gone with them, is to Sharpie moustaches on them to emphasize their villainy. Not to mention that she knew what they had planned for her when she was captured - no, well in advance of that, so if she were going to go kicking and screaming, that would've been a good time to start. There's just this huge disconnect between her fatalistic and placid attitude during her capture and the idea that they needed to brutalize her to accomplish their goal.

Since she was expecting this and it was not a surprise to her, nor full of "what are they going to do to me" fear of the unknown, I just don't see where all this trauma came from unless they went full Darth Vader on her and tortured her for no reason (which may well be what they're trying to imply, but then I'm still left with "why?").

Since she wasn't terrified when they took her, and there's no reason for them to have to strap her down or otherwise assault or terrorize her to do the procedure, her current state of fear and disorientation should be due to no longer having the capacity to understand what's happening around her. A general fear of all strangers and/or loud noises, of changes to routine, not "men are scary." Clearly ymmv, but it's just not working for me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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yeehaw



Joined: 09 Sep 2018
Posts: 420
PostPosted: Sat Dec 19, 2020 4:09 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
Yuvelir wrote:
What gave you the impression that she got the trauma from the stabbity stab to her head?
Men took her from her home when she was at her happiest, men signed her death sentences and very probably men draggen her into and out of the operation room.

My point is that she did not seem to fear the men who took her from her home at the time they did so. She's not dead (so that's moot), and the only reason men would need to be dragging her anywhere (especially not out of the operating room oO) once she had calmly gone with them, is to Sharpie moustaches on them to emphasize their villainy. Not to mention that she knew what they had planned for her when she was captured - no, well in advance of that, so if she were going to go kicking and screaming, that would've been a good time to start. There's just this huge disconnect between her fatalistic and placid attitude during her capture and the idea that they needed to brutalize her to accomplish their goal.

Since she was expecting this and it was not a surprise to her, nor full of "what are they going to do to me" fear of the unknown, I just don't see where all this trauma came from unless they went full Darth Vader on her and tortured her for no reason (which may well be what they're trying to imply, but then I'm still left with "why?").

Since she wasn't terrified when they took her, and there's no reason for them to have to strap her down or otherwise assault or terrorize her to do the procedure, her current state of fear and disorientation should be due to no longer having the capacity to understand what's happening around her. A general fear of all strangers and/or loud noises, of changes to routine, not "men are scary." Clearly ymmv, but it's just not working for me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯



Yeah I'm with Gina on this one, the lobotomy has definetly already happened and Hina really seemed like she was ready to go quietly into the night so the procedure should have been just a normal surgery. the "she's only scared of men" gave me some bad vibes about where the show might go with that. I reallly hope it won't and honestly I don't think it will.
I think it's just going to be that maybe the men in black wanted to do some unethical experiments or whatever before the lobotomy that traumatized Hina, but one woman was nice (maybe the CEO, who I guess is a good guy now, even though she had Suzuki beaten and locked up?)

Also the caretaker really treated Hina like a small child, maybe she just treats all mentally ill people like that but it made me wonder how old Hina actually is. Honestly this is anime so she could be anywhere between 5-30 but considering the they foreshadowed her and Yota falling in love I imagined she was around high school age but just, y'know... Small... But now I'm concerned.
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yeehaw



Joined: 09 Sep 2018
Posts: 420
PostPosted: Sat Dec 19, 2020 4:14 pm Reply with quote
stilldemented wrote:
Eh. I feel like we're a little guilty of letting Maeda's work precede him.


Maeda stated this was going to be his saddest work yet. He made his his bed and now he has to lie in it.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2020 12:09 am Reply with quote
^Yeah, it's the saddest all right but not in the way intended right now.

Don't think I've been so frustrated in a show where the "hero" is an idiot in several different ways so that he gets "booted" instead of rescuing the damsel. Maybe he just grabs her and runs now?? I swear, if they have Izunami, Suzuki and friends show up in a van and take off with Yota and Hina, I'll flip tables...
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