Kowloon Generic Romance

Episode 12

It's surprising how well Reiko Kujirai A manages to keep herself together. Since her friends Yaomay and Xiaohei left Kowloon 3.0 last week, presumably never to return, she finds herself essentially alone in a terrifying existential nightmare. Not only does she now know she's an unexplained recreation of a dead woman, but the city she's a captive in, and perhaps her whole existence, is nothing but the reconstituted dream of a man whose love she has rejected. What's to stop her from suddenly going “poof!” in a cloud of non-existence?

Regardless, Kujirai A pushes forwards, determined to not only to solve the mystery of Kujirai B's death, but also to claim the validity of her own existence, on her own terms. Hence she returns to the shady back alleys of Kowloon 3.0's northern sector, where through the magic glasses she saw Kujirai B purchase some creepy Hebinuma drugs from a shady dealer. This is where she bumps into Miyuki's friend Yulong, who succeeds in freaking her out with all of his talk about asking her to die, for Kudo's sake. Following their discussion, between them, Kujirai and Kudo now know about as much as anyone else about what's going on in Kowloon 3.0 – partly because it turns out Yulong is one of Generic Terra's original developers.

Much like I suspected would be the case, we don't get much in the way of concrete explanation of how Generic Terra works – this isn't hard sci-fi. Yulong confirms it's a technology that's supposed to provide humanity with immortality, by recording memories with the intention of uploading them to new “vessels,” by which I assume he either means clones with empty minds, or whatever “Zirconians” actually are. Whatever, it's not really the details that matter, but the underlying concepts and what they mean for the characters and their lives.

Yulong admits that Generic Terra is a failure – although it succeeds with data recording, so far it's been unable to fulfill its output function. At least that was the case until it “resonated” with a heartbroken, regret-filled Hajime Kudo, and somehow conjured a tangible replica of pre-demolition Second Kowloon from his memories of three years ago. That's why there are inconsistencies when other characters like Miyuki explore it, and areas that Kudo never visited don't exist, or remain empty. It also explains anachronisms, like the old eye drops being marketed as new.

While Yulong is no longer interested in dragging Kujirai outside of the city boundaries to see whether she disappears or not, now that it's confirmed this whole situation has been caused by Kudo, Yulong reasons that if Kujirai A dies, then Kudo may then decide to move on. At least he's not directly threatening Kujirai A, but he does intimate that perhaps she should use the same shady drugs as her predecessor to end her life. In this way, I suppose Yulong acts like an antagonist, but it seems he's willing to leave Kujirai A to her own devices for now.

Meanwhile, the other character the story previously placed in an antagonistic role, Miyuki, finds his world crumbling around him. So long has he been consumed by thoughts of revenge, he's failed to read the clues around him that the whole idea is pointless. Not only has he been drawn into the sheer nostalgia of Kowloon 3.0, a replica of the childhood home he shared with his mother and Yulong, but it feeds into his regret at his role in demolishing the place at his adoptive father's request (to cover up the fatal side effects of the drug that killed Kujirai B). His father lied about curing his mother's illness, and she died in destitution.

Miyuki's motivation to seek revenge is completely understandable, but now that his father's dementia diagnosis is out in the open, and he steps down from his role as company president, what's the point any more? Hebinuma Senior seems convinced that Miyuki is in fact his original son, so no longer requires a Zirconian facsimile. Even should Miyuki succeed in his revenge plan, his father won't even remember it. As cruel a disease as dementia is, in a way it has freed Miyuki's father from regret, and now he can live the remainder of his life in comforting nostalgia with the son “Haoran” he loves.

Kowloon Generic Romance has excelled in deepening Miyuki's at times repellent character into something three-dimensional and sympathetic. A driven, yet conflicted individual, we see he's able to grow and change his mind when Gwen finally concludes his desperate search for him. “I wish I had listened to you more,” Miyuki admits. “A beacon always shines, doesn't it?” Gwen's subsequent response “I will follow you wherever you go”, and Miyuki's acceptance of his feelings are a vindication of Gwen/Miyuki shippers everywhere. Perhaps theirs was the true Kowloon Generic Romance all along.

So if neither Miyuki nor Yulong seem to be direct threats to Kujirai A any more, then we're left with the story's true final boss, the one whose broken psyche caused all of this weirdness in the first place: Hajime Kudo. Ever since his first appearance, and his casual mistreatment of Kujirai A, there's always been something a little “off” about him. The flashbacks to Second Kowloon resident Kudo reveal a happy-go-lucky guy, unguarded, honest, and deeply in love with Kujirai B. Her death destroyed that version of him, and what's left is a shattered man who quit his job in the real world and sought solace in fantasy and nostalgia.

Kujirai A's interaction with him at the close of this episode is little short of chilling. While her journey towards self-actualization culminates in her statements “I don't exist for someone else,” and “I want to decide (my path) for myself. I won't regret it,” Kudo's view of her existence is dismissive, even sinister. “You were never like this in the summers before,” he whines. While the existence of a copied version of his deceased lover initially confused him, he found a comfortable rhythm with her, not getting too close or too distant. He strung her along, using her to temporarily ameliorate the emotional pain he refused to move on from. This “new” version of Kujirai A, who expresses opinions and agency, has different drives of her own, and he doesn't know how to deal with her.

Even Kujirai A doesn't know what makes her so different. Perhaps having a friend in Yaomay helped make her drive to become her “absolute self” more concrete, but I doubt it's merely due to that. Who knows how many iterations of this endless summer Kudo has experienced, but the time spent in Kowloon 3.0 has not been good for him. “I'm troubled” is perhaps the understatement of the century, as his admission causes the entire city to shake and the illusory residents vanish from existence. The Kudopocalypse has come to Kowloon 3.0.

While I've not read the corresponding manga chapters that comprise this part of the storyline, I've read online that although major character beats have been preserved, there's now a great deal of anime-original detail in terms of plot development. It does feel like we're rushing towards a slightly premature conclusion, especially in terms of the Miyuki/Gwen relationship, the Hebinuma Senior dementia plotline, and the apparent destruction of Kowloon 3.0. I also think the animation and characters models seems to have taken something of a hit this time around as well.

Despite these niggles, this is still a great episode that concretely answers many questions, leaving mostly the biggest unsolved mysteries (Kujirai A's nature, mainly) for next week's conclusion. Whatever happens, I don't think this Kudo and this Kujirai belong together. It's a rare show where I'll be more satisfied if the central couple don't end up together.

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Kowloon Generic Romance is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.