Alright alright, I did it! I made a MyAnimeList profile:
A bunch of you were asking me to do this not only for chronicling which shows I continue after AniMAY but also to help with suggestions. Just as a heads up, I won't be doing scores on there because what's a 9 now could be a 6 later on, it all feels a bit convoluted ha
Anyways, today's show is a different pace to everything else this month as it focuses on wider concepts of existence and really tugs at the heartstrings.
The entire premise of the show is that an immortal entity that begins as a pearl looking sphere is cast down to earth and inherits the form of the first thing it settles on, a rock.. An undisclosed amount of time passes and eventually a wolf happens to die upon it and its second evolution begins become a wolf itself. It wanders aimlessly until it meets Fushi a lone wolf in his own right living in the abandoned remains of his home camp.
I can't say I've ever watched an anime that tackles the monkeys and typewriters concept in such a blatant way and I absolutely love it. I'd half expected it to take on some more lesser forms like bugs particularly with moss growing on the rock's surface but hey, we've got a story to tell!
The really interesting thing about this being is that when it inevitably dies from either bear mauling or nourishment, it has the capability to regenerate and pick up right where it left off. This feels like a mechanic that'll be leaned in to heavily dependent on what direction this story goes because we've already been told that healing timer is quick each successive res.
As it stands, I've absolutely no idea where this tale but it has enough emotional depth and 'what if?' to reel me in.
LOOK AT THIS STUFF, ISN'T IT NEAT?
This is a more recent revelation for myself, being a new dad and all but the concept of a sentient being learning and experiencing EVERYTHING for the first time is a true wonder.
It hasn't been confirmed yet but I do wonder if the mental capacity and self awareness of the entity is limited to the species it inhabits. If so, it's made quick work of getting to the top!
The journey there though had a mixture of learning through mimicing and then more instinctual / involuntary reactions like the tantalizing first time of hearing the crack of a fireplace, it was almost enough to send shivers down my spine!
The entity's luck so far has been incredible. Fushi couldn't have been a better candidate for 'welcome to planet earth' with his inhuman levels of positivity, extroverted nature and his scenario being stemmed in survival in the wilderness.
My only tiny gripe with the show so far is that some of the learning done in wolf form hasn't carried to human form but its memories of fruit seemingly have? This could well be a part of Fushi still residing in the entity but I doubt it's that deep.. In wolf form it will have witnessed Fushi garner and consume a ton of fish, heck, it even chewed up an entire head itself. Even the concept of sleeping seemed to stick but not other things... It feels as though the author is really picking and choosing what holds but maybe it'll pan out more in future episodes.
PROTECT HER AT ALL COSTS
I think I've stated my case well enough in the image above but I wanted to applaud the voice actor, animators and author for making a surprisingly layered character in March.
She's ticking every single box for me right now. Adorable yet (hilariously) formiddable, naive yet socially aware and nurturing but critical. She even has a quite Luffy-esque dream that's of the utmost importance to her of becoming an adult which gives me something to latch on to!
Even though she's just been thrown in to a hellsih scenario where she's going to be sacrificed to an unknown beast and her family/friends had to let her go, she never bore any resentment to them. Even to Parona who (to my great annoyance) wouldn't even wave her goodbye and give a glint of comfort to a child marked for death..
March internalizes this burden and it's explored via lucid dreams and heartbreaking nightmares reducing her to unconscious tears... Dude. It got to me.
The show is two for two so far in stirring emotions within me for characters I've barely known for 10 minutes and I think that comes down to great writing and most importantly, pacing.
Episode 2 ends on a laugh out loud high point of March's motherhood dreams coming true and this leaps right the way up in to the Top 5 of my continue to watch list!
THE JOURNEY AHEAD
There isn't a whole lot else to say about this show as the first 2 episodes have a nice airiness about them, allowing the characters room to show vulnerability and slowly figure out the world they find themselves in.
My only other notes were that the environments looked beautiful, particularly the shrouded pond in the woods (where Fushi's regen animation looked dope!) and the musical scoring expands the emotions in focus.
Although I do have to say, WHAT IN THE ARIANA GRANDE is that opening song? 😂