Monthly Archive for April, 2004

I love how the show introduces our very first character, Kurono Kei, whose imagination gets the best of him as he gawks at the females in his class without any clothing, and the worst possible scenario that could happen to a horny kid happens to him. After suffering the humiliation of trying unsucessfully to hide his “excitement” in class, he walks home from school and waits for the train to arrive at the station. From that point on, we get to listen to the various thoughts that are going through the minds of several people while waiting for the train. It’s amazing how realistic this show portrays the negative and dark feelings that people have toward each other. When a drunk and disheveled man stumbles on the waiting platform, people immediately react and are disgusted by his very presence. When he accidently falls onto the tracks, nobody wants to take the initiative to help him out. Instead, they just stand their like useless human beings and hope that someone brave enough would help the poor man.

When Kei’s old classmate, Katou Masaru, takes the initiative to help the guy, the useless witnesses are relieved that they no longer have to bother with whether they should go and save the man. However, when he asks someone to help him, nobody volunteers. They would rather have both of them die than take any responsibility for helping a fellow human being. This particular scene shows the worst of humanity and how heartless people have become. When Masaru recognizes Kei-chan, he feels reluctant to help his old friend, but decides to to help him at the very last minute. Immediately, those who are safely on the platform conclude that both kids are going to die. After pushing the man back up onto the platform, Kei and Masaru panic as they see a train fast approaching them. Despite their attempts to outrun the train, they inevitably don’t make it in time and are crushed to death. As Kei witnesses his own death, he becomes increasingly annoyed as he observes many people taking photographs of the greusome scene, but after a while it doesn’t even bother him. Personally, I’d be glad to leave the world if I had to surround myself with such awful people. Who needs to live in a world where nobody cares for one another?

Both of them end up in a room with other people who have died, and to their dismay they find out that they are unable to escape. As they reminisce about their childhood, a naked girl suddenly appears in Kei-chan’s arms, and he becomes aroused and kisses her. However, a Yakuza takes her away to another room, and nobody does anything to stop him from raping her. Masaru tests his bravery once again and follows the Yakuza, whereupon he attempts to stop him by strangling him to the point where he almost kills him. The very last scene focuses on the black sphere, which displays an unsettling message that their new lives will be up to whomever controls the afterlife.

So far, I’m loving this show. GREAT character design, catchy music, and it’s definitely an interesting storyline. I’m looking forward to the next episode.