Fumetsu no Anata e – 8-9 [Monster Brothers/Deep Memories]

These new episodes of Fumetsu no Anata e? They’re not good.

Last week, I said that I’d figured out my relationship with this show as a viewer. Now I’ve got to iron out my relationship with it as a blogger. Going forward, I’ll write about Fumetsu no Anata e whenever I want – no more weekly or biweekly posts just because that’s our standard format. The series just isn’t built to be scrutinized at regular intervals, as these episodes prove. It’s too workmanlike in its approach to adaptation, resulting in strange tonal issues and thematic muteness capable of killing entire arcs. After Fushi, Gugu is the most prominent character that Fumetsu has offered thus far, yet his suffering and exploitation barely registered amidst the box-ticking of these episodes. When he learned that his employer took advantage of his life-threatening injury to sew an alcohol-fermenting organ into his body, his response was to quit his job and look for work elsewhere. Makes sense, right? What kind of song do you think should accompany such a horrifying discovery? If you went with anything except “soothing folk tune,” congratulations, you have more musical sense than the director of Fumetsu no Anata e.

The way Gugu left was bizarre, as well. A wide shot of his hasty departure was immediately followed by a pan over to a sleeping Fushi, who wearily scratched himself before shutting his eyes again. Shouldn’t we be sticking with Gugu in this situation? Watching him run, encumbered by the mask that his personal Frankenstein gave to him? Hearing his thoughts of anger, betrayal, and disgust? It occurs to me that I had a similar issue with March’s character in the previous story – that the show never dug deeply into her sadness – so maybe this will end up as water under the bridge after Gugu bites the big one. Still, it feels like outside of its tentpole episodes, Fumetsu consistently misses opportunities to vivify the emotional lives of its characters. That’s in keeping with the series of softballs it lobbed throughout the rest of these two weeks, too. His stopover at his new employer’s house barely even registered in my brain thanks to its brevity and predictability, and all the mockery and fear he inspired in others felt ripped from a forgotten youkai-themed series from the 90s.

Then there are all the parallels and contrasts packed into these two episodes, which may be their biggest disappointments. Gugu experiments with Fushi’s regenerative abilities, then realizes he was experimented on himself. Gugu most appreciates Fushi’s monstrous transformation after he embraces his own disfigurement. Gugu, who was abandoned by his mother and father, resents Rean for complaining about her overprotective parents. Rean wears Gugu’s helmet to avoid being seen by others, as he’s had to do since his accident. Each of these ideas are effective in isolation, but when grouped in such tight proximity they blunt each other’s impact. It’s like reading CliffsNotes instead of the novel they condense. If you’re anything like me, you did that more than once during high school, and while it helps you complete your assignments, you feel terribly unsatisfied afterwards. That’s the sensation I got from these two episodes, which ended with Gugu deciding to return to the Booze Man’s house because he’d “lost interest in his own circumstances.” Who can blame the guy? I’ve lost interest in them, too.

Looks like we’ve got round two of the Fushi vs. Wood Monster fight coming up this Monday, but it may be a while before I have anything more to say about this series. The next time Fumetsu comes out with a heater of an episode, you can be sure that I’ll be typing away in some corner of the world. Until then, however, I’m content to let these posts lie.