Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. In life we will all experience growth. Sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a painful way. The painful ones are the ones that seem to stick with people the most because of the impact they have on our lives, but it is through the pain that we shape our lives and become the person we are today. One series that excellently proves this theory is To Your Eternity. Written by Yoshitoki Ōima in 2016 and still continues to this day. According to Ōima, the series was inspired by the emotions she felt after the death of her grandmother. It would put little focus on the characters and more on the future. To Your Eternity is a series that a lot of people didn’t know about but at the same time had a following. It won a number of awards in Japan and critics praised the series for its story and continuous character arc of the main character. So much so that in 2021 it was given an anime produced by Brain’s Base (Spice and Wolf II). The anime was a big hit. Many people who watched it had high praise for it and it would go on to become one of the best animes from that year. With the second season set to come out this fall now seems like a good time to review it and bring in new fans who haven’t seen it yet. Here’s a toast, to you, your health, your family, and To Your Eternity.
Opening and Ending Theme
So the opening for this anime is “Pink Blood” by the lovely Hikaru Utada. Easily one of my favorite openings from 2021. This song just resonates with you. The song is all about self-worth and trying to understand yourself. This song perfectly captures the story of the main character and their experience in life. Both the good and the bad it all resonates and shapes the person they will become.
For the ending we have “Mediator” by Masashi Hamauzu. Didn’t really care for this song when I first heard it, but looking back it’s actually not a bad song. It feels you with heartache whenever you hear and the ending animation, masterful. I have never felt more emotion over an empty chair in my life, that image sticks in my mind whenever I think of this anime. It’s so powerful.
Episodes 1-5
The anime starts off on a random note to say the least. An entity voiced by Kenjiro Tsuda (Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh) sends an immortal being with no consciousness to Earth to observe it. The immortal being is voiced by newcomer Reiji Kawashima (who pretty much nails his role here. Seriously, this was his third gig as a voice actor and his first time voicing the main character. He’s got a promising future). takes on the form of a rock, then moss, and then when a dying wolf comes to lay by it, it transforms into a wolf gaining consciousness and begins to explore its surroundings which is a frozen tundra (like I said random opening, but it’s anime, I’m used to this kind of stuff). We then cut to a boy and find out that we’re in Alaska (the forgotten state of America). He lives in an abandoned village by himself and we see that the wolf the immortal being has changed into is the boy’s pet named Joaan who went missing two months ago. We find out that the adults of the village left in order to find a paradise 5 years ago. The boy was forced to stay behind and look after the elderly who all died leaving him all alone. Now the boy waits patiently for his family to come back for him (kid, it’s been 5 years. It might be time to pack up and leave. If they won’t come and get you, you’ll have to go to them). The next day, the boy decides to finally set out and see the world with the immortal being going with him (where I have to admit I do like how the immortal being is taking everything in. Everything is new to it, so it’s constantly observing everyone, everything, and piecing things together just like a child). After days of traveling and following rocks with arrows on them, the boy and the immortal being finally come to some wreckage and graves where he’s finally forced to face reality and see that the adults from his village are dead and no one is coming back for him (scene here: https://youtu.be/W9mUpxEuQe0). With tears in his eyes the boy returns home braving the harsh weather, an injured leg, and he’s running a fever. The boy finally succumbs to his injury and sickness and dies. The immortal being takes on the form of the boy where we find out in order to change into something it needs a strong stimulation. It then heads out into the world to experience more stimulation just like the boy wished for.
In episode 2 the immortal being begins to travel. It dies a couple of times during its travels, but it would always regenerate and continue traveling (where it is going I do not know. It’s like the energizer bunny without the battery or annoying drum). After watching it get killed by a polar bear (Jesus! That thing is huge) we go to a village and focus on a young native girl named March who is in a hurry to grow up. The village is controlled by another native village known as the Yanome who have come to pick a virgin girl to sacrifice to their god, Oniguma, for everlasting peace and prosperity. On the day she’s supposed to be sacrificed, someone from the village named Peona attacks her carriage providing a distraction for her to escape where she comes across the immortal being (scene here: https://youtu.be/Y_xBGi-fAlw). Naturally, she’s confused by it (as would anyone who just saw a person self-regenerate) and follows after it trying to figure out what it is. She does feed it some fruit which wins it over (scene here: https://youtu.be/f2Wrk9OLz0Q) and they rest for the night where March has a nightmare about her baby sister or friend being sacrificed in her place because she ran away. Not wanting that to happen, March decides to return to the village and become the sacrifice. As she heads back toward the village, the immortal being follows after her.
Things get intense in episode 3 (hard to imagine really). March gets captured again and she gets fed some jello which knocks her out (must of gotten it from Bill Cosby). She gets taken to the altar where she’ll be sacrificed and once she’s tied up Oniguma shows up which was that polar bear we saw last episode (and if you can believe, its bigger than what I originally thought. Seriously, that thing is about as big as a 10-story building. How cold is this area?). Peona arrives and tries to save her but gets swatted away which surprisingly doesn’t kill her (Mira: Bullshit). The immortal being shows up and transforms into a wolf to fight Oniguma where it manages to win and kill the bear among men (ruptured the nose) all while the people of Yanome watch in shock (scene here: https://youtu.be/UUhblxWUad4). After this amazing feat March regains consciousness and she along with Peona will be allowed to live in the village of Yanome along with the immortal being who finally speaks its first words: thank you.
Episode 4 shows us the past of Peona where when she was a child, she was chosen to be the sacrifice for her village. Just like March, she was too young to realize what was going on, but her big sister was and so she got Peona to safety and became the sacrifice in her place (pretty cool sis you got there Peona). When Peona returned to her village she was shunned by everyone who called her a coward and threw her out. Returning to the present, we see March, Peona and the immortal being who March named Fushi being taken to Yanome. During their trip, they learn that the sacrifice ritual is outdated and is only being enforced by Yanome to keep the other tribes in check and manipulate them. They make it to Yanome which puts March’s village to shame (I do like the fusion of ancient Japanese and Native American culture here) and Fushi transforms back into a human. While being treated to a meal they all get drugged (scene here: https://youtu.be/mFmqESMAnww) where Fushi is presented before the elders of Yanome who bear witness to his immortality and plan to use it to their benefit (how I have no idea. Scene here: https://youtu.be/4SxsAE0jufQ). He gets thrown in a cell with March where he digs his way out to the corpse of Oniguma where March gets put in charge of taking care of it as apparently its still alive somehow (wow. There’s arrows stuck to it and it got its nose damaged. Yet, it still lives. That is one tough bear). During the next few days we see March tend to Oniguma (give him some Coca-Cola and it’ll be fine) while Peona plans their escape by taking the head of Oniguma and presenting it to the village so they can rid themselves of this ritual once and for all. Peona finally escapes her cell, steals a guard’s clothes, and frees March and Fushi.
In episode 5 Peona also releases an old lady named Pioran to serve as their guide back to their village. Peona tries to cut off the head of Oniguma and take it back to the village as proof that they can stop the rituals, but March won’t let her because she feels bad for it (it’s already dead or close to death, just put it out of its misery). Peona has no choice but to give in to March’s demand and the four escape without the head. As they escape, they are attacked by soldiers of Yanome where March takes an arrow for Peona and Fushi attacks by transforming into Oniguma (scene here: https://youtu.be/NL_pvVvRv0Y). March dies from the arrow shot (scene here: https://youtu.be/iJ1xbqQVhK0. Aww man, I wanted her to live) and Peona manages to stop Fushi’s rampage and it transforms back into its human form. Just when Peona is about to kill herself, Fushi stops her telling her to keep on living for the sake of March. The two of them escape with March’s body and make it back to the village where they mourn the death of March (scene here: https://youtu.be/PPbhKAR63Jk). The village watch says the Yanome are on the way and realizing that they’re coming for Fushi, Peona tells it to run away and it does. This whole experience increased Fushi’s humanity and it continues on its journey with a new form etched into its memories.
Episodes 6-10
Nothing much happens throughout episode 6 until the end. We see Fushi reunite with the Pioran (scene here: https://youtu.be/A572oACcwwQ). They become traveling buddies where she teaches him to speak, write, and become more human (it’s pretty wholesome). As they travel to her village, Fushi gets attacked by a mysterious being that steals its forms (scene here: https://youtu.be/o3-ED8K9gY8). Luckily, Fushi is able to beat it by attacking its core, thanks to the help of Fushi’s maker who sent it to our world in the first place. The maker explains that Fushi’s objective is to preserve the world, but there’s other entities out there that want the world to perish. Fushi doesn’t really understand all of this (not surprising. At this point you are an infant) and the maker takes his leave saying they shall meet again. At the end of the episode they finally arrive at the Pioran’s village and she presents him to the village witch doctor and brewer hoping they might know what Fushi is.
In episode 7, we shift gears and focus on two brothers named Shin and Gugu. The two are poor and spend their days working hard to save up on money. One day, Shin bails on Gugu taking all of their money and leaving Gugu with nothing. Just when Gugu’s luck couldn’t get any worse, his face gets smashed by a log after he rescued some rich girl named Rean by the river. The village’s witchdoctor/brewer (a man of many talents) rescued him and altered his face (history’s first plastic surgery was anything but perfect). Seeing his face and horrified by what the doctor did to him, Gugu wore a mask to hide his face from society and now spends his days working in the witchdoctor’s house/brewery (he treats people and gives them booze. Talk about a monopoly) which brings us to the present (3 months into the future) as Pioran and Fushi arrive and will be staying with them for a while. Gugu seems to befriend Fushi (developing a brotherly bond with him. Although it’s hard to say which one is the little brother) and teaches him how to work the fields, do chores and manage the store. One day while managing the store, Rean stops by (did I forget to mention Gugu has a crush on her?) and instantly finds herself attracted to Fushi (scene here: https://youtu.be/CVcUV1xw_BY. Man, Gugu’s life sucks). In order to get Rean’s attention, Gugu starts working out to whip his body into shape (and take off that damn mask. It can’t be as bad as Two-Face).
Episode 8 focuses on Gugu. After finding out that the witchdoctor altered his body to store alcohol, Gugu runs away from home and decides to make enough money to get a real doctor to heal his body. He returns to his old job where the son of his boss doesn’t like him because he’s a monster and the other workers laugh at him behind his back. Gugu decides to just screw the mask and tosses it away embracing his monster side (I do like how we still have no idea what he looks like. It builds up the mystery). As he’s walking the streets asking people for money, he finds Shin in a ditch and down on his luck (you’ve got a lot of balls coming back here after the stunt you pulled asshole). Rather than spit on him or ask why he screwed him over (or punch him which is something I would do. Hey, you steal my money all bets are off the table. I won’t kill you, but I’ll make you wish for it), he instead just gives him a ring he received from Rean in the past. Gugu believes that because of his face he can never amount to anything more, but maybe Shin can (doubt it. Given the fact that he came back and is lying in a ditch looking like shit). At night, Gugu gets attacked and kidnapped by some men only to get saved by Fushi who after days of messing up on the chores decided to go look for Gugu (because everyone else is too lazy to teach him how to be human. Scene here: https://youtu.be/5BYmLZQw2uE).
In episode 9, Gugu and Fushi embrace their monster side and begin scaring the locals. Fushi learned he can recreate food but only food that had a deep stimulation on him (the feeling of dopamine). The two eventually get found by Rean who tries to bring them back (because the old people are lazy and she doesn’t want to take care of them. Spoiled brat) saying that the witch doctor will remove the booze free of charge. While Gugu likes this, he still refuses to go back as he doesn’t want to expose his face to Rean. Fushi goes out to find his mask leaving Gugu alone with his crush where we find out Rean’s home life was suffocating. She never had time to herself, was constantly under watch, and never allowed to be herself (bah! Compared to Gugu’s trouble, your troubles might as well be a grain of salt in a salad bowl). Rean tells Gugu she doesn’t care what he looks like and she hands him her mask that she wears around town to hide her face so her father’s men won’t drag her home. Gugu wears the mask and the two go out to look for Fushi. After running away from a servant belonging to Rean’s family, they find Fushi who also found Gugu’s mask. They start heading back to the witch doctor’s house only for them to run into a man in the service of Rean’s family who chases after them in the forest. Fushi stays behind to distract him only to have that mysterious plant-being return and attack him once again.
Episode 10 starts with Fushi fighting the mysterious plant being who will come to be known as the Nokkers later on (https://youtu.be/axPZWVHBAG4). Gugu tries to help out by using the alcohol in his stomach with fire (hey, they listened), but his belly got empty earlier so he has to refuel. He runs to the witch doctor’s house where he becomes drunk from the alcohol (he shot it back up, how is he getting drunk?), but still manages to reach the house only to walk in on another problem going on. Rean’s parents have arrived and are trying to take her home by force (as interesting as this situation is, there’s a plant-monster fighting an immortal being in the forest. Priorities people). Gugu gets the alcohol and rushes out the door, but not before finding out that Rean is engaged which is one of the reasons why she ran away from home. However, Gugu in his drunken state says he’s the only one who loves her (go home Gugu, you’re drunk). Gugu makes it back to the forest where he’s unfortunately too late. The Nokkers have absorbed Fushi entirely. Gugu uses his flamethrower breath to kill the Nokkers and manages to save Fushi’s life who was still alive (scene here: https://youtu.be/rakCF2slrSk). The two victors return home (they came, they saw, they drank alcohol, and kicked ass) and have a celebration. Fushi’s maker appears before Fushi again telling him to leave in order to get stronger but he refuses to leave Gugu (Isis: What about the others? (Nitsuj): Fuck’em). Rean also decides to return home since her parents refuse to leave without her (then you best start earning your keep around here). Cut to 4 years later where Gugu got buff (and yet I still can’t take him seriously with that mask), Rean still comes by to visit after running away from home, and we see Fushi has also grown. He’s able to speak more clearly now and has gotten good at cooking (scene here: https://youtu.be/pXX29j7BdT4, he also looks like Shaggy if he wasn’t high all the time).
And we’ve reached the halfway. Let’s take a break for now and resume next week. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.