*This blog is dedicated to the loving memory of my grandma. I love you, grandma, now and forever. RIP.*
Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Today we’re continuing our look at To Your Eternity. When we last left Fushi, he and Gugu managed to defeat the Nokkers. 4 years have now gone by and the two have grown and mature in that timeframe, but what new dangers will await them? Let’s take at the second to find out.
Episodes 11-15
The second half starts off with Rean and Fushi sewing. We find out that Rean’s 16th birthday is almost here which means it’ll be time for her to get married which she doesn’t want to do, so she tries to find a boyfriend to present to her parents before her birthday. Fushi suggests Gugu (like the parents would accept him). Speaking of Gugu, he comes face to face (or face to mask) with Shin again who’s been looking for him for 4 years (you were in the same fucking village as him and never visited the brewery? What the hell man!?). You would think this would be a touching reunion, but nope, Gugu hasn’t forgotten the past and how Shin betrayed and left him behind and has held on to that anger (as he should be. You left him with nothing and gave him no explanation as to why you did what you did. To make it even worse, you somehow blew it and wound up right back in the gutter. You are lucky I’m not your brother. I would have punched you with a roll of quarters). Shin wants to make amends for what he’s done in the past, but Gugu isn’t interested as he doesn’t want to risk losing the life he has now. Shin understands and takes his leave but swears to help Gugu out if he ever needs it and gives back the ring Gugu gave him. As soon as Rean sees the ring, she finally remembers who Gugu really is and tells him now is the time to make his move before she’s married off to some guy she’s never met (she’s never met? He and his parents never came by to make sure you two were compatible with each other? What are your customs?). A month soon passes and it’s the day of Rean’s birthday. Fushi and Gugu go to her family’s mansion where they are clearly sticking out (like a Star Trek fan at a Star Wars convention). As the party goes on we see Gugu and Rean have some time alone with each other where she finds out he was the one who saved her that day by the river (scene here: https://youtu.be/9pMFvsSzniA, she’s just learning so much this episode). Just when the two are about to have a moment, the balcony that they’re on collapses (what the hell?). Gugu managed to push Rean to safety and we find out that this was an attack by the Nokkers.
So at the start of episode 12 we find out that the Nokkers has spread its roots throughout the entire region and are getting ready to destroy this place. It causes an earthquake in the mansion where Fushi holds the place up long enough to get everyone to safety. Gugu also gets saved by the party goers and rushes to find Fushi in the collapsed mansion. Gugu finds Fushi and the two get confronted by the Nokkers who has taken on a stone appearance (they’ve adapted) and Fushi doesn’t know if he can win or not. Through the combined teamwork of Fushi and Gugu they manage to expose the flesh of the Nokker and destroy the body, but the core escapes into the wall where it crushes Fushi (scene here: https://youtu.be/epdPZN-oH60). Rean stupidly enters the battle where Gugu protects her from the wreckage with his body which unfortunately leads to his death (agony for character development). Fushi feels the death of Gugu and transforms into Gugu to fight the Nokkers (scene here: https://youtu.be/MIlJJYl2JII). Fushi tricks it into the water where the core gets exposed and the Nokkers runs away heading east. With Gugu dead and knowing how dangerous the Nokkers are, Fushi decides to leave and go after it. He pretends to be Gugu in order to fool Rean who confesses that she’s in love with him (took her long enough) and then leaves on his journey.
Not much really happens in episode 13. We see Fushi has grown emotionally as he doesn’t want to fight or risk getting others killed, but the maker tells him he doesn’t have a choice. He needs to get stronger or he won’t stand a chance against the Nokkers. In order to motivate Fushi to get stronger, we see Pioran followed after him and the maker allows the two to meet up (pretty underhanded, but smart. Scene here: https://youtu.be/6d077vIUQBQ). The two start traveling where we find out that the Nokkers still have March’s form and since they have it not only can Fushi not turn into her, but all of his memories of her were stolen as well. In order to get stronger, Pioran suggests they go to an island not too far from their location where Fushi can train. After being tricked into boarding the wrong ship, Fushi finds himself separated from Pioran and locked in a cage with other men (this is why I always travel first class). It turns out the island he and Pioran are going to is a prison island where Fushi will be forced to work as a slave. Once on the island, he gets saved by Tonari, the girl who tricked him onto the ship (bipolar much?) and he tries to find Pioran but has no luck. Tonari tells him the only way he can earn his and Pioran’s freedom is to win in the arena (We’ve gone from the Native culture to Roman culture).
So in episode 14 we see that the tournament is a battle to the death (are there any other kind?). The winner will be crowned the new chief of the island seeing as how the old one was killed two weeks ago (doesn’t surprise me, this place is lawless). Fushi manages to pass the first round but is obviously disturbed by the gore he sees (scene here: https://youtu.be/DAaXN5g-yLY). Tonari and her friends take it upon themselves to be his manager and make a fortune off of him as well as escape the island. Throughout the episode we see Fushi continue to struggle in adapting to this new environment where he’s surrounded by death and liars (it’s the environment they grew up in). The next day he participates in the tournament this time in a one-on-one fight. Fushi tries to scare his opponent into surrendering just like in the first round, but it doesn’t seem to be working as the man wants to fight. This forces Fushi to finally start fighting back where he transforms into Parona and knocks out his opponent to win the round and advance in the tournament (scene here: https://youtu.be/2njJUi4XdB4).
At the start of episode 15 we find out that the reason Fushi could transform into Parona is because she died and since Fushi had a deep connection with her, he was able to transform into her (this is both interesting and sad at the same time). We learn a little bit more about Tonari such as how her dad was a killer, but she didn’t believe it and it doesn’t matter anymore seeing how he’s dead now. Fushi does manage to talk to Pioran where she admits that she is a criminal and tells Fushi to leave without her, but he refuses and vows to save her. The next day Fushi has his next fight in the tournament of death where once again he refuses to kill angering the crowd who want to see blood (if this was Rome they both would have been put down). Since Fushi won’t do the job, the crowd does, but luckily the guy survives the arrow to the back. Sometime later the crowd does confront Fushi with Tonari trying to calm them down but failing. As if this wasn’t bad, the Nokkers attack the island where the islanders band together with Fushi and defeat it (scene here: https://youtu.be/hIxV2ps9du8). With the Nokker defeated, Fushi regains the forms he previously lost as well as the memories he had with those people.
Episodes 16-20
Not much happens in episode 16. We do learn about Tonari’s past such as how her dad was accused of killing her mom. As punishment he was sent to the island with Tonari joining him as she didn’t want to be put in an orphanage. Once on the island, Tonari quickly realized the islanders really don’t care if they have a leader or not. The whole point of the arena is just to sate their bloodlust for control (because no matter how hectic things get, humans will always seek control). Hoping to earn their freedom, Tonari’s dad entered the tournament where he did surprisingly well. Sadly, the man that was her father was long gone by the first round and the only thing remaining was a man gone mad with bloodlust. Returning back to the present, we finally go to the final round where it’s Fushi against Hayase, the woman who killed March. She’s the real mastermind behind all of this. She was the one that convinced Tonari to trick Fushi onboard the ship and bring him to the island (for reasons I can only believe to torture him). Fushi gets blinded by his rage and fights recklessly which Hayase takes advantage of. Fushi’s rage gets worse when he finds out she was the one who killed Parona (you bitch) and she capitalizes on this by knocking him out with a drug (scene here: https://youtu.be/LQP9DgZFFrI).
So at the start of episode 17 Hayase is declared the winner and the new ruler of the island, but in a rather left-field move she hands the right of leadership over to Tonari (the fuck?). As if that wasn’t crazy, she talks about Fushi and how she was his caretaker years ago until he ran away (bitch, you lying). She starts calling Fushi a god sent from the heavens to save the world and implores the islanders to join the cult of Fushi and fortify the island to protect him (what the hell is her game plan?) promising that no one will go hungry or have to work ever again (and there it is. There’s the brainwashing). Her speech manages to win over a majority of the crowd and Tonari and her friends sneak out of the arena to avoid getting killed (well the royalty of this island do have short reigns). Hayase drags Fushi off somewhere and throws him on a bed where she prepares to rape him (well that answers my question on her game plan. Still, https://youtu.be/oOCydGRcv1A). Before the crazy sex can begin, Hayase gets interrupted by Tonari and her friends who snuck in to save him. They arrive at the room where he’s being kept only to find that he’s been moved to another location and are now at mercy of Hayase (for the love of God protect your virginity kids!). Luckily, Fushi tricked her guards into taking away an empty husk and is now holding a sword against Hayase’s neck. He negotiates the safety of Tonari and the others in exchange for him (and whatever bizarre sex fantasy Hayase has). Hayase accepts and Tonari and the others are let go. Sometime later, Tonari makes the announcement that they have a ship that can carry 700 people off the island and she decides to take all the children 7 and under off the island only (while her heart is in the right place this is a terrible idea. These kids have no idea how to take care of themselves and now you’re going to send them off to a place they know nothing about). Pioran gets released and put on the ship as well but gets knocked out along with Tonari and the others so they won’t cause trouble. Thankfully, Tonari regains consciousness just as the ship is about to sail off and hops on a boat to return to the island where she plans to save Fushi.
In episode 18 Tonari makes it back to the island and attempts to rescue Fushi only to see he actually escaped (damn it Fushi, we had a whole plan and everything). With a storm hitting the island, Fushi and Tonari have no choice but to wait until tomorrow morning to sail out. They talk about Tonari’s dad where Fushi believes that the reason he killed was to protect Tonari and get her off the island, but she’s not convinced (and neither am I. That guy seemed way too comfortable in the arena. Didn’t even hesitate to kill). The next morning arrives where just when they’re about to leave the Nokkers attack the island. This time they’ve possessed the bodies of dead corpses (kill them with fire) and Fushi receives help from Tonari and her friends (who returned to the island) to fight them off. Tragedy unfortunately strikes where one of them gets attacked by the Nokker and becomes a walking corpse (noo~, I liked these kids) and two more of them also die in the process (oh God, not again).
At the start of episode 19 we see Hayase protecting some of the islanders from the Nokkers. One of the Nokkers tries to possess her, but she rips it off. She then sees Tonari running and is about to kill her, but Fushi stops her. Hayase tells him to kill her because she won’t hesitate to kill Tonari (do it! Kill this horny freak). Fushi of course doesn’t kill her and then we cut to the next scene where Fushi uses Gugu’s flame breath to burn the corpses and Nokkers. This now just leaves 3 Nokkers on the island which have possessed Tonari’s friends. Fushi gets ready to kill only for Hayase to show up and threaten to kill Tonari. In a rather bizarre move she wants to serve Fushi taking the dirty work of killing people while he remains pure and unsullied by the world (I really don’t understand this woman’s logic). She says she’ll spare Tonari in exchange for allowing her to kill the others, but Tonari regains consciousness and pulls herself and Hayase into the fire. Fushi manages to save them both and puts Hayase to sleep (scene here: https://youtu.be/0fAl-FH69lU). Fushi then picks up a sword and goes to kill the others himself (they graciously spare us the heartache of seeing them die for a second time). After this, Fushi decides to leave the island while Tonari and her remaining friend decide to stay on the island and make it a better place for everyone. Fushi finally leaves the island with Hayase (kill her) where she regains consciousness in the boat and demands to know what her objective is. Hayase says that she’s in love with Fushi (no you’re not, you lust for his immortality you crazy bitch) and wants to be killed by him so that she can become one with him. Fushi says no, creates another boat and leaves her out at sea (scene here: https://youtu.be/S-wipyn22_g) where the Nokkers approach her (that’s a dangerous team up right there).
The final episode of the season begins with Fushi finding Pioran and deciding that it’s best to leave her alone to keep her safe. When Fushi tries to leave he can’t help but worry about her and keeps going back to check on her (he’s lonely) all while leaving her food and items while she sleeps until she eventually catches him. The two start traveling together once again and make it to the forest of Sarlnine where Fushi realizes that eventually he’s going to have to face the things he doesn’t want to such as death and accept the outcome. The outcome came sooner than later as Pioran’s mind was starting to deteriorate (that is awful when that happens) and old age was starting to affect the body (judging by her behavior she might be suffering from dementia). She finally passes away but not before meeting Fushi’s maker who lets her experience her youth again (scene here: https://youtu.be/-W7HZGBvufk). Fushi weeps for Pioran and continues on his journey where decades passed, the world changed, and Fushi got older.
Final Thoughts
To Your Eternity is heartbreaking and painful at times to watch but at the same time it’s inspiring and beautiful to watch as well. The anime shows us that life is full of joy and pain. Some of us experience more pain than others and some of us experience more joy than others, but through it all it shapes who we are, what we value, and what’s important to us. The story of Fushi throughout the anime was great as we see him start off as this object with relatively no personality to speak of to a person who has experienced pain throughout his life and wants to keep everything he values safe was told excellently. You feel his pain because you experience life with him. We got to know the characters and to see them die is heartbreaking but necessary in a way for Fushi to learn and understand life and humanity more. They’re doing a good job building up a mystery around the Nokkers and make them come across as intimidating antagonists to Fushi. Just like he’s learning so too are they and whenever they come back they come back stronger than ever. I like that they brought back Hayase and did a complete 180 on her character. She’s the first person that Fushi doesn’t understand and doesn’t want to understand. She represents a broken part of humanity that Fushi finds disturbing and even I find it disturbing. It’s going to be interesting to see what becomes of her character now that she’s teamed up with the Nokkers. Is she going to control them, are they going to control her, or will it be a balanced relationship?
The animation is nice. Nothing great, but I will say the scenery is a nice change of pace. Its early civilization and nature untouched by modern culture. While there’s not a lot of world-building per se there is a lot of character-building which is where the anime excels at. While the animation may not be spectacular the music is as it sets the mood and tone of the anime perfectly and matches up with the civilizations and people we see.
Final Score
The final score for To Your Eternity is an 8.5/10. A very great anime that was way better than what I originally thought it was going to be. The second season is set to come out this fall and I look forward to continuing this beautiful tale. What new experiences will Fushi have? We’ll just have to tune in and find out. Until then, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.