"I hope you'll stick around tomorrow"

Takopi's Original Sin is a great anime. It looks fantastic, the animation is undoubtedly some of the best this decade, its voice acting is wonderful and full of energy and charisma, and its soundtrack is beautiful. It's a show that already has a ton going for it, and immediately I fell in love with it. To be completely honest, going into this having only known that it was a 6 episode ova about an alien on earth and having seen the amazing poster for it, I was already hooked. It brought to mind FLCL, my favorite anime, possibly even my favorite work of art ever produced (I hope to one day write a truly great essay on it), and the premises are enough alike on the surface for me to truly invest myself before it had even started.

And then it did start. A big black screen detailing that there would be portrayals of suicide, depression, and just general trauma. It was the first time I had ever seen something like that in an anime, even within anime that portray heavier subjects like Madoka Magica, The Satoshi Kon works, Higurashi, and made in abyss. I'm no stranger to art thats willing to display and explore these themes though, so as upsetting and jarring as it was, I trudge on.

I'm familiar with how these shows and how this medium lulls you in only to right hook you with some huge big twisted shock. I understand that for most people, a lot of the enjoyment comes from that moment of revelation, the moment where "the real show" begins, and I guess ill urge you, if you have any intention of watching this show, you should probably go do so immediately. From this point forward, I will be talking about it freely, but for what its worth, mainly only the first episode.

Takopi is cute. He's a lil pink squid with a simple goal of spreading happiness with his happy gadgets. He lands on earth and meets Shizuka, an equally as adorable fourth grade girl who accepts him rather immediately. However, almost immediately, you can tell something is up with Shizuka. I don't know what it is about her design that told me everything I needed to know about her, but it's clear immediately that she doesn't have it easy. She's getting bullied at school, has a broken home, and she just IS traumatized. While Takopi seems to provide her with some sort of relief, Shizuka is clearly at her ends with all of it, and this is only further brought into focus after her and Takopi meet after she is brutally beaten by her bullies. Shizuka is ghostly. She's scuffed up, swollen, and still bleeding from the event. Takopi tries to offer her this rope or ribbon that allows two people to become friends when they are tied together, and Shizuka takes it and leaves, telling Takopi that she'd come back later to return it. She never does. When Takopi goes to her home to check in on her, it's too late. Shizuka is hanging from the ceiling. Shizuka has committed suicide.

This scene was brutal. I was only halfway through and I had never experienced a moment like this in any anime before this. I've had my fair share of children dying in anime in horrifying and sad ways, but I hadn't endured something this crushing since I had read Oyasumi Punpun. I'll get to more on that series later in this review but for now, know that the quietness of the scene coupled with Takopi's realization was one of the most soul crushing experiences I have had with any piece of media ever. However, within this crushing weight, a part of me knew that what was unfolding on my screen was something incredibly special so I moved forward.

After this, it is revealed to the audience that one of Takopi's gadgets, a camera, has the ability to go back in time, and from then on Takopi's has determined himself to avoid the timeline where Shizuka kills herself. Takopi then goes with a more involved approach, going to her school and helping her throughout the day. Before we seemingly repeat the moment that brings Shizuka to her breaking point with her bully, Takopi reveals another gadget, one that allows him to transform into a perfect replica. He does so, and meets with Shizuka's bully Marina. Takopi then fully feels the weight of the hatred Marina has for Shizuka, getting brutally beaten and brought to tears by her. Marina hates Shizuka because Shizuka's mother has broken Marina's home. Takopi, having endured this, repeats the day another time and goes with an approach where Shizuka and Marina end up avoiding each other for the day. Shizuka shows him thanks, saying that he has improved her life in a small yet meaningful way, a true moment of respite. The first episode ends with a shot of Shizuka, Takopi, and Shizuka's dog sleeping.

For me, the connection to Oyasumi Punpun is rather personal. That manga was my first deep dive into literature and counterculture that dared to stare unflinchingly at the pain of children in fractured homes. It mirrored my own childhood more closely than I wanted to admit: parents doing their best but slipping where it matters most, violence in the extended family, constant financial and health troubles, the isolation of being “the older, less needy” child. Add in language barriers at school, and I grew up with a deep sense of disconnection. Suicidal thoughts came early.

Punpun looked directly into those feelings and, somehow, I found comfort in that. It told me I wasn’t alone. That there were others who understood, even if they’d never met me. Over time, works like it helped me forgive myself and even forgive others, because I saw that this inherent ugliness I thought my life to have wasn't unique to me. It wasn't real at all.

Takopi’s Original Sin, to me, feels like one of those future seminal stories. It carries the same emotional weight of a work like Oyasumi Punpun, but updates it for the problems facing today’s children in its format and presentation. The core is the same, these are unfortunately timeless issues, but It isn’t misery for misery’s sake either. It’s an earnest attempt to offer comfort to us, to tell its troubled viewer that they aren't alone while also bringing these issues and themes to its admittedly shielded otaku audience. It worked for me.

I am comfortable calling the first episode of Takopi's original sin the best opening episode I have ever seen from an anime, and for the most part, the immense care that is put into its introduction to make it a cold, harrowing, yet heartfelt watch is present in all of it's episodes, also being coupled along with this incredibly tense thrill drama. This series will shock you in more ways than just being another melancholy-core anime, and I'd be hard pressed to call this show anything other than a modern classic. Everyone has a little bit of Shizuka and a little bit of Takopi inside them, I can't imagine anyone coming away from this without anything. My anime of the year, and a new instant favorite.