Name: Not lighthearted. Not fun. This is a story of the tragedy of life and death, trauma, abuse, bullying, and suicide.
Item: Takopi's Original Sin
Rating: 95
Author: AkikoKumagara

Waifra

Not lighthearted. Not fun. This is a story of the tragedy of life and death, trauma, abuse, bullying, and suicide. · Waifora

This review contains spoilers beyond the first block of text. Read at your own risk.

To start, let's just say this kind of story is right up my alley. With some of my favorite films being Fight Club (1999), The Butterfly Effect (2004), and Stay (2005), it should come as no surprise that this is something I found interest in immediately as I discovered it. I was drawn in initially by the art style, which I found in a YouTube short-form video showing some panels from the manga, which looked as beautiful as it did dark and grim.

Spoiler, click to view

I think exploring the darker side of humanity through an ignorant alien creature losing its own innocence is kind of common, but not really often explored in the way it has been here, with the alien creature initially being a force for positivity rather than being corrupt and abusive from the start. Instead of manipulating people, its own faults were influenced by its interactions with flawed humans and its desire to bring them all happiness. The last words Azuma Naoki said to Takopi really put this into perspective. Humans can be both good and bad at the same time. No one can simply always be happy, and that's OK.

Exploring multiple main characters' perspectives by switching the roles of the main characters mid-story was a bit of a pleasant surprise, and I think the way it was handled to make the viewer feel guilty for their initial perceptions of one of the girls based only a glimpse into her life was genius, and I wish more stories did things like this to give more depth to the cast.

Despite everything, I most relate with the character Kuze Shizuka. I don't think the actions of Kirarazaka Marina are necessarily forgivable because of her home life, but I also don't think she deserves to die for being a bully. Shizuka's death becoming regrettable to Takopi immediately, to the point where he was genuinely broken by it, shows that while he initially wanted her dead (though he didn't know it at this time), he's not an evil alien. The same can be seen in the case of Marina's death. He felt pained by it, even though he was defending his friend.

The ending not being tragic was also a nice change for me, as I'm kind of tired of that trope in these darker stories. It's important that we realize that not every sad story needs to end in the most painful way possible to evoke an emotional response.

I cried. A lot. I cried myself to sleep after finishing this series. I love it. I'm sad, but I love it. I want more things to make me think, and to make me feel in the way that series like this manage to make me do, and I will never tire of the ones that manage it.

It's not perfect, but none of us are perfect, and there's beauty in that, too. If your heart can take it, you should watch it.