a***@bell.net
2020-05-27 01:36:14 UTC
Last night I finished re-watching 2012’s wonderfully bizarre comic fantasy “Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita”, aka, ”Humanity Has Declined”. This time I watched the 12 episodes in chronological order instead of the original broadcast order (which is also the Japanese Blu-ray order) which was somewhat in reverse from the chronology. The anime holds up very well, particularly in any of the parts with the “Fairies”.
What struck me in particular this time around, maybe because I watched the series in chronological order, is how the nameless protagonist and narrator behaves and sees the world around her. She has been trained to study and be the intermediary between what remains of Humanity and the very alien Fairies, but she also seems to have received an advanced degree in Passive-Aggressive Behavior. (LOL) I also noticed more the deliberate word play both in Japanese and in English, such as using the word “kami”, which can mean hair and god, for deliberate misdirection, and the terrible pun of referring to a dog as “time paradog”… The little shorts that come at the end of each of the disks continue the fun in terms of their titles which are all from various anime or sci-fi movies.
All-in-all it was a very satisfying re-watch. It’s not a series for everyone, but if you want some smart theater-of-the-absurd it’s worth looking up.
Dave Baranyi
What struck me in particular this time around, maybe because I watched the series in chronological order, is how the nameless protagonist and narrator behaves and sees the world around her. She has been trained to study and be the intermediary between what remains of Humanity and the very alien Fairies, but she also seems to have received an advanced degree in Passive-Aggressive Behavior. (LOL) I also noticed more the deliberate word play both in Japanese and in English, such as using the word “kami”, which can mean hair and god, for deliberate misdirection, and the terrible pun of referring to a dog as “time paradog”… The little shorts that come at the end of each of the disks continue the fun in terms of their titles which are all from various anime or sci-fi movies.
All-in-all it was a very satisfying re-watch. It’s not a series for everyone, but if you want some smart theater-of-the-absurd it’s worth looking up.
Dave Baranyi