For those who have regularly read my anime review blogs, you'd know that I hardly watch an anime that came out recently in the same year, except the show is so good to catch my attention in that season when it aired.
A 6 episode psychological drama, easy to watch and easy to miss, still from the day it aired the name stuck with me, I told myself I'll watch it, and this week, I did.
Takopi, a happy alien lands on earth from his planet Happy with the mission of spreading happiness on Earth using his happy gadget.
His first experience is with a 4th grader Shizuka Kuze yet after vowing to bring back her smile, he realizes just how complex the human emotions are and just how hard it is for happiness to be gained.
Watching this movie was a lot. I felt all the emotions of a silent voice but instead of the subtle sloping sad feeling and the progressive showings of the trauma shown in that movie, in this one, we see and feel the raw trauma and it leaves us speechless.
In this show, there are three main characters and they're the ones who we're going to look through in depth.
First we look at the main character, Shizuka Kuze.
She's one whose situation is very drastic and the one we see her mental health shake steadily.
Due to suffering from bullying, abandonment and neglect, she has a warped sense of logic and a severe fixation on her dog Chappy who's her one source of joy and the driving point of the anime.
What I found so real about this character was later on in the show when we see her at her lowest, disowned by her dad and chappy is lost, we see how the trauma and abuse spreads and the bullied becomes the bully as she turns on Takopi, the only friend she had.
Marina Kirarazuka is a very complex character, especially complex in the age she was portrayed in. She's a core character and the primary bully of Shizuka.
At first I thought she was just a hateful girl who was there to thicken the plot but now I know and realize she is the plot.
Marina is both a victim and abuser and this is meant to show just how trauma and abuse is passed down. It's especially sad and real when Takopi said this to her...
As her mother directs her anger and emotional instability to Marina it's the same way Marina directs it to Shizuka and Takopi.
Naoki Azuma is one character I took direct interest in. He didn't have any immediate traces of trauma. Coming from a happy complete family with a loving compassionate brother, he seemed to be the standard average child.
Yet this show shows us that the average looking child might have some hidden mental issues that stem from its own misunderstanding and family situations.
Naoki comes from a family of doctors, has an extremely talented big brother and a strict mother who emphasizes on excellence.
With his brother earning perfect grades, Naoki always strived but never could and every time he failed he lost a treat. This put immense pressure on him, and after a while, it broke him.
We then get to see just how this broken child interacts with others, so starved for love and attention that it's so easily flawed his normal reasoning and senses.
This series is an eye owner for mental health on children.
Normally we've had a lot of series and movies approach mental health in anime. The poster image for that would probably be "A Silent Voice", or something like "My Lie in April."
Yet this has raised the bar, discussing it in such a raw, unfiltered way, without any lies or half truths. Truly from the point of view of a child.
It's alarming, it's ugly and it's real, that's why it's such an eyecatcher.
At first we recognized Marina as the villain, them later on some views switch it to Takopi, but the true villains are the parents who couldn't take care of their children, those who failed to, those who tried too hard and those who didn't try at all.
It's truly a mess of a show and not for the faint of heart or the younger audience but still I recommend it with a stunning 9 star rating from me.
The title of the series is Takopi's Original Sin, and in the show the original sin is him turning the arms of the clock to help a human, yet I think Takopi's Original Sin is him being a child with a childlike approach to help other children already living in the cold, angry, cruel world of adults.
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