A little in-depth look into the charms of Fushi from "To Your Eternity"!

<![CDATA[This time, I would like to introduce Fushi, the main character in "To Your Eternity". He is a handsome young boy with a good appearance, but in the story, he is described as not being human, but an object thrown onto the earth by a mysterious person called the Observer. Perhaps because of this, he does not have many noticeable human-like emotional ups and downs, making him a character whose mind is difficult to read. In this article, I would like to introduce Fushi's basic setting and also provide a detailed analysis that only SF and fantasy enthusiasts like me can understand. This is a pretty core content, but if you look at this main character from this perspective, the NHK anime "To Your Eternity" starting in October will be interesting! ! This is what I will be talking about, so I hope you will read to the end.

Fushi's personality and the author's ingenuity

Originally, Fushi was a object thrown into the world by the Observer, so he had no intelligence or even emotions, but through interactions with various people in the story, he gradually acquired human-like sensibilities and, ultimately, a personality. Since he can basically copy the appearance of any stimulus, the basic principle of Fushi's behavior is the desire to obtain new stimuli, and it is explained in the work that this desire is the purpose of Fushi's journey. Unlike humans, there is no depiction of any emotions or changes in facial expression, making him a rather unique protagonist. If anything, the emotions and expressions of the surrounding characters are depicted in more detail than Fushi, and Fushi's non-biological personality can be said to be the author's device to show the work from a bird's-eye view.

Abilities

In addition to the ability to copy triggered by stimuli, Fushi's abilities include the ability to regenerate. This regeneration ability works without restrictions, and it is explained that there is no such thing as death for Fushi. Being immortal is also the origin of the name "Fushi". In addition, as an extension of his copying ability, he seems to be able to create things from his own body without any restrictions if the target has been stimulated and acquired them in the past. These abilities were very useful in the middle part of the story, where there were many battle parts.

The presence of the mysterious observer

The existence of the observer is inseparable from the story of Fushi. The observer, who is the main reason why Fushi came to this world, is not explained in detail in the story and is shrouded in mystery. His appearance is hidden by a pitch black robe and is basically invisible to people other than Fushi, so people who learned of his existence through Fushi call him "the black one" or "Mr. Black". He's a character whose position is difficult to grasp, as it's unclear whether he's even human, but when Fushi encounters the Knockers, he informs Fushi that they are "enemies," and he often appears before Fushi to help him, so he doesn't seem to be a complete observer who doesn't interfere with Fushi. He clearly states that his goal is to "preserve the world," and it is made clear that Fushi was thrown into this world for that purpose, but it is unknown why the Observer does such things, and it is unclear in detail what he (?) means by "preserving the world." What is the Observer trying to do with Fushi? We look forward to future comments.

Fushi as an immortal being

The biggest feature of "To Your Eternity" is that the characters, centered around Fushi, change over time. Fushi never dies, so he will have to say goodbye to some of the companions who have been with him. His story of learning and growing greedily through his interactions with them and their deaths has a large-scale, so-called epic fantasy charm that draws us readers in.

How does Fushi view humans?

It is not difficult to imagine Fushi's presence as a theme of the work. The story of humanity being affirmed by a being more innocent than humans, and one's own existence being affirmed, is also an eternal theme of humanity, as seen in the ancient story of Jesus, the son of God in the Bible, who died bearing the original sin of humanity. In modern works, Luffy from "One Piece" and Tanjiro from "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" acknowledged the people around them and saved them by affirming them, so Fushi, as an innocent being, also moves the hearts of those around him, doesn't he? However, an innocent being cannot remain innocent forever. It is because Fushi himself is interested in humans and approaches them that he will eventually come to realize the true nature of humans. Will Fushi become a blessing to humanity like Jesus Christ or the innocent protagonists of Jump? Or will he despair of humanity and become a disaster that destroys them? How will Fushi see and think about humanity in the future? I look forward to Oima-sensei's skill! !

Who is Fushi? Looking at him from every angle

So, I would like to talk about who Fushi is. In this part, I would like to analyze Fushi from a broader perspective, rather than interpreting his character from the setting. Needless to say, the idea of a mysterious object suddenly coming to Earth and affecting humanity originated from the "Monolith" that appeared in the 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey," but the image of Fushi as a being that has a will and interacts with humanity may have originated from the Mazon that appeared in the Japanese manga "Captain Harlock" published in 1977. In these past works, the opening scene of a foreign object coming to Earth often has a great connection to ancient human civilizations in the subsequent developments, and is often linked to theories of human civilization as a theme. For this reason, if "To Your Eternity" follows the royal road as a science fiction work, I believe that Fushi's origins will definitely be related to ancient civilizations. What kind of view will the author, Oima-sensei, have on the theories of civilization in science fiction works so far? We can already look forward to the detailed settings of Fushi that will be revealed in the future! !