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The story of "To Your Eternity" begins one day when a mysterious person called the "Observer" throws a "sphere" onto the ground. The protagonist of this work is the "sphere" that has the ability to copy the form of any object when it senses a stimulus from it. At the beginning of the story, the "sphere" is called "It" and the story is an objective look at the process of "It" changing from "stone" to "moss" to "wolf" and finally to "people" over the years and becoming involved with the human race of this world. Stories about foreign objects being suddenly thrown out have been attempted in many SF works, but the idea of the object acquiring a sense of self and interacting with humans as the basis for a human drama is truly bizarre and eye-opening.
Delicate opening development and key points
"It" has taken on the appearance of a wolf and meets a boy who dreams of a fertile land. "It" accompanies him on his journey in the form of a wolf, but the boy dies due to injuries sustained during the journey, and "It" takes on the appearance of the boy and sets off on a journey in search of further excitement. As you can see from this opening scene, "It"'s purpose is the primitive thing of getting a thrill, and it does not have clear emotions like "sadness" when someone dies, so it is a very primitive creature. Later, while traveling, it meets a girl named "March" who is fleeing from being killed as a village sacrifice, and as they travel together, it learns the name "Fushi" from March, and learns knowledge from a new priest called Pioran whom it meets at the place where March and it are taken. By meeting new people, Fushi (It) acquires various things. The most important point in this rough flow is that those who are involved with Fushi give something to the immature Fushi, and then die. Unlike living things, Fushi does not have a lifespan, so the important points in the beginning are how the people involved with Fushi affect him, how they die, and how Fushi perceives it.
This is where it gets interesting! A hot mid-game battle with a gear-up system!
After being taken away with March and meeting Piolan, March is killed and Fushi and Piolan are forced to act together. The story then unfolds in a series of intense battle scenes, including an unexpected encounter with the mysterious monster Knockers that are targeting Fushi, a joint battle against the Knockers with a new companion, Googoo, who can brew alcohol in his body, and a battle royale on Janna Island, where criminals who have strayed due to a mistake and their families are isolated, with the aim of escaping. The sudden change from the human drama-based story at the beginning of the story is captivating. The point of the middle part is that Oima-sensei's ingenuity in not letting the reader get bored is fully utilized.
A vivid end
The end part begins after Fushi has spent 40 years on Saru Nain Island after Pioran's death. The point is the skillful collection of plot twists that can only be achieved by building up a certain amount of story, such as Fushi's relationship with the self-proclaimed guardians of Fushi and their leader Hisame who appeared before him, and his reunion with Tonari, a girl he met on Janna Island, after 40 years. If you look back at it while paying attention to the details, you may find something interesting!! Tonari is killed by the Knockers, and at the suggestion of the Observer, Fushi goes out to town and is captured by Prince Ponshen of the Uralis Kingdom.
A little deeper story 1
So far, I have roughly explained the contents and points to pay attention to. If you have never read it before, please read the manga version! I'm sure you will be obsessed with the unique atmosphere of this work! And above all, I think that the decision to make it into an anime on NHK in October 2020 is significant. As I wrote earlier, NHK anime is a collection of masterpieces that shocked the Japanese science fiction and fantasy world, such as Hayao Miyazaki's "Future Boy Conan" and "Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water". It's exciting to hear that a new fantasy animation will be broadcast this year on NHK, where traditional works from the Japanese science fiction and fantasy world have been broadcast! What kind of evolution of animation will "To Your Eternity" show us?
A little deeper story 2
Another feature of this work is that the author is a woman! ! Recently, it has been a hot topic that the author of "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" is a woman, but the author of "To Your Eternity" is also a woman! ! Until now, SF and fantasy works have often been drawn by men, and the depth of the work has been expressed by increasing the amount of information in the picture by drawing detailed descriptions, but perhaps because Yoshitoki Oima is a woman, she has finished her work with a very feminine approach, increasing the amount of information in the picture by drawing subtle changes in the characters' expressions, and it will be interesting to see how this will be expressed in the anime! ! I think we'll be able to see more detailed depictions of the relationships between characters, like in A Silent Voice!!
I'm looking forward to both the anime and the second part of To Your Eternity, so there's no way I won't watch it!!
So, this time I gave a brief synopsis of Oima Yoshitoki's work To Your Eternity, and a more in-depth look at the highlights of the first and second parts!!
Whether you've been immersed in sci-fi and fantasy up until now, or are watching it for the first time, this is a work that you'll definitely enjoy, so please give it a go!!
Well then, I'll be off. Thank you for reading to the end!!
