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Obviously the characters all appeared multiple times in the first six episodes and their actions somehow resulted in the fate of another. All of these characters somehow was experiencing misfortune when they were attacked by Shonen Bat. For example Chuno was trying to get away from her prostitute self, ichi was in desperation because of the suspicion from others. The thing that’s connecting them, as said by Shonen Bat, was called Gohma. I interpret Gohma as misfortune. But I’m confused by what ties the detectives to the other characters. There doesn’t seem to be a really strong cause and effect relationship. Now the detectives are just like passive outsiders, although observing the entire case, unable to completely solve the mystery. The elder one was just about to prove the thesis that Sagi made up the entire case but right after he spoke up Sagi was hit unexpectedly, inferring that Sagi might be telling the truth after all. Now I’m just totally confused by what caused the accidents that happened to the characters, since I don’t see how Sagi can be hurt without even getting touched.
There are multiple connections among the 6 episodes, some connections more limited to few episodes, other connections spanning through all 6 episodes.
First thing to note is that most of the episodes have similar plot structures: there is a protagonist of the episode who has a life problem, the problem becomes uncontrollable, the protagonist feels trapped by his/her situation, and finally Shounen Bato (or localized as Lil’ Slugger) comes in and whacks the character.
Interestingly, all of the characters who are assaulted by Shounen Bato are later relieved to have been; they feel like Shounen Bato freed them from their life problems in some way.
All the characters have some kind of relationship with one another: for example, Chono is Yuichi’s tutor, Hirukawa is Maria’s client, etc.
The first six episodes are connected by a common theme of some kind of suffering that that episode’s main character is dealing with. Sagi is trying to cope with her spiteful co-workers and on top of that, she is struggling to think of new character designs. She is stressed and needs some kind of relief, something to cut the cord of tension in her life. The next episode features Yuichi, a school boy who, nevertheless his young age, is also dealing with some internal struggles. He is being falsely accused as a criminal and is being bullied among his classmates, on top of trying to compete for a leadership position. Rumors are being spread about him, and he develops a deep sense of paranoia. Yuichi is looking for a way to solve the problem…some kind of release from his troubles. The third episode features Harumi, who is dealing with some deep psychological issues. A prostitute by night, a private tutor (for Yuichi) by day, and as she tries to bury one of her personas, she realizes it may not be possible. She is having split personalities and is struggling deeply to resolve the issue. Harumi seeks to move forward, to be free from her internal dilemmas. The fourth episode portrays Masami, the police officer, who is being blackmailed by gang members, and as he struggles to collect the money by robbing unsuspecting families at night, he is also a character who we don’t know if he should be sympathized with. He sees prostitutes, more specifically, he often sees Harumi. The pressure of not falling vitcim to the gang member’s threats is catching up to Masami, and his stress, anxiety, and paranoia boil to unnerving levels. The fifth episode shows Lil Slugger, who appears to be the person behind all of the attacks, as he recounts his tale of why he has been committing such crimes. He appears to be plagued by a demon of sorts and needs to destroy him every time he possesses a new person. Clearly, Lil Slugger is dealing with some psychological and deep internal issues that haven’t yet been explored. Finally, Taeko is featured in the sixth episode, a young girl who slowly is driven to madness and paranoia because she discovers that he father–MASAMI!!!!—has been doing some incredibly shady business involving him putting cameras in her room to watch her undress. Her madness starts to spiral out of control, and she only wants to be set free from this internal pain…
All of the episodes are connected by threads of internal struggle, surging paranoia among the characters, and a desire to be set free from the binds of society.
What connects the first six episodes to me is Shonen Bat. He is viewed as a villain, but he’s also viewed as almost a hero in some ways. Almost every person hit by Shonen Bat needed to be “saved” in some context. The only person hit by Shonen Bat that wasn’t desperate to be saved in a way was Usshi, but he wasn’t the main focus in the episode. Every person that’s been the main focus in an episode (Sagi, Ishi, Chuno, Masami, and Taeko) have all had a pressing issue that has made them go insane to a certain point. For Sagi, it was the stress of trying to top her first stuffed animal design (even though as of right now, she apparently self inflicted her wound). For Ishi, it was the stress of not being popular and being bullied. One prominent thing I remember he said before he got hit was something like, “Shonen Bato my savior!” Chuno was dealing with her dual personalities. Masami was dealing with the stress of trying to pay off his enormous debt, and Taeko was dealing with her messed up family. The fifth episode didn’t necessarily focus on a person needing to be saved, but it focused on Kozuka, Shonen Bat. That episode went back over him saving everyone in a less serious context.
In accordance with the previous replies, the concept of relief serves as a common denominator across all the episodes, and the individual who delivered the relief was Shounen Bat. Sagi was stressed from her working environment; she was constantly pressed to create the next superstar character while being ostracized by jealous colleagues. Chono suffered from a severe dual-personality disorder, and she unsuccessfully attempted to cure her “prostitute half” through marriage. Yuichi was being bullied at school because of his close resemblance to Shounen Bat, and extremely worried that he would lose the student government election. All these characters faced some sort of stress and their relief came through the swing of the “golden sword.”
This is what I thought until the last episode of the screening on Tuesday. The last episode strongly suggested that Sagi hurt herself in order to escape from her stress, and this throws off the common connection mentioned in the previous paragraph. I have no idea how this twist will develop in the coming episodes; is the relief that Shounen Bat thinks he is giving just a hoax? Or is Sagi the only exception to this connection?
(Why am I developing more questions than answers for this prompt?)
I feel like what connects the first six episodes are each character’s need to escape from one’s problems. One similar characteristic of all the of the victims of Shounen Bat are that they are in some kind of slump in their life or close to a mental breakdown. The designer Tsukiko feels the pressure from her company as they push her to design a new character that will match the popularity of Maromi. Yuuichi, an elementary school boy who is used to being at the top, sees a decline in his popularity due to his resemblance to Shounen Bat and becomes jealous of his classmate. Harumi suffers from a psychological illness and struggles to put her prostitute lifestyle behind her. in the various scenarios, each person ends up in a position where they are unable to deal with their current circumstance and ask to be saved. Shounen Bat swoops in and “saves” the people who are calling out for help. One of the detectives makes an interesting comment about how each victim seemed somewhat relieved that they were the victim of hit and run assaults.
This all seems to show a connection to the opening scene where people are shown making excuses and escaping responsibility. The characters are using Shounen Bat as a sort of escape from their reality. After the victims encounter Shounen Bat, they wake up and feel more at ease and ignore their previous problems.
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