A Testament to Courage » Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 – Episode 10
Posted by 0rion on September 12th, 2009 - 11:50 pm
“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.” – Seneca the Younger
It’s no mistake that Yuuki’s name means “courage” (勇気). Throughout the story of Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Yuuki more than anyone else has been the one who held on to hope, who had courage in the bleakest of circumstances.
And now, even in death, Yuuki leaves behind his namesake.
For reasons that largely baffle me, many people seem to have been really bothered by the developments of the last few episodes. I have to wonder if perhaps some of it is an issue of being “lost in translation”. I watch this show raw in Japanese, as I do with most series that don’t employ ridiculous specialized vocabulary, and I felt the dialogue that was used (or not used, in some cases) made it pretty clear from the beginning that Yuuki had passed away and was no longer actually there.
They didn’t come out and say it overtly, but many of the nuances of the Japanese seemed to make it fairly obvious. I had actually written up a longer post specifically on this issue, but it was eaten by my word processor and I didn’t have the heart to re-write the whole thing from scratch. Sigh.
In any case, I don’t see the direction the story has taken as some kind of “trick” or “gimmick”. The past two episodes were never about the so-called “Mirai delusion”, or some kind of story contrivance to keep the viewer in suspense.
It was a passing of the baton.
The story of Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 opens by emphasizing Mirai’s self-loathing and lack of desire. Mirai hates herself, her own 未来 “mirai”, or future. To her there is nothing to look forward to, nothing to hope for, so in the present she is rudderless, just drifting through life without the will to swim against the current.
She longs for the wholeness of the round cake that represents the unity her own family has lost, but she does nothing to try and repair the fragmented relationships. Instead, she simply wishes that the world would break.
Yuuki, on the other hand, fondly remembers better times, when the family was whole. To him the memories of Odaiba Bridge and Tokyo Tower serve as a link to those happier days. His desire to go back there with everyone echoes his hopes that the family can also return to the way it was.
Even when the very symbols of his hope – Odaiba Bridge and Tokyo Tower – crumble to the ground, he remains courageous, constantly striving to lift others up, to try and rebuild those “burned bridges”.
Courage has never been simply about having no fear or feeling no pain. It is accepting those difficulties and finding ways to overcome them. It is about holding on to hope even when everything you rely on falls away.
Yuuki brings back Mirai’s phone when she throws it away. He encourages her when she loses hope. He guides her to find Mari’s family. Whenever Mari is unable to support them, he leads the way and guides Mirai onward himself.
And through these experiences, gradually his courage passes on to Mirai. He still leads in many ways, but Mirai begins to follow less reluctantly. She stops panicking and starts acting more level headed during emergencies. She is able to take the initiative and save others.
And yet when Yuuki passes away, Mirai still isn’t quite ready to stand on her own. So Yuuki remains.
The questions of how it happens, or whether he is a ghost or a figment of her imagination are irrelevant. The point is, he leaves Mirai his “yuuki”, his courage to go on even when hope has disappeared, when she is unable to continue.
Ghostlightning calls it a “lie”, but I don’t think this is quite a fair way to view this story arc. Yuuki remains because Mirai needs him; she needs courage to keep going, but hasn’t yet found that strength within herself. Yuuki stays until Mirai is able to continue on her own.
In episode 10, Yuuki asks Mirai, “If I died, what would you do?”
“If you died, papa and mama would probably cry themselves to death. I would too.”
Mirai isn’t ready yet to accept the truth. She doesn’t quite have the courage to face that reality. And so Yuuki remains.
Every time Yuuki drifts away, Mirai begins to cry. And every time, Yuuki returns to comfort her. He doesn’t push the issue by forcibly trying to confront the “elephant in the room”. He simply remains and waits until Mirai is ready.
The scene in the classroom is the defining moment for Mirai. When she learns Yuuki’s true desire for going to Odaiba she begins to understand the kind of courage he possessed – a limitless hope for the future. When she sees the “mirai” kanji he drew, she comments that she can tell he “really put everything he had into drawing it”.
Yuuki’s notebook reflects his attitude. It’s a picture of the as yet unfinished Tokyo Sky Tree, the 333 meter tall communications tower that will soon replace the aging Tokyo Tower.
Even though Tokyo Tower may have fallen, Tokyo will soon rise again, even stronger than before, with the Sky Tree serving as a symbol of hope to the people – a reminder that even though the world may broken, as long as courage does not fail it can be rebuilt.
I think it’s through this understanding of Yuuki’s true character and courage that Mirai finally begins to find the strength to continue on her own.
Mirai demonstrated some courage of her own by acting calm during the aftershock and protecting Itsuki – a far cry from her cowering reactions earlier in the show. Perhaps at least a little of Yuuki’s “yuuki”, or courage, has finally passed on to her.
All that remains is to see what Mirai does with this courage, what kind of future she decides to make for herself. Throughout the last couple episodes, there have been many times where Mirai has turned around and said, “Yuuki was right here a moment ago.”
Hopefully, in the final episode, Mirai will instead be able to point to herself and say, “Yuuki (courage) is right here.”
R.I.P. Onozawa Yuuki
I think perhaps the most fitting words to describe the pathos of this series come from the opening song from Gunslinger Girl, “The Light Before We Land”:
Good post! Perhaps it’s unfair, my take on Yuuki. I do stand by it, as a matter of being a point of interest and not a moral judgement. Authenticity, reality, truth… These are interesting subjects for me and I tend to read the works I blog within these contexts.
I too, did not enjoy this episode as I did the others, but I don’t buy into all this ‘jumping the shark’ and gasp, ‘trainwreck’ business I’m beginning to sense from the talk among viewers.
I also thought his name Yuuki meant courage, but when I saw the form application in the hospital episode, the kanjis were different. It’s 悠貴, or, uh, calm nobility?
But anyway, it was a great episode 10. I was a bit slow, so I only realized it in episode 9, when Yuuki stopped talking directly to Mari. The show is on its way to be an instant classic, for sure.
Great post. I think perhaps the only flaw in the execution is that we realized that Yuuki was gone an episode earlier than Mirai did, which makes it feel a little drawn out, but I thought this was a very good episode. And I agree that Yuuki’s memory (or Mirai’s mind) is slowly letting go of Yuuki until she can accept the truth.
@ ghostlightning
Maybe it’s because I tend to be less concerned with things like authenticity or scientific accuracy that the issues that seem to be bothering other people don’t bother me. I tend to be much more interested in the development of thematic ideas and emotion more than factual or linear story progressions. Japanese storytelling tends to work that way much more so than Western storytelling, which is one reason why I really like it.
I hesitate to say that it’s a lack of cultural understanding and appreciation on the part of many Western viewers that cause them to reject the story mechanism, but I really do feel like that’s where a lot of the issue comes from. I feel like watching this show in Japanese, from a relatively Japanese mindset, I’m getting a totally different story than the people who are watching it subbed. It’s probably just my pretentiousness coming through, but otherwise I’m kind of at a loss to understand many of the reactions I’ve seen to this show.
@ ahbonk
While the kanji used for his name are different (the spelling used is a very common one for that name), I still stand by my statement that it’s “no mistake that his name means courage”. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the name Yuuki actually spelled as 勇気, but that’s still very much the inspiration behind the name in many cases.
@ RP
While I can understand that some people are frustrated with that development, I think that it’s the whole point of the this story arc. I knew Yuuki was dead pretty much immediately because of the way the characters’ dialogue changed after the hospital scene. In my mind, these entire last two episodes were a sort of epilogue for Yuuki.
I think maybe too many people were expecting some kind of Shyamalan ending and were waiting for some grand denouement instead of being able to appreciate the simple story of this sort of spiritual passing of the torch from Yuuki to Mirai – a rite of passage for Mirai to grow into maturity adulthood and a fitting epilogue for Yuuki and his courage.
I dunno. I really don’t. People’s reaction to this episode are completely baffling to me.
When I read ghostlightning’s post on this subject, the only response I could think of was stunned silence. Of course I knew that Yuuki was probably dead, but reading about how the revelation actually came about was somehow a little too much. I had to distance myself a little.
But that’s interesting in and of itself, isn’t it? I mean, this is a show that revolves around a truly MASSIVE trauma, and yet I think this is the only time the show actually simulates traumatic consciousness for us, the viewer. Some have suggested that this show let Mirai’s delusions go on for too long before the end of the show, but I don’t think it’s true. This is painful, it makes us think, and it’s the best way to close things.
Now we just have to wait for the coda.
What 2DT said.
People are taking ‘realism’ too literally, not that PSTD isn’t realistic. I think I should mention that authenticity or the lack of it as a theme (among characters and relationships, not scientific accuracy) doesn’t bother me. Quite the opposite: It fascinates me!
You said to RP that you “knew Yuuki was dead pretty much immediately because of the way the characters’ dialogue changed after the hospital scene”.
Could you perhaps elaborate on this? Do you think all native Japanese viewers would have caught on to this fact as well? Because on my initial viewing of ep 8, I believed Yuuki was still alive until I read some discussion and looked at the hints. And the way the episode plays out, the fact still looks extremely subtle as if they did not want viewers to know.
That aside, I enjoyed this article; it helped my appreciation of ep 10 and TM8 as a series.
I largely agree with you, but your post brought some more things into perspective for me (particularly regarding this part of the story as a rite of passage for Mirai). Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I appreciate the clarification on the parts that may have been lost in translation, as well. I don’t know a lick of Japanese, myself, so I can go by only what I read in the subtitles + the visual cues. (The visual cues are mainly what led me to believe from the start that Yuuki died. I could never have noticed a subtle shift in language, haha.)
Some of the reactions to this episode have confused me, too, especially pertaining to the end when Yuuki tells Mirai that he is dead. I’ve read some people react like, “We already know he is dead!” which strikes me as ridiculous. That statement is not really for the viewer’s benefit. It is not even really a twist; it is Yuuki’s spirit — or the apparition Mirai’s mind has conjured, whatever your opinion on that is — putting Mirai on the last step to coming to terms with the reality of Yuuki’s death.
@ 2DT
I agree, I think this sort of “slow release capsule” approach to the culmination of the story provides much more artistic and subtle poignancy.
@ ghostlightning
Well said; it certainly fascinates me as well, as do most unusual thematic ideas in storytelling.
@ Echo
Well, as I mentioned, I had actually written an entire post exploring some of the Japanese language nuances and it was eaten by my word processor (that’s what I get for not just writing it in Wordpress). I was kind of discouraged after that and didn’t feel like re-writing it.
For example, though, after the hospital scene Mirai never uses any personal pronouns such as “I” or “we” in her sentences, with one exception. The one time she does say “we”, Mari reacts noticeably, which immediately tipped me off.
As to whether all Japanese viewers would have caught on immediately, while it’s a big stretch to attempt to speak for everyone, I do feel like Japanese speakers would understand much more quickly that Yuuki was no longer there. That said, of course the plot mechanism was designed to present it in a subtle way.
@ Shinmaru
Glad to know you appreciated the post. It’s always encouraging to know someone was able to better appreciate the series through reading a blog write-up I or someone else banged out.
From the looks of the comments in 2ch and in other Japanese blogs after episode 8 aired, it seems that many of them weren’t able to pick up the early cues regarding Yuuki’s death either, the same way people in the English community speculated about it.
But argh, all these people proclaiming Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 to be a “trainwreck” after this episode are getting on my nerves T__T So it took quite a while for Mirai to accept that Yuuki is, in fact, dead. But why the fuss? Had Mirai come to terms with Yuuki’s death as early as episode 8, what would that have contributed to the series?
We’d probably see more scenes with Mirai crying because of how fast the ‘developments’ were, just minutes earlier Yuuki was still with her, and not before long, he’s no longer there. It’ll probably take a while for Mirai to get over that, and once again we’d see people bitching over how it’s “taking her so long to accept that Yuuki’s dead, there’s no longer we can do about it, STFU, etc”.
Have people become so callous as to even understand that no, it’s not easy to get over the fact that someone you love has passed away. Screw “realism talks”, and understand just that.
Gah, I’m totally ranting here.
Glad you wrote this post, certainly refreshing to see such a positive take on this episode for once ;__;
[...] Orion begins his post in the best possible way to sum up how Yuuki has been: “It’s no mistake that Yuuki’s name [...]