Who knew that the Grim Reaper could be so cute
Warning: Spoilers for 'Jijou wo Shiranai Tenkousei ga Guigui Kuru' (My Clueless First Friend)
Jijou wo Shiranai Tenkousei ga Guigui Kuru (My Clueless First Friend) is the story of the friendship of two fifth-graders - a girl named Akane Nishimura, who is constantly teased by her classmates as being cursed and being the Grim Reaper for her appearance and dead-eye expression, and a boy named Taiyou ''Rizz'' Takada, who is constantly amazed by Akane because Taiyou genuinely thinks that she has the amazing powers of a Grim Reaper.
One of the things I want to talk about is how much of a ladies man Taiyou is, but I think I will be talking about that in a second entry. So there are two other things I want to talk about instead:
The first thing I wanted to talk about is a question I wanted to ask, mainly for "academic discussion" purposes. Taiyou, on so many ocassions, says that being with Nishimura is so much fun. There is nothing inherently wrong with this - Taiyou and Akane are fifth-grader kids after all, so "fun" is probably one of the things on top of their minds. But the question I wanted to ask is: Does Taiyou see Akane just as a playmate, or does he genuinely care about her as a friend?
The answer is "yes," of course. And there are two instances that demonstrate evidence.
The first instance I wanted to point out was in Episode 08. Taiyou and Akane were climbing up the... playground climbers (I don't know what it's called haha.) And in typical Animé fashion, a gust of wind blows, Akane loses balance and falls, but Taiyou jumps towards her and uses his hand to cushion her fall. Akane is unhurt, but Taiyou breaks his arm and they are sent to the hospital. They meet at school the next day. Akane asks if Taiyou is ok, he responds pretty much with a very cheerful "yes", and tells Akane "I'm glad you didn't get hurt." (As a bonus, when Akane and his Dad were in the hospital and see Taiyou's mom, they both apologize and Akane profusely cries from guilt, but the Mom assures her that his wound will heal very quickly, that Taiyou did this because he wanted to protect her, and that she is sure that his son would say "I'm glad you didn't get hurt!")
The second instance was in Episode 04. Through the power of sheer serendipity, Taiyou and Akane meet each other during their summer breaks. One day, they visit the Nishimura family grave. Taiyou learns that the grave they are paying respects to is that of Akane's mother, and that she passed away right after she was born. Taiyou, realizing that he had been calling her the Grim reaper, connected the dots, and asked Akane "Hey... All this time, have I been saying awful things to you? I'm supposed to be your friend..." and, overwhelmed by guilt, starts crying in front of Akane. Initially Akane fails to reassure Taiyou that this was perfectly ok, but later on she is successful at convincing him to even continue to call her the Grim Reaper.
............
Speaking of guilt, the second thing I wanted to talk to was about Akane's guilt regarding the death of her mother. More specifically, the absence of it. Not that I am saying that she should be guilty about it. Akane did say that it "doesn't make me sad anymore" which implies that she initially was indeed sad about it. Instead, she is surrounded by love. Her father and grandmother tells stories about her mom, and his father tells him that he and her mom were so happy and grateful for her. And so I am glad that she does not feel guilty.
However things could have been the opposite. Akane says that her mom passed away "right after I was born," so Akane could have easily blamed herself for her mother's death.
Akane's classmates tease her as the Grim Reaper because of her appearance, but if they knew of the circumstances of her mom's death, these numbskulls could have called her the Grim Reaper because of that. When Taiyou found out about Akane's death, he could have also joined their classmates about teasing her, or even be appalled. Her grandmother and father could have easily blamed her for her mother's death, and they could have easily told her straight to her face that they wish that she was never born. (Apparently this is a common[?!} sentiment when it comes to Japanese parents.) And... even if we take the real status quo, where her classmates tease her about her appearance, where Taiyou thinks that being a Grim Reaper is cool and not ominous, where her grandmother and father are grateful for her... She could have still blamed herself. Fortunately this is not the case.
............
Technically there is a third thing I want to discuss, but I will save it for another entry, because I am still... gathering data. And I'm not even exaggerating about the data gathering. So for now, have some screencaps of Taiyou and Akane.
Taiyou Takada and Akane Nishimura, as they... were actually frolicking through a field.
The Anime is mostly wholesome, but this is a somber part, such as here where Akane talks about how her mother was like
Jijou wo Shiranai Tenkousei ga Guigui Kuru (My Clueless First Friend) is the story of the friendship of two fifth-graders - a girl named Akane Nishimura, who is constantly teased by her classmates as being cursed and being the Grim Reaper for her appearance and dead-eye expression, and a boy named Taiyou ''Rizz'' Takada, who is constantly amazed by Akane because Taiyou genuinely thinks that she has the amazing powers of a Grim Reaper.
One of the things I want to talk about is how much of a ladies man Taiyou is, but I think I will be talking about that in a second entry. So there are two other things I want to talk about instead:
The first thing I wanted to talk about is a question I wanted to ask, mainly for "academic discussion" purposes. Taiyou, on so many ocassions, says that being with Nishimura is so much fun. There is nothing inherently wrong with this - Taiyou and Akane are fifth-grader kids after all, so "fun" is probably one of the things on top of their minds. But the question I wanted to ask is: Does Taiyou see Akane just as a playmate, or does he genuinely care about her as a friend?
The answer is "yes," of course. And there are two instances that demonstrate evidence.
The first instance I wanted to point out was in Episode 08. Taiyou and Akane were climbing up the... playground climbers (I don't know what it's called haha.) And in typical Animé fashion, a gust of wind blows, Akane loses balance and falls, but Taiyou jumps towards her and uses his hand to cushion her fall. Akane is unhurt, but Taiyou breaks his arm and they are sent to the hospital. They meet at school the next day. Akane asks if Taiyou is ok, he responds pretty much with a very cheerful "yes", and tells Akane "I'm glad you didn't get hurt." (As a bonus, when Akane and his Dad were in the hospital and see Taiyou's mom, they both apologize and Akane profusely cries from guilt, but the Mom assures her that his wound will heal very quickly, that Taiyou did this because he wanted to protect her, and that she is sure that his son would say "I'm glad you didn't get hurt!")
The second instance was in Episode 04. Through the power of sheer serendipity, Taiyou and Akane meet each other during their summer breaks. One day, they visit the Nishimura family grave. Taiyou learns that the grave they are paying respects to is that of Akane's mother, and that she passed away right after she was born. Taiyou, realizing that he had been calling her the Grim reaper, connected the dots, and asked Akane "Hey... All this time, have I been saying awful things to you? I'm supposed to be your friend..." and, overwhelmed by guilt, starts crying in front of Akane. Initially Akane fails to reassure Taiyou that this was perfectly ok, but later on she is successful at convincing him to even continue to call her the Grim Reaper.
............
Speaking of guilt, the second thing I wanted to talk to was about Akane's guilt regarding the death of her mother. More specifically, the absence of it. Not that I am saying that she should be guilty about it. Akane did say that it "doesn't make me sad anymore" which implies that she initially was indeed sad about it. Instead, she is surrounded by love. Her father and grandmother tells stories about her mom, and his father tells him that he and her mom were so happy and grateful for her. And so I am glad that she does not feel guilty.
However things could have been the opposite. Akane says that her mom passed away "right after I was born," so Akane could have easily blamed herself for her mother's death.
Akane's classmates tease her as the Grim Reaper because of her appearance, but if they knew of the circumstances of her mom's death, these numbskulls could have called her the Grim Reaper because of that. When Taiyou found out about Akane's death, he could have also joined their classmates about teasing her, or even be appalled. Her grandmother and father could have easily blamed her for her mother's death, and they could have easily told her straight to her face that they wish that she was never born. (Apparently this is a common[?!} sentiment when it comes to Japanese parents.) And... even if we take the real status quo, where her classmates tease her about her appearance, where Taiyou thinks that being a Grim Reaper is cool and not ominous, where her grandmother and father are grateful for her... She could have still blamed herself. Fortunately this is not the case.
............
Technically there is a third thing I want to discuss, but I will save it for another entry, because I am still... gathering data. And I'm not even exaggerating about the data gathering. So for now, have some screencaps of Taiyou and Akane.
Taiyou Takada and Akane Nishimura, as they... were actually frolicking through a field.
The Anime is mostly wholesome, but this is a somber part, such as here where Akane talks about how her mother was like