| Yulong muses that "Most likely, the requirement to see Kowloon is a sense of attachment. But considering Yaomay-chan, it can't be attachment only to Kowloon. At the moment, the confirmable people who can see the generic Kowloon are these four" (he brings up a set of photos on his computer--of Kudo, Yaomay, Miyuki and Gwen). "For Miyuki, his life in Kowloon--his past--meant something nice for him". As for Kudo, "It's only natural that he was attached to the past where his fiancee was alive. Those with strong attachment to the past can see the generic Kowloon. That would apply to Xiaohei, too". We see a photo of Doctor Wong with Yulong and Xiaohei as children. Yulong takes a taxi to demolished Kowloon. We flash back to when Miyuki informed him that he was going to be adopted by the Hebinuma family. Apparently, he got his snake tattoo and split tongue to prove his loyalty to his new family. "It was a requirement for my mother's treatment" Miyuki says. Yulomg slashes his own ear in mockery (I think) of what Miyuki has done. We see Miyuki and Yulong view the body of Miyuki's mother in a morgue. He regrets joining the Hebinuma family and swears "that man will pay for this". He asks Yulong for his help and Yulong agrees. Viewing demolished Kowloon, Yulong says to himself "The first time was from the flames of anger. The second time, from this hometown that no longer exists. I have to do something before you get swallowed up any further". "Did I make the right choice back then?" he asks himself. After he's briefly blinded by a dust-laden gust of wind, he realizes that the emotion that lets you see the generic Kowloon is not attachment but regret (Now he can see it, too). Elsewhere, Yaomay is with Gwen and tells him about how she remembered her trip to Hong Kong. She had hoped to prove that her friend 'Reko-pon' (Kujirai) was real but all the evidence she found suggested she wasn't. Still, she refuses to accept that. "Honestly, I can't be empathetic to the people in this Kowloon like you are" Gwen says. He strongly advises Yaomay to leave Kowloon, precisely because she is real. So should all the other real people. She points out that he once told her he was in Kowloon because of 'someone he couldn't leave alone'; it's the same for her. He insists he's here for himself. Yaomay recalls the rumor that the demolition of Kowloon was some sort of cover-up conducted by the Hebinuma Group. 'Weasel' (Yulong) told her that the clue to what was being hidden could be found in the countless talismans. Gwen says the talismans are dangerous and Yaomay should stay away from them. She finds his strong urging to stay away from something so ubiquitous in Kowloon to be very suspicious. Yaomay mentions how she noticed that it's always Summer in Kowloon; Gwen already knew that. Later, Yaomay wonders how much of what she has learned should be shared with Kujirai. She notices a poster for a special showing of 'Butterfly Dream', her mother's famous movie. She gets a cell phone call from Kujirai, who has just seen another vision through Kujirai B's old glasses. This time she saw Kujirai B slip a talisman through the mail slot in a door in the seedy North Kowloon district and get a small bag of red pills in return. She suspects this has something to do with why Kujirai B killed herself and wants to go there to investigate. Yaomay insists on accompanying her; she's certain the Hebinuma Group was involved somehow. Xiaohei is thinking about Yulong's offer that Gene Terra could make him look like he used to if he kills Kujirai. Just then Kujirai comes by. He's tempted to kill her there and then, but before he can act his generic calls Kujirai and begs for help because 'the device in his ceiling is buzzing out of nowhere' and is driving him mad. Kujirai figures this 'device' is a fire alarm and therefore Xiaohei would be just the person to fix it. While she's dragging original Xiaohei to the apartment Yaomay calls and agrees to come as well. Meanwhile, Gwen asks Kudo just how much he knows about the present Kowloon. Gwen is surprised to learn that Kudo is aware of the rule that an original and a generic supposedly can't coexist within Kowloon (though that is obviously not true in the case of Xiaohei). He tells Gwen about the time he saw a generic vanish when it's original entered Kowloon. He in turn asks Gwen just what he knows about Kowloon, and Gwen admits there are things he doesn't know--like exactly what is and isn't replicated. He mentions how it seems to him that dead people being replicated isn't a good thing. At the apartment of Xiaohei's generic, original Xiaohei easily fixes the fire alarm problem. Apparently this is the first time he has gotten up close to his generic, who is unaware that they are related. Original Xiaohei is brought to tears. "Looking at my past used to be painful. But now I'm so happy" he says. As Gwen and Kudo leave their cafe, Gwen mentions that he doesn't understand how Xiaohei and his 'fake' both exist within Kowloon. Kudo had never realized that cross-dressing generic Xiaohei is actually male. Gwen notices that somehow something he created in the previous Kowloon but which didn't replicate in this one until now has. He asks himself "Could it be? This Kowloon and Kudo-san are...?". Meanwhile, generic Xiaohei vanishes in the presence of original Xiaohei, Kujirai and Yaomay. "He found out about me" Xiaohei says, then faints. He awakens under Kujirai and Yaomay's care. He knows that they couldn't find generic Xiaohei. "It's only natural" he says. "This Kowloon is Kudo's creation" (WTF?). "This Kowloon is Kowloon as Kudo remembers it from a few years ago. It only replicates what he recognizes. Things he didn't know about aren't replicated at all. It seems to be set up so that when an original enters their second version disappears. Since Kudo thought I was a girl, the other Xiaohei and I were able to coexist. But he must have caught on". Yaomay is confused, but Xiaohei explains that he's the original and is much taller than his generic because he has grown considerably in the space of three years. "I came here for two reasons. One was to investigate Kowloon at the request of a certain corporation. The other was to kill you (Kujirai)". Kujirai asks him why he wanted to kill her, and he tells her about Yulong's offer--to let him "go back to who I used to be". He was supposed to save his memories up to the present day into Gene Terra, "then we'll download those memories not into a clone grown from scratch" Yulong explains "but into the vessel that's already been replicated". "Sounds absurd, right?" Xiaohei says. "But it was plausible for me, since I already had a generic me. I would have had to eventually test things to see if a generic could exist outside of Kowloon, though". He admits it was the Hebinuma Group that he was working for. Yaomay asks him why he has told them all this, and he says that seeing the two of them has convinced him that "I've come to think that I don't need to cling to the generic version of this world". Xiaohei says he's leaving Kowloon, since he now knows too much and fears his client will come after him. Yaomay urges him to take some of his generic's clothing, which he does. Yaomay decides that there's something she, too, needs to do outside of Kowloon, namely come to terms with her mother. She vows to find her Absolute Self then return to Kowloon and Kujirai--a few days should be enough time. She warns Kujirai that the medicine Kujirai B got was probably connected to the Hebinuma Group and she must be careful. Xiaoheu clarifies that "I said that this Kowloon was created from Kudo's consciousness, but you (Kujirai) are the only existence that was not replicated from his memory. I think this has to mean something". As Xiaohei and Yaomay leave Kowloon the clothing Xiaohei is carrying dissolves into thin air, but he doesn't mind. The two of them look back and find that they see only the demolished Kowloon. |
| A big episode. Lots of stuff happens in a matter of 23 minutes. I sort of wish some of this stuff had been revealed to us several episodes ago instead of holding onto it for this long. A good number of buildings are still standing in 'demolished' Kowloon. I had assumed that this Kowloon was a creation of the Hebinuma Group, but now we are told that Kudo was responsible. How does a real estate agent create a whole alternate reality? Maybe Kudo is a customer of Hebinuma, which will create any sort of alternate reality for a fee. But why would he have created one in which there's a woman who looks like his fiancee, but has a different personality? So that she won't meet the same fate as Kujirai B? You would think Kujirai would demand a more thorough explanation of Xiaohei's mind-blowing revelation, but she doesn't. If 'regret' is the emotion that allows a person to see this version of Kowloon, it would seem that Xiaohei and Yaomay have made peace with themselves and have nothing left to regret. Xiaohei's remark that he "would have had to eventually test things to see if a generic could exist outside of Kowloon" suggests what will become of Kujirai. Most shows are not worth the trouble of taking copious notes and trying to predict how things will end, but KGR is different. |
