| Amid the earthquake-like situation and people vanishing left and right, Gwen and Miyuki see Miyuki and Yulong as children--that doesn't make sense, since this version of Kowloon is supposed to be based on Kudo's memory. Kujirai and Kudo become separated and she desperately searches for him. She plunges into an abyss and finds herself underwater and drowning. Her pet goldfish, 'Success', appears to her and, she senses, leads her (no longer drowning) towards Kudo. Kudo is playing mahjong with three old men. Two of them vanish and the third asks Kudo if he wants to 'end this'; Kudo is undecided. The man thanks Kudo for the 'nice dream' that he made possible. Kujirai finds herself back at the Real Estate office. She remembers various things Kudo and Yulong said to her. "So, this is the result of my actions" she concludes. "Everyone, including me--we may all disappear". Success leads her onwards towards Kudo but won't go all the way. Kujirai commends the fish for finding its Absolute Self. She comes to a door with a talisman that says "Don't Open It". She enters anyhow, into a sort of movie theater with the Gene Terra cube acting as the projector. She sees a scene with Kudo and Kujirai B together. Kujirai B remarks that she likes Summer--"It's ideal"--and wishes it would never end and never move on. Kudo proposes that they get married at the end of August. She says she'll give her answer tomorrow, August 31st. At Gwen's bar we see him take the photo that got Kujirai's search for an explanation of herself started. In another scene Kudo goes to Kujirai B's place--and finds her dead. A year later he's visiting her wrecked apartment again. "Why did you have to die?" he asks. "Was it because I ruined your Summer?". At that moment the cube transforms demolished Kowloon into his intact version of it. Kujirai is alive but asleep; he leaves. He finds on his cellphone clock that as each August 31st ends it resets to July 1st. Kujirai, in the pseudo-theater, notices that Kudo is there as well. "What are you doing, looking into my mind without permission?" he asks. She asks him how many times he has repeated the same Summer; he hasn't kept track. Kudo says that at first he thought he was dreaming. “As this unchanging Summer repeated on and on, you kept on changing” he says. They go to a cafe. “I think I have a good guess as to why Reiko didn't get replicated perfectly” he says. He realizes that he never really understood her at all. “How could I replicate someone like that?'. Kujirai muses that maybe its impossible to truly understand anyone—even yourself. She figures that perhaps she was trying to “leave this Summer,and leave Reiko Kujirai with you, then you'll acknowledge me as a separate being from her. And that will prove that I'm my absolute self.” But she realizes that wasn't right. No one can be 'saved' by somebody else. She warns Kudo that likewise “Only you can save yourself”. He asks her if she's leaving Kowloon, and she says she is. He reminds her that she might disappear, but she cheerfully says she'd be OK with that since it was the result of her own decision. “you're you and nobody else” Kudo comments. Kujirai turns and walks away while Kudo enters a room where he finds a duplicate of himself. After talking with himself he says what he finally realized was that he couldn't have a 'do-over'. “Let me off the hook already” the duplicate says then is gone. Kudo breaks down in tears. Meanwhile, Kujirai sees Kujirai B talking with the woman who controls the Bai Yuen Shan Tower. Kujirai B asks if it is wise to accept a gift (Kudo's marriage proposal) that is likely to 'change the world'. She admits that she's a coward and can't make up her mind whether to accept or not. Later, Kujirai reaches the boundary of Kowloon and steps across it. Nothing happens to her. Yaomay (and Xiaohei) is there waiting—Yulong told her to. Yaomay asks what has happened to Kudo. “Summer is over, isn't it?' she remarks. “But it's not just an ending” Kujirai replies. “There are things that will begin now too”. They find Success out of water and scramble to find some. Gwen and Miyuki see them and walk by without them noticing. Yulong is there too. Two years later and amid Winter, Kujirai is awakened by her alarm clock. She's now a Hong Kong travel agent. She goes to a restaurant to meet Yaomay. As she waits for her friend to arrive the radio announces that the Hebinuma Group is dissolving and former leader Miyuki remains missing. Much to her surprise, all of a sudden Kudo sits down at her table. “It took me a while to sort things out” he says.
THE END |
| This was a neat and sophisticated show, nevertheless, I wish several things had been explained more thoroughly. Like, what exactly is a 'generic'? Wouldn't everyone in Kudo's Kowloon have been a generic, since he didn't know them completely? And how was it possible to have a place that was an accidental alternate reality created for one man, yet real people can enter and leave it? How were people other than Kudo able to access it? Why did 'regret' enable them? Nevertheless, it has a pleasing ending. Somehow, which I didn't completely understand, Kujirai is a real person who can venture outside of Kowloon and Kudo has made peace with himself. |
