There’s both a good and a bad side to being so sleep deprived that I actually fell asleep three times while writing this sentence. Counting all the positives, we have boundless creativity and a drive to write as many posts as physically possible before the end of the week. Keeping the much vaster swath of negatives in mind though, it doesn’t mean much that I have ideas when I can barely express them coherently. And that, children, is my excuse for getting this post up nearly five days after watching the episode. So yeah, sorry about that.
Civilizations rise, flourish, and either slowly fade or are forcibly wiped off the map due to either outside forces or the results of their own self-destructive machinations. It’s a story that defines recorded time, and it’s going to be told here in thirty minutes or less, or your money back. The question is occasionally asked about what would happen with direct intervention from somebody who could anticipate and even prevent mankind’s hubris from destroying everything that it’s striven towards? The answer is something akin to the episode of Futurama where Bender assumes the role of God to a group of diminutive space people, except with Watashi, fairies, and a miniaturized version of the birth and destruction of the society whose skeleton surrounds them.
While the world of Jinrui often takes center stage with Watashi taking a side role commenting and not necessarily intervening, this is one of the only episodes that entirely depend on her to drive the plot forward. It could be argued that the time loop arc is similar, but she’s a victim of circumstance and only progresses the plot through the wonder of serendipity. She still grows, but she’s preordained to repeat the same action time and time again regardless of how much she tries to change the result through another action. It’s interesting that she takes center-stage and outright forms a society that, in a way, is based around her worship by the fairies. She’s less on the sidelines and more a molder of lives, which is quite a change. And, strange as it is, it’s for the better in terms of plot to actually have Watashi play a more active role where her actions have consequences for those around her.
It’s not like Watashi takes advantage of the fairies’ unerring devotion, molding their habit of waiting on her hand and foot to fit whatever sick power fantasies she has. Regardless of just how manipulative she was, Watashi wants nothing more than to cheer the fairies up and eventually make her way back to the rest of human civilization. It’s definitely a defeatist concept, that no matter how well things are going and regardless of the intent, everything that mankind builds up will eventually crash down on them. Hoping for direct intervention from a higher power will only lead to unfulfilled wishes, and the fairies trying to do things on their own has the inevitable consequence of building things beyond control. No matter how ambitious they were, they moved long past the point of their capabilities matching their aspirations.
Fairies being analogous to humanity in this scenario is a bit of an odd concept, but it’s solidified in this episode through Watashi’s inability to prevent their society’s destruction by their own little hands. It proves the old adage of history repeating itself, and in turn the lack of foresight demonstrated by the whole of humanity. Even when there were warning signs that the fairies were headed down a treacherous path toward ruin, Watashi didn’t take notice until it was too late. The fairies acting very human is fascinating, but at the same time worrying. If creatures with their ingenuity and efficiency have such an ability to build a functioning society in a short amount of time, what destructive potential do they have? Are they really the bees of the world, building and thriving off the land in symbiosis, or like locusts that short-sightedly consume everything around them with no concern for the world’s growth? Only time and more hilarious mishaps will tell, preferably with more suicidal carrot bread and dog-related puns. Keep going in this direction, Jinrui, you’re awesome!
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