The first and third words of the title have been obvious from the beginning, but the middle finally got name dropped this week. All in all it was a less frenetic week exposition wise, which I’m heartily glad of. The excess of Hebinuma and Gwen in the A-part didn’t absolutely thrill me as I find them considerably less engaging than Hajime and Reiko. But all in all this was a step back towards Kowloon Generic Romance at its best.
For starters, Kudou-san and Tao-san (Gwen) had an interesting conversation which leisurely filled in a few gaps. After they ran into each other at the site of the “collapse” which ended last week’s episode, Hajime apologized to Gwen for “disappearing”. Gwen made reference to Hajime being an outsider in this Kowloon, and encouraged him to get out as quickly as possible. It’s pretty obvious something bad is happening structurally, but Kudou is disinclined to leave, and Reiko is clearly the reason. Whether it’s love or not, he clearly feels a sense of responsibility for her.
It was confirmed that the second Kowloon was demolished (by Hebinuma Inc.) three years ago. And that it was an illegal copy (I’m not even sure how that works). Hebinuma makes a trip inside and instantly feels sick, which supports the idea that the place is breaking down. He passes out and winds up being carried to a burlesque club called “Flower Garden”. At this point he asks about a dancer named Sihan, and while it’s not confirmed it seems pretty safe to assume that’s his mother. Given his illegitimate status that certainly fits.
Everyone keeps talking about becoming their absolute selves, and that certainly includes Hebinuma and Reiko, who coincidentally (or not) stops by the club as a representative of the company (just as the power in the dressing room goes out – but only the dressing room). Again, we get more low-key exposition here, and while it is by explanation at least it makes sense – Reiko absolutely should be asking Miyuki these questions. She’s not a Zirconian, he says. Nor is she a clone. So what is she? There’s no word for it, and even he doesn’t seem to know exactly. But he coins a term – a “Generic”. And tells her it sounds like she’s doing a pretty good job finding her absolute self, even if she still hasn’t gotten Hajime to accept it.
Thanks to Wong-sensei and Yuulong (who breaks into his files to check out Kujirai-B’s history) we also find out that she killed herself. Why? Kudou-san’s conversation with Tao suggests that it was because with Kowloon about to be torn down, her life was as good as it was going to get. That was why he planned to propose, though whether he actually got around to doing so is unclear. Reiko tells Yaomay she’s decided to move out of Kujirai-B’s room and let Hajime decide what to do with it, but a midnight visit from him on the anniversary of her death convinced her otherwise.
The last big bomb dropped here is courtesy of Yaomay’s invitation to Reiko to join her for a shopping trip to Honk Kong. It’s pretty easy to see where this is g0ing. Fortunately Gwen winds up at the exit at the same time because he’s ordered a pizza (after Miyuki told him not to eat the food in Kowloon, itself interesting). I’m wondering if all these coincidences are really coincidence, but be that as it may it seems very likely that without his intervention Reiko would have disappeared. She’s like this Kowloon – only real to certain people, but to those people as real as any flesh and blood human could ever feel. All of this still doesn’t make conventional sense, but the nature of the nonsense is finally starting to become clear.
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