Not 'that girl' but the other one

And yes, it was well made - I will be having nightmares for quite some time.

However, I do have a small criticism. I don't think it leaned into the male loneliness epidemic as much as people online have been saying it does.

Warning: spoilers ahead!

It might not have been the directors intention to highlight the issues surrounding male loneliness but if it had been I would have changed two scenes.

The first, when Nicki asks Bear if he likes her. This didn't bother me too much but I think if he had stammered out that he did like her and then she had been very nice and said she didn't, his wish would have become more dark - he received rejection and couldn't take it. As it stands, I think it is a good insight into the "epidemic" because he wasn't brave enough to try and put himself out there where as Nicki was bold enough to ask him straight. However, it doesn't feel like it is showing the extent to what loneliness could drive someone to do, it is something that I think is reasonably understandable - he didn't think it would work and it was something "harmless" that he wished for.

The scene that did hint at how toxic male loneliness could be was when Nicki was talking in her sleep and asking Bear to kill her and he could only focus on her rejection like my dude???

Nonetheless, the real scene that I would change is the ending.

I think it was a relatively happy ending, all things considered, because Nicki survives and gets her agency back.

But if it was critiquing the toxicity of the male loneliness epidemic, I think one of three endings would have been more horrifying.

Bear accepts this messed up crazy Nicki and decides to dedicate his life to the possessed version of her because it is better that she has no individuality or agency than for him to feel alone and rejected. This would have been terrifying because it shows how far men who experience this would go - and I think some of them might actually go this far as I saw a review saying 'other than the toilet habits, so long as she cleaned it up, it would be ideal' which grossed me out.

He kills Nicki. This would have been terrifying because it was his own doing that made her that way and it would show how entirely self absorbed he was. Bear was not a violent character and he did frequently show cowardly tendencies so maybe this would have been too far off for him. Although, I will offer an alternative to this that if he had been crying afterwards or something that could have worked well, showing that he only really cares about himself.

Nicki makes the wish for Bear to love him and he doesn't die in the end. This would be horrifying because it was flipping the script. I often think if men were subjected to the same treatment as how they treat woman they would be outraged. It would have been fascinating to see the general discourse after the movie if this had been the ending. It also would be disturbing to see two people happy in something that is so clearly distorted and wrong.

Kay so firstly is so exciting to watch an anime as it’s released. Most of the anime I’m watching has been released years ago and I’m catching up - which is nice cause I can just watch but there are spoilers and a lack of people currently talking about it. Besides, it’s kinda really cool to have to wait for stuff and not know what’s happening. 

Anyway, it is such an interesting story and it is so well made. Neither character is one I have seen before. Hikaru is so interesting because (initially) I thought he would be possessive of Yoshiki but it’s actually the other way round. I found myself really desperate for Hikaru to stay, for him to be able to live and discover life which I didn’t expect to feel. Nonetheless there is still this deep sadness to know it isn’t really Hikaru but if we can pretended it is, if he can have another shot at life in some way, I’ll take it. Which ,now that I think about it, is probably exactly how Yoshiki feels. 

I also love Yoshiki’s character. That tangible mix of shame and defiance. He wants Hikaru to stay, he loves him and even though he won’t quite acknowledge it (at least til the end) he’s the one who can’t let go. He feels like he should. Loved the line ‘he’s not sick. He’s a homosexual.’ Because it shows that Yoshiki knows his feelings and what people will say. He hides it sorta. He won’t say that he’s gay but defends the neighbours son which shows me that he might pretend to not be gay to not cause a problem but when push comes to shove he can’t deny who he is - and he shouldn’t. I really loved that part. 

Also dealing with grief, how people can’t move on, can’t let go. Especially with these unsaid and unrequited(?) feelings that Yoshiki just wants Hikaru back and he doesn’t care what that means (has the potential to turn toxic but I’m rooting for them to have a happy ending!)