#haoran

My theory about a male Xiaohei being the gas-mask janitor is true! Though, I would’ve flipped out if that weren’t the case because it was so obvious. Though, what intrigues me is the fact that male Xiaohei is able to infiltrate Kowloon under Papa Hebinuma’s orders, but the female Xiaohei has yet to disappear. Does this mean female Xiaohei isn’t a clone? Or is this some sort of weird error in the Generic Terra’s system. Also, why can male Xiaohei see Kowloon, but Yu Long can’t? Still, it’s interesting that there’s another villain faction being involved, which is Papa Hebinuma’s part as male Xiaohei is his spy. Is he trying to use Xiaohei to keep tabs on Kowloon?

Like I said before, the only person who can be trusted in this story is Kujirai and Yaomay with the latter going all ace detective in trying to uncover the deeper parts of this story. One thing I love about KGR is that everyone in the story fulfills a purpose in some ways. Yaomay’s role is to be the viewer’s placeholder and discover the mysteries of this illusion Kowloon to the point of meeting Mr. Chen and Yu Long. It makes sense for her to be the one to be gathering all this information because she’s basically an outsider to everyone else as she’s the one who has the least amount of knowledge regarding the place they all live in. In a way, everyone else is involved with Kowloon in some shape or form, except for Yaomay. I find this so brilliant in execution. I strive to write my own original story Lavender Eyes like this.

Apparently, the Second Kowloon was demolished three years ago due to something the Hebinuma group wanted to hide. Sometimes, my brain plays tricks on me, but was it already explained what it was? I did think it revolved around Miyuki and Generic Terra in some ways. Heck, Papa Hebinuma called Miyuki Haoran, which makes me wonder if the first attempt of cloning revolved around the dead biological son or if the father is just going senile. It’s interesting how Hebinuma is a Japanese name, yet Miyuki is of Japanese origins (possibly), but Haoran is a Chinese name. Did Papa Hebinuma marry a Chinese woman? But Miyuki also asked the female brothel workers if a dancer named Shihan worked in their place; I presume Shihan is probably his mother? Shihan is a Chinese name… Does Papa Hebinuma have a thing for Chinese women or something?

There’s also the matter of Mr. Chen. He told Yaomay that his grandson talks about being able to see the phantom Kowloon, meaning that his grandson is one of the active characters in the story, I bet. Who could it be?

Kujirai-B’s cause of death is revealed to be medicine overdosage. Given that regular sleeping pills wouldn’t have killed her unless she consumed thousands, which is impossible, maybe the Second Kowloon had produced a medicine that’s so strong, it caused Kujirai-B’s death and also the reason why the city got demolished in order to hide it—maybe she was their test subject?

Still, I feel bad for Kujirai in that she’s questioning her existence after learning the truth of the phantom Kowloon and about herself. In a sense, Kujirai is technically a sentient NPC given awareness. I also feel bad that while KudoKuji finally got some progression, it’s bittersweet. There’s still a lot not known from Kudo’s side. He likes Kujirai, but is he able to keep it separate from his feelings of his late fiancee? What will he do when he has to move on? Will he ever move on? Will he forever be a slave to the illusion in order to be shackled to Kujirai then and now? While I find these two cute, I do think that the anime is focusing more on the mysteries of the world, so that these two feel a little outshined at times. Still, it’s nice to know that they did the thing and that it’s possible to do so with a Generic…wait, if Kujirai can only be seen by some people… if people had witnessed their intimacy, would they think Kudo is off his rocker for banging the air?

The reveal that the illusion Kowloon is stuck in a forever summer time loop was crazy. Since Kujirai-B’s death anniversary is August 31 and the calendar reset to July 1st, it means that there always has been a time loop of a month or two in constant replay. But like, why aren’t people inside Kowloon aware of this? Do they think there are only two months in the year or that they immediately jump 10-11 months without knowledge?

Also, I can’t believe the anime casted Soma Saito as the male Xiaohei. I’m super stoked because he’s one of my favorite seiyuu. If you’re not familiar with Saito, he’s in Wind Breaker as Seiryu Sasaki, the chatty twin, in Wind Breaker. Outside of the current seasonal anime I’m watching, he’s also been in Blue Lock as Chigiri and Sasaki and Miyano as Miyano. I honestly can’t wait to see more of male Xiaohei just so I can hear more of Soma!

Seriously, this anime always leaves me with more questions whenever I get something answered. I also heard that the anime is going to get an original anime ending written by the author, so I feel like I may need to read the manga which I am planning on doing because I really like this story a lot! Let me know your thoughts about this episode!