#uragami

Throughout the whole thing, Shinichi (among others) constantly talks about how the fundamental difference between humans and parasites is that humans are altruistic and emotional, and parasites are selfish and cold. But Reiko Tamura and Migi both end up sacrificing themselves to save humans. The way episode 23 ends wants to make you think the moral is that the parasites have become more human by becoming more emotional, that the fundamental difference was indeed selflessness, and the parasites are truly closer to humanity than anybody really thought. It certainly makes a plot-perfect ending.

But episode 24 makes a thematically perfect ending by wrapping up Uragami's storyline. Because he also disproves the binary idea of parasites = emotionless = bad vs humans = emotional = good. He is arguably the most 'evil' character, because unlike any of the parasites, he's not even doing anything for the sake of survival for himself or his species. He kills, brutally, because he finds it thrilling and enticing. So the moral changes to saying it's useless to try and use conventionally human metrics of deciding how worthy another species is, especially when based on emotions, because there are plenty of humans who defy that explanation. There is no definite emotional quality that makes someone truly human.

We also see Shinichi succinctly sum up at the end that we shouldn't try to apply human emotions to things that will never be human, and that something's lack of humanity, especially as a nonhuman thing, is not a flaw or something to be scorned. It's just how it is. No two species will ever fully grasp eachother. And that's OK. We're all alive, and all deserving of life and respect. And if that isn't the sum of my morals so far, I don't know what is.

Another very interesting theme that I don't see too often is the idea that you can't profess yourself as a lover of Earth in its entirety if you also claim to hate humanity. Humans are a part of Earth. We were all born here, and we, most of us at least, will all die here. We are just as much a part of the planet as are any other species we've discovered thus far. We've certainly done harm to the planet and its denizens, but that doesn't make us something foreign. Even if we are the equivalent of a virus, aren't viruses themselves parts of Earth too?

I absolutely adore this anime. I don't think I truly appreciated it when I watched it for the first time. It beautifully encapsulates the complexity of both environmentalism and the nature of humanity as a whole. I could write for ages about it. But I think I'll leave it at this for now.

If y'all haven't, please go watch it. It's only got 24 ~20 minute episodes, and it's such a refreshing take on what's usually a 'humans are the real bad guys!!' moral.