Takopii no Genzai

Not since the first time I pulled down my girlfriend’s pants, only to be greeted by a penis larger than my own, have I been so confused about what to do with, or how to feel about, this thing dangling in front of my face. Takopi’s Original Sin is a confounding show with good intentions; equal parts harrowing, nonsensical, and affirming. The show itself has about as good an understanding of compelling drama as its namesake does of the human experience. Some advice to aspiring comic book writers, mangaka, or anybody in any kind of creative storytelling medium, really: There are two very easy things youcan do to ensure audience investment in a character. 1. Make the character in question a moeblob (or similar “cute” thing with smaller proportions) with starry-eyes. Everybody loves to root for a tiny, pure, and earnest creature whose design is also (conveniently) ripe for merchandising. 2. Have horrific things happen to them routinely. Either it should kill, suicide, and/or just be made to abjectly suffer. Nobody wants to see a baby fed to a wood chipper, y’know? This strategy is as effective as it is uncreative. Summarized above is Takopi’s Original Sin’s entire ethos, essentially. The “point” is basically realized in episode 1 when Shizuka David Foster Wallaces herself with the Reconciliation Ribbon; Takopi’s good intentions are to be routinely squandered, often in a darkly ironic fashion. Long story short, if you’re on the fence, you should probably just knock this one out; you don’t stand to lose much time even if you don’t actually end up enjoying the show and, chances are, you will anyway. In macro, as I see it (since you can only write a review from your own perspective), the changes ultimately visited upon the world and characters don’t wind up feeling like enough to justify/warrant all the trauma, heartbreak, tears, parental abuse, and bloodshed seen and experienced throughout. For such a bombastically animated and, just generally altogether, well-produced show, its thematic messaging, conversely, rings pretty mutedly. In other words, dare I say, it’s kind of a nothingburger–a very pretty and occasionally affecting nothingburger, but a nothingburger nonetheless. Part One: Volume Takopi’s Original Sin achieves a lot of what it does through volume. Not, like, mathematical volume; I mean through just how big, messy, and violent its proceedings are. The portrayal of bullying is turned up to 11, the domestic violence on display is turned up to 11, the characters and how they respond to the stresses of their lives, always, is at 11. As much as I respect the show for not pulling its punches, the impact of these topics and their scenes start to wane when, towards the end, you realize you’re witnessing Shizuka, Naoki, or Marina’s, like, sixth emotional breakdown in a third of as many hours. It insists upon itself. Not helping this is the show's length; as much as the brevity is appreciated to not let things potentially drag out unnecessarily, it does often result in the feeling of watching a montage of misery rather than actually, properly engaging with a well-told story… So, I guess I did also mean mathematical volume–the most fucked up, particularly psychologically damaging things happen to these kids at the drop of a hat, and eventually this begins to eat away at engagement. The pacing and structure is, overall, reminiscent of the motions of a yoyo; you’d have to basically forget each preceding episode in order to believe that one of the kids (or Takopi himself) *won’t* hit an emotional brick wall immediately after things start looking up for them. Part Two: Actual Psychopathy If I were to single out what I think is the show’s biggest fault, I’d point to its understanding (or lack thereof) of psychopathy and the types of people these kids (but mostly Shizuka and Marina) usually turn out to be. That’s not meant to sound as callous as it probably does, and it’s not like them hosting a plethora of mental illnesses and disorders is *their* fault, but, literally, this is how serial killers are made. A big theme of the show is how the type of behavior that is visited upon you as a child (parental abuse/neglect and bullying, all so extreme as to almost border on parody) is usually what you end up propagating in life later on. Takopi directly points this out to Marina. This is a good theme explored well (to a point), but the conclusion the show ends up reaching with it strikes me as dishonest, if not forced–if not completely facile and unreasonable. The OP hints at reconciliation with Shizuka and Marina, which is fine. The first problem arises about half an hour after you see it for the first time when (and I’m leaving some irrelevant details out, I know) Marina, with “prompting” only a sociopath would respond to, beats Shizuka down without mercy or apparent hesitation and disfigures her. First red flag firmly up. My thoughts when seeing this were, roughly, “Jesus Christ, that is a serial killer in the making! I don’t think this is just something the Power of Friendship will be able to fix.” Was I right or wrong? I’ll just say that a lot of OPs give a pretty good top-down view of what’s within the show itself and that I, ultimately, gave it pretty much the exact right amount of credit–hint: not much. Both Shizuka and Marina fulfill (at least) a third of the Macdonald Triad. For those unaware of what that means; broadly speaking, it’s not good! And the path through it would be extrication for both of them from their current situations and extensive therapy and medication–friendships are nice, but they’re kind of already fucked. Actually, Marina fulfills that third probably more than Shizuka does; it’s played for laughs, confoundingly, but Marina’s shown to be abusive towards Takopi, too–a totally sentient and feeling creature. Just like with Your Lie in April, slapstick comedy doesn’t pair well with serious, harrowing depictions of parental abuse. Your neck’s liable to get broken from the tonal whiplash. Part Three: Abuse, and how NOT to exhaust your audience with it The portrayal of abuse and dysfunction in Takopi’s Original Sin is affecting at first, but also quickly repeating and, eventually (unfortunately), comedic. What begins as an unnerving glimpse into a broken family, so brimming with resentment, mental disorder, and a predilection for violence that it’d make the Mansons blush, before long morphs into impressively contrived and cliched combat, marked by redundance and absurdity. “What’s wrong with you?! Do you REALLY think your dear mother should be drinking Steel Reserve?! NO! I demand THE BEST beer! If you don’t run to the store to get me some Miller High Life, the Champagne of Beers as we all know, I’ll carve your face with this broken bottle and put my cigarette out on your arm! “No, Mommy, I’m so sorry, I just-” “And ANOTHER THING! You’re ugly and I hate you! *sobs* Why do you hate me, my darling offspring?!” I, like, barely had to modify an actual scene from the show to achieve this dialog. That’s the nuance we deal with eventually. Shizuka is a latchkey kid taken to an immoral extreme–she’s all but just outright abandoned, and Marina’s mother is more a trope with a bad haircut than any actual character. The violence and trauma that it results in strains under the weight of its own artifice. To summarize, I *get* it (why oh why can I not italicize in reviews?). Maybe you’ll get TakopiTSD, but it’s hard not to guffaw at the abuse after a certain point. Part Four: We Need to Talk About Takopi Takopi, his design, misplaced optimism, and occasionally endearing misunderstanding of humanity, is definitely one of the best things the show has to offer; I imagine plushies of him sell like hotcakes. That being said, his thoughts and actions frequently left me buffaloed. He pretty quickly becomes intimately acquainted with violence and human anger, but these concepts also seemingly leave his mind as soon as he internalizes them. Anger not directed at Takopi (even after he’s internalized the concept) is not anger he concerns himself with, confusingly. He’s dealt first hand with violence, but seems almost completely unable to recognize it if he’s not directly involved. It reminds me of Violet Evergarden and how the writers of that just kind of made her feel whatever whenever the story or someone’s arc needed progressing. Takopi’s a less egregious example, but the same lack of a line of logic to follow is there; why he thinks/does what he thinks/does is oftentimes puzzling, more through flimsy writing than his trademark naivety. The entire crux of the story relies on him just being kind of dumb and forgetful. There’s a huge twist towards the end that he’s at the center of, the absurdity of which is the entire reason I feel comfortable even telling you about it; you’d never guess what it is and it’s sloppily foreshadowed. The only thing this twist serves to do is hammer the themes home even more–you can stop! The nails of thematic messaging were already firmly embedded in the plank that is the story! If the argument is that it helps us see things in a new light, sure, but it does that by basically fabricating an entirely new scenario. I find it akin to a Dragon Ball what if–what if Marina-chan was betrayed and trapped in the Time Chamber? Part Five: Naoki, and the stereotype of the strict Asian parent taken to a comical, but also somehow dull, extreme Naoki’s entire arc, which takes up a good chunk of the middle portion of the show and is about as smoothly inserted as a penis would be into a fleshlight made of sandpaper, is boring, largely unimportant, and exhausting; by the time we introduce a *fourth* comically evil parent, the bandwidth of my caring has already snapped. The fallout of it affects Shizuka for all of a femtosecond and doesn’t provide enough of a contrast to the rest of the cast’s dreary lives to feel worthwhile. Admittedly, episode 4 may be the peak of the series’ directorial efforts; some crazy perspective work emphasizes how alone and stressed Naoki feels, and some animation later on left me genuinely dumbstruck. It’s such a shame, then, that the writing doesn’t do its fair share. You’re literally never given a reason to hate (or even be suspicious of) Junya, Naoki’s older brother, unless you choose to subscribe to the same schizo views that Naoki has on him. It’s like how MAGAts allow themselves to be whipped up into a frenzy over immigrants, despite immigrants never having actually done anything to them, let alone take their jerbs. This robs Naoki’s arc of any sort of catharsis; his brother never deviates from being just a chill ass dude. The subversion that Naoki’s struck with just blows by the audience; it's literally the "they all hated me" meme. I know that guilt, pressure, anger, and a burgeoning paranoia rack Naoki’s mind, but still; his brother clearly cares a *great deal* about him, so their schism (entirely caused by their moustache-twirling villain of a mother, I get it) never feels authentic. Thank you, next. Part Six: Morality Takopi’s Original Sin’s understanding of morality, psychopathy, and criminology is naive to the point that it becomes difficult to seriously: 1. Remain invested in Shizuka and Marina’s stories. And 2. Believe in what the story asserts as it relates to their trauma and how they’re to move through/past it. That’s not as apocalyptic as it probably sounds–hell, I still ended up giving the show a 7 when it was all said and done (though it’s hanging onto that by a friggin’ thread). Simply put, and without spoiling anything, knowing what I know about sociopathy, psychopathy, criminology, and what the stresses Shizuka and Marina are subjected to *do* to a developing mind–I just cannot reconcile what they’ve been through and who they are with what the show asserts they end up becoming. Yeesh, that was a word salad. Put another way; the math ain’t mathing. The moral and criminological naivety reminds me of Monster, where Urasawa does everything in his power to convince you that no! Tenma was totally right to keep *not* pulling the trigger on Johan! Please just ignore all of the dead bodies left in his wake, many of whom wouldn’t have died needlessly if Tenma had just fucking shot Johan any of the multiple times he had the chance. How humanistic! Takopi’s thesis is just as detached from reality. The mundane ending–especially with consideration to how muted/lowkey the themes eventually become–all run totally counter to how I would ever believe things with these two individuals would play out thereafter. That’s not to say that realism = good; oftentimes I’m more of a proponent for believability within a certain verse over straight realism, but Takopi’s world is, ostensibly, ours as well. Covid hit them the same, childhood bullying results in the same neuroses, familial and societal pressure mounts for them the same, etc, etc,. It’s inherently dishonest to expect your audience to buy into your world (sans all the high strangeness, obvs) as being almost exactly like our own and then asserting that, nah, in a scenario where, in any other universe, what would be a supervillain origin story just… isn’t. It reminds me of the Evangelion manga’s ending and, much as I love it, that’s probably not a good thing. It’d also be one thing, with the anticlimax, to really, truly, deeply explore Shizuka, Marina, and (to a lesser extent, much as I don’t like him he’s more fleshed out) Naoki’s suffering and really bring the audience along on a one-way trip to Hell, but the show doesn’t fulfill that premise completely. Instead of any profound mediation on anything they’re going through, the show’s more than happy to just keep having bad shit happen to them. To summarize my whinging, the ending neither fits the overall tone of the rest of the show, nor does it serve as enough of a change to warrant the belief that things *actually* turned out the way they did. For those that have already seen it, even if you disagree with me, I hope you can see where I’m coming from. For the uninitiated, don’t let my perspective cloud your thoughts; odds are you’ll greatly enjoy it! Like I said before though, I do genuinely respect the show for not shying away from depicting the awful things it does. Much as it’s not exactly clever, it’s still never, like, *pleasant* to see a 10 year-old girl get ragdolled by her mother, or for another one to feel such hopelessness that she takes her own life. It’s distressing, and that’s not a feeling many contemporary anime inspire within me, so I feel like I have to be appreciative. Beyond that, the art and animation truly is gorgeous. It’s able to achieve a sketchy, broken up look without using an ugly filter or just *being* ugly. Scene composition is exquisite, the character animations are regularly stunning (though also occasionally confounding, why is Marina making such a goofy face in the scene almost directly after she disfigures Shizuka?), and, as mentioned before, no scene is truly allowed to drag. The actual audio/visual components of the show are all top notch. Chef’s kiss. Strange little show, this. What begins as affecting and confronting turns nonsensical. The very visceral suffering the characters experience quickly repeats itself, leading your mind to drift. While I’d never (on account of the audio/visual aspects, premise, and initial buildup) think to call it an outright *bad* show, I’m still not sure if I’m comfortable giving it a full pass. The rest of this review may seem overwhelmingly negative, but that’s only because I feel like the writing ultimately lets down an otherwise great premise and I feel like it’s the most prescient aspect to dissect. If I were to compare this show to another–that’d probably let people know where they stand on this without having even seen it yet–I’d compare it to Wonder Egg Priority; that endearing little disaster of a coming of age sprinkled with high strangeness as well. I think that probably had more potential than this, but it also squandered far more of that potential than Takopi ever gets around to. If, in spite of the fall, you enjoyed WEP overall and appreciated what it was doing and were able to connect with its characters, then you’ll likely enjoy Takopi, too. If not, then you may prefer to stay clear. If nothing else, I hope the reception to this means we get more stories like it. Not *exactly* like it, mind you, but more stories in the sphere that at least show an inkling of interest in being actually mature and visceral. At its worst, Takopi’s Original Sin is still a far more spirited use of the medium than something like “I Was Reincarnated as a Buttplug in 8th Century Bosnia!”

People basically worship what they don't understand. If you look at this anime very logically, you will realize that you are not following a deep and meaningful story at all. Maybe the author was looking to write a very meaningful story, but he did a very poor job of conveying this work. But the majority are like this, because it has a dark and psychological atmosphere, we definitely don't understand it and it is beyond our comprehension, so it is a masterpiece, but they never think that maybe the author's work is really so weak that even he himself cannot fully execute what is in his mind. If youspend some time and analyze the story of the anime, you will really realize that in the end this show did not present you with anything special and the story in the final episodes was just put together.

Takopi’s Original Sin is not the latest misery porn, nor is it an exercise in mere shock value. It is not exploitative of its sensitive subject matter and it does not aim to subvert conventional perspectives of death. It is not abstract or surreal. These are not what encapsulate Takopi’s Original Sin. It is, more or less, the inverse of each. Its gut-wrenching depictions cannot be surreal because they are literal. It cannot be totally abstract because it mirrors its own face value. It is exempt from accusations of exploitation because its dark events are seen from an overlooking view and earned by the narrative.It is too meaningful in how it deals with trauma to warrant reactive, emotionally illiterate labels like “trauma bait”. The many tragedies of Takopi’s Original Sin are witnessed by the most unbiased observer imaginable; a cutesy, alien octoblob, entirely naïve to the ways of human nature. Therein lies the true horror which the series proves beyond any shadow of a doubt: humanity itself, viewed through no lenses whatsoever. On display here is a one-to-one facsimile of a species that wakes up and chooses violence every morning—a ruling handed down by the infinite cosmos above. Takopi’s Original Sin could only be more direct with this theme by having the characters look at the viewer and say it out loud. Extreme conflict is a complex idea when seen through interpersonal relationships—through the people who instigate it among themselves—but it’s oh so simple when viewed from above. That flipped perspective is perhaps the series’ most impressive achievement. Only humans can see “humanity” with unblinded eyes because only humans understand what that entails to the fullest extent. An outside observer instead sees a bigger picture, the ups and especially the downs of humanity, laid bare and stripped of all pretense. The title character Takopi (read: just a little guy) points this out in the anime by completely failing to understand negative human emotions. Jealousy, hatred, contempt, wrath. Each time, Takopi can only process these emotions with one invariable result: confusion. This is a story where literal magic can’t save humanity from itself, a pessimistic and bleak outlook that parallels real-world sentiment. The failures of the adult characters are reflected in the lives of their children, and the anime treats this transmission of trauma as both a spectacle and a thesis. It’s an age-old problem presented with modern bluntness. Magic doesn’t mean shit when the worst problems we can conceive of are orchestrated and perpetuated by ourselves; we’ll keep pressing the suffer button regardless. If Takopi is confused simply by the existence of cruelty, then Shizuka, the main human character, is defined by it. She doesn’t ask why people hurt each other because she already accepts that’s the world she lives in. In contrast to Takopi’s blank-slate perspective, Shizuka is a child who knows far too much, far too early. She is a truly pitiable gamin predominantly concerned with survival—nowhere near privileged enough to actually try to flourish in life. It’s a striking contrast that goes especially well with the fact that Takopi practically becomes her shouldermon, cleverly nailing that Pikachu and Ash Ketchum sort of dynamic. More excellent contrast is that the child characters’ designs are just as adorable as Takopi’s. Armed with only their moe essences and the clothes on their backs, they must struggle hopelessly against inheriting their parents’ very worst tendencies, alone in the dark in a society that only pretends to care. Now, this theme posed by the narrative is certainly not black and white; human nature is not reduced only to its basest evils in this anime. It is bluntly pessimistic while managing to avoid cynicism, as Takopi’s tame innocence (mostly) deflects any would-be mental scarring. He doesn’t have to endure many of the horrors before him because he’s oblivious—impervious, even—to them. He’s a chronically upbeat creature from a place straight up named Planet Happy, unwittingly serving as a tentacled island of optimism in a rough sea of despondency. Takopi is an almost ludicrously simple character, and his simplicity makes it so that the narrative barely needs to try to actualize this design. Takopi doesn’t remain this naïve forever though, as he does have a capacity for learning and begins to experience inner moral conundrums. And so, Takopi is not a symbol solely for optimism or determination. Instead, he acts as an extensive microcosm where all sorts of symbolism can gather and read differently depending on viewer interpretation—taking a page from the Andrei Tarkovsky school of storytelling. Through this lens, Subject A is not always Symbolism B; it can represent a multitude of takeaways depending on the viewer. It’s easy to see, then, that there is more to Takopi than a first glance might suggest. The optimistic threads aren’t limited only to Takopi, anyway. Hope still has a constant spotlight on it. An outstretched hand or a shoulder to cry on can be found if only the characters look for them; there’s always a light in the dark. Even in an anime so dense with philosophical quandaries and deep-seated character studies, the animation often steals the show. Whether that be through cogent first-person snippets, a reorganizing of backgrounds to signal a dream-like passing of time, or even something as simple as a sudden flip of the color design, these ephemeral visual concepts work in tandem to create awe-inspiring set pieces. It’s also a Chekhov’s Gun playground; everything and everyone has a preordained reason for showing up. If it’s shown, it’s used in some way down the road. Frankly, there are so many interesting things going on in some episodes that other details become easy to miss. Characterization might seem to take a backseat to the ingenious animation, not because it’s trying to compensate for anything with fancy visuals, but because the animation can get so involved that it tells an additional story on top of the main narrative. This dual narrative is not always present, and in this intentionality, it is all the more discernable when it does show up—a brilliant, simultaneous interplay of two worlds colliding to create hair-raising sequences. The musical score is merely serviceable, but the sound design is great. Use of the latter is always careful and sparing—for example, an intense buzzing noise to aid in depicting quickly mounting overwhelm, only there for as long as it needs to be. In no uncertain terms, the production goes sicko mode and is easily good enough to rival the eclectic story content. In retrospect, Takopi’s Original Sin is a forceful, visceral, and no-frills examination of humankind. It’s not really concerned with delivering some lofty message or ominous warning. It simply holds up a mirror and asks us to confront what the glass reveals: our own capacity for cruelty, our own complicity in suffering. At only an intimate six episodes, it sets these ideas out on display in true scorched-earth fashion, leaving no room for padding as its opposing worldviews compete to dominate the narrative. Misery for misery’s sake? Spectacle for spectacle’s sake? This anime flies in the face of such shallow takeaways; it actually has something to say. Malevolence. Compassion. Nihilism. Determination. These are what encapsulate Takopi’s Original Sin. Oh, the horror.

Takopi's Original Sin is a uniquely captivating anime, but rather than shower it in praise, I'm going to cut against the grain and explain why I think it's a bit more flawed than others may lead you to believe. However, before I get to my criticisms, let me begin with the positives that even a cynic like me can admit. In terms of production values, the show is a masterpiece. The OST is perfectly fitting, contrasting naive joy against brutal reality in a way that really makes you feel that eerie sense of unease at pivotal moments. The visuals are stunning, with bright and vividcolors being contrasted against the gritty and dirty realities in which these characters live. Enishiya nailed the juxtaposition of idealism and realism key to interpreting this work in animation, perfectly balancing the two in a way that highlights the message of the show without getting in the way, and never falling short. This is further supported by great VA work across the board. Their raw emotion really added to each and every scene. With that out of the way, let's get into my main issue with the anime: the story. Takopi's Original Sin is a tragedy about the lives of children impacted by the careless decisions of their parents. By the time Takopi arrives on Earth, the ramifications of these decisions have already gone too far to be fixed. The anime really wants you to understand this fated doom, hammering the point for a good portion of its runtime. No matter what Takopi does, some character suffers the ultimate price in order for another to benefit. The problem is that rather than really focus on the nuance of doomed circumstances and the role of characters' agency within them, the anime chooses to just hammer in the misery nail. Each and every time the plot works towards a potential resolution by the characters, some other element of misery is hammered in. In a vacuum, this would be fine. Actions have consequences, and it's foolish to think that an action has only positive consequences. However, the story does the exact opposite. No matter what the characters do, there are only negative consequences. There are NEVER positive consequences, at least as a net sum, by any of the changes caused by Takopi's meddling. This is just outright unrealistic, and is an attempt to further drive up the hopeless misery and pull on the user's heart strings. This leads me to another flawed aspect of the story: its insularity. Besides the main cast and their parents, no characters impact the plot, and no characters are impacted by the plot. Shizuka is bullied relentlessly by Marina and no one cares. She has to buy a new stationary board every day and yet the stationary store owner doesn't recognize this. I get there are children who suffer in silence, but the anime magnifies this to such a level that it feels practically impossible for others not to notice. It is a cartoonish level of apathy that breaks the suspension of disbelief. These attempts at magnifying the trauma as much as possible actively get in the way of the plot, too. I've already mentioned that the level of abuse Shizuka (and to a lesser extent, Marina) endure is just not feasibly left unnoticed by others. Azuma as a character introduces some plot inconsistencies. When he's first introduced, he is one of the few that notices Shizuka's abuse, but he never does anything significant about it. This just doesn't make sense with his later established personality as a white knight seeking someone to save. There are also plot holes relating to Takopi's gadgets, some of which could have actually helped try to resolve the conflict but are just thrown aside like gags. A bit of a minor spoiler, but among these gadgets, one enables time travel, and this leads to a whole slew of time-related issues. These issues are not only plot-related, but also impact the flow. How time actually works seems clear at first, but eventually it gets so messy that the rules become unclear. It's not so messy that it's impossible to understand or anything, but it just isn't as clearly presented as it could have been. What I've said so far might seem like incoherent rambling to some, but I'm trying my best to avoid actual spoilers in a show where my issues lie with the plot itself, so forgive me. If I'm being fair, none of these criticisms are outright devastating in themselves, but taken as a whole, a watcher may become annoyed with the frequency at which the show rounds around details in order to make an emotional moment. This, in my opinion, is the main reason why this show is being so consistently heaped with praise by others, and it's the reason why I think we should be a bit more measured in our approach to it. For emotional moments and captivating visuals, this show is fantastic and is worth the watch. But, if you're expecting a philosophically deep show that delves into the balance between agency and circumstances, this isn't it. Takopi's Original Sin is thus the squandering of what could've been an all-time masterpiece by over-insisting upon emotional impact at the cost of narrative tightness.

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