Kujirai B – Thorough Watch

Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 11 – Analysis + Important Details

Posted on June 18, 2025 | by anicritic | Leave a Comment

This episode confirmed something I had been speculating for a long time, and I’m glad that the anime has finally confirmed it to be the case.

The episode leads with Yulong going over what he thinks is required to see the generic Kowloon, which he believes is a sense of attachment, which doesn’t apply to Yaomay, and then after seeing the flashback of what happened after Miyuki joined the Hebinuma family with his full-body snake tattoo and his forked tongue, Yulong realizes that it’s actually regret that allows you to see the generic Kowloon given he regretted not stopping Miyuki from pursuing revenge sooner with it coming to him that Miyuki’s regret over his mother dying is why Miyuki can see the generic Kowloon, and that’s why he can now enter the generic Kowloon.

Next, Yaomay meets with Gwen, sharing that she remembers everything from her time in Hong Kong now and will pay him back later since the money she earns in the illusion of Kowloon isn’t real. She still wants to prove that Reiko exists, and Gwen says that he can’t feel empathetic to the residents of the generic Kowloon and tells her to leave since she’s a real person. This leads to a talk about Yaomay wanting to be her absolute self, and after Gwen suggests she shouldn’t be here for someone else’s sake, she turns it back on him asking if it isn’t the same for him with him answering that he’s there for his own sake, and even if it’s egotistical, he doesn’t regret it, which was how Reiko described being your absolute self, so viewers are meant to see that Gwen is also being his absolute self. He then asks her what she personally wants to do and get done, and she does consider his words. She also revealed that she learned in Kowloon that the reason Kowloon was demolished was that the Hebinuma Group wanted to cover up something and that the talismans have something to do with it before revealing that she remembers that it’s always summer in Kowloon. Gwen then gets a call from Kudo as he leaves the area.

Yaomay then thinks about whether Gwen is right that the mystery isn’t hers to solve and that she should think about she wants to do, and when she thinks back to the screening of her mom’s movie and how her mom told her what earrings to wear, she began to have an idea of what she should be doing.

And as Reiko continues using her glasses to peer through Kujirai B’s memories, she sees Kujirai B head to a particular place where she traded in the Kowloon talismans for a bag with red pills and a death tarot card. This leads me to believe that perhaps Kujirai B didn’t die after she was given these red pills from this episode. In The Matrix movie, choosing the red pill means learning about the truth and accepting it whereas the blue pill is about choosing to be ignorant and going back to before you knew about the Matrix. Maybe what happened to Kujirai B is that the pills she took removed her from the simulation, freeing her from this fake world. Papa Hebinuma said to not let any of “that” get out of Kowloon in Episode 9, and I wonder if that was the red pills. The pills having the infinity sign on the front and an I on the back or vice-versa along with the bag coming with a death tarot card could mean that by accepting the pills that Kujirai B’s ending her infinite life in the simulation and choosing to live in the real world. After that, as Yaomay looks at the earrings her mother chose for her in the past, she got a call from Reiko saying that she’s going back to the north of Kowloon one more time since she believes she’s close to finding out why Kujirai B died. Yaomay figures that she must protect Reiko from the Hebinuma Group given its involvement here, and they plan to meet up after she leaves work early.

Xiaohei then thinks back to Yulong promising that he can go back to his old self with Generic Terra. He remembers him suggesting to kill Reiko in order to make that a reality, and he thinks there’s no way he can do it. Reiko then spots him at the top of a stairway, and when she asked him what’s wrong, he had a crazed look and seriously did think of pushing her down the stairs, killing her in the process. She then gets a call from the generic Xiaohei, who tells her that there’s device buzzing on the ceiling which won’t stop, and Reiko gets the idea to have the real Xiaohei fix it, which is extremely convenient and telling that this is a simulation. As they’re on the way to Xiaohei’s place, Reiko then gets a call from Yaomay, and she tells her to also go to the generic Xiaohei’s place since they’re on their way there.

Gwen and Kudo then meet at the Goldfish Teahouse, and Gwen asks Kudo how much he knows about the generic Kowloon, and he reveals what they thought was true with the original and the generic version not being able to coexist in the generic Kowloon. Gwen is surprised that Kudo can eat the food, and Kudo responds by saying that he eats if he wants to, and if he doesn’t, he doesn’t, and if Gwen were smarter, he’d realize at this point that this Kowloon is at least partially a construct of Kudo’s mind. Gwen then shares that he doesn’t know what is and isn’t replicated in Kowloon since he had built a shelter for stray cats by the back entrance here, describing how the hut was constructed in the process, and that shelter wasn’t replicated. Kudo then revealed he didn’t know that Gwen had did that. Gwen then spots an advertisement for the Generic Terra project with a formerly deceased cat having been cloned for her owner with the cat having many of the same tendencies and quirks, which apparently makes the owner happy, and he thinks such a thing happening would bother him and that it’d be unhealthy with it being implied that death is natural, and people need to learn to move on, and who we know this hasn’t happened to is Kudo, who is still obsessed with Kujirai B.

At the generic Xiaohei’s place, after Xiaohei fixes the generic version’s fire alarm, he stares at the clothes, and Yaomay shares with the generic version that he likes those sorts of clothes, resulting in him sharing the frills Yaomay sewed into his vest, and the generic version’s joy over seeing them makes him tear up and feel accepted. He states that looking at his past used to be painful, which is almost certainly why he threw away all his own clothes, but he’s now happy.

Kudo and Gwen’s chat then concludes with him sharing that there are two Xiaohei’s in this generic Kowloon, which complicates their theory about a generic being unable to coexist with an original at the same time, and he also shares that Xiaohei is a he, which they kept secret from Kudo ’cause they thought it was funny. Upon seeing his shelter for the cats finally having been replicated, Gwen then realizes there’s a direct connection between the generic Kowloon and Kudo.

Back at the generic Xiaohei’s place, the generic Xiaohei disappears since Kudo now knows that Xiaohei is a guy, meaning that the generic disappears since previously she was a stand-in for a person who never truly existed, but now that Kudo knows the truth, what happens to all the generic versions of people happens to her as well. Xiaohei then reveals to Reiko and Yaomay that the generic Kowloon is Kudo’s creation based on what he remembered of Kowloon three years ago with only things Kudo recognized being replicated, and since he thought that Xiaohei was a girl, that’s why he was able to coexist with her up until now. He came here to investigate Kowloon at the request of a particular corporation, the Hebinuma Group, and to kill Reiko since he had been told he could go back to being his old self if he saved his memories up until today in Generic Terra, and they’ll download those memories not into a clone grown from scratch but into a vessel that has already been replicated. When Yaomay asks him why he’s sharing this info with him, he says that seeing Reiko and Yaomay make him not want to cling to this generic version of Kowloon. He then motions to leave believes his client will go after him since he knows too much, so he needs to get as far away from Hong Kong as possible. Yaomay then tells him to bring some of his old clothes with him since as long as he doesn’t voluntarily abandon them, what matters to him will never disappear. She shares that her mom is a very-connected individual, so even the Hebinuma Group wouldn’t be able to mess with her easily, so she intends to go with Xiaohei to protect him. Yaomay then reveals to Reiko that she has been averting her eyes to something that matters to her and that she needs to face it head-on with that being her mother. She says that she wanted to change herself with how she changed her looks, and in doing so, she took advantage of Reiko’s life, so she wants to throw away her negative self and become a positive self since she doesn’t want to lose in her race to be her absolute self, swearing to return after she becomes her absolute self. She’s wearing the earring her mother chose for her on her left ear and the one she chose for herself on her right ear to show that she accepts both parts of herself. Xiaohei believes it has to mean something that Reiko is the only one not replicated from Kudo’s memories and believes that that has to mean something, and he believes that she can become who she wants to be. After he and Yaomay leave Kowloon, the clothes he brought from the generic Kowloon start to disappear, but he doesn’t fret ’cause he learned from her that he can continue to love something in a new form, which would be things such as the frills Yaomay sewed into his vest, when he previously thought life was about losing what you had. He said that even if they’re gone, he’ll carry their feelings for them with him, and the frills in his vest didn’t disappear, which again points to it being a simulation since the frills were made from materials from Kowloon and shouldn’t be able to leave Kowloon unless the base world is also a simulation. But then when both Yaomay and Xiaohei look back at Kowloon, all they see is rubble since their past regret is gone now that they fully want to look to the future. The episode ends with Reiko not being able to see the outside of Kowloon anymore, which seems ominous.

Last episode, I believe it was implied that the entire world is a simulation, and it may exist to help Kudo get over Kujirai B, which is why Reiko came into existence despite the world being replicated from Kudo’s memories. Maybe that is why she got a warning from the talismans to not look for it anymore since the ones who created the simulation want Reiko to stay firmly where she is and help Kudo get over Kujirai B, which would be her purpose for being born, instead of leaving the simulation.

As for the world we live in, generally, I don’t believe the idea of simulation theory to be a good scientific theory with practical benefits since it’s unfalsifiable. Falsification as a matter of scientific practice, rather than logic, is very significant because people, or at least humans, like to be right. Humans are inclined to seek out evidence which supports rather than challenges their existing opinions, a well-known phenomenon that is often referred to as confirmation bias. Science fights against confirmation bias by encouraging individual scientists to think critically about their work and for the broader scientific community to be skeptical of each other as a means of accountability. Although it’s possible to reason out why we might be in a simulation and even think of possible scientific observations that could hint at a simulation, there is no way to actively disprove it as far I know, which limits the usefulness of pursuing such a theory in my opinion. I believe simulation theory is popular among people who want to believe that they shouldn’t be held accountable for their actions, such as Elon Musk, who believes laws shouldn’t apply to him, and this applies to many billionaires in general, not just Musk. I admit than an unfalsifiable theory could be useful for driving progress towards better falsifiable theories, even if the original theory itself is ultimately thrown out, but nonetheless, I am currently thoroughly unconvinced of simulation theory and believe that every living person’s actions has weight and shouldn’t be carelessly dismissed ’cause nothing really matters. As TCrow from Crow’s World of Anime has indicated, in some games the world is based on a moral simulation, which I believe is more palatable to me than a world where there is no weight to people’s actions given there should ideally be consequences, but I am still very skeptical of this theory in general.

As far as how this subject matter applies to Kowloon Generic Romance, I believe this focus on one’s absolute self is good writing and shows that the characters have agency despite them all probably being part of a simulation. Even in spite of them being in a simulation, they can say that if they were confident that their actions were made by themselves, not others, they are who they are. This shows that people can have agency even within a simulation even if they aren’t real humans, which is important in showing off how there can be agency even within a controlled environment. As I indicated earlier, it was extremely convenient that Reiko got a call from the generic Xiaohei right as the real Xiaohei was about to push her down the stairs, but the simulation itself or the operators of the simulation clearly has/have a intended directive/goal in mind, which is why Reiko was saved and why Xiaohei visiting his generic version led to him becoming happy in accepting what he enjoys/like as being an essential part of him, which also led to Yaomay moving forward in her own life as well. Even if there’s an external force guiding the characters, if they’re making decisions of their own free will, one cannot deny that they have agency.

Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 10 – Analysis + Important Details

Posted on June 11, 2025 | by anicritic | Leave a Comment

Well, I admit that I misgauged the story to not realize that it was a simulation all along. Episodes 3 and 4 suggested it wasn’t, and Episode 5 had a detail that indicated it was with how Yaomay reverted to her previous look, but I focused too much on the world likely having a direct connection to Kudo, which while probably correct, led to me not realizing soon enough that the world was a simulation. I’ll share why that’s the case later.

The episode leads with the mahjong players saying that somebody had fled from Bai Yuen Shan Tower, which is a notoriously dangerous neighbourhood in Kowloon with illegal gambling rings, prostitution, and a drug crisis. Kudo apparently messed up with the tenant he found and needs to apologize to the landlord, but Kujirai B goes in his place without him knowing. The landlord implies that the tenant did it, whatever that is, in the commotion around the upcoming demolition (the subs didn’t say upcoming, but since we know the demolition is coming, it’s clear that it is), and Kujirai B brought her a gift to as an apology to her. The landlord says that running from here is a gamble since it’s filled with people with nowhere else to go, meaning there better be a pretty damn good reason to do so, but she acknowledges that running is sometimes the winning bet, to go all or nothing, even spitting on the faces of the people who took care of you. She’s no gambler herself, but she finds that mindset admirable, leading to Kujirai B saying that she’s generous (given how the tenant clearly did her wrong). The landlord then remarks that she has heard that Kujirai B never loses at mahjong and asks her if she thinks she’ll win at the game of life with Kujirai B remarking that they’ll find out, and I believe it’s clear from this remark as well that she intends to commit suicide, so her plans haven’t changed. Kudo then shows up all protective saying that he’ll handle everything in this area from now since it’s dangerous.

Back to Xiaohei and Yulong, Xiaohei refuses to kill Reiko even though she’s a generic who shouldn’t exist after physically meeting her and seeing her live her life, saying that Yulong wouldn’t understand since he can’t see the generic Kowloon, and that leads Yulong to ask him to name his price. Yulong then pulls up footage of Xiaohei from three years ago when he used to wear tons of clothes with a lot of them being dresses, saying that Xiaohei has seen the generic Xiaohei, meaning that he has been spying on Xiaohei’s communications with Papa Hebinuma and knows that despite the original Xiaohei being in Kowloon that the generic version hasn’t disappeared. Yulong then puts it out there that using Generic Terra can allow Xiaohei to go back to the way he was back then, which has Xiaohei in turmoil.

We then see Yaomay eating some ice cream, saying it’s yet another hot night with her being unable to recall that it’s always summer in Kowloon. She then thinks back to Reiko looking in bliss for having consolidated her relationship with Kudo and wishes that something romantic would happen to her as well before she notices Xiaohei sulking at a stairway. He indicates he’s unwell when Yaomay asks him how he’s doing. Xiaohei then catches sight of Yaomay’s ice cream, which he most likely knows messes with your mind, and then he catches sight of the generic Xiaohei, which causes him to have a gagging reaction, possibly ’cause he desperately wants to go back to those times but the thought of murdering Reiko doesn’t sit well with him. When Yaomay suggests that the ice cream will help him cool off, he angrily responds that she shouldn’t eat that junk, and when we get a flash of Yulong in Xiaohei’s mind, Xiaohei says that he’ll never do anything that makes Yaomay sad before leaving and warning her not to eat too much. Yaomay then says she has never had a boy say that to her before and wonders whether there’s romance in the air, but that was definitely not Xiaohei’s intention. She then gets a call from Reiko, who is exasperated, repeating the same thing over and over.

Back at Reiko’s place, it’s revealed that Reiko sees footage of random segments of Kujirai B’s memories through her glasses. Back at work, Reiko thinks to herself that Kudo hasn’t come back from doing his rounds and wonders whether he’s avoiding her, which he likely is, and then he shows up and calls her name, leading to her saying that her wearing those glasses doesn’t mean anything, and she wonders why she’s making excuses so desperately given it’s not really that important. Kudo then asks her out for lunch, and she responds that she promised Yaomay that she’ll eat it with her. Reiko then said that a while back she felt happy seeing faces of Kudo that Kujirai B probably didn’t know, but now she’s pained since Kujirai B obviously saw sides of Kudo she never saw (a happy Kudo), and she wonders why she never realized something so obvious.

Back at Reiko’s place, Yaomay then writes down whatever Reiko sees from the glasses. She immediately sees Bai Yuen Shan Tower and notes that it’s not that safe of an area even though they manage some properties there. When Yaomay asks whether she’s been there, Reiko says Kudo handles everything there, continuing his decision to never let Kujirai B and in extension her, go there. They then go there together with Yaomay being armed with a frying pan and Reiko wondering whether they’ll find out why Kujirai B died. Reiko then wonders what all these talismans are since they’re everywhere, and Yaomay asks her who they’re doing this for, and of course it’s ’cause Reiko wanted to learn more about Kujirai B, which will help her learn more about Kudo and why she herself exists. Doing this doesn’t sit well with Yaomay even though she agrees to it, and she still believes she’s forgetting something important, and they then run into Xiaohei. Yaomay then asks Xiaohei to take them back to central Kowloon, and as she’s doing that, Reiko remembers the talisman that Kujirai B peeled, and she peels one off herself before they’re taken back home. Reiko sees that the talisman has a 403 error code, which reminds me of when Episode 2 had a 500 error code when Kudo searched for details on the history of the apartment he brokered for Gwen.

Reiko and Yaomay then meet with Gwen at a cafe, and Reiko shares how she can see Kujirai B’s memories through her glasses. When the topic of Bai Yuen Shan Tower is brought up, all Gwen says is that Kujirai B went there for her job, that he doesn’t know her true cause of death, and that he wasn’t all that fond of her to begin with since he couldn’t tell what she was thinking and ’cause she had a smell of death on her, so his initial negative impression of Reiko was ’cause he didn’t like Kujirai B to begin with and didn’t want Kudo to be hurt, not ’cause he didn’t felt like she was trampling on the memories of a dear friend. He regretted not being there for Kudo more when Kujirai B passed away. He did get to meet with Kudo again here, but if he could go back to that summer again, he would. He does admit that Reiko is nothing alike from Kujirai B aside from her looks and voice and puts it out there that her presence itself might be hurting him, leading to him thinking about who created this situation in Kowloon. Xiaohei then arrives to do an inspection, and he is unnerved to see Gwen there and pretends that it’s their first time meeting each other although this doesn’t fool Gwen. When Yaomay presses Gwen about not knowing the true cause of Kujirai B’s death, he says that it was just a figure of speech, meaning he probably knows that the ‘official’ cause of death is an overdose, but he doesn’t believe that that’s the case. It’s just frustrating that he doesn’t share that with them though. Gwen then motions to leave immediately ’cause he intends to pursue Xiaohei. Reiko then wonders whether she’s causing Kudo pain given what she heard from Gwen after thinking back to Kudo showing up at her place on the anniversary of her death, and Yaomay says that it’s not her fault with Reiko saying it’s not Kudo’s fault either. And of course Reiko answers that she doesn’t regret being in a relationship with Kudo after Yaomay asks whether she does, which is true to Reiko wanting to be her absolute self and not regretting her actions if she knows it was a decision that she herself made.

After Xiaohei has finished his inspection, Gwen pulls him into an alley and says that he’s gotten a lot taller. Xiaohei replies that it’s impossible to stay away knowing that Kowloon has reappeared when Gwen asks him what he’s doing here. When generic Xiaohei passes by, Gwen asks aloud why the generic hasn’t disappeared, and Xiaohei calls Gwen not that sharp after all (since it’s clear that that generic Xiaohei doesn’t represent the real Xiaohei but a fake misgendered Xiaohei who never existed) before saying that as former residents that they should help each other before he scurries away in pursuit of the generic Xiaohei.

At her workplace, Reiko sees that a 403 error code means “No permission to access”. She then goes on a smoke break, thinking of Gwen saying that her presence might be hurting Kudo, and then Kudo joins her too, commenting on her lack of glasses today since he’s obsessed by Kujirai B. She then says that they should just go back to being colleagues and that maybe that’s all she has been in his eyes with things being weird between them since they’ve had sex. Kudo is about to interject before Reiko immediately says assertively that she will not hurt him. Reiko, after she closes the door behind her, thinks that she can now focus and be herself absolute self without thinking of hurting him and goes out searching for talismans to peel, with the first one she peeled having a 202 error code, which means that the request has been completed, but processing hasn’t yet been completed.

During her search, she indicates there’s a lot she doesn’t know, such as why the Second Kowloon Walled City that was demolished re-appeared and why she has the same face as a deceased person with her being a person who shouldn’t exist in a place that shouldn’t exist either. At a restaurant, Reiko indicates she has peeled thirty talismans with twenty of them being blank, nine of them having the 403 error code, and one of them having the 202 error code. She then puts on her glasses and sees a smoking area filled with talismans. Outside, she thinks about why she’s at Kudo’s side, and it’s ’cause she absolutely wants to be there with her not being Kujirai B and affirming that she won’t hurt him. She then wonders why he’s by her side before she spots the smoking area seen from her glasses, and after she peels a talisman, it reads, “Don’t look for it anymore.” which shows that Reiko is being observed.

Now, here’s my speculation on how these error codes are relevant. The talismans existing not only in the past with Kujirai B but now along with the threat to Reiko to stop looking show that the world itself, not just Kowloon, is a simulation. How I came to this conclusion is that it was stated that real people observed the Second Kowloon Walled City’s demolition, but if that past Second Kowloon was part of a simulation based on the talismans, then that means none of the people who saw it’s demolition were real people either, which means that the base world we’ve observed in Kowloon Generic Romance is itself not real but a simulation. This could mean that the world is a Matrix-style simulation or something similar and that someone who wants the simulation to end is giving Reiko access to Kujirai B’s memories to help them defeat the evil agents of the simulation or just the system itself that want to keep people unaware of things on enforce the status quo. It being a simulation would also be why Yaomay reverted to her previous look despite her plastic surgery ’cause who you see yourself as can directly influence your physical appearance.

The last part of the episode perhaps backs this up with how Yaomay regains all her memories of her time in Hong Kong after eating Yulong’s chocolate from outside of Kowloon, and immediately after she does that, her eyes light up, as if her body isn’t truly real, implying it’s a simulation. I should’ve realized that it was a simulation sooner, but better late than never now that I have seen the light.

I wonder how the generic Kowloon factors into stopping the simulation. In the past with Kujirai B, Generic Terra wasn’t in the sky, which suggests that Generic Terra itself is a creation made in the simulation given the past was already a simulation. Miyuki and Yulong not being sure whether Miyuki’s Zirconian project can truly work out shows that Generic Terra itself is probably not the reason for why the simulation exists although Yulong’s theory about Generic Terra disturbing the energy could potentially be correct, meaning that the generic Kowloon could be a manifestation of feng shui since it’s a sci-fi story involving a simulation, so pretty much anything goes, but thus far, I still lean towards Generic Terra being closer to a red herring than the true reason for why we’re seeing what we’re seeing in Kowloon Generic Romance.

Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 9 – Analysis + Important Details

Posted on June 4, 2025 | by anicritic | Leave a Comment

This episode had a very intriguing detail in it. I have a theory regarding what might’ve happened although I’m not exactly sure if it’s correct, but it does sound right to me. The ending also promises to escalate the situation heavily judging by what one of the characters demands.

The episode leads with Kujirai B peeling a talisman/sticker marked with Kowloon off a wall in an alley. When she later runs into Kudo, who’s complaining about how his coffee order was messed up since he had specifically requested for no sugar, Kujirai B interjects that his timing is great ’cause her getting eggs from Hiyo means that they can make French toast with the sugar by sprinkling in the sugar on the bread after it is placed on the egg yolk. It’s a huge hit with Kudo with him loving the caramelized sugar. Apparently, it’s Kujirai B’s late mother’s recipe, and her parents decided in an accident when she was young. Everything from the taste to the recipe itself makes her think of her mother. When Kudo asks if thinking about that stuff doesn’t make her sad, she merely states that she’s not sad, and it’s that she’s weak that she’s not sad. She then says something about what she used to think about memories after telling him that she’s not the type to read a second volume of a book, and we’re not sure why she said that, but it seemed as if she was going to give an answer to why that’s the case until it was clear that the kettle was at boiling temperatures. I guess this is perhaps further foreshadowing of something to be saved for later.

We then see Kudo all by himself drinking beer, and he thinks back to him being in bed with Reiko with her reaching out to him, but we see with the dark figure of Kujirai B that the ghost of Kujirai B still clings to him, and viewers get a glimpse of sunflowers in the vicinity again, followed by Kudo stating, “I know”, which may be a sign that he’s aware that Kujirai B is the one who fills all the room in his heart, and he likely had sex with Reiko to give him the feeling of being close to Kujirai B again.

Reiko, Yaomay, and Gwen then have a meeting, and Yaomay shares that she met someone online who also wants to prove that Kowloon exists with her being about to reveal that it’s always summer in Kowloon until the drinks she and Reiko ordered arrive. ‘Cause she desperately wants to believe that Kowloon and the things in it are real, she immediately drinks all of her iced coffee and proceeded to forget all about what she had intended to say like a ditz, which got Gwen confirmation that he shouldn’t eat or drink anything in Kowloon. Yaomay then had an exchange with Yulong through text messages, and she had forgotten about what she had realized earlier, resulting in her replying in a really breezy way, answering the question correctly without realizing that that was indeed what she had come to realize the day before. Yulong then comes to the same conclusion I did regarding her consuming food she knows she shouldn’t ’cause of her desire to prove that her friend exists, and he concludes that merely taking an interest in the place is enough to get you swallowed up by Kowloon.

Miyuki then tries to have a basket of goodies sent to the Club Flower Garden he had been to in Episode 7, and the shop whose services he is using isn’t accepting electronic payments since the collapse the other day led to the machine being busted, and he got bailed out by Gwen. Miyuki quickly tries to get away from him, saying that they’ve broken up and knocks some things over in an alley that blocks Gwen’s way. Gwen told him that Kudo is real and to not consume anything made in Kowloon, which are things Miyuki already knew, and as he left, Gwen was screaming his name. At the same time, Yulong was pondering how the Second Kowloon is something no longer there, which led to him making a breakthrough in realizing that being stuck in the past is a key to figuring out the mysteries around Kowloon. Miyuki then found the path to Dr. Wong’s clinic, and he was about to enter it until he got a call from Yulong, who asked him why he was in Kowloon considering he’s supposed to be in Kowloon today, which prompted Miyuki to look at Dr. Wong’s clinic and then say he’s heading back, almost as if he forgot his intention to go in moments ago, which suggests that merely taking an interest in the place is enough to get you swallowed up by Kowloon as Yulong had speculated earlier.

Reiko and Yaomay then have lunch together with Yaomay being really busy since she’s preparing outfits for burlesque dancers, likely the ones from Club Flower Garden. Xiaohei then comes by to inspect their fire alarm, which is a pretext to spy on them, and Reiko and Yaomay ask him what’s his favourite dress since they think he’s big on fashion given the interest he showed in the dresses, saying it doesn’t matter that he’s a guy, which prompts Xiaohei to say he likes outfits with lots of frills and some bows, both big and small with babydoll being what he likes most silhouette-wise. When he goes overboard with it, they point that he is into this sort of stuff, but he interjects that he’s grown out of them due to his size. Before Xiaohei does his investigation, Yaomay asks for his vest, likely ’cause she plans to redesign it.

Then we’re back to Gwen, and he feels that he’s discovering new sides to Miyuki since coming to Kowloon, which leads him to think maybe he didn’t know Miyuki that well in the first place, which has me thinking back to when Kudo threw the question about how well do you know the guy back at Gwen when he had asked that to him about Reiko in the past and said that Gwen is here to make sure he (Gwen) doesn’t end up like him, possibly an allusion to him being a broken man after Kujirai B died. He then wonders why Kudo isn’t affected by the food and drink in Kowloon while Yaomay is but draws no conclusion about things, but I suspect it’s ’cause Kudo’s very existence is tied to this Kowloon’s existence. He then made a point that ’cause this Kowloon feels familiar he may’ve been unwittingly letting his guard down, which he comes to realize is the same as losing his grip, which had happened to Yaomay.

Xiaohei then talks to himself, thinking how he’ll report things to Papa Hebinuma since the fake Kujirai Reiko gives off a different impression than the original one with the original one not being the type to befriend Yaomay. He figures she’s been living here as her own person. And Yaomay did indeed redesign his vest to his liking. He then thought to himself that what would happen if things you’re not sure are real, things that are precious, and things you don’t want to disappear were to grow one by one.

His codename is Snakeberry, and he notes that the accuracy of the replica is quite high except with some roads that shouldn’t exist and some thing you wouldn’t expect being reproduced, so it’s not perfect. But if my feng shui theory is accurate, yin and yang could play into this as there’d be a mixture of new and old, so that could explain why there are roads that shouldn’t exist since this Kowloon could be trying to have some new things come into existence, and it could also be why the door of Yaomay’s apartment is high tech. He says that the dead being replicated proves inconsistencies, and the generic Reiko is also full of inconsistencies herself due to her behaviour and speech are like that of a different person. Even so, he wants to draw attention to a dead person being replicated as a living being, which leads to him concluding that the Zirconian project might be viable, strictly within the confines of the generic Kowloon though. He shared with Papa Hebinuma Miyuki’s test that found that the generic version and the original can’t coexist in Kowloon without sharing that young girl Xiaohei is a generic version that exists even though, he, the original version is around, so he’s not revealing all his cards. Papa Hebinuma then asks about an unspecified “that”, which Xiaohei confirms he has been finding and disposes of it inside Kowloon, and when Papa Hebinuma tells him to not let any get outside, Xiaohei reassures him that there’s nothing to fear since anything made in generic Kowloon will disappear once taken outside. What doesn’t disappear was either brought in from the outside, or it was here to begin with after Kowloon was demolished with many storefronts abandoning their stock during the eviction three years ago. Xiaohei believes that the generic Reiko will likely disappear if she leaves Kowloon, and Papa Hebinuma asks that even if the original no longer exists in the world, a generic disappears outside of Kowloon, and Xiaohei says he believes Miyuki believes the same and is waiting for him to act. Papa Hebinuma then orders Xiaohei to try taking a generic outside and see what happens with him being allowed to use Reiko if he can’t find one. When he starts protesting after what he learned about generics living their own lives, Papa Hebinuma says that he’s not interested in his opinion.

Yulong and Miyuki then have a meeting, and Yulong asks Miyuki whether he regrets his choice becoming part of the Hebinuma family, everything leading up to today, all of it. Yulong says Dr. Wong probably wouldn’t be opposed if he were the one after revenge since he’s not the type to regret things while Miyuki is, and Miyuki just says that he can’t turn back now. Yulong says that making a choice not knowing if you’ll regret it is how we learn but knowing you’ll regret it and choosing that path anyway is disgraceful, something only a fool would do. Miyuki then tells him to shut and help him like he always has and decides to take Dr. Wong for lunch after hearing that he’s feeling down, and when he asks Yulong whether he wants to come with, Yulong just says that he’s got things to do. Yulong then says that Miyuki is too obsessed with Kowloon and says that he’s going to go the route he won’t regret after showing he knows about the bug Xiaohei placed at his computer terminal. Miyuki, while at lunch with Dr. Wong, does think about what if he hadn’t contacted Hebinuma Group, if he hadn’t left his mom and had chosen Gwen instead, but there isn’t a lot of focus on it, and it’s clear he thinks he’s in too deep to considering changing course.

Kudo then shows up to Reiko’s apartment, and when he finds out that she doesn’t know how to make French toast, he leaves her since he doesn’t like being reminded of her differences from Kujirai B. He’s such a jerk given Reiko was looking forward to spending time with him. Reiko, in bed, then thinks back to Kudo’s promise to her to never go anyway, thinking that he feels so distant when he’s so close with it being implied she believes he’s still hung up over Kujirai B. She then takes out her box of things, such as her glasses, clip-on earings, and the outfit Kujirai B used to wear, and then the strangest thing happens when Reiko puts on her glasses… She sees what Kujirai B previously saw when she peeled a talisman/stick marked with Kowloon off a wall before being so started that she took them off quickly.

What I think happened with that scene in which Reiko saw what Kujirai previously did is that Kowloon Generic Romance might’ve included some karma element into the story in addition to feng shui (from Episode 6) with how the flashback had Kujirai B peeling off a talisman/sticker labeled Kowloon from a wall, only this time it was foreshadowed rather than lore-dropped onto viewers as was the case three episodes back. When Reiko put on her glasses, she was able to observe what Kujirai B saw in the moment when she peeled it away, possibly suggesting some weird interaction involving karma or something else, whatever it is.

Karma involves actions, which have consequences that shape future experiences and lives, which would fit if Reiko is intended to be Kujirai B’s next life. This may have actually been foreshadowed in Episode 6 when she said that her story won’t continue but won’t end either. At the time, I thought the only interpretation is that Kujirai B planned to commit suicide, but this episode suggests it had a double meaning with Kujirai B believing that life continues after death. If the mangaka had actually planned this, then all I can say is “Well played, Mangaka-san.” My main concern is adding yet another element to the story so late into it will make it hard to wrap up the story meaningfully.

The episode ends with Yulong and Xiaohei with the former being onto Xiaohei being a spy who listens to conversations with an earring in his left ear through a micro-listening device. Yulong tells Xiaohei to join his side with him being able to pay much more than Papa Hebinuma can and also dangling the prospects of being protected from Papa Hebinuma. When Xiaohei quickly asks Yulong what he wants to do, Yulong orders him to kill Reiko, probably either ’cause Yulong believes Miyuki’s revenge story will be over if Reiko is erased or ’cause he has figured out that Kudo is central to this generic Kowloon’s existence with him being stuck in the past with Reiko being at the center of things. While on the surface it seems like we’ll find out next episode whether Reiko will disappear if she leaves Kowloon, I believe it’s more likely that Xiaohei will out the detail that a girl version of him exists in Kowloon and push to have her leave Kowloon instead since that’d be the easiest way to test having a generic leave Kowloon while keeping Reiko safe. This discrepancy on why there’s a male and female Xiaohei is likely key to explaining why this Kowloon exists.

Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 6 – Analysis + Important Details

Posted on May 14, 2025 | by anicritic | Leave a Comment

This episode begins to reveal the inner workings of the Kowloon we see. From the words of the characters themselves, they believe Kowloon’s existence may be based on feng shui, and I’ll reveal my cursory research on feng shui and how I believe it applies to Kowloon.

The episodes starts with Hebinuma Miyuki meeting with his father, who voices his disapproval for not acting like a Hebinuma with his outburst on TV. His father asked for an update on the Generic Terra project and the Zirconian project, and Miyuki replies that they’re still gathering information, which prompts his father to say he knows that Miyuki has already acquired vessels for orthodox clones in the event that the project fails, threatening retaliation since he’s not just a lonely old man. His father also says he has a new pet dog, as in Gwen, and I’m guessing he doesn’t approve of the relationship.

When Miyuki has returned, he looks sullen and tired, and he and Gwen have sex, after which we see Miyuki reach out high with his hand, showing that a life with Gwen is not what he has in mind, and that he wants to work towards his desired future with his own two hands.

The morning after, the maids alert Gwen to how Miyuki has made preparations for Gwen to leave with a suitcase full of his belongings and a large bag. Gwen then confronts Miyuki and with Miyuki being aloof, Gwen asks him whether he really intends to live for revenge, and Miyuki says that he alone will decide what he lives for. Gwen then tells Miyuki to choose him and says he’ll go wherever he goes, prompting Miyuki to say he wouldn’t be able to go anywhere, probably since Miyuki intends to stay in Kowloon forever. Gwen then kisses Miyuki forcefully to the point of biting him until he bleeds, putting it out there that pain helps him remember, like the other pains carved into his body, such as the tattoos. He then declares that he loves Miyuki before leaving.

In a flashback with Kujirai B, Kudo wonders whether Kujirai B likes goldfish and whether she used to have one since she’s always staring at them, and she replies that she can never have a pet ’cause then she’d never be free to go anywhere. Thus, the subtext is that Kudo wants the current Reiko to have a pet goldfish so that she won’t spend too much time away from work and home, to keep her in a box. Whereas Yaomay wants Reiko to be more free and her own person, Kudo wants to hold her back and keep her from changing. Kudo then got Kujirai B the second volume of The Landing Case Files, and she has no interest in reading it as the first volume was good, and she doesn’t want her good memories of the first volume to be ruined if the continuation isn’t as good. She said that right now it’s in the perfect spot, and she won’t wish for anything more, which contrasts with the current Reiko very nicely since she said in the previous episode that life is about wanting more. Kujirai B was adamant about her world not changing, much like the current Kudo is, and Kudo at the time pushed back on that saying he never regrets things even when he loses.

Gwen then puts it out there that Kowloon is set to be demolished. Kudo says he’ll go back to Japan or work in Hong Kong depending what the higher-ups say. Gwen says he’s a drifter, so he’ll live hand-to-mouth in Hong Kong. Before they ask Kujirai B what she’s going to do, Kudo says he has an apartment he has to find for Xiaohei since she wanted a new apartment in Kowloon, but now, that’s out of the question due to Kowloon being demolished. This shows my speculation from Episode 3 that what flashed into Reiko’s mind that Xiaohei supposedly said was either one of Kudo’s memories or an implied continuation of one of Kudo’s memories from when he was younger was the right thing to think about at the time. When Gwen asked Reiko whether she really isn’t going to read the book, she said that her story will neither end nor continue, which is chilling, as one way for her story to not end but not continue would be to commit suicide since her story would never continue if that happened while it also wouldn’t end due to its effect on others close to her.

Gwen as a delivery worker then came with a package for Yaomay’s workplace, and Yaomay is smitten and finds him so hot, managing to get his full name by being very forceful when asking for his name. She then remembers what Reiko told her about the server at the Goldfish Teahouse and connects the dots. She then managed to arrange a meeting between her and Reiko with Gwen. At a cafe, Reiko then mentions he knew Kujirai B, and he confirms that and shoots her down when she calls herself a clone as there was also a second version of him that no longer exists, and he explains he doesn’t know what’s exactly happening. When she brought up that Kujirai B’s dead, Gwen was surprised that she came to that conclusion, and she revealed that Kudo said that he killed her, which he confirmed is false since they had just gotten engaged. Yaomay then asks him how Kujirai B died, and Gwen tries to scare Reiko by saying that finding out the cause of Kujirai B’s death could lead to her dying the same way considering she has feelings for Kudo just like Kujirai B did. Reiko then enthusiastically and forcefully says she doesn’t love Kudo ’cause Kujirai B did and that she genuinely loves him, much to his surprise, leading to Yaomay saying that they’re their absolute selves, which Gwen actually responds well to that Reiko looks like herself rather than a copy of someone else, probably based on her demeanor and confidence, and Reiko was very happy to hear that with her smiling after she left the cafe.

Gwen then notes to himself he had never seen someone as eye-catching as Yaomay when he was in Kowloon, and when he asks her when she first came to Kowloon and whether she knew about Kowloon beforehand, she says she came six months back and that she did know about it beforehand. He then told her that this city is a lot more dangerous than she thinks and asked her whether she feels okay. Yaomay replied that she didn’t always look like this and that a while back she reverted back to her former appearance and that it wasn’t a hallucination, which he confirms he believes since there was a second version of him. When he asked her how she fixed it, she says that it was thanks to Reko-pon that she believes in her absolute self, which is to believe in yourself and choosing what your heart desires. She says that people tend to tell small lies to themselves, and that if you do that for too long that you end up as a fake self, but if you start doing what is true to yourself again that you’ll become your absolute self again. This caused Gwen to think back to Miyuki’s words and thought it might’ve been the same sort of thing for him. Yaomay then asks Gwen to see whether Kudo is real ’cause there’s something off about him, and Gwen thinks to himself that of course Kudo is real, as who else could’ve done something so cruel, and we’re not sure what he means by that.

Then back to the realty firm, Kudo is watching one of Miyuki’s TV commercials on Generic Terra, and Miyuki says that for immortality, concrete memories matter more than a lasting body. He says that if you lose your memories due to an accident or sickness, you can be restored to yourself by syncing to the memories in Generic Terra. His sales pitch was preserving precious memories for yourself or someone you know. Reiko then ate his cup ramen, and Kudo gets in a tizzy with how he was saving those for when he works late with Reiko apologizing since she hadn’t eaten lunch today. Kudo notes somewhat unhappily that she seems to be enjoying herself lately, leading to him saying her crow’s feet have gotten worse, and Reiko proudly states that wrinkles are the proof of what kind of life a person has had so far, so she considers it proof of her existence. She says eating good food with friends, enjoying herself, and feeling happy about things people say to her are proof of her existence with her resoundingly saying that she has become herself. Then she thought about Kudo, who lost his fiancé and also longs for nostalgia while despising change, being forced to work with her, a stranger who looks like his fiancé, and wonders that his days look like from his point of view, showing Reiko is a deeply understanding person.

Miyuki then walks in for his appointment with Dr. Wong asking whether he can get pregnant, and Dr. Wong says that he has both male and female genitalia but neither of them have reproductive function. Then he asks whether he can become a vessel, to which Dr. Wong asks whether he means using in vitro fertilization to transfer an embryo to his uterus, which he also notes is impossible as it wouldn’t develop. Dr. Wong then asks Miyuki whether it has to do with the Generic Terra project, and Miyuki asks whether he’s against the project. They’re then interrupted by Yulong, and Miyuki informs him that Dr. Wong is against the Generic Terra project. Yulong says the project can be used for treatment, but Dr. Wong says that’s not its true purpose, and Dr. Wong is about to mention something regarding Miyuki’s intentions before Miyuki says that he’s out of time since he’s hoping to speak with Yulong. Dr. Wong’s parting words are that it’s not commendable to live for revenge.

Yulong and Miyuki then meet somewhere in Hong Kong, and Yulong mentions that Miyuki’s dad wants to resurrect his dead son and believes that’s possible with Generic Terra’s memory back-up function, but Miyuki has no intention in helping him do that. Miyuki says that he’ll restore his son without any memories with his looks, voice, and warmth being just as they used to be, only his son wouldn’t have any of his memories, and that would be his revenge by getting his dad’s hopes up only to kick him down hard. Yulong indicates that place as in Kowloon has dead people living there just like they used to be, which happens to be exactly what they’re trying to create, the Zirconians. Miyuki indicates that it’s not just the dead as it’s as if the Second Kowloon Walled City was replicated and that they need to know how that works to move forward. It’s note that some can see the restored Kowloon while others can’t with him being frustrated that he can’t see Kowloon while Miyuki can’t. Yulong speculates that there must be a condition for why some can see it, and others can’t with the length of residency not being it since Gwen lived in Kowloon for a shorter period of time than Miyuki did, but Miyuki can still see it. Miyuki says that Gwen lived in Kowloon up until it was destroyed and that the current re-creation of Kowloon is not like how it was at the time of its destruction.

Yulong then notes that Yaomay, a celebrity is living in Kowloon, despite not having lived there before, which broadens the criteria of who can be there to them, which means they’ll have to broaden their thinking too. He says Hong Kong as a place attracts incredibly strong energies with Kowloon’s share of it being massive, so if you make something like Generic Terra right above Hong Kong, it’s natural that things be affected somehow, leading to Miyuki saying that they’re talking feng shui now and that anti-Generic Terra people talking about how it’ll disturb the climate doesn’t mean anything as feng shui is a superstition. Yulong says that feng shui at heart is very scientific with it influencing, environmental engineering, geography, architecture, and astronomy, all of which help people better navigate their lives, which is what feng shui is. His hypothesis is that Generic Terra disturbed the flow of cosmic energy, which resonated with something and materialized a re-creation of the Second Kowloon, and only those who resonated with it can see it. When Miyuki asks what on Earth he would be resonating with, Yulong says that human beings can’t help but see what they want to see and that his pitch for Generic Terra exploits that too with him saying it’s whatever they want it to be and hope the masses feel positively about it. When Miyuki asks whether Kowloon is the same ’cause he wants to see it, Yulong shuts it down since he can’t see it despite yearning for it so hard, and they then conclude that Kowloon isn’t the common denominator. Miyuki then gets ready to leave with Yulong saying that there’s only so much he can come up with due to the lack of information, and Miyuki says that he’ll look into it. As they’re leaving the building, Yulong then shares that the person in a mask is a new assistant he hired, who’s an interesting one who wears all sort of outfits. Yulong then says that he’s counting on Miyuki to get him more information on Kowloon and to keep his eye out for anything unnatural as stuff like that will give them a clearer picture on how this Kowloon works.

And then the last part of the episode comes down to Kudo and Reiko doing shopping with her suggesting maybe she should get a taste of genuine Chinese cuisine at its source since a lot of meals in Kowloon are Chinese-style, and Kudo says that she can find world cuisine right here. And when he points to all the different versions of cup ramen, Reiko angrily says that they can all be found in Japan and says that she’ll find some detergent since they ran out of it. Kudo then finds her reading a magazine on travelling, and she’s thinking of visiting different places and potentially moving away from Kowloon, and the reason for these thoughts is that the only thing fake in Kudo’s life is herself. She says that it might be better for her to not be around him since if he hangs around someone with the same as her he’ll never be able to move on. Kudo then puts his arm on her shoulder and says to not go anywhere and stay with him forever. Then an explosion happens, and he tells Reiko to go back to the office while he checks it out.

I had a cursory look at feng shui concepts since I felt with it being mentioned in Episode 6 that it was necessary to understand the story. Qi is believed to be a vital energy that flows through every living being, and feng shui is big on promoting balance in all things. What stood out to me is that a fundamental element of feng shui is polarity as in the interplay between yin and yang. Copying something I got from a Google search, if qi is what toggles people’s internal balance, the polarity of yin and yang is the fulcrum against which it is placed. The complementary aspects and interdependence between opposites is argued to be important as one cannot exist without the other.

How this may factor into Kowloon Generic Romance is that Kudo is a guy who’s very set in the past and is adamant about keeping things the same whereas Reiko is a forward-thinking person who has no past. Reiko also exudes warmth, positivity, and a clear idea of what she wants (Kudo) whereas Kudo is moreso cold, negative, and denies what he actually wants (Reiko). This dynamic is also seen with Miyuki and Guen in that Miyuki wants to live for revenge ’cause he’s stuck in the past whereas Guen wants to live for the future and is a more warm person in contrast to Miyuki’s colder, less caring nature and decision to cut off Guen ’cause he cares about him. Whereas Reiko has no past and has some desire to know more about Kujirai B, Yaomay fears her past and runs from it, showing a similar dynamic between opposites.

Thus, I believe Episode 6 shows that to exist in this re-creation of Kowloon that you need someone to oppose you thematically in some way. The reason Yulong can’t enter this re-creation of Kowloon is that he doesn’t have someone who is his counterpart. Xiaohei probably has a counterpart in someone who hates working and merely works so that he/she can make ends meet while also disliking Kowloon whereas Xiaohei really enjoys working and loves Kowloon. This would explain why the Branch Manager of the reality firm indicated that the population of the current Kowloon is constant, and it’s ’cause this version of Kowloon, whatever it is, keeps it that way to maintain a semblance of balance. Maybe Xiaohei’s counterpart would be the Branch Manager of the Kowloon branch of the realty firm Kudo and Reiko work at who always clocks out right on time and doesn’t love Kowloon based on how he said the Second Kowloon is an uncomfortable place to live in Episode 1. I believe that the common denominator, as Miyuki indicated, is not Kowloon, but Kudo himself, and that’s why the world was so pointed in its direction to force Kudo to come to terms with the current Reiko not being Kujirai B, how Kudo appeared to have some control of the world in Episode 4, and why Kowloon shakes when he is in turmoil ’cause the world itself is dependent on its connection to him. I believe Kowloon is moreso based on feng shui than a real sci-fi concept.

Kowloon Generic Romance Episodes 3 and 4 – Analysis + Series Ending Speculation

Posted on April 29, 2025 | by anicritic | Leave a Comment

Kowloon Generic Romance continues to be a very intriguing show. There is a lot of content to go through every episode, everything which appears to serve the story in some way. I’ll start off with my series ending speculation first. It is not unusual for me to speculate on the secrets of a story with a strong mystery aspect. I made a series ending prediction for Re:Zero after Episode 24 of Season 1 and expanded my prediction after Season 2 and successfully predicted a far in the future secret (I was told by someone who read the light novel) in Kumo Desu ga, Nanika? after Episode 17 of the only season the anime got.

It’s clear based on how the current Reiko is still 32 whereas Kudo has aged and is her senior even though they’re in what is supposedly “The Second Kowloon”, which came straight through the Branch Manager of the realty firm’s mouth, that the world in Kowloon Generic Romance is unnatural. With that out of the way, I can talk about what I really want to delve into.

I am a very detailed-oriented person, and from what I’ve seen from the first four episodes of Kowloon Generic Romance, Kudo has an extreme fixation on Kujirai B to the point of the spectre of her has an all-powerful hold on him even though she most likely no longer exists based on these first few episodes. He might even regret falling for her on some level ’cause her death was so painful for him or for another reason that has yet to be determined (given how he claims to hate the current Reiko after Episode 3 hammered to viewers and to Kudo especially that the current Reiko isn’t Kujirai B), which is why he is so fixated on things never changing. Thus, I get a sense that Kudo’s question to Kujirai B in Episode 2, “Wouldn’t it be painful to be in love, knowing it’d be gone someday?” could end up being really important or even THE central question to the story since it’s clear he’s still reeling from what was probably Kujirai B’s death and given him placing a huge emphasis on nostalgia.

I believe the most important lesson Kudo must learn is that the joy and connection of love, even if temporary, outweigh the absence of such experiences and heartbreak. I believe that the last few episodes will likely have Kudo realizing the truth of this unnatural world and choosing to fall for Reiko despite her differences from Kujirai B, fully knowing that it won’t last due to the world in Kowloon Generic Romance not being real. My hunch is that this work is meant to be a serious lesson about how it’s okay to fall in love even if that love isn’t permanent ’cause love is very much worth it.

I expect an ending where Kudo can magically be with the current Reiko pure fantasy and not likely to happen unless the mangaka is actually a poor writer, but from what I’ve seen of the first three episodes, she is very talented.

Episode 3 starts with a flashback of Kudo helping out an elderly man fix up animal pens, which was a favour Kujirai B requested of Kudo. That man notably said that it must be rough for Kudo to have a senior coworker who works you so hard, and there is somewhat of a callback to that later in the episode, which I will get into. After they left the area, Kujirai B notes that Kudo is getting along with the older members of community through mahjong and that he’s the one who’s well-loved by his elders, and given the elderly man highlighted Kujirai B being a senior coworker and what we know of her age, she was most likely referring to herself as well, which would her continuing the flirting she did with him in Episode 2 when she was playing mahjong wherein she associated her great luck to Kudo being around. He then gets dizzy ’cause of heatstroke, which is similar to what the current Reiko experienced in Episode 1 when she worked on repainting the walls of a vacant apartment unit, no doubt to show a parallel between them.

Kujirai B then takes Kudo to her apartment, which is close by, and he gets bashful about going inside, probably ’cause he has a huge crush on her, and she probably not only knows how he feels but also wants him inside personally since a lot of women are better on picking up social cues than men and given her flirting with him these last two episodes. Inside, he stares at her taking in the feeling of a breeze, and after washing up his face, he takes in her personal likes regarding where she places items and loves that she keeps a glass of water in the fridge, no doubt things he will never forget. He also remarks that there no plushies or anything, and this would probably be something never again brought up in most series, but I believe Kudo probably knew someone who had a lot of plushies when he was younger since it seems he’s used to thinking of an apartment of a woman having plushies.

As he stares at her from behind once again, Kujirai B asks Kudo how he’s finding Kowloon after having been here for a week, and he says that it’s an interesting place and that sense of nostalgia for things he’s never experienced or seen before is something he’s been getting a lot, most likely ’cause he feels like she is the one for him. When he wonders what nostalgia is, highlighting that she compared it to being the same as in love, she responds that she has also never lived in a place like this and that nostalgia isn’t just about memories and experiences but a feeling of elation as if you’ve known something all along. In her opinion, nostalgia’s a feeling of wanting to lock something up in your heart, and that’s why she considers it the same as being in love. That’s actually the feeling I got when I first met a certain girl in elementary school during our open house in the fourth grade. I felt so excited meeting her that I decided to attend the open house events at that school when I was in fifth and sixth grade, but it was not that open houses are inherently fun but that that girl was why I found the moment fun.

Back to the present, Reiko puts on new lipstick and thought about getting her goldfish a new vase since its current space is cramped. At work, she greets Kudo when he arrives only to find that Dr. Hebinuma and an associate of his had also snuck up on Kudo. Kudo was very pissed as Dr. Hebinuma’s entire attention was on Reiko even though he was apparently there due to him having found another location he wants to open a clinic at, and he even forcibly kissed Reiko, asking her why she doesn’t choose him instead of a man who didn’t even notice her new lipstick, which led to Kudo flying into a rage with the Branch Manager holding him back from following Dr. Hebinuma as he was on his way out. Reiko also noted that his Dr. Hebinuma lips tasted like apple, and I wonder whether this is to tie the snake man to worms and consequently apples, continuing the association of Dr. Hebinuma with snakes and snakelike things or whether the apple taste is meant to be future foreshadowing.

Then later Kudo offers to help carry a larger vase that caught Reiko’s eye at an elderly man’s shop to her apartment, leading to Reiko saying she’ll get a broom as well, which led to the elderly man saying that it must be rough to have a junior coworker who works you so hard, which is the inverse of what happened before when Kujirai B had Kudo working hard when she was his senior, and Kudo noticeably remembered that interaction from the past with Kujirai B based on his reaction. It’s at this point that I’m beginning to doubt that this is a simulation as no normal simulation would set up so many parallel and contrasting situations for Kudo to remember. Kudo obviously notes what’s similar about Reiko with how she told him to leave the inner door open, that there are slippers he can use along with how she loves the breeze from outside just like Kujirai B, as well as how she keeps her toothpaste and toothbrush at the sink, which got a smile out of him since it’s Kujirai B he loves, but when he saw that the current Reiko didn’t keep a glass of water in her fridge, that her kettle had a more feminine design, and that she had a plushie, that killed the mood for him since he was reminded that the current Reiko isn’t Kujirai B. After leaving, Kudo then touched the number 8 outside, which was the unit number for Reiko’s apartment, and it’s clear he is mourning Kujirai B since he didn’t use to do that and touching this number is his attempt at burning his memories of her into his mind. Reiko wishes that he’ll come to her apartment again since she fancies him, but I wish she wasn’t in love with such a jerk since he was upset with her naming her goldfish “Success” judging by his reaction.

At work, Kudo says her gifting him a sunflower is harassment, and she replies that it’s a thank you for carrying Success’s fish tank, and she tells him he’ll need to water it every two days after he says he can’t let it die on him. Xiaohei then waltzes in and asks Reiko whether she has found nice apartments for her since she needs more space for her clothing, none of which she’ll throw out since she bought them all with her hard-earned money. When Kudo offers the sunflower Reiko gave him to Xiaohei, Xiaohei asks him whether he’s in love with her since a sunflower in the language of flowers means “I only have eyes for you”. Of note is that in the flashback at the start of the episode, Kujirai B had a vase of roses on the same surface as her make-up while in the present with Reiko, she has a sunflower in a smaller vase. This is meant to show the difference in what Kudo feels for Kujirai B compared to the current Reiko since red roses in the language of flowers stand for passion, desire, and romance while we learned what a sunflower means with this episode. While I believe Kudo will fall for the current Reiko near the end of the story after he makes an attempt to get over his issues, I believe these two scenes are meant to highlight the very different relationship Kudo has with the current Reiko compared to Kujirai B if it wasn’t obvious by how hard the end of this episode got this point across.

After it is implied that Xiaohei shot down all of the apartments Reiko suggested for her, Reiko asks Xiaohei whether she’d be okay with living in downtown Hong Kong, and then Reiko has a flashback in her mind about Xiaohei saying that she doesn’t want to leave Kowloon and that that’s how she felt back then as well, and when Reiko came back to the reality of that world and tried to continue the conversation from back then, Xiaohei showed no realization of having said whatever it is Reiko thought she said. This shows that Xiaohei likely thought about how she didn’t want to leave Kowloon after the plans to destroy it were confirmed in the real world and that someone, probably Kudo since he was the junior coworker back then, had attempted to help her find an apartment in the past, asking that very same question.

Kudo then has Reiko and Xiaohei meet him at an apartment unit he thinks will be much more to Xiaohei’s liking, and Xiaohei loves it despite it being cramped ’cause it has a lot of storage, and the access to the roof made her love it even more. Kudo then tells Reiko that the rooms she proposed are all good options for a renter who isn’t Xiaohei, which I feel could be something Kujirai B directly told him back when he was a newer employee. Xiaohei then has Reiko and Kudo come over to where she was as she spotted a cluster of sunflowers. And as Reiko wonders whose gaze did Kudo find when he looked through the sunflowers, we see that it’s clearly Kujirai B. This world is clearly forcing Kudo to come to terms with him having loved Kujirai B and how the current Reiko is not her, and this very pointed direction the world is pushing Kudo towards makes it increasingly unlikely to be a simulation in my opinion.

After a masked man met Reiko when she was buying watermelon juice, it turns out that that man is actually Dr. Hebinuma’s lover, and he met Reiko to confirm that she existed even though something was off about her in his eyes. He also went to Gwen’s workplace and found out that the Gwen we saw in Episode 1 worked there up until two weeks ago. Apparently, Dr. Hebinuma is adopted, and the real son of the previous owner died in an accident with the father’s wife. Over the phone, Dr. Hebinuma has someone investigating Reiko. On the phone earlier in the episode, there was a Yulong he connected with, and I don’t know if this is that same person. We also learn that Dr. Hebinuma has full-body snake tattoos, fitting of his name.

Meanwhile, Kudo is looking for Gwen, and asked a man working for a company that did business with the Goldfish Teahouse whether he knows anything about what happened to Gwen, which led to the man suggesting that he ask his neighbour, and Kudo wasn’t happy with that answer as he couldn’t reach Gwen’s apartment, prompting him to ask if there has been a land adjustment, which the man scoffed at after hearing Kudo utter that. When Kudo goes out looking again, there’s a dead end in the path to where Gwen’s apartment should be, which is very interesting, and I have a theory for this too later after I get through the rest of the content of this episode.

The man in the mask then visited Reiko as she was still on the rooftop of the apartment building Xiaohei had moved into, saying her existence is an insult to a dear friend’s memory since she’s living her life while not being her since Kujirai B no longer exists in this world. She sulked as night approached, and it seems in a couple of days she found that the sunflower she gifted to Kudo had died due to him not watering it, telling her quite rudely that he dislikes her.

This led to days of her not sleeping to the point she was having trouble seeing and wondering about her place in the world. On the rooftop when they’re trying to incinerate the trash for confidentiality purposes, Reiko obviously can’t see well, leading to Kudo suggesting that she wear her glasses, which she refused to do. She then straight up asks him whether she isn’t the Reiko he knows, and the wind starts blowing harshly, as if the world didn’t want her to bring that up. She says a lot of her life might belong to that of someone else, but there are things that are proof of her own existence such as that fish tank she picked out, her love for lemon chicken, and her being in love with Kudo. Kudo, sometimes being a huge dick as like now, says that her love for him is an illusion, and Reiko pointedly shares how she yearns for his acknowledgement and crave his touch before passing out.

At the start of Episode 4, there’s a flashback with Kujirai B and a younger Kudo celebrating his addition to the team even though it’s two months late, and the Branch Manager conveniently can’t attend, or it’s actually like more likely that she wants to be alone with him. She treats him to shelled shrimp, and she has a lot to drink. Kudo mentions during their date that there’s apparently a plan to demolish Kowloon with her dismissing it as that had already happened before in 1994, making this the Second Kowloon Walled City, a re-creation of the original Kowloon. When Kudo wonders why it was remade since it wouldn’t hurt if it were gone, she says that somewhere deep down everyone wants to go back to those times and feel the nostalgia, so that’s why it can’t be erased even if you want it to be, although she qualifies that last part after a pause with “Maybe”. After they head into an alley, Kujirai B suggests that he take her to his go-to spot since she clearly wants more from this date, and like a gentleman, far from what we see in how he treats the current Reiko, he says that she has had too much to drink. The bra strap on her left side then falls over to her arm, and he points it out, leading her to grab his tie and pull him for a kiss, which is obvious what she has been craving for the whole time, especially since she noted that Kudo is the type to be well-liked by his elders with her being an older woman. This leads to the start of an implied passionate make-out scene.

Back in Kowloon Generic Romance’s world, Reiko wakes up after lying in a bed that’s not her own, and Kudo reveals she’s been out cold since yesterday. He then offers to reveal the truth about Kujirai B to her, and her inner self tells her not to do it, leading to her refusing the offer. He then says he’ll go in for work and tells her to get more rest with him promising to explain the situation to the Branch Manager. When she panics about her apartment key, Kudo shows her a spare key to her apartment, asking her if she really doesn’t want to know why he has that, which she confirms. He also notes that he left the spare key to this unit on the table and instructs her to use it to lock up when she leaves, leaving the key in the mailbox when she’s done with it.

Out in town as Dr. Hebinuma and the Masked Gwen are investigating things, Masked Gwen doesn’t want Dr. Hebinuma bumping into the server Gwen since if the fake Reiko loves Kudo then the server Gwen will also love Dr. Hebinuma. Dr. Hebinuma just brushes it off saying he’d get more samples for data if he runs into server Gwen. When they’ve arrived at the Goldfish Teahouse, Masked Gwen notes that the exterior is the same as back then and checks the alleyway where a shelter for stray cats he had made is not present, not even a trace of it. He says something is definitely up with Kowloon and pointed to some Hebinuma Pharmaceutical products that were being sold as new at a shop, but Dr. Hebinuma dismissed that as being due to the logistical quirks due to the peculiarities of Kowloon. Masked Gwen also notes that Kowloon feels shabbier now compared to when he lived here. He also brought up that Reiko has the same beauty mark where Kujirai B did, which Dr. Hebinuma found tantalizing as a clone don’t gestate like the original, leading to beauty marks either not being in the same spot or not existing at all in a clone since things like beauty marks and fingerprints are formed due to external processes. He astutely notes that Kudo must be despairing due to the current Reiko’s resemblance to Kujirai B despite not being her.

At Reiko’s place, Reiko and Yaomay are celebrating Yaomay’s new job as a seamstress that Xiaohei got for her. Reiko then shares that she and Kujirai B are different people and that Kujirai B has already passed away. She shares that Kudo seemed to know that, and when Yaomay asks why she didn’t ask him for confirmation, Reiko says she feels she’d disappear if she did, and I’m inclined to agree since either her inner self or the world itself told her not to find out more. She then tells Yaomay she wants to be her absolute self in that if she’s sure it’s a decision she fully wanted to make herself then even if she regretted that decision it wouldn’t be a mistake since absolute refers to trusting herself and seeing things though. Even if just for a second, she wants to be able to say she is herself and no one else.

Then Yaomay brought up the mystery regarding her looking identical to someone from the past and having no memories. Reiko says she doesn’t remember when she started living here, but she remembers where everything is. It’s as if she had been created to match the life of Kujirai B, prompting Yaomay to wonder if Reiko is a clone. Yaomay saw a post online about Generic Terra project involving clone research, only they didn’t call them clones but Zirconians, which prompted Reiko to wonder if the name comes from zirconia, a synthetic gemstone. Yaomay notes that her earrings today are also made of zirconia. This leads to Reiko thinking she was created to be a fake from the beginning and wonders if it’s too much to ask to be the real thing. Then Yaomay had Reiko join her on top of her bed showing her the beauty of zirconia. Even though it’s not a real diamond, Yaomay loves it. Perhaps she feels an affinity for it due to her being a result of plastic surgery, but it encourages her that even a fake can sparkle so brilliantly. She says there are a lot of people in the world who say a fake is nothing but a fake, but there are people like her who see genuine sparkle in a fake and wanted Reiko not to forget that since she was feeling down.

At work, Kudo punches in late, and Reiko tells him she’ll be going for lunch with Yaomay again. Kudo then hides after finishing lunch when he hears Reiko’s voice. Yaomay then indicated they were planning a party on the rooftop of Xiaohei’s apartment and also suggested to Reiko that she move out of her apartment unit. She suggests she throw away all her old stuff and buy new stuff, much like she did for herself. Reiko wants to keep the unit as is for Kujirai B’s sake, and when Yaomay asks why since Kujirai B no longer exists, Reiko insists that’s exactly why she wants to keep it as she feels that unit is a fragment of her, and if it goes away she feels like her presence itself will be completely erased from the world. Reiko understands how scary that is given the feeling she gets about what would happen if she were to learn the truth about Kujirai B.

Outside on his smoke break, Kudo asks Reiko if the new place she ate at was any good when she also comes out, and she told him about Xiaohei’s housewarming party, inviting him to go to it. When he asks who’s going with them, he lost interest when he heard Yaomay would be there, but he gave them a lot of money to spend for the party. Reiko then remembers she has a showing she needs to go to, and closes the door behind her, but she stops and feels the door as she longs for Kudo’s touch. It feels like Kudo also senses Reiko, but due to his feelings for Kujirai B, he finds himself unable to touch the door. At work, Yaomay thinks back to Reiko saying that she’s not moving and not throwing anything away, and she says quietly, but then it’s like your life is being bound by Kujirai B, and this may even be the truth in more than one way. On the rooftop at work, Kudo is singing a song about a girl being alive and breathing, which is probably his hope for Kujirai B being alive through Reiko.

At the housewarming party, Kudo turns up after all, apparently ’cause Xiaohei forced him to show up. Yaomay then shows how much she hates Kudo by serving a dish with mostly lemon and very little chicken. She then brings up that she found a nice place for Reiko to live in, and Reiko reaffirms that she’s not moving, which upsets Yaomay, who then angrily asks Kudo what he thinks after explaining her reasoning for Reiko moving, and he replies that if Reiko hates that apartment unit and wants to move out then she should go for it with Reiko replying immediately that she doesn’t hate it.

After having finished the party, they split into two teams with Kudo and Reiko throwing out the trash before going for a smoke. Unfortunately, Reiko doesn’t have any cigarettes, but Kudo is smoking his last one and can’t lend her one. Reiko then brings up that Dr. Hebinuma mentioned wanting to open another clinic, and she wonders what happened with that. When she mentioned his visit last time, Kudo brought up that Dr. Hebinuma kissed her that day, and then did a fake wall slam on the ledge of the rooftop and pretended he was about to kiss her before blowing smoke into her face, saying that she leaves herself too open. He then brings up that the moon shines ’cause it reflects sunlight, so he asks Reiko what light does Generic Terra reflect to shine, and she answers that Generic Terra looks like it’s shining ’cause they have high hopes for it, and that’s why it looks so appealing and shines so brightly. Afterwards, Kudo is wandering around making up songs like earlier and scoffs at the idea of him having high hopes. He then notes there’s something definitely wrong about Kowloon this summer.

The next day, Kudo dominates at mahjong, and Reiko talks about going to lunch with Kudo for once since Yaomay is off, and she notes that there’s no Mr. Chan today with one of the men saying that he’s absent without notice. At Dr. Hebinuma’s main clinic, we find out that Dr. Hebinuma had invited Mr. Chan for a non-descript health check-up. Dr. Hebinuma then gets a call from an associate that has found another Mr. Chan from outside of Kowloon and plans to bring him into Kowloon, and after he has done that, the Mr. Chan that was him Dr. Hebinuma disappears, showing only one version of someone can exist in Kowloon at any given time. Back at the realty firm, Kudo got a notification on his computer that there’s an existing item named “Sai On Tower” at this location which asked him whether he wanted to replace it, and I’m guessing this could be where Mr. Chan works given he just disappeared. Dr. Hebinuma then notes that they’re contacting the Japan branch of Wong Loi Realty about Kudo and asks Masked Gwen what was the cause of death for Kujirai B, and he said that he prefers not to talk about it with both him and Kudo saying it must’ve been a mistake. He gave an answer to Dr. Hebinuma off screen, which led to the snake responding he understands why he would believe it to be incomprehensible and why he’s angry at the second Reiko. Flashing back to Kudo and Reiko, Reiko is concerned about Mr. Chan given he lives alone, and Kudo randomly throws it out there that Reiko may have thought he just dropped dead. He then says in a disturbing fashion that people die so easily and asks her how much she knows, and Reiko says that Gwen told her that Kujirai B no longer exists in the world, which prompted Kudo to put his hand on his face as if the reality of that is so painful for him, and then his expression changes, leading to him saying that he killed her.

After thinking about it, Episodes 3 and 4 somewhat reduced the likelihood of the world being a simulation, which is what I thought the world in Kowloon Romance was after Episode 2. I believe the random recalling/flashback in Reiko’s mind of Xiaohei saying that she doesn’t want to leave Kowloon and that that’s what she thought back then as well is actually not one of Reiko’s memories since the story has established that Reiko doesn’t have any of Kujirai B’s memories by Reiko herself and Dr. Hebinuma.

Thus, it’s possible that what flashed into Reiko’s mind is either one of Kudo’s memories or a construct of a plausible thing Xiaohei would say as an implied continuation of one of Kudo’s memories from when he was Kujirai B’s junior coworker and failed to find a suitable apartment for Xiaohei back in the real world. This show often draws parallels/contrasts between the past and present, so it wouldn’t surprise me if later down the road there is a flashback to Kujirai B teaching Kudo the very lesson he taught Reiko in Episode 3.

I believe whether the world is a dream world induced from experimentation or something else that involves Kudo the world in Kowloon Generic Romance is formed in part from Kudo’s mind, which is the why the world hammered so hard into viewers’ and Kudo’s minds in Episode 3 that the current Reiko is not Kujirai B ’cause the world was forcibly trying to make that point to him with the sunflowers and shit, which led to him saying he dislikes her. No normal simulation would be this pointed in its direction. This would also explain why his feelings on Generic Terra can be positive depending on his mood as shown in Episode 2 when he seemed happy about Generic Terra shining brightly.

This would also explain how there can be more than one version of the same person with one version disappearing as soon as the second version enters Kowloon and why Reiko believes she will disappear if she learns the truth as the world probably partially exists ’cause Kudo doesn’t want to let of his nostalgia from before Kujirai B died and partially to teach Kudo a lesson with Reiko being part of the lesson, that it’s okay to fall in love knowing that it won’t last since love is worth it and change is a part of life.

This is backed by how in Episode 4 pointedly had Kujirai B say in a flashback/dream that people will always want to go back to the nostalgia, which is why you can’t erase Kowloon, and this could tie into the Branch Manager of the realty firm mentioning in Episode 1 that the Second Kowloon is an uncomfortable place to live, yet the population always stays the same, and whatever the true nature of Kowloon Generic Romance’s unnatural world is it could have to do with nostalgia itself, which I speculate to possibly be Kudo’s nostalgia for the past given we can have multiple version of the same person with a Gwen that remembered that Kujirai B died and one that didn’t know of Kujirai B dying and why the world is so Reiko-centric given we know Kujirai B was Kudo’s former lover. The reason the Second Kowloon Walled City always has the same number of people is possibly ’cause it contains all the people Kudo knew during a specific period of time there, and the world is molded by that preference.

I suspect that from these events that the Second Kowloon Walled City has actually been destroyed in the real world, and Kudo just doesn’t want to let go of his memories and nostalgia, and that the Generic Terra project is his way of rationalizing how Reiko can continue to exist despite having died. This could explain how there is a Gwen and Mr. Chan who came from outside of Kowloon ’cause they actually left Kowloon at some point in the real world. This would mean Generic Terra is just a red herring and isn’t real with it mainly being used as an avenue of telling the mangaka’s story and by forcing Kudo to acknowledge that change is inevitable, and it’s how you adjust to it that matters.

That notification Kudo got on “Sai On Tower” on his computer might have been due to the world changing due to Mr. Chan suddenly being replaced by yet another Mr. Chan if Kowloon must always have the same population as the Branch Manager of the realty firm, and that was the way the world could determine whether Kudo approves of a change or not. Masked Gwen, who I will call Original Gwen from now on, noted that Kowloon feels shabbier than when he lived there, which shows that this Kowloon is fabricated given how he apparently existed in a more up-to-date Kowloon when he lived there. It would also explain why the shelter for cats he built is gone since that was from a more up-to-date Kowloon. These different versions of people, or Zirconians as they call it, could be an attempt from the world to force Kudo to embrace change, much like I believe this current Reiko exists to teach Kudo a lesson. Yaomay being upset about the current Reiko being bound by Kujirai B is noteworthy, but Reiko’s instincts are probably on the mark, and she would most likely disappear if she lost all her connections to Kujirai B if her purpose is to help Kudo move on from Kujirai B. And the dead end which obstructed Gwen’s apartment might be ’cause Kudo didn’t want to come to grips with the reality of Kujirai B being dead as shown by his hand on his face reaction at the end of Episode 4, and the dead end was meant to delay him grappling with the issue.