Lin Yaomay – Thorough Watch

Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 8 – Analysis + Important Details

Posted on May 28, 2025 | by anicritic | Leave a Comment

This was a very interesting episode for its big reveals and for its use of using Yaomay to advance the plot.

At the start of this episode, Gwen rehashes much of what he had said in the previous episode again since Yaomay refused to believe his words that to certain people Reiko doesn’t exist and that she can’t exist outside of Kowloon. He notes that people he knows for a fact are living elsewhere have second versions in Kowloon and that the second versions of them disappear when the original enters Kowloon, leading him to come to the conclusion that the original and a second version cannot coexist at the same time although based on my theory about this illusory Kowloon being a construct of Kudo’s mind, I don’t believe that this is actually the case given what we see with the male confirmed to be Xiaohei in this episode, which I’ll get into later. Gwen also told in this same scene that Kudo cares for her although he’s not sure whether it’s the same as what he felt for Kujirai B.

Then there’s back-and-forth scenes between Kudo and Reiko and Gwen alone that touch upon how when you can physically touch something that shouldn’t exist the feeling of creepiness you should get eventually numbs, leading to you developing an attachment to it, which is him referring to both himself and others, in particular, Kudo, getting attached to Reiko, who is enjoying lunch with Kudo and notes to herself that the broth is tasty since she had just learned today that she’s an anomalous existence in the world who most people can’t see, which triggered feelings of insecurity. I happen to feel the same way. If I could physically feel someone who shouldn’t, and it wasn’t me hallucinating things due to schizophrenia, I would probably get attached in time too even if most others could never interact with that person.

We then get another flashback to when Kujirai B was alive, and she apparently had amazing luck even without Kudo around with her always winning at mahjong. Kudo found out at the time that she was taking pills for insomnia after a prescription slipped from her arm and that she had been doing so for a very long time, taking them after Kudo fell asleep whenever he spent the night over. Kudo then said he’ll show her a great time every night so that she can fall asleep even without pills, and when she indicated that she’s already enjoying herself on her own, he said that he’ll make things even better, which led to her making another point about her strong luck, which may have been her attempt to keep her distance from Kudo since she had been considering suicide due to the news about Kowloon getting demolished soon. She may have been considering sparing Kudo from extra grief.

By subtly hinting that she doesn’t need him to have a good time, she perhaps hoped Kudo would back away from her so that he wouldn’t be crushed after she died. As we know from previous episodes, Kujirai B said that she shouldn’t wish for anything more due to how good life is for her now, and it shows she had completely attached herself to living in Kowloon and was very vulnerable to a stressor like Kowloon being demolished. That’s why she said her story would neither continue nor end in Episode 6, ’cause she had intended to kill herself as I had speculated with Episode 6.

Then we get a scene with Miyuki and Papa Hebinuma, and when Miyuki suggests that Papa Hebinuma go out for a walk since it’s a nice day out, he replies, “Close the curtains, Haoran.” before Miyuki replies that he is Miyuki, and his father just says that that’s what he said. We then get a shot of the painting with Papa Hebinuma’s young son who had died, and that’s certainly who Haoran is. Miyuki then gets a call from Yulong, who reveals that Kujirai B died of an overdose, and Miyuki says that she wouldn’t have died from the pills Dr. Wong prescribed unless she took tens of thousands of them, but he can understand why Dr. Wong felt responsible nonetheless. Yulong then notes that all records of the pill that caused Kujirai B’s death was erased, and that’s when Miyuki said that he has a strange connection to Kujirai B since he believes the pill was made by the Hebinuma Group. Yulong then revealed that Papa Hebinuma had made Miyuki’s first job the successful demolition of the Second Kowloon Walled City, which had been done to erase all records of Miyuki’s birth and “you-know-what”, whatever that is.

We then see the male who resembles Xiaohei plug a machine into the computer interface that Yulong uses for his investigations and found absolutely no data ’cause Yulong doesn’t leave any traces of what he does. He then enters Kowloon and spies on the young girl Xiaohei before taking off his helmet ’cause of how hot it is in this version of Kowloon. He then gets a call from his master, who happens to be Papa Hebinuma, answering that he’s Xiaohei and that he’s now doing an investigation into Kowloon and will report back on his findings with Papa Hebinuma saying to not underestimate him as just being an old man. I’ll get into why this is relevant later.

We then get back to Kudo and Reiko, who is questioning her existence and looking sad. When Kudo points out that the most of the debris from the explosion at Hai Sing Tower had been cleared, he notes that Reiko has been awfully quiet. She asks him whether he remembers what he told her, that she shouldn’t go anywhere, and when she turns the question back onto him, saying she doesn’t know where she should go, he embraces her and confirms that he’ll always be here, even if this world is empty he thinks to himself.

Yaomay then gets a dose of reality when she finds out her bank account has no money with Gwen confirming to her that money earned in Kowloon disappears since it doesn’t exist. Nevertheless, he lets her borrow a large amount of money from him, saying his former job, which may have been the brief stint he had investigating Kowloon for Miyuki, paid outrageously well. Yaomay then gets shut down time after time again until she meets the original version of one of the elderly folks Kujirai B and Kudo used to play mahjong with, and when she talks about how Kowloon still exists, he thinks she’s into those online urban legends his grandkid is into that talk about the illusion of the Second Kowloon Walled City. He says there were a lot of rumours about it in the first place about how it was demolished as a cover-up by the Hebinuma Group, and when Yaomay pressed him for more info, he said that you never know who might be listening, so if she wants to know, she’ll have to ask those on the Internet.

Yaomay then goes to an Internet cafe and enters a chatroom with Yulong on the other end of it, who realizes that it’s her. They both want to prove the existence of the illusory Kowloon, but to do so they must find out why it exists. Yulong asks her if she has noticed anything strange, and after a lot of questions and answers, Yaomay realizes that it’s always midsummer in Kowloon since she had found Kowloon in March when it was cold out. They then exchange contact info after Yaomay explains she doesn’t know anything else, and he shares something he supposedly knows about a cover-up being involved in the demolition of Kowloon, which Yaomay intends to learn more about when she returns.

I love that Yaomay, who has the least connections with Kowloon compared to the rest of the cast, is advancing the plot as ecargmura at ArumJournal indicated. It’s boring when the protagonist does everything, which is why I hate most isekai power fantasies, since they’re just shallow wish-fulfilment and nothing more. I’m not against the protagonist being the most competent person in a story, but you have to give useful and fulfilling roles to side characters to make your story more interesting to make it go beyond a reader self-inserting into the protagonist, imagining that he/she/they are just as successful and smart as the protagonist, which is why I’m happy with Kowloon Generic Romance’s mangaka for giving the story’s side characters such a prominent role.

How this is relevant is that this shows that Papa Hebinuma is further along in his investigation than Miyuki and Yulong since the male Xiaohei had already indicated that it’s always hot in Kowloon with him saying his helmet isn’t right for “this Kowloon”, showing that he already knew it was always summer in Kowloon. Papa Hebinuma, seems to be conducting his own investigation into Kowloon by using that male Xiaohei, who was first seen in Hong Kong with Yulong in Episode 6 when he was described as a new assistant, which suggests that this male Xiaohei could be the original since he entered from outside of Kowloon.

If we accept that this current Kowloon is a product of Kudo’s existence and quite possibly a construct of Kudo’s mind or subconscious like I propose it is, then perhaps why two versions of Xiaohei can exist at the same time is that the male Xiaohei is the real Xiaohei and the young girl Xiaohei is simply who Kudo always perceived Xiaohei as being, meaning he misgendered Xiaohei all this time, and Xiaohei’s actually a male. Since the young girl Xiaohei would not be not a true stand-in for the apparent real Xiaohei since Kudo may have never knew Xiaohei’s gender, that would be how a real version and a fake version can exist at the same time as girl Xiaohei doesn’t represent the real Xiaohei. One way to test whether this theory is true would be to reveal to Kudo that Xiaohei has actually been a guy all this time. If the young girl Xiaohei disappears, it’d show that Kudo is central to the existence of this current Kowloon. Papa Hebinuma may have already figured out that the mystery around why there can be two versions of Xiaohei is crucial to understanding why this Kowloon exists.

I personally believe this Kowloon exists ’cause Kudo was crushed by Kujirai B’s death, and for some reason, it manifested partially or entirely as a construct of his mind or subconscious in an effort to get him to move on from Kujirai B. That’s why I speculated in my write-up of Episodes 3 and 4 that the question Kudo asked to Kujirai B in Episode 2 could hint at the ending of the story in the story. “Wouldn’t it be painful to be in love, knowing it’d be gone someday?” could end up being THE central question to the story since it’s clear he’s still reeling from 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 as there’s nothing more beautiful in the world.

At the end of the episode, Yaomay texts Reiko about wanting to see her and that Gwen is with her when Reiko was in bed with Kudo, and obviously Kudo and Reiko rushed to intimacy when they don’t really know each other that well, meaning they acted out of pure passion in the moment. It’s not like with Kudo’s previous relationship with Kujirai B in which he was in love. I do think it will get to a point where Kudo genuinely loves her though, if only for the final episode. It’s certainly an interesting point at which to end the episode. I did catch that it’s now July 1st with it being July 23rd in the first episode, meaning time resets before it becomes August 31 but I completely forgot to point that out in my blog post. My theory is that this the timeframe leading up to Kujirai B’s death is important, and Kowloon, if it’s a construct of Kudo’s mind, is trying to make Kudo get closure over losing her, and thus, it is giving him time to fall for Reiko before realizing that she’ll be gone, which will give him the chance to say goodbye to her, which he couldn’t do for Kujirai B.

Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 7 – Analysis + Important Details

Posted on May 21, 2025 | by anicritic | 2 Comments

This episode had a very interesting reveal at the end, which backs up my theory on the current Kowloon being a special manifestation of Kowloon based on feng shui.

Before I cover the events of Episode 7, there’s something I need to go over about the previous episode. ecargmura at ArumJournal pointed out that the janitor Yulong greeted had his hair drawn and coloured exactly the same way as Xiaohei, and I’ve reached a conclusion that given Kudo’s connection to Kowloon, it may be based partially on how he saw things from back then before Kowloon was destroyed, so maybe the older male Xiaohei is who Xiaohei actually is in the present day, and Kudo just misgendered Xiaohei all this time without realizing it, which is why there’s a younger girl Xiaohei coexisting as the same time as the male Xiaohei. It wouldn’t be that they’re clones but that the young female Xiaohei is who Kudo always saw Xiaohei as being, which is how a fake and a real version can exist at the same time.

It opened with a flashback of Kudo sharing with Gwen that he wants to propose to Kujirai B since Kowloon is being demolished soon to make it as special for her as possible. Gwen asked him whether he really knew her, which made Kudo doubt for a moment whether he should propose to her, but Gwen clarified he didn’t want to put a damper on his plans.

Back in the present, Kudo catches sight of Gwen close to the site of the explosion, and they meet up in a secluded area with both of them confirming that they’re the real versions of themselves. Gwen also shared that he’s staying around ’cause there’s someone precious to him, and Kudo throws the question Gwen asked him in the past back at him about whether he really knows that person, leading to Gwen saying he’s getting a better sense of what that person is like now, prompting Kudo to say that Gwen is sticking around to make sure he doesn’t end like him, probably in the sense that Kudo lost his fiancée and became jaded. Gwen also shared that he intends to take Kudo away as well, but Kudo has no intention of leaving Kowloon, and the shot of the sunflowers shows that he’s still haunted by Kujirai B’s death and intends to live and die in Kowloon.

We then have Miyuki on a call with Yulong saying he intends to reach Dr. Wong’s clinic, and he doesn’t know whether the second fake version of Dr. Wrong will be there. Miyuki hangs up when Yulong says that he has a bad habit of keeping things to himself with him not sharing with Gwen that he grew up in Kowloon, showing that Kudo was right to throw the question Gwen asked him right back at him since Gwen thought that Miyuki was also an outsider to Kowloon. As Miyuki continues walking, he then feels unwell, attributing it not to heatstroke but to him being too conscious of this special manifestation of Kowloon.

We then get a flashback of Gwen meeting Miyuki for the first time at a bar after the Hebinuma Group demolished the Second Kowloon Walled City, which Miyuki wasn’t happy about, which is why he wanted a drink. Gwen almost immediately hit on him and asked him to accompany him to a better place. As they’re walking outside, Miyuki lays into Gwen, saying that his spiel back at the bar about him being a jack-of-all-trades living hand-to-mouth is insincere and an act meant to avoid people getting jealous about his excellence and that it’s no way to live, which gets Gwen flustered to the point that he admits that he’s kind of broke right now but doesn’t want to lose Miyuki, and that’s why he wants to treat him for a drink for now. Miyuki kissed Gwen during this interaction, revealing his snake tongue, saying that he’s not as well-bred as he thought he is. When they’re in bed together, Gwen reveals he doesn’t care about whether Miyuki is a man or woman, and even though he wouldn’t have initially hit on Miyuki if he had revealed himself to be a woman, he now believes he’d love him even if Miyuki presented as a woman, which takes Miyuki by surprise given he had never met anyone who wasn’t interested in what sex he is. He, much like Reiko and Yaomay are, just want to live his life as his absolute self. We know his father wants him to live one way, but he has his own ideas of how he should live his life.

Back to the present, Miyuki wakes up in Club Flower Garden, a burlesque club run by a Ms. Rose. He asks her whether she knows of a half-Japanese woman named Sihan, who may or may not be his mom, and Ms. Rose answers no. Miyuki then suddenly felt unwell again, maybe ’cause he was conscious about how fake this Kowloon is, and Ms. Rose suggests that he sees Dr. Wong. The lights then go out ’cause of the collapse/explosion from yesterday, and it turns out Reiko had come to investigate since they had a work order here. She then spots Miyuki, and when she mentions his name, Ms. Rose says that you’re not supposed to reveal the names of people you recognize in places like this. Miyuki and Reiko then both indicate they had some business with each other.

Back at Hebinuma Pharmaceutical, Reiko asks Miyuki about Zirconians, which she reveals she heard about from someone who saw something online and that his company was involved. He asks about her memories, and she reasons that she never had them to begin with since she’s a different person, but she nonetheless indicated her desire to be her absolute self, which got a reaction from Miyuki since he feels the same way. She believes there are things only she can choose, and she will become her absolute self, not someone else, leading to Miyuki asking who compares her with someone else, to which she responded Kudo. He then thinks that living with someone who has the same face as somebody you loved is exactly the revenge he has planned for his father, but Kudo accepts the current situation and chooses to be here, which he cannot understand at all. After Reiko notes that she has friends who accept her as her, Miyuki puts it out there that what’s bothering her is that Kudo hasn’t acknowledged, which she believes needs to happen for her to be her absolute self. He then answers that she is neither a Zirconian nor a clone, so they don’t know what to call her, and he comes up with the term “Generic” to describe her based on his knowledge of generic substitutions of brand-name substances.

Yulong then finds Kujirai B’s file at Dr. Wong’s clinic in Hong Kong, and when Dr. Wong catches him in the act saying he wouldn’t cooperate with them, Yulong says that he wanted to use Kujirai B as a reference for the Zirconian project since the current Kowloon has replicated many dead people. Kujirai B apparently had insomnia died from suicide.

We then got a shot of Kudo watching for it to turn 14:00 or 2:00 PM, pulling out his “faat” mahjong good luck trinket, and in mahjong, the 14th tile is crucial to complete a winning hand, and Kudo saying he wishes it was a scam was probably him cursing his good luck that he was able to find the tricket in the rubble of the mess of Sai Hing Tower since it makes him remember Kujirai B that much more even though it’s painful for him given she was the one to say that his name sounded like ‘faat’, which is a sign of good luck in Kowloon.

Reiko then revealed to Yaomay that she intends to move out of her apartment unit with her moving out allowing her to proudly say that she is herself and that she shouldn’t shoulder the burden of Kujirai B’s life. When Yaomay suggests that she throw out everything, Reiko says Kudo should be the one to decide what happens to that apartment unit. At night, Kudo knocks on Reiko’s door and says at midnight that it’ll be the anniversary of Kujirai B’s death. Yaomay is pissed that Reiko changed her mind ’cause of Kudo, but she admits that the anniversary of Kujirai B’s death is a huge thing, and so she’s happy when Reiko says that she wants patterned curtains. Yaomay then says that there’s a fabric store in Hong Kong she has really wanted to go to, and they make plans to do.

Back to Gwen, Miyuki apparently told him not to eat Kowloon’s food, perhaps due to fear that he’d get stuck in Kowloon or something, which gets him the idea to order some fresh food from outside of Kowloon. Just as Reiko is about to step outside of Kowloon for her shopping trip with Yaomay, Gwen stops her saying that she cannot leave Kowloon or she’ll disappear, which is backed up by how the guy who delivered the pizza he had ordered being unable to see him. Consistent with what we saw in Episode 5 with the guy who drove Gwen to Kowloon saying that there was nothing there, the man with the pizza could not see the re-creation of Kowloon or Reiko, and Yaomay herself looked up at the sky when Gwen stopped Reiko and said that something feels wrong, showing that she may have felt Kowloon not wanting Reiko to leave. Gwen then reveals that Kowloon was demolished three years ago, but Yaomay reacts in disbelief while Reiko believes everything Gwen has told them since she’s a logical person.

I believe at this point that my theory about the current Kowloon being a special manifestation of Kowloon based on feng shui could very well be on the right track. While Yulong believed that people need to resonate with something to see this Kowloon, I think it’s moreso the case that the current Kowloon has a laundry list of people, real people or second versions of them, from Kudo’s time in Kowloon living out their lives with their yin and yang counterparts. It makes sense that Reiko can’t be seen by those who can’t see Kowloon if we accept that feng shui exists in this story even though we can’t prove that it exists in real life.

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.