Yaomay – Thorough Watch

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 Episode 5 – Analysis + Important Details

Posted on May 9, 2025 | by anicritic | Leave a Comment

This episode supports that the world of Kowloon Generic Romance is a dream world that involves Kudo. There was also some pretty interesting content that I don’t know what to think of, which I’ll get into later.

Firstly, it seems Kudo was faking Reiko out when he said he killed Kujirai B given he asked her what she’d do if he told her that, and she asked him what is he talking about, sounding incredulous about that. Kudo then laughed it off saying it’s true that she no longer exists in the world. It’s at this point I believe Kudo’s irreverence towards Reiko might be ’cause he’s trying to stop her from getting closer to him, and that’s why he tried to scare her like that. Reiko, understanding him well, says that she’s sure he doesn’t want to forget her, noting that she didn’t mean to speak for him, and I feel Kudo’s face at that moment showed his sadness and why he didn’t know how to react to Reiko understanding him so well, which is why he suggested that they go home.

Of course Yaomay is convinced that Kudo killed Kujirai B, saying that the face one normally shows isn’t necessarily who they really are with Kowloon being filled with people who have secrets. She feels that him mentioning it feels like a culprit returning to the scene of a crime, but I believe he just meant to scare Reiko a bit with a joke but was at a loss when Reiko appeared to understand him so well, and that seems to be how Reiko perceived that event as well.

After Reiko left Yaomay’s apartment, she thinks that the face Kudo made at that moment is something she has seen before when she showed up to work with clip-on earrings. She says she knows it’s not something to be happy about, but she wants to know things about Kudo that not even Kujirai B knew, even if they’re unpleasant.

At home, Reiko seemed to have trouble sleeping and got up to check out Kujirai B’s books and found one that interested her. She then read it until Yaomay sent her a text, and when she was in the midst of putting it back, she saw something that caught her eye, a ring that she believes was Kujirai B’s wedding ring, but given this world is likely fake, it’s probably not her actual ring. Then there was a brief earthquake. After possibly multiple days with it being impossible to determine how many days have passed, Reiko and Kudo both show up to work with dark circles under their eyes. Kudo has been struggling to go to sleep recently, and Reiko stayed up late last night to read a mystery book. She then asked Kudo if he knows any bookstores in Japan that carry Japanese books as the book she read has two volumes, but she only finished the first volume.

They met up at a bookstore Xiaohei also works at, and Reiko found that there’s a huge error in this copy she picked up since after a certain point, it’s just all question marks, making it unreadable. I don’t know what to make of this, and I don’t believe viewers are meant to know yet. Kudo said that he had read it before and nearly spoiled her before she said that she’d decide whether it’s interesting or not. Yaomay is of course not happy that Kudo is trying to control what Reiko wants, and he backs off. Reiko then says that she wants to buy something while she’s here and buys a book about travelling, and Kudo, thinking back to how Kujirai B had no interests outside of Kowloon, of course tries to talk Reiko out of it saying it’s an old edition of the book, and Yaomay forces him to back off once again.

At a bar, Yaomay kicks up a fuss about her reading one of Kujirai B’s books, and Reiko says she can’t unread what she previously read and wants to know what happens next, leading to Yaomay saying Reiko’s kind to Kujirai B, her love rival, and Reiko just says that she wanted to know what kind of person she was, which makes sense given how she looks identical to her. Who wouldn’t want to know more about the person you look identical to if you had the chance? Reiko says she want to learn more about herself, Kujirai B, and Kudo, and when Yaomay remarks that that’s greedy, Reiko asks if Yaomay’s any different since life is about wanting more, and that gives clarity to why she became interested in a book on travelling.

As Original Gwen and the maids see Dr. Hebinuma off as he’s headed to his variety show, the maids say Dr. Hebinuma has soft facial expressions these days and has become friendly ever since Gwen arrived. On the variety show, a woman is wondering whether cosmetic surgery will improve her look, and Dr. Hebinuma explains what they can do for her, and when that woman also wants her mouth to be pointed upwards, he explains that one’s heart can fix a smile more than plastic surgery will. Sean, the other personality next to Dr. Hebinuma, says that what he just said was all platitudes given he was blessed to be given everything he now has, which leads to Dr. Hebinuma giving Sean a kick, saying that being given things isn’t the same as being blessed as some things you’re given can lead to other things being taken away. They then go to a commercial break, and we see the reactions of Original Gwen and the maids, and then Kudo, Reiko, and Yaomay with Yaomay understanding what Dr. Hebinuma meant as when you’re given something you can lose yourself as living the life someone prepared for you means you’re giving up the life you could have otherwise had. Reiko believes Yaomay is talking about her and Kujirai B, but it seems more personal. One of the staff members at this establishment give them tickets to a screening of “The Butterfly Dream”, an old film with a huge national star, and Yaomay clearly recognizes the lead actress, and she rejects going to it with Reiko.

After watching the film, when Reiko is out with Yaomay again, she says that Yangli, the lead actress, was absolutely fabulous. After Yaomay picked out fabric with a particular pattern, Reiko mentions that there was a pattern like that in the movie with many costumes she would’ve liked, and Yaomay responds while clearly being upset that what she’s holding now is what she likes. Yaomay then indignantly throws out there whether Reiko even has time to be watching movies given she’s trying to learn about Kujirai B. Just the other day, she was worried that Kujirai B’s presence would be erased from the world and asks her whether she’s worried that she might be the one who gets erased and that she has been scared all this time. Yaomay says that Reiko can be so carefree ’cause she has never had a past and says that Reiko can never understand her before leaving the shop.

Yaomay then rushes back to her apartment, thinking she thought she left her past behind, but they’re coming for her. She then thinks back to her youth when her mother wanted to live vicariously through her daughter by controlling what she wore and having her look as much like herself when she was young as possible. Yaomay thought to herself that she loved the other earrings more than what her mom chose for her when the photoshoot was ongoing, but she stuck with it since her mom must know best. She thought to herself that her sense of self is being taken away.

Reiko then thinks that everyone has a present ’cause they have a past, and when she passes by a store, she thinks back to Yaomay saying that she’ll be the one who decides who is and isn’t her, that there are those who see genuine sparkle in a fake, and that when you’re given something that other things are taken away. Reiko only knows the present, so she doesn’t know how it feels to suffer from or long for the past and thinks about what she can give to her best friend.

When Reiko is having lunch with Kudo, she asks him whether he remembers what Yaomay said about having your sense of self taken, and he responded that he did. Reiko wondered if someone was scared of having something taken would giving that person something be a bother, and Kudo says it depends on what the gift is. Kudo then tells her to talk to Yaomay after Reiko feels wishy-washy due to not having experienced some of the things Yaomay has, which is nice of him considering how Yaomay treats him a lot of the time.

With some egg tarts in hand, Reiko visits Yaomay, who doesn’t want to see her ’cause the confident self she projects is not her real self, and she’s constantly worrying about what her parents think, not even being able to share what she actually likes with them. Reiko says that she understands and that Yaomay was probably trying to have her fake persona become the person she wanted to be with her not considering something like that fake. Since she doesn’t have a past, she doesn’t understand what it means to have an old self but that she understands very well the desire for an ideal self and that she saw genuine sparkle in fakes. She pressed Yaomao on whether that was also a lie, leading to Yaomay rushing out saying she’ll be her absolute self too, calling back to when Reiko said she would be okay with all of her decisions if she was sure that they were her decisions. At an earring store, Reiko has Yaomay pick out what she likes, which closely resembles what she picked out for herself in the past, and after Yaomay leaves to try them on, Reiko points to Kudo as being what she herself likes.

Dr. Hebinuma then gets a call from his father asking him what happened during that commercial.

Back to the flashback with Kujirai B at the Golfish Teahouse, she rates the place highly, which Kudo is ecstatic about, and then he brings out watermelon for her, which is apparently something he does for everyone, not just Reiko, and that’s when Kudo learned of her quirk of smoking and eating watermelons at the same time. She asks whether he himself has a quirk, and he responds isn’t that sort of thing someone close to you points out, leading to her saying she’ll find one and point it out to her, which gets a reaction from him since he longs to be close to her. When he first heard he was being transferred to Kowloon, he cursed his fate, but he’s finding he’s liking everything here, leading to Gwen saying he’s fallen in love with Kowloon. He then wakes up, and him being in turmoil coincides perfectly with the onset of an earthquake, which Xiaohei says there have been a lot of lately.

We then see Gwen arrive at Kowloon, and we don’t know from which point in time this is happening, whether we’re seeing Original Gwen arrive at Kowloon, or whether this is a completely different Gwen, and the kicker is that Kowloon has already been destroyed. With this recent episode depicting Kowloon having been destroyed and an earthquake’s onset coinciding with Kudo’s turmoil, it’s clear Kudo’s turmoil causes the world itself to shake, demonstrating the connection between his mind and the world’s existence and that this is indeed a dream world that involves Kudo in some way.

It’s not Kudo’s lingering feelings for Kujirai B that ’cause the world to shake but his refusal to let go conflicting with the knowledge that she’s dead that he’s trying to suppress. That’s why the earthquakes started after Reiko said Gwen told her that Kujirai B no longer exists in the world, ’cause he was trying hard to deny it, which was why he was feeding Kujirai B’s words back to Reiko and shit ’cause he hoped he could bring her back through that and why he put his hand over his face in distress in Episode 4. The world also pointedly made the case to viewers and Kudo in Episode 3 that Reiko is not Kujirai B with the sunflower shit, possibly ’cause it is trying to get him to address his issues properly instead of being in denial.

People that come to Kowloon erase the previous version there, and when those people leave, a new version emerges, as shown by how Kudo got a message on his computer in Episode 4 about there already being an existing item at “Sai On Tower” right after a Mr. Chan entered and then left, showing that Kowloon must always have a baseline number of people as the Branch Manager indicated in Episode 1 and that the computer was likely asking Kudo whether to replace the previous Mr. Chan from before the one that came from outside Kowloon entered Kowloon in Episode 4, showing Kudo has some level of control over the world.

The mystery continues to deepen with this episode, but some things, such as Kudo’s direct connection to the world, is becoming increasingly apparent, which is a good thing since the show at this point shouldn’t only be raising questions.

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.

Kowloon Generic Romance Episodes 1-2 – Analysis and Important Details

Posted on April 16, 2025 | by anicritic | 2 Comments

People who have been following my coverage of Re:Zero Season 3 and Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Season 2 know that I love a story with a strong mystery element, not just a story that happens to have mysteries like in those episodic mystery anime, so I guess it’s not a surprise that I’d pick up Kowloon Generic Romance given it’s the mystery heavyweight of the season that had a brilliant premiere with excellent character writing, a great setting (in Kowloon Walled City), and an interesting premise.

The episode starts with Reiko waking up and getting out of bed, and I like her character design already. It’s a neat decision to anime the dust as sparkly particles, and as she puts on her glasses, her vision notably doesn’t seem to improve at all, which is backed up by her reaction. As she’s preparing breakfast, a TV commercial advertises Hebinuma Pharmaceutical’s new eyedrops that clear your vision up quickly, and it’s obvious that’s of interest to her. She apparently really loves watermelons and smoking while eating those watermelons. Afterwards, she saves some watermelon for later and dresses in a Chinese-style outfit that would be typical of Hong Kong at the time. After we see her leave her apartment, we see a lot of Traditional Chinese characters on the shops and the mailboxes, showing that it’s definitely Hong Kong since China uses Simplified Chinese. The only other place it could be would be Taiwan, but we know for a fact that the setting is Hong Kong with people in Hong Kong speaking Cantonese while those in Taiwan speaking Mandarin. A short girl, or possibly a woman since she’s opening up a shop, enthusiastically greets Reiko, and Reiko merely waves at her, possibly ’cause she’s short on time. Then she passes by a storefront with some TVs out front that tell about Generic Terra apparently being capable of backing up all the memories of all human beings, making eternal youth and even immortality a reality, a government-funded project that’s drawing attention from even foreign nations, calling it the dream of humanity, and I know it means “dream” since I have exposure to someone who knows Japanese who indicated that “roman” can mean “romance” but more often means “dream” in the sense of something generally seen as impossible. The TV personalities remark about the Generic Terra project continuing with a focus on safety, which isn’t a surprise since it needs to be safely developed for there to be public buy-in. They also talk about the mascot of Generic Terra, Gene Tera, that is really popular, probably to woo people into thinking the project is totally safe since it has a cute mascot. Rumour has it the project is run by Hebinuma Pharmaceutical, the same company with the eyedrops that were advertised. Reiko than walked forward and stopped for a moment ’cause she had trouble seeing, showing there will be more to this plotline. Interestingly, they pan to a mysterious object in the sky.

Reiko then arrives at Wong Loi Realty Company, her place of work, where her boss tells her to clock in soon since she’s later than usual or else she’ll be late like her colleague, which is no surprise given she has checked her vision twice so far and also seemed to be in a hurry when she merely waved at her friend. Said colleague, Kudo, pushes her time card out of the way and clocks in just in the nick of time, which is inconsiderate of him to do. After handing Kudo a work order, Reiko pesters him until he agrees to buy her lunch, and I like a woman who knows her worth, so I’m glad she didn’t accept being treated poorly by him. Their boss then speaks to Kudo as if they’re continuing a conversation they had before in that the Second Kowloon isn’t really a comfortable place to live, yet the number of residents doesn’t decline, suggesting that they perhaps have nowhere else to go. Kudo then replies that he loves Kowloon as is though while Reiko is having vision problems again. This is very interesting ’cause the demolition of Kowloon Walled City had concluded in 1994. There was no Second Kowloon on Earth, and it seems this is a difference in this setting compared to our lived reality.

Reiko then took Kudo to a new Hawaiian cafe, and Kudo just brushes it off and forces Reiko to go to their usual lunch spot. Just as he’s about to dig in, Reiko glares at him, saying she wanted to eat at the other place, and Kudo just dismisses her, asking her if she doesn’t feel the rightness in the plump boiled dumpling in golden broth, and as if in cue, Reiko has vision problems yet again. She then uses Hebinuma Pharmaceutical’s eye drops, which exasperates Kudo as he doesn’t trust the new owner, the son of the previous owner and director of Hebinuma Beauty Centre. He then says that all you need for eye strain is to massage some pressure points. After he indicates his intent to press them, Reiko says he’ll just use brute strength and even though they’re both hominids, she doesn’t want to be lumped in with a gorilla like him, which is music to my ears as I prefer a strong woman who knows how she wants to be treated. The arrival of their next dish then diffuses the tension, and Reiko then mentions that Unit 205 in Sai Joeng Tower has had no tenant for six months now. Kudo replies that it gets the afternoon sun on full blast with no air conditioning, so only a weirdo would like to live there considering the interior’s pretty old as well. He threw it out there that if the walls were painted fresh it might look better. Reiko then throws out there that he fixed the door of an apartment on Naam Caang Street, and Kudo says that everything is old in Kowloon and that the landlords would be unhappy if they called the maintenance guy over every single flaw. He then earnestly showed that he wants the tenants to be comfortable, which is showing off his good side considering how he’s usually being inconsiderate of Reiko. Reiko then asks if he wants to go for tea since they still have time, highlighting only if he wants to, showing she fancies him to an extent, and he tells her to see an optometrist since she has the wrong prescription.

Reiko is apparently pretty impressionable judging by the animators showing her eyes being visibly affected indicating that she took Kudo’s words to heart, and after a trip to the optometrist, her boss is shocked that she now has twenty-twenty vision and says that she looks better without glasses, urging Kudo to chime in, and he replies that he prefers her with glasses. Up on the rooftop, Kudo says that they’ll be punished for building things like that object in the sky that was shown earlier. Reiko asks if he’s against Generic Terra, and he’s deadset against it as they’re basically creating a fake Earth with their tax money. After asking for a light, Reiko wonders how long the place she wanted to eat at will stay open as new stores close down really quickly in Kowloon. Kudo remarks that Kowloon is meant to be a nostalgic place and that a flickering streetlight, a mold back alley, and noisy neighbours are all meant to make you feel nostalgia with that feeling of nostalgia being the same as being in love. He says it’s the same as for everyone here, this nostalgia Kowloon, and that’s why Kowloon shouldn’t change as they don’t need anything new. Reiko replies that she doesn’t feel nostalgia with this place but that she does feel a sense of nostalgia with him, which Kudo reacts strongly to, leading to him getting really close to her in a sensual moment and pointing out her crow’s feet.

The next day, Reiko arrives with a pair of fake glasses, leading to Kudo teasing her about hiding her crow’s feet, saying she’s fighting a losing battle as a thirty-two-year-old, which is again, quite inconsiderate. She then notices that one the cuffs of his shirt is dirty, and he says it’s a quirk of his to touch the number eight, and he can’t help touching the eights he sees on walls as he gets around Kowloon. At night, Kudo then asks how much work Reiko still has, and she thinks she’ll keep going a bit longer, but then he turns off the lights and ropes her into having dinner with him. Kudo takes Reiko on a tour to show her what makes Kowloon Kowloon. They look like they’re having fun, and then after Reiko says that she can’t eat any more, Kudo brings her to the Goldfish Teahouse. The waiter recognizes him and says it’s been a long time with Reiko wondering if Kudo’s a regular here, which is again her showing some interest in him like when she asked him if he wanted to go for tea earlier in the episode. The waiter then brought them the two iced coffees they asked for while also giving Reiko some watermelon on the house, saying that they’re delicious this year. When Kudo brings up what she said earlier about not being able to eat more, Reiko merely replies what watermelons are mostly water, so they’re practically a drink, which he reacts well to, and she thinks she felt something nostalgic again. She then tells him it tastes good to smoke after eating some watermelon. Kudo then says he remembered someone who said that exact thing, and he says he likes a quirk like that as finding familiar quirks can make you happy as it helps you remember the person with that quirk. As they leave, the waiter says he’s happy that Kudo brought his girlfriend again, and before she can correct him, Kudo tells her to hurry up. When they’re headed back, Reiko innocently puts it out there that he needs to correct him as it’d be awkward if he goes back there with his real girlfriend, and he just dismisses her concern. Reiko then notices the strange object in the sky again with some eerie music playing, and Kudo has a bag of water with a goldfish in it, calling it a souvenir from today, suggesting that she keep it at her place. Back at her apartment, Reiko is visibly bothered by Kudo’s remark about it helping him remember the person with that quirk.

After a shot of the object in the sky, we hear an announcement that a photochemical smog warning as been issued as well as a heat and humidity advisory, and we see on Reiko’s agenda is the wall repainting Kudo had suggested could make a difference. The announcement indicates that people should refrain from outdoor activities and be cautious of indoor heat stroke. Reiko works VERY hard to paint the walls and very nearly passed out before Kudo caught her with his arm in a scene with a lot of sexual tension what she was wearing and her feverish state. Reiko answers Kudo after he asked her that the reason she had an urge to repaint the walls of this apartment was that she wants the tenant to be comfortable, and this really gets a happy reaction out of him since she was recalling something he said to her. As she watches him complete the rest of the repainting, she notes that she is without a doubt in love with him, which is no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention.

After they finished the repainting, Reiko searches for the teahouse that they had gone to together but to no avail. She then arrives back to her workplace to find Kudo sleeping. When he doesn’t respond to her calls to him to wake up, she thinks of their boss and starts calling him Kudo-kun since he uses the kun honorific for the both of them. Kudo actually visibly reacts to this and wakes up, and while half-asleep, he pulls her in for a kiss, or a make-out session to be more accurate, and when she starts attempting to pull away a few times, he gets the picture that Reiko is not who he thought she was and apologizes, indicating he mistook her for someone else. At 5 PM, Kudo asks Reiko what she had for lunch, indicating he skipped lunch, and he says he’ll have what she had for dinner, suggesting that she clock out as if nothing had happened between them. Reiko is hung over it, but the same doesn’t go for him, which makes her feel silly. Some of his files then slipped out of his drawer, leading to her spotting a photo of Kudo with someone else, and her heart races as she musters up the courage to pick it out of the drawer as she wants to know who it is that has the same quirk as her, and as a huge shock, she sees that it’s someone who looks exactly like her. While depressed, she finally comes across the Goldfish Teahouse again and asks for an iced coffee, thinking she couldn’t find the place when she was actually looking for it. She then takes the photo out, and the waiter remarks that they sure had fun that day. When Reiko questions if she knows the photo, he says that it’s a photo he took right there at the teahouse to celebrate her engagement with Kudo. Reiko indicated she didn’t understand what he said, and then it flashed back to the teahouse in disarray and heavily damaged, which appears to be the objective past before this current Second Kowloon existed.

The episode ends with Reiko thinking who in the world was it that Kudo kissed, and that was a brilliant episode with excellent character writing. I liked the contrast between Reiko wanting to try new things while Kudo was in it for the nostalgia and actively avoiding change. Sometimes tells me by the end of the story that Kudo will have to acknowledge that change isn’t bad. I also loved that Reiko didn’t put up with being treated poorly as there are a lot of poorly written romance stories where the female characters are just props meant to satisfy the main character, which is often seen in isekai harem stories, and I’m satisfied with her being depicted as a strong woman. I’m really interested in seeing where the story goes with Reiko not having memories of being engaged to Kudo.

At the start of Episode 2, Reiko is still looking depressed and thinking back to the waiter talking about the photo being a celebration of her engagement to Kudo. Reiko then gets a call from Xaiohei, whose voice matches that of the short girl/woman who greeted her in the first episode. With a really noisy sound in the background, Xaiohei says that her neighbour has been really noise at night and that she can’t take it, leading to Reiko confirm that Xiaohei’s still at Naam Caang Street, saying she’ll look into it, and the significance of this isn’t lost to me as Kudo spoke as if he lived at an apartment on Naam Caang Street when Reiko previously brought it up with Kudo fixing a door there being her inspiration for repainting a unit at her apartment.

Reiko, after arriving to the door of the unit in question, rings the buzzer, and a whole bunch of plushies of the Generic Terra mascot, Gene Tera, rush out as a blonde woman we eventually learn to be Yaomay slowly works her way out to greet Reiko, shocking her in the process. After inviting Reiko in and having her take a seat, Yaomay says she has to make fifty more plushies of the mascot before taking note of Reiko not looking well. Reiko notes how out of place it is to discuss this with someone she just met, but she pulls out the photo of her engagement and reveals that the woman in the photo is not her, much to Yaomay’s surprise, since she and Kudo don’t have that sort of relationship, and that they never actually took the photo together. Reiko then reveals that she has no memories of her past, not just of the day that photo was taken, something she didn’t even notice until today, having never thought about it before this point since Kudo never once mentioned it, leading to Yaomay revealing that there are other people without a past and that she’s one of them, so she believes Reiko since she straight up told her at the beginning that it wasn’t her. Yaomay apparently had cosmetic surgery done on her entire body to throw away her entire past so that only she could decide who is and isn’t her, showing why Reiko should trust that she believes her story. Yaomay then shares a tart with her, which is the first thing she ate after her plastic surgery, calling it a birthday cake for her new self. She is happy to serve the tart to Reiko since today was the day of Reiko discovering herself.

Back at the realty firm, Kudo sees that Reiko had taken the photo, prompting him to think back to the past. He introduced himself as Kudo Hajime and that he has been transferred from the Japanese branch to the Kowloon branch as of today. Then it shows Hajime look at someone who looks very much like the current Reiko, who I will be referring to as Kujirai B from now. Hajime zoned in on Kujirai B’s hips and slowly moved his gaze upwards toward her face, which shows how attractive she is to him. Kujirai B then remarked that he’s thirty while she’s thirty-two, which should be impossible in the present if Kowloon was rebuilt as the Second Kowloon since the current Reiko is also thirty-two, so there’s something up with this world. Kujirai B refers to him as Kudo-kun, unlike the current Reiko, after she introduces herself, and this is very important as it gives clarity to what happened in the previous episode. If you recall from the first episode, Hajime was sleeping on a couch and wasn’t responding to the current Reiko when she called him Kudo-san, but after she switched to Kudo-kun, he jolted awake while still half asleep and pulled her in for a kiss, showing that he and Kujirai B were definitely lovers in the past, and that was definitely real.

As they were talking together as Kujirai B shows Hajime the city, she says that Kudo Hajime is a good name and shared with him that eight is considered a lucky number in Kowloon as well, so I found on Quora that “Hajime” can mean the number 8 depending on the Kanji used, which I thought was important to know since most anime are written in mind for a Japanese audience. She indicates the reason is the number eight associated with wealth in Cantonese based on its pronunciation. After a game in which she beats a bunch of men at mahjong, she openly flirts with Hajime when one of those men threw out that luck favours her too much, saying it might be ’cause of Hajime’s name. What a way to seduce the new guy at work. At the Tintin eatery, which Hajime always took the current Reiko to lunch at, Kujirai B indicates that mahjong is a trick to doing well here since it allows her to hear the concerns of residents. She also indicates that learning the shortcuts around the city is important and that if he eats lunch with her it’ll always be at this place. She repeats what we heard Hajime say to the current Reiko when he took out to lunch in the first episode, showing he is feeding Kujirai B’s words back to her. On a rooftop, Kujirai B then hands him a watermelon smoothie, which he enjoys to his surprise. After he stares at her while she’s drinking the watermelon smoothie ’cause he can’t keep his eyes off her, she asks him what’s the matter, and he decides to light up and smoke as well just as she is doing. He then asks asks her there are any other hints in navigating Kowloon, and she says that to be in love is one such tip, which gets a reaction out of him as he wasn’t expecting that answer at all. Kujirai B then repeats all the words Hajime fed to the current Reiko when they were on the rooftop of their workplace, showing that the reason he did so is that he hopes deep down that Kujirai B will come back to him. Hajime then throws out there that he heard the place is going to be demolished, which she dismisses as something they’ve been saying for years with no intention of following up on that, and him asking her if it would be painful to be in love, knowing it would be gone someday, and strikingly, there is no strange object in the sky in the flashback.

Afterwards, Yaomay and Reiko meet up at a restaurant with Yaomay saying it’s been a while even though they last saw each other yesterday, which shows that something is either off with Yaomay’s perception of time or that there’s more than meets the eye regarding her. Shows such as Re:Zero, Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, and Kowloon Generic Romance tend to have many important details that you might think are throwaway lines that end up being important later down the road. Reiko has a taste of the lemon chicken, and she’s very pleased with Yaomay being glad that she’s feeling better. As they continue eating, Reiko then says she wants to know the truth after all, and Yaomay says she might as well ask Hajime as it’s not as if she’s in love with him, but Reiko’s reaction says it all. Reiko then says that the fact that he hasn’t said anything about it probably means he wants to hide it. Yaomay then comes up with the hypothesis that the woman in the photo is Kujirai B and that the simplest explanation is that Kujirai B has amnesia and that Reiko is her, and that’s why Hajime is not saying anything ’cause he’s hoping for her memory to come back. This makes Reiko think about who she is in Hajime’s eyes.

Back at work, probably the next day, Hajime says that he’s hungry and asks whether they should stop and grab a bite, and Reiko says she knows a good place with lemon chicken that opened the other day, and of course he just dismisses that and says they should go their usual spot. Reiko then says that she sometimes feels a sense of nostalgia with him, asking him whether he feels the same way about her, and he replies that he does. She then takes off her glasses and asks him to look at her in earnest, and he casually says that she’s not pierced, and we know that Kujirai B was. He also mentions that her crow’s feet are pretty obvious. He then says something quite rude and urges for them to go eat those dumplings he learned to love which must have beauty benefits, and to no one’s surprise, Reiko dismisses him since she doesn’t take shitty behaviour like that like the women in many other bad harem or romance shows do. After Hajime leaves, she then puts the photo back in the drawer and gives Kujirai B a flick before closing the drawer, showing she hopes Hajime would see her instead of Kujirai B.

Back at home, there’s a TV commercial on Hebinuma General Medical Centre, a beauty and health facility that opened just the other day with it offering free health check-ups starting today, and obviously Reiko and Yaomay both show up, as does Xaiohei. Yaomay wants to see Dr. Hebinuma, who is apparently so popular that it’s nearly impossible to book consultations with him. Xaiohei has heard of Yaomay from Reiko, so she knows she was the source of the ghost noises, and she seems to not be upset anymore. They go through a number of tests, and the last one is the barium swallow test. Normally, I would take no interest in a random mention of a particular test, but this appears to be one of those series in which Chekhov’s gun applies, so I’m assuming this is an important detail. Then an employee talking about them offering free cosmetic surgery consults catches Reiko’s eyes since she’s self-conscious about her crow’s feet, and she and Yaomay each get an appointment.

Hajime then looks for Gwen, which is the name of the waiter from Episode 1, at the Goldfish Teahouse only to learn that he had suddenly quit with the new waiter having no idea why since he started working there today. Later, Reiko and Yaomay also enter that same teahouse only to find that Gwen had quit, leaving them wondering why he would quit now of all times. As they’re walking away, Yaomay asks Reiko to tell her what the waiter looks like she might run into him somewhere. Reiko then sees some accessories for sale, and since she’s clearly thinking of Kujirai B, Yaomay suggests the clip-ons that are most similar to what Kujirai B wore.

Back at the realty firm, Hajime tries to find info on Gwen since he brokered his apartment only to fail since he comes across an error he had never seen before. Reiko then comes in, and Hajime calls her Reiko for the first time, probably since Kujirai B is his Reiko, but he tells Reiko to knock it off when he learns that they’re clip-ons, which has Reiko crestfallen. This possibly suggests that Reiko doing that was considered an insult to Kujirai B’s memory to Hajime, indicating that Kujirai B has passed away, and I’ll be taking a detour to do some theorycrafting now although I have to note that Hajime can be a real jerk at times.

I noted earlier that when Kudo met Kujirai B, he was thirty, and she thirty-two, and now, she is still the same age despite this being The Second Kowloon as the manager of the real estate company stated in Episode 1. So the place was rebuilt, and she hasn’t aged at all, which shouldn’t be possible under normal circumstances, and as such, there must still be a huge twist coming as the world they’re in is clearly unnatural. Although I’m not confident about this, it could be a simulation with people plugging into the simulation, which is why Yaomay could say, “It’s been a while, Reko-pon!” despite having seen her yesterday ’cause Yaomay spent a lot of time in the living world and then came back. Maybe The Second Kowloon is not a real world but a simulated world, and that could be why nobody ages. I lean towards Kujirai B being dead based on the way Kudo reacts, so the current Reiko may only exist in the simulation. But a simulation isn’t the only plausible explanation, just what most easily comes to mind assuming no other twists. The bottom line is that whatever the truth is, it’s basically guaranteed to involve the world being unnatural, whether it be a simulation, magic, a dream state in one or more people induced by experimentation, or something I haven’t yet mentioned but can still conceivably happen. Hajime notably said that they’re making a fake Earth in Episode 1, so that potentially backs up this theory of the world in Kowloon Generic Romance being unnatural.

Reiko then shows up at Yaomay’s door, crying, and says that she was stupid as that wasn’t the look she was hoping to see on his face and that it’s pointless to draw his attention like this. Yaomay then invites her inside for some sweets to help her move on from that interaction. And outside, Hajime himself is sitting down and miserable, and it even starts raining down hard on him. Back at Reiko’s apartment, Reiko is suffering, and it shows glimpses of how Kujirai B lived her life with shadow copies of her everywhere. Reiko then, as a strong woman, shows that she is shelving the glasses and earrings look, which I’m happy to see since she should strive to be her new self rather than try to fit the mold of Hajime’s past lover.

Back at work, Reiko’s taking a smoke break, and Hajime does so too, and he actually ends up apologizing, and instead of merely going along with the apology and forgiving him, she rips into him and guilts him into taking her out to a place of her choosing since he owed her for hurting her so deeply, which I love since she won’t accept bad behaviour like many women from bad harem anime. At the restaurant, Hajime notes that the lemon chicken’s delicious, much to Reiko’s delight, who’s beaming and has a wonderful smile on her face, which shocks him, leading to him acting tsundere and saying it’s not as good as the boiled dumplings. When he asks her whether she comes here alone, she says she eats here often with her friend, Yaomay, and he seems perplexed and somewhat curious about it judging by his reaction even though he didn’t say more. When they’re finished, Reiko remarks that it has stopped raining, and she steps into a puddle, resulting in Hajime catching her by the hand, and the romantic music that always plays during a romantic moment between them plays, not that I’m complaining since I like it a lot as it’s catchy and captures the feeling of the moment. She moves to move away her hand, and his grasp on her only gets firmer, leading to her asking if he’s confusing her with someone else, and he says he’s looking at her, which has her face go completely red before he finally lets go and tells us to watch her step. He notes that Generic Terra is shining extra bright today, and for some reason, he isn’t negative about it tonight, maybe he’s in a good mood ’cause of Reiko.

Reiko and Yaomay are now ready for their appointments, and Yaomay makes a point about how Reiko can’t just show up with her normal make-up, so Reiko puts on the same shade of lipstick as Kujirai B. When it’s time, Reiko is booked with Dr. Hebinuma, and she says she’s self-conscious about her crow’s feet, leading Dr. Hebinuma to look at her “Compatible Person Medical Record”. Yes, you saw that right, compatible person, as in it isn’t Reiko’s actual medical record. He then asks to have a look at her face, and he caresses it in a really creepy way, talking up her skin’s glow and feel and that it even has warmth. When he asks her if she’s married and what her family structure is, she answers that she doesn’t know as her memories are missing. After hearing that, Dr. Hebinuma, with a creepy smile on his face, says that’s outside his area of expertise as her wrinkles have no medical history, meaning she was born with them instead of having them form slowly over life. In light of her not having memories along with her wrinkles, he says that it’s possible that those memories never existed in the first place, leading to him saying what’s important is that she exists right here, right now. He then asks for her to tell him more about herself, only to see that his tongue is a snake tongue, and he wipes the lipstick off her face. She then leaves the room abruptly, and when Yaomay asks how it went, Reiko just grabs her and forces her to leave, missing her appointment in the process since she was majorly creeped out by him. As Dr. Hebinuma watches them leave the premises, he says that the lipstick didn’t suit Reiko, leading to him putting the lipstick he wiped off of her on himself and saying that that’s so wonderful that he might go crazy.

My theory regarding this is that the current Reiko is a cyborg recreation of Kujirai B. That would be why Reiko was born with wrinkles rather than developing them over time assuming Hebinuma’s word can be trusted. All the diagnostic tests done as part of a free health check-up could be a means of physically recreating someone, and this current Reiko could be a biological and mechanical proximation of the original one. Maybe the ‘barium test’ itself is meant to inject nanoparticles into your body for observation/research purposes.

Episode 1 notably had them talking through TV about Generic Terra backing up people’s memories, making the concept of immortality possible, suggesting that perhaps the reason Reiko still likes watermelons is ’cause they backed up Kujirai-B’s consciousness and memories and then recreated Reiko, wiping her memories after doing so, which is why she still loves watermelons ’cause she in fact did love them. While part of the reason we like the foods we do is genetic, the other part is acquired tastes in that things that tastes bad to you at first can eventually taste good if you build a tolerance to them, but since Reiko apparently suddenly came into being, that cannot be it, and that’s why I lean towards her having had memories when she was created before they were wiped to have that preference for watermelons.

As for Dr. Hebinuma, he’s either a person who has experimented on himself to have the properties of a snake or an alien. “Hebi” means snake, so I guess it’s no surprise his name has “Hebi” in it, but I’m wondering where they’re going in the story with him since they made him so cartoonishly evil in this episode.

As readers of my blog know, I am a huge fan of Re:Zero, and it was my inspiration to even start a blog given how it is one in which Chekhov’s gun applies with excellent character writing and foreshadowing, and I get a sense that Hajime’s question to Kujirai B, “Wouldn’t it be painful to be in love, knowing it’d be gone someday?” could end up being really important to the story since it’s clear Hajime is still reeling from what was probably Kujirai B’s death and given him placing a huge emphasis on nostalgia. Of note is that I personally feel that Subaru will have to kill Emilia at the end of Re:Zero based on all that has been presented up until Season 3, so two of my favourite stories potentially making use of that question in different ways tickles my fancy. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Kowloon Generic Romance having in store for viewers, especially since it’s a 1-cour show that will have to wrap up everything instead of going on for tons of years.