Yulong – Thorough Watch

Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 11 – Analysis + Important Details

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 10 – Analysis + Important Details

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 9 – Analysis + Important Details

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 8 – Analysis + Important Details

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I personally believe this Kowloon exists ’cause Kudo was crushed by Kujirai B’s death, and for some reason, it manifested partially or entirely as a construct of his mind or subconscious in an effort to get him to move on from Kujirai B. That’s why I speculated in my write-up of Episodes 3 and 4 that the question Kudo asked to Kujirai B in Episode 2 could hint at the ending of the story in the story. “Wouldn’t it be painful to be in love, knowing it’d be gone someday?” could end up being THE central question to the story since it’s clear he’s still reeling from Kujirai B’s death and given him placing a huge emphasis on nostalgia. I believe the most important lesson Kudo must learn is that the joy and connection of love, even if temporary, outweigh the absence of such experiences and heartbreak. I believe that the last few episodes will likely have Kudo realizing the truth of this unnatural world and choosing to fall for Reiko despite her differences from Kujirai B, fully knowing that it won’t last due to the world in Kowloon Generic Romance not being real. My hunch is that this work is meant to be a serious lesson about how it’s okay to fall in love even if that love isn’t permanent ’cause love is very much worth it as there’s nothing more beautiful in the world.

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

Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 7 – Analysis + Important Details

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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