Shigofumi

[Everon]

I watched the first two episodes. Are the rest of the episodes small vignettes/novellas, tied together by the Shigofumi?

I feel like they're trying a little too hard to show off the dark underbelly of society. The character development get condensed and its hard for me to generate sympathy for them.

[Ryllharu]

No, there is one storyline that runs through many of the episodes. "Who is Fumika really?" A few people ask this question from several different angles. Also, at least watch to episode 5 if you are concerned about it pushing the "dark underbelly" too hard.

[Kraco]

The bulk of this ep was quite annoying to watch, for sure, because of the submissive attitude of those two targets. I was expecting the second one to fight back. The first one seemed to be from the helpless nerd stock but the second looked like he could have fought. But alas no. I never actually witnessed systematic bullying, the zero tolerance is effective after all, but if you believed manga, anime and games it looks like the teachers in Japan don't give a shit. A bit hard to believe really, since like this series has shown, the schools really may want to retain their image.

Fortunately in the end this episode didn't let down because the second dude cracked and stabbed. Jolly good. Though I still would have preferred a more intelligent outcome (no less violent; those bullies deserved what they got, but a more strategic payback) but this does suit this series better, I reckon.

[Yukimura]

I was thinking about the image thing to, and it seemed to me that the teachers and administration would rather pretend problems didn't exist then address them and accept the shame that they existed in the first place.

The teachers were saying not to say anything to the police that might be embarrassing, which could conceivably cover lying to protect the 'image' of the school. I find it quite despicable that they would care more about image than about actually doing good for the students, but I guess that's just how things work.

[Ryllharu]

[w.o.o.f] Shigofumi Episode 7

That was....really weird.

[Kraco]

Yeah. I have to say it's no wonder Fumika tried to shoot his father... I actually thought before this episode the dad Kirameki was dead because they all the time were telling he was shot by his daughter. But apparently he was shot and yet lived. I wonder what put the girl in a coma, then. Did it happen similarly to what happened in this episode?

Extremely eccentric man but an interesting house. However, I'm not entirely sure if Hakuoro's voice actor was the best man for the job. His voice doesn't really give me an image of either such a pretty boy or a lunatic.

[Ryllharu]

I'll second the thought that Kirameki was dead after Fumika shot him the first time.

However, after seeing what he's like, I totally encourage her to do so again and finish the job this time.

Judging by the looks of Fumika's gun and comparing it to the house, it's abundantly clear that Fumika sent herself the gun as a Shigofumi.

[Kraco]

This thread seems to be a bit out of date.

Episode 8 - w.​0.​0.​f
Episode 9 - w.​0.​0.​f






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Episode 9 was rather interesting and worked well in my opinion. It wasn't really central to the story, I feel, unless Chiaki is, after all, more than just a supporting character. Perhaps this ep flowed so smoothly because the two postal workers acted naturally in the company of the two humans and episodes like this might be good for Fumika's somewhat emotionally deprived personality.

[Kraco]

Forest friends:

Episode 10 - w.​0.​0.​f






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Hmm... For more than half of this episode I thought this was quite an annoying episode, but the end did redeem much. Still, there were some things I very much disliked like the personality of the dude to which I couldn't connect at all, and also the whole police station part. What the heck was that anyway?

The police see a man walking with a young girl, the man is old enough to be the girl's father and they also behave in a relaxed and familiar way, with no signs of anything strange. What does the police do? Arrest the man for being a kidnapper or worse? That was way too artificial a plot element unless the police in Japan regularly bring 50% of young fathers (or relatives taking care of a kid) in for questioning should they be seen in public with the child.

Seriously, they could have had a better story for the awakening episode.

[Ryllharu]

First a quick comment on eps 9:

I really liked this episode, and we learned a lot about Chiaki. However, I guess Fumika was completely right about having the ability to grow up and have a "nice body" in a few years, where Chiaki will stay a loli forever. Apparently, nothing was going to change anyway. Chiaki was always a loli. Got me a little misty-eyed in the end.

I also loved the bit where what amount to Chiaki's adopted daughter's suitcase breaks open to reveal a very large assortment of what looks like murderer's weapons. (Even if they were for fixing up the grave....)

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Back to eps 10:


To play Devil's Advocate, I assume the reason they thought he was arresting little Fumika was because it was a Monday, and just like little Fumika, they wonder what he is doing with a child instead of being at work. From what I can gather, Japan is fairly traditional in that young children are always with their mothers on weekdays, as Japan's businesses are dominated by men, excepting the occasional unmarried OL (office lady for the unfamilar). Those are exceedingly rare to be over age 25 (when arranged marriages pressured by the family begin to increase).

Yeah, this episode was pretty bland until the last third or so. The next episode should be something else. Having her wake up was the cliffhanger. It also takes under a minute, so it really doesn't matter what you slap on as an episode in front of it.

[Yukimura]

I actually liked this episode, I felt like I could understand the guy somewhat and the simple story of the last day of his life was very interesting in a dull relaxing sort of way. He had terminal cancer, and he knew he had never lived up to his parents expectations, nor had he completely realized his own dreams. So he was feeling lost and confused, but in spending the day with a sweet little girl he was able to reflect on his life and find something good in the end (I'm not really sure what but he seemed okay with dying to save her).

The police bit I initially thought was a bit strange, but then I realized the cops came up and saw two people beating up an older guy while a little girl looked on, and like Ryl said, a 30 year old guy probably wouldn't be expected to be hanging around a movie theater parking lot with a little girl and then draw a beatdown unless he was up to something shady. The cops certainanly jumped to a conclusion, but it wasn't outside the realm of possibility.

But on to the main story, I wonder what they're going to do with the awakened Fumi-chan. She seemed a bit belligerent in the preview, and I'd wager she'll have no knowledge or memory of her Mika personality, which should lead to strife if and when they meet.

[Ryllharu]

I don't see how Fumi-chan would forget Mika-chan, they were closer than best friends, and protected each other. I suspect that Fumi-chan would feel disoriented when she woke up to find Mika-chan gone.

[Kraco]

It's only two episodes left so it would make sense she remembers Mika well enough. But it will be interesting to see how this will end. My guess is they won't merge anymore but Mika continues to work as a postal worker and Fumi will resume a normal life, more or less. Or should I say begin a normal life as I doubt she will return to her crazy dad's place. Those two meddling former school mates probably will help her reach that conclusion.

Or at least if I had had a split personality that suddenly would have been incarnated, I would rather wish it to continue as a separate entity than absorb it back inside myself (yeah, a really realistic comparison). Well, this is assuming Mika won't start to fade automatically right away. She was an exception among the postal workers in any case.

[Ryllharu]

I thought about that too once it was revealed that Mika-chan was her protective personality. I had thought she was a coma-projection, and would fade when Fumika (back when we still thought they were the same) woke. I'm still not entirely sure how Mika "died," but I see no reason why Mika would fade anymore.

[Kraco]

Resolution lost and found:

Episode 11v2 - w.​0.​0.​f

[Ryllharu]

Strangely enough, there is no torrent out, but you can get the final episode of w.0.0.f's Shigofumi 12 from their IRC channel.


This was a strange episode. I'll elaborate more after giving Kraco and others a chance to watch it.

[rgrintz]

episode 12 torrents:

h264 http://tracker.anirena.com/details.php?id=5377&hit=1

xvid http://tracker.anirena.com/details.php?id=5378&hit=1

[Kraco]

The last letter:

Episode 13 OVA - w.0.0.f
Episode 13 OVA(xvid) - w.0.0.f

[Yukimura]

Dag Nabbit, I hate it when the tack on an OVA and punish us sub watchers who burn at the end of the season. Maybe Menclave will come through and actually finish it though.

[Kraco]

At least it was a good episode. But it surely is annoying to have an ova like this, which integrates so directly to the story to be separated from the rest.