Forum - View topicSonny Boy (TV).
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Sonny Boy (TV) Genres: science fiction Themes: superpowers Plot Summary: Empty classrooms, boring days. It was supposed to be a normal summer vacation just like any other. Suddenly, the school begins to drift through another dimension, and 36 boys and girls are left there, awakening to their supernatural abilities. Amidst the whirlpool of questions that come to mind one after another, survival in a supernatural world begins. |
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ACｘS
 Posts: 961 |
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1:
I think I'm in love with this show. This show is WEIRD. I'm intrigued. Wholly intrigued. A class of 36 kids being drifted into an alternate dimension, and they (all, or maybe most of them?) gained supernatural powers. Plus, there are unspoken rules in this dimension that they must follow. Do you know what this means? Lord of the Flies. I get some vibes of Tatami Galaxy (the unconventional presentation and overall WTF-ness) and Infinite Ryvius (kids' attempts at self-governance with some wild cards on the side). The "beauty" of shows like this is how each character has "serious problems" and, with the stress and building tension of the situation, all hell will break loose. And you know what is it I'm happiest about this show? It's by Madhouse. I can always count on them to produce something different and ambitious. Always been my favorite production studio; I knew you have something up your sleeve. This might be the dark horse of the season. Hell yeah, I'm sticking around! |
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ACｘS
Posts: 961 |
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Man, there's a lot of things going on. This "This World" What a dumb name. Basically they're stuck in an alternate universe. Apparently in this universe, the school is one dimension, and the island is another. Each dimension have their own set of unknown rules, and many more dimensions may exists; the kids just have to discover their "gateways". The rules seem arbitrary yet not-arbitrary; I believe it has something to do with the kids and their pent-up problems. This alternate universe may probably be a manifestation of their realities. Strangely everything in the school reverts back to their former selves: food, water, injuries. All of them will be reverted so it's as though they never happened, so the kids never have to starve (at least now I know how they get their food). The kids Tough crowd. Nagara is Mr. Inert. Nozomi is a free spirit. Cap is a meathead. Asakaze is a rebel. Mizuho is socially withdrawn with a sense of justice (and she got a teacher into trouble with it). Hayato... poor guy. Hoshi has a messiah complex. Pony has social status issues. Rajdhani is the Science Guy. This kinda reminds me of Battle Royale where every kid has "problems". They're not murderous since they're not put in a battle royale, but everyone will get on each other's nerve and tensions will rise. More so when they're given supernatural to, you know, spice things up. The interesting thing now is our Science Guy, Rajdhani. Dude's the only one smart enough to use scientific reasoning to make sense of this universe. Good. That's how physicists work to make sense of the world. Form a theory, test it out, eliminate factors, reevaluate the theory. A scientist at heart. But having a scientist to make a rule on how to live in this crazy universe? Oh boy. Apparently they can't take what's not theirs, but can do so only in exchange of something else. Barter trade, in short. What does Science Guy propose? Money. More importantly, credit. Ah, boy. This is a microcosm of the history of money here. Some historians and economists claim that credit is the greatest invention in the world. Others have explained that it's the cause of black swans. You know how "modern problems require modern solutions"? Well, modern solutions beget modern problems too. Shit's about to go down. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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More than a Messiah complex, I am thinking the dude might be showing signs of sociopathy. Seems pretty clear that he likes power, but knowing that being at the top can come from risks of things like being held responsible, so he sets up others to act as faces so he can put his curiosities into action. The rest of the student counsil don't seem free from also having negative traits, following Cap's brutality coming from power getting to his head, Pony seemed to show her own element of using power over others. Unless I misread things, she did in fact cheat to get elected, and doesn't seem to like being called out on it. I wasn't totally sold on the first episode as something that could really grip me, but the second episode got me more. It especially made me feel appealed more to Mizuho, who probably moved towards the character I like the most, even if there is the icky hint that she had a crush on that teacher. I have a soft spot for such socially awkward characters. She looks like she needs some friends in her corner, either to stop her being taken advantage of, and maybe grounded. Also Rajdhani, dude at least thinks logically and looks like a genuinely likable guy, along with and an ethnicity you don't see too often in anime. If they need a leader during all these weird things, they probably should choose him. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 961 |
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Of course he's a sociopath. There's always a sociopath. Shows where a group of kids trapped in a place always feature a sociopath: Lord of the Flies, Infinite Ryvius, Battle Royale, you name it. And they're always one of the lost-lasting ones. He would be going around getting people killed if this was a last-man-wins scenario. |
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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Oh boy, this is a strange one
'Weird anime' can still be entertaining to me...if it's visually interesting (Wonder Egg and FLCL are great examples)...but this just isn't grabbing me. The style is so darn plain (boring...the characters feel and look very bland and unremarkable. I don't remember a single name. I'm just not invested. I don't think the show's for me...since I found episode 01 so very hard to get through. And it's disappointing because MADHOUSE is probably my favorite anime studio. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4158 |
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In episode 1 and the scene where that happened I immediately thought of Doctor Strange and how that movie put New York through a kaleidoscope. So in Strange, it's very deliberately "all done with mirrors". Here I still don't know what was done; The set or rather the location was broken and then put back together but not in a way that make logical sense. It wasn't bent or rolled up nor was it reflected or refracted.
Then it went back to normal and there was much rejoicing... during which time it moved to the Island from Lost and proceeded to sink as it wasn't on the Island but rather offshore.... not normally sinking but slowly because "reasons". And "reasons" is why I don't think Sonny Boy is a weird show. We don't know the reasons, we don't know the mechanisms, we don't know the fundamental WHY of it all but we all know Hoshi is behind it, right? I don't think he's the "villain" but he is the Interloper.... Capital letters in my head there, that would mean the Interloper who is also known as the Devil... oh right, "Lucifer" means "morning star".... which is Venus... which means planet... which is another English equivalent for "hoshi". Oh right, Hoshi also means star so it can be a more direct than that. Yes, everyday can be a "Wikiwalk" for me, it's probably one of the reasons I liked Godzilla: Singular Point so much, I could relate to the thought processes of its leads. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 961 |
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3:
You know what I think? This 'This World' is just one big metaphor. There are rules here that the students don't fully understand but have to deduce, but these rules aren't completely arbitrary; they're based on values that societies ought to follow. And now we look at shut-ins. Yes, hikikomori. Many of us conclude that hikikomoris become who they are because they want to be alone. Truth is, and as the show puts it, they're neglected and simply want to be heard. There's no easy way to address this RL societal issue, but wouldn't it be easy if we only have this "air gun" to blow away the "black cloak" that shrouds the hikikomori in obscurity in RL? To simply let them that they exist and there are people who genuinely care for them? If only. So apparenly, Hoshi's superpower is something akin to clairvoyance. Or to be more specific, he has "The Voice". Wonderful. Pair that superpower with a sociopath with a messiah complex. Best formula! This is going to be swell. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11601 |
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Nope, some of us do just want to be left alone. 
I do agree that the "rules" seem to be based on things that allow societies to function. The powers are a different matter though. But those seem to be good or bad depending on the user. Which is also true irl. I have no idea about the purpose of the worlds, other than maybe as testing grounds, but since they've been stuck between the school and the island all this time, there's not been |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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My take of the hikikimori was a reversal of excluding the world and that the others were excluding them, Nagara and Mizuho seemed to find it when the rest of the class were berating them for not doing enough to solve it. So the other people were making the world uncomfortable for them, and were accepted into another.
I do like how the two of them kind of had a fight, and then had the maturity to apologise for getting a bit out of line, that they said things in the moment and move past it. To think of reasons for power, Mizuho herself seems rather burnt out on things like how capitalism worked in the real world, that people took their things like wealth for granted. So her ability to get whatever she wants and hold it over other by refusing to just give to other people, is like semi-revenge for people who acted so selfishly with things like limited resources. Pony is especially in that corner, being someone who apparently was using her family's resources to get what she wanted. Unless I read something wrong, Asakaze is kind of an ass to Nagara, he was kind of being unnecessarily cruel by saying that he was not needed for their world finding expeditions. Is it something simple as him having a thing for Nozomi. It is entirely contrary to what she and Rajdhani said later in actually valuing him. Also, Hoshi can hear something that is either like a narrator, or an all knowing voice. Maybe something like being the sort of person that likes having information over others. Going by episodes, we started at a school where they had all their needs met, but issues of considerations of order came up, which eventually start to lead to dictatorship where someone placed in charge and thought the rules didn't affect him. Then it was a new island where they all had more freedom, but an issue of something like resources came up, where they found out that they needed elements of give and take, a market. Now with considerations of productivity in mind, some people found that their emotional needs were not being met, and be able to do what they actually want, and so could end up in the blackout world to just focus on their own needs. Mizuho continues to kind of be interesting, in that as far as we know unlike real world rich, her resources might be unlimited. But she doesn't herself actually seem interested in more material wealth, rather than caring about her cats, and not just being taken advantage of or for granted. The argument is there that she could just give people anything they want, but clearly is only interested to say give Nagara things because he is not actually interested in getting things from her. And a final bit. Powers started working in the school before they shifted dimensions. One of the thoughts might have been it was Hoshi's doing, but he just seemed to be told by someone as in that is his power. Right now, could the school shifting dimensions have been someone's power? Such as Nagara who has the power to find new worlds, or maybe Nozomi that has a bit of manic pixie girlfriend element to her, and seeing the star or way out. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 961 |
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Truth; as an introvert, I can definitely relate. But let's just say that being a hikikomori is more than just wanting to be alone. Maybe there's a correlation between introversion and "hikikomori-ism", but I don't want to open a big can of worms. Another thing I forgot to add is how Hoshi revealed that he got his superpower before this whole "This World". Not sure what to make from this observation. Is it supposed to mean something? For all we know, it's probable that The Voice caused all these anomalies. Maybe it's just a red herring. For now, it seems improbable that Hoshi caused the "drift", if his superpower is only to hear the Voice. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 961 |
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4:
Monkey League? WTF. I couldn't follow the lore of the Monkey League, so I'll just take it that it's just an allegory. The character of the week is Nagara, as we try to understand his apathy. Doesn't seem to be motivated by or compelled to do anything. Is it because he's afraid of failure? Afraid of disappointment? Because you can't disappoint anyone if you don't give anyone any expectations. His lack of motivation for anything seems to stem from his outlook that things are meaningless. And with that, I was (am?) tempted to believe that he can't transport everyone back to the real world because subconsciously, he doesn't want to go back. His power is revealed to be travelling between worlds, but just not the one of his choice. Nozomi concludes this, but I'm still tempted to think that he's just not motivated to go back home. And maybe he's not even aware of it. Of course that pisses off Ace, a baseball prodigy who was special back home, but is anything but special in This World. Making water drinkable does seem like a worthy superpower, but iirc everyone has a supply of food and water already in This World so... what a crappy superpower. The only part I don't quite get is him granting baseball to the monkeys. Doing it simply to feel special? Hmm sure, I guess. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I couldn't really follow the monkey lore either, and it kind of just sounded like the delusions or fantasy of someone who is way too into baseball and turns stuff into mythic narratives. I was trying to figure out if it was a Cap thing, or along how Ace sees other people as a bunch of monkeys or something. He did seem to have some weird complex about whether he or someone is special or not.
A teacher appearing is something new, but at this point I might think that it could be something taking the form of their teacher, something that had some intention of pulling the kids into this whole mess. Current theory that someone used his ability to abduct everyone, and is stopping him from returning. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11601 |
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It seemed to me it was following along on the general theme of "rules" this series has been on about from the start. In this case, pitting wild, chaotic, I-want-what-I-want monkey brain vs civilized, rule-following brain. Monkey brain kinda won though. Also, monkey brain just wants to have fun playing baseball, but civilized brain gets caught up in the rules and who gets to play and what use can you make of it, and then it's not fun anymore.
Now what all that means to the larger narrative, I have no idea. But I thought it was interesting that the Monkey Getter flashlight worked by shining its light on the person who wanted to see monkeys, rather than on the monkeys themselves. That makes it seem more like a tool of introspection than revelation.
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4158 |
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Cap may not be much at baseball but he is a wonderful storyteller and as a storyteller what you are trying to achieve is to get someone else to see what you can see through words alone so I wouldn't call it allegory but rather actualization.
Ace claims he gave monkeys baseball but it was Cap who built the field... and if you build it, they will come as most baseball loving stories go. What I think happened is that Ace came across Cap's field and told him a fake story about monkeys playing baseball. Cap took that story and make an entire history out of it through actual/literal world building and then Nagara could see the world that Cap sees in his head. The true tell here is that Ace is the one with the "Magic Feather" Monkey Getter, Cap knows and sees the world without assitance but Nagara is the one with actual proof.... in that his ability allowed them all to get a glimpse of Blue at the start. Ace then turned the whole into a "sour grapes" story by saying it was all his doing anyway, those two are nothing special. But here's the real question: How did Nagara get the Monkey League out of Cap's head at the start? Regardless of how he did it, that would explain why previous This World's were rather simplistic and why later This Worlds, ones directly intuned by someone with no imagination, were just patterns. But I don't think telepathy is part Nagara's power, just the Actualization. Someone sent him that thoughtworld. |
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