Shigofumi - 06 February 9
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Summary:
High school student Morishita Shunsuke is surfing an online message board one day when he comes across a thread with a person who calls himself half dead because he’s being bullied. This bullying problem also manifests itself in Shunsuke’s class at school in the form of three of the guys picking on a boy named Kikukawa Kouichi, but Shunsuke doesn’t think much of it and even participates. However, after one particular incident where Kouichi wasn’t allowed to wear pants during class, Shunsuke notices that the bullied person posting on the online message board reports the exact same experience. This makes him suspect that the person posting online is none other than Kouichi, and when Shunsuke runs into Kouichi outside class the next day, he questions him about it. Realizing that Shunsuke knows, Kouichi begs for help and says that he’s at his limit. Shunsuke points out that he’s being bullied because he relies on others, but Kouichi disagrees and blames the bullies instead of himself. Instead of listening to Kouichi, Shunsuke decides to run away, however the bullies who now think that he’s Kouichi’s friend then confront him. Since Shunsuke denies it, the bullies want him to prove it by helping them.
That night, Shunsuke calls Kouichi to tell him to meet on the school rooftop under the pretense that Shunsuke is willing to help him. Shunsuke and the bullies are waiting for Kouichi there, and they want him to walk over a steel beam that’s hanging from one point of the roof to the other with a deadly multi-story drop in between. Kouichi begs them because he doesn’t want to die, and he’s fortunately saved by the night watchman arriving on the rooftop to see what’s going on. The bullies get out of trouble by claiming that they’re the astronomy club, and Shunsuke returns home feeling that things worked out. The next day, however, their teacher reports that Kouichi is dead. Shunsuke thinks that Kouichi was stupid and, in the days that follow, it’s clear that no one cared about Kouichi. Everything changes for Shunsuke though when the bullies turn their sights on. Unable to endure the bullying, Shunsuke starts to post on the same message board that Kouichi was on, and he eventually finds himself in the same situation that Kouichi was in on the school rooftop.
It is at this point that Fumika appears and beats up the three bullies so that she can give Shunsuke a Shigofumi sent by Kouichi. In it, Kouichi wonders if Shunsuke now knows how it feels to be bullied and tells him to die. Fumika disappears immediately after Shunsuke finishes reading this, and the bullies then get back up and gang up on Shunsuke. Desperate, Shunsuke spots a screwdriver on the ground and stabs one of the bullies with it. He then lets out a bestial cry into the night sky, causing the other two bullies to run away scared. Watching from nearby, Fumika comments on how Shunsuke fought to protect himself - he died socially, but he lived as an animal. In the aftermath, the bully that Shunsuke stabbed remains alive but in critical condition, and Shunsuke is put under investigation.
Preview
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Ugh, this episode is the perfect reason why I tend to dislike episodic series. It had very little to do with the overall story (Kanaka and Fumika’s involvement here was minimal, and the Kaname scenes really didn’t shed any new light onto Fumika’s identity either), so it had to stand on its own merits. The problem there is that this episode dealt with the bullying theme that’s been hashed out quite a bit in other places. There was something like this in an episode of Jigoku Shoujo, and I vaguely remember something similar from Great Teacher Onizuka too, so I didn’t find much interesting to this. Anyway, I hope there’s not many more episodes like this, and next week fortunately moves the focus back onto Fumika and her father.
Subaruhess at 4:08 pm on February 9th, 2008
Dam what happened to the fun & games in the last episode?
Leviahan DarklyCute at 5:26 pm on February 9th, 2008
Plz fon’t tell me it was bad, I love this show
whatever at 5:38 pm on February 9th, 2008
downloading right now! hmmm, it is common if there is one or two bad episodes in an episodic anime that has only 13 episodes. let’s give it a try:D
Asajeno at 7:40 pm on February 9th, 2008
Some Japanese channel cancelled this episode.
whatever at 8:40 pm on February 9th, 2008
hmmm, just when the society is getting more freedom and modernization, actually the bullying stuffs got more intense lately. I sometimes wonder why the one that got bullied doesn’t fight back, sometimes he/she does not have to win, you just have to show the bully that to bully you they need to pay:D.
Rembr at 8:45 pm on February 9th, 2008
What the hell is wrong with this school.
divine|s at 11:20 pm on February 9th, 2008
I know bullying seems to be a natural occurrence in Japan, but if it’s as bad as it seems (and especially if they can depict what happens so clearly even in anime), I wonder why the government doesn’t do something more about it.
Also, watching this episode in particular brought back memories of elementary and high school here in Canada. Personally, it pisses me off to see it. From experience, if you stand up to these bullies, you find out they’re mostly a bunch of pansies and back off pretty quickly after one incident where they get hurt.
divine|s at 11:56 pm on February 9th, 2008
Err, let me rephrase that. When I said “natural occurrence”, i meant “common occurrence”.
Jayars at 2:11 am on February 10th, 2008
Great episode. Back to a darker theme after the much lighter previous episodes. I’m just wondering if high school kids nowadays are really like that, and would go to such extents to bullying others (walking over a plank across buildings with a blindfold, etc). And stuff such as drawing on desks, etc, are the teachers really that dumb? Or do they simply decide to not do anything?
At my old school, anyone caught doing that = straight to the police station. The only things that we fear are those students who got expelled and are waiting for you outside school, or those that (rarely) come into school grounds with a spanner in their pocket and whack you on the head just inches below your eye… basically, those kinda students who have nothing to lose. But to have such public bullying,… the teachers and students must be really stupid, or they’re simply being potrayed too unrealistically. Still, as much as I hate the victim, it felt REALLY good when he finally
Show Spoiler ▼
Shippoyasha at 2:45 am on February 10th, 2008
Divine, bullying isn’t something you can have a bureaucracy or a government control. Especially one that doesn’t know how to micromanage social problmes like the Japanese government’s.
Rauzes at 2:56 am on February 10th, 2008
Whats wrong with this school? Nothing. its just like many of the typical Japanese public high schools. you just dont hear about it because
1. the teachers simply dont notice/dont care
2. they just dont make news.
I speak from personal experience
banzemanga at 3:13 am on February 10th, 2008
This episode is not bad. OMNI just don’t like it. I believe it was great. It made me feel almost like the characters inside. Yes, it is true that people would do things up to a far extent in order to survive. So would i but maybe i would have done something about the bulling before they bullied me. I remember when i used to get bullied i just fought directly, never stayed silent in a corner.
whatever at 4:40 am on February 10th, 2008
nah, if someone bully you, you need to bully them back(using another way, the reason why you think you cant bully them is because it appears you cant bully them the same way). actually, the weaker a person is the more evil he/she usually is. Evil doesn’t come from strength and appearance haha:P
Dmo at 5:03 am on February 10th, 2008
I absolutely do not understand what those 2 kids were thinking…
Just listing some of the things that were done…
1. He had his pants stripped.
2. The “game” thing with the metal beam across the rooftop.
3. One of the f**kers just like…ran up from behind and did a Captain Falcon Aerial Forward A Knee on him. (wtf? lol)
I don’t care how much of a pacifist or how weak they are…all three of those things listed above would’ve crossed the line by an incredibly wide margin. If the person is normal and cared even a little about their safety or well-being, they would’ve put up their fist and prepared for a fight to the death (especially on #2).
question at 7:30 am on February 10th, 2008
Is somethin wrong with the Recent Entries?
golthin at 7:44 am on February 10th, 2008
That is correct, bullies are cowards. I was bullied when I was in elementary school. My first line of defense was not going to school and just hide in an old broken school bus.
Until I was found out because the school sent a letter to my house. Then I broke down and I punched one of the bullies and dislocated his jaw. they suspended ME for 2 weeks but after that they didn’t bully me anymore. It is amazing how easy a Jaw can be dislocated.
Diodati at 2:37 pm on February 10th, 2008
Omni - GTO did have bullying themes (moreso in the manga); the most prominent one involved Yoshikawa who was severely bullied by three girls. I’ve not come across many anime-bully-stories which have gone the direction of Yoshikawa and Anko though lol..
The Shigofumi take on things seems a lot more ‘normal’, hmm, can I say that.
Rembr at 2:39 pm on February 10th, 2008
I hope not all Japanese schools have suicide, shotgun-toting dad intrusion, suicide, then homicide back to back. Because to me, I can safely draw a line and call this school abnormal right there.
Ori at 9:49 pm on February 10th, 2008
Bullies… They are all a bunch of cowards that pick who they precieve as easy victims. My friend got bullied in high school back then. These bunch of jerks used to throw stuff at her (she refused to get help though). But they thing is, they only do that when I don’t sit with her. The moment I do, they stay away (because they know I would not let it rest until I see them suspended).
Zzz... at 11:33 pm on February 10th, 2008
It really amuses me how everyone here is just parroting the stereotype of bullies being cowards or weak or have low self esteem. You people do realize that the reason that there are so many cases of these in anime is that it is a STEREOTYPE and that sells. Just like how tsundere and osananajimi and katana whoring and love & friendship conquering all SELLS. Whenever a theme in popular media is repeated again and again it’s not because it is necessarily true but because it strikes a cord in the herds of sheep and makes them happy.
And if you think it’s the truth that make people happy you are so very, very misinformed.