I always try to watch a variety of anime.
Over the past few days I watched a series that actually looked to have a lot of
genres mixed into one. This series, named This Beautiful and Ugly World,
had a little bit of everything: romance, comedy, action, science-fiction, etc.
It told the story of two girls Hikari (light) and Akari (brightness) found in a
forest by two friends, Takeru and Ryou. The two girls (really two parts of one
alien entity that only took human form as it flew past the two boys) must
ultimately decide whether to partake in or stop another mass extinction on
Earth. The girls thus decide the fate of the human race. The story turned out
to be quite unique and interesting, although some of the explanations for some
of science-fiction elements, such as the Awakened Entities and Extended
Definitions, were a little difficult to follow. However what the story did well
was convey a very simple and easy to understand message about happiness and
life on Earth.
Takeru’s form as an Extended Definition. Fortunately he was able to control his feelings of anger and aggression. http://vee-freak.deviantart.com/art/WIP-E-D-Takeru-243985445
The title of this anime alone tells the
message of the series. This Ugly Yet Beautiful World implies the world appears
to be bad, or ugly, but is in truth good to live in, and thus beautiful. The
series starts off to describe the ugliness of the world and how it is stagnant
and unimportant. Some things that make the world ugly are how Earth and the
human race seems insignificant in terms of the whole universe, how everything
must die, loneliness, and how mundane and unchanging life is. However, Hikari
and Akari, the two girls that are in fact alien beings or rather two parts of
one alien entity, are totally ignorant of life in Earth and yet seem to find
happiness in it. As the series goes on this happiness is passed onto other
characters. Kimi (Ryou’s little sister) starts off as rather stressed and a
little aggressive at times (to Akari) but she finds happiness due to Akari, who
also makes Ryou happier. Most notably though is how Hikari changes the
depressed Takeru into someone who values life. Even Mari, who ends as one of
the angriest characters, is taught some things by the alien girls. The
unimportant group of friends also seems to find a new lease on life, although
this isn't hugely attested to in any specific way. However, we discover
that the two girls, Hikari in particular, were sent by some higher force of the
universe to destroy humanity in another mass extinction event. In the end it
becomes the task of Takeru and Akari to convince Hikari, who has gone through a
physical and mental change or “awakening”, not to let this mass extinction
happen and to stop it. This idea of having a mass extinction should be equated
with the opinion many teenagers have in real-life (and stated in the series)
that the world should be destroyed. So the question comes about why should the
world not be destroyed and what can make us happy in order to stop us thinking
this way?
The first and most prominent obstacle to
the happiness and beauty of this world is loneliness. Hikari says how she is
lonely first but finds company with Takeru and his friends. Likewise Akari was
lonely but found a family with Ryou and Kimi. So too Takeru is revealed to be
lonely in his life, because he has been abandoned by his mother. This has
caused him to be defensive and always on his guard when making new personal
relationships because he feels like he will get hurt again and is not worthy or
even capable of loving others. So too Ryou has been abandoned by his parents
but he doesn’t necessarily show his loneliness as much as Takeru. Mari is also
lonely but just because she cannot tell Takeru how she truly feels about him. In
other words the 5 main characters all feel a different sort of loneliness. The
only thing that counters loneliness is human relationships. In other words to
find happiness we only need have a relationships with other people. But it is
not that simple as Takeru specifically still feels lonely although he has a
group of friends and a family (with is Aunt and Uncle) that support him.
However as I said he is guarded in his relationships due to his self-confidence
from how his widowed mother abandoned him as a young child.
As we have seen loneliness is bad, but
meaningless relationships are not seen as truly making someone happy. To be
happy in his relationships Takeru is told that he just needs to be open and
allow others in. With some sort of telepathic communication in episode eleven,
Ryou tells Takeru that he needs to have belief in what he feels to be true rather
than just making her happy for the sake of avoiding conflict. When he does this
he eventually finds true happiness in his relationship with Hikari. He does not
feel awkward like he did in previous episodes, such as during the team race
(episode six), and can easily envision his future with her. It was just like
when he was nervous to kiss Hikari, in episode 7, but when he did he felt
really good for it. In contrast Mari never finds true happiness because she is
never honest and open and never believes in the feelings she has for Takeru.
However, she was happy when she did accept these feelings (when looking for
scrap parts for Takeru’s bike in episode nine). Throughout the series Mari’s
friends, as well as the more mature Jennifer, advise her to open up with her
feelings and let them be known, but because Mari does not do this it blocks her
path to happiness. Even when she realises she must go to war with Hikari (in
episode 8) she still does not express her feelings to Takeru. She is left
feeling angry, bitter and jealous towards her rival as Takeru chooses Hikari
over her. We can also look at Hikari as well. Having wandered what she
described as the lonely dark universe, the alien girl first came to Earth open
and trusting and was happy. But then became sadder throughout the series as she
became more closed off and secluded (as she realized her true, higher role in
the universe). She gets sadder and more secluded as she has an inner conflict
with her desire to be happy in Earth and to fulfill her purpose as a death god
that destroys world. She did eventually find happiness, just like Takeru, but
only after she openly confronts Takeru and learns to feel belief in her
feelings and accept them. Thus in order to be happy in this world we should to
look to have relationships, not where we are guarded, but open and honest and
believe in the feelings we have about the other person.
However, what I have described is just the
romantic relationships within the series. It is not just romantic relationships
that bring happiness but also familial relationships too. This is mainly played
out with Akari, the younger alien girl, and how she fits into Ryou’s family.
Like Takeru, Kimi finds happiness when she finally lets Akari into her family
after initially distancing her. At the beginning of episode four, when Ryou
brings Akari to his house from the forest, Kimi is very opposed to the idea
that she should stay with her and her brother. She treats her as nothing more
than a guest really. She then tries to get her to stay with Hikari at Takeru’s
uncle’s house. However, as the episode goes on Kimi accepts Akari into the
family and finds happiness with her. Although she still does get frustrated
with Akari, it is only when Kimi is acting as a sort of mother figure, such as
when Akari catches the fish in the stream in episode six. Later on in this
episode there is a very nice family moment with Ryou, Kimi and Akari. Akari was
like her alien sister Hikari, showing the ideal innocent open example. All she
wanted was to find some solution to her feelings of loneliness caused by the
darkness and absence of anything else in space. However, unlike Hikari, Akari never
closed up, probably because Akari did not have to argue for another mass
extinction but against it. Ryou paralleled Mari, hiding the truth. Although
Ryou seemed to be happy, just as Mari did at times, you could sort of feel that
he never truly was, but this was not explicitly stated as it was for Mari. Ryou
hid that Kimi and himself were not in fact orphans but abandoned and this is
eventually revealed in the last episode. Although initially she cries, his
sister and Ryou find even more happiness when he opens up and reveals the truth
and they go off to search for their parents.
One of the things that is in opposition to
being open is the idea of protecting the one you love. Throughout the series,
from the first episode in fact, we are told by Takeru how he will do everything
in his power to protect Hikari from anything he needs to. Although this just seems
to be from the monstrous Extended Definitions which attack her, it also applies
to other things. One of the reasons Takeru feels so awkward around Hikari is
because he wants to protect her from sadness and only wants to engage in
stimulating conversation that won’t make her feel sad. He doesn’t want to talk
about space as it would potentially make her feel sad about her past. He also
protects himself and her from potential heartbreak by now letting her get too
close to himself. Thus it is only when Takeru drops the idea of having to
protect Hikari he finds more happiness. So too Ryou lies to his sister Kimi
about their parents because he wants to protect her from the knowledge that
they were abandoned and tarnish her images of their parents. As I have said
Kimi is actually happier looking for her parents rather than under Ryou’s
umbrella of protection. So protecting the one you love is not necessarily a
good thing, in fact the series shows it as something that blocks feelings of
happiness as it obscures openness in the relationship, which is necessary for
joy. Ryou in fact describes this to Takeru in episode eight with an ice-cream
analogy: the more that we try to keep the ice-pop on the stick, the more likely
it is that we will push it off onto the ground; so too the more we try to
protect those we love, the more we end up pushing them away from us and into
pain.
Therefore both romantic and familial relationships are important for happiness the series shows but only if we are open and honest in these relationships. This is pointed out with the vision of Takeru’s ideal future is shown in a vision (in episode 12) and it is just him with Hikari and their imaginary son. It is not just Hikari that is emphasised but family as well, through the father son relationship. Likewise during the final closing song pictures are shown, not of just Hikari and Takeru, but also of Akari, Kimi and Ryou. I should also note that relationships with friends are also mentioned but not as in great detail, but with some emphasis. This is done with how much of an impact Hikari has on Mayu, the class representative he meets at school in episode five. Mayu admits to Hikari that she sometimes hates school because everyone teases her and she is short and full of self-doubt, such as during tennis. However, Mayu shows that her friendship with Hikari made her happy when she gives pictures and a letter to Takeru for Hikari, after the apocalypse event in episode 12. It seems that because Mayu found someone to be open with, even just as a friend, she too found happiness. At the start of the series, as well as giving special attention to Takeru, Hikari also shows happiness due her friends and how they accepted her. In summary, one idea that is emphasised with This Ugly Yet Beautiful World is how a sincere, truthful relationship brings happiness, whether it be that of lovers, family or friends.
The other more simple way to find enjoyment is through experiencing the wondrous nature on Earth. We can experience many unique things through our various senses that we seemingly take for granted. This is shown by how the jaded human teenagers are surprised at the happiness Hikari and Akari experience in the simple things of life. The naïve and new alien girls are amazed things like the taste of watermelon (episode three), the sounds of crickets (episode three), the feel of the running stream (episode six), the smell of the sea (episode seven) and sights of the bright colours of the city (episode five). Basically they can be easily pleased by the sensations the nature of the world gives them. This opens the eyes of the friends who also learn to find pleasure in these things. They learn to have fun by just playing in a stream. Notably there is nothing about happiness from wealth, luxury or material goods in finding this sensual happiness; it is usually from nature and natural things. The family is running their own delivery service, not the most lucrative business, and even renting out rooms for extra money. The characters are thus not the richest of people, but they still find happiness. Never is the idea that money or the things money buys brings happiness. On the other hand the simple sensory pleasures we get from the Earth are often mentioned. In fact they are attempted to use as a way to try and dissuade Hikari from destroying the world. So This Ugly Yet Beautiful World presents the idea that finding pleasure from the nature of the Earth is a second way in which to find happiness.
These were the two main ideas of how to
bring happiness, through human relationships and enjoying the sensory pleasures
of Earth. They are said to be so obvious and ordinary but at the same time they
are just wonderful. However This Ugly yet Beautiful World also shows some other
ways to find happiness, even if they aren’t given the same importance as human
relationships and finding joy in the natural world around us. One of these
other ways is having a productive life. This is mainly shown through Takeru. At
the start of the show he has no purpose and feels like he is useless. However,
once he buys his bike in episode nine he finds a purpose in repairing it up on
his own back, rather than just paying for it to be fixed. He finds happiness in
the simple pleasure of just being productive and doing something worthwhile
with his time, compared to how he moped about the house and school with no real
effort before this (in the first episode). Likewise Hikari is very happy when helping
out in the beachside restaurant, even if she doesn’t do the best job she just
wants to help. Finding a purpose, not matter if you a good at it or not, can
bring happiness. Although Hikari found saw school as a place where friends hang
out, she realises it is not as fun as she thought because they do nothing
productive. I won if they did interesting productive things would they still be
happy.
On somewhat a related idea, one of the
reasons Earth is seen as ugly is because we (humans) have no true purpose or
worth in terms of the whole universe so life doesn’t matter. I would not argue
that finding a purpose in life means it is purposeful to the universe, but the
series in fact resolves this issue. Although this belief that Earth is
meaningless is held through most of the series it is countered at the end of
the series by how the human “heart” overcomes this logical thinking. If we act
to enhance our feelings, especially love and happiness, this is a worthwhile
purpose in the universe. Anything that brings love and happiness is worthwhile
as it is more than just the aggressive instincts other species had. Throughout
the series Hikari is attacked by big monsters, said to be awakened beasts of
past species that had previously been through a mass extinction event. In order
words they had been wiped out by her, but recognize Hikari as the alien that
brought about their species’ demise. Takeru gets these awakened powers and
initially uses them to protect Hikari. However at the end of the series Takeru,
like those past species looks to attack Hikari for being the destroyer of
worlds, but his heart, his love, stops him. This is seen as something beyond
which she has ever encountered before and it makes humans worthwhile of
survival from the mass extinction that destroyed several other species. Takeru
is of course contrasted to the other Extended Definitions as although he is a manifestation
of anger and aggression, his love and the happiness this love brings him allows
him to control this. In the first episode we learn that there have been over 5
billon species on Earth and over 99.9% of these have been destroyed by mass
extinction events, but through love the series shows that humans are something
more than the other beasts that had been destroyed and this is the reason we
humans survive our event. Basically because we have a heart and we can love we
are seen as worthwhile in the universe. Thus human relationships not only the
way to make us happy but also makes us worthwhile cosmically speaking. I
suppose it could also be suggested that they choose to save Earth due to its
beauty and how it can give you sensory pleasure. Thus the worthiness of humans
and Earth are also the things that we should use to make us happy.
At this point I would like to emphasise how
important perspective is to our grasp of happiness. As I said before we can
find happiness in even the simplest things, our sensory pleasures, if we just
look for them. However at the same time we should not expect everything to pure
bliss in our lives. Hikari seemingly enjoys everything in life, until her
internal conflict, but this is not entirely true. There was one point where
Hikari was not exactly delighted with our world. This was when she went to
school in episode five. The reason she wanted to go was because she thought it
would be perfect, spending a whole day with her friends. However, at lunch she
was asked by one of Takeru’s friends to evaluate whether this was the case or
not. She said it was fun but some parts, such as the literature lesson we saw
previously, did not seem to her as delightful as she expected. The group of
friends compare her day at school to a chocolate she is eating. They may expect
it to be sweet, which it is, but it is bitter as well. We might want it to be
all sweet, and not bitter at all, but it is still sweet nonetheless. It other
words, we might want our lives (chocolate) to be full of happiness (sweetness)
and void of sadness (bitterness), but if we try to view it this way we forget
that there is any happiness at all and just focus on the presence of sadness. The
school day continues, they play tennis, but then the school is destroyed when
Hikari half awakens and frees Ioneos, Hikari’s robot assistant in mass
extinction, who has been trapped inside a pillar of the school. After school is
destroyed it is not abandoned, most if not all students remain or come back to
help clean up remnants of the school. Hikari sees as it because they realise
that school actually was a place of joy for them, not just boredom or sorrow. Hikari
concludes that we can’t expect something, such as school or the chocolate, to
be only good but afterwards we realise that it was in fact mostly good, even if
we don’t view it as so at the time. So too in episode 10 Ryou tells Akari that
she can’t have all the seasons at once; that it can’t snow on the same day as
the sakura blossom, but we should be thankful that we can see each
individually. In other words, this series also presents that, whilst we should
look for happiness and not pain or sadness, we should not expect an experience
to be just joy. Everything has some downside to it, but we should try to find
the happiness in it, for if we focus on expectations of pure bliss, then we
will only find the downsides. Thus perspective is needed, we must look for
happiness, but not always expect it.
Connected to this idea of unfulfilled
expectations and perspective on things is one topic that is not fully put to
bed: death. In episode eight Hikari experiences the pain of death for the first
time when she sees a dead cricket. Although a relatively small lose Hikari is
hurt, mourning for that which she had cared for as it made wonderful sounds for
her. It seems the only answer for this is that everyone eventually dies, we
cannot escape so we should not dwell on it. Takeru’s friends say this about
Hikari’s crickets, how there are huge numbers of crickets and they will all die
after a certain period. But what about the human species, something we
obviously care a bit more about. This is addressed in the same episode where
the group celebrate a festival for the dead. Nothing is done whatsoever to
suggest we can conquer death and achieve immortality. In fact mortality is not
so much celebrated or embraced but accepted with the festival (the Japanese Bon
festival) that they go to. It seems, at least in its depiction in the anime
anyways, to have two purposes connected with not being sad about death. One is
that, as I said before, death is accepted as a fact of life. Rather than just
ignoring those that have died, like many westerners do (myself included), it
gives them a few days remembrance. Death is not desire but it is not shunned or
feared it seems. Second is that the put the idea of grief outside their mind
when they do this festival. The festival did not appear to be one of sorrowful
silence but one of joyful experiences. There are games and food stalls; it
basically becomes a sort of carnival. As the friends say, they just try to
ignore the idea of death as something bad and just enjoy what they have. In
other words, just like many early philosophers, this series does not try to
present a way of conquering death through some everlasting life, but it counters
the sorrow of death through its acceptance of it and the joy of life. It shows
its real relevance to the series as life is all about perspective. So too in
episode eleven Ryou tells Takeru he cannot change his past relationship
problems, but he can make up for them in the future. We shouldn’t think every
will be always happy but at the same time we shouldn’t focus on the bad by only
looking for happiness where we can.
This anime series ends with a picture of a
butterfly, one side intricately beautiful, the other withered and ugly. We are
reminded happiness is all about perspective and is only affected by us and our
views on the world. We can choose it to be ugly, if we just focus on death and
how life seems unimportant and unchanging, or we can go out there and make
friends and have healthy relationships with those around us, marvel at the
simple wonders of the world and try to live as productive and virtuous life as
possible. The theme songs only emphasise all these ideas about perspective
and the two main pleasures we can find in the world. The opening song talks of
a dirty world changing to a clean one like a butterfly (through our
perspective), and the closing song talks of love and seasons (the wonderful
things the world provides for us). Thus This Ugly Yet Beautiful World attempts
to tell us about how the world may seem worthless but in fact we just need to
find pleasure in the simple things. As Hikari says in the last episode,
ordinary things are wonderful.
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