“I saw Fight Club, I know how to end this!”
The story between Fumi and Mika is similar to the movie Fight Club. They both started out with the main characters having subconsciously created an altered ego of themselves that was the opposite of their own personalities in order to enable them to deal with the ordeals of their lives. Both main characters went on to confront their own altered egos in a big showdown of fist fights. However, that’s where the similarity ends.
“Your dad and I are actually siblings. Yes, we are one crazy family.”
It turned out that Mika could not disappear as long as Fumi remained weak. Even though Fumi resolved to be strong and implicated her father to the police, but when news quickly spread to everywhere, all her classmates’ critical stares and all the internet postings started to weigh down on Fumi’s courage, which eventually came crumbling down when her mother rejected her in a similar way that her dad did. So, when Fumi reverted back to her old doormat self, Mika stepped right back into her life.
Guns and fists? And here I thought girls pull hair.
Then came the final scene in Fight Club style: Mika came challenging Fumi’s own weakness to stand for herself. Fumi blamed Mika for taking away her chance to properly face her own problems in the past. The two broke into a short and lopsided fight in Mika’s favor. When Fumi realized she couldn’t overcome Mika, she offered her the choice to shoot her so that they both can disappear. Mika couldn’t do it. Then Fumi accused Mika of actually wanting to remain in existence so that she can live her own life to the fullest — something that Mika had been slowly realizing since a few episodes ago. No longer denying her desire, Mika admitted so. Both girls then burst into screams, declaring that they both wanted to live life — to meet friends, to play sports, to hold jobs, and everything there is life.
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Reaching this mutual understanding, Mika thanked Fumi for giving her existence. This acknowledgment did two things: First, Mika had accepted her existence as a gift instead of an obstacle to Fumi’s independence. Second, Fumi had accepted Mika as an independent person instead of a clutch to help her get through rough times. Both girls burst into tears as all their confusions and frustrations were released.
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So, the theme of the story between Fumi and Mika is one of codependency: Fumi could not live her own life without conjuring up Mika, and Mika could not live her own life without Fumi’s reliance on her. The problem came when both sides embraced this codependency at the cost of ignoring their own desires inside — for Fumi it was to be able to stand on her own; for Mika it was to live a full life of her own. At the end, they both were able to identify their own boundaries and define their own individualities. Fumi will be Fumi, Mika will be Mika. The story ends with Mika giving orders out to Kanaka as a Shigofumi deliverer.
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nekodan 