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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.
Dam what happened to the fun & games in the last episode?
Plz fon’t tell me it was bad, I love this show
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
Some Japanese channel cancelled this episode.
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.
What the hell is wrong with this school.
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.
Err, let me rephrase that. When I said “natural occurrence”, i meant “common occurrence”.
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
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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.
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
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.
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
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).
Is somethin wrong with the Recent Entries?
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
@Zzz…
Very true about what you said but it does happen at least in one in a million. Probably the biggest difference is that most of the people don’t just stand back and do nothing. The person who does nothing must have an extremely low self-esteem.
Well this kind of bully is like the most unrealistic ones because because a group is bulling someone the rest will join too? The most realistic ones are robbers who don’t say much but ask for money and beat you up if you don’t have anything.
The last thing i say is that from experience bullies never work alone. So the best way not to get bully is to make friends because they know it is hard to go against a group. The way i used to get bullied was that they throw stuff at me so my solution was to sit on the back or to sit on the side rotating the seat so that i don’t give my back to no one. And so i can see who does what to me.
I actually like this episode cause the guy who gets bullied actually does something about it. Albeit a bad thing, but still. And the first guy sent the letter telling him to die, which took me by surprise a bit.
I really don’t understand bullying though. Maybe because I’m a bit tall, I don’t really see much of it, though I hear of people getting bullied. But I kinda figure if you’re getting bullied, get help. Stick around the right places, make the right kinda friends and stuff. I mean, if someone pokes you in the back with a compass, then tell the freaking teacher…
frankly, if I was one of the ppl being bullied in this episode, I would’ve just went to the roof top with my P226, silcencer optional, and proceed to blow out their kneecaps one by one. At that point I’d ask them very nicely to stop what they’ve been doing, but I doubt I’ll need to.
But then again, I doubt I’d ever let it get to that point.
Zzz, it’s a stereotype because it happened so much in reality. Bullying is the easy way out and I’ve been one and been victim of one countless times. I now the reality very well enough without anyone telling me.
BEST BULLYING SCENE..or funniest. don’t know if yall are familiar with “21 jumpstreet” u know that old show with johnny depp. anyway there was this semi-mentally challenged kid who was seeking revenge on these punks that beasted on his butt everyday, what does he do? he buys a Saturday night special from some other punk. he then confronts the bully with it and when he trys to blow the punk. the cheap piece of Sh!t gun EXPLODES IN HIS HAND!! there are multiple lessons u can take from that ep………shigofumi 13 eps..thats okay.
Funny thing, I was bullied slightly in high school by someone and then I became the bully and bullied him.
We react in certain ways because we’ve been fashioned to react that way; meaning, circumstances mold our perspectives. People who bully tend to have problems of their own – an abusive father figure, lack of future, etc – but that of course doesn’t make things right. This episode does a pretty good job showing a victim and perhaps bystander view, but we shouldn’t be two-dimensional and be quick to deem ALL bullies like the ones depicted here: evil, maybe even inhuman.
I was bullied once in elementary school, but the person turned out to have a much worse life at home than I could’ve imagined at the time. And then I stopped hating him as much, and started pitying him more. I told him once, and I distinctly remember he punched me, then started to cry.
I remember the time i got bullied in middle school. The guy was cool at first and then he started to pick on me. It started becoming frequent and i was getting sick and tired of it. then i snapped and socked him right in the face. The thing is i had a small pencil in my hand and it put a big scratch on his face. He started bleeding and the blood started trickling down his face and i got send down to the counseling office. I never saw his after that. He transferred schools. In the end i was never punished. I got off for self-defense.
Just wondering what did the last scene meant.
The one with the girl staring at the computer, then reading the comments, and promptly calling someone.
Is she a bully victim? And who is she calling?
i havent found this or any of these episodes bad but it sucks that there was no plot development and for an ironic twist i think one of the characters that was bullied also played out lovable friend makoto
The first guy who got bullied shouldn’t have committed suicide, the fact of the matter is that the second was no way near his friend or companion he said so himself what’s the point of sending a letter to someone saying they deserved to be bullied and should die mentally at least the other guy did something even though it was wrong. He should of sent the letter to his family on how I miss them or something. Bullying can be a problem and in order to get it resolved you need to take the initiative to solve the problem or things will get worse. I think the girl at the end of the episode did that.
The best way to deal with a bully, is to fight back, parents and teachers can only help you to an extent. I was bullied on my 4th grade by 2 classmates, I reported it to my parents and my teachers, they did nothing. When I was in 5th grade, I turned into a 5’10” 175lb monster (that’s pretty tall for an asian on 5th grade). And believe me, I punched them back till they threw up and apologized for what they did.