First Impressions / Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita

「妖精さんの、ちきゅう」 (Yousei-san no, Chikyuu)
“The Fairies’ Earth”

I’m starting to run out of ways to describe how Jinrui continues to amaze me.

What’s one step up from “Queen”? Why, God, of course – and Watashi learns a valuable lesson (yes, another one) in the danger or impulsive behavior where the Fairies are concerned. Of course this being Jinrui, this was her first lesson, as we’ve had yet another time jump, and this was apparently the first episode of the series in regards to internal continuity. I never want to assume anything with this show but given that she hadn’t seen her Grandfather in years and mentioned that this was her first day on the job, I’d say the evidence is pretty solid that this ep predates all the others.

More and more Jinrui seems to be focusing in on the nature of the Fairies, and how that nature relates (and reflects) on humanity. I’ve mentioned my growing conviction that they represent some kind of spontaneous physical manifestation of humanity’s collective psyche – as if some catastrophic event caused them to break free of the realm of the mind and become entities. Nothing the Fairies do is original – it’s all a funhouse mirror-reflection of who we are. Religion, technology, politics, even mundane essentials like food – they take everything we do and go well past the point of common sense and reason into a theater of the absurd. Fairies are more than simply humans with no restraint, but that lack of any kind of judgment as regards the right place to stop is a fundamental aspect of who they are.

There are lots of interesting tidbits and clues in this story of Watashi’s first days as a UN Mediator. Grandpa tells her that the Fairies “like to inhabit places where humanity once dwelled.” Watashi herself draws the analogy of them as a “new human race”, where humans like her represent the old human race – a race that’s “retired”. Grandpa seems to know much more than he’s letting on – he encourages Watashi to take it easy and not worry about her mediator duties, but when she expresses a desire to do actual work he tells her she “needs to suffer a little”. There’s also the matter of the journal of his predecessor (who mysteriously died), who starts out as a bright-eyed and eager young administrator and after meeting and befriending the Fairies and dining at their banquets of delicious food from mysterious ingredients, gradually degrades into a food-addict whose final blog entries are nothing more than “Steak and wine. Steak and wine. Steak and wine.”

We wouldn’t have a story if Watashi was the kind of girl to leave well-enough alone, and it’s when she makes first contact with a group of Fairies at a garbage dump that things really take off. After a couple of false starts she baits them into the open with rock candy, but they flee at the sight of her – except for three of them trapped in the tin she used to hold the bait. She effectively kidnaps them and brings them back to her room, and by all appearances they seem legitimately terrified (her joke about eating them doesn’t help) but again, she bribes them with candy. The real problems come when she decides they need names (there are mysteriously four of them now). The concept of names is foreign to the Fairies, but this seems innocent enough. The first two she names Cap and Nakata (he looks Japanese – “We’re counting on you to fight 24/7 with suit, glasses and camera.”). The last two decide to name themselves – the first “Sir Christopher McFarlane” (if there’s a historical significance I can’t find it) and the last “Sir Chikuwa” (Sir Fish Paste).

The results are predictable given the pattern that’s established itself. The introduction of this new social element immediately transforms the dump into a futuristic metropolis complete with its own giant robot defender, and when the Fairies decide they all want names, rather than try and tackle that massive job (there are at least hundreds of Fairies there now) Watashi gives them a rhyming dictionary – and when she returns the next day they’ve now established her as their God. Wanting no part of this she declares that God is a game of tag, and passes the responsibility on to Nakata – who’s even more horrified at the notion than she was. This act has Watashi re-branded as the devil, and the entire Fairy society collapses and turns back into a dump overnight. Yes Tanaka-sensei, the point is made…

Obviously, Jinrui can be viewed on two levels (well – several, truth be told) given that the scenario with the Fairies is obviously a comment on the decline of human culture in the modern age. But it’s also a fascinating case-study within the mythology of the series itself. Grandpa, upon seeing the results of Watashi’s intervention, declares that the Fairies are a “giant melting pot of culture and science – a single spark will set them off. Basically when a lot of Fairies gather, they will do something fun.” In effect he sums it up for Watashi this way: “You have to take it easy when you’re dealing with the Fairies.” This is a lesson she’s struggling to learn even in the chronologically later arcs. I’m wondering if we aren’t reaching a sort of meta-fictional point, where the Fairies role in the story is overlapping with their role as a metaphor for human society – a place where the line between symbolism and literalism disappears.

Apart from that, one thing’s for sure – they Fairies are hilarious and unspeakably kawaii, often at the same time (for example, when they go “Saa!” every time they don’t know the answer to a question). When frightened, they “ball up” like pillbugs. They pee pure water every time they get extra scared. They say things like “I wrote a will for nothing!” when Watashi says she isn’t going to eat them. They’re sinister and creepy at the same time they’re irresistibly cute, they say things humans could never get away with, and they make any idea, no matter how absurd, feasible. As imagined by Tanaka, the Fairies are one of the most unique and brilliant literary devices I’ve seen. Inside the story and for the author itself, they make the impossible possible.

 

ED3 Sequence

32 Comments

    1. My face were like X_X and o_O!! since ep1 and will likely still be like that at the end of this series. And I love every moment of its WTF-ness it offers so I’m not plan to change my expressions soon. XDDD

      zleihsh
      Reply

  4. It’s nice how the series is somehow tying itself together despite the chronological jumps. The ED makes a lot more sense with these past two episodes, illustrating much on fairy culture and their role in humanity’s decline. It’s all fun and games for them (and humanity) until there are no more resources, causing a sudden collapse–thanks to a disregard for moderation.

    So maybe the fairies represent humanity’s desire to indulge and work for the sake of indulging and working, where consumption is first priority and preservation is second?

    But hey, I suck at deep analysis like this. I just laugh at the fact that Watashi didn’t learn her lesson this week, as seen by her empress status last episode.

    Zanibas
    Reply

  5. I´m wondering now with next week the history will return to the first arc…
    I can´t really think in something happening before this episode(maybe Watashi in the school).And besides that, I would like it to see Watashi with a short hair cut again.

    Walkers
    Reply

  6. Christopher McFarlane… I was thinking Christopher Columbus and Todd McFarlane (“toy” maker) for some reason. O__o

    At least we have a name for the corporate faerie from the first episode. lol Nakata-san the faerie compass.

    Also I wonder if the predecessor died from processed food poisoning or obesity complication. To a human world where living by base society dieing from complication on health related to diet would be a strange death to them.

    Ani_BEE
    Reply

    1. Here’s a taught Cap“Sir Chikuwa” (peasant/royalty with his gold crown) and Christopher McFarlane(Exploration/industrial), and Nakata-san(curent adn futre) represents different times in human culture. The other two faded away a Nakata-san future culture won the model for the city. Poor guy’s!

      Ani_BEE
      Reply

  7. Aha, finally the moment Watashi meets the fairies for the first time! I’ve been waiting for this, and it was good as ever! I’m really amazed by Watashi’s ability to comprehend and digest such absurdity so calmly.

    I wish this anime would never end. I am now addicted to JinSui as much as fairies are addicted to sweets.

    NaYa
    Reply

  8. Let me say something that most definitely isn’t true and probably very silly but something I thought funny when it popped into my head.
    What if the progression of the story, i.e. the arcs happening in reverse, is due to the Fairies. What I mean by that is that the arcs aren’t appearing in reverse because that’s how the staff wanted to present it, but because of the Fairies events are happening in reverse order and they’re somehow reversing time. They did, for example, make Watashi literally slip through time to create ‘clones’ so I assume anything is possible for them.
    I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense.
    I’m guessing after this arc we’ll see Watashi attending school and seeing all the girls who’re sat around the table in the OP.

    Anyway, the predecessor’s journal made me remember that at the end of every OP Watashi is closing a book, in even numbered episode’s (+ep9) there’s actually something different written there.
    http://twitpic.com/aqh30j
    I wonder if anyone has translated these as I think they might be entries in Watashi’s journal documenting the events of each arc.

    zorogou
    Reply

    1. This theory reminds me of the first season of Haruhi.
      But I was thinking about that too, but episode 9 doesn’t fit completely into this scheme, though it might be counted as part of the previous arc, since the travel was her punishment for causing a fairy population explosion with the sweets she and her clones made.

      The book Watashi closes seems to be some sort of fairy observation journal. The pages are titled “Yousei-san Memo”　followed by the title of the entry. The titles are:
      2. FairyCo’s Hairy Growth Drug
      4. The Fairies’ Manzines
      6. The Fairies’ Electromagnetic Waves*
      8. The Fairies’ Means/Implements
      9. Overpopulation** Stress

      I’m too lazy and my japanese is not good enough to do the entire entries. I’d need days even with a denshi jisho to translate them.

      *Not sure. The last Kanji is indistinguishable.
      **More literally it would be “stress caused by the nature of a throng” (is there a word to express that in english), but Overpopulation fitted the episode more.

      Zannafar
      Reply

      1. It was just nonsense I thought up randomly so I haven’t put much thought into justifying it.

        Thanks for those translations, that’s confirmed that they are notes documenting each arc. It would be fun to read what exactly Watashi has written, I’d imagine they have some of personality thrown in there.

        zorogou
        Reply

  10. hoo..if the fairy is posibly somekind of escapee from human mind so even now fairy is being born..?by the way if you guys, say meet a fairy what would you do?
    if it was me..stuff them in a box…too dangerous..

    whitecloud
    Reply

    1. oh yeah…just an add on anyone of you realize spam still exist even when humanity has declined..that will become our monument..

      P.S : i wonder about the expiration date on those thing…to still exist on that point…

      whitecloud
      Reply

  11. Not sure if it showed up in previous episodes, but this image has the famous “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” painting by Magritte in Watashi’s room. Interesting that such a thought-provoking series references such a thought-provoking painting, artist, and movement.

    Jimhawk
    Reply

  13. so this how it all begins how main female meet the fairies?

    sure 1st day work go dump then later sweet meet the fairies & bring few to see oh the fairy wet themselves on water?

    then point finger all good & names for them then next day fairy build a city with giant robot too.

    all good til book for names to give & next day make main female a god but no pass it to fairy in suit cue RUN & bye-bye fairy city.

    wonder 2eps to go what next?

    zing
    Reply

  14. So, uhh, could anyone list the episodes in chronological order for me? This episode was obviously the first(unless the remaining ones take place in the distant past), but after that I’m lost. I’d appreciate it.

    That aside, great review Enzo. I wouldn’t mind having a few of those fairies around. There would never be a dull moment.

    Mormegil
    Reply

    1. 10-7-8-5-6-1-2-3-4(-9?)

      I’m not exactly sure where 9 falls. It could be either between 8 and 5 or anywhere after 2, but what with overpopulation of faries and all, and Watashi being familiar with them, it could very well fall near the end.

      NaYa
      Reply

      1. Actually, episode 9 is guaranteed to be after episode 6. This is clear from Watashi’s grandfather saying that the overpopulation is something created by Watashi. In episode 5, there was a mass fleeing of fairies, and she brought them back with the one fairy that turned into her good luck charm, and in turn, multiplied into many fairies. I’d place episode 9 after episode 2, because the factory arc appears to have taken place soon after the Pioneer/Voyager arc, so the population most likely had not peaked at that point. Episode 9 might be chronologically last, but it is hard to tell.

        10-7-8-5-6-1-2-9-3-4

        Vance
        Reply

  15. Best part of the episode? The Resident Evil parody. Anyone who read the diary of a man who gradulally became infected with the T-virus can spot it a mile away. Ah, the nostalgia….

    ruicarlov
    Reply

  16. I think the previous mediator could be as good as Watashi (at least, his/her initial intention), and he/she could also got same treatment from the fairies (being worshipped as God). While the previous mediator was carried away by the food addiction, Watashi could escape this downright spiral. I wonder how the previous mediator looks like…

    Also, Watashi’s snarky comments in this episode are awesome as usual.

    Kevin Yamagata
    Reply

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