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「ナノミスハイン」 (Nanomisuhain)
“Nanomis-hein”
There’s been some talk recently, by smart people such as famous rich person Elon Musk, about how the universe, as we know it, may just be a simulation. As in, we’re all stuck in The Matrix, nothing is real, and all that we sense and think and feel are just algorithms in some advanced species’ computer. There is some logic to this theory. Consider the advances in our own human computing. They grow more powerful by the year. Just our videogames are becoming more lifelike with each generation of hardware. There are big investments going into virtual reality right now. Imagine a game like Sword Art Online, where one cannot tell the difference between the virtual and the real. And it doesn’t have to simulate every particle in the universe, just simulate enough so that those inhabiting the simulation—us—will not be able to tell the difference. And even if we somehow do, since the simulation is just a program, it can be altered so that the revelatory moment never occurred and the evidence hidden away. Mathematically speaking, once a universe is capable of making such simulations in any number, the amount of simulated universes that exist will vastly outnumber the original real one, and based on such thinking the probability that we inhabit a simulated universe is much higher than the probability that we inhabit a real one. We could just be the equivalent of The Sims for alien gamers, or an economic model for very advanced humans, or a physics experiment conducted by a super-intelligence.
We would call such beings who made our simulation ‘gods’.
This week, Yaha-kui zaShunina reveals himself as one such god. Apparently his people (if we can call them such) have seeded countless worlds and left them to their own devices until they started bearing interesting fruit. Seikai Suru Kado goes one further with this idea though. It’s less about the chumps living in the pocket universe (again, us), and more about the philosophy of those who made it. What if, suddenly the gods came down to the mortal plane and revealed to us that we were living in a simulation? What if they then handed us the keys to our own universe?
And so the two sides of the debate finally square off a against each other. There’s Za, who needs to solve some kind of anisotropic population crisis, and whomever Tsukai Saraka is supposed to be, who’s liked her little pocket universe enough to live amongst the humans and is understandably annoyed that some other god is meddling with it. This is the point where I’d be offended that humanity doesn’t really get a say in any of this, but I understand that there’s no such thing as ‘humanity’s position’ anyway—as if we’d ever have consensus over anything. Still, I would have preferred our representative, Shindou, go out of his way to do something interesting. He really hasn’t had much input into anything Za does except on a logistical level. And the moment he puts up some resistant, gotta replace him before the warranty expires. Yeah, I know he’s only supposed to be a negotiator, but we don’t make anime starring bureaucrats either. Yes, we can watch him effectively answering phone calls and telling people which form to sign on which page, but that’s not exactly exciting television.
Well, the exciting television is here now as Kado goes full anime. Suddenly, we have sealed gods doing battle with mortals caught in the middle. I’m not sure how I feel about Kado going 180 on us, and it may be a temporary thing, but for now it’s quite the direction to take things. You can imagine all this as the premise of a JRPG, right? Hell yeah. It would be a Xenogears sequel, and I would play it.
Preview
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seems like they fired the Story Writer so far, and took in an old “fool prove” one. Better they had not fired the first, because the 2nd one is the Iceberg that sunk the Titanic
or is this a try to understand the Humans, when all talk are done and violence are born?
It’s totally an break of the red Line. as if they want to change the Engine in the middle of the run, without losing the momentum. But in the end they wreak the engine with an piston seizure
enough said
I hope this isn’t our fault, like becoming more human corrupted him or something. Surely aliens have their own issues without dragging us into it.
what you mean is our Conscious, subconscious (like dreaming) and instincts. It’s the mix that make us Humans
what’s this? i thought this is an anime about philosophy,negotiation and politics..but now they bring out madoka-esque tswist…in the end the right answer always “if you lose on negotiation, try bring the bigger gun” huh?
I don’t think Za has turned evil or anything. I still want to give him the benefit of the doubt. He may genuinely believe he is doing the right thing by Shindou and the rest of humanity, but is just mistaken, or was too impatient, or too heavy handed. To him, ‘resetting’ Shindou and trying again later may be no big deal, whereas to a human it sounds rather unpleasant. And of course Shindou would talk about negotiating and the need for mutual understanding and whatnot instead of hiding all this information. As I noted in the post I would rather Shindou stood up for his philosophy himself instead of Götterdämmerung or whatever is happening now, but he has time for that yet.
I think za himself already said his purpose though? The end goal It’s not for humanity but for antristopic being’s pleasure. I don’t know what he’s meant by extracting “information” from humanity but using lightsaber in a negotiation…
https://randomc.net/image/Seikai%20Suru%20Kado/Seikai%20Suru%20Kado%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
A good man? Sounds like religious terrorist to me.
I wouldn’t be so quick to judge the anime and Za. Remember that the same episode talked about the goodness of Wam and Sansa, and the professor said that problems arises when a set of standards different from humanity comes. And that’s Za. And as Tsukai mentioned too, it’s hard to read Za because we don’t know what his morals are, or if he has any at all. As humans, we clearly see him now as “evil” but that’s our definition for it because we have our own way of judging things. Whether or not this will turn to some JRPG anime blasting is still up in the air, but I highly doubt it. Feels like it’s Shindo who’s going to have to talk his way to Za as he did the first time they met.
I honestly like Madoka BEFORE it did its plot twist, and eventually went “meh” with the whole godlike powers. But Kado is different for me. From the start, there’s been signs, suspiciouns. But we – just like the humans – ended up trusting Za and just thinking, “nah, he’s just some guy who brought us good things. We’ll settle everything with him like civilized men.” We stopped questioning what might be wrong. Za had Shindo right in his palm. He kept distracting everyone from knowing he truly is. I think that already is a fat sign. So I smelled it coming and I am VERY satisfied with the plot twist. It explains the lack of talk and investigation over Sansa.
And the whole existential angst the reveal brought about how our universe is just some cocoon for greater beings that wanted information still touches on the theme of the show. Now I get what Tsukai was talking about the dignity of our universe.
What do ya know… That bad feeling that’s stuck around since the Sansa was first introduced wasn’t just allergies.
While I’m glad this means both that I was right about Za having a much bigger agenda and that Tsukai will get more screen time, I really don’t know if coming to blows was a good twist or lazy writing. A series that’s been about philosophy and what it means to be human just turned into a survival story and fighting? Feels like writing how humanity could’ve opposed Za’s plan of assimilation with words instead would’ve made a lot more sense.
Then again, Za’s kinda been like this from the start, but now he’s learned enough emotional range for us to really see it.
As I noted in the post, I’m not sure how I feel about Kado doing a 180 like this. On the one hand, it was a twist, and I didn’t see it coming, but on the other hand it was mostly a twist because it was so out of character compared to the rest of the show. I can’t say that Za has always been like this, at least not exactly; at the beginning he was like, ‘The only right answer is to constantly question’ while now he’s quite heavy handed.
I think the reason for this is because Za is not the same as he was in the beginning. He became more human and thus it is entirely possible that this newly developed humanity made him change his plans. Well if some official art is any indication he may gotten more human goals.
https://68.media.tumblr.com/850afd6d780353078d5445f5d5eb30f9/tumblr_oqwhjehVk71qmlmyuo1_1280.jpg
@dean
Is this a, ‘What is this thing called Love?’ moment? Is Shindou actually caught in love triangle? Well.
I think in the future the reviewer should just tell us up front when an anime has been made by his negativistic and paranoid pals, instead of abstrusely prognosticating doom and gloom while the story is still pretending to have a positive point and then turning oddly non-critical when it turns to shite.
At the risk of sounding like a highfalutin elitist (or Guardian Enzo, in case there is a difference), I have to say that while I have been disappointed by many an anime in the past, I don’t think I’ve ever been as appalled by the intellectual dishonesty of a series.
I’m sorry that the fact your personal views are not vindicated on a constant basis offends you so. Alas, you’re right; there’s a hidden conspiracy with the sole goal of upsetting you and only you, and it prevents me from giving my honest opinions on this show. I apologise for the fundamental part I play in ruining anime for you on a regular basis.
But I did tell you so.
You told us so – what? That you’re better in tune with the kind of shitty writing this show has exhibited lately and knew to expect it? Pardon me for giving the creators the benefit of the doubt and not expecting them to down the most cliched path possible. This may be what you wanted to see, but you’re sadly mistaken if you think I’m the only one who feels the show has jumped the shark with the last two episodes, especially this one. You’re even more mistaken if you think my enjoyment of any series is contingent on your opinionating here. I have no doubt that your opinion is honest (ever heard of deadpan?). It simply amazes me how a serious reviewer could keep nitpicking everything in the earlier episodes when the show still held a lot of promise and yet now has next to nothing to say about this collapse into a pile of shite.
Abstract higher being wants to learn more about humanity….becomes Yandere. I think that says a lot.
https://randomc.net/image/Seikai%20Suru%20Kado/Seikai%20Suru%20Kado%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2028.jpg
About them or about us?
To me, the show went off the rails in the prior episode. When Saraka took Koujirou and argued for isolation on the basis of human accomplishment, it smacked of Sakoku (Japan’s own self-imposed isolation ~1600 to 1850). Was Japan better off for refusing Western trade for a couple of centuries? Would they have been better off yet if they’d entirely refused Western technological advances during that period (which they didn’t)? Why is it acceptable to copy advances from other human beings but not from different forms of life?
Who knows, maybe it’s going to pull a great ending out of the self-created mess. But I’m losing hope, in part because of the weird contortions required to get to the present situation (which, judging by the preview, ends at “magical girl saves the day”). Why bother “resetting” Shindou as opposed to just creating a copy to live in the anisotropic? If every one of humanity is a higher dimensional being that just doesn’t realize it, shouldn’t that “reset” be clearly acknowledged as murder?
I always thought that it was kinda inevitable – do we really expect some higher being to behave on our terms consistently? More importantly – do we really expect that our values and theirs will be allign all the time?
I think what bothers me is not so much whether values are aligned. It’s more the abandonment of principles built up in previous episodes.
When handing out the wam, Za seems quite concerned about “efficiency” and “optimization.” Now he’s holding onto a device that can with one button-push turn Koujirou into a puddle of goo… but decides to waste time explaining to someone he’s about to kill (“You caught me monologuing!” </Syndrome>) before attempting to kill him in an unnecessarily slow and wasteful manner.
When broadcasting the sansa, Za clearly states that humans are higher-order beings that just don’t realize it. Now he’s talking about multiple universes created by his kind, and humans located in just one as if they were creatures of the human universe only.
I’m sure we can rationalize these thing away to some extent (e.g., humans as higher-order but not as high-order as Za). But it still feels to me as if the show had one writing team up to episode 7 and a completely different one that was unaware of most of the prior story for episodes 8 and 9.
Imagine if zaShunina is just drunk from the first taste of alcohol he got from Shindo and that’s why he’s acting up… Yandere zaShunina… well it’s always been considered that humanity can be just as much of a force of corruption as it can be a force of enlightenment.
My exact thoughts while they were drinking were “I wonder if he is a violent drunk”. xD
Got some weird Matrix like vibes with this one. Is humanity a RPG game for a higher being? It appears ZaShun is playing an RPG game – multiple ones, multiple saves on the game board and “Koujiro” showed the most promise, he’s been giving this guy lots of “power ups” except that the main character that he’s using is not really using the power ups well, ZaShun decides to pause the game and restoring it to a prior saved checkpoint, fool with the time a bit, and train that character again. I have to admit it’s an interesting concept, but I was a bit surprised when Tsukai showed up. It guess it was her RPG game to begin with and outsiders aren’t welcome.
Mixed feelings on how the next episode will go. I hope it doesn’t kill the buildup and fizzle on the finale.
Give an Human God Like powers, how he will react? will he use them for good or for greed?
it’s more he is playing guinea pig, in see how he use the Powers
perhaps this “no need of Sleep!” was more an Trojan Horse, to mutation the Humans and give them this Power we see right now in this Woman..
OMG THIS PLOT TWIST. IT’S BEEN A WHILE. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. THIS SERIES.
https://randomc.net/image/Seikai%20Suru%20Kado/Seikai%20Suru%20Kado%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2026.jpg
Zas behaviour gets worse and worse and he is acting increasingly egocentric. Is he under pressure himself or is he showing his true colours now with his objectives in reach? I feel there more than ruthless carelessness behind his behaviour. Trapping Shindo for 70 hours was outright sadistic.
Regading the twist: I dont like it. Before the twis it was a sory about humanity. With conflics like progress vs. tradition. Now it’s seem like humanity plays only a bystanders role.
BTW: As we all would have gussed, humanities most formidable representative is a midrank burokrat.