AnoHana - Episode 4 Discussion / Poll

[spawnofthejudge]

Seems to me that he already had the means to do the cross-dressing thing, and he just decided to use it to screw with Jinta, and actually have the upper hand on him for once.

Vindictive and spiteful thing to do. I don't like him much. But I can see why he probably decided to do it.

[Knightrunner]

Originally Posted by spawnofthejudge

Seems to me that he already had the means to do the cross-dressing thing, and he just decided to use it to screw with Jinta, and actually have the upper hand on him for once.

Vindictive and spiteful thing to do. I don't like him much. But I can see why he probably decided to do it.

That would seem really huge to do to spite Jinta

[spawnofthejudge]

Originally Posted by Knightrunner

That would seem really huge to do to spite Jinta

It's part of his hangups (having the ability to, and probably doing so in private, cross-dress as his dead friend being another one). And it's pretty clear that having everyone back together is going to cause everyone's hang ups to come out. Yukiatsu's are coming out first because he seems to have the most, or at least, the most on the surface.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Tsuyoshi

Well, he was buying the blue ribbon before he even knew Jinta was seeing Menma, so it may well be something else.

Thinking about it, he had the stuff before Menma's ghost appeared. Including a dress he could wear. (Which is actually less creepy than him burgling an actual dress of the late Menma's, so, hm, things are looking up?)

Originally Posted by cyth

Fuck it, you know what? I'm going to be the first not to give Yukiatsu a hard time for his thing. Why exactly is he pathetic and Jinta isn't? Or Anaru, or Tsuruko, or Poppo for that matter?

Yukiatsu can't let go of Menma, so he develops crossdressing tendencies to affirm his self-image of being a pathetic loser. Jintan shuts himself in, becomes this chuunibyou character who thinks his school and society at large are no better than the zoo. Anaru distances herself from the life she had by drowning herself in mindless subculture, Tsuruko constantly embarrasses Yukiatsu for having feelings for Menma before her, so she's forced to hate her, thus can't forget her either. And Poppo... Poppo has been running away all this time, to different countries, for fuck's sake.

If Yukiatsu is such a pathetic guy, then I say the whole lot of them are the same. This show is about moving on, so I believe all of them will phase out of their pathetic states eventually. I'm pretty sure Yukiatsu's condition isn't so serious to call it a mental condition, and I see this revelation as an opportunity for reconciliation.

As has been said, the problem isn't the crossdressing. It isn't even, really, him disguising as a dead friend. The problem is him going out of his way to hurt and deceive his friends just so he can get an ego boost.

And it's hard to say if Poppo has problems. He might be the one who has his life together the most. He certainly seems happy. He travels a lot, which is something a lot of people dream of doing, but never get around to actually do. Instead they choose to finish high school, maybe college, and then get a job they hate but which pay the bills.

Sure, twenty years down the line, if (when?) he's a penniless vagrant in a country whose language he barely understands, he may come to regret his choice. But it's not like the 9-to-5ers are immune to such bad turns, either.

[Triple_R]

This is an aside, but as it pertains to Poppo, the guy must be pretty well-to-do to simply afford to go traveling all over the world like that (either that, or he's already working for a shipping company).

If Poppo's family is somewhat wealthy, I wouldn't worry too much about him, or assume that he's traveling around the world just to get away from the memory of Menma.

Of the entire cast, Poppo strikes me as the happiest and most at peace with himself and his old friends actually.

[Haak]

Yeah I think Poppo is actually okay too. His choice of lifestyle may seem a bit odd but that doesn't mean it's a problem.

[cyth]

I'd argue he's only blissfully ignorant of his deep-rooted emotional problem considering his lack of wit, but being a travel otaku (which he is, they take high pay part-time jobs and travel at every opportunity) at such a young age is certainly an expression of something. Given the context of the story, I wouldn't say it's far-fetched to think Menma or the breakup of Super Peace Busters is the cause of it.

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

As has been said, the problem isn't the crossdressing. It isn't even, really, him disguising as a dead friend. The problem is him going out of his way to hurt and deceive his friends just so he can get an ego boost.

Ego-boosting isn't the crux of his problem, he just can't help himself. I believe he's cyclically destroying his self-image by thinking he's pathetic. The cross-dressing is a way for him to do that. In other words, his self-worth is so low that he *needs* to put others down, with denial being the main instigator of his dickish public facade.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

This is an aside, but as it pertains to Poppo, the guy must be pretty well-to-do to simply afford to go traveling all over the world like that (either that, or he's already working for a shipping company).

If Poppo's family is somewhat wealthy, I wouldn't worry too much about him, or assume that he's traveling around the world just to get away from the memory of Menma.

Of the entire cast, Poppo strikes me as the happiest and most at peace with himself and his old friends actually.

Poppo mentioned he took small odd jobs to pay for his expenses. And he apparently save on rent by living in abandoned buildings...

No mention is made of his parents, and I've wondered about that - if he's a local, shouldn't he live with them when he's in the area? And, uh, didn't they have anything to say about his lifestyle?

Originally Posted by cyth

I'd argue he's only blissfully ignorant of his deep-rooted emotional problem considering his lack of wit, but being a travel otaku (which he is, they take high pay part-time jobs and travel at every opportunity) at such a young age is certainly an expression of something. Given the context of the story, I wouldn't say it's far-fetched to think Menma or the breakup of Super Peace Busters is the cause of it.

He's happy. Of all the peace busters, he's the only one who's never surly. Why assume it's a problem?

[cyth]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

He's happy. Of all the peace busters, he's the only one who's never surly. Why assume it's a problem?

I actually have a cousin just like Poppo. She has some real issues with home despite her cheerful appearance, so she basically runs away to the U.S. (across the Atlantic) at every opportunity she gets. I'm not saying Poppo is the same, but I don't see why he should be the exception in this story. Menma is filling the role of the personality that hasn't changed in this story, not him.

[achirist]

Originally Posted by cyth

Fuck it, you know what? I'm going to be the first not to give Yukiatsu a hard time for his thing. Why exactly is he pathetic and Jinta isn't? Or Anaru, or Tsuruko, or Poppo for that matter?

Yukiatsu can't let go of Menma, so he develops crossdressing tendencies to affirm his self-image of being a pathetic loser. Jintan shuts himself in, becomes this chuunibyou character who thinks his school and society at large are no better than the zoo. Anaru distances herself from the life she had by drowning herself in mindless subculture, Tsuruko constantly embarrasses Yukiatsu for having feelings for Menma before her, so she's forced to hate her, thus can't forget her either. And Poppo... Poppo has been running away all this time, to different countries, for fuck's sake.

If Yukiatsu is such a pathetic guy, then I say the whole lot of them are the same. This show is about moving on, so I believe all of them will phase out of their pathetic states eventually. I'm pretty sure Yukiatsu's condition isn't so serious to call it a mental condition, and I see this revelation as an opportunity for reconciliation.

I agree, they all have unresolved problems that have lead them to this current moment in their lives. Yukiatsu isn't really worse. The fact that Poppo became obese in his adolescent years shows that he turned to food to deal with his own emotional problems.

[wandering-dreamer]

Originally Posted by cyth

I'd argue he's only blissfully ignorant of his deep-rooted emotional problem considering his lack of wit, but being a travel otaku (which he is, they take high pay part-time jobs and travel at every opportunity) at such a young age is certainly an expression of something. Given the context of the story, I wouldn't say it's far-fetched to think Menma or the breakup of Super Peace Busters is the cause of it.

The basic synopsis for the series on ANN says something along the lines of that Poppo skipped high school to travel the world, with the implication that the break-up of the Super Peace Busters made him want to leave and get away. He and Tsuruko seem to be most well adjusted out of the bunch but, since the whole theme of the show centers around how this one event has really changed all of them for the worse, they've got to have at least small problems as well.

[Tsuyukusa]

Originally Posted by spawnofthejudge

Seems to me that he already had the means to do the cross-dressing thing, and he just decided to use it to screw with Jinta, and actually have the upper hand on him for once.

Vindictive and spiteful thing to do. I don't like him much. But I can see why he probably decided to do it.

I don't think he was doing it to screw with Jinta, or anyone else. He was running around dressed as Menma when Jinta wasn't even around, the first person who saw him was Poppo.
He deals with his feelings by being an insensitive asshole, but I don't think the cross dressing is part of that persona.

[CWW]

Originally Posted by achirist

The fact that Poppo became obese in his adolescent years shows that he turned to food to deal with his own emotional problems.

Wow, really?

[pseudonhym]

excellent episode. really funny cause I expected something like that from yukiatsu. loves the jin-tan/annaru scene <3

[ipodi]

Originally Posted by achirist

The fact that Poppo became obese in his adolescent years shows that he turned to food to deal with his own emotional problems.

Poppo is hardly obese.

This is obese.

[Deconstructor]

Originally Posted by achirist

The fact that Poppo became obese in his adolescent years shows that he turned to food to deal with his own emotional problems.

The only foreseeable problem for Poppo is indigestion. Yeah, I went there.

Menma's death was a loss shared by everyone; everyone has different ways of dealing with tragedy. Jinta became a shut-in, Poppo traveled the world, Anaru hung out with other friends, Tsuruko devoted herself to studying, and Yukiatsu... well, we've torn his sundress apart enough already. Poor fellow.

Perhaps Poppo decided to run away from his past, just like everyone else. Or perhaps he was the only one who stayed, and everyone else ran away from him. Poppo is the only one still residing in the Super Peace Busters shack, after all. Either way, this must have taken an emotional impact on Poppo that the viewers have yet to see or hear.

Surely, everyone still has their own problems. With Menma, Anaru, and Yukiatsu's problems essentially out of the way, I believe the show will focus on Tsuruko and Poppo.

[Frailty]

Originally Posted by Deconstructor

Menma became a shut-in

you meant Jintan

[lahfielxi]

Originally Posted by guuchan

When you see a ghost, everything you see is the ghost's doing; when others can't see it, all they see are accidents, or even just natural phenomenons really. We, the audience, are put in the PoV of former case. As I said though, it doesn't really matter whether she's a hallucination or a ghost. But I just can't buy that happy ending you described; I know it sounds good, but I will be both rationally and emotionally disappointed if the story does end with everyone living happily ever after with a ghost and then medetashi medetashi.

Originally Posted by Forsaken_Infinity

Precisely. There is no reason to take those "feel the weight" scenes for real. The only scenes that would support the ghost hypothesis are the ones in Menma's house and the puppy scene that featured only her but it'd not be a far stretch to attribute even that to Jinta's imagination. And he doesn't really need to be schizophrenic either, a "let's imagine Menma comes back" works too. Or heck, he can simply be making it all up to get everyone back together. I know I have done something similar before o.0

if it's told from Jinta's PoV he must have an active imagination with all the scenes he's not in. imagining interactions with his grown up/dead old friends throughout the entire day.

he must also be psychic if his hallucination is acting in real-time with other people.

i get the feeling some people just like to be contrary so they can go "HA! i wasn't fooled into thinking it was a ghost at all!" and on that same train of thought the creators would only have it pan out that way simply to mess with people Shyamalan style and go what a tweeeeest.

[Tsuyoshi]

Originally Posted by achirist

The fact that Poppo became obese in his adolescent years shows that he turned to food to deal with his own emotional problems.

If Poppo was obese, he wouldn't have been able to travel all around the world so easily. If anything, food became a way for him to deal with personal problems in that he turned to cooking. Consider how he knew an indian recipe which turned out to be quite good. I'd say he found a good way to escape from his trauma, unlike everyone else, and he seems quite the happy person too.

[Deconstructor]

Originally Posted by Tsuyukusa

I don't think he was doing it to screw with Jinta, or anyone else. He was running around dressed as Menma when Jinta wasn't even around, the first person who saw him was Poppo.
He deals with his feelings by being an insensitive asshole, but I don't think the cross dressing is part of that persona.

Indeed, Yukiatsu was probably crossdressing far before his reunion with Jinta. He seems to be dealing with her death by wearing her clothes and running around the Super Peace Busters shack. And yet on the surface, Yukiatsu is extremely cold to Jinta. Yukiatsu... needs serious help.

Originally Posted by Frailty

you meant Jintan

...Perhaps I did. Perhaps.

Originally Posted by Tsuyoshi

If Poppo was obese, he wouldn't have been able to travel all around the world so easily. If anything, food became a way for him to deal with personal problems in that he turned to cooking. Consider how he knew an Indian recipe which turned out to be quite good. I'd say he found a good way to escape from his trauma, unlike everyone else, and he seems quite the happy person too.

A good way, or simply a better one in comparison to Jinta and Yukiatsu?

Poppo's exuberance and optimism is superhuman. The feeling of sadness does not seem to exist within his world. So are the viewers to believe Poppo has always so happy-go-lucky, even after the Super Peace Busters broke apart? No. There is still a piece of everyone's past missing - their lives immediately following Menma's death. In Poppo's case, something or someone must have inspired him to travel across the world.