Written and voiced by Roggol Co-Written and Edited by Weirdy8 aka Dinostephen ______ btw I got the painting analogy from reddit so I can't take credit for it
You don't understand Sonny Boy, and perhaps you never will, but if you watched it... And you felt a sense of joy or sorrow or any complex set of feelings, like when you look back at your schools days and realise it will never come back, then that's that. You cannot put it into words, or rather you will never have enough words to describe it. "A picture is worth a thousand words" - Henrik Ibsen
I watched sonny boy as it aired in a very developmental part of my life, that being as a 13 year old. Originally I was captivated by the art style in a period of time where I was stuck at home due to the pandemic consuming as much media in books, movies, anime, what have you as I could to try and find something that could probably express my feelings about life and death as my grandpa had recently passed and it was my first real experience with that kind of thing. From there I had a downward spiral into depression and wondering what about my life matters and what I want to do with the future. I didn’t know what would make me happy. I ended up dropping the series after episode 3 and waited until it finishes airing to pick it back up and I was so enraptured by just the raw emotions that it made me feel that I stayed up until 3 in the morning on a school night I had to wake up at 6 crying without fully realizing why. Only recently after suggesting it to so many people so I could try to talk about the way it made me feel, did I watch it with my mom who was a little less than receptive of the portrayal of god but it gave me someone I could voice my feelings to. After 2 years I understood exactly what sonny boy made me feel and it’s comfort that even if I have no idea where I’m going or what I want to do when I get there, just being alive is okay. I’m not special and neither is anyone else really but that’s also ok. It reassured me that I didn’t have to save the world to find whatever meaning I’m looking for. Just finding joy in the simple things of being alive is good enough sometimes. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t, either way, at some point it ends.
Sonny boy changed my lives...everytime , and it broke me way many times , "it understands you" that's so true and powerful and breaking, but yet warming , some stories define your life way beyond your understanding... sonny boy is really the greatest to ever exist
For me it feels like it's been so long since Sonny Boy aired, it felt like a dream. Every new episode was yet another story I couldn't make sense of, but as you said it still felt so fulfilling.
Wow, this was incredibly well-written. I haven't even seen Sonny Boy but without noticing, I got through this entire video. Really engaging script man, huge props.
I will never forget Sonny boy. I finish watching sonny boy around march 2022. Whenever i see sonny boy again…i just get feeling that i cant even explain..only i know.. Sonny boy is one of my favourite anime ;)) Also the ost tho!! My favourite ost is mitsume- spare the vibes of that song.. just idk.. make me feel emotional…
"If it wasn't, why are paintings so large, but the plaques explaining what they mean so small". What a fucking bar. This essay was beautifully written and that line tied it up perfectly that I cried. Thank you!
In watched Sonny Boy the winter of my senior year at the height of my tribulations. I kept feeling like I wanted to refute and angrily act like I was so much more focused and directed than these weak minded people because that's what scared people do. Sonny boy told me that I was so scared of losing meaning because I felt like I had nothing other than the rules of the world and the success I find under them to define me. I still don't have any answers but I am glad to know that an answer is another construct of the idea of objective truth which is all just a very comfortable lie. I find hope in God under all this honestly, I reject the idea of divine intervention but I don't reject the idea of love and the boredom that allows for creation to sprout. That's the hollowed out meaning of the world I work with to keep myself sane since it is impossible to live with all interpretations of life. I love this series and all the beauty it shows us but then kills right in front of us because it reviles the idea of keeping still.
A little late, but I really appreciated this video. I kept watching videos about Sonny Boy to fill that need for public discourse and I found myself disappointed. It felt like people were taking what they saw too literally, and it started to ruin the feelings I had for this show. What I read on reddit and saw from your video helped validate those feelings I experienced and made me feel better about the whole thing. Thank you for the great video!
That is really well made sonny boy essay. I love the idea that you dont need to understand art to get it. Sometimes after watching some abstract movie I feel that I'm not smart enough to get it yet when in reality nothing trulry makes sense in this world. Idk I also might talking gibberish as its late at night and I dont know english that much to express my thoughts freerly.
This video is going into my "cherish" list a list of videos, quotes, articles, anything really, that is worth sharing, rewatching, or remembering. I wasn't able to express the reason why I thought Sonny Boy was so good.. because I didn't have words, I had emotions. I felt what this show meant to me, what it means in general. It was an anime that, when I looked back at it, I thought I'd feel empty by the end. I was instead left with a feeling I had no understanding of. I still, to this day, do not know what that feeling is. But I assume that it's hope. Knowing everything will be okay, and everything and anything that Sonny Boy gave me. and now watching this video, you gave me the words I needed so desperately back then, but also gave me the reason why I never needed them at all. I think... (i'm trying to make this deep) Seriously though I'm so glad a twitter mutual of mine linked this video, I am a RoggolIsMe fan and supporter now Thank you
I’ve always had so many thoughts and ideas about sonny boy. I’ve watched it so many times. I know what it means to me. But this video opened up a new way of explaining this thing that means the world to me. I couldn’t help but cry. You made an amazing piece. in a way created another shadow world of meaning to sonny boy.
Thank you so much for it. I tried to watch the show one year ago when i was depressed and i just looked at it again and again searching for my own reflection in it, but i didn't find anything. I watched the show again a week ago, already healed and just foubd it beautiful, i don't know why i am alive but i'm happy that i am. * sorry for my bad english
I finished Sonny Boy a while ago and it was a rough time emotionally speaking, but I didn't understand a lot of it. This is a take on interpreting art that I haven't heard before, but I'm so glad to have now. It's criminal you have under 1k subscribers! Your articulation and explanations were on point, so much so that I (like others) just cried at my desk for a while. I feel like I really understand how not to understand, thank you for the video!
Really well-done video. Well-edited. I watched SB as it released, and I did make a habit of trying to understand it both for myself and for everyone else. Once the monkey baseball episode dropped I saw a ton of people in the threads acting either bemused or outright annoyed at what seemed like a massively unimportant side-story about invisible monkeys, and even those that enjoyed the general vibe of the episode were a bit lost as to why it needed to exist. It was only when I went through the episode almost frame by frame a couple times that I got a sense not only for what the director was implying, but also for how to enjoy SB beyond just vibing with it. On a surface level there's a lot you can miss throughout the show by not paying strict enough attention to scenes, or by not making retroactive connections. Towards the beginning of the monkey baseball episode there's a scene where the gang is eating ramen and Cap brings up Nagara's loss during their elementary school baseball tournament. Nagara outwardly denies recollection of it, but there's a 1 or 2 second shot of his hand shaking, which is easy to miss or disregard because of how quickly it goes by. It's only when I went frame-by-frame through the episode that I really looked at that shot and realized how important it was to establishing how he got to be so anxious. There's a ton of little scenes like that, which add so much to the characters' development, that the passively attentive viewer is wont to miss. Thematically, while one's interpretation is ultimately an assumption teetered by personal biases, SB is undoubtedly rich with symbolism and themes that the directors mean for you to analyze. You could choose to enjoy the Tower of Babel episode as simply "Nagara goes in a strange tower construction society and reconnects with an old friend", which would be enjoyable for the vibes alone, but in relating that episode's world to modern society and 9-5 culture you're not only exposed to deeper layers of the show, you're exposed to aspects of your own world which you might otherwise take for granted. Every episode has its own set of themes that are carefully and masterfully developed, and in analyzing them you can both grow your appreciation for SB and engender a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you. I disagree with the idea that interpretation of art should be discarded because it can never be confirmed (unless the author themself approves it, though Death of the Author has a case for that.) While you can fall in love with Sonny Boy purely for its musical, dreamlike qualities, you would be missing out not only on the wealth of symbolism and character details that the director and writers no doubt worked tirelessly on, but also on the opportunity to develop your mind and your understanding of life. People may be quick to write off Sonny Boy solely because they didn't "get it", but rather than encouraging them to ignore "getting it" I'd encourage them to rewatch the show and participate in discussion about it, just as one would reread a book to understand it better. Sonny Boy was one of my most rewarding and personal watch experiences because I put the effort in to interpret it down to the little details.
there's plenty about sonny boy you can analyse, but I would still invite people to be okay with "not getting it" because if on some level you enjoyed it then on some level you did get it
While I find a lot of value in interpretation and meaning and reaching out at art that way, I actually do really like the idea and agree a lot with what was said here about the show and art in general and how often times that kind of interpretive work can be destructive, especially the examples you gave. I think I see this a lot just generally being on the internet, but that feeling of seeing someone critique something on the basis of "I didn't understand it" or "It was confusing" without the faith that maybe the nature of the work is supposed to elicit those emotions or that art can be those things and still make you 'feel' is abundant. I liked when you brought out the soundtrack to show the duality at work, something comforting yet disorientating, something the show in a way revels in, that idea of experiencing it and not needing to be grounded in stability. So much of music are things that are hard to decipher at times, I mean, math rock, shoegaze, electronic, a conglomeration of sounds and effects, even words said that may not be understood, rhythms "unnatural," yet we listen to it all the same, and we are so easy to be swept in a song or soundtrack that just moves us. Music can be interpreted sure, but I feel like it's one of those mediums that so easily, we just let sweep us, that we listen to so much music and we feel so much emotions from it even if we can't technically reach out to the mechanics at work. But that's fine. And I want people to be fine with that kind of feeling in other mediums too. I really liked the note at the end. Interpretation, meaning, themes, I still find a lot of value in those things. But at the end of every time I experience some kind of art, anime, games, books, I also value one thing above all else, which is how I felt, was I having fun, was I experiencing joy, or maybe sadness, or did the art elicit something out of me that really, only I would really be able to decipher. And I think to recent examples like Starlight (mostly the movie), how I see so much people starting their discussions of it going they didn't understand a lot of what was going on, to then give it a perfect score, because, what mattered the most was how the work of art at hand made them feel, how it swept them away and gave them an experience, because that's what art is beyond all of the critical lenses. Thank you for making this video!
I’ve never felt so strongly about a video essay before, I watched Sonny Boy during the summer it came out and it left me heartbroken and confused but it made me appreciate my life more and I didn’t even realise, this is such a good video and it sums up my feelings perfectly, amazing work!
I cannot thank you enough for this video. I try to search for the meaning in everything I do, see, read, and experience. I’ve been obsessed with it, and the day I woke up and forgot my own meaning of why I woke up, was the day my life got just that much harder. I used to think not have any meaning or purpose would be liberating, but I found it insufferable. Nothing gave me joy or happiness or any of the things that made me want to live. I like to write in my free time, nothing big or well made, just my thoughts (like what I’m writing now) and whenever I write it feels as if I’m trying to explain the inexplicable. It’s as if the thoughts in my head could never be properly put onto paper, and that bothered me. The feelings I felt and experienced needed to be told and conveyed to others, in part because I believed them and what I felt and what I had to say felt special. But now I know that I can never do this, as much as I may try. After watching this video, I feel as if I know why I can’t do this. Because these feelings belong to me and no one else. My feelings and emotions are mine o mine and I must treasure that. And although I’ll never stop trying to put them into paper. But every time I do fail to do so, I’ll revel in it, and enjoy the moment. Thank you for giving me a feeling that no one else could have, and experience I will never be able to write down, and an appreciation for the moments spent watching your video and writing this comment.
An irreplicable anime and video to match. This is the insight I needed to hear today actually. Gaining the freedom of being an adult is interesting. Realizing there is no point outside of what you have yourself experience and what you make of it. The idea that I have 24 hours in a day to fill of pure possibility. And then especially being limited by a physical reality. It's so seriously fun.
My feelings have been finally expressed into words I can understand. Something I have already unknowingly understood when I first watched it. Thank you for making this video; it was a brilliant summary of emotions felt throughout the show.
Thank you for making this video! I just finished watching Sonny Boy and was searching explanations for it. But after watching your video I can understand why I didn’t “understand” this show despite loving it very much. This video has definitely made me appreciate this show twice as much.
Totes agree with your message. I still left Sonny Boy with an interpretation of its content: moving on in a seemingly meaningless and confusing world and doing so even if your experiences within it are unclear. However, it might not've had the same strength if Sonny Boy didn't elicit those feelings of intrigue and confusion beforehand. It did so with an interesting form too. An experience that is *itself* and perhaps elicited feelings that couldn't be explained with words (yet) indeed should be appreciated too. Good vid to capture these ideas about interpretation and linking it to Sonny Boy in one place. I have the feeling that it could've been shortened though. Nice edits overall, including the introduction of the part titles.
"you didn't understand it but still loved it" is a great way to explain this show. I wish that in high school my teachers would have given me this kind of art to analyze. All the books and texts they made us read never resonated with me, never could see any meaning in it. But this show really is something else. Too bad no one I know will probably take the time to watch it.
When I first saw Sonny Boy the first thing I thought it wanted to tell me was:"find your meaning in the meaningless". This video offered me a paradoxically similar but opposite point of view on the show and I have to make my congratulations. Great video, keep it up
That was beautiful. Sonny Boy has slowly become my favorite anime and you did a brilliant job of explaining a few of the reasons why I love it so much.
It's beautifull work man. Please come back on youtube Upd: I finished watching Sunny Boy a week ago. With all the episodes in hand, I still watched one episode a day/two. Already from the first episode, I realized that I had found for myself the very hidden gold I had been looking for a long time. The funny thing is that I was waiting for it but missed it. Saw some really bad reviews about it. I ended up enjoying every episode. Having finished watching, I realize that in this anime there are a lot of riddles and questions, to which it is proposed to find the solution yourself. But... I've been terrorized for a week now by the question - Why? Why did they leave that world? I can find a simple answer to it and most likely logically justify it. But my soul is tormented and demands something else. I believe that something valuable may be hidden in such a simple question. This Anime left me with a question, tears and at the same time a smile on my face. I will miss it
thanks for making this I was feeling anxious. This grounded me, made me feel calm, made me feel like nagara at the end of the season. I'm happy i clicked on this video, even happier you decided to make this video.
Thanks for the video. Sonny boy is an anime that helped me to go through a difficult phase of my life. Meaningless doesn't mean unimportant. and i'd just see that you post this video at my birthday, so thanks for the gift !
This show was the first piece of media I've consumed in quite a long time that I felt truly understood the ennui and listless feeling of being a young adult. It was a strong feeling graduating high school and an even stronger one graduating college -- what do we do with ourselves when we suddenly aren't bound to the schedules and expectations placed upon us? How do we find our way in the absence of the routines that define our childhoods? It also reflects a postmodern disillusionment with the expectations of a capitalist society that I think is gaining a lot of traction in today's youth. We're inheriting a world where truly achieving what you dream of feels impossible, and therefore we've had to learn to appreciate those small joys we have in each other and the little corners of reality we inhabit. It's a bittersweet sentiment but very realistic and where most media would tackle the topic with either too much optimism or too much nihilism, Sonny Boy finds a perfect balance between both. As you suggest in the video, this show doesn't require its audience to understand it because it understands its audience and the anxieties they face with so much accuracy and nuance. Great video and I hope it encourages more people to watch this anime
"If your so distracted by the plaque explaining what it all means you could miss something beautiful." That can go for life too, when you search for meaning when there isn't any meaning to be found. Distracting from the chance of seeing something beautiful. Sonny Boy to me really is ambrassing the abserdity of life, and to keep moving forward while enjoying the beauty of your own experiences. That you even have a opportunity to have experiences, even if you perceive them as negative. I tend to analyze life a lot, I've been trying to accept what I can't change and just enjoy the ride. It's okay to not understand. I can still enjoy art, and life without understanding it. Thank you for sharing your own perspective on Sonny Boy!
I agree with your video fully, and you put into words in a beautiful manner something I had discussed internally after my experience with sonny boy. Sonny boy was the series that made me realize the "ending explained" genre is something that detracts from the experience for me more than it adds. Ending sonny boy it sat with me so long, and I would go over it in my head more and more and find my own interpretations and in a lot of ways I could link how I felt about it to my real life. When I first finished the series, I was in a miserable place in my life. I was mad at Nagara for escaping his drifting reality and returning to his boring regular life. I thought I hated the series for making the mundane the grand prize for the characters. But the series being an overarching story about the transitions of your life, escapism, and apathy, I realized I was projecting my own need for escapism on the character. As the series popped into my mind in the coming months I realized how I interpreted the series is shaped by my own view and I was unjustly mad at the series for problems in my own life. Re-watching it when I had my life more in order I could apply even more stories to my own life and appreciate how a series like this without definitive answers to everything is far more enjoyable since you can shape the narrative yourself in some ways, and use it as a way have a dialogue with yourself and grow as a person and learn to appreciate more of life. After truly absorbing sonny boy, the human need to get a definitive answer for every piece of media then to file it away and never think about it again makes you lose the art of media. I find myself now rather than looking up definitive answers to stories, I read others interpretations as you might discuss the secondary meanings of a novel from people with different perspectives. Most art doesn't have a definitive answer, and if you got an answer from a piece art that benefits you whether it is just a feeling of joy or allowed you to open a door within yourself to appreciate your life, both of these are equally valid and should be encouraged. I am truly grateful to sonny boy and it will stick with me for the rest of my life. I think it fundamentally changed how I consume media, and I imagine I am not the only one. Any new media I consume I approach in this manner, and i feel happier for it.
Goodness gracious, best video I've seen on CZcams all year. I purposefully avoided Sonny Boy videos (except 'art of' type compilations) since it's airing due to an amalgam that roughly translates into the actual you've adumbrated here. brilliant video and I'm picking up that Susan Sontag book rn ong.
God i wish more people saw this show. And all my friends wouldnt give it a chance if i showed it to them. But i can live knowing that i was able to be affected by it in some way. Even if i never meet another person whos watched it, i can know that i experienced it. Its hard to be alone in anything, but this..i dont mind having to myself in some small way. Beautiful video as well good sir
i just wanted to say thanks for the video. and the part where you say "if all you got from sonny boy is that you cried and loved it but you dident understand it in a way that you cant explain. you understood it" made me happy since i worried i might have missed something. in the end, i dident understand it a lot. but your video showed me that thats not the point. again, thank you.
This was an insanely well written video, it almost made me feel like I was watching Sonny Boy for the first time again. I hope you will do more of these in the future. Have you heard about the manga Ping Pong by Taiyou Matsumoto ? I would love to hear you talk about it.
I just finished this anime last night and I've still been struggling to make sense of it. There's countless interpretations of it across the internet, and I'm aware that most people who are fans of it argue against interpreting it, of trying to understand and make sense of what you watched. And while I personally don't mind other people enjoying the show, that mindset made it so much harder for me. It was difficult for me to enjoy the ride that Sonny Boy was taking me on because of how abstract it was getting. It's hard for me to focus on "how the show made me feel" when all I felt was confused and frustrated. I don't need or want to understand media I've consumed, but this kinda felt like a bit of a waste of time. And this really really sucks because I wanted to like this show, SO BAD. I was hooked for the first six episodes, but everything after that completely lost me. I've seen FLCL before, and I see a lot of ppl comparing Sonny Boy to it online, but I'd have to disagree with the comparisons. FLCL can be enjoyed even if you don't know what's going on. It's fast-paced, funny, shows off some some amazingly animated fight scenes, and it has a killer soundtrack. I don't think I can say any of the same with Sonny Boy. What frustrates me is that if art is best when it's removed from meaning, then why even create art in the first place?? I understand some art is supposed to be left up to more interpretation than others, but if every interpretation is valid (even the ones that contradict each-other), does that not make the art meaningless? Whatever message the author was trying to convey is now completely lost because everyone is taking away something different. Why even create at that point?
Good video man, clearly thought out and researched. I like these more academic-esque analyzes of anime, although the Gigguk/Mother's Basement style is good when done well too.
I've never seen sonny boy but I sure do want to watch it now. I really loved the editing and voicework I was transfixed the whole way. Can't say I understood everything but I felt some things so maybe I did haha kind regards, xis
The writing and editing for this video is phenomenal. The ending brought me into tears, "You don't need to understand Sonny Boy, It understands you" The final lines was powerful and touched my heart completely. This video will definetely have a special place in my heart along with the show. I cant put into words on how much i really appreciated your work mann I really hope you get more success in the future wether it be in CZcams or whatever endevours you have.❤ It's actually actually criminal that this video doesn't have as much views as it should..
As a big fan of reader-response school of criticism and also sonny boy, this video definitely scratches an itch for me. Ironically enough you pointing out how the show's idea of "these worlds" goes hand in hand with the concept from Sontag's essay is probably what I enjoyed the most here, as it enhances my viewing of the show. I'm not sure if this goes against your sentiment or if I actually misunderstood you, but I kinda subscribe to the idea that there isn't a "true meaning" of any given piece of art. Not just in its content alone, but not in the form either, nor in the combination of them or anything beyond that - but instead, the meaning is created and ascribed by each viewer. So while I didn't fret about "not understanding" Sonny Boy before and I do feel like it's a work perhaps best suited for vague, abstract and indescribable meanings, I really enjoyed what I'd call your interpretation of it as a meta text about literary meaning itself - although I'm glad I'm seeing it now that my mind has mostly settled on SB, and not back when it aired and my mind on it was fresh and I was able to contemplate on it without such handy guide.
i still wonder why nagara didn't fulfill the promise in the show. Maybe its meant for the future since these things do indeed take time. But thats personal to me, if I had to fufill a friends dying wish i would
There are many different answers to that question, but mostly that this nozomi was a completely different person to the one he knew and nagara knew that
@@Roggoll Has she really changed that much though it feels to me that her nature is still very similar as the one we've been familiar with for the entire show. I think it's more of a question that it is not the right time. Because prior to the promise she's pretty direct to Nagara on how even if they would theoretically be unaware of the time spend adrift it doesn't matter if they dont remember what matters is that it did indeed "happen". And if it happened then that experience is important despite being unaware of it's existence. Hence why I find it weird that after that pretty explicit choice in dialogue he decides not to go through with it in the show. That's why I feel it's not a question of if it's when. & the When is intentionally placed outside of the scope of the show.
@@Roggoll My interpretation to this is that Nagara recognized it wasn’t his turn to be cared for anymore. Someone else needs her more than him right now, and he’s happy to know that nurturing side hasn’t gone away.
The first time I watched Sonny Boy, I genuinely didn't understand anything. I had no idea what the ending meant, or what was to point of the show, but nevertheless I loved it and became one of my favorites. The second time I watched it was after graduating high school, and although this time I didn't enjoy as much as I did the first time around, it suddenly all just clicked and solidify itself as one of the few anime that I consider to be actual masterpieces.
this anime is actually pretty simple to understand, without getting deep and complicated here is the general PLOT:. God needs to help 3 main protagonists to overcome personal issues so they can experience their lives to the fullest . So he sets up a Fake Multiverse with "THESE WORLDS" and "arranges" things so that these 3 students go on an adventure through the Fake Multiverse and eventually they will grow and reach epiphanies that will change them. The Death of Nozomi is meant to help them reach their final Level of Internal Growth. Then they can get back to their Real Home in the Real Multiverse. Since they were all copies, once back home they would merge with the Originals and become One with them. The Asakaze clone was the 3rd Protagonist but he chose to stay behind in the end,however , his personal growth seemed to affect the Real Asakaze as well, as we see in the final episode Asakaze is with Nozomi and thus keeps her from dying in the True World. All lives in The Fake Multiverse of These Worlds slowly become meaningless objects because they were all clones anyway.....In the end, God is testing their resolve when he says "you can't leave this place" but does not try and stop them,he is proud of them
Editing this show has genuinely grown my appreciation of animation as a medium.
Bummer, love the track.
"You don't need to understand sonny boy, because it understands you" realest shit I've heard today
You don't understand Sonny Boy, and perhaps you never will, but if you watched it... And you felt a sense of joy or sorrow or any complex set of feelings, like when you look back at your schools days and realise it will never come back, then that's that. You cannot put it into words, or rather you will never have enough words to describe it.
"A picture is worth a thousand words" - Henrik Ibsen
I watched sonny boy as it aired in a very developmental part of my life, that being as a 13 year old. Originally I was captivated by the art style in a period of time where I was stuck at home due to the pandemic consuming as much media in books, movies, anime, what have you as I could to try and find something that could probably express my feelings about life and death as my grandpa had recently passed and it was my first real experience with that kind of thing. From there I had a downward spiral into depression and wondering what about my life matters and what I want to do with the future. I didn’t know what would make me happy. I ended up dropping the series after episode 3 and waited until it finishes airing to pick it back up and I was so enraptured by just the raw emotions that it made me feel that I stayed up until 3 in the morning on a school night I had to wake up at 6 crying without fully realizing why. Only recently after suggesting it to so many people so I could try to talk about the way it made me feel, did I watch it with my mom who was a little less than receptive of the portrayal of god but it gave me someone I could voice my feelings to. After 2 years I understood exactly what sonny boy made me feel and it’s comfort that even if I have no idea where I’m going or what I want to do when I get there, just being alive is okay. I’m not special and neither is anyone else really but that’s also ok. It reassured me that I didn’t have to save the world to find whatever meaning I’m looking for. Just finding joy in the simple things of being alive is good enough sometimes. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t, either way, at some point it ends.
As Goethe once said, the meaning of life is living itself.
Right there with you. 9th grade and the pandemic hit. I watched sonny boy as it released and I can honestly say it saved me
Sonny boy changed my lives...everytime , and it broke me way many times , "it understands you" that's so true and powerful and breaking, but yet warming , some stories define your life way beyond your understanding... sonny boy is really the greatest to ever exist
"don't try to understand it just feel it"
-Tenet
For me it feels like it's been so long since Sonny Boy aired, it felt like a dream. Every new episode was yet another story I couldn't make sense of, but as you said it still felt so fulfilling.
Wow, this was incredibly well-written. I haven't even seen Sonny Boy but without noticing, I got through this entire video. Really engaging script man, huge props.
watch it
I will never forget Sonny boy.
I finish watching sonny boy around march 2022.
Whenever i see sonny boy again…i just get feeling that i cant even explain..only i know.. Sonny boy is one of my favourite anime ;))
Also the ost tho!! My favourite ost is mitsume- spare the vibes of that song.. just idk.. make me feel emotional…
Life is truly given, not acquired. Every single life is worth living up to the end. Nice narration and excellent editing.
Sonny Boy was one of the first times an anime had a meaning to me regardless of it actually being the intention of the creators.
"If it wasn't, why are paintings so large, but the plaques explaining what they mean so small". What a fucking bar. This essay was beautifully written and that line tied it up perfectly that I cried. Thank you!
In watched Sonny Boy the winter of my senior year at the height of my tribulations. I kept feeling like I wanted to refute and angrily act like I was so much more focused and directed than these weak minded people because that's what scared people do. Sonny boy told me that I was so scared of losing meaning because I felt like I had nothing other than the rules of the world and the success I find under them to define me. I still don't have any answers but I am glad to know that an answer is another construct of the idea of objective truth which is all just a very comfortable lie. I find hope in God under all this honestly, I reject the idea of divine intervention but I don't reject the idea of love and the boredom that allows for creation to sprout. That's the hollowed out meaning of the world I work with to keep myself sane since it is impossible to live with all interpretations of life. I love this series and all the beauty it shows us but then kills right in front of us because it reviles the idea of keeping still.
A little late, but I really appreciated this video. I kept watching videos about Sonny Boy to fill that need for public discourse and I found myself disappointed. It felt like people were taking what they saw too literally, and it started to ruin the feelings I had for this show. What I read on reddit and saw from your video helped validate those feelings I experienced and made me feel better about the whole thing. Thank you for the great video!
Incredible video man. Sonny Boy was incredibly spectacular to experience and I'm glad to have finally watched it for myself.
That is really well made sonny boy essay. I love the idea that you dont need to understand art to get it. Sometimes after watching some abstract movie I feel that I'm not smart enough to get it yet when in reality nothing trulry makes sense in this world. Idk I also might talking gibberish as its late at night and I dont know english that much to express my thoughts freerly.
This video is going into my "cherish" list
a list of videos, quotes, articles, anything really, that is worth sharing, rewatching, or remembering. I wasn't able to express the reason why I thought Sonny Boy was so good.. because I didn't have words, I had emotions.
I felt what this show meant to me, what it means in general. It was an anime that, when I looked back at it, I thought I'd feel empty by the end. I was instead left with a feeling I had no understanding of. I still, to this day, do not know what that feeling is.
But I assume that it's hope. Knowing everything will be okay, and everything and anything that Sonny Boy gave me.
and now watching this video, you gave me the words I needed so desperately back then, but also gave me the reason why I never needed them at all. I think... (i'm trying to make this deep)
Seriously though I'm so glad a twitter mutual of mine linked this video, I am a RoggolIsMe fan and supporter now
Thank you
I’ve always had so many thoughts and ideas about sonny boy. I’ve watched it so many times.
I know what it means to me. But this video opened up a new way of explaining this thing that means the world to me. I couldn’t help but cry. You made an amazing piece.
in a way created another shadow world of meaning to sonny boy.
Thank you so much for it.
I tried to watch the show one year ago when i was depressed and i just looked at it again and again searching for my own reflection in it, but i didn't find anything.
I watched the show again a week ago, already healed and just foubd it beautiful, i don't know why i am alive but i'm happy that i am.
* sorry for my bad english
I finished Sonny Boy a while ago and it was a rough time emotionally speaking, but I didn't understand a lot of it. This is a take on interpreting art that I haven't heard before, but I'm so glad to have now. It's criminal you have under 1k subscribers! Your articulation and explanations were on point, so much so that I (like others) just cried at my desk for a while. I feel like I really understand how not to understand, thank you for the video!
Omg I just now realize you're the twitter guy, I've loved this video for so long and only now I realize you made this. Good stuff
Really well-done video. Well-edited.
I watched SB as it released, and I did make a habit of trying to understand it both for myself and for everyone else. Once the monkey baseball episode dropped I saw a ton of people in the threads acting either bemused or outright annoyed at what seemed like a massively unimportant side-story about invisible monkeys, and even those that enjoyed the general vibe of the episode were a bit lost as to why it needed to exist. It was only when I went through the episode almost frame by frame a couple times that I got a sense not only for what the director was implying, but also for how to enjoy SB beyond just vibing with it.
On a surface level there's a lot you can miss throughout the show by not paying strict enough attention to scenes, or by not making retroactive connections. Towards the beginning of the monkey baseball episode there's a scene where the gang is eating ramen and Cap brings up Nagara's loss during their elementary school baseball tournament. Nagara outwardly denies recollection of it, but there's a 1 or 2 second shot of his hand shaking, which is easy to miss or disregard because of how quickly it goes by. It's only when I went frame-by-frame through the episode that I really looked at that shot and realized how important it was to establishing how he got to be so anxious. There's a ton of little scenes like that, which add so much to the characters' development, that the passively attentive viewer is wont to miss.
Thematically, while one's interpretation is ultimately an assumption teetered by personal biases, SB is undoubtedly rich with symbolism and themes that the directors mean for you to analyze. You could choose to enjoy the Tower of Babel episode as simply "Nagara goes in a strange tower construction society and reconnects with an old friend", which would be enjoyable for the vibes alone, but in relating that episode's world to modern society and 9-5 culture you're not only exposed to deeper layers of the show, you're exposed to aspects of your own world which you might otherwise take for granted. Every episode has its own set of themes that are carefully and masterfully developed, and in analyzing them you can both grow your appreciation for SB and engender a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you.
I disagree with the idea that interpretation of art should be discarded because it can never be confirmed (unless the author themself approves it, though Death of the Author has a case for that.) While you can fall in love with Sonny Boy purely for its musical, dreamlike qualities, you would be missing out not only on the wealth of symbolism and character details that the director and writers no doubt worked tirelessly on, but also on the opportunity to develop your mind and your understanding of life. People may be quick to write off Sonny Boy solely because they didn't "get it", but rather than encouraging them to ignore "getting it" I'd encourage them to rewatch the show and participate in discussion about it, just as one would reread a book to understand it better. Sonny Boy was one of my most rewarding and personal watch experiences because I put the effort in to interpret it down to the little details.
there's plenty about sonny boy you can analyse, but I would still invite people to be okay with "not getting it" because if on some level you enjoyed it then on some level you did get it
Great video! I never saw Sonny Boy in this way and it was eye-opening, thank you!
While I find a lot of value in interpretation and meaning and reaching out at art that way, I actually do really like the idea and agree a lot with what was said here about the show and art in general and how often times that kind of interpretive work can be destructive, especially the examples you gave. I think I see this a lot just generally being on the internet, but that feeling of seeing someone critique something on the basis of "I didn't understand it" or "It was confusing" without the faith that maybe the nature of the work is supposed to elicit those emotions or that art can be those things and still make you 'feel' is abundant.
I liked when you brought out the soundtrack to show the duality at work, something comforting yet disorientating, something the show in a way revels in, that idea of experiencing it and not needing to be grounded in stability. So much of music are things that are hard to decipher at times, I mean, math rock, shoegaze, electronic, a conglomeration of sounds and effects, even words said that may not be understood, rhythms "unnatural," yet we listen to it all the same, and we are so easy to be swept in a song or soundtrack that just moves us. Music can be interpreted sure, but I feel like it's one of those mediums that so easily, we just let sweep us, that we listen to so much music and we feel so much emotions from it even if we can't technically reach out to the mechanics at work. But that's fine. And I want people to be fine with that kind of feeling in other mediums too.
I really liked the note at the end. Interpretation, meaning, themes, I still find a lot of value in those things. But at the end of every time I experience some kind of art, anime, games, books, I also value one thing above all else, which is how I felt, was I having fun, was I experiencing joy, or maybe sadness, or did the art elicit something out of me that really, only I would really be able to decipher. And I think to recent examples like Starlight (mostly the movie), how I see so much people starting their discussions of it going they didn't understand a lot of what was going on, to then give it a perfect score, because, what mattered the most was how the work of art at hand made them feel, how it swept them away and gave them an experience, because that's what art is beyond all of the critical lenses.
Thank you for making this video!
Amazing comment, thanks for watching!
I’ve never felt so strongly about a video essay before, I watched Sonny Boy during the summer it came out and it left me heartbroken and confused but it made me appreciate my life more and I didn’t even realise, this is such a good video and it sums up my feelings perfectly, amazing work!
I cannot thank you enough for this video. I try to search for the meaning in everything I do, see, read, and experience. I’ve been obsessed with it, and the day I woke up and forgot my own meaning of why I woke up, was the day my life got just that much harder. I used to think not have any meaning or purpose would be liberating, but I found it insufferable. Nothing gave me joy or happiness or any of the things that made me want to live. I like to write in my free time, nothing big or well made, just my thoughts (like what I’m writing now) and whenever I write it feels as if I’m trying to explain the inexplicable. It’s as if the thoughts in my head could never be properly put onto paper, and that bothered me. The feelings I felt and experienced needed to be told and conveyed to others, in part because I believed them and what I felt and what I had to say felt special. But now I know that I can never do this, as much as I may try. After watching this video, I feel as if I know why I can’t do this. Because these feelings belong to me and no one else. My feelings and emotions are mine o mine and I must treasure that. And although I’ll never stop trying to put them into paper. But every time I do fail to do so, I’ll revel in it, and enjoy the moment. Thank you for giving me a feeling that no one else could have, and experience I will never be able to write down, and an appreciation for the moments spent watching your video and writing this comment.
I love the painting plaque analogy you used at the end, couldn't had described how I feel better
An irreplicable anime and video to match.
This is the insight I needed to hear today actually. Gaining the freedom of being an adult is interesting. Realizing there is no point outside of what you have yourself experience and what you make of it. The idea that I have 24 hours in a day to fill of pure possibility. And then especially being limited by a physical reality.
It's so seriously fun.
My feelings have been finally expressed into words I can understand. Something I have already unknowingly understood when I first watched it. Thank you for making this video; it was a brilliant summary of emotions felt throughout the show.
I can say that I was there when I saw the twitter thread.
Thank you for making this video!
I just finished watching Sonny Boy and was searching explanations for it.
But after watching your video I can understand why I didn’t “understand” this show despite loving it very much.
This video has definitely made me appreciate this show twice as much.
This is by far the best video on sunny boy!
Thanks for giving me a depper appreciation of one of my already favorite shows :)
"Art is not supposed to be transliterated the experience is what matters"
Beautiful
Totes agree with your message. I still left Sonny Boy with an interpretation of its content: moving on in a seemingly meaningless and confusing world and doing so even if your experiences within it are unclear. However, it might not've had the same strength if Sonny Boy didn't elicit those feelings of intrigue and confusion beforehand. It did so with an interesting form too. An experience that is *itself* and perhaps elicited feelings that couldn't be explained with words (yet) indeed should be appreciated too.
Good vid to capture these ideas about interpretation and linking it to Sonny Boy in one place. I have the feeling that it could've been shortened though. Nice edits overall, including the introduction of the part titles.
This is one of the best video essays out there!
"you didn't understand it but still loved it" is a great way to explain this show.
I wish that in high school my teachers would have given me this kind of art to analyze. All the books and texts they made us read never resonated with me, never could see any meaning in it. But this show really is something else.
Too bad no one I know will probably take the time to watch it.
beautiful beautiful beautiful video, thank you for this
your video essay made me cry bro, your conclusion was just breath taking, made my day, thank you :)
Such a great video. Thanks for taking your time to make it. Fr, it is such a great video😭
When I first saw Sonny Boy the first thing I thought it wanted to tell me was:"find your meaning in the meaningless". This video offered me a paradoxically similar but opposite point of view on the show and I have to make my congratulations. Great video, keep it up
That was beautiful. Sonny Boy has slowly become my favorite anime and you did a brilliant job of explaining a few of the reasons why I love it so much.
It's beautifull work man. Please come back on youtube
Upd:
I finished watching Sunny Boy a week ago. With all the episodes in hand, I still watched one episode a day/two. Already from the first episode, I realized that I had found for myself the very hidden gold I had been looking for a long time. The funny thing is that I was waiting for it but missed it. Saw some really bad reviews about it. I ended up enjoying every episode.
Having finished watching, I realize that in this anime there are a lot of riddles and questions, to which it is proposed to find the solution yourself. But... I've been terrorized for a week now by the question - Why? Why did they leave that world? I can find a simple answer to it and most likely logically justify it. But my soul is tormented and demands something else. I believe that something valuable may be hidden in such a simple question.
This Anime left me with a question, tears and at the same time a smile on my face.
I will miss it
thanks for making this
I was feeling anxious. This grounded me, made me feel calm, made me feel like nagara at the end of the season. I'm happy i clicked on this video, even happier you decided to make this video.
Thanks for the video. Sonny boy is an anime that helped me to go through a difficult phase of my life.
Meaningless doesn't mean unimportant.
and i'd just see that you post this video at my birthday, so thanks for the gift !
This show was the first piece of media I've consumed in quite a long time that I felt truly understood the ennui and listless feeling of being a young adult. It was a strong feeling graduating high school and an even stronger one graduating college -- what do we do with ourselves when we suddenly aren't bound to the schedules and expectations placed upon us? How do we find our way in the absence of the routines that define our childhoods?
It also reflects a postmodern disillusionment with the expectations of a capitalist society that I think is gaining a lot of traction in today's youth. We're inheriting a world where truly achieving what you dream of feels impossible, and therefore we've had to learn to appreciate those small joys we have in each other and the little corners of reality we inhabit. It's a bittersweet sentiment but very realistic and where most media would tackle the topic with either too much optimism or too much nihilism, Sonny Boy finds a perfect balance between both.
As you suggest in the video, this show doesn't require its audience to understand it because it understands its audience and the anxieties they face with so much accuracy and nuance. Great video and I hope it encourages more people to watch this anime
This was the most beautiful review of anything I've ever watched! Thank you!
"If your so distracted by the plaque explaining what it all means you could miss something beautiful." That can go for life too, when you search for meaning when there isn't any meaning to be found. Distracting from the chance of seeing something beautiful. Sonny Boy to me really is ambrassing the abserdity of life, and to keep moving forward while enjoying the beauty of your own experiences. That you even have a opportunity to have experiences, even if you perceive them as negative. I tend to analyze life a lot, I've been trying to accept what I can't change and just enjoy the ride. It's okay to not understand. I can still enjoy art, and life without understanding it. Thank you for sharing your own perspective on Sonny Boy!
truly beautiful video. thank you.
i feel like I’m insanely dumb but I honestly don’t know what to take away from this video and apply to in my life
What a great video! Just finished the anime today, what a great timing.
man! this video was Amazing
I agree with your video fully, and you put into words in a beautiful manner something I had discussed internally after my experience with sonny boy. Sonny boy was the series that made me realize the "ending explained" genre is something that detracts from the experience for me more than it adds. Ending sonny boy it sat with me so long, and I would go over it in my head more and more and find my own interpretations and in a lot of ways I could link how I felt about it to my real life. When I first finished the series, I was in a miserable place in my life. I was mad at Nagara for escaping his drifting reality and returning to his boring regular life. I thought I hated the series for making the mundane the grand prize for the characters. But the series being an overarching story about the transitions of your life, escapism, and apathy, I realized I was projecting my own need for escapism on the character.
As the series popped into my mind in the coming months I realized how I interpreted the series is shaped by my own view and I was unjustly mad at the series for problems in my own life. Re-watching it when I had my life more in order I could apply even more stories to my own life and appreciate how a series like this without definitive answers to everything is far more enjoyable since you can shape the narrative yourself in some ways, and use it as a way have a dialogue with yourself and grow as a person and learn to appreciate more of life. After truly absorbing sonny boy, the human need to get a definitive answer for every piece of media then to file it away and never think about it again makes you lose the art of media. I find myself now rather than looking up definitive answers to stories, I read others interpretations as you might discuss the secondary meanings of a novel from people with different perspectives. Most art doesn't have a definitive answer, and if you got an answer from a piece art that benefits you whether it is just a feeling of joy or allowed you to open a door within yourself to appreciate your life, both of these are equally valid and should be encouraged.
I am truly grateful to sonny boy and it will stick with me for the rest of my life. I think it fundamentally changed how I consume media, and I imagine I am not the only one. Any new media I consume I approach in this manner, and i feel happier for it.
Thank you for this video man.
The best way to end a masterpiece
This video is incredibly well done!!!
Amazing video
Beautiful insights
what an amazing video, couldnt put it into words how much i loved it
This is one of the best videos I've seen, putting everything I've been trying to say in a way that I can share with others. Thank you!
Goodness gracious, best video I've seen on CZcams all year. I purposefully avoided Sonny Boy videos (except 'art of' type compilations) since it's airing due to an amalgam that roughly translates into the actual you've adumbrated here.
brilliant video and I'm picking up that Susan Sontag book rn ong.
It should be recommanded to everyone who love Sonnyboy! And it brings great atmosphere, just like Sonnyboy(*'▽'*)♪
I’ll be sure to watch this video after I start and finish the show
God i wish more people saw this show. And all my friends wouldnt give it a chance if i showed it to them. But i can live knowing that i was able to be affected by it in some way. Even if i never meet another person whos watched it, i can know that i experienced it. Its hard to be alone in anything, but this..i dont mind having to myself in some small way. Beautiful video as well good sir
Sonny boy really came in the perfect time for me to experience it. Great video essay for a great piece of art.
This video goes so hard.
Be safe out there, you're a part of the world that means so much to me.
*It's the only anime that almost made me cry and i wouldn't be able to tell why*
спасибо большое за ваше видео-эссе!
really loved this
This is the best analysis video that was ever be
Narnia was my favourite book series growing up... Sonny Boy is my newest hyperfixation... I may have an issue with escapism.
Excellent video, we can say that you really understood Sonny Boy :) (joking)
beautiful video : )
i just wanted to say thanks for the video. and the part where you say "if all you got from sonny boy is that you cried and loved it but you dident understand it in a way that you cant explain. you understood it" made me happy since i worried i might have missed something. in the end, i dident understand it a lot. but your video showed me that thats not the point. again, thank you.
This was great!
oh snap, i actually found you through yt so it's pretty hype to see you back here!
This was an insanely well written video, it almost made me feel like I was watching Sonny Boy for the first time again. I hope you will do more of these in the future.
Have you heard about the manga Ping Pong by Taiyou Matsumoto ? I would love to hear you talk about it.
I’ve seen the anime but not read the manga
@@Roggoll Do you plan on doing more of these video essays ?
@@BleuLego eventually!
I just finished this anime last night and I've still been struggling to make sense of it. There's countless interpretations of it across the internet, and I'm aware that most people who are fans of it argue against interpreting it, of trying to understand and make sense of what you watched. And while I personally don't mind other people enjoying the show, that mindset made it so much harder for me.
It was difficult for me to enjoy the ride that Sonny Boy was taking me on because of how abstract it was getting. It's hard for me to focus on "how the show made me feel" when all I felt was confused and frustrated. I don't need or want to understand media I've consumed, but this kinda felt like a bit of a waste of time. And this really really sucks because I wanted to like this show, SO BAD. I was hooked for the first six episodes, but everything after that completely lost me.
I've seen FLCL before, and I see a lot of ppl comparing Sonny Boy to it online, but I'd have to disagree with the comparisons. FLCL can be enjoyed even if you don't know what's going on. It's fast-paced, funny, shows off some some amazingly animated fight scenes, and it has a killer soundtrack. I don't think I can say any of the same with Sonny Boy.
What frustrates me is that if art is best when it's removed from meaning, then why even create art in the first place?? I understand some art is supposed to be left up to more interpretation than others, but if every interpretation is valid (even the ones that contradict each-other), does that not make the art meaningless? Whatever message the author was trying to convey is now completely lost because everyone is taking away something different. Why even create at that point?
Good video man, clearly thought out and researched. I like these more academic-esque analyzes of anime, although the Gigguk/Mother's Basement style is good when done well too.
Amazing video
great video
I've never seen sonny boy but I sure do want to watch it now. I really loved the editing and voicework I was transfixed the whole way. Can't say I understood everything but I felt some things so maybe I did haha
kind regards, xis
The writing and editing for this video is phenomenal. The ending brought me into tears, "You don't need to understand Sonny Boy, It understands you" The final lines was powerful and touched my heart completely. This video will definetely have a special place in my heart along with the show. I cant put into words on how much i really appreciated your work mann I really hope you get more success in the future wether it be in CZcams or whatever endevours you have.❤ It's actually actually criminal that this video doesn't have as much views as it should..
yeah youre getting a sub for this one chief
As a big fan of reader-response school of criticism and also sonny boy, this video definitely scratches an itch for me. Ironically enough you pointing out how the show's idea of "these worlds" goes hand in hand with the concept from Sontag's essay is probably what I enjoyed the most here, as it enhances my viewing of the show. I'm not sure if this goes against your sentiment or if I actually misunderstood you, but I kinda subscribe to the idea that there isn't a "true meaning" of any given piece of art. Not just in its content alone, but not in the form either, nor in the combination of them or anything beyond that - but instead, the meaning is created and ascribed by each viewer. So while I didn't fret about "not understanding" Sonny Boy before and I do feel like it's a work perhaps best suited for vague, abstract and indescribable meanings, I really enjoyed what I'd call your interpretation of it as a meta text about literary meaning itself - although I'm glad I'm seeing it now that my mind has mostly settled on SB, and not back when it aired and my mind on it was fresh and I was able to contemplate on it without such handy guide.
banger vid
lets goooo
!
Nice video
Came from the Reddit post! Love it!!
uhh what reddit post lmao I guess I'll have to check where it was posted
ahh my editor posted it. Glad you enjoyed it!
No idea u was working on a vid damn
Goat 🙌
I have a tendency to not announce my projects just in case they don't ever materialise.
mm. So far the most nuanced and accurate analysis of the show, if at all.
Well posited.
i still wonder why nagara didn't fulfill the promise in the show. Maybe its meant for the future since these things do indeed take time. But thats personal to me, if I had to fufill a friends dying wish i would
There are many different answers to that question, but mostly that this nozomi was a completely different person to the one he knew and nagara knew that
@@Roggoll Has she really changed that much though it feels to me that her nature is still very similar as the one we've been familiar with for the entire show.
I think it's more of a question that it is not the right time. Because prior to the promise she's pretty direct to Nagara on how even if they would theoretically be unaware of the time spend adrift it doesn't matter if they dont remember what matters is that it did indeed "happen".
And if it happened then that experience is important despite being unaware of it's existence. Hence why I find it weird that after that pretty explicit choice in dialogue he decides not to go through with it in the show. That's why I feel it's not a question of if it's when. & the When is intentionally placed outside of the scope of the show.
@@Roggoll My interpretation to this is that Nagara recognized it wasn’t his turn to be cared for anymore. Someone else needs her more than him right now, and he’s happy to know that nurturing side hasn’t gone away.
This sentiment is more heavily applied to FLCL for me. The significance of the experience IS the confusion and the disorientation
The first time I watched Sonny Boy, I genuinely didn't understand anything. I had no idea what the ending meant, or what was to point of the show, but nevertheless I loved it and became one of my favorites. The second time I watched it was after graduating high school, and although this time I didn't enjoy as much as I did the first time around, it suddenly all just clicked and solidify itself as one of the few anime that I consider to be actual masterpieces.
I will leave a comment for the algorithm
15:55 My replay button (you can use it)
great video, what's the song at the end of it? i don't recognize it from the series soundtrack
It’s the acoustic version of the ending song
@@Roggoll ahhhh right I forgot about that, thank you
Yooooooooooooooooooo
What's the song at 19:23?
It's the acoustic version of Shounen Shoujo, which only plays at the very last episode. It was never released as a single on the soundtrack.
this anime is actually pretty simple to understand, without getting deep and complicated here is the general PLOT:. God needs to help 3 main protagonists to overcome personal issues so they can experience their lives to the fullest . So he sets up a Fake Multiverse with "THESE WORLDS" and "arranges" things so that these 3 students go on an adventure through the Fake Multiverse and eventually they will grow and reach epiphanies that will change them. The Death of Nozomi is meant to help them reach their final Level of Internal Growth. Then they can get back to their Real Home in the Real Multiverse. Since they were all copies, once back home they would merge with the Originals and become One with them. The Asakaze clone was the 3rd Protagonist but he chose to stay behind in the end,however , his personal growth seemed to affect the Real Asakaze as well, as we see in the final episode Asakaze is with Nozomi and thus keeps her from dying in the True World. All lives in The Fake Multiverse of These Worlds slowly become meaningless objects because they were all clones anyway.....In the end, God is testing their resolve when he says "you can't leave this place" but does not try and stop them,he is proud of them
genuinely great point!, ending is a bit corny tho