Arashi No Yoru Ni, finale

My mother is German, my father Danish. My stepfather is American. I have friends in France and Italy. Look. My hand is like a map. Here are lines. Like borders. Who cares where the lines are? I care about the hand, the whole hand.  -Elvira Madigan. 

Ahh, Gabu the lone wolf, and Mei the she-goat. They became secret romantic friends, but their relationship was exposed. Gabu was sentenced to death by the wolf herd leader, and Mei was put under detention by the elder of the goat clan. But in condition for pardon, they were each told by their own bosses to spy on each other, but instead they decided to elope. Animal version of Romeo & Juliet, or Tristan Und Isolde. It’s like a torment of an Egyptian muslim woman falling in love with a Jewish man, as Irshad Manji talked about on the Charlie Rose show.

Yes, Gabu committed treason by obstructing his fellow wolves from hunting down goats. It was unforgivable to the survival of the fittest society like a wolf herd which is structured hierarchially, so very much like capitalist corporations.

Mei came from more egalitarian society. They don’t need to compete for the food since they eat grass. They don’t need to work! They can get food without labor! Way better than Christian or Socialist ethics, He who does not work, neither shall he eat. Like pre-exile humans from the Eden. Grass is totally basic income, which we need to learn from. That way, competition won’t be necessary.

Gabu was also known for incompetency, which is also a ground for termination. Incompetency drags everyone’s feet down, decreasing productivity and causing profit loss, thus seen as unintended treachery.  And Gabu was since childhood seen as inept, useless, sluggish, unproductive, unmarketable, uncompetitive, wimpy, so all female wolves laughed at him, even though his father was one of the top dogs. It’s tough if your father was a well-respected man, but you aren’t, and can’t overcome him. How cruel to be that child under immense expectation and pressure, especially when they compare you with your father! You want to sever the tie with your family and live in a remote place where nobody knows your father. Yes, like a hut in Montana.

You know, once you earned shitty reputation and only doing odd jobs, it’s tough. And it’s not unusual that this leads to bullying at work. But even if nobody harasses you by resorting to verbal abuse and power abuse, even if everyone is polite and respectful, complies with the code of conduct, still it’s extremely distressful to be in such situation. Thus, all you want to do is run away, it’s way better to live without belonging to any organization whether it’s religious, political or corporative, but you don’t know where to go next. If you’re competent, headhunters will come look for you with far better deals. But if you’re incompetent, nobody wants you. No place to go. And of course no girls to date, no skinship, no mutual orgasm. But joining criminal organizations like Skill-Out is not an option. I would choose anarchy over that as an anarchist!

Thus, you want to seek friendship in a place other than your field and preferably female with various reasons. Yes, a friend of the opposite sex as remote as possible from your industry. So, she wouldn’t know that you’re not respected at your workplace. How tough that you can’t really talk about what you do, you want to avoid that topic as much as possible. Or at worst, lie to your female friend that you’re an alpha male. When Gabu lied to Mei that he was the alpha male, I was so heart-broken. I totally sympathized with him. She was the only one Gabu could turn to, so he had to lie. It’s his fragile pride that still enabled him to hold himself together on the verge of meltdown.

Yes, I still cling to an unfounded belief that I’m a genius. Richard Dawkins would criticize me for not providing the evidence, but I was born a genius. A scientific proof? No, not yet, haven’t found which field I’m gifted in. Unfortunately, there’s no Level-Upper either in real life. But I still believe I’ll be proven to be a genius soon in the future. And that’s how I’ve been able to live without going insane. Yes, they call me a liar or crazy since I can’t provide a proof, but soon I’ll be the defender of truth once everyone starts to realize my talent. Even Jesus was rejected in his hometown. That’s what the life of genius is! So, I totally understand why Gabu lied.

Yes, Gabu becomes a lone wolf, which typically is a loser wolf. Yes, today’s lone wolves are NEETs. Well, probably the most famous NEET is Mitt Romney, he said he is unemployed, but unlike Gabu, Romney has no problem of surviving, for making more than $13 million last year alone! I don’t know what it’s like to live a millionaire life…surely never have to worry about making ends meet. While a rich NEET is celebrated to run for President, we the poor NEETs are looked down upon. How can that be?

Yes, Gabu is not only a NEET but also a fugitive. Moreover, he and Mei are traitors to their own communities. Even with a chance of amnesty, they chose friendship over community. So, both of them have become fugitives. Now, Gabu doesn’t need to lie anymore, since Mei has accepted him as a whole, even his falls! Why do you need to lie about your social status since you’re already in exile? So, that was salvation. Truly miracle! Friendship birthday! Mei!

I also want to run away. Maybe I should wait till the November election, but I can’t expect that much out of it. Plus, I don’t have a girl like Mei to elope with. I ran away from Japan, but American wasn’t an utopia, so I want to run away again. Probably to Sweden or Brazil, or a place that would accept me as a genius, but no dinero… So, I run to 2D, yes, living in an alternative universe that Bill O’Reilly fiercely attacks…

Mei reminds me of Elvira Madigan who ran away with a Swedish officer. But they ran out of money, and finally shot themselves. I hope the 2nd season won’t go that direction. But, it’ll focus on their fugitive lives, so it’ll be very interesting. Can’t wait for the next season!

Author: Monsieur LaMoe

A refugee from Japan. Live in NAFTA. Get hooked on Moe. Moe is opium? Twitter: @MonsieurLamoe