I’ve been thinking about some of the questions I had before this episode, namely what made Katsuhira different from Noriko and the others and why Noriko is so dead-set on continuing the Experiment. Plus, that unfinished line: “But as long as we can be bonded…”
I’m still fixated on what Noriko tells him during that first flashback and I change my mind every other episode haha so this is just me basically throwing ideas at the wall. But what if Katsuhira’s emotions didn’t dilute as fast as the others?
If he actually kept most of them aside from his sense of pain while the others progressively lost them, I feel that could explain why Noriko was certain he would be able to get his pain back, unlike her and the rest.
It could also fit Katsuhira asking Noriko to not leave him alone, because not only did he care the most about her, but all his friends may have been like this by then:
Now, assuming Noriko did jump to try and take herself out of the equation in the hopes all the senses she absorbed would return to their rightful owners, what if Noriko got the idea after this conversation with Katsuhira?
I’m still expecting this conversation to play an instrumental role in Noriko’s mindset, so I’ve been assuming it may be at the backbone for her fixation with the Kiznaiver Project (aka, the chance to be connected to everyone you love.) However, it now occurs to me that it could also fit Noriko’s mindset when she flung herself off.
Katsuhira essentially says that getting his pain back would be meaningless unless he does it with everyone he loves. So I feel this could have planted the seed in Noriko’s mind because if her plan had gone the way she wanted it to, everyone would have gotten their senses back simultaneously.
This takes me to Noriko’s reasons for being so invested in the Kiznaiver project. Right now I can only think of three possible ones:
- She is trying to find a way to reverse the process so Yuki et al’s senses will return to them, as blue-espeon suggested.
- Noriko may be seeking to connect to others. She can’t do so the normal way because of her nullified senses, but if others were able to hear the voice from her heart, perhaps she could. If that flashback she has to the children is incomplete and we later see Katsuhira grabbing her hand and pulling her along or something, it could tie in with this. Moreover, the Kiznaiver System is what allowed her to form the most important connections in her life, so perhaps she wants to share that with others.
- Or she may be trying to preserve the bonds the original Kiznaiver gang have with each other, so to speak.
Noriko says in Episode 2 that they are looking for “The True Connection”, and the Animate article says that knowing that they can “connect up to their heart’s voices” only makes Noriko even more obsessed with the system.
So what if Noriko is either trying to make sure her link to them won’t be severed or trying to find a way to establish a deeper connection with them? If returning their senses to them is impossible, Noriko may see this as the only way to not lose them. Perhaps ensuring the Kiznaiver Experiment never ends is her way to stay connected to people who are unable to connect to anyone else anymore?
Plus, they may be vegetables outwardly, but what if the Kiznaiver System could allow Noriko to hear their hearts or whatever it is that this “True Connection” entails? I feel either of these two possibilities could tie in with Noriko’s “But as long as we can be bonded…” and the way she longs for them as she stands on the rooftop.
Though of course, all of this depends on whether those 5 regaining their senses is actually possible or not. If it is possible, then the last two episodes should be about helping Noriko find a way to do so and saving her while they are at it.
But if it isn’t, then they may just be about saving Noriko and helping her to let go. Because now that I think about it, while Katsuhira has lived these past 12 years essentially devoid of a past, Noriko has lived them completely tied to the past. So while Katsuhira needed to regain his past, Noriko may need a link to the present and thus the future in order to move on.
I’m probably completely off in all accounts but this is still really interesting to think about haha
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