I will admit that I have the omnibus for Takopi’s Original Sin (Takopii no Genzai); however, I never read it because I heard that it was getting an anime adaptation, and I didn’t want to spoil myself. Now, the anime has arrived; however, it’s a net anime with only six episodes. While it is a bit on the short side, so was the manga series, so it makes sense. Because I refrained from reading it, I have the pleasure of going into this series blind. Did it live up to the hype that made me buy the manga?
Let’s go!
First Episode Synopsis
A cute little pink chibi octopus with really simplistic thinking is from the Planet Happy; however, they are stuck on Earth and cannot go back. One day, this little alien meets a distressed girl named Shizuka. There’s obviously something very wrong with her; however, the alien doesn’t quite understand what that is due to aforementioned simplistic thinking. Shizuka decides to name the alien Takopi because it looks like an octopus (tako in Japanese), and it adds -pi to the end of everything that it says.
All Takopi wants to do is uphold its home planet’s traditions and see people smile, and that includes Shizuka. It tries to do so by using “happy gadgets,” which just seem like toys and trinkets; however, they are said to possess magical powers. Even with the happy gadgets in its arsenal, Takopi cannot do anything to cheer Shizuka up. It’s all because of a girl at school named Marina who is constantly bullying her.
One day, Shizuka invites Takopi to her house, where we meet Chappy, her dog. Her dog is the one true thing that gives her happiness in a world where happiness seems like a lost cause… especially when her mother is too busy being an escort to be there for her. Through it all, Takopi doesn’t understand what any of that means and remains naïve. This is until Shizuka comes home after school one day, covered in bruises, holding her dog’s leash. While it isn’t said, it’s heavily implied what happened, but due to Takopi’s simplistic understanding of things, it doesn’t read between the lines when it shows her the happy ribbon, and Shizuka asks to borrow it. Takopi breaks his home planet’s rules to never allow an “alien” to use a happy gadget without supervision, but because it’s Shizuka and it trusts her, he breaks that rule.
If you can piece the puzzle together, you know where this is going. After discovering the results of his “sin,” Takopi pulls out the happy gadget he used to take a picture of them. The camera’s special property allows the user to reinsert the photograph and travel back in time to when the photo was taken. Takopi does this over and over again as it tries to piece together what happened to Shizuka and tries to find a way to prevent that horrible event from happening again.
Through this, we learn that Shizuka’s mother and Marina’s father have a “special” connection that’s tearing her family apart, setting the sole motivating factor behind Marina’s bullying. Our first episode comes to a close with the suggestion that Marina’s life is just as bad as Shizuka’s!
Worth Watching?
MAYBE – This is one of those cases when the MAYBE isn’t because I’m on the fence about watching it. I’m definitely watching the remaining five episodes, so why am I not giving this a resounding YES?
It is because I fully understand that the subject material of this anime could be seen as highly sensitive to certain individuals, so if you are someone who gets bothered by bullying or heavy topics like suicide, then this show might just be something you would want to skip.
For me, on the other hand, the type of material being presented here is something I’m not bothered by. Inio Asano is my favorite mangaka, and with series like Goodnight Punpun, he has delved into some pretty heavy topics. Boy’s Abyss is currently my favorite manga series that also deals with heavy topics as well. Therefore, I’m the type of person who can sit back and enjoy a story like this, so it is a resounding YES on my part… and if you have no issues with sensitive material, then I can say that the first episode made such a big impression, that I highly recommend checking this one out.
It is only because I know heavy topics aren’t for everyone that I’m giving this a MAYBE… aka… watch this at your own discretion.
Still, this is shaping up to be a very emotional story that doesn’t have intention of pulling its punches.
