Because We Forget Everything

Though highly confusing and empty at the beginning with no clear indication of what the story is driven on, except for the disappearance of a female. Only after half way through if one still hasn’t lost patience in the slow pacing and lack of any coherent story, you begin to see the regularities of places like the BAR Lighthouse and the familiar faces as minor supporting characters, while new elements or characters will appear here and there to add to the narrative. The way the narrative moves along is a lot like a fiction novel, with narration that describes inner thoughts in great detail. However a sense of magical realism here and a strong mono no aware theme here, a subtle sense of impermanence or change and a kind of melancholic nostalgic sadness attached to the change. The male protagonist (Hiroshi Abe) whom being the one that seems to continue to remain unchanged but being affected by external nature of things whether it’s his career, fame or the people around him, like a rock being pushed around in the current of a river.  Comfort in habit, Pushed in the current of change, All has changed yet same. There is simply too much unsaid and completely ambiguous, while all too mysterious and ordinary. It seems to capture an overall fleeting feeling as change occurs while also feels like it tries to encapsulate so many metaphors and aphorisms, that it’s eluding. A strange little series with small moments of meaning that come out from time to time, while capturing this general Japanese malaise of melancholy and banal hopelessness.