Warning! This review on Kamisama ni Natta Hi Chapter five contains spoilers. If you haven't seen the episode yet, I recommend watching it and then going back to read the review.
# 5 The day of great magic
Kamisama ni Natta Hi Chapter 5 begins with Izanami asking her father to visit her mother's grave this year. Although ten years have passed since Izanami's mother's death, her father still does not visit her grave and rarely leaves the house. Given this situation, Hina wants to mess things up a little to help the Izanami family. Thanks to a phone call from beyond, father and daughter were able to face their grief and face the final farewell that their mother had left them. Despite Izanami's gratitude, Youta prefers not to use this weakness and does not admit her feelings. This could have relieved Hina's heart a little, now we only have eleven days until the end of the world.
A 10 year duel
Coping with a loss is never easy and we all experience different types of grief. This time we had to accompany the Izanami family, who had lived in ignorance of their loss for the past 10 years. It wasn't that they were literally ignoring the death of their loved one, but rather that they were focused on avoiding grief. Both father and daughter have spent the past few years avoiding pain. He hid at home and devoted himself fully to work. She closed her feelings and took herself into the study. It was normal for both of them not to face the reality of loss because deep down both knew that this would be the real goodbye if they did.
When we lose someone who is important, it's normal that we need time to get up and move on. However, death is something natural in life and as such we must all learn to deal with it and its consequences. Izanami's mother knew this better than her husband and daughter, so she not only prepared to accept his departure, but also tried to prepare her family. The videos I make for your daughter are a noble attempt to help her family. After all, not only should the videos give his daughter a few words of encouragement, but it was also her last goodbye.
Both Kyoko and her father spent the 10 years following their mother's death with pity. Neither could open up to the other to share their grief. That is perhaps the main reason the videos were recorded in the first place. Let's not forget that the condition was to see them together so that both could witness each other's pain and support one another. But things did not go according to plan and each looked away from the other's pain and dragged on his misery, feeling pathetic.
Keep going
As I said before, the purpose of the videos was for both of them to face their grief and share their feelings. That way, they wouldn't have to suffer alone because they would have each other. By that I don't mean that in the ten years they mourned no one cared about the other, because that is not the case. It just happens that they get immersed in their own pain and lose sight of the fact that the other has lost someone of value too. Kyoko lost her mother and the father lost his wife, the love of his life.
The words recorded in this last video were the final prayer for the happiness of both. The mother didn't want them both withdrawn or depressed because they'd lost her. She knew better than anyone the pain she would inflict on them if she left them, and so she did best to teach them how to move forward. The magic I use is the result of your own deliberations. If what made them suffer and hold was their memory, let them forget about it. Of course, they can't do it literally, but they can understand the message, and that means they shouldn't live tied to someone who is no longer there and will not return.
The greatest wish left on them is that they get on with their lives. Well, even though losing someone is painful and it seems like everything is losing its meaning, life doesn't stop and in any case we still have each other to move on. While sad and painful, the truth is that life doesn't end when someone dies close to you. After that we can only go forward and in the best case keep his memory alive as something precious, but not as something that submerges us. Izanami's mother referred to this with her magic. If the memory is painful it is okay to forget, if it prevents you from moving forward you need to let go. But when your mind is strong and you can keep looking ahead despite the memory, happiness will be yours expected to be even bigger.
Final comment
Kamisama ni Natta Hi Chapter five was an episode with a great nostalgic burden. After so much comedy, we finally got a bit of sadness that we all expected for this series. I admit that I was already expecting the Izanami family duel to be one of the first causes of sadness in this anime. After all, Izanami's coldness didn't seem to me to be a mere narrative device with no context. While I admit I didn't cry with the chapter, the feeling when it came to me, the loss is a subject that hardly leaves anyone indifferent.
Before I finish, I have to say that while I am beginning to understand the direction this story is going to take, there are still a few goals that I cannot capture. I hope the real story turns out that way, because what has kept us going so far is the fun dynamic of Hina and Youta, and that can't last forever. By the way, these somewhat forced feelings that get between Hina and Youta are not bad, but they lack the rhythm.
So far, I leave you the usual questions: What did you think of this chapter? What did the magic of Izanami's mother mean to you? In the next episode we have the summer festival. I have the feeling that something is in motion.
