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Thought I’ll write more about this since I feel like it. What I love so much about this episode is how neatly structured it is in presenting what I think is a core aspect of Non Non Biyori and one of its greatest strengths being the showcase of different developmental stages. https://twitter.com/rainafterdark/status/1385696970379993091
And it’s impressive because not a lot of character progression, at least from what I’ve seen, really occurs in NNB. Characters play a certain role and while surely there moments that drive a change in perspective to their character, they more or less remain the same person.
Though most of these questioning of worldviews come from the youngest of the cast, Renge, and it’s rightfully so that she’s the one who experiences these things the most. Yet despite the amount of questions she has about the world it’s admirable that from such a-
young age that she has a mostly positive outlook and a righteous standard for most things, always interested about the big picture and ever so curious about her surroundings. She perfectly represents that naive youthful optimism. Now let’s visualize a sort of spectrum.
If Renge is on one end, Natsumi feels like she’s sort of in the middle but slightly leaning on the other end. Natsumi is in that stage where her curiosity has been less about the bigger things but more about what could possibly make things fun and enjoyable in the moment-
without much care for the future. And I feel like in our developmental stage, this is where we linger the longest. Even I think I’m still in this part of the spectrum. It’s this phase where you now have a good idea of what makes you happy that you strive to get to those things-
as fast and as often as possible, most times disregarding any repercussion. The infamous rebellious phase if you will. But after all that, we get to the last phase. Sensei represents the end of this spectrum.
There will come a point where you just can’t give a fuck anymore. You probably have some financial stability now at least but you’re not guaranteed a job you like working on. Or if it’s something you’re passionate about, then it’s even probably worse. This is the stage where-
you’re just tired all the time. As much as you’ve outgrown santa and the tooth fairy so is any hope you’ve ever had for society being better. We’ll just have to live this way I guess. Though sensei doesn’t exactly have this gloomy of a perspective.
And this is where this model of like a worldview spectrum kinda breaks. Or rather if it came off as something describing perspective changes in different age ranges then that’s not my point. This is more of a mood slider if anything. I’m probably losing you at this point but-
hear me out. What I’m tryna say here is that while yes these can be assumptions for how certain people of varying ages view the world, it’s also not definitive because life doesn’t adhere to this linear concept of going from perspective A to B to C and so on.
It’s more like a circle if anything. Sensei despite being tired all the time somehow still dedicates time and attention to Renge’s request because in a way she sees this optimism and sense of righteousness in a youthful individual as a fruit of her labor despite not necessarily-
sharing that same outlook in life in her age anymore. In a way it somehow feels like it was worth it all along, that we are able to nurture fresh minds and raise them properly in an effort to somehow make a change. Natusmi later on in this episode even boasts about her getting-
a barely passing grade, but more importantly she comments on how it was all ultimately thanks to actually studying that made it possible for her. Despite her general disregard for anything not-so-fun, she still values things that are productive rooted in a subconscious optimism-
for the future. And all of that going full circle in this episode is why I liked it I guess. I know it’s not the same for everyone, some people get stuck on that particular end of the spectrum and stay there with no one else getting them out. But do know that you’re not-
the first one to ever have such a problem. We go through this cycle all the time. We’re weird like that as humans. We somehow can’t stick to feeling one thing at a constant rate. And that’s exactly why we need other people. You can’t just look at everything thinking that-
this is really it for you. When you’ve come to understand how some people view the world, how they got out of their predicaments, and how they’ve been through this cycle before you, you start to realize how fucking dumb you are for being so self-centered in how you’re only solely
seeing your own perspective. And that’s the same for younger people too. Remember how you used to be. How it used to be. It’s not that simple anymore, I know, but maybe, just maybe, it’s that outlook, that curiosity, that simple childlike wonder, is what we sometimes need.
Hope this was in any sense coherent since I wrote this in bed, gn for now
