Anime Discussion Thread - Page 4187

rodac wrote:
I'll try a brief explanation for those who are having trouble following this series, but I suspect many people won't listen to it. Both Kakeru and Touko have the ability to hear or see fragments of the future (as they put it--although this episode also suggests it may be fragments of alternate realities in the present or near past). I'm not going to give a full explanation of the multiple universe theory, but just suffice it to say that if you believe you can see visions of the future, and that in acting on those visions you can change the future, then you probably also have to accept that there are an infinite number of alternate realities which spring from the decisions made by individuals or random events. The ability to see glimpses or longer sequences from these other/potential realities may help you to avoid unpleasantness in your life, but it also may mislead you into thinking something may happen that won't.

Touko has just had an extended vision of two overlapping alternate realities in which she was the late-comer to the group of six. In one of the alternates the two other couples were already forming (Sachi & Hiro, Yanagi & Yuki)--that's the one in which the two couples didn't meet up and watched the fireworks on their own. In the other alternate the four of them met up and watched the fireworks together. As to how she slipped into those realities, remember that she was focusing on the glass vase--a process known as scrying which is a traditional way of divining the future, astral travelling, or placing oneself in an altered reality. The other factor may well have been the music of Kakeru's mother--music also being a traditional way of placing oneself in an altered reality (hence all the talk of people being "transported by the music" when talking about a particularly enthralling performance).

At some point Touko and Kakeru have to come to terms with their abilities and learn to live with them, but that's not the important part here. The key is that through all the realities that we've seen, she and Kakeru find each other, regardless of what happens with the other couples. If you want a clearer statement of this: "They are bound by the red string of fate through all eternity and are destined to be together." The last still of them listening to the music shows clearly that Kakeru and Touko are holding hands under the table even while she goes into her visions.