> Recommendation : :white_check_mark:

# *A Journey Beyond Heaven.*
It's rare that an anime captivates my thoughts long after it's over. That lingering sensation, where the characters, story and world continue to occupy my mind, is a testament to the profound impact it has had on me. It's not just about entertainment value, but the depth to which an anime can resonate with its audience, leaving a lasting impression that goes beyond the screen. It's this experience that makes this anime a unique and powerful form of storytelling, capable of evoking a wide range of emotions and thoughts.

One of my favorite anime of 2023, if not of all time. It's a gem that's sadly underrated, probably due to the fact that it wasn't made to please everyone. You can just sit back and watch, but you're not going to experience the story as if you were deeply involved. It doesn't take you by the hand and explain everything that's going on or simply answer all your questions. It's still a mystery show, it's up to you to find the clues. It's like solving a Sudoku with the clues you discover along the way. ANYTHING can be a clue. I highly recommend watching this anime with friends. You'll be able to share your ideas and theories.

As for the anime itself, say goodbye to the eternal quest to kill the demon king, excessive reincarnation, and heroes with immense power. Say goodbye to the romance stories we're fed over and over again every year or those high school stories. It's a post-apocalyptic story that mixes science-fiction, adventure and mystery. The animation is sublime and the story is captivating. You can really feel the post-apocalyptic atmosphere, the innocence and naivety of heaven's children, or Maru's carefree attitude. Each episode leaves you with a strong desire to learn more.

The sexual scenes were considered unnecessary by some people. In general, for most anime, I agree that many authors overdo it or force certain situations repeatedly. However, for this anime, I didn't find it exaggerated, even though some scenes may be disturbing for certain reasons. I don't think we need to protect ourselves from everything that's disturbing. Some terrible things happen in real life, and there's nothing wrong with putting them in a work of art to get closer to a realistic scene. In the spoiler section, I'll talk a little bit about that.

> **SPOILERS & THEORIES**

I've seen a lot of people on various websites/forums having trouble understanding what's going on right in front of their eyes, or misinterpreting certain aspects. I'm going to write down what I understood, what clues I found, and what my theories are.

**ONLY READ THIS PART IF YOU’VE ALREADY SEEN THE FIRST SEASON !**

- *Two stories.*

[spoiler]First of all, we follow two different timelines. I know that some people were fooled (especially when Kaminaka Shino, the director of the Takahara Academy, tells the kids that there are monsters outside the walls, outside the academy). But that's not the case. At the end of the season, some of Takahara Academy children return to civilization. There's a difference of about 15 years (based on Maru's age) between the two stories we see. Also, for those who have noticed, when we see the scene with Tokio's child and his clone, one of them has a circle on his foot. The translation of Maru is circle. Which is the child? Which is the clone?[/spoiler]

- *Man-Eaters.*

[spoiler]Now that we know that there are two timelines. We can finally understand the horror unfolding before our eyes. On the one side, we're following children in a mysterious institution, and on the other side, we're following two people who are searching for a person and, at the same time, exterminating certain creatures. These creatures are Takahara children. We know that a mysterious "disease" sickens some of the children, perhaps all of them? Once dead, this disease transforms them into Man-Eaters.[/spoiler]

- *The origin of the alien gene.*

[spoiler]When we realize that the catastrophe that follows the destruction of the Takahara Academy is not the cause of the Man-Eaters. It's easy to see that they were already on Earth. So we can theorize about their origins and what led people and scientists to merge humans with an alien gene. If they were already on Earth and nothing happened, it's probably because they failed to colonize it and we were defeated. Perhaps this fact has been written into Japanese mythology and folklore, and they've been confused with what might be called Yōkai.[/spoiler]

- *Mina.*

[spoiler]We know that Mina is an artificial intelligence used by the Takahara Academy. Even though there's no clear indication that Mina is behind the anomalies that occur there (the message on Tokyo's tablet, the naked photo of Mimihime that was sent to Shiro, the images from the surveillance cameras that were removed to give the kids more freedom), I'm convinced that she plays an important role. Just as the Takahara Academy uses her, I think she manipulates them too. But why? What if Mina had been corrupted by the alien gene and her primary intention was to ensure that it spread outside the walls of the Takahara Academy? That would explain why she makes the children wonder about the outside world, about the alien children in the nursery or simply by encouraging them to develop feelings for reproductive purposes (It's the best way to colonize a planet!).[/spoiler]

- *Sexual content.*

[spoiler]This provoked controversy, and some of the audience chattered. In general, I'm not a big fan of sexual content in anime. It's too often unnecessary and only serves a fan service purpose. I found every one of them interesting in this anime.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Whether it's the sexual act between Tokyo and Kona that brings this anime to life, without that and without Maru there would be no anime.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]The kiss between two little girls (Nanaki and Iwa) that gives us a piece of the puzzle about the identity of the two women who join the woman supremacist society.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]The scene between Totori and Maru. We learn by deduction that Totori is the daughter of one or two of the Takahara Academy children. Since Maru has the power to destroy Totori's alien core. If we refer to the last scenes of the anime when we see two "couples" of children coming out of the Academy, Mimihime & Shiro and Anzu & Taka. Considering Mimihime & Shiro's story and the fact that Totori doesn't know his last name, there is a strong possibility that Totori is Anzu & Taka's daughter and that these two disappeared prematurely. Coming back to the scene between Totori and Maru, it's easy to understand that the different children of the Academy followed different life paths after the great catastrophe. From a realistic point of view, it's not inconceivable that one of them would have to sell his body to survive, or in this case, use his body as a means of trapping people.[/spoiler]


[spoiler]Let's talk about the last scene, and not the least. Kiruko's rape scene. Like the scene with Totori, there's a certain realism to it. Now, if we look at this scene considering that Robin left town before the end of Haruki's operation. We are allowed to ask why? We're led to believe that the Doctor is the villain of the story, but in the end the evidence suggests that Robin was the villain all along. From my point of view, Kiriko died before the operation. I don't think the Doctor would have transplanted her brother's brain into her body if she were still alive. So, we can already assume that, given the state of her body, there's no chance that she was killed by a Man-Eater, but rather by someone else. I've come to the conclusion that Robin killed Kiriko when the Man-Eater appeared in town. Perhaps he had some kind of obsession with her, the same obsession that drove him to commit the irreparable act of raping her when they met again years later.[/spoiler]

- *Kona's drawings.*

[spoiler]In episode 2, 6 drawings can be seen hanging on the wall. Each drawing has a meaning:
The first represents Mina and 4 human-sized pods.
The second represents the meteorite that caused the great catastrophe.
The third represents the attack on the Takahara Academy.
The fourth represents the Hiruko that dies when it reaches Tokyo.
The fifth shows an army of 7 Hiruko, similar to the one that died on reaching Tokyo.
The last represents the Tokyo child and his clone.
An additional drawing given by Kona depicts a fish, a vision of the future that represents Kuku once transformed into a Man-Eater.[/spoiler]

- *The children.*

[spoiler]If you pay attention to all the little details and clues we're left with along the way, you can easily figure out which Hiruko is which child. The question is, who's infected? Are all the children infected? If so, this means that Shiro, even though he committed suicide, is not preventing the transformation. Given that Maru didn't destroy the alien core.[/spoiler]

Here's a brief summary of what I understood about the different children at the end of season 1:

[spoiler]Asura : Deceased | Hiruko : Probably incinerated like Tarao.
Tarao : Deceased | Hiruko : Incinerated.
Iwa : Deceased | Hiruko : Unknown (Arachnid?).
Nanaki : Deceased | Hiruko : Unknown (Arachnid?).
Kuku : Deceased | Hiruko : Core destroyed by Maru (Fish Man-Eater).
Mimihime : Deceased | Hiruko : Core destroyed by Maru (Immortal Order girl).
Shiro : Deceased | Hiruko : Unknow (Immortal Order boy. He killed himself, but Maru didn't destroy the alien core, so there's still a possibility that he'll transform later).
Ohma : Deceased | Hiruko : Core destroyed by Maru (Immortal Order garage).
Anzu : Probably deceased (I'm basing this on the fact that Totori is probably her child, but she doesn't know his lastname because they died while she was still a baby/young child or has been abandoned).
Taka : Probably deceased (I'm basing this on the fact that Totori is probably her child, but she doesn't know his lastname because they died while she was still a baby/young child or has been abandoned).
Totori : Alive.
Jugo : Alive.
Maru : Alive.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Unknowns : Maru brother, Tokio, Hani, Kona, Laima, Mako, Takezuka Michika, Momoika, Nata, Sakura.[/spoiler]