Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 13 Discussion

Reiko walking out of Kowloon was a powerful symbol of her becoming her true self. She freed herself from Kudo’s expectations that she should be and act like Kujirai B, and instead chose to live the life she truly wanted ✨

I liked the somewhat upbeat ending, especially how the fish eventually repaid Reiko for her care, lmao. But I still have questions.



Anyway, since the manga isn't finished yet, but is close to it (as far as I know), I wonder if it will contain any new material. @perseii This is the second time since GQ that I've been so worried about the fate of the characters that I expected some kind of catch until the last minute.

I actually wasn't worried about the characters, I was worried about getting a satisfying ending. Which I mostly got...

Since you pinged me, I'd like to talk about some of your points:

1. I put on my writer's hat for Reiko existing outside of Kowloon: it just makes sense for the story.

Her journey was about finding her absolute self, without needing saving and acceptance from Kudou or anyone else. She was "ready" for the outside world, she was willing to bet her life on it (in contrast with Kujirai B throwing her life away), and she's literally standing outside on her own two feet.

Looking at it purely from a mechanical standpoint, I guess they never did say she was going to disappear 100%... Only that it was highly likely. No one's actually tried taking a fake person outside.

2. Reiko doesn't die at the end of every loop. Only the date keeps changing from August 31 to July 1, and everyone just carries on without realizing it, including Reiko. We see that Yaomay is shocked when she realizes it's been summer forever.

Kudou wasn't trying to "save" Reiko. He just wanted to stay with Reiko. He said at the end of the previous episode that everything was kept standing still, never moving forward or changing, until Reiko messed it up.

And since the whole illusion has to do with Kudou's inability to handle Kujirai B's death, I highly doubt that he would've let Reiko die in his own dream world anyway...

3. Yes, I think Gene Terra disappears because Kudou is no longer using it.

It wasn't created for Kudou, though. There was a line in an earlier episode that Hebinuma researchers could not get the tech to work properly until Kudou somehow made it work by accident.

4. I don't think there have been multiple "copies." It's just been the same Reiko the whole time. Only Kudou differentiates "previous Reikos" from "this Reiko" because he's the only one who knows a loop is happening.

There was a scene where Kudou visits Reiko at her place on August 31, the date that Kujirai B died. Reiko didn't die or get replaced after that, and continued acting normally, with her memories of all the events up to that point.

She gained "self-awareness" presumably because she's been around long enough, and because of various suspicious circumstances, like Kudou kissing her in Episode 1, the photo, Miyuki teasing her, Gwen disappearing and reappearing, etc.

this ending really hit me. Reiko’s death felt like the trigger that made everything fall apart in Kudou’s mind, right? He got stuck in that bizarre eternal summer loop in Kowloon, trying to make sense of it all. I liked that in the end there was some real closure, both for him and for Kujirai, she finally managed to escape and move on with her life. Becoming a travel agent was just too poetic.

The vibe of Kowloon is so unique(kind of nostalgic, kind of dreamy) and the whole mystery was well handled without feeling forced. The characters were all a bit eccentric but really charming. Some episodes in the middle were confusing, but overall it was a great experience. I’d easily give it an 8.5/10. Oh, and yeah… I’m still low-key bothered that we never really found out why Reiko died.

@perseii So, do you think that ultimately Reiko's character arc was that in order to continue living a healthy and free life, you have to become a mature, independent person who, as you put it, "stands firmly on her own two feet"? And that this was essentially all some kind of time loop story that Kudo himself was rebooting in order to forever remain in the illusion of the original Reiko's perfect summer? And so the emergence of real, independent Kowloon residents destroyed the copies Kudo had created? Is this why the copies created by Kudo were destroyed if real, independent people who once lived there returned to Kowloon?

So that was an .. interesting finale. Apparently anime original as well? Didn’t quite see things going this way, but the core theme of this story was always moving on from grief and accepting the past so this was consistent. Everyone got a happy ending, so that’s all I can ask for. One of my fave shows of the season and a really good sci fi mystery! I’m gonna miss Reiko and Yaomay sm 😢

If you think about it, the last 3-4 episodes have done a great job of making the cast confront their issues and finally start to move forward. Whether it was Xiaohei accepting the changes to his body, Yaomay accepting how things went with her mom, Miyuki letting go of his revenge or Kudo finally accepting Reiko B’s death, the entire cast had to move forward. They were shackled by the past. Stuck in this eternal summer.

Using a movie theater as exposition for Kudo’s motivations was really cool. I can’t imagine how devastating it’d be to walk in on your fiancé dead from an overdose like that. It’s the sudden nature of everything that really kills you because one moment you’re planning for the rest of your life, the next they’re gone. It’s that empty feeling that gnaws at you forever knowing you can’t tell them the things you want.. all those unsaid feelings just eat at you forever. Can’t blame Kudo at all for recreating the happy time of his life and constantly reliving it. Doing that prevented him from really accepting what happened and moving forward though and that’s not what Reiko B would’ve wanted.

I also kinda like how they didn’t try to implicate Reiko’s death in some big conspiracy or crazy plot twist. She died from a medication overdose. That’s sadly something that happens a lot in the real world. Hebinuma presumably wanted to keep that covered up just like prescription drug companies irl.

The one thing I’m confused on is how Reiko managed to get an actual physical form after the Kowloon simulation collapsed lol, but whatever we not gonna overthink it. I’m a sucker for timeskip reunions and happy endings! Only thing I would’ve liked to have seen is what Yaomay’s doing and a wedding, but still a very good ending. I’ll miss this.

Was anything but generic. An alright finale, liked the Hong Kong visuals

Not quite sure what the takeaway is supposed to be with this one... but considering that this is an anime original ending, maybe that's because the studio making it don't quite know what the takeaway is supposed to be either, lol. Think I'm going to check out the manga, there was some genuinely interesting things going on here, but it really is palpable that 12 episodes was not enough time to explore it all.

Here is my idea of why Reiko could exist in the real world :


The author isn’t especially concerned with explaining the hard science behind Genetic Terra—it’s more of a narrative device used to explore emotional themes.

If you’re willing to go along with the idea that Genetic Terra was created to store memories and generate Zarconian. Who I’m assuming, are not physical clones grown in a lab and then implanted with memories,
but instead beings formed from simulations—then Reiko’s existence in the real world makes sense, even if not literal scientific sense.

A big theme of the series is the blurred boundary between reality and simulation, especially in the context of relationships. How real or meaningful can our connections with technology be? We already see people forming romantic relationships with generative AI, just like in the film Her (2013), where the emotions are genuine even if the partner is virtual.

This story pushes that concept further: if the bond is strong enough, if the emotions are real enough, then even something born from a simulation—like Reiko—can cross over into reality. It’s not about the logic of how it happens; it’s about what it means.

But in all honesty, I’ll be waiting for the manga to end to see what happens and what explanation of gives if she crosses over to the real world there too.

@Marinate1016 This was shown with Xiaohei's vest, a strong enough belief in one's absolute self is what allows anyone and anything from the replicated Kowloon to still exist. Xiaohei knew the dresses would disappear, hence they did disappear, but believed in themself and it was the ribbons on the vest and what was said that allowed that belief to be strong which is why the vest and ribbons remained but not the dresses. This is also why Success was able to survive too.

@samspot8r8s oh wait, this is an anime original ending?! The manga is still ongoing???? I had no idea!!! Gotta start trading it asap!!!

After all that buildup and mystery it kinda ended with a "Meh". Not sure how the manga treated it, but it didn't really explain anything solidly and went into an almost dreamlike reality that left more questions than answers. Like why spend ALL that time asking what was going on never to even bring it back up? I think that's what happens to a lot of writers, they start with a solid idea but never think it thru. Like "Lost" tv show...felt similar.

Veo a algunos perdidos pero si se entiende lo que sucede. Al final Generic Terra es un proyecto que estaba en investigacion constante por la gente relacionada al grupo, todos eran dobles, recreaciones de Kudo de los antiguos habitantes, esto funciona como una excusa narrativa para hablar sobre la superacion de Kudo sobre la muerte de Reiko B y su proceso de aceptacion, llegando a una conclusion congruente en que los hechos no pueden cambiarse. La Reiko que ideo, fue la excepcion, nunca la conocio y termino naciendo una persona totalmente diferente apesar de la igualdad fisica, por eso ella no desaparece, en este bucle veraniego que tanto le gustaba a la Reiko B, apegado a esa nostalgia y arrepentimiento de no poder evitar su muerte, recreo este segundo Kowloon, que se repetia en el momento en que el verano terminaba y fue destruido Kowloon. Reiko A nunca se convritio en su yo absoluto, ya lo era y se dsn cuenta de ello cin cada verano que se repetia y Reiko A cada vez se parecia menos a Reiko B.
Conecta bastante bien, el pero que tiene es que lastimosamente a quienes decidieron adaptar este manga, recortaron desarrollos y respuestas mejor exploradas por condensar todo el contenido en solo 13 capitulos.

Meh, so basically after taking all the extraneous crap out, a dude's almost fiance OD's and a machine magically recreates her physically but with a different personality and after giving her a test drive decides to keep her? Yeah that was disappointing. I was really hoping for something better.

@LeanRivs Entiendo toda la historia y varias posibles razones por la cual Reiko no desaparece al final, pero todas me parecen sci-fi, milagrosas, fantasiosas.... hay alguna razon logica y realista de porque no desaparece? o el autor simplemente optó por una razon ficticia?

@YuyoAlberto ¿? Bueno, otakus. Al leer la descripción de la serie/manga, descubrirán que sus géneros literarios incluyen ciencia ficción y fantasía. Obviamente, su explicación será ficticia y fantasiosa. La recreación de una segunda ciudad destruida en el pasado, atrapada en un bucle, en el que los forasteros no la perciben, no "existe", salvo para las personas asociadas al proyecto. Es un fenómeno sin razonamiento realista; no forma parte de una realidad patente (no lógico, porque un universo ficticio tiene su propia lógica interna). Esperar una respuesta "realista" en un universo ficticio donde un proyecto permite recrear un recuerdo que se puede hacer realidad es como... xd, no hay nada patente en nuestra realidad que lo permita. En cualquier caso, solo puede ser producto de la mente de alguien, pero es algo que solo existe y no se puede extraer de su imaginación, un efecto psicológico que se reduciría al hecho de que no es real, sino una especie de sueño. Sin embargo, sería decepcionante, trivial y aburrido. La ciencia ficción contribuye a los propósitos dramáticos creando su propio universo. Aquí, la ciencia ficción se utiliza como excusa narrativa para contar una historia (McGuffin), el dolor de Kudo por la muerte de Reiko A, y la narrativa ofrece respuestas basadas en su premisa ficticia, nada más. El proposito del proyecto es que busca, de alguna manera, preservar o replicar recuerdos, permitiendo que las personas "sigan viviendo" después de la muerte, o incluso para hacer que ciertos recuerdos se hagan realidad(caso del Reiko A, pues Kudo al no conocerla del todo, normal, se suicida tu futura prometida, ¿que habia dentro de su cabeza?) recrea una version que no es y esta se vuelve tangible. Se insinua de momento que es una especie de simulacion o realidad alternativa pero en eso no se termina de ahondar aun.
El pecado que tiene la adaptacion es que adapta todo el material en solo 13 caps y sin este haberse terminado en su material de origen, la autora seguramente les dio una guia para escribir el final, pero evidentemente falta contexto sobre este proyecto, el origen, la relacion mas alla de saber que trabajan en dicha asociacion de algunos personajes y del porque, por condensar todo en pocos caps. Asi como desarrollarse mucho mas las relaciones, y no se sintieran abrupto muchos de sus momentos. Esos son los peros que tiene, no si su respuesta al fenomeno ficticio es realista, es buscarle algo donde no lo hay ni te lo vendieron. El manga dara las respuestas con mas contexto.

@LeanRivs aprecio la respuesta.

Gracias a tu punto de vista, puedo entender un poco mas la forma de pensar de la autora o a lo que queria llegar, ya que yo desconocia por completo este anime/manga. Aunque como bien dices, un poco apresurada al solo ser 13 episodios y todavía en publicación el manga original.

Obviamente al ser un anime, estará repleto de imaginación y fantasía. Pero existen unos pocos que han logrado mezclar eso con nuestra realidad y lógica.

Igualmente quizá yo al ser una persona muy cuadrada y lógica esperaba algo mas razonable.

Si tengo la oportunidad leeré el manga para tener un mejor contexto, como dices.

And so we end with the collapse of the fake Kowloon, Kudo's memories and a new beginning.

Well, I guess I'm not one to complain about what ultimately was a happy ending, I think, but I definitely didn't understand everything regarding how the new Reiko was able to leave the city and start a new life. I liked that she did mind you, I just didn't understand how. Magic fish powers ftw, I guess? Anywho, this series was a solid 7/10 level good. The whole backstory behind everything that happened was definitely unraveled in such a way as to make it seem more mysterious than it really was. A less circuitous set of reveals probably would have been both simpler and shorter, but I guess the story was fine the way it was told, even if I ultimately didn't quite understand everything. Also just as a note I went in to this blind. Had I read the source manga maybe I'd have liked this more or less, I dunno.

@RobertBobert Yes, I agree with basically everything you said.

About the fake Kowloon collapsing, I don't think Reiko achieving self-realization caused it, exactly. Reiko's words and actions simply made Kudou realize that fake Kowloon is pointless and basically unsustainable, anyway. A combination of letting go and giving up.

About the fake copies disappearing when the real person enters Kowloon, I don't know. It could be that Kudou thinks having two of the same person in Kowloon breaks his fantasy so self-deletes the fakes. We see this happen with Xiaohei; the moment Kudou learns that there are two Xiaoheis inside Kowloon, the fake disappears.

But I do like your interpretation, I just can't think of any evidence that supports it off the top of my head.