Very hard watch. In the end, everyone's a victim. Even hoshino was a victim - maybe even a victim of himself or rather his fate. He might be the most misunderstood charschter in the movie and kind of reminds me of punpun when it comes to that topic - so let's first talk about him. As he keeps hurting others to process his inner wounds, his wounds get unknowingly bigger. His helpless soul screams for help but nobody hears it. He doesn't show it and nobody notices. But in some way, maybe his death was - at the same time - his rescue. Hoshino had to be put to a stop and maybe that's all he has wanted or waited for all along: he has wanted to be stopped. Tsuda killed herself by jumping off the rooftop - which was her decision. But after hoshino has hurt so many innocent people, it couldn't go on like that. He once used to be a good kid, and his screams on that field spoke volumes. Just by realising that he went along with yuuichi so well on the lily-website, while acting tough in reallife shows how he was just lonely and scared. They're all just kids. The main conflicts might even arise from cultural differences: in Japan, most parents don't really talk with their children. We don't see tsuda's parents - we don't see Kuno's parents. Infact, the only parents that we see are hoshinos and yuuichis. And just like that, we can see how they didn't notice a single thing about what was actually going on. Not talking or not being heard is a huge factor that leads to more accumulation of one's inner pain. Of course he's the catalyst of all the happening events and what he did was wrong and there's nothing that could ever justify his actions. I just wanted to clear up some mischarachtarisations. Lets talk about the ether next. In my opinion, the ether was an amazing addition to the movie. Most obviously, the ether sort of represents escapism in a philosophical way. All the children try to escape from reality by communicating with other people in a very pure and maybe even divine symbolistic concept: the ether. If we look closely at the contrast between the real world and the ether, you'll notice that the real world is polluted, dirty and cruel - while the ether is a beautiful place in which yuuichi and hoshino are supporting each other emotionally while being anonymous. I would love to also dive deeper into the tragedy of kuno and tsuda but I'll write more to that in my final analysis soon #allaboutlilychouchou #allaboutlilychouchouedit #fyp #tsuda #japanesemovie - @groge.ae