Kaikisen, a touching story that follows the fluctuations of growth experienced by a small fishing village as they are ushered into modernisation by the village priest. Forced to cast aside their pagan faith in the mythical mermaid who is said to have saved the village allowing them to live on the coastline without disaster, allowing them to catch fish and feed their families, the villagers act out as they venture into the unknown future. The legend goes that a pact was struck with the mermaid who offered an egg of hers to the humans for safekeeping, as long as they made offerings in the form of regular maintenance of the egg and prayed to the sea, the people and the village would prosper and in sixty years they would honour this arrangement by returning the egg to the sea.
Right now, I would like to explore the inner conflict Yosuke faces as the heir to the egg of the mermaid during a time when his father is enacting a change that directly defies the pact and would essentially force him to let go of the pagan faith in which his mother greatly believed and at one point he did too.
Perhaps I will do a full review of this manga but until then I would greatly urge you to read the manga, if you haven’t beware there’re mild spoilers ahead…also, it’s like seven chapters long so you can get through it in a morning no problem, I urge you to find this manga, if you know who Satoshi Kon is then you know I need not say anymore.
One of the aspects that dominates Yosuke’s psyche is his own inner conflict rooted in the mutual respect he holds for his father and grandfather who are fundamentally different not only in their approaches to life but their approaches to thought as well.
Yosuke’s grandfather inhabiting the place of fairy tales, not only by perpetuating the tale of the mermaid generation to generation but physically devoting his days to honouring the pact made in the story. In this way Yosuke’s grandfather takes a wholly idealistic approach to life, while he is not oblivious to the necessity and effectiveness of rationale and logic, having been brought up in a home where this tale of the mermaid is told to you and in turn you are raised solely to honour the agreement in a story has harboured a respectful willingness to play ones part in order to honour the unknown things within the world. Faith is not just his solace, it is the obvious response to life.
Yosuke’s father on the other hand is a man of rationale, more specifically he understands and believes in rationale and logic because it is within these havens where commerce, economics and tourism reside, within rational and logic lies the path to preventing his greatest fear: the stagnancy and eventual death of his little fishing village. Yosuke’s father can see that with the expansion of towns and cities beyond their own limits will eventually spell the demise of the town, their young are leaving, their infrastructure can only be kindly described as sub-par and without steady injections of cash they cannot build essential infrastructure to maintain their survival, like hospitals, schools, fire stations and it was the lack of these types of emergency services that led to the death of his wife and Yosuke’s mother.
Her death rocked him and caused his loss in faith despite the fact that his wife believed in the mermaid, that belief didn’t save her however rationale had the power to save her. He understands that the village is highly spiritual, as such has always respected his father’s position as leader of the temple and respected his wishes when he was asked to do so, it was an honour after all. However, faith does not pay bills nor does it save lives, he is willing to be ostracized by the entire town in order to save them, what they see as a selling of their souls he understands is actually a purchase of life for the village he loves so dearly.
Yosuke respects his grandfather, he knows his grandfather is highly respected by the community but even without that, the tale of the mermaid, being groomed to take over the shrine, Yosuke believes the words of his grandfather, he too, respects the unknown. The uncaptured on film has granted him a magical childhood, yet he learns that being happy does not make you immune to heartache, he suffers his own trauma’s with the death of his mother and soon learns the difference between idealism and realism, a dream and reality.
In reality anything can happen, good or bad and you have to equip yourself with the necessary tools to protect yourself and to do that you need rationalism and logic. In response, Yosuke studies frequently in an attempt to secure his own future, educating himself has opened many doors to him one of those being that he must live his own life and does not have to take over the temple and even though his father’s work may be seen as a betrayal it does offer him an opportunity to choose his future, his father essentially secures his son an opportunity while being attacked for trying to do the same for the sons and daughters of others.
Essentially Yosuke’s own inner conflict resides partly within his mother’s death and the fact that Yosuke’s grandfather understands that Yosuke is his own man and is free to choose his own path yet is also disappointed at the fact that he can no longer maintain the family tradition and pass the torch, this hurts Yosuke more than anyone and it is why he often acts out toward his father, he understands his grandfather’s dream because at one point it was his dream too, a dream that even his deceased mother supported but back then all the world was a dream and the sea was filled with mermaids. Having grown, having educated himself Yosuke understands that this world is a world of rationale and it often fills him up with pride to see his father leading the charge on a large scale, rational undertaking that will in no doubt help the community in the long run. His father is well respected by those in rational circles but what fills Yosuke with pride is this fact in conjunction with his understanding of what it was like being raised by the temple itself and the kind of contradiction his father had to face to become this man all for the good of the community. And if there are mermaids, they’re either leagues away or leagues deep or both…That’s okay too.
Torn between understanding the drive behind his father’s work and remembering how much his mother believed and revered the tale of the mermaid it seems as though he will not be able to make a decision without conclusive evidence.
The Anime Plug. 