Hello, friends! Welcome to Anime Rants with 7Mononoke (Mono for short). I’m getting closer and closer to finishing my episode reviews for the shows I picked to cover in Summer 2023. When that’s all done, I can finally start writing about the new Fall anime series! It’s been rough being so behind, but I’ll manage.
As for today, I’ve got reviews for the last two episodes of The Gene of AI. This anime has been thoroughly enjoyable for me for a number of reasons. It’s sci-fi, it’s thought-provoking, it’s made by Madhouse studio, it’s got a non-binary character, and it has a rare, positive depiction of an AI future – and those are just the top few reasons!
So, now that The Gene of AI has ended, I feel pretty bummed out. On the bright side, the anime ending is perfectly set up to lead into a second season. I’m keeping my eyes peeled for the continuation of this terrific anime! Now then, my thoughts on episodes 11 and 12 are below. Enjoy!
Episode 11: Tu Fui
The episode begins by showing Risa’s tragic past. At age fifteen, she was in a hot air balloon crash with her mother, who didn’t survive. Dr. Sudo saved Risa’s neural net and transferred it into a new body. Ten years later, in the present, Risa is visited by a stranger who claims to be her sister. She calls herself Tu Fui and says she was created by Risa’s father while he was overseas. When the father died, Fui came to Japan to find the last remnant of her family.
Risa is eager to have Fui move in with her, since they get along so well. But one day, it’s revealed that Fui’s neural net is an exact copy of Risa’s. As an illegal copy, she gets arrested and jailed. The truth is that Fui killed her abusive father after discovering the truth. Then she came to Japan to kill and replace Risa – except she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Even though her life may have been in danger, Risa is still deeply sad that her other self is in prison just for existing.
As if this wasn’t enough for Risa to deal with, another piece of her life was about to fall apart. Sudo took her to a fancy dinner, after which he told her that he was leaving Japan. Apparently, he now knows the location of his mother’s illegal copy, which went missing shortly after its creation. There was a scene earlier where Kaoru told Sudo about the deal with Michi. But it isn’t clear yet if Sudo actually went to meet with Michi or not. The episode ends with Sudo’s farewell to Risa.
I didn’t always like Risa, but I grew to appreciate her more over time. The information and events in this episode pushed me over the edge into “I like this character” territory. I especially appreciate her for empathizing with Fui, whose speech about doing nothing wrong was powerful and profoundly sad. Clearly, it’s a horrible thing to be copied without your consent – but it’s even worse to be the copy who is not even permitted to exist.
A lot of the discussions in this anime are about difficult or unforeseen consequences of technology. Most of the topics are either problems that we already deal with in reality, or they are more like analogies with rough real-world equivalents. Humanoids copies are almost certainly meant to make audiences think about human cloning. I think it’s an obvious analogy. Whether or not some ethical countries forbid human cloning, it may still happen. If the technology exists, someone will abuse it.
To wrap up this episode review, I have included an explanation of the meaning behind Tu Fui’s name. If you’re too lazy to Google it, worry not. The name is a reference to the Latin phrase, “Tu fui ego eris.” The common translation is: “What you are, I was; what I am, you will be.” (This phrase was sometimes put on gravestones to remind people that death will come for everyone.) The phrase was used because Risa’s “sister” was actually another version of herself who was trying to steal her life. Next is the final episode!
Episode 12: Departure
The last installment of The Gene of AI begins with Sudo meeting Michi in his futuristic greenhouse. Michi tells Sudo that his mother’s copy is probably in a war-torn country called Robisia. He will offer travel fare, weapons, and any other support Sudo might need. In return, Sudo will work on Michi’s team of advisors after he finds his mother’s copy. The doctor agrees, and prepares to leave Japan.
Sudo leaves a deep emotional wound on Risa by calling her an outsider. For the next few days, Sudo makes all the important arrangements. He tries to give his clinic to Dr. Seto, who only accepts after trying to convince him he was being foolish. Sudo’s mother in prison tells him to stop living in the past. An encounter with the daughter of a patient (from episode 1) helped sway Sudo, as did the advice of Jay, his AI assistant. Finally, Sudo called Risa and made things right with her.
In the end, Sudo still decided to go to Robisia to retrieve the copy of his mother. However, he apologizes to Risa for hurting her, and says he feels like he belongs with her. Risa reluctantly sees off Sudo at the airport. I really enjoyed this scene because it was so cute and sweet. Despite not caring early on, I am now invested in the Sudo x Risa ship. I wish they had kissed, but Sudo is surely still too emotionally awkward for that. The hug was nice, though.
That’s it for the recap of the episode, but I have a bit more to add in terms of thoughts and questions. First, I want to know, what exactly is Sudo? Kaoru said he was not a normal human, and the woman who cared for him was not his biological mother. He has bizarre white hair, amazing intelligence, and proficiency with self-defense. Most suspicious of all is the fact that Michi is so fixated on Sudo. Why would the Super AI “God” of Japan go to such lengths to secure the cooperation of a normal human?
(I’ve also noticed Sudo has no highlight in his dead blue eyes. That may sound irrelevant, but the way eyes are designed in this anime has always been important. After all, it’s the shape of the pupil that tells you whether someone is human or Humanoid. I’m not sure what kind of being Sudo truly is, but I think he must be some kind of hybrid.)
Besides Sudo’s true nature, there are many more topics to discuss. However, in the interest of keeping this article pithy, I’ll settle for mentioning just one more thing: the theme of identity. The Gene of AI explores this concept frequently. In episode 12, personal identity was an especially important subject. I agree with Sudo that much of who we are comes down to the emotional connections we have with others. That’s one of my favorite themes – and one of the reasons I loved this anime!
Thank you so much for reading~
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