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Soulelle does not merit praise or thanks: her interpretation of Glasslip does not demonstrate any level of exceptional understanding for the anime. If you’re looking for an excellent analysis that adequately covers this, here's one. The numerous shortcomings in Soulelle's Glasslip interpretation are similarly compared here with a proper analysis, and it should be very clear that Soulelle didn’t understand anything at all.

While you should not have even considered taking Soulelle's interpretation seriously as a viable and useful perspective on Glasslip at all, the below breakdown should offer a set of unequivocal and well-motivated reasons for not agreeing with Soulelle.



Why should readers listen to Soulelle, who is talking down to us as though we are five? This opening remark is condescending and implies that Soulelle knows better than everyone else. Some have suggested that this rudeness is an indication that Soulelle lacks the evidence to properly defend her interpretation; constantly talking down to everyone distracts viewers and forces them to think that maybe Soulelle has a point, even if what Soulelle presents is in reality, incomplete and incorrect.



Touko and Kakeru might be the lead characters, but if it were the case that Glasslip was really about their experiences alone, then why would Yanagi, Yukinari, Hiro and Sachi be present? Evidently, since there are other characters, their experiences must also be factored into discussion. Soulelle has made the fallacy of incomplete evidence here, ignoring the others to present an incorrect theme about "feeling oneself at home". This only vaguely applies to Kakeru, who is new in town, but Touko is already at home with her family, friends and even career choice.



More patronization is seen here; why should the readers be made to do more research on their own to validate Soulelle's assertions? A good analysis presents everything to the reader in one place to support the arguments being made, and Soulelle does not do that here. Evidently, Soulelle's time is more important than the reader's; it falls on us to go do some background reading on Nishimura Junji and then rewatch the whole of True Tears. Not that this matters, since Junji's directed a large number of works, and chickens only appear in True Tears. Soulelle's claims here are outright wrong: chickens most certainly are not a signature style unique to Junji. For now, looking past Soulelle's more-correct-than-thou attitude, let's suppose that the chickens do represent Kakeru's internal conflicts.



Is Soulelle a professor lecturing a class of first years or insinuating that we are lacking? Readers will doubtlessly remember the first scene, as Glasslip isn't that long of a series. Yes, Kakeru mentions this briefly to Touko, but he means that he wants to connect emotionally with someone and put down roots somewhere secure. Touko and her responsibility in looking after the chickens would therefore appeal to him, since she appears to be someone who would appreciate his situation. While Soulelle looks to go somewhere interesting with this train of thought, her ad hominem attacks and passive-aggressive attempts to let us know that we're missing something "simple", do much to diminish the value of her connections. At this point, after being told over and over again that I'm not as smart as her, my inclination to take Soulelle seriously has waned.



So, I'm made to wonder, what gives Soulelle the authority to talk down on us like this? While waterfowl represent an interesting symbol of sorts for Kakeru's loneliness, Soulelle inadverdently contradicts herself using these birds as a metaphor: migratory seabirds usually do not travel longitudinally and as Soulelle mentions, have a destination for the summer and winter seasons. They are familiar with their routes and destinations. Moreover, they travel in flocks and therefore do not feel the same loneliness that Kakeru might experience. This is a particularly weak example that, while looking impressive for its symbolic value, decomposes upon scrutiny.



Kakeru's constantly moving about means that he is actually desensitized towards making connections with people. The reason why he feels strongly about Touko is because she shares his ability to view the so-called "fragments of the future". Similarly, Kouko longs to know more about Kakeru precisely because of this shared ability. If we suppose that Soulelle was right, then Glasslip would not have gone to the lengths of introducing these "fragments of the future": feelings of loneliness and wanting to become closer to people are thematic elements that can exist in the absence of the supernatural. The inclusion of supernatural elements in Glasslip means that they are, for better or worse, integral to the story; Soulelle's deliberate choice to exclude them from her interpretation is another fallacy of incomplete evidence. Arguments with fallacies sound better than they are, and here, besides perhaps giving readers that Soulelle looks knowledgeable about Glasslip, Soulelle's claims actually do not answer what Glasslip was intended to be about.



While it is true that Touko treasures her friends above all else, and this is vividly shown during the penultimate episode where she sees a vision where she's the outsider. Her connection to Kakeru, however, seems more transient and motivated initially by her curiosity about the "fragments of the future". She does not fear losing Kakeru as much as she does losing all of her friends, and her treasured time with them. While birds might be symbols, Soulelle does not tie their presence to the situation that Touko or Kakeru experience; the reason behind why Kakeru and Touko fall in love are never explained in Soullele's interpretation.



Fiction or not, it is immensely unsatisfying if everything did turn out to be in their imagination. This is where Soulelle's interpretation falls apart entirely, even in light of the generous allowances made earlier. From Soulelle's train of reasoning, Kakeru is attached to Touko because she represents stability, while Touko wants Kakeru to stick around because she wants to be connected to everyone around her, as evidenced by the chickens and sea birds. Their commonality causes them to fall in love, and this is why their imaginations are shared. This simply does not follow, but for discussion, say that I am tolerant (to the point of foolishness) and suppose that Soulelle does make sense. Chalking all of this build up, all of the symbols and evidence, to imagination is still a massive let-down. There is no pay-off in Soulelle's interpretation, and is similar to application of "it was all a dream" in storytelling. These are immensely disappointing, and in the context of what Soulelle has provided for Glasslip, means that readers end up with nothing. It diminishes and trivializes everything Touko and Kakeru experience, as well as suggesting that ordinary people are susceptible to shared flights of fancy when they fall in love. If this were indeed true, that Kakeru and Touko's "fragments of the future" were figments of their imagination, Glasslip would not have ever gotten the green-light for production.



It is frankly an insult to Glasslip's writers to suggest that "it was all in their imagination" is what the series was about; Glasslip ultimately was a disappointment because it had all of the build-up to suggest an interesting connection between the glass beads and the "fragments of the future" phenomenon. Numerous other posts out there have presented much more insightful and useful discussion on what Glasslip could be about: one writer argues that Glasslip is about transience of things and its associated beauty, while another has stated that magic is applied to show that relationships can be difficult to understand and work out even if one is equipped with the foresight afforded by the "fragments of the future". These other perspectives can be considered proper analysis of Glasslip because they have a coherent and clear argument, encompass all aspects of Glasslip (including Yanagi, Yukinari, Hiro and Sachi, plus the glass beads and fragments of the future), but only lose out to Soulelle on the virtue that she was first to post something. I would posit that it was Soulelle who had trouble comprehending Glasslip, and that readers certainly could have done without the rudeness and ad hominem attacks in the interpretation she presented. Then again, if Soulelle did have conviction with her arguments, she might have not needed to resort to talking down to readers to begin with. Her arguments are bullshit, and should never have been shared anywhere else.

Hi there!! ≧◡≦

Medical

I've been chillin' like a villain watching anime, reading manga, playing video games and signing up for this vocational program.

How are you?

Dang that was sooo far back for me! I'm on the latest episode now.

I'd have to say Luffy is my favorite right now. At first it was Zoro just because he's a badass haha, but i changed it after Luffy saved Robyn xD

Remember the wanted poster for him?! its so cute and funny. Him eating cotton candy like a little kid and having the lowest bounty of all the Strawhat Pirates hahah

Same here!! when i was younger i used love watching One Piece but after awhile they stopped airing it on tv so i forgot about it. But about a year ago i found it on the computer and it was still airing! every since then ive been watching anime like crazy