To Your Eternity is surely a unique anime that has been released as of late. This is mainly because of the main protagonist, who was not an aspiring shounen hero nor a love interest in a slice-of-life anime.
Rather, he was someone who is not a human being who becomes a human as the show progresses. In other words, he comes to understand what it means to be a human.
As such, Fushi is one-of-a-kind. There is no one like him, and he is quite an extraordinary being. But what exactly is he? What sort of being is he?
The Orb
In the first episode of To Your Eternity, we actually get to see what Fushi really is. He is just this white immortal orb that was sent to the world with a purpose. It was an orb who knows nothing at all, a blank slate. An orb that was created by another enigmatic creature, The Beholder.
The Orb has the ability to mimic other objects such as when it touched the rock. However, since it was still a blank slate, it just remained as a rock for a time. That is until a dying wolf came close to it, and it took on a form of the wolf. Thus, it gained consciousness and was able to move around.
The Orb was also able to acquire the form of the Nameless Boy, and many others once they have passed away. The Orb should have enough stimulus and exposure to the person in order to fully replicate their appearances.
Aside from replicating their appearances, the Orb can also make use of their physical abilities. This was made apparent whenever it used March’s small form to climb up trees. The wolf’s form enables it to jump to great heights and to run like a speed of lightning. It also utilized Parona’s form in order to have the upper hand in Jananda Island’s tournaments.
The Orb can also feel the emotions of the people around it as well. This was first seen when March got killed, and it went into a rampage. Its emotions reflected Parona’s immense anger and grief, as well as its attachment to March as a mother figure.
March’s desperation to save Parona from killing herself was also felt by the Orb. The Orb managed to prevent Parona from slitting her throat, despite being unable to understand and comprehend things at the time.
Eventually, the Orb has gained its own personality and thoughts. It is able to feel emotions and form relationships with other people. It started to become more human – becoming Fushi. He is learning how to communicate and understand other humans more. He also deals with emotional immaturity expected from a person still trying to cope with negative emotions. When Pioran died, Fushi isolated himself because he cannot deal with the grief.
It is also important to note that Fushi also does not literally die. During his journey from the tundra region, he died multiple times. From each death, he was able to resurrect and return to his form as if nothing had happened. His resurrection also improves from each time, as well as healing his wounds.
Read More: What Happened to Parona in To Your Eternity?
His Purpose
We then now ask the question: why was Fushi created anyway? What was The Beholder thinking?
Fushi cannot understand his purpose very well at this time. He was created to preserve the world. Fushi is meant to remember everything and everyone. The humans he encountered, and the stories they have to share will not truly die with Fushi around. Thus, the world whose inhabitants are the highlights, it will never be gone even as time passes.
However, Fushi, who is becoming humanlike, will not bode well with his given purpose. Fushi acts more of a mortal rather than an immortal. He enjoyed living a normal life with Gugu, Pioran, Grandpa Beer (Booze Man), and Rean for a good 4 years. This was probably because at this time, he still had not realized the danger of the Nokkers. He also did not seem to realize what his exact purpose is.
He only ever found out how severe the Nokkers are through his creator, The Beholder. And what he is ought to be doing for the world.
However, Fushi seemed to get irritated whenever The Beholder is talking to him. This is because seeing The Beholder reminds him of his purpose: preserving the world, thus accepting the fact he will outlive everyone.
Fushi still does not find it in himself to just accept his own purpose, because it hurts. It hurts to know that everyone he had ever loved will soon die. Most of all, they can also die because of him around, because the Nokkers wanted to stop Fushi from preserving the world. Nokkers pose a danger to the people surrounding Fushi – which led to the demise of Gugu. Gugu had served as Fushi’s older brother figure, so his death is the catalyst for Fushi to fulfill his purpose.
Read More: To Your Eternity Manga Ends 2nd Arc, Announces Break
