Amy and Taro Watch KPop Demon Hunters

Amy and Taro Watch KPop Demon Hunters
Date of Cutscene:	06 September 2025
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy - Dorms
Synopsis:	Amy has come over to Taro's dorm room to watch KPop Demon Hunters. Reactions and surprisingly serious conversation occur (or not-so-surprising, if you know the movie...) (Unmarked major spoilers for KPop Demon Hunters and Nimona, minor spoilers for Dungeon Meshi, FATE/Zero and Macross Frontier.)
Cast of Characters:	Amanda Faust, Taro Yamada

---

Assume occasionally pausing the movie even if not stated, especially for longer conversations.
Taro has seen the movie before, so Amy tends to be the one reacting.

0:16:18 Rumi's voice breaks.
Amy: "...Wait, you said one of them is like me?" As the movie continues, she adds, "Oh. Not trans but... she wants to be a normal girl and... yeah. Pushing to finish the golden honmoon makes sense now."

Amy: "Wait, but if she's half-demon, and her mother was a huntress, doesn't that mean there was a good demon? No, don't answer, no more spoilers."

0:18:09 Rumi can't go to the bathhouse.
Amy: "Oof."
Taro: "I feel like it could be a good, whatsit, an allegory? The feeling unaccepted and hiding that, can't go to the bathhouse... desperate to feel normal even as that's killing her inside."
Amy nods.

0:22:50 Rumi is called out at the doctor's on not going to the bathhouse.
Amy: "Oh, cheap shot!" >:|

0:24:04 Boy band walks out in front of the alley.
Amy, smiling conspiratorially: "So, are they hot? Is this your type? ...Sorry if that was just weird, I'm not used to this kinda talk."
Taro: "Yeah, it's fine. They're...adjacent to my type, I suppose, but they're all so skinny. I'm looking for more..." He draws a square in the air, blushing. "You don't get that kind of ab definition by working out."
Amy: "Wait, you don't? How do people get that then?"
Taro: "Dehydration. You need to minimize the amount of fat and water in your body to show off the muscles like that — bodybuilders can't actually lift that much because they have to neglect stamina to maintain the diet that shows off the muscles. Not to dungeon meshi, but a balanced and consistant diet is important!!"
Amy: "Damn, that's fucked up. And Dungeon Meshi is great! I read it like... several years ago, but I think the anime already passed where I was. I was so disappointed there's apparently no GB shenanigans, after the mushrooms I was sure it was gonna happen. Still, I'm glad to get any TF content."
Amy: "I mean yes I know about the two pages with the what-if mirror, why is whatsisface from the other party trying to tempt him away in the what-if where she's a girl? Seems outta nowhere."
Amy: "...Wild that the mangaka's response to "why did you choose to write an autistic protagonist" was "what do you mean, he's completely normal." I hope, if it helps her, that she figures some things out."
Taro: "I wish humans could modify themselves more easily, if only because some of this stuff isn't healthy." ;w;
Amy: "Word. You know my stance on transhumanism and morphological freedom already."
Taro: "I know trans readings are popular for the Toudens - it was past the point you were at, but some of that alienation-due-to-autism Laios has going on can apparantly be read as dysmorphia? ...I'll stay spoiler free, I binged the whole thing when the last chapter came out, but I think it'd be cathartic with an autism reading"
Amy: "Huh. I'll keep that in mind and plan to read it eventually. ...I mean, it's good and I do want to read it but yeah I'm a mess gotta do better this semester in school and face whatever world-ending threat comes at us next."

Amy: "Those two are spellbound, she's not, huh? Maybe a bit more like me than expected..."

Amy: "...Oh. Nevermind. Why's she see just him though?"

Taro: "Well, he is the—" and then he remembers the 'no spoilers' thing. "Well! You'll see!"

0:36:00 You're My Soda Pop!
Amy: "Ohhh, so this is how it's a villain song." She laughs when even Huntrix are starting to move to the beat.

Amy: "Wait, how did they get that giant soda can under there??? Oh... is this a Barrier???"

On screen: Soja boys poof out, crowd cheers.
Amy: "They just openly used magic. I wonder if this world has a veil or if everyone thinks all of that was special FX... no spoilers."
(TV) Zoey: "To be fair, that's also something a magician would do?"
Amy: :Ｉ
Taro: "...I have some theories about how the magic here works, but I'll tell you after the movie ends"

0:32:12 Rumi vs Jinu fight, when Rumi anticipates 'teleports behind you' and kicks him out of it
Amy: "Ooh, nice."

0:32:37 Jinu bandages her arm
Amy: "He helped her? Interesting long play. It'll be more dramatic for them to find out later, or him to blackmail her, but I wonder if it really seems more certain to win that way rather than letting things fall apart now?"
Taro: "You'll see." :3
Amy: "Maybe he knows they'll accept her, or suspects it, so needs the opportunity to make her more suspicious later... at a time when she has no chance to explain..."

0:34:40 Zoey: Don't worry. I'm sure Soda Pop is just a fad.
Amy: "It's kinda meta how popular it is in the real world. ... This is gonna give Obsidian ideas, isn't it."
Taro: "I mean, isn't this already what Obsidian does? Using fads to draw attention, then draining the energy from the people that show up... but you're right that they don't have any musical mahou like we have."
Amy: "I guess they have that one girl who dresses like a demon when she's transformed... didn't her chara run away? I wonder what happened with that."
Taro: "...I am out of the loop, I forgot about her."

0:34:50 "Hi Bobby!"
Taro: "...honestly if I had to pick a guy in this movie, it'd be Bobby."
Amy: "Oh, the manager! 'Cuz he's nice?"
Taro: "Bobby the manager! He's nice, he's got a good head on his shoulders, he's resiliant! And he is kinda... you know... 👀 his stubble is cute..."
Amy, smiling, "Oh, is that your type? Or, not really a type so much as just, in this specific case, with those things coming together?"
Taro: "He's...type adjacent? And he's nice. Which would be...nice."

(TV) Bobby, looking out over the city with the damaged honmoon reflected in the windows: "It's just social media numbers, not the end of the world."
Amy, pausing the video, "...This is such a mood. I wonder if one of the people working on this is a mahou and kind of — formerly a mahou I mean — and kind of remembers some of the feels..."
Amy, 🤔: "Actually, wait. If magical girls and boys and magical stuff in general is real, then how many of the stories are inspired by..." And then she thinks about the stories that don't end well.
Amy: "That's... I'm not sure it's helpful to think about that..."
Amy unpauses the video. "They're talking about demons openly in front of the manager?"

0:36:13 After the others shit-talk demons some more and Rumi joins in, then gets a quiet moment in her room.
Amy: "Yeah, woof, sucks to be half-demon when all you hear about demons is that they should be killed."
Amy, a bit more quietly: "Although I guess it's a bit like hearing how awful men are all the time when you think you are one..."
Taro: "Yeahhhh the half-demon hearing about how all demons are awful really fits in with the allegory"
Amy, nodding: "Oh yeah, I'm definitely getting some trans-kinda feels here."

00:37:00 Cat
Amy: "A cat that tries to do the opposite of knocking things over?"
Amy then lets out a hissing laugh when the cat knocks it back over after Rumi rights it.
Taro: "...I need a plush of that cat so baddddd"
Amy: "Talk to Setsuna-chan about that."

00:38:12 Rumi: "Okay, Jinu. Let's meet."
Amy: "I wonder what the significance of those hats is in Korean mythology. ...Sure, just go off on your own away from your team, girl, have you never watched a movie?"
Taro: "I think I know what the hats are significant about? Is it spoilers if I tell you? It doesn't come up in the text but its good for reading into subtext stuff."
Amy, pausing the movie and pressing her fist just under her lips as she thinks. "...Background information that anyone who knew Korean mythology would know isn't a spoiler, but any specific implications or ramifications for this movie are, let me draw those conclusions myself and then compare notes after."
Taro: "OK, it would be general Korean mythology — the hat is traditionally worn by Jeoseung Saja, the grim reaper, who isn't a malicious entity but is an omen of death. So like, this bird is goth as hell"
Amy: "Ah, okay, so the bird — and the demon band in the demon world — are cosplaying as psychopomps or, kinda like shinigami?"
Taro: "Yes, exactly!! Psychopomp cosplay. This is like the korean equivilant of that one guy in the Red Masque - you know, the Edgar Allan Poe thing?"
Amy: "I... don't remember it."
Taro: "There's a bunch of rich people who, instead of helping the poor during a pandemic of 'red death', hole up in a castle and party. A guy shows up dressed as the grim reaper and everyone is like wow, bad taste bro, and then he's like well your taste is worse! And takes off his mask and he's actually the personification of the red death, and everyone at the party gets sick and dies in a night."
Amy: "Oh, cool!" she unpauses the movie.

Jinu: "Until the patterns consumed me."
Amy: "See, that's how I thought corruption worked... Maybe it is, if someone's stuck with it long enough..."

0:41:29 Jinu: "Yours are a reminder too. Of a shame of your own. You can tell me. I'll understand."
Amy: "Don't tell him your shame he just said that's how you get controlled!"

0:42:03 Mira: "We only have to write the best diss track ever to crush the Idol Awards, or there'll be a demon apocalypse."
Amy: "You can't write a diss track when you don't know who they are at all! Although, hmm, I wonder if this'll tie into the demon shame thing later. Like if they put the shame in song it defeats them."

0:43:42 Mira: "Oh, oh! How about... 'A demon with no feelings doesn't deserve to live'?"
Amy: "Do not actually put lyrics about demons in the song. It is indeed, too obvious."
Taro: pausing it, "...I know there wouldn't be a plot but I feel like killing them might be easier than all of these shenanigans. This is probably to try and stablize the honmoon but I do have to wonder if there's demon hunting sniper rifles."
Amy: "How Kiritsugu of you. But I think that's also why the demons won't let them have a straight fight, the Saja Boys I mean. They'd lose. Run away, eat at the honmoon with song, then the Huntrix have to fight more demon incursions and keep performing. It's gonna wear them out."
Taro: "Who? but also - yeah, this is an endurance contest and the saja boys are winning."
Amy: "Shirou's dad from the FATE/ series. Nasuverse stuff? I'm not a big fan, but it's impossible to avoid learning some stuff by osmosis, and I did watch the prequel, FATE/Zero, where, yes, we do see that Shirou's dad — the guy who adopted and raised him, I mean — fought exactly like this before the grail ruined everything. There's another great scene where... hold on, lemme see if I can find it..." She pulls out her phone and starts searching for something.
Amy: "Huh, there was a second season? But it's already a prequel and the grail war ended.... I probably won't get around to this." She is able to just show it from Setsuna's streaming account on her phone: "So the bad guys are holed up in a hotel, and have cursed one of the characters so someone has to come to them. If a fight breaks out there, obviously there'll be a lot of innocent bystanders..."
(link to 2m58s video clip from Fate/Zero episode 6, starting from the fire alarm at 10m04s)
Taro: "I wish we could do this to the obsidian building. It'd be so cool."
Amy: "I think he also skipped a fight with a Servant at one point by just sniping their summoner with a rifle, but I forget exactly and it's been awhile, this came out in... 2012? Oof..."
Amy, looking to Taro: "...I literally have explosive powers." She holds her hands up in front of her and wiggles her fingers. "...But they have innocent employees and dark generals that still might be saved and, honestly... This worked because, in this setting, I guess mages are still ultimately, humanly, frail? But come on, you know dropping a building on them wouldn't injure beings of darkness... can't they use that dusk zone thing to just escape, anyway?"
Taro: "Exactly. We're trying to avoid collateral damage, and a mahou should at least try to save people in the darkness. After all, I would have been toast otherwise!" ahaha whoops "....I do wish I could have gotten duskporting back in the day. Would have saved me a lot of hassle - I know it's not worth it now, but still."
Amy: "I'd kind of like to see that dimension, but it drains people, and—" She holds up her hand with the ring on it. "I mean, honestly, I'd probably just hate it. But I always liked the tropes of these, coexistant planes, 'dark worlds', the feywild, the shadowfell, that sort of thing."
Amy: "Taro..." She turns and hugs him. "I'm glad we got you away from them."
After a moment, they turn back to the TV and finally unpause it.

0:44:30 "And who should I make this out to?" "To our biggest fans." "It's the Saja boys!" "It is an honor! Table, now!"
Amy: "What? No, don't sit them, this is your signing! Sign their stuff, and maybe spin them pretending to be fans of you into more popularity somehow if you can do that."

0:45:40 Jinu: "If hate could defeat Gwi-ma, I would have done it a long time ago, trust me."
Amy: "Ooh, metaphor. Why Dark Energy can't take down something like Wiseman or Beryl, I guess."

0:47:50 Rumi: "Do you really think this is the right song to beat Gwi-Ma?"
Amy: "...Okay, Rumi's starting to get that maybe there's another answer but her bandmate whatsername really thinks hate is gonna work?" She sprawls against the back of the couch. "'Rip and tear, until it is done', is a popular concept, huh?" She looks at her hands. "...To be fair, a lot of monsters don't seem to care what they're exploded with."

0:48:30 Mira: "*Ugh* I can't wait until every one of them is destroyed and sent back to suffer with Gwi-Ma for eternity."
Amy: "She wants the demons to suffer?"
Amy: "...It has been so long since I thought in terms of seeking punitive justice, rather than spreading mercy or, failing that, providing a swift end to evil, I don't know if I can understand it. I mean, yeah, I wish people would get a taste of what it's like to be in their targets' situations sometimes, but like... Even that is just hoping they'd develop a little sympathy or compassion after! Even when I was a little kid being bullied I don't think I wished for anyone to suffer in Hell for eternity."

0:50:36 Rumi: "But I am a mistake. Have been, since the moment I was born."
Amy: "Oof."
Amy: "...It really sucks that most of humanity is so lacking in media literacy, critical thinking, and empathy that they won't even think for a moment, 'wow, it would be really horrible for somone to feel that way... no, it would be wrong, and this world must be stopped from ever doing that to anyone."
Amy pulls her feet up onto the couch and hugs her knees. "...I've been granted my next dream. Or so I thought. Mamoru said I can have an apartment in his building. He's implied I have to get a job and make money somehow, but I think that's more of a philosophical thing than greed. He'll only take rent if I can afford it, it's not like he'll throw me out if I fall on hard times."
Her eyes start to water a bit. "But... That was months ago, during the New Moon stuff. No other dreams are coming. I'll have a safe place... but I know this world isn't meant for me. I'll never fit in and have a life out there. I want... I want all of the others to have that," fuck, tears "but I'll... I want it too."
Taro: "...there were points when I was the Slasher where all I wanted to do was hurt people, because I thought it would make me feel bettter from all the stuff that was making me miserable. It didn't really work, but there was enough of... something that I kept on doing it," Taro confesses with a grimace.
Taro pauses the movie, after Rumi floats the plan of trapping Jinu on Earth's side of the honmoon. "If there's no place for you out there, we'll make one."
Amy looks up at him and seems to calm down some. "Really? That's..." Se lets out a breath and closes her eyes, then opens them. "That's just it, though. It'll always be a place. A place. It'll never be... a society I can... just be in. As long as there's a 'normal' I'll never measure up to."
Amy: "...Can they trap all the demons on Earth and free them from shame and fear?"
Taro: "...I'm not going to comment on all this because spoilers. We can come back to it once the movie's done."
Amy: "But, like... That breaks down, unless they solve this problem. Humans aren't going to accept demons joining them. And I don't think any piece of mass media is ever going to make an argument for a truly accepting world. Only one where it's 'okay if you're a bit different or quirky, but we never actually show what acceptance looks like, when you can't assume everyone shares your 'normal' experiences and thinks like you and get away with it."
Taro: "Then we find one. OR we make one? We may not fit in, but - you know what else wouldn't fit in society? An anglerfish. They need to be in the deep ocoean. What we need to find is the deep ocean of society. It's got to be there somewhere." Or they can get a drill and start digging. options!! options??
Amy: "That's me only associating with you guys, or, hoping life with merfolk will be better, or moving to Crystal Tokyo or something. ...If I weren't a Puella Magi, I'd have to seriously consider that last one, yeah."
Taro: "...well, if you witch out, Queen Serenity could blast your soul so hard that you see stars?" A pause. "No, that sounds terrible, never mind!"
Amy chuckles a little. "No, if it comes to that, I'd rather Witch here." She's a little startled at sudden, brief sadness there. Swallows, takes a breath. "Madoka... Madoka will... at least, after everything, Madoka will rescue my soul before it moves on, to... wherever it will go." Eyes abruptly watering again.
Amy: "...It's a little..." she looks surprised at having to hold back a sob and tears starting to come forth. "It's a little comforting to know... that... even if it's so brief..." She controls her breathing to avoid a sob, again. "There's... something special... that I deserve, somehow... at the end. That... that someone would think to do that..." She grabs whatever source of tissues was pulled close after the last tears and blows her nose. "That someone would... bother to do that, for me."
Amy: "...She's never talked like that... like that part of her destiny is a burden, at least. But I guess... it kind of is."
After a moment to calm down, Amy unpauses the movie.

0:52:48 Rumi: "I don't think I can sing this song." Bobby: "Heeeey girls,"
Amy: "See, this is exactly what I mean. She can't. She knows it's wrong to sing a song of hate, or her own self-hatred hurts too much, but either way: People aren't gonna be accepting. It's gonna be 'don't rock the boat, Rumi, why can't you just go along and be normal.'"

0:53:50 Rumi starts to sing a song of hatred fighting demons on a train
Amy, softly singing, suuuuuuusumeeeee, Fro-on-ti-a...
(not really important if you don't already know, but for completeness's sake: referencing the moment in Macross Frontier where a song of love, precious to someone, was rewritten into a song of war by others who convinced her to sing the twisted version. See https://macross.fandom.com/wiki/Aimo for lyrics comparison)

0:54:55 Mira: "Whatever you think about the song, it doesn't matter right now. Everything is at stake,"
Amy: "Everything is at stake and that's why you can't lose it all by turning to hatred... but can this movie really stick the landing on that message?"

0:55:35 Rumi: "Okay, so I've been meaning to ask, why does the bird wear a tiny hat?"
Amy: :Ｉ "Well I guess she wondered it too."
(TV) Jinu (at the same time): "I made it for the tiger, but the bird keeps taking it."
Taro: "....The cat WOULD look good with the hat."

0:56:20 Rumi: "I don't understand it, but somehow, my voice is healed."
Amy is quiet during the next song.

0:59:32 Jinu: "Rumi wait, I..."
Amy: "Ohhh don't make it het, they barely know eachother... can't they be working together because a connection was formed? ...Okay, I guess if they do have a connection, maybe that as a basis for turning it romantic later makes sense..."

1:01:00 Rumi riding a tiger through the air
Amy: "I wonder if Anko can do that when she's really big? ...Probably not. It'd be cool, though, riding a giant cat that can run on air."

1:01:56 Mira: "I'm kind of a difficult person. Overly blunt, short-fused, highly aggressive. My whole life, those things were a liability. But somehow, with you guys, they're okay."
Amy: "Wow. I know they're not gonna be able to go all the way with this message in the end, but wow, you alllmost realized, movie."

1:02:44 Rumi: "And then we can take a hiatus. Maybe go to the bathhouse together?" Zoey: "You mean the women's bathhouse, not the mens'?"
Amy, laughing, "Are you trying to make it trans...?"
Taro: "They really did accidentally make it trans..."

1:03:06 "Two bands. One award. Every snowflake is special. But one snowflake is probably the best."
Amy: "...Please tell me your average movie viewer is smart enough to tell that was satire... yeah, no... it was satire, right...?"

1:06:40 Takedown. Demon Zoey and Mira make the song something sung at Rumi...
Amy: "Oof..."
(TV) Demon Zoey and Mira pull Rumi's jacket off, baring her arms.
Amy: "Oh no, with demons next to her, and the patterns..."
Taro: "....I'm not gonna comment until we get to the ending so we have the whole thing to discuss..." yeah the Themes, there was much to discuss....

1:08:57 Rumi: "I can still fix it!" Mira raises her weapon
Amy: "Thinking of the climax of Nimona, here..."
Taro: "We're forever going to be chasing the high of Nimona's climax, aren't we?" huff-laughs
Amy: *wide-eyed stare*, pausing the movie. "...She was about to commit suicide, and even though he stopped her... she did not get to have a happy ending. Or a life."
Taro: "....you have me there." Head in hands. His foot is fully in his mouth at this point, isn't it...
Amy: "It was a good movie. It was a great movie. But it ended that way because the writer couldn't give what he believed to be false hope to trans youth. But maybe our friends, with us helping them, and a younger generation that's more accepting than ever..." She puts her hand on his shoulder and smiles. "Maybe they can make it real hope."
Taro: "It's... a lot. I'm torn since - well, if you'd asked me two years ago, I wouldn't have wanted to give anything a hopeful ending since I couldn't see any hope. And so much has changed. And I want to... make things better? For you, and for people like you..."
Amy gives a slight nod and unpauses the movie.

1:09:50 Rumi: No! No, I know your story."
Amy: "Tell her."

1:11:06 Zoey: "The honmoon... It's coming apart!"
Amy, half-joking: "Welp, we had a good run..."

1:11:51 Mira and Zoey hear Gwi-Ma's voices too.
Amy: "This is dark energy... isn't it."

1:12:28 Celine: "No..."
Amy: "Oh, lookit fuckin' you!" She asides to Taro, "...She was a victim of shame, too, but making it into generational trauma is... one of many things that led to this."
(TV) Rumi: You knew I was a mistake from the very start.
Amy: "Maybe now she'll finally see and be one human that can accept--"
(TV) Rumi drops to her knees with the sword.
Amy's face falls. "...Oh. Yeah..."

1:13:49 Celine: "Everything I was taught told me you were wrong, but I made a promise. So I did my best to accept--"
Amy: *scoffs*

1:14:16 Rumi: "This is what I am. Look at me. Why can't you look at me? Why couldn't you love me?!"
Amy, sadly, "Damn, they really made it trans..."
Celine: "This is why we have to hide it! Our faults and fears must never be seen,"
Amy, angrily: "It's NOT a fault! ...Even out of the metaphor, being born part literal demon is not her fault."

Celine: "...it's the only way to protect the honmoon!"
Amy: "Then maybe we shouldn't protect it..."
Rumi: "If this is the honmoon I'm supposed to protect... I'm glad to see it destroyed."
Amy pauses it and gestures at the screen like 'see?' at Rumi agreeing with her.
Taro, who's been watching this scene play out with a stressed face: "Exactly. What's the point of protecting a world that won't protect you back?"
Amy: "That's a dangerous thought." She tries to focus on the movie, and not to think it, about to unpause it—
Taro: "This world has you and cats in it. I'm not going to go off the rails if something happens." normal thing to say!!!
Amy: "I meant for me. ...But yeah if I turn evil I'm turning on society, not you guys." But she knows heroes would get in the way and they'd have to fight, if that happened...
Taro wants to say somthing jokey, but it'll just fall flat now, won't it? It won't help. So instead he takes her hand and squeezes it.
Amy unpauses the movie and is, thankfully, immediately distracted by "WOAH COOL. Do you just get teleporting powers when you turn into a villain? ...I like, did not try for the few hours I had it because I don't wanna know what the Dusk Zone is like on Nemesis or Deep Space and I dunno if I could have like, controlled where I came back. ...Okay actually I didn't even think of it until we were already in space. I think."
Taro: "I didn't get any teleporting powers, so I wouldn't know. Maybe it's an in universe demon thing?"

Gwi-ma: "Well done. Ready to forget it all?"
Amy: "There's no way he can grant that. If he did, he wouldn't have control over him anymore. And maybe he's okay with one free demon, now, but why take the chance and why bother honoring the bargain now?"
Amy: "Aww, kitty."

Crowd of mind-controlled civilians chanting "Saja... Saja.... Saja... Saja..."
Amy: "I think this is at least a few times creepier when you can imagine that we might see something like this in real life if a villain gets out of hand."
Taro, shivering: "Yeah. This could have happened, this could have been a half remembered memory..."
Amy: "I wonder if Saja means lion in Korean or something."
Taro, leaping on the topic change: "Saja does mean lion in Korean! So it's a pun, connected to the Saja-grim reaper as well."

1:18:11 Gwi-Ma: "And the Honmoon is gone." Rumi: "It is. So we. Can make a new one."
Amy: *amazed* O_O "WHAT?!"

1:19:14 Rumi: "My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like..."
Amy: "Wait, what? Why do they magically trust her now? I was trying not to rag on how it's easy to say they should've been themselves without actually showing us what a world where they could looks like, but where'd this come from? ...Was there a scene from an earlier version that got left out?"
Taro: "Apparently they took out a lot of scenes from the second half? I thought it made sense, as them realizing they were being idiots and going back, but that's a logical leap to make, I guess..."

1:20:10 "Huntrix: "And I'll be right here by your side"
Amy: "Okay, I like the message of being true, and saying some people will be okay with it is a lot more honest than pretending society will."

1:21:38 Rumi: "Jinu! No!"
Amy: "Oh come on, don't turn him into a sacrifice... wasn't there a point here about how even people who've done something horrible can turn things around? Please don't put the idea in people's heads that the only path to redemption is death..."
Amy sighs.
Amy: "Wait, does that mean their weapons were made of souls the whole time?"
Taro: "...Honestly, I assumed that he just put his soul in there and it was a normal demon killing sword before. Now it's a haunted sword."
Amy: "Ohhhhh."
Taro: "People keep speculating that he'll show up in the sword in the sequel. Personally, I want more on Rumi's mom."
Amy: "There's gonna be a sequel? ...More about her parents would be nice. Help reinforce the whole, she wasn't a mistake thing, and that the demons aren't irredeemable monsters just held back by their shame and belief they can never be more than their sins."
Taro: "They're talking about one right now. Apparently it blew up the charts in America."

1:22:30 Rainbows and flying and stuff
Amy: "Okay yeah this does look like real life."

1:24:24 Bathhouse.
Amy tries to think of how the hell exactly this would translate with the metaphor, but then they get all 😭 and she's distracted.

Amy: "Oh huh she still has the patterns."

1:25:30 ending
Amy: "Wait, the bird is still... the cat too? Wait, what happened to all the demons?! Are they humans again now? Are they living among humans? Hang on a moment, you didn't finish a major plot point!"
Taro: "It's unclear what happened with that, and that's another reason I hope we get the sequel soon. The split the difference on how the themes worked out? Since Rumi was able to come to terms with herself, but ew don't get any closure on the demon stuff at large."

credits begin
Amy: "Huh, she doesn't have the patterns in these chibis."

live action
Amy: "...They ran out of animation budget."
Taro: "Honestly, I assumed that was catering to kpop fans, to see the singers?"
Amy: "Oh yeah I'm just... Riffing on Shinji's original English VA's demo reel and a cartoon called Gumball making similar jokes. That makes more sense, like... I mean at a play the actors come out and take a bow after, I guess it can make sense to like, show the people behind the animation? If they want to be. When you look at it that way it's weird it's not done more often."
Taro: "Oh!! Ah, I'm not familiar with those. ...I do miss blooper reels, though. "

after the movie
Amy: "So wait, if the patterns represent the shame of sins and the demons are all former humans who gained them... does that mean Rumi was born with sin, according to the story's own metaphor? ...They really didn't think this through."
Taro hmm. "Being born with sin is a very christian concept... and I'm not sure if the patterns are sin or just shame. I wish they elaborated more on that!!"

Amy: "...I still liked the message that truth can make life better, though."
Taro: "Me too. Maybe society isn't ready, but she's found her part of the ocean."
Amy: "Mm."