Talk:Happy Family Planning

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• Alright, seems a bit threadbare here, but I'd like to offer an explanation for why the three characters central to this episode sought to kill themselves. It was originally suggested by a friend of mine right after the end of the episode, and makes a fair amount of sense. Simply, they all had AIDS. I can offer a few supports to this point, one of which being the prominant inclusion of that condom related ad/dispenser (can't remember which at the moment). In addition, there is the information about Makoto given during the chat sessions during the episode, wherein he indicated his desire to go out with a bang, hence his Lil' Slugger Copycat attacks and subsequent feeding of the delusional story to the police when captured. This is telling because people generally do such things, attempting to make a large scene with their suicide, when they at least feel that their death has become inevitable due to forces outside of their control; for example, finding out they had unknowingly contracted AIDS from any number of sources. The third point of support lies in the make-up of the group: Komome is a young child, easily representative of those who contract AIDS due to one or more of their parents having had it, and Zebra is revealed to be a homosexual (I'm not trying to stereotype here, guys, it is to my knowledge that the gay community is hit at least as hard if not more so than the straight by AIDS). Admittedly, I am unaware of elderly individuals making up a significant portion of those afflicted, but I'm also not exactly a scholar on the subject, so I don't know if I'm missing something. (Edit: After conversing with a friend of mine once he woke up, I confirmed that I had indeed forgotten that Fuyubachi did wonder why Komome wanted to kill herself, so that point is out. Still, this doesn't completely disprove the theory). I apologize for the slightly random and fairly rambling nature of my offering, but hope I can find some serious discussion on the subject, and am also more than open to corrections if I have remembered facts incorrectly and the like.

-Elpis 18 November 2005 (Yes, despite all that, I'm too lazy to create an account yet, sue me)

Lol. They all had AIDS. I thought you were joking but you put in some really good insight. Fuyubachi however could have contracted HIV/AIDS anywhere (blood transfusion, needles, other medical possibilities) and might be suffering with those effects (remember the pills.) Actually the more I think about this the more it seems logical. At the end the appearance of the Happy Family Planning title appeared on condoms. And not just any condoms but "extra thin" condoms. When I saw this episode I thought to myself "Who would want those? They'll break!" Now it makes a lot of sense. Our AIDS theory can be proven with this as these "extra thin" condoms fail you could suffer from pregnancy or STDs. --Debt Jr.

[edit] Komeme?

I believe one of the biggest questions of all is that WHY did a child like Komeme want to kill herself? My personal speculations as to why the other two wanted to die, is because Fuyubachi was old, and he had health problems and he just wanted to die already, not move on anymore. As for Zebra, since it was revealed that he was homosexual, I'm wondering if perhaps he felt outcasted and discriminated by society so much, that he could not bear to live. Reading up on homosexuality in Japan, it DOES have a high level of tolerance, but it seems to be highly discriminated despite this. Quoted from the article, "Despite the recent trends that suggest a new level of tolerance, most people who are gay in Japan remain in the closet, even marry, to avoid discrimination, as can be seen from recent press interview from a gay foreigner living in Japan" So those make perfect logical sense to me, but the question of Komeme still remains. A few theories I had were that maybe she was just so curious about death, that she wanted to try it, or maybe there was a secret family trauma happening to her despite her cheerful disposition. As I would know, people CAN be depressed on the inside yet cheerful and seemingly manic on the outside. So perhaps she even had Bipolar 1, the highest level of Manic-depressive illness, in which I have read, that moods change so incredibly quickly that people can seemingly be depressed and slightly manic at once. Thoughts on this? MewMewRhianna 06:13, 20 July 2006 (UTC)MewMewRhianna

Remember that Kamome is chubby and perhaps she has been teased by other students, turned down by boys, bad family, etc. this one is still up in the air. However the fact that she chats with random people online should give you a look at her social life and her need to fit in. We could even go as far as to say that her only friends are Zebra and Fuyubachi (this is heavily hinted at as the episode shows that she stalks them and cries when they almost ditch her.) So i hope I gave you a little insight Mewmew. Debt Jr.

It seemed to me that Zebra would want to kill himself not because of society's view of homosexuality, but because something had happened to the guy in the photograph (either death or separation). Since the other guy is not around and Zebra wants to kill himself, this seems logical. Although the fact that his significant other was another male adds a bit of texture, I just think that it's a classic case of lover's separation. As for Kamome, it just seems that, for whatever reason, she is horribly lonely. I'm guessing it is because she is "ahead of her time," precocious in some manner, since she is able to pass herself off as an adult, as well as comprehend things (like suicide) that most other children her age can't fathom. Monsieurxander

[edit] Irony

I would like to shed some light on irony I found in the episode. The scene where all of them are in the bathhouse and at the table all three seem to really be enjoying themselves. However this points out the irony as they're finally enjoying their "lives" at the time they look to end it. And what's even more ironic is that they're actually dead and enjoying death but thinking they're enjoying their lives. This might point to a fortune/philosiphy we can enjoy our lives when we least expect it. I hope more people shed light on this. --Debt Jr.