With this episode, we finally saw how it all began for Watashi and her life as a mediator for the UNCC. And though this episode showed us the origin to the story, it also provided us an insight into the possible conclusion, too.
Given the placement of this episode within the order of their broadcasts, we were able to witness Watashi’s discovery and friendship with the fairies. With nine episodes watched prior to this one, the audience know well in advance of the peculiarities and behaviors of the fairies as well as Watashi herself and her Grandfather. And because of this knowledge base that we had entering this episode, we’re able to discern more about Watashi’s evolution as a character, the relationship of the characters, and understand what Watashi was like before she became a working girl. And with the way the episode progressed, we were able to gather some clues and formulate an idea of what the conclusion to Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita might have planned for us.
Perhaps the most symbolic or indicative clue to the possible ending is that Watashi’s job is rather cyclic in its nature. With her predecessor’s dairy remaining and her Grandfather as her supervisor, we can tell that Watashi is not the first mediator for this village nor will she be the last; she is just one of many. Her Grandfather is knowledgeable, experienced, and understands the particulars of whatever situation Watashi is in, almost as if he’s been through it all before. With the nature of the job seeming circular and Watashi’s Grandfather in a position of power (a rather selfish and lethargic position, I might add), it wouldn’t surprise me to see Humanity Has Declined end with Watashi in her Grandfather’s position welcoming a new mediator to the village and guiding them (perhaps the Assistant even) in their work in the UNCC.
Another hint this episode offered toward a conceivable conclusion is we saw what Watashi’s personality was before her new job and new life changed her into the witty, sarcastic, and self-centered protagonist we’ve come to love. Before, Watashi was a naïve, industrious, reliable, and devoted lass, excited for her new career in constructing and maintaining the bonds between the old mankind and the new humanity. She was attentive and took notes. She worked late into the evening on trivial matters that proved to later be meaningless. But now, Watashi is far from that. She’s grown to become knowledgeable of the fairies and the consequences of their actions. She’s lazy, often refusing jobs that seem to require an effort or are perceived as boring, making her lose her industriousness and devotion in one simple gesture. Watashi is somewhat reliable as a worker but she’s been known to lie and deceive for the protection of her job and way of life. Her personality is creeping closer and closer to her Grandfather’s, the head of the local branch and the source of all Watashi’s hardships as of late. So it makes some sense to figure that, with Watashi becoming more and more like her Grandfather in terms of personality and behavior, that one day she will be heading the branch and supervising her mediator like her Grandfather supervises her. Of course there’s bound to be some difference in their personalities, seeing as Watashi is able to fake most of her expressions if needed and shows a range of emotions and concerns over others, but it shouldn’t be surprising that Watashi, being both intelligent and sarcastic, might one day be the head of the UNCC branch in Camphorwood Village.
One other clue that points in this direction of a finale is how this episode ended with Watashi and her Grandfather holding a simple conversation above the ruin of the fairy civilization. Throughout the entire exchange between the two characters, the Grandfather’s dialogue hinted that he knew exactly what would happen, save for a few details, and used it as a platform to educate Watashi who seemed receptive to her Grandfather’s kind words. Not only was he not surprised to see her project lay in ruins (probably the same spot where his ruins fell many years ago) but he immediately knew how to instruct Watashi on her failures despite only seeing her work between shifts and moments before arriving at the ruins. It’s like he’s been through this before and knew what to say to help Watashi avoid these same mistakes and to understand how to deal with the fairies for the rest of her job. His behavior and advice tie directly into that cyclic nature of the job and his advice is something Watashi has come to use in virtually every episode since. Seeing how valuable such guidance is and how influential her Grandfather is in mentoring her, it makes sense that Watashi would inherit this position to teach the next mediator how to do their job properly. Like it’s been mentioned in the previous two points, this also points to the conclusion where we see the same episode but with Watashi replacing her Grandfather as supervisor and a new mediator under her wing.
However, that is not the only conclusion and just one thought after watching this episode of Jintai. As we’ve seen before with other recurring tales of drama and adventure, there’s always going to be someone who breaks the cycle and goes on to do something entire novel and remarkable. That’s the reason these stories are told and it could be the path that Jintai will take with Watashi as an incredible human being for both humans and fairies. It could also conclude without anything specific in particular, especially given the fact that light novel that the anime is based on in still ongoing and without its own conclusion. And there are certain to be some differences between Watashi and her Grandfather as mediators; it’s hard to imagine the Grandfather baking sweets for the fairies and being dubbed “Mr. Sweets” by the fairies. Nor do I see Watashi becoming some form of a gun nut and housing an arsenal of assault rifles on the wall. So really, there’s a number of possibilities that still exist for the conclusion of Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita and, though we can guess with some evidence, some logic, and a bit of luck, we’ll know for sure which one is right in a few weeks… or maybe next week, it’s hard to tell with the anime being aired out of chronological order.
I often wonder how the fairies would live when humans aren’t around. Without humans, the fairies seem to be resigned to a fate of boredom and decline. Every time there’s fun, sweets, and multiplying fairies is also a time when a human intervenes or is in some way involved, whether it’s their inability to manufacture sweets or their homoerotic comic books. Without humans, it seems like the fairies are destined to a life much like how they lived in the ruins before Watashi’s arrival. It’s a bleak future for the fairies without humans around and, judging from the book Watashi found about the density of fairies and how lucky one is, a bleak one for mankind, too, without fairies around. It seems there’s some form of symbiosis forming between the two which is why Watashi’s job is so essential for the success of both races. Without it, the disconnect could prove to be a calamity for both sides and could spell doom for both humanity and fairykind.
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