You don't understand Sonny Boy, and perhaps you never will, but if you watched it... And you felt a sense of joy or sorrow or any complex set of feelings, like when you look back at your schools days and realise it will never come back, then that's that. You cannot put it into words, or rather you will never have enough words to describe it. "A picture is worth a thousand words" - Henrik Ibsen
I watched sonny boy as it aired in a very developmental part of my life, that being as a 13 year old. Originally I was captivated by the art style in a period of time where I was stuck at home due to the pandemic consuming as much media in books, movies, anime, what have you as I could to try and find something that could probably express my feelings about life and death as my grandpa had recently passed and it was my first real experience with that kind of thing. From there I had a downward spiral into depression and wondering what about my life matters and what I want to do with the future. I didn’t know what would make me happy. I ended up dropping the series after episode 3 and waited until it finishes airing to pick it back up and I was so enraptured by just the raw emotions that it made me feel that I stayed up until 3 in the morning on a school night I had to wake up at 6 crying without fully realizing why. Only recently after suggesting it to so many people so I could try to talk about the way it made me feel, did I watch it with my mom who was a little less than receptive of the portrayal of god but it gave me someone I could voice my feelings to. After 2 years I understood exactly what sonny boy made me feel and it’s comfort that even if I have no idea where I’m going or what I want to do when I get there, just being alive is okay. I’m not special and neither is anyone else really but that’s also ok. It reassured me that I didn’t have to save the world to find whatever meaning I’m looking for. Just finding joy in the simple things of being alive is good enough sometimes. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t, either way, at some point it ends.
Sonny boy changed my lives...everytime , and it broke me way many times , "it understands you" that's so true and powerful and breaking, but yet warming , some stories define your life way beyond your understanding... sonny boy is really the greatest to ever exist
For me it feels like it's been so long since Sonny Boy aired, it felt like a dream. Every new episode was yet another story I couldn't make sense of, but as you said it still felt so fulfilling.
Wow, this was incredibly well-written. I haven't even seen Sonny Boy but without noticing, I got through this entire video. Really engaging script man, huge props.
Idk why I always randomly think of sonny boy, I don't understand it but I find it nagging me in the back of my mind or whatever. I have to try and watch it every year and watch all these RU-vid essays.
A little late, but I really appreciated this video. I kept watching videos about Sonny Boy to fill that need for public discourse and I found myself disappointed. It felt like people were taking what they saw too literally, and it started to ruin the feelings I had for this show. What I read on reddit and saw from your video helped validate those feelings I experienced and made me feel better about the whole thing. Thank you for the great video!
That is really well made sonny boy essay. I love the idea that you dont need to understand art to get it. Sometimes after watching some abstract movie I feel that I'm not smart enough to get it yet when in reality nothing trulry makes sense in this world. Idk I also might talking gibberish as its late at night and I dont know english that much to express my thoughts freerly.
I’ve never felt so strongly about a video essay before, I watched Sonny Boy during the summer it came out and it left me heartbroken and confused but it made me appreciate my life more and I didn’t even realise, this is such a good video and it sums up my feelings perfectly, amazing work!
i just wanted to say thanks for the video. and the part where you say "if all you got from sonny boy is that you cried and loved it but you dident understand it in a way that you cant explain. you understood it" made me happy since i worried i might have missed something. in the end, i dident understand it a lot. but your video showed me that thats not the point. again, thank you.
Thank you for making this video! I just finished watching Sonny Boy and was searching explanations for it. But after watching your video I can understand why I didn’t “understand” this show despite loving it very much. This video has definitely made me appreciate this show twice as much.
In watched Sonny Boy the winter of my senior year at the height of my tribulations. I kept feeling like I wanted to refute and angrily act like I was so much more focused and directed than these weak minded people because that's what scared people do. Sonny boy told me that I was so scared of losing meaning because I felt like I had nothing other than the rules of the world and the success I find under them to define me. I still don't have any answers but I am glad to know that an answer is another construct of the idea of objective truth which is all just a very comfortable lie. I find hope in God under all this honestly, I reject the idea of divine intervention but I don't reject the idea of love and the boredom that allows for creation to sprout. That's the hollowed out meaning of the world I work with to keep myself sane since it is impossible to live with all interpretations of life. I love this series and all the beauty it shows us but then kills right in front of us because it reviles the idea of keeping still.
I know that this video will stick with me for a long time, alongside the show itself. Amazing writing and editing, and it really helped to reinforce the feelings I felt while watching the show and what I understood from it. Thanks for this video.
That was beautiful. Sonny Boy has slowly become my favorite anime and you did a brilliant job of explaining a few of the reasons why I love it so much.
I cannot thank you enough for this video. I try to search for the meaning in everything I do, see, read, and experience. I’ve been obsessed with it, and the day I woke up and forgot my own meaning of why I woke up, was the day my life got just that much harder. I used to think not have any meaning or purpose would be liberating, but I found it insufferable. Nothing gave me joy or happiness or any of the things that made me want to live. I like to write in my free time, nothing big or well made, just my thoughts (like what I’m writing now) and whenever I write it feels as if I’m trying to explain the inexplicable. It’s as if the thoughts in my head could never be properly put onto paper, and that bothered me. The feelings I felt and experienced needed to be told and conveyed to others, in part because I believed them and what I felt and what I had to say felt special. But now I know that I can never do this, as much as I may try. After watching this video, I feel as if I know why I can’t do this. Because these feelings belong to me and no one else. My feelings and emotions are mine o mine and I must treasure that. And although I’ll never stop trying to put them into paper. But every time I do fail to do so, I’ll revel in it, and enjoy the moment. Thank you for giving me a feeling that no one else could have, and experience I will never be able to write down, and an appreciation for the moments spent watching your video and writing this comment.
While I find a lot of value in interpretation and meaning and reaching out at art that way, I actually do really like the idea and agree a lot with what was said here about the show and art in general and how often times that kind of interpretive work can be destructive, especially the examples you gave. I think I see this a lot just generally being on the internet, but that feeling of seeing someone critique something on the basis of "I didn't understand it" or "It was confusing" without the faith that maybe the nature of the work is supposed to elicit those emotions or that art can be those things and still make you 'feel' is abundant. I liked when you brought out the soundtrack to show the duality at work, something comforting yet disorientating, something the show in a way revels in, that idea of experiencing it and not needing to be grounded in stability. So much of music are things that are hard to decipher at times, I mean, math rock, shoegaze, electronic, a conglomeration of sounds and effects, even words said that may not be understood, rhythms "unnatural," yet we listen to it all the same, and we are so easy to be swept in a song or soundtrack that just moves us. Music can be interpreted sure, but I feel like it's one of those mediums that so easily, we just let sweep us, that we listen to so much music and we feel so much emotions from it even if we can't technically reach out to the mechanics at work. But that's fine. And I want people to be fine with that kind of feeling in other mediums too. I really liked the note at the end. Interpretation, meaning, themes, I still find a lot of value in those things. But at the end of every time I experience some kind of art, anime, games, books, I also value one thing above all else, which is how I felt, was I having fun, was I experiencing joy, or maybe sadness, or did the art elicit something out of me that really, only I would really be able to decipher. And I think to recent examples like Starlight (mostly the movie), how I see so much people starting their discussions of it going they didn't understand a lot of what was going on, to then give it a perfect score, because, what mattered the most was how the work of art at hand made them feel, how it swept them away and gave them an experience, because that's what art is beyond all of the critical lenses. Thank you for making this video!
When I first saw Sonny Boy the first thing I thought it wanted to tell me was:"find your meaning in the meaningless". This video offered me a paradoxically similar but opposite point of view on the show and I have to make my congratulations. Great video, keep it up
Thanks for the video. Sonny boy is an anime that helped me to go through a difficult phase of my life. Meaningless doesn't mean unimportant. and i'd just see that you post this video at my birthday, so thanks for the gift !
I’ve always had so many thoughts and ideas about sonny boy. I’ve watched it so many times. I know what it means to me. But this video opened up a new way of explaining this thing that means the world to me. I couldn’t help but cry. You made an amazing piece. in a way created another shadow world of meaning to sonny boy.
thanks for making this I was feeling anxious. This grounded me, made me feel calm, made me feel like nagara at the end of the season. I'm happy i clicked on this video, even happier you decided to make this video.
"If your so distracted by the plaque explaining what it all means you could miss something beautiful." That can go for life too, when you search for meaning when there isn't any meaning to be found. Distracting from the chance of seeing something beautiful. Sonny Boy to me really is ambrassing the abserdity of life, and to keep moving forward while enjoying the beauty of your own experiences. That you even have a opportunity to have experiences, even if you perceive them as negative. I tend to analyze life a lot, I've been trying to accept what I can't change and just enjoy the ride. It's okay to not understand. I can still enjoy art, and life without understanding it. Thank you for sharing your own perspective on Sonny Boy!
Totes agree with your message. I still left Sonny Boy with an interpretation of its content: moving on in a seemingly meaningless and confusing world and doing so even if your experiences within it are unclear. However, it might not've had the same strength if Sonny Boy didn't elicit those feelings of intrigue and confusion beforehand. It did so with an interesting form too. An experience that is *itself* and perhaps elicited feelings that couldn't be explained with words (yet) indeed should be appreciated too. Good vid to capture these ideas about interpretation and linking it to Sonny Boy in one place. I have the feeling that it could've been shortened though. Nice edits overall, including the introduction of the part titles.
My feelings have been finally expressed into words I can understand. Something I have already unknowingly understood when I first watched it. Thank you for making this video; it was a brilliant summary of emotions felt throughout the show.
It's beautifull work man. Please come back on youtube Upd: I finished watching Sunny Boy a week ago. With all the episodes in hand, I still watched one episode a day/two. Already from the first episode, I realized that I had found for myself the very hidden gold I had been looking for a long time. The funny thing is that I was waiting for it but missed it. Saw some really bad reviews about it. I ended up enjoying every episode. Having finished watching, I realize that in this anime there are a lot of riddles and questions, to which it is proposed to find the solution yourself. But... I've been terrorized for a week now by the question - Why? Why did they leave that world? I can find a simple answer to it and most likely logically justify it. But my soul is tormented and demands something else. I believe that something valuable may be hidden in such a simple question. This Anime left me with a question, tears and at the same time a smile on my face. I will miss it
I finished Sonny Boy about a week ago in the first third of my last summer vacation. Curently, I'm trying to make good memories and to enjoy the rest of my school life. So I picked SB up from some recomendation video on RU-vid and what can I say.. I don't regret watching it. The show gave and gives me feelings of nostalgia like that dude said. When the time came and I finished the show I felt a sense of uneasiness. "I don't want the show to end!" is what I thought. I guess its obvious why I had these thoughts and feelings. Because I don't want my school life to end. I'm (we humans) are afraid of change. And as I sat there with my chin down catching flies the show was over. Furthermore, I like you may reading this right now and I guess anyone else watching SB for the first time doesn't understood it at all. So I started to look for explanation videos. But luckily I stopped watching after a few (three I think). What can I add more? I'm somehow satified and unsatisfied with what I know from Sonny Boy. So I will reserch SB and get different perspectives of the interpretation to better understand what this show means to me. Why will I do this? Simply because I like the show as a whole and because Sonny Boy gave me the feeling of being understood. Guess that's what SB means to me already. And then there's this video. Like I cannot describe how (much) I like SB I can't descibe how I like this video. To me it catches the vibe of SB perfectly. It fells like watching another episode of Sonny Boy. Thanks @Roggoll for making this video. You captured the vibe and essence of SB perfectly, in my perspective. And what I also apreciate how this comment section is a space where you can share your experiences with SB. For that I'm also thankful.
God i wish more people saw this show. And all my friends wouldnt give it a chance if i showed it to them. But i can live knowing that i was able to be affected by it in some way. Even if i never meet another person whos watched it, i can know that i experienced it. Its hard to be alone in anything, but this..i dont mind having to myself in some small way. Beautiful video as well good sir
Goodness gracious, best video I've seen on RU-vid all year. I purposefully avoided Sonny Boy videos (except 'art of' type compilations) since it's airing due to an amalgam that roughly translates into the actual you've adumbrated here. brilliant video and I'm picking up that Susan Sontag book rn ong.
I agree with your video fully, and you put into words in a beautiful manner something I had discussed internally after my experience with sonny boy. Sonny boy was the series that made me realize the "ending explained" genre is something that detracts from the experience for me more than it adds. Ending sonny boy it sat with me so long, and I would go over it in my head more and more and find my own interpretations and in a lot of ways I could link how I felt about it to my real life. When I first finished the series, I was in a miserable place in my life. I was mad at Nagara for escaping his drifting reality and returning to his boring regular life. I thought I hated the series for making the mundane the grand prize for the characters. But the series being an overarching story about the transitions of your life, escapism, and apathy, I realized I was projecting my own need for escapism on the character. As the series popped into my mind in the coming months I realized how I interpreted the series is shaped by my own view and I was unjustly mad at the series for problems in my own life. Re-watching it when I had my life more in order I could apply even more stories to my own life and appreciate how a series like this without definitive answers to everything is far more enjoyable since you can shape the narrative yourself in some ways, and use it as a way have a dialogue with yourself and grow as a person and learn to appreciate more of life. After truly absorbing sonny boy, the human need to get a definitive answer for every piece of media then to file it away and never think about it again makes you lose the art of media. I find myself now rather than looking up definitive answers to stories, I read others interpretations as you might discuss the secondary meanings of a novel from people with different perspectives. Most art doesn't have a definitive answer, and if you got an answer from a piece art that benefits you whether it is just a feeling of joy or allowed you to open a door within yourself to appreciate your life, both of these are equally valid and should be encouraged. I am truly grateful to sonny boy and it will stick with me for the rest of my life. I think it fundamentally changed how I consume media, and I imagine I am not the only one. Any new media I consume I approach in this manner, and i feel happier for it.
This show was the first piece of media I've consumed in quite a long time that I felt truly understood the ennui and listless feeling of being a young adult. It was a strong feeling graduating high school and an even stronger one graduating college -- what do we do with ourselves when we suddenly aren't bound to the schedules and expectations placed upon us? How do we find our way in the absence of the routines that define our childhoods? It also reflects a postmodern disillusionment with the expectations of a capitalist society that I think is gaining a lot of traction in today's youth. We're inheriting a world where truly achieving what you dream of feels impossible, and therefore we've had to learn to appreciate those small joys we have in each other and the little corners of reality we inhabit. It's a bittersweet sentiment but very realistic and where most media would tackle the topic with either too much optimism or too much nihilism, Sonny Boy finds a perfect balance between both. As you suggest in the video, this show doesn't require its audience to understand it because it understands its audience and the anxieties they face with so much accuracy and nuance. Great video and I hope it encourages more people to watch this anime
This was an insanely well written video, it almost made me feel like I was watching Sonny Boy for the first time again. I hope you will do more of these in the future. Have you heard about the manga Ping Pong by Taiyou Matsumoto ? I would love to hear you talk about it.
I finished Sonny Boy a while ago and it was a rough time emotionally speaking, but I didn't understand a lot of it. This is a take on interpreting art that I haven't heard before, but I'm so glad to have now. It's criminal you have under 1k subscribers! Your articulation and explanations were on point, so much so that I (like others) just cried at my desk for a while. I feel like I really understand how not to understand, thank you for the video!
As a big fan of reader-response school of criticism and also sonny boy, this video definitely scratches an itch for me. Ironically enough you pointing out how the show's idea of "these worlds" goes hand in hand with the concept from Sontag's essay is probably what I enjoyed the most here, as it enhances my viewing of the show. I'm not sure if this goes against your sentiment or if I actually misunderstood you, but I kinda subscribe to the idea that there isn't a "true meaning" of any given piece of art. Not just in its content alone, but not in the form either, nor in the combination of them or anything beyond that - but instead, the meaning is created and ascribed by each viewer. So while I didn't fret about "not understanding" Sonny Boy before and I do feel like it's a work perhaps best suited for vague, abstract and indescribable meanings, I really enjoyed what I'd call your interpretation of it as a meta text about literary meaning itself - although I'm glad I'm seeing it now that my mind has mostly settled on SB, and not back when it aired and my mind on it was fresh and I was able to contemplate on it without such handy guide.
I just re watched the show after 2 years. What I'll say is, I've learned and understood a lot of things and I have my own. Interpretation of the story. Which might not be as much comprehensive as others interpretation of this show. If I care too much about others interpretation of the story. I might think I'm wrong and they are in the right. That is why I don't watch any explanation video unless it's necessary
i still wonder why nagara didn't fulfill the promise in the show. Maybe its meant for the future since these things do indeed take time. But thats personal to me, if I had to fufill a friends dying wish i would
There are many different answers to that question, but mostly that this nozomi was a completely different person to the one he knew and nagara knew that
@@Roggoll Has she really changed that much though it feels to me that her nature is still very similar as the one we've been familiar with for the entire show. I think it's more of a question that it is not the right time. Because prior to the promise she's pretty direct to Nagara on how even if they would theoretically be unaware of the time spend adrift it doesn't matter if they dont remember what matters is that it did indeed "happen". And if it happened then that experience is important despite being unaware of it's existence. Hence why I find it weird that after that pretty explicit choice in dialogue he decides not to go through with it in the show. That's why I feel it's not a question of if it's when. & the When is intentionally placed outside of the scope of the show.
@@Roggoll My interpretation to this is that Nagara recognized it wasn’t his turn to be cared for anymore. Someone else needs her more than him right now, and he’s happy to know that nurturing side hasn’t gone away.
The first time I watched Sonny Boy, I genuinely didn't understand anything. I had no idea what the ending meant, or what was to point of the show, but nevertheless I loved it and became one of my favorites. The second time I watched it was after graduating high school, and although this time I didn't enjoy as much as I did the first time around, it suddenly all just clicked and solidify itself as one of the few anime that I consider to be actual masterpieces.
Around the second or third episode I knew the show was committed to being illogical and absurd. Which only bred my apathy, good show disorganized purposefully
so this anime is crazy because it takes a simple plot and gets all metaphysically nonsensical with it. I call this type of plot the Divine Intervention Plot. Various Twilight Zone episodes contain this sort of general plot in where GOD takes an individual into a FAKE TEMPORARY WORLD in order for the individual to gain a self epiphany so he can get back to his/her real world and live a full happy life. But in SONNY BOY it gets crazy with all this world jumping and super powers,etc....still, the end message is the same and the 3 protagonists become stronger and better people through their adventure in the Fake Multiverse
this anime is actually pretty simple to understand, without getting deep and complicated here is the general PLOT:. God needs to help 3 main protagonists to overcome personal issues so they can experience their lives to the fullest . So he sets up a Fake Multiverse with "THESE WORLDS" and "arranges" things so that these 3 students go on an adventure through the Fake Multiverse and eventually they will grow and reach epiphanies that will change them. The Death of Nozomi is meant to help them reach their final Level of Internal Growth. Then they can get back to their Real Home in the Real Multiverse. Since they were all copies, once back home they would merge with the Originals and become One with them. The Asakaze clone was the 3rd Protagonist but he chose to stay behind in the end,however , his personal growth seemed to affect the Real Asakaze as well, as we see in the final episode Asakaze is with Nozomi and thus keeps her from dying in the True World. All lives in The Fake Multiverse of These Worlds slowly become meaningless objects because they were all clones anyway.....In the end, God is testing their resolve when he says "you can't leave this place" but does not try and stop them,he is proud of them
I don't really understand all the "nsbwuwjsvdjw ending explain" or "explaining why sndbwkxbbxkwbd" I try to watch some and all they are all trash theory of that person, After that I never click all that title with that so called explaining something specially if its just a movie/film or any art related,, Thats why I click this because it didn't say it'll explain whatever hehe Gaisha is an entertainment So watch and enjoy
I guess it would be prejudiced trying to interpret whatever tf this video is saying besides "SoNnY bOy WaS GrEaT" "iT mAdE mE FeEl tHiNgS i dOnT uNdErStAnD sO yOu ShOuLdNt tRy tO UnDeRsTaNd."
@@Roggoll You didnt understand it bro. At least not the episodes you mentioned. there were definately purposeful themes. There are nihilistic themes in the show too and thats all you got cause it aligns with your victim mentality denial of meaning. your romantisizing of thoughtless brain dead consumption of art.
This video is going into my "cherish" list a list of videos, quotes, articles, anything really, that is worth sharing, rewatching, or remembering. I wasn't able to express the reason why I thought Sonny Boy was so good.. because I didn't have words, I had emotions. I felt what this show meant to me, what it means in general. It was an anime that, when I looked back at it, I thought I'd feel empty by the end. I was instead left with a feeling I had no understanding of. I still, to this day, do not know what that feeling is. But I assume that it's hope. Knowing everything will be okay, and everything and anything that Sonny Boy gave me. and now watching this video, you gave me the words I needed so desperately back then, but also gave me the reason why I never needed them at all. I think... (i'm trying to make this deep) Seriously though I'm so glad a twitter mutual of mine linked this video, I am a RoggolIsMe fan and supporter now Thank you
I will never forget Sonny boy. I finish watching sonny boy around march 2022. Whenever i see sonny boy again…i just get feeling that i cant even explain..only i know.. Sonny boy is one of my favourite anime ;)) Also the ost tho!! My favourite ost is mitsume- spare the vibes of that song.. just idk.. make me feel emotional…
Really well-done video. Well-edited. I watched SB as it released, and I did make a habit of trying to understand it both for myself and for everyone else. Once the monkey baseball episode dropped I saw a ton of people in the threads acting either bemused or outright annoyed at what seemed like a massively unimportant side-story about invisible monkeys, and even those that enjoyed the general vibe of the episode were a bit lost as to why it needed to exist. It was only when I went through the episode almost frame by frame a couple times that I got a sense not only for what the director was implying, but also for how to enjoy SB beyond just vibing with it. On a surface level there's a lot you can miss throughout the show by not paying strict enough attention to scenes, or by not making retroactive connections. Towards the beginning of the monkey baseball episode there's a scene where the gang is eating ramen and Cap brings up Nagara's loss during their elementary school baseball tournament. Nagara outwardly denies recollection of it, but there's a 1 or 2 second shot of his hand shaking, which is easy to miss or disregard because of how quickly it goes by. It's only when I went frame-by-frame through the episode that I really looked at that shot and realized how important it was to establishing how he got to be so anxious. There's a ton of little scenes like that, which add so much to the characters' development, that the passively attentive viewer is wont to miss. Thematically, while one's interpretation is ultimately an assumption teetered by personal biases, SB is undoubtedly rich with symbolism and themes that the directors mean for you to analyze. You could choose to enjoy the Tower of Babel episode as simply "Nagara goes in a strange tower construction society and reconnects with an old friend", which would be enjoyable for the vibes alone, but in relating that episode's world to modern society and 9-5 culture you're not only exposed to deeper layers of the show, you're exposed to aspects of your own world which you might otherwise take for granted. Every episode has its own set of themes that are carefully and masterfully developed, and in analyzing them you can both grow your appreciation for SB and engender a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you. I disagree with the idea that interpretation of art should be discarded because it can never be confirmed (unless the author themself approves it, though Death of the Author has a case for that.) While you can fall in love with Sonny Boy purely for its musical, dreamlike qualities, you would be missing out not only on the wealth of symbolism and character details that the director and writers no doubt worked tirelessly on, but also on the opportunity to develop your mind and your understanding of life. People may be quick to write off Sonny Boy solely because they didn't "get it", but rather than encouraging them to ignore "getting it" I'd encourage them to rewatch the show and participate in discussion about it, just as one would reread a book to understand it better. Sonny Boy was one of my most rewarding and personal watch experiences because I put the effort in to interpret it down to the little details.
there's plenty about sonny boy you can analyse, but I would still invite people to be okay with "not getting it" because if on some level you enjoyed it then on some level you did get it
An irreplicable anime and video to match. This is the insight I needed to hear today actually. Gaining the freedom of being an adult is interesting. Realizing there is no point outside of what you have yourself experience and what you make of it. The idea that I have 24 hours in a day to fill of pure possibility. And then especially being limited by a physical reality. It's so seriously fun.
"If it wasn't, why are paintings so large, but the plaques explaining what they mean so small". What a fucking bar. This essay was beautifully written and that line tied it up perfectly that I cried. Thank you!
