That’s a very satisfying response. Subject precedes category. How about that? Gonna stew about this a little.

As a narrative device, it’s very useful in portraying character very quickly. One can show possessions, interactions with intimates, reflection upon the things that matter most — or at least most familiar to the character. We like it I think, because we like to like characters; and it is in these moments that we are seduced by them. Later on, the seduction pays off when the character does something big and dramatic; or dies.

In Bokurano it’s what distinguishes it from other works — a large cast that would have been otherwise unwieldy, or one-note in a bad way — becomes a powerful unity of different approaches to death and bad hands dealt.

I did love the whole recital. It was intense, as you said — but perhaps less personal due to its being a dramatic set piece, as opposed to a slice of a dying hero’s life near the end of her days.

It’s another way to look at Bokurano albeit many will object perhaps to my contextualizing the work into slice of life. Whatever. It is in these moments, these vignettes of these doomed children where most of the emotive power of this work lies.