how long would you hold onto your secrets and not grow scared of it? would you live with it forever or let it go?
those questions struck me the most after i watched the chiikawa movie: the secret of the mermaid island. about the movie, its very good and well executed despite most of the characters are whining and screaming loud as fuck. now i understand why the reviews are talking about how horribly good the movie is and the meaning behind it. well im glad that i've seen some clips and comic pages about them so i could laugh at their stupid antics, but my laugh quickly wiped away right after i realized what the actual fuck is happened at the fucking island.
so be aware, there will be spoilers. SPOOOILEEERRS.
this post title itself came from the most heart wrenching, gut wrecking, and chest pain inducing scene of all time in the movie. the part where the siren is wailing around, holding their mouth closely and tightly because shimajiro gave carolina reaper powder to chiikawa and friends to put inside the curry.
at first i wasnt thinking about it that much, knowing the fact that it would hurt the siren because they have to sing to attract and help the vegetation to grow for the creatures on the island. it wasnt that bad until the siren was wailing and crying and wiggling around, screeching painfully because the powder hurt their mouth and throat very badly. like, bad bad. my chest hurt for no reason listening to their painful cries and how the creatures are just staring at them shockingly after they realized that it works.
i should've feel happy because it works, but when the creatures are circling around the siren to beat them up because they had been eating and kidnapping their people then hachiware asking about 'is this how we should end them?' hit me like a fucking. brick. is it how we should end them? is it? that felt like a punch to me. it hurts so bad in a way that i couldnt explain because it hits me somewhere that i dont even realize it exists inside my mind.
my friend linked some parts of the movie to colonialism and other stuff that i forgot, but this whole thing hits home for me. i feel something about that siren and how funny it was for me to be affected by a fucking siren that is supposed to attract people with their voice, like i am their own target and it fucking works (lmao), but this two fruit looking creatures who is the FUCKING REAL CULPRIT is making me. hm. thinking about something that was supposed to be thought about.
you see, the whole backstory about mermaid is 'if you eat it, you will granted immortality' and its a huge deal for these fruitlings (we'll call them fruit 1 and fruit 2 based on their leaves on top of their fucking head) because (if im not wrong) fruit 2 is weak and almost died right after fruit 1 asked them to join to find the mermaid in curiosity, then their boat got whacked by the siren who doesnt even know that these fruits are on the ocean. the siren doesn't know shit, but fruit 1 is mad at them and they desperately want to heal fruit 2 by feeding them the mermaid. so it's one-sided, right?
the thing is, these fruits only knew that the mermaid's meat would grant them immortality based on the book, but the didn't know that this immortal stuff came with a side effect: a battery on their butt. so when the battery comes out, they die immediately. this statement was backed by the siren themselves who were peeking at rakko's butt to see if a battery appeared on his butt. the siren also said something about immortality, which means they knew that eating the mermaid's meat will grant them immortal life, but they also mentioned that if they knew who is the culprit is, they will be caged and be lowered down into a dark well inside the ocean so they would enjoy the immortality forever in the darkness forever.
this made me super confused, because here is the thing: if immortality means living forever, then why does only a single battery appear on their butt? doesnt battery also have a usage limit? what if the battery dies? doesnt that means they did not live forever?
the darkness that the siren's mentioned also made me think REAL HARD because it could be interpreted in so, so, so, many ways. aside from not knowing that they would be lowered down, the consequences these fruitlings knew is that the siren will catch them and their people would be super mad because they have lost so many people to the siren's anger, hence why they didn't tell the truth to anyone on the island. they saw people being kidnapped, eaten, marinated because of their wish, but it does feel hurt to keep the secret and grow scared of it, no?
the situation itself of having to hide your own secret and live with the guilt of your own wrongdoings could be seen as 'living in the darkness for a long time'. being chewed alive by your own guilt and watching your own people die must feel like a heavy burden to them. if having immortality but having to stay inside a dark place means you have to live inside a place where the siren's anger circling around you until they feel satisfied and find the culprit, wouldn't that be the same situation? the only difference is that you will still be able to live surrounded by your people and the other side is just you and your mind inside that rattling cage. it’s either your mind is caged but your body is still there, or you are caged with a free mind knowing that you have surrendered.
if holding onto the scalding secret is better because you have your own person, then what would be the trigger for you to latch off that battery?
that question was perfectly answered by the scene where chiikawa is slowly unfolding the truth. he saw the scales and the moment where one of the fruit is inserting the battery on the other one. chiikawa kept quiet and almost brought up the truth to those fruits on the bonfire, but it was cancelled because hachiware and usagi were walking towards him when he decided to confront them. now this scene also made my friends think, because chiikawa might do the same for his friends in order to live forever by their side, but i think he wouldnt do that based on how chiikawa letting go of the scale on the boat.
i think that represents how he let the secrets go and decided to not think about it. the siren was giving up (not really, i'll tell you) and those fruits already granted immortality, so what could he do? it’s not like they would come back to the island just to betray them all.
another scene that made me realizes how fucking eerie the siren was (aside from those freaking red eyes and haunting voice) is how they said something about understanding the situation after they ate the curry. they said something along 'alright, i get it now!' over and over again while wailing and wiggling then accidentally smacking one of the weak fruits (whose battery butt is unlatched) is making me think because: they might have said 'i get it!' not because of how they understand that they would stop bothering the people again (even though they did said that they wouldn't do it), but because they MIGHT saw and finally figuring out that the culprit is the one who was smacked by their tail because they suddenly went limp after the battery falls over.
isnt that scary? i get it! you are the fucking culprit who ate my friend!
chiikawa is letting go of the secret. do these fruits also let it go?
i dont think so. based on the post-credit scene, they did not tell the truth to the people about their wrongdoing and they rowed a boat instead to an island where they could live with the truth, all by themselves. the scariest shit is that the scene was zoomed out, and it reveals the siren and the remaining mermaids are swimming towards the island. i think that is a fucking crazy way to end a movie, because those fruits basically 'living in the darkest place to enjoy their immortality' just like how the siren describes it.
the siren might already knew them since the last curry thing and decided to live by the same island those fruits occupied, circling around the place waiting for the right time to devour them, and those fruits are finally live together forever by each other side until god-knows-when because the siren might attack in silence. captured or not, they are living in the darkness. the difference is only how they are caged. inside their mind, or their physical body?