Introduction
Some 3 months ago, a guy posted the 1st episode of a manga. The title is The alligator who dies 100 days later (百日後に死ぬワニ). He said that he’ll post the other 99 episodes and an alligator, the lead of the manga, will die on the 100th episode.
Couples of days ago, the author posted the last episode. The story is good example to understand what we think about Sakura.
If you are interested in the manga, check the author’s account.or the link below.
The story
He is an alligator in his 20s. He loves to play video games and to Ramen restaurant in weekend with friends.
He also is a sweet guy. He often meets a cat mom with her kitten at a cross road. She always holds her in her arms. He is behind them and the kitten sees him over her mother’s back. He stick out his tongue to make her laugh.
At the crossroad, he sometimes sees reckless drivers drive their cars.
One day, he saw a chick crossing the road though the traffic light was red. Before a car ran over her, he held her in his arms and saved her life. After the incident, he made her a small house on a tree.
On weekdays, he works at a cafe. He is in love with a lady alligator, his colleague. He tries to ask her out but she always says, “Sorry…”
On the other day, he heard the lady alligator told her friend that she was tired of him.
Some days later, she saw him at the cross road. He made the kitten laugh as usual. The kitten does the same thing he did. She found his personality she had never expected and her instinct told her something. Since then, she found herself half in love with him.
One day, her colleague told her the alligator quit the job because (I suppose) he wanted to leave her.
A mouse, his closest friend, noticed something wrong with him. He put the alligator on his motorbike and took him to a rural mountain to see a sunset. (The mouse runs a motor bike shop)
Now the alligator has no job. So, a dog, his close friend, ask him to work at the second-hand shop with him. He accepted his offer. The dog had a part-time job there.
The dog is in love with a lady dog, his colleague. Some days later, he told the alligator, “I’ll quit this job and have a full-time job. Before leave here, I tell her I love you!”
On the very next day, the alligator’s smartphone rang. The dog sent him a photo of them together. Congratulations!
One day at the second-hand shop, the lady dog asked the alligator, “What do you want to be in the future?” He replied, “Ahh…no…” She asked him again, “Then, what do you to be if your wish would come true?” He replied, “…A professional video game player, I think…”
His friends, the mouse and the dog, worried about the alligator because he left the lady alligator with no words left.
It seems that the dog told his worry to his girl friend. The lady dog said to the alligator, “Why don’t you reveal your heart, you still are in love with her, don’t you? Make a decision. You say nothing to her and you’ll regret it. Or, you reveal your love and she doesn’t accept it and you’ll regret it.” He said, “The latter…”
Some days later, he went to the cafe and saw her……
One day, the mouse said that he had a job in a speedway. Now the dog was a salesperson.
The alligator saw the chick. Now she was a hen. He said to her, “I want to be a professional video game player…” The hen said, “GOOD, GOOD!”
Finally the alligator asked the lady alligator out.
Now the alligators and the dogs and the mouse are closest friends for each other. They gather and enjoy video games.
Nothing particular. We have such experiences as they had: With precious friends, partners, bright future. I believe that they held Hanami party to celebrate these things…
The post of the 100th day is ambiguous. The past and the future are mixed in front of our eyes.
The dogs, the lady alligator, and the mouse prepare for the party in a park. Sakura is in full-bloom.
The dog says, “(He is) late…anyway, (he’s) coming.” In this sentence, subjects are omitted and we can’t be sure who’s late and coming.
The mouse gives someone a phone call.
The mouse is on his motorbike. Someone asks him,”Where are you going?” I said “Someone'” because the speech bubble doesn’t belong to anyone.
The mouse replies, “I’ll pick (him) up.” In this sentence, an object is omitted.
In the next scene, the mouse is at the cross road. The traffic light is red. He takes a photo of Sakura and sends it to his friends via messenger. Someone replies, “Good, isn’t it?”
Now the most important scene begins.
A chick toddles on a road. A red car or something stops there.
We can catch a glimpse of the hands and mouth of the alligator. He lies down on the road. The chick looks up the sky. Then, she found a smartphone next to the alligator. The messenger on the phone is on and we can see the same photo the mouse sent.
In my opinion, the scene in which the mouse is at the crossroad is a year(s) later of the 100th day.
On the 100th day, the mouse left the park to pick the alligator up. At the crossroad, the alligator took a photo of Sakura and sent it to his friends waiting for him in the park via messenger. All of a sudden, he found the chick was in danger. He managed to save her life narrowly but failed to save his own. Sometime later, the mouse got to the crossroad.
In the next spring, the mouse is at the crossroad and takes a photo of Sakura as his closest friend did in the last spring. He sends it to his friends including the alligator.
He knows they see the same Sakura though they belong to the different world each other.
The spring and Sakura in Japan
In Japan, fiscal year started on April 1. New school term also begins. We have a conviction that our lives start over again. On the other hand, we must say good-bye to the things we’ll left behind. Sakura bloom in such a season.
We see our lives in Sakura. As I referred to the previous article, Sakura reminds us of Mujokan. In addition to it, It also tells us what “Hakanasa (fragility)” means. Sakura resembles life. It is easy to be broken and far shorter than expected. In every spring, we always remember the life of my own, of friends’ and of the deceased as the mouse does. and find our live are precious though they has nothing peculiar. Good night and good luck. 合掌。
