Have you ever been coaxed into asking your crush out with the phrase “The worst she can say is no?” Well, congratulations! You have friends who fail to see the big picture. Upon reading that, you may think that a failed confession can result in worse outcomes, but it’s the opposite. Should you get that coveted “yes,” and should that person be your life-long soul mate, you just set it in stone that one of you will have to live through a pain so crippling that you can’t even imagine it. And in Grandpa & Grandma Turn Young Again episode 9, we’re given a glimpse into that pain.
Life’s Short and We Don’t Understand That
As Mino navigates the beginning of her love life and how she’ll approach her future, she tries to get closer to Shouta-kun in the hopes that the relationship between them will one day follow the path her grandparents took. Because of that, Grandma and Grandpa end up at a summer festival, with Grandma dressed to impress in a beautiful yukata. As they share a festival date and sit back and relax as the jinja they first met, we realize they’re on limited time.
And limited time is something most couples don’t think about until it’s too late. Few people stop to think about what the caveat of “till death do us part” really means. And, for most people, that caveat only applies to the departed. The remaining partner, especially if they’re at an older age, will have to suffer through it for the remainder of their life.
And this is where Shouzou and Ine currently are. Ine knows her time is all but gone; with only a week of life left, her end is near, and Shouzou will be left to suffer the consequences. No matter how trivial things seem, everything you do has an effect on something else.
And for years, the Saitous took care of the jinja they’re currently at, an action that resulted in the tochigami (the local god associated with the jinja) thanking them for their kindness by giving grandpa the option to give half his life to grandma so that they both passed together. Without a second of hesitation, he agrees.
Grief and Its Consequences
While this topic affects everyone, for brevity’s sake, I’ll approach the rest of this article from a male’s point of view. Losing a partner at any point in your life is a life-changing event. But your youth gives your body and mind a lot of benefits that old age doesn’t. As you age, your defenses also age, and regardless of lifestyle, for a guy, the older you get, the more certain things creep on you. While one can combat illnesses and the curable declines that come in life, a sudden traumatic event like losing a partner usually blindsides some so much that even mental health help is too little, too late.
Sadness and grief don’t fall into a single category. Both of those things escalate, and the more they escalate, the more damage they do. Depression itself has several physiological effects, including increasing the likelihood of cardiovascular issues, dementia, Alzheimer’s, and a whole other list of health issues. The side effects of depression, like a change in diet, energy levels, and insomnia, also contribute to health issues that eventually spiral.
Why do I bring this up? The highest levels of suicide occur in men over 75 years old, and one of the major factors in that is the loss of a partner. Even for those mentally strong enough to process that, the loss of health that comes from losing a partner often pushes them in that direction. And if that decline doesn’t deliver the final push, it leaks the male outlook, in which more than women will panic about being a burden to their remaining family and opt-out.
Grandpa & Grandma Turn Young Again Episode 9 Wrap-Up
If you’re like me, after Grandpa & Grandma Turn Young Again episode 9, you rushed to MAL to see if the manga for this anime is still ongoing, hoping that the pain you’re expecting to come won’t actually come. But it always does. From that first breath, you’re marching towards the end. We always knew how this story would end, and now we’re assured of it
But a few strings are still untied. We got more lore about the age regression phenomenon, which was touching, to say the least. It seems to make the person aware of their mortality, makes them more aware of things around them, and can even erase memories. However, can it allow you to realize things you wouldn’t?
Grandma saw the sand flowing into her hourglass, so she knew that the sand wasn’t hers. But she hasn’t realized that it may come from someone else, and when that realization comes, she’ll quickly figure out where it came from. And there’s the issue: could you, as a person, live with yourself if you knew that your life comes at the cost of the life of the person you love the most?
Screenshots via Crunchyroll
©Kagiri Araido, KADOKAWA/ Grandma and Grandpa Rejuvenate Production Committee
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