Takopi's Original Sin's cruel twist isn't just for shock value - it makes a vitally important point
Warning: This article contains references to suicide that some readers may find distressing.Don't let the cutesy visuals fool you. Takopi's Original Sin is out to deceive us from the get-go.What starts out as the story of a cheery alien from the Planet Happy quickly descends into a living nightmare when Takopi arrives on Earth and tries to save a 9-year-old girl from a broken home.Bullied, abused, neglected, it's hard to imagine how things could get worse for Shizuka. But then they do, unfathomably so, when Shizuka uses one of Takopi's Happy Gadgets to kill herself.It's a harrowing moment, one of the worst to ever be animated on screen, and it comes just 15 minutes into the very first episode. On top of that, Takopi's cartoonish naivety heightens the horror of it all even more. But even when Takopi attempts to undo this tragedy via time travel, things go wrong again just one episode later when Takopi accidentally murders Marina and breaks his Happy Gadget in the process. Unable to go back in time now, Takopi's irreversible mistake seems to be the "original sin" spoken of in the title. If only that were true.After we learn more of the horrors that Shizuka's peers have also endured, including a boy named Naoki and even Marina, the bully who was killed by Takopi, episode 5 begins on an unusually cheery note. That's your first clue things are about to get even more messed up.With Takopi by her side, Shizuka travels to Tokyo to meet her father and be reunited with her dog Chappy (who was cruelly snatched away earlier). But upon arriving, Shizuka discovers that her father has a new family now, including two daughters and a different dog. What's worse is that he pretends to not even know who Shizuka is.
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Taking refuge under a bridge, Shizuka suggests to Takopi that they use one of his Happy Gadgets to cut open her father's new family and see if they can find her dog Chappy in their stomachs. Yep, Shizuka has snapped entirely, and when Takopi doesn't agree, she goes to bash his head in with a rock just like how he used his camera to kill Marina a few episodes prior.At this point, it suddenly feels like we got hit on the head too because this is where things start to get very confusing.The action shifts back to Shizuka's hometown, except we're now watching Takopi meet Marina for the first time. And not the Takopi we know either , but an earlier version who's just arrived on Earth. It turns out the little octopus actually became friends with Marina in 2022 before he met Shizuka. But this Marina has scars on the left side of her face, inflicted by her abusive mother.Since her father left, Marina's home life has become a waking hell. Meeting Naoki in this timeline makes it bearable though, and even her mother seems pleased that she's found a boy to be with. That is, until Shizuka returns to school. It turns out Naoki has been obsessed with her for years, so he's quick to ditch Marina and spend time with her instead.It's especially brutal to see because this rejection happens on the same day that Marina's mother planned a special dinner to welcome Naoki. When Marina tells her what happened, that Naoki can't come because he's found someone new, things escalate quickly. Marina's mother ends up attacking Marina, but just before she kills her child, Marina manages to stab her with a broken glass shard.
That's when Takopi comes in to discover that Marina's mother is now dead, and it's all because of Shizuka. Or, at least, that's how Takopi sees it. Desperate to fix everything, like always, Takopi decides to go back in time and kill Shizuka to make Marina's life better. But in the process, he loses his memories so when he does finally come face-to-face with Shizuka, he no longer plans to murder her. That's the Takopi we meet at the beginning of the series, the one who seemed so sweet and kind. He actually came to Shizuka to kill her for Marina, but ended up doing the opposite instead.Takopi only remembers all this though after Shizuka showed her true colours and violently attacked him in the tunnel. That's why we shifted to an earlier time, because that's where Takopi's memories went.Yep, the only character we had who seemed to be genuinely innocent, the one who did everything he could to help our suicidal protagonist, was actually the one planning her death all along. That is Takopi's original sin. Not him killing Marina by accident, but deciding to rewrite time so he can go back and kill Shizuka on purpose.It's an incredibly bold, ambitious twist, the kind that changes everything you thought you knew about this story and upends the status quo completely. For that alone, Takopi's Original Sin should be lauded. Because who, aside from readers of Taizan 5's original manga, could have ever seen this coming?This twist was impossible to predict, but like the very best twists, it makes complete sense in hindsight thanks to the rules already established firmly in this universe.
It's also an incredibly sad and messed up thing to discover, even more than we would have expected from this already sad, messed up show. But you could never say that this was written for mere shock value. There is power to be found in that shock, that sheer horror at what's unfolded, which only makes the crucial points it's making stronger about the nature of happiness and the cyclical trauma of abuse.Takopi's Original Sin was first published in December 2021, yet the child suicide crisis that features so prominently in the first chapter has only worsened in real life since then. A record number of child suicides were recorded by Japanese authorities in 2024, with bullying often cited as a key reason. As such, Takopi's Original Sin is asking us to pay attention to what's going on today in the real world, and most crucially, the role that adults play in this ongoing tragedy.Every single terrible thing that happened throughout this story, of which there are many, could have been prevented if the adults in these children's lives had just done their job and looked after them like they were supposed to. From neglectful parents to abusive parents to even the teachers who turn a blind eye or simply don't care, the story of Takopi's Original Sin is one of adult failure. None of the children are to blame. Even at their most horrific, they're simply paying forward the abuse dealt to them, mirroring their parents as a way to cope with the unbridled pain they've been forced to endure. Even Takopi, a joyous resident of the Planet Happy, learns violence from this karmic wheel of trauma when he acts rough with his mother who we see briefly in episode 5. Yes, it turns out human cruelty even transcends this plane of existence. Upon learning what his true goal was in visiting Shizuka, Takopi will now have to reconcile that with who he is and what he's done. Because happiness can't be forced on others, no matter how well intentioned you might be. Everyone has their own secret struggles with mental health that we don't know about, and moving forward, that's also true now for this cutesy alien who's supposed to embody happiness, but ended up deceiving us all.If you need help and support on issues raised within this article, please visit Samaritans, CALM, Rethink Mental Illness and Mind for guidance.Takopi's Original Sin is available to watch now on Crunchyroll.Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
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