Original subtitles

During the Kyoho Famine of 1732, many died of starvation on Hitogashima.

Just as the island was dying off, a whale washed up on Omoto Beach.

Overjoyed with this gift from God, the islanders gathered to devour it.

As a fisherman's daughter came, the whale's body suddenly flashed.

In the blink of an eye, it took the form of that girl.

Then it consumed the girl.

Fearing a curse, people worshipped it as the living goddess Hiruko.

This is the legend of Hiruko, passed down through generations on Hitogashima.

It's come to the point where I just want to hoard all your words

Even the ramblings from your travels are treasures to me

Whether I sketch or erase it's all torn away

That's the price I pay for my awakening

Or my daydream's tricking me and I'm still lost in the unknown

Illuminated by the moon

Your figure casts a shadow

And when that silhouette wavers slightly

That happens to be my cue

I wish this were fiction but slow motion is how it begins

If the visceral warmth and traces you left behind

Are protecting someone's future, I'll play the warrior

Amidst pain and sorrow

I'll conquer my fears

It's a paradox of life

Or perhaps god's algorithm

When our tactics overcome

We'll be laughing

Face-to-Face

Face-to-Face

Do you sense any shadows?

No.

Ms. Nagumo was right.

Karikiri ain't a shadow.

Okay, but don't let yer guard down.

Got it.

Well, well.

It's been so hot recently.

Yes.

Is Tokyo hotter than Wakayama?

No, it's not much different.

Here, have some cold barley tea.

Thanks.

But I thought you came to Tokyo last year.

Huh?

Yesterday you told me that you went to a gaming convention in Tokyo.

Oh, right! It was near the ocean, in Makuhari.

Makuhari is in Chiba, but yer right, Tokyo really was hot!

And the place was just packed!

You like games, don't you?

What type do you play?

I used to love RPGs,

but now it's FPSs on my computer or sim games.

Are you going again this year?

No, I probably won't make it this year.

I was really looking forward to the FF7 Remake.

Is it good?

I hear a lot about it.

What?

You've never played it before?

I wasn't born yet when it first came out.

It has a unique atmosphere.

Maybe because it came out at the end of the century.

Both its art and music have a post-apocalyptic feeling.

It makes ya think about how life on Earth will end.

Life?

Games to you are like novels for me.

Do you know the novel Swamp Man by Nagumo Ryuunosuke?

I love it so much that it feels like it was written about my life—that it's my story.

I'm not familiar with that novel, but I know the Swamp Man thought experiment.

Is it about that?

Yes.

Swamp Man

Nagumo Ryuunosuke

A protagonist's copy appears and lives in his place.

No one at home or school notices that he's a copy.

It perfectly copies the memories, personality, and DNA of the original.

If it can do all that, do you think that it's the same person as the original?

I would think it's the same person.

Human cells are replaced each day because of our metabolism.

Our cells continuously divide and copy themselves.

Whether it was done in a flash or slowly doesn't matter.

So you believe a copy is the same as the original.

Yes, I do.

Is this always on yer mind?

It was the shadow sickness yesterday.

I also looked into the legend of Hiruko.

I was going to ask you, but then Hizuru told me the details.

Around 300 years ago in the Edo period, a god named Hiruko drifted to this island.

Far in the past, it arrived from outside this realm in a place you could call outer space.

It was an organism that lived in outer space.

It copied nearby objects, transformed into them, and then consumed the copied data,

but it had a limited choice of objects to transform into in outer space.

It probably came down to Earth in the form of a meteorite.

It likely fell into the ocean, where there were many things it could copy.

Up to this point is Hizuru's theory.

However, the rest of the story is in the written records of the legend of Hiruko.

Three hundred years ago, it transformed into a whale,

and for some reason, it washed up on this island.

It copied a fisherman's daughter who came to see the whale.

That was the start of the shadow sickness.

True, that's how the legend of Hiruko goes.

Are ya saying that it's a true story?

Yes.

Shadows exist.

Like they killed Ushio and my parents,

they'll kill everyone who comes to these grounds tomorrow.

Oh, sorry.

You've read too many stories.

I know yer upset about Ushio's death.

Ya need some rest.

I know everything.

Karikiri, you knew that this is a true story.

After all, you've watched it all unfold first-hand.

Wow.

What is it?

A whale?

I didn't notice at first, but Dr. Hishigata pointed you out.

The man on the right is Dr. Hishigata's grandfather.

Why are you in a photograph that's more than 70 years old,

Karikiri Masahito?

Or should I say, Hishigata Shidehiko?

You're Shide!

Haine!

Come back here, Haine!

Hai—

Haine?

Come here.

Shide!

Summer Time Rendering

Shinpei—

Move and I'll kill you.

What has Dr. Hishigata told ya?

I'm the one asking questions here!

Look at the other photograph.

That one is from 40 years ago.

Dr. Hishigata's father took it.

You aren't a shadow,

but you're not human either.

Swamp Man...

Hiruko? Why would it be here?

Fourth loop, July 23rd While investigating the old Hishigata Clinic

I don't know. Just a guess.

If it is Hiruko, Hishigata Clinic and Hito Shrine must be connected somehow.

Fifth loop, July 22nd Fourth battery ruins, after Nagumo's and Nezu's pseudo loop

The identity of the four-armed shadow could be Karikiri Masahito.

Bwa-huh?! The Karikiri boy?!

Don't you think the same thing?

Yes.

If Hiruko is the mother of shadows, that makes a shrine worshiping her really suspicious.

And Karikiri is the head priest.

Yeah, but ain't Karikiri a human?

Why would the four-armed shadow hide its face?

If it were a shadow, it would just transform into someone else.

What if it's actually a human who's incapable of copying?

I've never seen it scan anything, but it did print something.

If the four-armed shadow is a human who wears the sludge of shadows as an armor...

It wants to hide its face because we'd recognize him.

Sixth loop, July 22nd After canceling entry to Koba Mart

How dare it do that to Ryuunosuke?

The four-armed shadow must be Karikiri Masahito.

I'm certain after seeing our fight in your memories.

H-How could ya tell?

I never liked that priest.

The four-armed shadow disgusts me in the same way.

What do ya mean?!

He can hide his face, but he can't hide what's inside.

The fact that Nezu's shots didn't work can be explained if it's human.

However, Karikiri was at the funeral during that time.

Maybe he sent his shadow to the funeral.

If there really is a human inside, we can assassinate him.

If he's human, killing him is easy.

I'll casually visit the shrine, then smash him while we chat.

That's murder!

We need more evidence.

We might be able to persuade him too if he's human.

Shide burned his left hand.

Seventh loop, July 22nd After the battle at the gym

It'll help us find his true identity.

Seventh loop, July 22nd Hishigata Clinic basement

Look at this.

Shide is Haine's guardian and the first child Haine bore.

His original name is Hishigata Shidehiko, founder of the Hishigata Clinic.

Wh-What is this photograph?

The Hishigata family was in charge of religious ceremonies on the island,

until Shidehiko's father started pretending to be a doctor in the Edo period.

Wait. Did ya say Hishigata?

I thought the Karikiris ran the shrine.

The Karikiris and Hishigatas are related.

They branched off from the Hishigatas.

Are you all familiar with the legend of Hiruko?

The day Hiruko drifted here, Hiruko became Haine, and then the islanders deified her as a god.

That's right.

In time, Shidehiko had a child with this god.

The child wasn't born from a scanned shadow.

He got Haine's body pregnant, and she gave birth to a child.

He called himself a god's husband and took Haine's surname, Karikiri.

Shidehiko also had a brother.

After Haine gave birth, the Hishigata family split,

and Karikiris became priests, while Hishigatas were doctors.

So Shide is a distant relative of ours?

I can't believe it.

What happened to the child?

When the child grew older, it was a splitting image of Shidehiko.

That must be the nature of a shadow.

A child from Haine's pregnancy is the father's clone.

That's when it starts.

Shidehiko notices this and kindles a certain desire.

It can't be.

He made Haine copy and implant his personality and memories in the clone.

In this way, he was reborn.

Such a sick bastard.

No wonder I hated him.

My father helped deliver the baby and took that photo.

His current body was born that day.

Shide repeated this technique.

He made Haine give birth to his new body over and over,

and that's how he has lived for 300 years now.

Yer a hybrid of a human and a shadow.

Well, well, Shinpei. Ya don't play fair. Ya loop.

Ya can't possibly know so much in just one day.

Take a seat and have some tea. It's not poisoned.

So ya admit it.

I was 40 years old back then.

It was the summer of 1732, the year of the Kyoho Famine.

Do ya know about it?

It's in the textbooks.

We had a terrible harvest year.

Fishermen died, so we had no fish either.

But then, Haine showed up.

Islanders believed that God was in items that drifted ashore,

so they believed Haine was a god.

In exchange for eating the people, Haine blessed the fishing.

The legend is wrong there.

She just turned a few hundred people into shadows.

Shadows can easily catch fish and save people from starving.

Hitogashima still exists, thanks to me.

Shut the hell up!

Are ya trying to justifying what ya did?!

Why'd ya kill Shinpei's parents?!

Same reason as you, Ushio. They got in the way.

They found Hiruko's grotto and tried to make it public.

They were a foolish couple, but Mother enjoyed her meal.

Unforgivable!

Oh, would ya have liked it if I made 'em shadows instead?

I-I'm not like you.

I don't wanna kill people, and ya don't wanna die, do ya?

Why go so far to protect Haine?

Yer human, so ya can't go home with Haine.

Give up Haine and end this.

That's not how my ending goes.

My mission is to fulfill Mother's wish.

Dammit!

Goddammit!

And ya never know.

I might have a shadow.

Something's off.

Pull the trigger!

I don't sense any shadows nearby!

Why?

Why is he...

Shoot, Shinpei!

Now's the only chance to kill Shide!

I know what yer thinking.

Why ain't his left hand burned?

Right?

By the way, Shinpei. Can I move now?

I've had enough.

I can't take it anymore!

Ushio!

Wait—

He's dead.

So that's it?

I said I'd do it.

I didn't want to make ya do this.

I can't let ya murder someone.

Why not?

It was my chance fer revenge.

Yer kind, so ya woulda regretted it.

Ya view everyone as people, even me and him.

Leave all the dirty work to me.

Ushio.

Lemme borrow this.

Did y'all hear that?

I killed Shide.

Shin...

Okay. One down.

Shide...

Why?

No, it can't be.

I'm sorry, Shinpei.

I didn't notice...

That was so close, Shinpei.

I guess yer bird's-eye view wasn't high enough to get a complete view of the situation.

You're going alone?

Persuade him?

I'm against it.

If Shide shows his flesh, ya gotta be able to pull the trigger without second thought.

I'll kill him.

Wait.

Lemme try once.

If I don't know what's on his mind, then I can't kill him.

I want him to tell me himself why he killed my parents.

Otherwise, I'll never be satisfied.

But...

I'll endure dying once just to hear that!

I'm still going with.

If the shrine is full of shadows, ya won't even get close enough to talk.

Ushio is right.

If you go alone, they might try to capture you.

We'll be on the grounds too.

Fine.

Can we somehow hear their conversation?

Maybe put a phone in yer pocket and do a group call?

No, ya won't be able to hear the conversation clearly.

We just need to hear gunshots.

I'll shoot twice into his shadow to find out if he's really human.

If you hear three shots, that's your signal to go.

Don'tcha feel like a kid who forgot to save at the end of the game before the final boss?

Ushio is dead.

Brats.

Ya thought ya could mess with my ending?

Don't worry.

I'm with ya, no matter what.

The only loop you'll be in is despair and regret.

Take care now.

Shinpei really gets led around by the nose.

Yeah! They're like a couple.

Huh?

H-Huh?

Where'd Ushio go?

She was just there.

Shinpei?

All traces of you vanished into the sea breeze

But even now I still see visions of you

In reality I only have vivid memories

To play in my head over and over again

To play in my head over and over again

Even if it's all just a lie

Please be close by my side

Right next to me

I fell for you before too long

But time alone was what progressed

But time alone was what progressed

I wanna go back

I've listened to my share of heartbreak songs

Spending my days torn up and crying but now

I want to move on

I shouldn't act tough and just finally be

I shouldn't act tough and just finally be

True to myself

But it's too late for that

But it's too late for that

Next time Made in Black