r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Dec 04 '25

Episode Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi • This Monster Wants to Eat Me - Episode 10 discussion

Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi, episode 10

Reminder: Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '25

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u/ModieOfTheEast Dec 04 '25

I don't really agree with the reading of the ocean in this case. Not that you are wrong, but I think that only scratches the surface. Because the way the show has been using the ocean is a bit more complicated. Yes, it is used to represent Hinako's depression, but it has also been used several times in the exact opposite way. For example, this episode, little Hinako described it as beautiful in the same way she thought Shiori was beautiful. Furthermore, even for depressed Hinako, the ocean also had a double function of being a form of relief, mostly because her family found her death in the ocean as well. After all, she wants to die through the ocean which is why "her ocean" was dried up after she learned that Shiori wouldn't eat her. And that obviously didn't mean that she is out of her depression.

This is why I think the ocean in Shiori's case is also more than just about depression. The ocean in her story has another function in the fact that it is a different world from the human world. The creatures in the ocean are nothing like on land and more importantly, despite humans living in the whole world, we don't live in the ocean. It's a representation of how Shiori isn't feeling connected to the actual human world and only the fish world (which can get pretty grotesque if you go into the deepest sea).

Which brings us back to Hinako who never saw the ocean as some other world. Even Miko is often making a difference between the two "realms" if you want to call them that. But Hinako was never afraid by the ocean and doesn't think that the things look hideous or out of this world, but even beautiful. She is literally the bridge to that isolated world for Shiori.

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u/BosuW Dec 04 '25

As a recurring theme in this story, once again I think the point is that the opposites are the same thing in a way.

While the ocean is a different world from land, the flashback is used to highlight how even in the sea there are so many creatures with connection to each other, which Shiori thought she could not have. In this way, they are the same as humans.

The water imagery is ascribed to both death drive and comfort because it's the central struggle and the horror of the narrative: being drawn to something that hurts. Being wounded yet wanting it nonetheless. The monstruos beauty of love. The cold comfort of loneliness.