Fushi (To Your Eternity)
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- Johan
- The Orb
- Immortal
- The White-Haired Immortal
| Fushi | |
|---|---|
| To Your Eternity character | |
.png) Fushi's most common appearance | |
| First appearance | Chapter 1: "The Final One" (2016) |
| Created by | Yoshitoki Ōima |
| Voiced by | Reiji Kawashima (Japanese), Jacob Hopkins (English) |
| In-universe information | |
| Alias |
|
Fushi (Japanese: フシ) is the protagonist of To Your Eternity, a manga series written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Ōima. Initially named "Orb", Fushi is an immortal creature sent by a mysterious entity labeled as "the Beholder" to Earth. He takes multiple forms when first visiting Earth and after befriending a young dying villager, Fushi copies his appearance as a response to his last request of never forgetting him. As the manga progresses, the Orb travels across the planet and is given the name Fushi by a young villager named March while other characters presented in the narrative help him interact with others, forming bonds with the people he meets while becoming more human-like.
Ōima created Fushi as a character who would often connect with readers to struggle with the idea of the importance of surviving and the dilemma of immortality. His immortality traits were created for him to adapt to multiple story arcs where she would be given freedom to create distinctive types of interactions. In the Japanese animated adaptation of the series, Fushi is voiced by Reiji Kawashima.[1] For the English dub, the role was given to Jacob Hopkins.[2]
Critical response to Fushi grew from lukewarm to very positive, praising his characterization from a divinity to a human, as a result of connections forged with the individuals he meets.
Casting
Manga artist Yoshitoki Ōima created Fushi. Fushi was originally going to be female, but a colleague suggested a male protagonist in order to create a different appeal. Ōima wanted to make the protagonist neutral, and said she prefers neutral female characters. Each volume cover represents a character's dream, with the first one which depicting the unnamed youth finding freedom. Volume three depicts Fushi's dream, which is to live happily and peacefully with everyone. According to Oima, Fushi does not want to forget the people he met in journey. She said that she felt some guilt for having characters die. Ōima commented on Fushi's growth over time and that, starting with its early portrayal as an animal. There are approximately 13 characters that are greatly affected by Fushi, per the series' working title of "Ash Swords of 13 People" (『13人の灰剣』), before being changed to "To Your Eternity".[3]
Ōima wanted the reader to find himself, like Fushi, in a situation where he does not know anything. Oima wanted to write Fushi's story ever since she was young and wanted to write the character's grief. It is for this reason that she did not make any character appear apart from the hero. A common theme portrayed in the manga is death and immortality, though the latter is something she does not want to show to the readers based on her own personal view. To reinforce this impression of the unknown, she decided to draw a white universe, which is how she obtained a snowy landscape. The character of March was created to balance Fushi as, thanks to her talkative personality, she makes the narrative more chatty.[4] The ability to take other forms was developed to give the writer the possibility to write new characters who would interact with Fushi easily.[5]
Ōima cited Fushi as her alter-ego due to how she uses him in order to express a message to the readers. Several of Fushi's conflicts are based on the manga author too. As time progresses in the narrative, Fushi was written to become more human in terms of personality and become confused in regards to who are his enemies. This idea is meant to end series' second story arc and start with the third one.[6]
Director Masahiko Murata expressed surprise when first reading the manga series, initially believing the young villager would be the lead character rather than Fushi.[7] In casting the actors Reiji Kawashima's voice quality is felt fitting for Fushi from his point of view, which the director agreed with. The first episode only had two voice actors: Kawashima and Kenjiro Tsuda. Tsuda felt that Kawashima was a passionate actor due to how early he appeared in each episode's recording session. Kawashima felt his character to be exhausting to play based on his multiple experiences while Tsuda thought Fushi was too mysterious.[7] For the sixth episode, Kawashima expressed difficulties portraying Fushi's lines due to the fact the character is learning how to speak.[8]
Kawashima said that he was familiar with Ōima before To Your Eternity as he used to read her previous work, A Silent Voice. Upon reading the manga, Kawashima was often moved to tears by both series. Kawashima received instructions from the sound director and also looked at materials about the character in order to understand the role. The actor commented on the scene where Fushi starts eating fruits delivered by March, and chose to eat fruits too in order to make the scene more realistic. Due to Fushi's poor speaking in the early episodes, he executed lines in broken Japanese. The actor often listened to the final product.[9]
In the English dub of the series, Jacob Hopkins voices the character, something he called "A dream come true!"[10] In recording of the first episode, the actor expressed an emotional work not only due to the handling of the unnamed child but also how Fushi ends up becoming him in the ending.[11] Hopkins was curious about the myths that might have inspired Fushi, noting how he starts monotonous but becomes more human with his role in the series. Hopkins recalls being praised by a staff member from Crunchyroll and found the finale emotional due to how Fushi becomes emotional too. Hopkins believes the theme of the series is not about action but about how the main character is gonna deal with living forever and face several hardships.[12]