BTSForeverARMY

That's the point. You think a 2 hour movie is long? Imagine how long and insufferable every day in Shuhei's life was. Imagine being a kid and every single second you're wondering how much longer you have left of this. How much longer until you get your happy ending? Shuhei spends his whole life waiting for something that he knows will never come. You've gotta understand that direction is intentional. All the long, drawn out silences and empty scenes were an active choice by the directors. Because the movie is supposed to make you feel restless, uncomfortable and tired. Shuhei's obedience to his mother is supposed to make you feel both anger and pity. The movie doesn't try to dramatise reality. The reality is that children who are abused, manipulated and isolated from society don't have the opportunity to develop into normal people who can stand up for themselves or even have a sense of identity. Some children such as the social worker are able to overcome it, but in Shuhei's case he didn't. And that should make you feel frustrated. It should make you question "Why can't he just say no?". But, when you ask that question, you realise the whole movie is the answer.

100% Agreed

Yeah I agree. I enjoyed the whole show up until the final episode which honestly just gave me a headache. It's so cliche and tacky and there isn't a justifiable motivation behind it. Why bother including all those details and mysteries and buildup for it to just be a simulation run by some petty parents? I mean it obviously had to be a simulation of some kind given how the kids' bodies were fully controlled. Either that or some kind of chipping or other technology. But I was hoping for something a lot more interesting than the lazy writing cop-out of two random people who just happen to have government-level funds and some big dark room somewhere to fuck with a bunch of kids.

I completely agree. Except these factors just made me fully hate the drama. It's been quite a while since I watched it but I didn't enjoy it and don't look back on it fondly. I can't remember many if any moments I really like her as she was, overall, dis-likeable and didn't have much personality other than being indecisive and not expressing any of her feelings. She made it overall a very frustrating show to watch. And the second male lead syndrome was painful for obvious reasons and he was the only character I could really feel a lot of sympathy for. I also wanted to drop it more and more after every episode but had to know the ending which ended up being- I don't even have words for it. I understand where some people are coming from when they give certain reasons for liking the drama but I personally, as well as many others, just couldn't stand it. And I agree with all the points that you and the comments below me have said.