You okay?
Shut up.
This has nothing to do with you, so don't waste your precious concern.
I'm gonna worry.
Because we're friends.
I do not consider you my friend!
We are friends.
You don't have to keep doing everything alone.
You think some pretty little platitudes can fix this?
How disgustingly pedestrian.
Say whatever you want. You're still my friend.
Get off me. This isn't some cheap little drama you can solve with a hug!
You're not actually stupid enough to put your faith
in "friendship" or whatever, are you?
No. I'm not that much of a dumbass.
You've made quite a few holes in this.
Or are you raising caterpillars in your pockets?
Somebody who melts just from a little hug
could never make it to the top of the streamer food chain, right?
You little...
Your skin's really pretty. I never knew.
You're always in long-sleeved Lolita gear, even in the dead of summer.
Wow. Michica-sama, actually rattled.
Let go of me!
That's right. It's been like this since elementary school.
Everything in the world was so hideous.
So disgusting, so vile...
FRIENDSHIP
MIDDLE SCHOOL FESTIVAL LOVE
Every time I felt sick, I took pills!
JUSTICE
FOREVER
Just being alive in this rotten mortal world was agony,
MORALS
PEACE
and every time I wanted to die, I cut my wrists instead!
I like it.
You look more rock 'n' roll right now than you ever have. Seriously. It suits you.
I don't understand any of you!
How can you all just float through life like it's nothing?!
Men, women, money, numbers, booze, everything is disgusting!
This whole rotten world is nothing but filthy people saying filthy things!
Those idiots in class, playing pretend at friendship
with those stupid grins plastered on their faces!
And the trash online who act so superior
while choking down gossip just to feel better about themselves!
And we still have to keep living anyway!
Unlike you, most people can't make it look cool!
They accept that, and they keep trying!
But you're getting high on some fairy-tale martyr complex,
acting like you're the only unhappy person in the world!
You listen to Sound Horizon?
I'm into weird music, so I know a little.
And, uh, I never really fit in at school either.
Though I guess it'd be rude to act like we're the same.
No, the freaks are the "normal" people
who look at this hideous reality stone-cold sober and accept it!
I can only live in a dream.
If I don't stay inside the dream, I'll break.
I have to be the heroine you all worship!
I have to keep giving them what they want!
So every time, I'd take more pills or cut my wrists!
That agony of clawing my way out of reality by any means I could...
How the hell could people like you...
How the hell could people like you ever understand?!
I don't understand, and that's why it hurts!
No matter what I do, I'm just another normal person!
Because all I can ever do is worship from a distance!
I guess I just wanted someone to talk to.
I decided on my own that maybe we'd get along.
Sorry.
What the hell is this?
Because amazing people like you even make suffering look cool!
And it pisses me off so much, and every single day, it makes me sad!
I'll allow you to talk to me once in a while.
Just once in a while.
Your eyelashes are so long.
People like you actually do the things the rest of us give up on!
You can smash windows and walk right out of school!
No matter what happens, people like you are cool and beautiful and rock 'n' roll!
So no, I can't understand your suffering!
Not when you don't even try to understand boring nobodies like us!
Even your crying face is pretty!
It's not fair! You people are so damn unfair!
Then what am I supposed to do?!
I want to be more beautiful than anyone, forever!
And every time that pressure piles on, I need more pills just to stay beautiful!
Am I supposed to keep drowning my fear in more and more sleeping pills
and psych meds every single day, living in terror of the crash waiting at the end?!
Then we solve that problem!
Why? Because I just heard the problem!
We finally heard what you really think, so now we can do something about it.
First, we start tapering down the meds.
I'll go with you to the psychiatrist.
The rest, we tackle together. Simple as that.
Who goes there?!
With us helping, don't you think you might actually make it through?
I have helped with addiction treatment a fair bit, you know.
And you're strong, Michica.
You cowards.
You were waiting for the perfect moment to barge in.
Pretty much.
And if we're being honest, I knew about the meds and the cutting, too.
We've known each other a long time.
I'd been thinking we needed to step in and take care of you somehow.
Kache did the hard part for us. We figured now's the time.
Works out perfectly.
We've still got time before the showdown.
Let's use this chance to actually talk things out.
Before, you might've just bottled it all up and run away,
but now that you've blown up this hard, we can finally do something about it.
The three of us should help each other.
When it hurts, lean on us more.
I'm an idiot too,
so there are infinite things I'll need you all to help me with.
When push comes to shove, we've got friends who'll come running.
More than anything, you have a family now.
Did you forget the reason why we call ourselves Karamazov?
Fine. If you're going that far, I suppose I have no choice.
We can't defeat the Angel unless all three of us are together anyway.
I may have lost my composure a little, but I have no intention of losing.
My apologies for worrying you.
Now then, shall we head home?
We'll reset ourselves, and I'll brew us some nice, hot tea.
You can still make yourself look cool after all that?
Yep. That's talent.
Thank you.
Don't get cocky.
You're blaming yourself because you engineered things to turn out this way.
Being truthful is a virtue.
And you're so responsible, you can't help ending up feeling this way.
But it's okay.
Your kindness gets through, Nechika.
Don't worry.
Not bad, Leader.
But I'm not forgetting that you made me stream alone!
And another thing! You two better help fix the windows!
To be honest, the day I quit school, I'd taken a bunch of pills, too.
Everything got hazy, and I got reckless.
And while I was trying to numb the fear,
I destroyed everything.
Every Monday made me sick.
I was terrified of how I couldn't fit into the world.
But some arrogant part of me thought that made me cool, and I was trapped between the two.
So I kept my earbuds in all the time, like I was walling off the outside world.
Michica?!
Though there was one ridiculous girl who managed to blast right through them.
I see.
Thanks for telling me.
This stays between us. Absolute secret.
The only ones who know are you, Kache,
and that big, round moon up there.
I KNOW HOW HARD YOU'VE BEEN WORKING
Hey! You otaku freaks!
You dopamine-addled little shits need to enjoy life efficiently
by endlessly doomscrolling short videos of cute girls dancing to upbeat music!
I KNOW HOW HARD YOU'VE BEEN WORKING
GRADUATION YEARBOOK
Yeah.
It sounded cheerful, but somehow really lonely at the same time. So I knew.
She was lonely t—
SWAN ROCK HEAVEN
I came to pick you up.
Let's leave this world behind and go see the galaxy together.
We'll find true happiness.
Ame, what is "true happiness"?
It means ascending to heaven just like this, and drawing closer to God.
It's so beautiful.
So noble.
Maybe it is.
Come on. You've always longed for it, haven't you?
That one brilliant star in the night sky, too far for anyone to reach.
Yeah.
I don't know why, but...
I feel like your happiness and my happiness aren't the same anymore.
So I can't go with you.
I see. Then I guess that's that.
You can find happiness now, even without boarding the Galactic Railroad.
Traitor.
I'm sorry.
Ame, I'm so sorry.
I'm sorry.
The clouds of Andromeda
Are the shape of a fish's mouth
The Great Bear's foot points to the north
It can't be!
Reaching out to five places
Above the Little Bear's brow
Lies the marker by which the heavens turn
P, Christmas is almost here.
No point hiding it, but I do have a present all ready for you, P.
Just wait till you see it.
I just have a tiny bit of work to do first.
Yeah. I'll do my best.
P, we'll be together forever.
The only reason I can keep trying so hard is because I have you.
I love you. I'll love you forever and ever.
I love you so, so much.
True happiness is right here.
THE FINAL BATTLE KANGEL
The solitary Internet Angel versus the three angel-hunting siblings!
THE BATTLE FOR THE INTERNET THRONE
Bearing thousands of prayers and tens of thousands of grudges,
at long last, the time has come!
The earth trembles!
The sky splits open!
The silence shatters!
The battle has begun!
KARAMAZOV HAS JOINED THE BATTLE
They're the next generation, aren't they?
A trio where each member has her own quirks, each one is popular,
and on top of that, they genuinely get along.
For young fans who love dynamics and relationships,
I think they're a group worth stanning.
I looked up to her.
I used to watch the Internet Angel's streams all the time,
and it's true that she saved me.
But that's exactly why I have to send her off.
She's probably ready to rest by now.
THE BATTLE FOR THE INTERNET THRONE
She's too big. She shines too brightly.
To me, she's the Golden Pavilion.
She's so blinding that she has to burn.
Times change.
And yes, I suppose it would be a problem if the day never came for KAngel to retire.
But I don't think that day is quite here yet.
Those girls have star power. They're funny.
And on top of that, they live the kind of genuinely cool lives fans can aspire to.
They really are the ideal streamer group, aren't they?
But in Japan, they're still only number two.
The Golden Pavilion is most beautiful in the moment it goes up in flames.
Karamazov can make that happen. A new era will begin.
A tight little friend group gets high on its own in-jokes
and thinks it's stolen the era through sheer momentum.
That youth is precious, sure.
But I don't think it's enough.
Let's ask the arrogant god who's climbed all the way to the top to kindly exit the stage.
The world wants it. We're going to win.
I won't lose.
THE ONE REIGNING AT THE TOP KANGEL
THE ONES CHALLENGING THAT THRONE KARAMAZOV
Hard to believe snow started piling up the day before.
Sometimes life really does know how to be dramatic.
Perfect for a holy night.
The snow will cover the corpse of the Angel whose wings we've broken.
It's cold. I want to go home.
About time we get going.
Um, Purple Lollipop? There's something I wanted to give you.
What is it? Don't tell me this is where you send me off?!
Must be nice being dumb enough to have energy in winter.
I kept meaning to give them to you, but I ended up taking forever.
Now it's the day before the showdown, so it feels all meaningful,
but it's really not that big a deal.
Earrings!
I wanted to thank you for this necklace. And, you know, cheer you on a little.
But they're super cheap!
I'm not saying you have to wear them or anything!
I'd just be happy if you kept them!
My, how cute.
Hey! You seriously don't have to be nice about this!
Tomorrow's a huge day, so I want you going in looking your absolute best!
Then this is my absolute best.
The ring is from Nechika.
The necklace is from Michica.
And now, right before the fight, earrings from a new friend.
That's the coolest look there is!
Purple Lollipop.
A friend, huh?
Careful, Michica. She's gonna steal your friend.
I don't have any friends.
Once upon a time, there were three brothers.
Each of the three had very different personalities.
The eldest was violent and lawless, but had wild, larger-than-life charm.
The second was intelligent, but his faith was weak,
and he agonized between science and God.
The third was the kind of person who seemed to be made of nothing but faith.
Their father's death set off a massive fight between the three brothers.
And once the women around them got involved, too.
Oh boy, it turned into one gigantic mess.
But in the end, through the course of the trial, all three brothers regained their bond.
The eldest discovered responsibility within strength.
The second, tormented by the feeling that his own calculating nature
had handed his soul to the devil, found his way back.
And the third held fast to Christianity to the very end,
growing into a splendid person through everything he experienced.
And so, from this day forward, we shall call ourselves Karamazov.
So which one of us is which brother?
That's not the point.
The point is that even when the three are completely different people,
what matters in the end is that they believe in each other.
Real people don't have personalities as clean-cut as characters in a novel.
We're more complicated than that. More like gradients.
Otherwise, Nechika, you'd start identifying with the second brother.
The smart one, stuck halfway between God and science.
Maybe.
Maybe from your own point of view.
But from where I'm standing, you look like the kindest person out of all of us.
That's how it works.
Do what you want.
Anyway, a lot of seriously messed-up things happened, and in the end,
each of them walked down a path that wasn't exactly happy.
But the different forms of "righteousness" those three brothers found were,
without a doubt, more precious and beautiful than anything.
NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW
The streamer reigning at the very top, KAngel.
The streamers challenging that throne, Karamazov.
The die has been cast.
Next time, "ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR"
EPISODE 10