The Summer 2021 season of anime brought plenty of returning fan favorites like That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slimeand exhilarating newcomers like Tokyo Revengers. Among the options anime viewers found before them, one series went unnoticed by many. The compelling drama To Your Eternity managed to snag the Crunchyroll 2022 anime award for best drama, and rightfully so. Still, it lacked the prevalence that series like Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer experienced among anime fan discussions.
Such an innovative, unique series certainly brought many viewers to the verge of tears, if not having forced a blubbering, emotional breakdown instead. Of the various characters and character dynamics introduced in the series, one of the most interesting was Hayase and her relationship with Fushi, the white-haired immortal. Her obsession with Fushi caused much of the conflict in the series. Even after Hayase’s death, her descendants filled a similar role in the series and Fushi’s life, but let’s take a deeper look.
Who Is Hayase?
Throughout Fushi’s journey, it’s met many individuals from different walks of life, but few have played as large a role in its development and experiences as Hayase has. Hayase was introduced to viewers as a government official of Yanome, a powerful country constantly wielding its power over Ninannah, a large territory comprised of several small villages. As a government official of Yanome, Hayase was initially tasked with ensuring Ninannah’s annual sacrifice ritual went smoothly, and that’s where she first met Fushi.
At first, she didn’t think much of it, but after seeing its immortality and otherworldly ability to transform, she grew to see it as a divine being. She eventually became obsessed with it and did everything she could to stay by its side, while also keeping it all for herself. She even looked fondly towards death as long as it meant Fushi could one day take her form. She served as a persistent antagonist and caused a lot of despair for the white immortal.
Once it finally managed to escape from her grasp, she ended up crossing paths with a Nokker, the primary antagonist of the series. Essentially, the Nokkers are a species of ethereal beings who inhabit a meaty, spherical form and can take control of human bodies at will, thereupon usually killing the human. Their primary goal is to kill as many humans as possible to “free” the spirits, also known as "fye", from within them. Instead of killing Hayase, the Nokker made a deal with her to stay bonded to her family line and get passed down from one generation to another.
Who Are Her Descendants?
After Fushi and Hayase part ways, viewers don’t really see her again. Instead, her surviving her Nokker encounter was hinted at, and decades after her death, Fushi was found by one of her descendants. Hisame, Hayase’s first successor and reincarnation, was immediately obsessed with Fushi, just as Hayase was.
Hisame’s connection with the Nokker in her arm allowed viewers to understand the arrangement the Nokker had with Hayase’s family line. This was the same Nokker that originally attacked Hayase and was passed down to her daughter and then Hisame. After also parting from Fushi, Hisame had her daughter, Oumi, at the age of seventeen and passed away shortly after.
From there began a long line of Hayase descendants who find Fushi and try to stay by its side. They all wear a variation of the Yanome military uniform Hayase wore, and they act fairly similarly. Throughout the anime series, Fushi meets five of Hayase’s descendants: Hisame, Oumi, Ushio, Chisui, and Kahaku. After viewers are introduced to Hisame, none of the other descendants make a lasting impression in the anime, until viewers meet Kahaku.
Kahaku is the only male descendant and when he first introduces himself, he tries to put Fushi at ease by mentioning that he won’t romantically pursue Fushi like the other descendants since he’s only interested in women. This allows Fushi to grow closer to him and feel more at ease with him until Fushi takes the form of Parona, a teenage girl Fushi met earlier in the series, to hide its identity from enemies during their travels. Then, it gets a lot more complicated, as Kahaku develops romantic feelings for Fushi and confesses his feelings, swearing that he accepts Fushi in all its different forms.
Hereditary Infatuation
Once Kahaku reveals his romantic feelings for Fushi, he falls into the same infatuation trap as Hayase’s descendants. So what is it about Fushi that just drives these Yanome warriors wild? Well, it all comes back to the beginning. Hayase refused to let her infatuation with Fushi die with her. In this series, once the spirit, Fye, leaves the body, it has its own will and can be reincarnated in different forms.
Before Hayase died, she had a daughter, who was pregnant with Hisame. Hayase swore to live on in her daughter’s womb, therein making Hisame her first reincarnation. Before her death, Hayase wrote an autobiography filled with details of her time with Fushi, her deep desire for it, and her self-given purpose to protect it.
From there, Hayase’s will and infatuation continued to live on through the generations. It didn’t help that Hayase’s descendants were raised being taught that their purpose was to protect Fushi and eventually have children with it.
Hayase’s obsession with Fushi was strong enough to last several generations and drove many of the events Fushi experienced in To Your Eternity. The second person Fushi really connected to, March, met her end at the hands of Hayase, as did Parona. These deaths both drove Fushi into rage-filled chaos and resulted in it gaining the ability to transform into both of these friends. Hayase also plotted for Fushi to be taken to Jananda Island, a prison island where it met Tonari and her friends before they lost their lives to the Nokkers. Hayase and her descendants are arguably one of the unending clans of recent anime, and now you know why.