Mr. and Mrs. Return to Youth Episode 5 – Vauge Memories

Mr. and Mrs. Back to Youth episode 5 is out and it's an honest look at the pitfalls we don't think about when we desire luxuries. Have you ever wanted to travel through time? Then you also need to be able to travel in space. Want to become invisible? It's best to prepare for temporary blindness because your eyes won't be able to absorb light. Want to buy Hunahpu's Imperial Stout? Prepare to stand in line with some of the most annoying people you'll ever meet. You want to look younger? There are some downsides that you might not expect.

Go back in time

When Mr. and Mrs. Return to Youth episode 5 begins, a young grandmother returns to her teenage years. But there's a catch. Her memories are gone and there's a good reason for that. We'll get to that in a bit. The important thing now is that even though she doesn't remember the past 50 years of her life, she still believes what people tell her about her current life.

Likewise, even though she doesn't remember anything about it, she still believes in finding comfort in the life she has. The ups and downs of housework, the comfort her grandfather provided, and the love from her family still resonate with her, even though she can't remember the life they built together. Whenever he wasn't around, she missed him and became worried. That realization ends up being the spark that allows her memories to return and with that, the happy couple is reunited.

What is memory?

The human brain is much more complex than we think. Some of its processes are still not fully understood. For example, the way memories are formed involves more than just learning new information or recording an experience. It involves many regions of the brain and creates neural connections and pathways. The way memory is stored adds to that complexity.

To really simplify a process that takes quite a while to explain thoroughly, assume everything in your brain is in a working state. When you experience something new, this leads to the formation of synapses, which connect neurons together. When we repeat that action, those connections strengthen. That boost, called long-term potentiation, is what helps you retain memories and learn new skills. The more effective this is, the better your memory will be.

But as one can see in cases of traumatic brain injury or mental illnesses such as Alzheimer's Disease and dementia, these associations are not static. With Alzheimer's disease, synaptic plasticity is disrupted and the accumulation of Beta-Amyloid Plaques and Tau Tangles causes damage to the connections mentioned previously and with it damage to memories. But damage and deterioration aren't the only things that can affect memory—regression is also an issue.

So far, grandpa and grandpa have been rejuvenated partly in their bodies, but not their minds. So when she was young again, all the neural connections that led to memory were lost. Due to her behavior, we can surmise that some memories of her life remain. After all, if most people woke up in a house they didn't know had a stranger in it, their reaction wouldn't be calm.

But throughout the episode, we see Grandma retain some sense of security in her home and around her family. However, this can be a deeper question as we leave the physical world and enter the metaphysical world.

As anime fans, we are all familiar with reincarnation. Getting run over by a truck and having a better life is so ingrained in our minds that when I go for a jog in the afternoon, those 16-wheelers look really appealing. However, if we look at reincarnation in this life. The idea of past memories would defy all scientific understanding of biology if proven true because this would mean that memories are not something physical. It is something more akin to one's soul than one's body. If so, then Her essence may be telling her that she is in a safe place.

Mr. and Mrs. Are Young Again Episode 5 Summary

What is love? How is love measured? Biologically, love is nothing more than chemical and electrical impulses. So whether people like it or not, the love we have for a person and the love we have for a drawing on a screen has no difference. Both of those are love.

But that's looking at sensation from a biological perspective. When you look at it from a metaphysical perspective, you fall into murky waters. Because then, you will achieve something that cannot be fully grasped. And this episode shows that eloquently.

Even though she didn't know who she was with or why she loved him, she understood that there was a connection there that meant a lot to her. And maybe that's what love is — a feeling you can't explain and you can't understand, but it's a feeling that says, “Here, you're safe.”