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Why do they need to hibernate? Chisaki is on the surface and didn't fall asleep, and I don't see her become sick and all, which means that it's fine if they don't hibernate.

Also, Hikari, Manaka, and Kaname didn't age after hibernation. Why is that? Is it that everyone who hibernates doesn't get older? And why are they naked? None of other Shioshishio villagers lose their clothes when they hibernate.

This is picture of Manaka hibernating; she didn't age or wear any clothes.

enter image description here

Maroon
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Darjeeling
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1 Answers1

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In the final episode, Hikari's father explains:

Children born to a person of the surface and a person of the sea lose their Ena. For this reason, the people of the sea had to hibernate before the surface met its demise. We had to make sure that there were enough descendants to leave behind and that there was a chance at a future.

Hibernation in this series seems to be equivalent of Cryonics. Which is where an organism is preserved for virtually an indefinite amount of time by being frozen. During this process, the organism is frozen in time and does not age.

So the belief is:

  1. There's an apocalypse coming. And everyone on the surface will die.
  2. If the entire population of Shioshishio marries into the "surface people", there will be no one with Ena to survive the apocalypse.
  3. So the only way is to hibernate through the apocalypse.

But then Hikari's father continues on:

But Miuna prove me wrong. Miuna has Ena now. That means there's hope for the future even if we wake up.

This is why everyone wakes up.

So biologically, there is no need for an individual to actually hibernate. That's why Chisaki is fine having been on the surface the whole time.

On the other hand, there's nothing in the Anime that seems to explain why Hikari, Manaka, and Kaname woke up naked on the surface.

Mysticial
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  • so it leave the question who wakes them up. Hikari's father? – Darjeeling May 09 '14 at 03:29
  • @ShinobuOshino I believe it was implied by Uroko that the sea god wakes them up. But I'm not 100% sure on that. – Mysticial May 09 '14 at 03:30
  • @Mysticial It was not Uroko, even though he probably knew they awakened and had the power to stop them from doing so. But `"why Hikari and Kaname awakened on their own"` seems like a good site question on its own. As for Manaka, she did not awake on her own. she was awakened. – Mindwin Remember Monica Jun 12 '15 at 19:30