Kowloon Generic Romance: Mystery wrapped in Nostalgia

Written by Ross Locksley on 30 May 2025

I have to confess that, in my younger and more carefree days, I had a major love of architectural photography. A an oversized coffee-table book was once a permanent feature of my apartment (before married life) and I'd spend my afternoons just pawing through it with a coffee, admiring the skyscrapers of New York, the electric market of Akihabara and dense, industrial spaces like Kowloon, the lawless "Dark City" in Hong Kong that, at its peak, was said to house up to 60,000 people within it's tight and dilapidated walls. An intriguing shanty town full of vice and crime, it was a famous landmark before its eventual destruction in 1994 as the Chinese sought to cleanse the area. It's a park now.

The anime captures the earthy, well-worn feel of the city

The idea of a romance set in Kowloon conjures up all sorts of noir imagery, I love the idea of the city being its own character, a vicious and living organism populated by people living by their own rules. And while the city is indeed alive in this show, it's not the Kowloon of notoriety - indeed, in this series, Kowloon is almost idyllic. A neighbourly, friendly and quirky place with plentiful shops, offices and homes all densely packed together. Sure, there are plenty of signs of squalor, rusted metal walls, crumbling masonry and nests of wires running along claustrophobic ceilings, but it feels almost comfortably worn in. Nothing at all like the atmosphere of the real Kowloon if photos are anything to go by.

This nostalgic fondness permeates the entire series, which I had mistakenly assumed was standard romance fare set in a famous landmark, but instead we get a thoroughly engaging mystery surrounding our protagonist, Reiko Kujirai. With no memory prior to the last 6 months, she has feelings for her real-estate co-worker Hajime Kudou. He feels comfortable around her and also distant, which is explained pretty early when it's revealed that he was engaged to another girl called Reiko Kujirai who looked identical to his current workmate, save she had pierced ears and needed to wear glasses. She lived in the same apartment and worked the same job, so is this Reiko Kujirai a clone or something else?

The two like to quarrel...

From here, it's a slow-burn mystery as to just what is happening in Kowloon, what's real, what's imagined and why everything feels... nostalgic.

The city itself is also a mysterious character in its own right - it's beautifully rendered on screen and, avoiding spoilers as best I can, let's just say that the residents are all aware that the original Kowloon was demolished, so this new Kowloon and it's reconstruction is as much a mystery as Kujirai's missing memories and the fate of the girl she calls Kujirai B. 

I was pretty much hooked after the first episode, with so many tantalising possibilities about what's really happening in Kowloon, the many mysteries of the people living there and how it's all related to the glowing object floating over the city named Generic Terra.

The floating Generic Terra, just one of the mysteries in Kowloon

The characters are wonderfully grounded. Of course we hear all of Kujirai's inner thoughts, so we quickly find her to be sweet, earnest, confused and determined to live her own life despite who she may resemble. The heartache of falling for a man who has already dated what may have been another version of her is deftly handled by the writers - she's never whiny or overly emotional, just thoughtful and trying to find a way to deal with the longing in her heart. 

Kudou makes a great foil for her - initially he seems like a bit of a slacker, but how eager would you be turning up to work to see a dead-ringer for your ex-fiance? He's light-hearted and playful in the main, his demeanour changing when he stops and gives the pain an opening, at which point he becomes distant and cold, though never cruel. 

Supporting cast are all fascinating too, whether it's bartender Gwen, who seems to know more about what's happening than he lets on, Kujrai's friend (and lemon chicken obsessive) Yumei and the celebrated doctor Miyuki Hebinuma who seems set to be the villain of the piece with his literal forked tongue and erratic behaviour. Everyone in the show is an enjoyable presence, these are characters I want to spend time with and will likely be rewatching even when the mystery is finally revealed. Kowloon, as presented here, is an enticing environment.

Each episode ends with an after or through-credit reveal (sometimes many at once) which can shock or surprise - they did their job too because it was hard to stop flicking to the next episode when you've just had your mind blown! Excellent pacing is one of the highlights of the show, revealing new information in a steady drip that invites speculation, all framed with some excellent directorial flair.

Kujirai is haunted by her "Kujirai B"

Ordinarily I'd avoid an article that's basically a review, but it very nearly slipped under my radar. With a show this good you feel somewhat obliged to share it, bring others into the mystery and perhaps enjoy speculating with other fans online about where things might be going. I'd highly recommend checking this series out, it's very unusual and wonderfully considered, which should come as no surprise considering the manga was penned by Jun Mayuzuki, the  award-winning author/artist behind After the Rain. 

Kowloon Generic Romance is streaming weekly on Crunchyroll.