- Finales are approaching, which mean close-up shots…here, there and everywhere. Of characters looking either upset, exuberant or mad. I will admit that I will not miss a few of these shows, but as for Aokana, watching Irina go ape when her partner Saki ignores her instructions to perform Flying Circus ‘gracefully’ (and instead going down the dogfight approach her opponent Misaki was leading her toward) was truly priceless. Ever since she arrived in the summer tournament, everyone watching has wanted to wipe that smug and superior look off her face. Watching Saki and Misaki square off in this fall tournament semi has shown us that Irina truly does have Saki on a tight leash, and that if anything, Saki seems alien to the concept that Flying Circus can be a sport where losing games can give you a better perspective (like what happened with Misaki). This great mission to make Avalon the only authority in the sport is Irina’s, and not Saki’s. Irina is the one putting words into her mouth, and it almost shows that if she ever found a person that is better than Saki, she would simply discard her in an instant. Before, we were looking at Saki as an antagonist, but it almost looks like she is just a tool, and facing off against Misaki could well give her pause for thought on why she plays. Does she do it purely for Irina’s sake, or her own?
- But we all predicted that Saki would face Asuka in the final anyway. It’s a given that Asuka will win because Aokana is too predictable a show.
- It is, after all, much easier to go down the predictable path. Myriad Colors Phantom World has chosen the Final Boss route: an ability-stealing Phantom. And not only has the show brought the team much more together and made us actually feel for Haruhiko when his mother finally appears (after she left him as a kid). That said, Final Boss reminded me a lot of the Final Boss in Gatchaman Crowds; a being who only sees good in chaos. After 10 episodes, the plot item has finally been revealed! If anything this has shown that KyoAni’s offering for this season is no better than any other of their shows rife with fillers of nonsense……only they decided that their audience would want something lewder and sillier. Well they got the lewdness and the silliness; the show won’t be memorable enough for people to cosplay Mai or Reina or Koito or Ruru though.
- …but maybe they’ll cosplay a genderbent Haruhiko.
- And while more than a few of us were on tenterhooks as to what would happen in Boku Dake ga Inai Machi‘s finale, we were treated with some quality flashbacks, not of Satoru as a kid but of him as he slowly regains his memories. I wish I could say more about the relationship between him and Yashiro, because there genuinely is one. Despite what had happened in the past 15 years, the two of them were still tied together like thread, even with Satoru in a coma. It does give us thought on how serial killers think, why they do what they do, and in this case, why he was so tied to Satoru in the first place. Despite what is in his nature, Yashiro still cannot shake away the fact that he was still a teacher and somewhat of a father figure to him.
- Boku Dake ga Inai Machi‘s ending could have gone horribly wrong, and have us in tears with Satoru facing yet another tragedy (eg. The Butterfly Effect coming back to get him), but I was still very happy with how it ended.
- And so about 70-75% of this season’s shows have ended this week; Myriad Colors Phantom World and Aokana still have their finales planned for next week. Unfortunately, I will not be returning to do the Spring season, as both personal and health reasons have meant I will be ending this column once this season is completely finished. Don’t worry though; I’ll still be around on here, as I’ve got a good bunch of conventions to go to this year, and thus will be reporting on them.