Minnie: Last episode of Kimi ni Todoke Season 2 and also, the last podcast I will ever talk for Hey, Say, Anime. Please enjoy my last piece of work. Thank you everyone for supporting me this entire time. I wish I could have continued doing this forever but sometimes, drama just gets in the way and people like myself need some time alone. If you do enjoy what I say/think about anime though, please visit my personal blog where I post not only my original fiction, but thoughts on various topics such as anime. Again, thank you and… good bye!

Podcast:

Minnie’s Overall Rating for Episode: 10/10

Minnie’s Overall Rating for Kimi ni Todoke: 8.7/10

Katt: This post is far later than any of my other Kuragehime entries have been (er, barring the one I skipped) and I am so sorry for that! Especially since it is the last episode! But I like to think that I have a good excuse, what with Funimation posting the episode a day later than usual, said day being New Years Eve when there is partying to be done, thus me only watching the episode at like 3am… So clearly this is all Funimation’s fault for posting the episode a day late! Now, let us reminisce on this closing episode that…

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Minnie: I am about 3-4 days late even though I watched the episode the minute it came out subbed and beautiful. I’ve been quite busy lately with the holiday season and family and all that fun stuff. I hope this podcast is to your liking even though there are a couple of times when I cracked my voice… So icky there. Please enjoy my very last podcast for this anime!

Podcast:

Minnie’s Overall Rating for Episode: 7/10

Minnie’s Overall Rating for Series: 7.2/10

Katt: Gotta love how I said that I would for sure blog the final two episodes of this series…and then skipped episode 11. Go me! And I notice that I have a tendency of not blogging the most exciting episodes of this series. Well, since episode 12 is the finale, it’s guaranteed to be interesting!

In these final two episodes, so many the plot twists were squeezed in. I have to wonder whether it would have been better to have cut down on the drama a bit and focus on one major plot point, maybe reaching a solid conclusion? Maybe? Instead, we’re introduced to a few bizarre turns and even bigger questions – and then given the ending line, “And the pledge would remain unbroken for the rest of their story,” essentially laughing in our faces and saying: yeah, they get their happy ending but you don’t get to see all of the crazy stuff that happens before they get there! Assholes. I digress, though… I liked how certain things were handled and was annoyed at other  things, so this final blog post will be used to vent my opinions on different aspects of this final arc and, specifically, final episode.

The role of Mei Ren

Mei Ren, Mei Ren… I still can’t decide what to make of your role in this anime. At first I thought that her addition was pretty neat, but that was when her mysteries were yet unknown to us and to Akira. Once those mysteries were exposed, I kinda lost interest. Because she was nothing more than an anime addition, her story only had the chance to be heard in these last two episodes (actually, only in the last episode, really). It was extremely intriguing, had a lot of potential for both dark and heartwarming value. We only got to see snippets of that potential in her monologues and very brief flashbacks – what a tease!

Her role as Rozenmann’s assassin/Mina’s double’s servant/agent for the Telomere was overwhelming. It felt like they were trying to cram a whole lot of explanations into one little character, and as a result left us with even more questions than they would have if they kept Mei Ren out. Oh, and let’s make her a beast person too, just for good measure. If they had given her more time to develop all of these many, many sides of her, then fine - but no, she got two measly episodes!!

Akira’s last ~hidden memory~

This. Oh my lord, this. WHY? It is just so…was it really necessary? Really? If they were going for the “Akira and Mina lived happily ever after” ending, then it would have been perfectly logical to have ended on the note of Akira saving Mina from the harassment of the Three Clans/her arranged marriage. Instead, they introduce a random twist in which there are two Minas and Akira (and Mei Ren, apparently) is the only person with this knowledge. And in the end, both Minas still exist, leaving this sudden issue completely unresolved. I will only accept this ridiculousness if they intend to make a sequel to this series; if not, this plot twist is superfluous and just plain annoying!

Mina’s dealings with the Three Clans

What I did undeniably love about this last episode was Mina’s attitude throughout the whole ordeal. She remained incredibly composed while watching the spectacle of Akira’s final battle, only faltering towards the end when her hand was shown to be quivering. She still manages to steady herself, watch the conclusion, and then address her bretheren with that cold, powerful vampire leader attitude of hers. My favourite part of this is when, after she walks away with total composure, Mina breaks into an eager run towards the entrance where Akira will be arriving. A big part of Dance in the Vampire Bund is establishing which Mina is the true Mina (and I don’t mean that in the ‘there are two Minas’ way – I’m ignoring that plot twist), and this simple, excited action says it all to me.

The concluding promise

I said it at the beginning, but I’ll say it again for good measure: HELL YES THEY DANCED IN THE VAMPIRE BUND! …Yes, the silly inclusion of the title within the characters’ actions makes me happy. I’m a dork, I know.

In all seriousness, the ending was nice in a cheesy way – which isn’t always bad. It fit the path that they took with this anime adaptation, following it through with a narrator focused on Akira and Mina’s fairy tale-esque romance. The added metaphor of the butterfly loving the flower came back nicely in the closing scene, as well, showing us that Mina isn’t an emotionless flower who can never return the butterly’s feelings; both she and Akira are butterflies, capable of returning each other’s affections and basking in love for their remaining days. Yep, I think that this ending calls for a big awwwww~

Katt sank her teeth into Dance in the Vampire Bund episode 12…8.5/10
Katt found, overall, Dance in the Vampire Bund’s blood tasted…7.5/10 – I think I would have preferred it so much more had I not read the manga previously. The expectations really messed with my enjoyment of the series.

Katt: Waaaaah, it’s over!!! This is so depressing. What ridiculously melodramatic reverse-harem shoujo series will I watch now?! And this finale…ah, I still don’t know what to think of it really. It made me laugh, it made me ‘aww’ – didn’t make me cry, but maybe that was the reaction they were going for when I ended up laughing. And the conclusion was satisfying in its own way, but I guess I was just expecting more from it as a whole. As parts, though, this episode had lots of merits, and as such, I will break it down into parts to fully appreciate it!

The laughs: I love how exaggerated this series is

We were all wondering what Yui was doing in the preview for this episode – well, she basically serves as some sort of narrator whose presence really isn’t needed. I think I could have figured out the timeline just fine without her. But, I’m not bringing Yui up just to criticize him. I am bringing her up for the hilarious fact that she was soooo excited to read Kajika letter: she drops all other mail, carelessly tosses aside her shoes, and runs up to her room…..only to take the time to change out of her school uniform before actually sitting down and reading the letter. Really? REALLY? I mean, I sympathetize with being eager to change out of a school uniform, but if I were that damn excited for a letter I think I would tough it out and just read it while in my school clothes.

You know those cheesy moments where the heros are perplexed, at a loss for what to do on their own, when all of a sudden some guy shows up and basically announces “I have the solution!”? Noei was that guy. He literally climbed up to a balcony (I don’t know how), jumped over it and epically interjects into the conversation with a, “Leave that task up to me!” I think Noei single-handedly brought this series to a new level of ridiculously overdone. Thank you, Sir, for being too cool to just take the door.

Plot twiiiiist! Okay, so it was a purely platonic thing, sort of a parallel to the Rumaty-Quinza bond, but it would have made a pretty memorable final episode if Li-Ren decided to run away with Zao instead of Kajika. Oh, and speaking of running away with Kajika…

IT’S THE BUBBLY, SPARKLY SHOUJO RUN!! This was what I was waiting for the entire episode, and yes, it toootally made me laugh! I was a little disappointed that Kajika wasn’t actuall running, just kinda standing there and sparkling, but the fact that Li-Ren initiated the run and looked completely awkward surrounded by all of those bubbles and sparkles and pink made up for it completely. A moment worth waiting 39 episodes for.

I’ve been making fun of these rich kids faaar too much lately to not mention this moment. To be able to immaturely retort, “Yeah, well, I have a helicopter too!” to someone… rich bastards indeed. At least their wealth has been used for intentional comedical value lately. Also, I love Eugene for being like, “This is my helicopter so I will intrude on your lovefest if I want to!” in the first place.

The <3 for Li-Ren/Kajika

Honestly, what can I really say on this matter? I may not primarily ship Li-Ren/Kajika, but after that initial ridiculous shoujo run, their interaction was very very sweet. For fear that any fangirling of mine won’t do the pairing justice (thanks to my Rumaty and Eugene biases), here are some screenshots that just reek of <3 <3 <3:

I know we’re all thinking it, so let’s just get it out of the way now: awwwwwwwwww.

The conclusion: life’s lookin’ okay in the end

Eugene was making us feel so completely and hopelessly depressed for him, yet he looks to be adjusting just fine to the Li-Ren/Kajika conclusion! Sure, he may not get Kajika as a lover, but he will always be that beloved pet to her (and sugar daddy since she and Li-Ren are now hobos relying on his support). I know that it’s optimistic to think that Eugene is happy with this situation, I know that he’s just wearing a mask again…by getting to stay by Kajika’s side, though, I know that Eugene will at least get to experience some joy in his life, and that’s enough for me.

The Rumaty and Harry bonding–loved it! Harry has known all along that Rumaty was his nephew, though now that Rumaty has come to realize this relationship as well, the possibility of them connecting as family is introduced. Their dynamics are very entertaining, with Harry letting down his composed exterior a bit and Rumaty reverting to that whiny boy as he talks about how he lost Kajika to Li-Ren. My favourite part about it, though? Harry’s remark about introducing Rumaty to some girls, and the resulting joke of a marriage game for Rumaty: I would so watch that sequel!!

The Carl fans might not be satisfied with the fact that his I-will-never-love-another-woman speech seems to have been genuine, but at least we get to see that he does have someone to love. Through the series’ events, Carl has come to realize that his dad loved him all along, and hey – Carl loves his dad too. Now Carl can dedicate some time to bonding with the man who raised him – not as a figure of authority, but as a father. And maybe once he manages to open his heart to his dad,  he’ll be more willing to step out of his comfort zone in other regards and pick up some ladies.

In this ending scene, Machaty’s wise words from the last episode are repeated as a collective moral to the anime, I suppose. Even though they are said in a flashback sense, words that are nothing more than memories in other people’s minds, Najayra hears them. Recall that Najayra had lost the ability to hear the voice of God - so now, upon hearing Machaty’s timeless quote, this most likely means two things: Machaty has died, and in doing so HE IS TOTALLY GOD. True message of this entire series, readers: Machaty. is. God.

But oh wait, we of course needed to have another Li-Ren/Kajika moment at the very last moment of the series. They finally get their time together back on Givori Island (which they own…goddamn it, even as hobos they own an island!), their special place, with a happy ending that seemingly will never be put at risk again. A wonderfully cheesy ending to a wonderfully cheesy series–emphasis on the wonderful!

This is a series that I felt had to be enjoyed with a good balance of seriousness and humour. If you took everything in this series at face value it would be melodramatic to the max as I have conveyed in past posts; however, with the ability to laugh at those things that are overdone, it became really enjoyable to me. Sure, perhaps that was for the wrong reasons…but it’s the entertainment value that counts. The romance was well done for the most part. Even though the end pair was made obvious from the get-go, that didn’t stop me from growing attached to all of the other romance candidates and wishing for their well-being, which is a sign that the original mangaka created some incredible, loveable, memorable characters. This even goes for secondary characters! I’ll fully admit that there were moments where things dragged out too long or were resolved far too quickly, but that didn’t stop the series from being good overall. It might not be a classic, but Hanasakeru Seishounen is a great way to fill a shoujo fix if you want something more in-depth than your typical high school romance. <3

Katt’s love-metre for Hanasakeru Seishounen episode 39 measures…9/10
Katt’s love-metre for Hanasakeru Seishounen overall measures…8/10

Is this farewell, my beloved readers? I’ve been saying it for a while now, but just to reiterate: this is the saddest part about this series ending! I need to pick up more longer series so that I can find more groups of such great readers and commenters to constantly stop by to discuss with me~ But let’s not make this parting too melodramatic– No, let’s do what we do best and talk about this episode! And if we ever cross paths again, we can look forward to a reunion worth of Kajika and Li-Ren’s slow-mo shoujo run, bubbly background and all.

Katt: Hey, if Minnie can wrap up White Album because the blogger vanished, then I will do so for Miracle Train! Why? Because, for some reason, I watched this senselessly bishietastic show until the end. Sure, it was mostly for giggles thanks to the show not taking itself too seriously (at least, I hope that’s the case), but I guess that I can bring this series full-circle with a bit of fangirling. By that, I mean that Marissa’s post on the first episode was full of fangirling for each of the characters; now, for the final episode, I will do the same…in my calmer, more analytic style. Which won’t come off as fangirling at all. Uh…this is gonna be weird…but let’s go~

Roppongi is of course the first guy that has to be mentioned. Why? In a world where all bishies are meant to be treated equally, Roppongi comes out on top. He gets extra backstory thanks to his past connection with Akari (more on her later). Plus everyone loves the silent sweetheart; I’ll admit that at the start of the series I had a soft spot for Roppongi’s personality paired with his looks, but it got pretty tiring fast. Mostly thanks to the characters all emphasizing how boring and quiet he was, even though in the context of the show he was toootally meant to stand out above the others. But I can’t dislike Roppongi for the same reasons…damn you and your perfection, Roppongi!

Shinjuku had to be my favourite by the end. The character who initially seems the most carefree of them all somehow ended up becoming progressively more serious as the series went on. I mean, by this final episode, he was the one contemplating issues with Tocho, the most sobring character of them all! I think that most of my love for him had to come from the episode in which he played the ‘villain’ in the bizarre runaway Miracle Train episode (defs my favourite)–it gave him a different side, even if he was just acting. In the end, though, he proved himself to be a deep-thinking character who still manages to keep that flirtatious side that makes him the group’s playboy.

Then Tocho, Mr. Serious Leader… He sort of had the reversed version of Shinjuku’s development, didn’t he? While he was initially played up as being soooo serious, he was forced to develop a fun side thanks to the passengers he had to deal with. This definitely ended up being his most endearing feature: his ability to let loose and have a little fun now and then, while trying to keep up a serious facade. Plus, the moment when a kid called Tocho her dad and all of the Miracle Train boys were like, “Oh mah gahd, Tocho has an illegitimate love child!” had to give me one of the best laughs of the season. Oh, and he’s the cause of the runaway Miracle Train. You go, Tocho, for being both serious and hilarious together.

The shota, Shiodome, admittedly doesn’t stand out all that much to me in the end. I’m sorry, Shiodome! I honestly can’t remember who his passengers were and how he dealt with their problems. …Now I feel kind of bad. Okay, okay, I can give him some credit because it isn’t like he’s a bad character, just more static compared to the rest. The kid who’s self-conscious about his size/age isn’t anything special, but it doesn’t take away from his cuteness. While the shota-lovers out there might say ‘rawr!’ to him, I had more of the ‘aww, look at the lil’ kid trying to be grown up’ reaction to him. Plus he really is a sweetie, always doing his best to help out even if he sometimes falls behind. (Also, funny credit: imagining the conductor’s room as bubble bath haven.)

Carefree Tsukishima is probably my second favourite of the boys. His monja-making obsession had to give me my earliest laughs in this series, and then as the episodes went on he showed that he had a more thoughtful side too. He undeniably made his Miracle Train passenger fall for him harder than any of the other girls did for their stations, and in this final episode he is the one who figures out what’s going on before anything else does. I friggin’ loved that moment, where one of the boys accusingly approaches the conductor and his identity is hidden from the viewer for a bit (although after all of the HanaSei I watch, I recognized his voice)–who’d think that the monja-minded Tsukishima would be the brightest of them all? Love it!

Ryogoku, the eccentric one, is like Shiodome in the sense that he doesn’t get as much develoment as the other boys. He’s got his simple obsession: martial arts! Wha-bam! Like all of the boys, his weird quirk belies the good heart that he really has. I think that the thing that I will remember him for most will be–like Marissa said in her initial Miracle Train post–his undeniable resemblance to Kain from Vampire Knight. Their personalities are compleeeetely different, but their orange hair and the way that it’s styled are far too similar to ignore! It’s quite possible that the next time Kain appears in the VK manga, I will subconsciously expect him to show off some awesome martial arts skillz.

Marissa’s favourite, the mysterious ‘conductor’ Shasho ended up being a very intriguing character in this final episode, though admittedly he’s still pretty shallow. We never found out why the Miracle Train has a conductor; all we figured out is that he is completely comitted to the train running properly even if it sacrifices a certain guide’s memories. Oh, and that he can make people pass out with his magical red-eye powers and also teleport and move through doors. That is most impressive, even in the setting of a totally fictional metro system dedicated to helping ladies in distress. What still confuses me is that, if he is meant to be the villain, why does he stick around and run the Miracle Train like nothing happened in the end?

And, of course, the loli Akari, who ended up being one of the most important of them all. As you can see, she’s grown up a wee bit since this series was last blogged. She has actually been a passenger this entire time, which has been the cause of the train going into overdrive and being at risk of dissolving. Who’d ever have imagined such a twist?! Well, something significant involving Roppongi and Akari has been foreshadowed for a while, so I suppose it’s not a huge surprise. Can’t say that I saw the age change from loli to 20 coming, though. I have to admit that her plotline was needlessly complicated when it came to explanations, but it certainly gave this show a greater story than just separate vingettes, so I’ll be appreciative.

Wait wait wait, I forgot: Tokugawa! The dog that initially made me go, “WTF? That’s supposed to be a shiba inu?” is awesome.  His constant, unheard sarcastic remarks were always amusing, as was the fact that this funny looking dog is the most serious character in this entire series. Wait, is that amusing or just sad? In any case, big love for Tokugawa despite his minimal role (and minimal backstory–he was found in a box, the end). <3

Katt’s bishierrific rating for Miracle Train episode 13: 8/10
Katt’s bishificant overall rating for Miracle Train: 7/10

It really was entertaining and its light-hearted nature made it a nice break from the more heavy series I was watching this season. Plus, some of the stories were actually–dare I say it?–quite good (like the runaway Miracle Train!! Sorry, that episode amused me far too much.) Add to that the whole notion of a Miracle Train full of bishies out there to help women in distress; it’s a pretty fabulous fantasy.

Minnie: Here’s the sad thing. Last time, White Album didn’t get finished by HSA because of one incompetent writer. This time, White Album Season 2 was going to get the same treatment from the same writer again. Thankfully, I have already learned my lesson once. If I want something done, I’ll do it myself. Since I’m watching this anime anyways, I’ll just write a quick blog entry on the finale of White Album. Sure, it’s not one of the best endings out there and sure, it’s terribly rushed, but… it completes the series. And I’ll try to talk about it.

I’ll be lying if I say I loved this series and anticipated it every week. But I’ll also be lying if I say I didn’t watch it the same day it came out. White Album is one of those anime series that you might not like too much or call a masterpiece, but at the same time, you have to admit that it’s a bit addicting to watch once you get into it. White Album’s job every episode seems to be to add drama to an already drama-filled show. In other words, it’s an anime soap opera and I must admit, a pretty good one at that.

There are obviously a lot of flaws. That’s why not a lot of people are blogging/watching it eh? One of its hugest flaws is that it’s very hard to get into at first. Everything feels so boring and static with the first couple of episodes. The BGM has excellent music, but it feels almost inappropriate for the show and it’s so loud at times. The most annoying thing about White Album is that rarely anything is explained. Characters do or say things… almost randomly at times. You have to watch more attentively to catch why. White Album is definitely not a surface level watching anime (Sorry Koala). This is its biggest strength but also its biggest weakness. I like to say that White Album is too sophisticated/intelligent for its own good, but then, I’ll just be mocking everyone who didn’t watch/understand it as idiots. The conclusion? It’s an acquired taste, methinks.

Okay. Enough about White Album as a whole. Let’s pick on the ending. I say for the most part, it’s a solid ending. The last episode  explains why Touya is the way he is and it does it quite well, but it also leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. For one thing, I’ve been watching this anime to see Touya get his retribution in some way. He gets none. Instead, he is supposed to receive a lot of sympathy for one messed up event in his childhood that make him the way he is. I would love it if everyone can dismiss all my faults thanks to my messed up childhood (Thank you tyrant mommy), but no, the real world doesn’t work that way. White Album is not the real world though. Touya gets his happy ending and all is well. Why does it feel so… cop out though?

Anyways, I like to say that White Album is a waste of time, but at the same time, I learn a lot from it. In general, White Album just confuses me on how I should feel about it and I believe that is enough reason to at least check it out if you haven’t already. Wow. Sorry for the horrible review.

Minnie’s Overall Rating for Episode: 7/10

Minnie’s Overall Rating for Series: 6.75/10

Katt: I have both anticipated and dreaded this day… Yes, my dear bloggees: Kemono no Souja Erin has come to an end. I’ve spent a good part of the day checking to see if the sub had been posted yet and am sorely disappointed that I’ve only gotten to watch it now, at midnight! Because of the combination of tiredness and a lil’ bit of alcohol in my system, I can’t be sure that I’ve experienced this finale to its fullest. But I’ll just continue on and pretend that I have, so play along with me, okay?

Honestly, I expected more of this. That isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy it, because I definitely did! But…I guess I was expected more of an emotional impact? A little more struggle before the ‘happily ever after’ that I knew would come. Instead, things went a bit too smoothly in this series that has stood out for me as never taking the easy route.

The beginning…was not to my liking

The first half of the episode had such a foreign feeling to me. I’m sure it had something to do with the mix of a different style of graphics and new background music–there was an element of comfort in the consistent style and mood of this series that this spontaneous change threw me off in a bad way. I can understand wanting the final episode to stand out as being better than the rest, but I don’t think that it was approached in the right way.

Added to the more superficial level, the plot itself seemed a little weird to me. The approach of the cavalry was built up in the last episode, but I just found their decision to start shooting at Lilan completely, hm–how to put this?–moronic. There might have been a purpose in that (I mean, we obviously weren’t meant to understand where these goons were coming from), but really, they have a huuuge target to aim at and they still manage to hit Erin instead of Lilan. By no means am I saying that I wanted to see Lilan get hit; I am just saying that a little bit of logic behind the miss would have been nice. Even an, ‘oops, my finger slipped’ moment. Thanks to that ridiculousness, I didn’t have much of an emotional response to Erin getting hit. More of an, “Uh…what?” reaction at a moment where I should have been crying out, “Noooo!!”

Erin’s helpless action of removing the mute whistle was one that I should have loved, thanks to my fondness for symbolism in this series; instead, I was left a little confused by it. I couldn’t decide if Erin was doing it as a threat to Lilan, or as a message of freedom…or both? In retrospect I’m pretty sure that the ambiguity was the point. To Erin, it was probably a way of freeing herself from that shackle, but she intended for Lilan to perceive it as a threat so that she would fly away. And then when Lilan did fly away, it was…what? Two whole metres away? Here I was anticipating Lilan dropping Shunan off by Seimiya and then flying off into the wilderness, never to be seen again in the tragic parting of human and wild animal. Instead, it was rather anti-climactic. I was just not hugely keen on this beginning portion of the episode.

As it went on…it definitely got better

When the typical ‘something dramatic is about to happen’ BGM starting playing, I felt in my comfort zone again. The regular feel of this series was back and I was very, very pleased. The entire scene where the tohdas rise and swarm towards Erin, paralleled with Soyon’s demise, did its job in raising anxiety for both Erin’s literal impending death and her emotional instability when she finds herself in her mother’s execution situation.

Though unlike Soyon’s execution, Erin is saved before the tohdas reach her. Without even using the player’s technique as Soyon had resorted to doing to save Erin so many years ago, Lilan flies in rescues Erin of her own will. It took half of the episode to get there, but when Lilan flies down and gently picks Erin up in her mouth, I finally felt strongly moved. One of the most impacting moments for me was seeing how, even though Lilan was using her teeth to hold onto Erin, she was careful not to hold on too tightly or hurt Erin in any way. Remembering the two past events where Lilan has seriously bitten Erin, this scene is really touching. It wasn’t an easy road by any means, but at this instant the strength of Erin and Lilan’s bond has undoubtedly been proven, described by the characters as being like a mother and child.

As lovely as this pleasant moment is, I would have been annoyed if the happy ending had been reached already. After all, there is one more thing needed for this to be a typical Kemono no Souja Erin episode: Damiya ruining a good resolution! While his schemes are usually drawn out over a long period of time, there is hardly any time left here, which sadly makes this speedy scene not too dramatic. Damiya grabs knife, runs at Shunan and Seimiya, and Ial stabs him. And that’s the end of Damiya. After all of that manipulation, him suddenly being killed seemed too simple…though I’ll admited that I wanted to shout a, ”You go, Ial!!” when he actually stabbed Damiya. I was expecting him to just knock the knife out of his hands and seize him again–but no, he went in for the kill! A pleasant surprise, finally putting an end to everyone’s favourite creeper, Damiya.

The epilogue-ish ending…

Because just leaving it at Damiya being killed wouldn’t have been satisfying at all (and that isn’t sarcasm); this is the type of series that needs a ‘what happened to them?’ ending. As it turns out, everyone gets their ideal endings, pretty much. The only person who doesn’t really get any answers is Nugan, but I suppose we can just assume that he was scared straight when Lilan ate up his tohda.

There are a couple of hook-ups, namely the obvious Seimiya and Shunan marriage that we can all hope will be as ideal as it seems. And then it looks like Yuuyan got together with her Kazalm crush in the end, too! Kazalm itself can obviously return to its peaceful ways (and poor Tomura gets to spend his career stuck with a bunch of men), and even Erin’s hometown of Aka village will get the chance to improve with its new veteranarian, Kilik, who I’d expect would bring Erin’s ideals to the village. The spread of Erin’s ideals of freedom for the beasts can be seen in effect with the tohdas swimming freely and the beast-lords being kept by Erin and her family, instead of caged. On the note of Erin and her family…

We get to see Erin’s son, Jesse, who kind of made me giggle with his hilarious face, but…NO IAL?! Okay, this is not cool at all. WHY would they not show us who Erin’s husband/this kid’s father is? We KNOW Ial’s the daddy and YOU know it too–so show us a cute family scene! What’s wrong with you people?! Waaah, the fangirl in me is displeaaased!

…’kay now make the next two novels into a series too, okay? Because even if this final episode wasn’t as great as I expected, I did love it and I love this series as a whole. Undoubtedly one of my favourites, if not my new all-time favourite anime!

Katt’s rating for Kemono no Souja Erin episode 50: 8/10
Katt’s overall <3<3<3 for Kemono no Souja Erin: 10/10 (I WENT THERE!)

Charging forth into the finale!

Miken: I’m almost definitely sure anyone reading this at this point has already finished the series or is just plain looking to be spoiled, so I’m going to forgo the usual summaries and just leave it to commentary for each episode. I know that this is a lazy move (then again, half the time my commentary becomes summary), but I’m writing 6 papers right now and I need to take as many shortcuts as I can get. The general rule is that I wrote after watching each successive episode — one at a time, though we might watch a few at a time and then comment on them in batches. Either way, let’s wrap up this series…At least until Chiru is hopefully announced~!

Ep20: Zugzwang

Greed Has Never Been this Cute Before!

Miken: Best part of this episode was the “only my railgun” commercial gg left in there between breaks. The episode was broken up between Maria being cute with Sakutaro and staying strong in her mother’s long vacation absence and Ange re-re-reaffirming that her life has been utter crap since the Rokkenjima incident. Oh yeah, and the Stakes going crazy over Sakutaro. Still, Ange and Mammon’s blooming “frienship” was quite nice since the Stakes have gotten something like…only a few seconds of screentime before this. Uhhh…other comments? Well, I do like Maria’s witch costume, it looks so cute on her~ Then again everything she wears is so dang cute! <3

Miken’s Episode Rating: 6.7/10

Ep21: Prophylaxis

Miken: (Flashback) Ange went and did it…She made the Stakes more likable as characters than herself. The denying of magic, and therefore the Stakes’ existence once they decide not to cross the moral event horizon for her really is a kick the dog moment, especially when she ends up shattering Mammon. While the stakes have killed pretty heartlessly before, they know that Beato herself is resolve to kill whereas Ange’s just using them to clear up her problems without dirtying her own hands. Sure, Ange does have a good reason to want to kill those horrible classmates of hers, but using her “mere delusions” to kill others when she herself is not ready to… While she does make up for some this later by believing in magic once more, it really doesn’t redeem her much. Though bringing back Sakutaro? I’ll give her points on that.

As for the Maria portion of the episode…I wonder why the hell the Child Services lady didn’t outright call the cops the moment she was kicked out by a very angry Rosa. Hell, Maria crying should have been audible even outside the house. Even if that would be too late for Sakutaro, something should have happened, right? And yet years later, she’s still in Rosa’s “care”. Rosa destroying Sakutaro completely crossed the line — she herself is ruining her own image, leaving Maria to care for herself while she goes on vacation and all. Thus, Maria finds solace in the company of Sakutaro, making it pretty obvious why she’d drag him around even without seeing all the magic about him. You also can’t really blame Maria for taking up darker magic after that either…

Miken’s Episode Rating: 7.4/10

Ep22: Problem Child

Miken: Back to island this episode (finally!) — Kinzo proves that he’s completely gone nutters and calls for the suspension of the use of the epitaph to find his successor and nearly calls off the whole heir selection process. It takes an interruption by Nanjo to make him decide to use his grandkids this time around. Honestly, the introduction of Siesta 00 and Gaap really don’t seem necessary. Though I suppose this is in order not to confuse the viewers with the Stakes currently accompanying Ange? As usual for the first bloodbath, 6 people die.

Then there’s Maria, Beato and Rosa in the Meta-World. With how Rosa’s been portrayed in recent episodes, I really can’t blame Maria for wanting to tear her to bits. The little girl’s got obvious mental issues because she doesn’t want to accept that her previously kind mother is this “witch” despite not doing anything to deserve such a mean mother.  Actually, seeing Rosa being torn apart over and over again was oddly refreshing~ I could feel my rage rising with Maria’s as Rosa continued to lie and then start to blame her for everything wrong in her life. Even with this entire venting-out of epic proportions, Maria still isn’t fully satisfied. Even if she’s had her vengeance against Rosa, you still have to feel for her, since not only does she still lack Sakutaro, but she also lacks the acknowledgment as a daughter from Rosa.

Oh yeah, now there’s a test being set up for the kiddies to take. I suppose it’ll be harder than any SAT College Entrance Exam they’ll ever take.

Miken’s Episode Rating: 8.3/10

Ep23: Breakthrough

Miken: Oh goodness, the silliness of Nanjo and Kurosawa’s respective children. I know they’re suppose to resemble their parents, but goodness do they look weird. I also sort of like this splitting up of the grandchildren for the “test”. Kinzo’s playing it much smarter than letting it become an all-out verbal brawl as he did with his immediate children. Still, since he’s got the support of the witches on the island (Bern and Lambda don’t count since they do almost nothing 99% of the time), the conclusion’s pretty much forgone…As in, even if they do manage to show a respectable amount of resolve, this will end in total and utter bloodshed. The essence of the questions also make this conclusion pretty obvious. Additionally, I was slightly confused and very interested in what Ronove said about Genji sorta being his true form in this world or something akin to a vessel. Hopefully, that get explained later. As for Jessica’s and George’s answers.

- Jessica: It’s nice to see her split her decision as a girl and as the successor — she knows what she wants, but she also knows what’s needed of her and she’s not about to let things slide without landing a punch first. As head, she would probably make for a pragmatic but more amiable leader…until she brings out those steel knuckles at the very least.
- George: Easily chooses to kill everyone else, though this can pretty much be explained by the effects of Shannon’s deal with Beato pre-series. Of course, there’s his decision to kill Gaap first and keep his “assets” (aka family) alive. Should he become head, I could see him making enemies out of everyone that gawks at Shannon’s boobs…Errr I mean everyone who stands in his way. However, George’s sudden power-up by actually knowing martial arts that he didn’t use all those times before felt like an ass-pull.

Also determination = magic? If that was so, then magic would’ve happened tons of times before. -_-;;

Miken’s Episode Rating: 8.6/10

Ep24: Adjourn

Miken: It was really amusing seeing Virgilia lose her temper at the start of the episode when she learned that Gap used her Goat Butlers and therefore left the cell unguarded, leading to a jailbreak. It just sounds so…out of character for her. Then again, with these witches, there really is no telling what their character’s nature really is. It’s also nice to see Jessica and George gaining some bit of ground against their opponents, though they end up right where we expected them…dead. Though having them both teleport and kill one another was a nice twist.

Battler and Kyrie sort of mending their relationship was touching too, since she apologized for being rough on him for being Asumu’s son and he went past his first-name basis deal once and called her his mother.

Later, Beatrice calls Battler out on some forgotten sin from six years ago as his test. Seeing as I just marathoned Pandora Hearts, it gives a nice connection of “why the hell am I being punished again?” between both series. Battler’s situation is further exacerbated by the fact that he has no idea what she’s talking about and she’s freaking pissed off. Then we break to the Meta World and Battler asks if this is a sin between the two of them, since Beatrice actually looks genuinely upset. Though apparently this isn’t the case…Which rules out all my guesses. Back to Rokkenjima, Battler still can’t come up with anything. Thus, Beatrice exits the game and relinquishes her attachments, saying so to the Meta Battler as well. This also means that the game is in permanent deadlock until Battler figures out what the hell his sin was…

And somehow, Battler is not Asumu’s son after all? I know that Rudolph’s a womanizer, but where’d Battler’s mother go between him courting Asumu and Kyrie? Beato also uses his inability to respond to strip him of his qualifications to be her opponent.

Beato genuinely crying can’t be good either…

Miken’s Episode Rating: 8.8/10

Ep25: Forced Move

Miken: Kasumi Sumadera’s life was seriously f*cked up by her sister’s decision to go off with Rudolph, huh? I can’t blame Kyrie though, since her journey to even get with Rudolph wasn’t exactly lined with roses. I kind of have to agree with Ange here too — Kasumi was left unprepared for the slightest prospect that her sister wouldn’t take up the position as head of the family. If she says she had to endure harsh lessons since her sister’s marriage with Rudolph, then wouldn’t Kyrie have also endured harsh lessons daily since pretty much her birth? I mean, even Ange went through similar “training” with the mess that is Eva and she isn’t even half as spiteful as Kasumi.

Ange’s little monologue on the cycle of anger was interesting too — it almost makes sense if you flip the chessboard -shot-. Eva took her pain out on Rosa who took her pain out on Maria who in turn unconsciously used it to make her magic stronger. It’s nice to see her starting to see Eva as more of a (very faulty) human too…

Though it seems like Evatrice — I mean the black witch, has been manipulating Kasumi’s hatred. That makes much more sense. It’s still so aggravating to see her tear apart all of Maria’s magic like that and make fun of her…Though it does make all of Maria’s “Uuuuuu”ing make sense. Apparently, that was her spell to have Rosa always get along with her. Though that didn’t work too well, did it? Baaaaaw, poor Maria. D:

Good job to Ange for putting an end to Kasumi and the black witch~ Glad to see the Seven Stakes getting more action too! Between her denying of magic back at the academy and now, she’s developed the resolve to use magic. She’s lived up to the title of Ange-Beatrice. By the end, Ange has emotionally reconciled with Eva and even takes the fact that the black witch resembles her aunt as an insult. Though Eva coming back in spite was a bit sad, though her affiliation with the black witch pretty much meant that she still held a grudge and wasn’t just going to take Ange shopping.

Miken’s Episode Rating: 7.2/10

Ep26: Sacrifice

Miken: Ange going to the Golden Land to show up Beato by resurrecting Sakutaro and forcing her to rejoin the game was awesome~ Though the whole two sides of the coin of magic needing love and sadness does seem kind of corny, it works well in showing just how different and more p0werful Ange is. Her use of the blue truth to point out the obvious loophole in Beato’s exclusion of Battler from the game works perfectly, since Battler is still Kinzo’s grandson, since Asumu married into the family anyways. Ange bringing Battler out of his funk by remind him that blood isn’t as important as bonds was touching too, as was her finally telling him who she is and the reason why he has to win this game and get home…though it comes at a high price.

Finally getting to see the Blue Truth in full action is nice too — and seeing Battler consider Rosa as an accomplice in the 2nd round and Eva in the 3rd also means that he’s now opening suspicion to those of the Ushiromiya household, not just blindly denying witches, also opening up numerous explanations that he could not use before.  He also builds up a huge wall of truths concerning Kinzo being dead from the start and there being the mysterious 18th person. With the who Kinzo issue dealt with, he takes on Beatrice’s existence with the 18th person theory with good results, though it’s frustrating that he lets the win slip away by digging deeper into another secret she’s holding. But even with Beato denying the 18th person by stating in red that there are only 17, he still manages to take her head on with his wit, explaining who could’ve done what during each murder, leaving no one out of suspicion.

In the end, Beato reveals her motive as just plain wanting to die and her final riddle to Battler is to find out just who she is. Only then can she die. It makes sense — as the Endless witch, living endlessly while killing endlessly would make someone want to die at least eventually. Also, Bern and Lambda finally do something by declaring that Beato cannot win…though that doesn’t exactly mean Battler will absolutely win, right?

Miken’s Episode Rating: 8.5/10

Final Impressions

Miken: Over the course of this series, the characters either stuck to me or bored me out of my mind. I really liked Battler, Beato, Ronove, Eva (non-witch) and Maria while I generally overlooked the others and became flat out bored with George and Shannon repeating their deal pretty much every cycle. While a number of characters have yet to be fleshed out, what we do know of the characters with the most focus is interesting to say the very least. For an obvious example, there’s Maria, who despite being very creepy, becomes a more sympathetic character after her backstory in the last arc. Even an almost undeveloped character like Ronove sticks out well with his character quirks of being not 100% subservient despite being quite loyal to Beato — I also like that he’s pretty clever and unlike the Stakes/Siestas who pretty much exist to be ordered around. On the flip side, though, I do think that while Ange and her journey in the final arc was interesting to a point, her presence and the countless flashbacks took control of the arc and took away screentime from what I really wanted to see: Everyone running for their lives on Rokkenjima. Still, I did come to enjoy her character by the end.

As for the plot, though I cannot say for certain, since the answer arcs are not presented, it  is a very workable mystery/horror-ish story. The third arc stood out very well in terms of plot and gore and the series ends with enough open ends to warrant Chiru being adapted. I’m dying to know just what Battler’s sin is, since it seems like the topic was dropped. It was stated that it was 6 years ago specifically, so it can’t be the not being Asumu’s son problem, right? Still, the last quarter of the series did take a nose dive in terms of my enjoyment — a good number of the episodes centered around Ange and her search to find the truth and understand magic. While i do suppose this is necessary to make her death at the end emotional, it really doesn’t pay off and ends up just dragging the series. There’s also more questions as to Beato’s background, while some was revealed in the 3rd arc, it’s still questionable and only reaching so far back…it doesn’t answer Beato’s own question about herself.

Overall, this was one of the more interesting series of this year — while it doesn’t reach its full potential and is a tad strange at times, it manages to be generally entertaining. I would probably recommend this series to friends, though I’d be cautious as to the person’s tastes…Well, I hope I’ll still be able to blog once Chiru comes around~ (hopefully)

Miken’s Final Series Rating: 8.3/10

Katt: Ah Nyan Koi!, I have had my ups and downs with you, but now that it’s come time for your finale…I’m sad!! While I wouldn’t say that I’m attached to every single character in the main cast, I do love the main trio (and the main kitty trio, too!). Lots of laughs and ‘aw, cute!’ moments thanks to the melange of romance and the cat-related curse. I hate to leave this show behind, and the quality time I’ve spent with my cat watching it (yes, I’ve watched every episode with one of my cats), but at least there is a manga to turn to so that I can get my kitty fix!…unless that much joked-about second season comes true~

Wrapping up the curse

As we left off last time, the curse is progressing faster all of sudden because Kaede now knows about it! While the twins do their best to suppress it, Jizou’s curse is moving forward faster than it can be stopped. And with cat ears, Junpei has to be very very cautious–which we all know never works in the anime world. The only logical solution is to make Kaede believe that the curse A) doesn’t exist, or B) has been lifted from Junpei.

Watching Junpei’s acting skills when he has to convince Kaede that the curse was from vandalizing the lucky cat statue was…amazing. The twins were pretty bad too, but Junpei–ironically–stole the show with his fail skills. Sweet unknowing Kaede fell for it, though, and it looked like everything would work out just fine, with her thinking that the curse was broken by the twins’ ritual. Then, of course, I realized that it was about halfway through the episode and romantic comedies never wrap up so neatly. Cue Nagi’s entrance, and Junpei’s hat being taken off to reveal the cat ears. Silly costume, or a curse? Only Kaede believes the latter but that is enough for Junpei’s transformation to progress even futher! Oh no!

I’m so satisfied that we got to see a completely kittyfied Junpei in this final episode. The series wouldn’t have bene complete without it. Unfortunately, a completely kittyfied Junpei = a dying Junpei, and the only one who can save him is Kaede. While normally one would expect a rescue to entail acknowledging someone’s problem, Kaede has to disregard Junpei’s curse; what a weird situation. When Kaede shows up and picks kitty!Junpei up, a cure doesn’t seem all that important anymore…but it is this positive acknowledgement from a cat, and the gang of kitties that flocks to her (even if they’re really there for Junpei) that raises Kaede’s spirits and makes her realize that such a sweet animal could never be the cause of a curse; Nekojizou’s curse can’t possibly exist! Little do you know, Kaede, that that belief just saved Junpei’s life.

Wrapping up the romance

Since the Junpei/Kana issue was seemingly wrapped up in the last episode, it’s time for a Junpei/Kaede episode! Which makes sense, considering that it is undeniably the main pairing, so it had better be the focus in the final episode of a romantic comedy. What I really love about the way that this potential pairing is dealt with in this episode is that we finally get to see what is going on in Kaede’s head. Up until now Junpei’s affections for her have been the focus, and we’ve gotten to see Kana’s progression with her love for Junpei, but never, never Kaede’s thoughts.

Of course, it shouldn’t be all that surprising that, now that we get to see into her mind, Kaede definitely has a crush on Junpei, too. Her concern for Junpei’s curse could just be taken as caring for a friend; however, when the girls have a one-on-one conversation, Kana forces Kaede to think a little more on her feelings. This push towards figuring out where Kaede’s thoughts are at cumulates when she receives a phone call from Junpei (actually not romance-related, but shh! She didn’t know that!) and gets really hopeful and starts thinking about what he could want to say to her. One of the top moments from this episode has to be when Kaede gets all riled up after the phone call and her dogs crowd around her excitedly–so cute! I can’t help but love Kaede and her sweet personality.

While the post-phone call meeting amounts to nothing romantic (much to Kaede’s dismay, I’m sure), her unrelenting concern for Junpei shows that she’s come to care for him a lot. In fact, she and Junpei even share a moment!…but Junpei is a cat at that time and is the only one aware of that moment being shared. This is when the romance department shifts back to Junpei’s thoughts, and I have to admit that cat!Junpei thinking that he’d be happy if he died in Kaede’s arms was really adorable, in a comedic, melodramatic kind of way.

Aside from that moment and finding out that Kaede does have some sort of feelings for Junepi, the romance ultimately amounts to nothing solid. In fact, by the end, even Kana seems to be back in the game (possibly thanks to seeing Junpei naked? I think so). I guess this is to be expected of a series of this nature, but it still is a little disappointing.

Nonetheless I can’t deny that this last episode really was a great one. I mean, the show ends…with Junpei totally naked in front of everyone. A pretty solid ending, I must say. Now will that much joked-about season two happen? I don’t know how popular this series was, but I think that it probably got enough attention to warrent another season–and truth be told, I’m kinda hoping for one!

Katt’s kitty-fix was filled by Nyan Koi! episode 12…10/10
Katt’s kitty-fix was filled by Nyan Koi! overall…8/10–love the humour, love the cats, love the main romance, but some of the side characters were just there for the laughs that I didn’t like.