So the phenomenon that was Magical Girl Madoka Magica is finally over. From the start, many had compared it to Neon Genesis Evangelion with its genre subversion and psychological themes, and the ending provided plenty more fodder for this comparison. The final 2 episodes tried very hard to emulate great endings that had come before it, but, lacking the focus and cohesiveness of such works, it ended up merely stumbling its way across the finish line.

I was somewhat disappointed that Shaft didn’t take this opportunity to retool the 2 episode finale into a singular unit, as had been the case with the finale of Code Geass‘s first season. Episode 11 stood on its own with its own story arc, featuring some good action as Homura went all out against Walpurgis Night. And with the cliffhanger end, it was clear that these episodes were meant to be released a week apart.

But that’s not a knock against it. There’s nothing wrong with having the episodes structured like they were originally intended. It was just a missed chance for greatness. And so was the ending. Shaft was obviously swinging for the fences with this one, and though I wouldn’t say they struck out, at best, they managed a weak single.

A wholly unnecessary scene. This was about the point when Shaft's intentions became too transparent.

I have the belief that, for the most part, people are pretty good at telling when they’re being manipulated, and when one senses this, the compulsion is to push back. This is why people have a problem with melodrama – they don’t like it when they’re tricked into feeling things, instead of having the feelings come to them naturally. I know I don’t like it.

Instead of providing an ending that was simple and tightly held together, Shaft provided one that was a hodge podge of scenes clumsily thrown together, trying as best as it could to force its way to greatness. This is exactly what I meant when I wrote that Madoka Magica ran the risk of being crushed by the weight of its own narrative. Greatness comes effortlessly and naturally; it’s only after the fact that the viewer should be aware of how his emotions were toyed with.

A beautiful scene with which to close out the series. Homura's epilogue, I have absolutely no complaints about.

It was so obvious that Shaft was trying to make us feel a certain way, that, ironically, it achieved the exact opposite. This, despite that I liked most of what happened in the ending. Madoka’s wish of breaking the rules and going beyond the impossible (row row fight the power) was pretty cool. Was it a deus ex machina? Even though it literally introduced a god in order to tie things up, I don’t think it was, because it fit in well with the rest of the show. And the end result, with Madoka disappearing from existence, Homura the only one to remember her, still being a magical girl but fighting… things that aren’t witches, with the red ribbon in her hair and a bow as a weapon in remembrance of Madoka? Corny, yes, but also poignant and moving. Corny things became corny for a reason. The fact that the ending was not a perfect one, that magical girls still had to fight in order to save the universe from heat death, was much appreciated. It gave a happy but cynical end, by showing that Madoka couldn’t create a perfect world despite her godly power. She could only take away one specific source of despair in it. Yet destroying that one specific thing was something impossibly noble and beautiful.

But when it’s obvious that the events were there just to enable the Evangelion-esque conversation sequences, to bring back Kyoko and Mami for a final farewell, to bring back Sayaka to converse with Madoka, forgive Kamijou and Hitomi and to give her story closure, to have Madoka and Homura say goodbye half naked in the stars, there was an undeniable feeling of being manipulated. These scenes were supposed to be touching, but the smell of artificiality overwhelmed whatever goodness they had.

What a wonderfully moving scene... it would have been if it didn't seem completely forced. Again, unnecessary.

It certainly stole from the best, like Evangelion, Diebuster, and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann had done so before it. But those works managed to take what they stole and seamlessly integrate with their own identities. Madoka Magica‘s ending threw together all the great things it stole, with little in the way of order or sense, forming a messy jumble of would-be great scenes. It was completely transparent in what it was doing, resulting in something that so clearly was meant to be great but wasn’t.

In fact, “thrown together” is an appropriate phrase to describe the entire last 3rd of the show. Whereas everything up to episode 8 had been carefully and lovingly constructed, forming a slow but exciting magical mystery thriller, the rest of the show was messy and cluttered, a collection of nicely done scenes and story elements in search for a common thread to tie them all together.

The ending could have achieved greatness by tying everything together, a pretty standard way for endings to do so. But many things were dropped and introduced at the convenience of the story. Madoka’s mother’s earlier advice about messing up was one of them, with the conversation they had in episode 11 serving no useful purpose (other than to show that’s Madoka’s mother is a really bad mother! You don’t let your kid run out into a supercell!). Same goes for shoehorning famous figures as being Magical Girls, as well as the 2001-esque aliens-made-humans-evolve plot element.

It was messy, it was all over the place, it was manipulative. I don’t want to go as far as to say that it was outright bad; I’ve seen plenty of bad endings, and this wasn’t one of them. Neither was it good, though. It was passable. And that’s alright. But certainly not up to the standard set by the show.

Series End

Now that it’s over, what exactly was Magical Girl Madoka Magica? At its best, it was a mystery/thriller that kept us hooked, pulling us along for an unforgettable, intense ride where every move mattered. At its worst, it was a jumble of great elements that didn’t tie together in a meaningful way. It was a show that peaked at the 2/3 way point and then stumbled the rest of the way, through the climax.

The common criticism that it suffered from underdeveloped characters was very true, and that was the issue that came to define the show’s success and failure. When it really delved into a character, her feelings, and her motivations, as in the case of Sayaka, it was a success, a sublime combination of writing, directing, and pacing into which you simply couldn’t help get sucked. But when it tried to force drama with characters with whom the show had not allowed you to form a connection, as in the case of Homura or the eponymous Madoka, it faltered.

At least the art was great throughout, even though even that weakened a bit in the last third, with the craziness of the witches’ realms not being as prominent or as crazy. The cinematography, though, I have no complaints with. Same goes for the music which, even though it took me a bit to warm up to, was perfect for setting the mood of this dark and somber show. Too bad Claris’s opening theme Connect and Kalafina’s ending theme Magia, along with their respective animation sequences, were just passable.

Now this was a good scene, both emotionally affecting and visually stunning.

Greatness, Manufactured

Perhaps it’s a shame that the end is so much more important than the middle or the start, but that’s simply the nature of the beast when it comes to fiction. And Madoka had a start and middle that was about as good as it comes in the world of TV anime. But it could only do so much in the face of the weight of the disappointing final third.

It will rightfully be remembered as the incredible phenomenon it was, and for the absolutely thrilling ride it provided. But, years from now, will it sit at the same table as the rest of the greats? Well, that sort of greatness must come naturally; it can’t be manufactured.

Though the show ended on a low note, it's hard not to feel emotional seeing this, knowing that it's all over. It certainly did many things very well.

So Magical Girl Madoka Magica has been delayed indefinitely (a Shaft show being delayed near its finish? Say it ain’t so!), or at least until some time in April. But no hard dates as of yet. Which I guess gives us some extra time to step back and reflect upon the ride it has provided us so far.

Below is a chart of my reactions to each episode. Bigger is obviously more positive.

I remember going into the show with cautious optimism, which I guess is the way I go into any show that has so many big names behind it and receives so much hype. As you can see, the first 2 episodes didn’t wow me, but neither did they disappoint me. They just… were. Typical urban fantasy stuff, with a distinctive and compelling art style.

Obviously, then episode 3 happened. Killing off Mami was a move that I greatly respected. As I wrote in my post, it put a serious tone on the rest of the show. And the moment of Mami’s death was wonderfully directed, fully conveying the horror of what had occurred.

I'd buy it. Seriously, someone make this thing so that I can give them my money.

Episodes 4 and 5 were a bit slow, but Kyoko was a welcome and surprising addition to the cast. The reveal at episode 6 was well done, and though it lacked the power of Mami’s death, it made the setting feel even more stark. Getting one’s soul removed and becoming a zombie is no laughing matter.

Episodes 7 and 8 played on that to great effect. Sayaka’s downfall was the most well done part of the show. It was handled in a believable and entertaining manner, with each step in her downward spiral lovingly laid out in front of us to enjoy. The insanity at the end of episode 7 was beautiful, and the double reveal at the end of episode 8 capped off what was the best episode of the show so far.

Then we had episode 9, for which I guess it was just unfair to try to follow up 8. It could have been done much better. Kyoko’s death wasn’t handled poorly, but it did feel forced at times. It was a convenient way to get rid of two of our favorite characters in one shot, but it paled in comparison to Mami’s death 6 episodes back.

At least episode 9 gave us plenty of Sayaka/Kyoko fanart. Hopefully they're together where they are now. ;_;

And speaking of convenience, that’s pretty much exactly what episode 10 was for. Its reveal, the biggest reveal of them all, may have been telegraphed since the 1st episode, but it was handled appropriately, making it pretty impactful. In fact, perhaps it had too much impact. Anime has never been known for being subtle, and this surely wasn’t. It was beating us over the head with how Homura had been beaten over the head by fate.

I do like having Homura as the gun-toting badass magical girl.

To the show’s credit, none of the reveals have been twists. That is, they didn’t achieve their impact mainly through shock value or surprise. Rather, if there’s anything to criticize about them, it’s that they were too obvious. Everything fell too neatly into place. It’s just that the execution has been so top class that it’s been a joy to watch. Even when I think some things should have been done better.

And that’s been the story of Magical Girl Madoka Magica so far. When you dig into the details, things start to break down. Kyubey’s explanation about entropy just falls flat and gives a needlessly physics based explanation to a fantasy story. Kyoko’s death seemed wholly unnecessary, even if it had been telegraphed like crazy in the episodes leading up to it. And the introduction of the Groundhog Day time loop for Homura was jus as unnecessary.

Always read the fine print. Always.

But it all managed to work. It’s a testament to the overall direction of the show. Cinematography and music have been top notch throughout (even if it took me a while to warm up to the music). The radical shifts in art style have been used very well with the story itself, besides just looking pretty. Every scene has felt purposeful and deliberate. It has created a work that has the pacing just right, a mystery story that has kept us hooked step by step, baiting us with little bits here and there, steadily building up to… well, where we are now. Only the climax and ending are to follow.

And so we enter the final sixth of the show, the last 2 episodes. I don’t know how the whole release schedule deal will pan out, but I’m kind of hoping that this delay gives Shaft a chance to retool the episodes to fit as one 2-episode unit that are released quickly back to back. It’s a trick a lot of US TV shows use, and Code Geass‘s first season used it to good effect. Neon Genesis Evangelion‘s final 2 episodes also went together, though they weren’t released back to back. As I’ve said before, Magical Girl Madoka Magica has been a fun, gripping, tight ride so far. It hasn’t been without its missteps, but with the final bits to go, thanks to the strength of its direction and narrative, this is a show that genuinely has the opportunity to be one of the best, as long as it doesn’t get crushed by the weight of its own narrative. And there aren’t enough shows like that.

And I leave you off with a scene much sweeter than we're likely to see in the episodes to come.

So, wow. We’re 2/3 done with the show, which means it’s about time some questions start getting answered. And that’s exactly what happened this episode, with a couple of the most major reveals yet in the show. These were part of tightly paced and well directed package, making for one of the most tense and enjoyable episodes of the show yet, despite it having almost no action.

Where to begin? I guess the biggest revelation is that not only are witches former magical girls, in fact, magical girls are precursors to witches. This is an important distinction, as it means that magical girls don’t just fall and become witches, but rather, they have been being formed by Kyubey in order to become witches.

And of Kyubey, “or should I say, Incubator,” he’s been upgraded from simple sociopath to full on psychopath. Who knows if his end goal is good or evil, but he’s made it abundantly clear that, in order to reach his goal, he is willing to fool ordinary girls into becoming magical girls, and then witches. So regardless of his intent, he’s, as people have been shouting all along, “evil.”

So the two biggest conjectures, that witches are fallen magical girls, and that Kyubey is evil, came true this week. But, as any good reveal does, more questions have been raised. What is the meaning of “Incubator?” Is it a reference to Kyubey “incubating” magical girls in order to produce witches? Or does it tie into the grief seeds he was eating – after all, they’re called “seeds.” What did Kyubey mean when he said Homura came “from another time?” We’ve seen her mastery of time and space, but is she someone who traverses the multiverse? Is this the type of thing Madoka would be able to do with her massive potential if she ever became a magical girl?

A fine use of this meme. Shaft's previous work Bakemonogatari featured an in-show use of this meme.

All these conjectures and mysteries are fun to think about, but I’m the kind of person who prefers just to let the story unfold to me. It’s much more fun to see the creators tell the story at their own pace instead of trying to preempt them. The reason Magical Girl Madoka Magica has worked so well is that the execution of its story and reveal of the setting have been so good. The pacing and art are what have really stood out to me so far, and episode 8 hit all the high notes in both.

Pacing is, I think, the single most important thing to get right in telling a story, and though the show has had its issues, it has been, by and large, downright masterful. Has it really been 8 episodes? We’re done with the majority of the show, and Madoka is still not a magical girl. Kamina was introduced, had his triumph, and died in the span of 8 episodes. Yet this is not a criticism that the show has been too slow; on the contrary, every episode has been eventful. The show has been so engrossing on a moment to moment basis, it is only when we actively step back and look at the big picture that we realize that we’re already almost done.

Probably my favorite OH SHI- moment of the show so far. Wonderfully directed scene, showing us just enough to know what's going on.

Episode 8 made use of its time about as well as I’ve seen this show do. If Sayaka’s turning into a witch came as no surprise, what did surprise was just how quickly we saw it happen. Leaving off from her psychotic butchering of the witch from the end of episode 7, continuing with her fight with Madoka in the rain, her jealous stalking of Hitomi and Kyosuke, her encounter with Homura, her first murder on the train and her tearful transformation in front of Kyoko at the end, the show did not waste any time in showing us her descent. Interspersed in between were scenes that were just as important, teaching us more about the world, about Walpurgis Night, about Homura, and about Kyubey.

And the scenery porn certainly didn’t hurt, either. I commented on the background architecture in the first episode, and though it has been present throughout the show, episode 8 showed it off better than any other episode so far. Homura’s rather lonely but super high tech home was quite the sight, as was the sunset-lit waterfall where we got to see Hitomi confess to Kyosuke. That fountain in the scene of Kyubey’s reveal threatened to steal the spotlight. Given the sadness of the events going down, it was hard not to feel a sense of melancholy from these beautiful shots of parts of the city.

Hitomi couldn't have chosen a better place or time to confess.

And the super clean minimalist aesthetic was, of course, contrasted by the messy, busy, and downright dirty art style of the witches. The show has done a good job of establishing this contrast, to the point that it was immediately obvious that Sayaka was becoming a witch when the black spiral art passed over her while she confronted those 2 men on the train. The same could be said about the style of the background when Sayaka’s soul gem began turning into a grief seed at the train station. The show has trained us with its art style shifts, giving us the power of immediate recognition of plot elements merely by how something is shown before we even identify the contents.

The story thus far has been absolutely gripping, and it was somewhat cathartic to finally get some confirmations regarding some of the major mysteries of the characters and mythos. At the same time, this show continues to impress not with its plot but with its sublime pacing in its reveals, along with use of art that is both beautiful and meaningful. With the final third of this show left, I’m eagerly looking forward to more reveals that are sure to come at a steady stream, and how the final act will be set up… and resolved.

One of my favorite shots of Sayaka. Looks dead, empty. If only she had embraced her feelings during her little bouts of emotion throughout the episode...

Another couple weeks, another worldview changing revelation. What else is new in Magical Girl Madoka Magica? Episode 5 wasn’t really inspiring, despite having some solid action, but combined with episode 6, it has been a solid pair of episodes in this show. The fantasy set up stage seems to be coming to a close here with conflict against our first major villain in Sakura Kyoko, and new questions join old ones as we see hints of what’s to come.

One question that has been present since the beginning and whose answer gets more and more intriguing as we learn more is, what’s the little fella’s motivation? At this point, with how Shaft has portrayed Kyubey’s actions, without his pleasant voice and reassuring words, he would clearly be a self serving, villainous figure. Hanging out with Kyoko before she gets into a (potentially) lethal fight with Sayaka? Pushing Madoka to make a wish during said fight? Then pushing Sayaka to perform some peer pressure on Madoka to achieve the same thing? One thing’s for sure: he really, very badly wants Madoka to become a magical girl.

That’s even without mentioning the creepy cold open to episode 5 in which he sucks out Sayaka’s soul through her breasts using his extended ears and puts it in her soul gem. Or his unnecessarily pulling Madoka into the fight between Sayaka and Kyoko at the end of episode 6. Then there’s his consumption of the grief seeds via that red mark, which he hand waves as just “being one of his functions.” He just purifies the evil dark power contained within? It’s hard to buy that he’s not getting some benefit out of this, given that magical girls have been shown to consume power from similar sources.

His unchanging smile gets creepier and creepier as we dig deeper and deeper into this world.

What is Kyubey after here? I stress time and again, there is no reason not to take Kyubey at his word. But with it being so obvious that Shaft is showing Kyubey as being overly pushy and depicting him with demonic imagery, I think it’s safe to say that Shaft wants us to think that there’s more behind Kyubey. Is he just after more grief seeds for himself, and he sees an incredibly powerful magical girl such as Madoka as a good means? Or is he after something more sinister?

A simple twist would be far too obvious, and a red herring would be far too easy. I want to think that our opinion of Kyubey will change at least a couple times before all is said and done.

Certainly, Kyubey’s off-hand comment about magical girls “always being surprised” at the discovery that they’ve been separated from their bodies makes him seem at least callous and insensitive. Like the type to use magical girls and throw them away, cycle after cycle. It was a bit of a surprise to me that Kyoko was taken aback, since she’s made out to be the hardened, cynical veteran, same as Homura, who already knew about the gems holding the magical girls’ souls. I wanted to think that Kyoko was someone so horrified by discovering the world of magical girls that she went psychotic. I guess she’s just a plain old power hungry bad guy. Oh well, at least she makes for quite the villain. Her threat to disable Kyosuke’s limbs permanently was wicked, exactly the kind of speech we want coming from a villain. Plus, she has fire in her eyes (yes, she – and the show – reminds me a lot of Shakugan no Shana. I’ll keep using that joke).

Flame Eyed... Kyoko? Ai Nonaka's voice is a pleasure to listen to, and combined with the art and writing, creates a great villain in Kyoko.

Besides Kyubey, Kyoko really was the star of the past couple episodes. I loved the DDR scene with her and Homura, starting with the shout out to the show’s OP and ending with her getting a perfect score before offering Homura a Pocky in the style of a cigarette (with how this show is playing out like a crime thriller, it was very appropriate). And there was one of Shaft’s favorite tools, the bullet time head tilt, in the middle, when she asked what Homura’s story was without missing a beat. Kyoko was being made to look really cool here, and it worked.

Her fight scene against Sayaka at the end of episode 5 was excellent as well. The use of recycled clips was distracting, especially since there was enough unique content in there to make a good fight scene! But, well, there was enough content in there to make a good fight scene. Kyoko’s oversized spear/multi-sectioned staff is badass, full stop. Such things are what I love about animated martial arts violence: the ability to have crazy, physically impossible, beautiful weapons. Unfortunately, Sayaka was a pushover, and her fighting hasn’t been much fun to look at. She needs to get in close with her sword instead of throwing them.

When combined with the knowledge gained at the end of episode 6, this image from the cold open to episode 5 becomes more... wicked.

What about the big reveal at the end of episode 6? So magical girls can theoretically move from body to body. That solves the whole aging problem. But that raises some major questions. How old is Kyubey anyway? How old is Homura, for that matter? How many bodies has she been through? Are magical girls like Roa, jumping from body to body as need arises? Maybe her first body was Joan of Arc? Mary Magdalene? Cassandra? Eve? More importantly, how will this new information come into play later in the show? In a fantasy work such as this, the writer doesn’t throw in such an element without the intent of using it. I would welcome some body switching hijinks. I could use something light hearted in this show (hey, Shakugan no Shana did that too!).

While on the topic of Homura, we finally got to see her teleportation powers clearly and in action, and that was pretty cool. Don’t get me started on why she did the whole “teleport a few meters at a time while running” bit instead of landing right on the truck (or why she painstakingly climbed the truck after catching up instead of, again, landing on top of it). For all the cool action in this show, some scenes test my suspense of disbelief with their stupidity. Sayaka pushing against Kyoko’s spear in episode 5 was also one of those.

This clash kind of pissed me off. Just tilt the sword 30 degrees and stab her instead of needlessly pushing against the spear, you twit!

Then there’s our eponymous (non) magical girl, Madoka. Hard to believe that we’ve almost reached the halfway point, and she’s still not a magical girl. Whodathunkit? The way she keeps getting hyped by Kyubey and Homura as a game breaker, I wonder if we won’t see her as a magical girl until the very end, under duress like Mami, in order to save something or someone. Or what if she never turns? Maybe the lesson is that by simply being herself, she was magical all along and just needed to click her heels 3 times! Yeah, that would suck.

Given everything Madoka has seen up to this point, who would blame her for not wanting to set foot into the monstrous world of magical girls? Yet she continues to do so despite lacking powers, because she cares about the safety of her friends. So like you’d expect a magical girl show to be, this is about the power of FRIENDSHIP and LOVE. Her nighttime conversation with her mother makes it clear that that’s what this show is going to go for. And to its credit, by putting these girls in tough situations and giving them life-altering and life threatening challenges, the show manages to make this boring message compelling.

It’s never the idea, it’s always the execution. So far, Magical Girl Madoka Magica has taken a very tired old premise and has executed wonderfully, especially with its consistently impressive art and pacing that provides slow burn punctuated by significant, memorable events. Again, because I don’t know much about magical girl shows, I’m staying away from the word “deconstruction.” But all that and the enormous amount of speculation aside, this is simply a fun, intriguing fantasy action show that tells its story very well. I can’t wait to see how the story will run its course and am eagerly looking forward to what else Shaft has in stock for when the Walpurgis Night that Homura mentioned comes.

Great end title card by Hajime Ueda, he of FLCL manga fame. He was also responsible for the ED art in Shaft's previous hit, Bakemonogatari.

This post is mostly in sparked by Tsuki over at the Emory Anime Club.  In his post on this episode, he brings up how he doesn’t like Victorique’s increasing dependence on Kujo.  I can understand.  I think some of us want to have a strong female lead that can take care of herself.  However, I think her dependence is natural and her actions logical given the situation.  I figured using Tsuki’s thoughts would be a good springboard to explore Victorique’s personality.

Let's face it, she still the most interesting character here.

First, let’s tackle the fear aspect of her character.  One place she showed fear was around Ned Baxter, when he “died.”  You can note two important things about this outburst.  First, when Kujo came over to her, she immediately changed her composure and assumed control of the situation.  That isn’t the behavior of someone who is scared for her own wellbeing  Second, as AmberFebruary points out over at MAL, her outburst prevents Kujo from checking Ned’s neck for a pulse.  The tennis ball only stops the pulse to one arm, so the trick offers an obvious place to check: the wrist.  It worked really well on the kids, because they probably wouldn’t think to check elsewhere.  Kujo did.  Had he examined further, he would have learned Ned was still alive, and they all could have been in danger, as they were unarmed.

What’s more perplexing is her behavior when confronted by Maurice.  When he pulls a gun on the party, Julie and Ned react with shock.  Kujo, while a little more reserved, still has a change of complexion.  Victorique just stares at him.  In fact, the only reaction she even has is to call Maurice a fool when he finishes his little speech.  What you can see here is wildly inconsistent behavior.  It doesn’t make sense for her to show no sign of fear with a gun pointed at her head while trembling at other times.  At the very least, I don’t think she fears for herself or her own mortality.  Does she fear something else?

Your bullets cannot harm me!

In this episode, we find out a very important aspect of Victorique’s past.  She’s the bastard daughter of a woman who’s considered dangerous by the government.  As a result, she’s lived a life of isolation.  Studies have shown isolation can increase a person’s cognitive state, and sure enough, she has a strong, deductive mind.   Living in a library allows her to harvest even more knowledge.  However, it also leaves her at a bit of a disadvantage.  It’s likely she rarely, if ever, had seen the outside world before their little adventure.  All the book learning in the world won’t fully prepare you for the real world.  This is why she reacts with such wonder to the world around her.  She has a bit of a dependence on Kujo here, because he actually has experience.  He’s also her only route out of the library.

Isolation has another price tag, though, and the payment is quite steep.  Most humans have a need for some kind of social interaction.  We want companionship.  Her life has blessed her with an incredibly sharp mind, but it has also cursed her with loneliness.  She doesn’t mention having any friends.  In her position, I doubt her family would have wanted her to interact with anyone.  This makes Kujo a very important person in her life.  He is likely her first real friend.  Given this, it’s no small wonder that the genuine fear she shows is not for herself, but for Kujo.  When Kujo carries her across the water, she’s realized he’s willing to place himself in harm’s way.  When Ned was playing dead, she was afraid he’d attack her friend.  When the boy decided to fight alone, she feared he might die.  How would you feel if you lost your only friend?

Myself? I certainly don’t want to think about it.

Surprise, surprise, the Queen Berry is a setup.  Upon boarding the ship, they eat a drugged meal and all fall unconscious.  Panic ensues, most of the people on board end up killing themselves by proxy, and we’re left with five people.  Finally, we learn what happened on the Queen Berry a decade ago when it went missing.  A group of people invited eleven children on board, with the intention of playing a kind of game, one that would determine their survival.

Stuff it!

The game is multiplayer, with each player individually playing against every other player.  Each player can select one of two options, either trust or betrayal.  If both players trust each other, then both players will survive.  If one chooses betrayal, then he survives while his opponent dies.  If both choose to betray, then either one or both of them die.  From a game perspective, the last case’s outcome would be chosen at random.  When a player dies, everyone reevaluates their selections.  In the situation on the Queen Berry, 11 players exist.  This means there are 55 individual competitions going on from the start.

You might say, “But Rakuen, the obvious solution is for everyone to trust each other.  Then everyone survives!”  You would be right, if it were really so simple.  For this reason, the organizers introduce a disrupting event: someone dies.  Two problems are immediately apparent.  First, all of these children are from different countries and speak different languages, making communication difficult.  Second, when someone dies, guess what?  Yep, everyone might change their minds.  Maybe one of their companions is the killer.  As long as one person chooses betrayal toward any other person, the game will continue in a vicious cycle.

There are three ways for the game to end.  The first two are rather boring base cases.  Once you’re left with two people, one person can betray the other, winning the game.  Alternatively, both could choose to betray, ending with one or neither of them alive.  A far more interesting solution exists though.  If at any point in the game, everyone chooses to trust everyone else, the game ends barring another disruption.  Everyone remaining survives.  This could be any number of people, from two to all ten.  I think everyone has their own ideas for who survived.  Instead, let’s briefly reason why it happened in the first place.

What's behind door number two?

Simply put, the game works as a social experiment.  It had two goals in mind.  First, it wanted to see who, if any, of the children would cooperate despite all the confusion.  A very simple method exists for generating mutual trust: save someone from death.  The person in danger is probably not dangerous, and the savior is probably not a killer.  Second, if anyone survived, what would they try to do with the lives they had “earned”?  Well, they would probably decide to take vengeance on the ones who turned their lives into a game.  Several social experiments in the early and mid-1900’s involved children as well, so using them isn’t terribly out of the ordinary.

For those of you keeping score at home, there’s two mystery references in this episode.  First, the original situation on the Queen Berry mirrors Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.  In both stories, a number of people are invited to a deserted area and setup to die.  However, in Christie’s work, one person orchestrated the deaths of all the others.  Second, Victorique’s ability to identify wine is similar to Sherlock Holmes’ ability to identify soil by the same means.

Let's have a toast, to me!

Well I’m pretty late to the party here because I got tied up in moderating for an event over the past week.  With that out of the way, I finally have an opportunity to write.  A lot of people have pointed out some of the obvious parallels between Gosick and the Sherlock Holmes fiction.  Victorique is a calm, passive, and analytical thinker, much like her counterpart Holmes, complete with a penchant for pulling out the iconic pipe while thinking.  Kazuya, on the other hand, has not quite shown the level of intelligence Dr. Watson had, but has shown infinitely more emotional personality and natural curiosity than his enigmatic companion.  However, there is also a parallel between this first episode and the first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet.

Elementary, my dear Kazuya!

At the end of the story the two characters look at the local newspaper, the Echo, and see a portion of the article covering the crime they just solved.  The officers from Scotland Yard took all credit for the investigation.  In all likelihood, they will receive a testimonial for their services on the case.   Holmes doesn’t particularly care, in fact, he reasoned this outcome from the start.  Watson insists on publishing an account of the mystery on his own, though, because he feels Holmes deserves recognition.  In universe, this actually results in the printing of A Study in Scarlet.  Holmes reads the book and at the start of the second story reveals why he didn’t care about appearing in the newspaper.  He likes to work as a detective, but he doesn’t like the attention.  He chooses to work as the world’s “only unofficial detective.”

This rather tidily matches up with Gosick’s first episode.  Grevil barges in with a case he fails to solve, and Victorique not only corrects him, but presents him with the full solution.  Kazuya sees the article in the paper the next day, and storms into Grevil’s office to demand the girl get something.  Grevil throws him a bone, and Kazuya feels pretty proud of himself over it.  Victorique really doesn’t seem to care too much about it.  I imagine this has happened for some time, especially because the detective seems to have her in the palm of his hand.  Just like Holmes, she probably likes to stay under the radar.  She gets to exercise her mind solving cases without having to deal with the press and the accolades.  After doing the research on this, I’m interested in seeing whether any other episodes parallel one of Doyle’s works.

I'm also interested in Victorique being adorable. ...what?

Oh wow. Talk about leaving on a high note. The final episode of this show brought together everything that was good about this show into one hilarious, quirky, crazy, emotional, touching, moving package. What a great way to bring out the first episode in which just one story is told start to finish, with no gag transitions or lack of chronology. What started off as another story about Hotori’s naivete and rashness getting her into trouble ended up being a very touching look back at this show and all of its characters who have made it what it is.

The first half of the episode was innocent enough, with Hotori foolishly thinking she could win a literature contest to buy a new pen to replace the one given to her by her uncle, all because she excitedly modded it during the cold open with a magnifying glass without doing any research into the pen’s value. Never change, Hotori. The scene in which Hotori shows Futaba the cafe and reunites her with Toshiko served to remind us of when in the timeline this was taking place, in case we missed the title scroll. And seriously, Hotori’s mystery short story was horrible, but, of course, that was part of the charm. The super deformed adaptation was a gag that actually worked, thanks its quick pacing and wonderfully cliche writing.

But shit really hit the fan when Hotori got hit by a car in front of her house while fallen in despair over the rejection. Ironically, this accident was due to no fault of her own, as that truck really had no business going that fast that close to a gate where people might enter and exit. But regardless of whose fault it was, she was hit and quickly found herself ascending to the heavens just like the old man from a few episodes back.

There was a more mythical depiction of the afterlife using the Egyptian model, and Hotori's reaction was priceless and reminiscent of her berating of the policeman in episode 2.

There is no shortage of depictions of the afterlife in fiction, but if one were to exist in real life, surely SoreMachi’s vision of it being another typical government bureaucracy would come close. After all, why should things become all neat and tidy for us humans after death? Even after passing, it turns out, people have to wait in lines, fill out forms, work for money. Except here, a job might be of being one of the angels to guide up newly dead people, and one spends one’s earned money by “haunting” photos of friends down below using a photo booth. Very pragmatic, to say the least.

The heart and soul of the episode was getting to see how everyone reacted to Hotori’s hospitalization, of course. It was an emotional look at virtually every single side character in this show. I have to admit I teared up a bit during the scene with Takeru and Yukiko. Something about seeing those two younger siblings being left behind, the older one still just a child and telling the younger one that they have to be strong was particularly powerful. There was also Sanada, who again cursed his inability to tell Hotori he liked her. Except this time, he wouldn’t get another chance.

As it all finally hits her, Hotori begins to mourn her own death.

The finality of it all was what really got to Hotori, when she realized that she would never again get to try harder next time. This scene of her coming to terms with her own death was something unexpectedly mature from this show. What Hotori regretted the most was the life full of friends and relationships she would leave behind, but at the same time, her regret was proof that her life was worthwhile. The feeling of loss was both real and heavy, even as she quickly learned to look ahead to her new life after death.

Once again, I’m inclined to make a comparison to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, with its finale. This is a comparison I don’t want to push too hard – Melancholy is a far better piece of work than this show – but there is definitely a parallel here, with the finale featuring the protagonist going through some powerful and possibly irreversible ordeal in an episode that we know takes place before many of the events that we’ve already seen. Indeed, there was never any doubt that Hotori would come back to life. It’s a bit of a shame that her memory of the afterlife was wiped clean, meaning that she was the same person before and after the events of the finale – a significant difference from the finale of Melancholy – but that didn’t take away from the emotional power of seeing our heroine face her own death. Also, having the story come full circle to her uncle’s pen was a nice touch.

Yet the Town Keeps Going also offers its own take on what "life flashing before your eyes" entails.

This was a far more emotionally affecting finale to this show than I could ever have expected. It truly lived up to its episode title, SoreMachi, by highlighting the importance of what was easily the most entertaining aspect of this show, the interpersonal relationships between the various characters. They were what provided the funniest moments in this show, but also the most powerful and touching ones. After all, more than anything, our relationship with others is what truly makes us happy.

Well, what do you know, looks like this show is going full on scifi fantasy. Last week, it was time travelers, this week, it’s aliens and ghosts. That’s not to say that this episode was driven by the scifi/fantasy elements. Rather, they were used mainly as convenient devices to facilitate the storytelling, much like in the previous episode.

That first half really didn’t have any business being as enjoyable as it was, but it was. I found it so funny because of my own incredulity at the situation being shown on screen. Hotori accidentally battling it out with aliens? Then Futaba bringing out a story of her own, with that fixing device? Was this show really going down this path? The things that happened weren’t actually all that funny, but they didn’t need to be. Just having Hotori really run into aliens was enough.

I’m reminded of the aliens in Pani Poni Dash! They were used as comic relief, shown to us only when convenient but rarely actually affecting anything in the main story. Similarly, if the aliens do show up again, I expect it to be in a similar context as in this episode, where they’re used for a gag instead of being drivers for the plot. Of course, there’s the issue that Futaba still has that alien fixing tool, which I hope will make some sort of appearance in the remaining episodes.

In most anime, this type of encounter, especially on a school rooftop, means only one thing. But this show isn't like most anime.

I’ve been noticing similarities between this show and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya due to the non-chronologically told high school romance, the culture festival concert, and the scifi/fantasy elements of the past 2 episodes, and Futaba was definitely giving Haruhi vibes with her desire for an extraordinary life. It was ironic that Hotori, who is always the one to go on about her fantastical desires, whether it be to date her math teacher or to become a high school detective, was so down that she actually ran into aliens. Not sure what the deal is with that – though it was funny to see Futaba jump immediately to her period as the cause – I suppose this is meant to show us that despite all her quirks, Hotori is someone who does have a firm grasp of reality.

As for the 2nd segment focusing on the ghost of the head maid’s late husband, I didn’t think much of it. It was boring, likely because this was an all new character whose life and times we’ve never been privy to before. I suppose it was meant to be sweet that the head maid still prays/talks to her husband and leaves an offering each night, which gives us a bit more insight into her character, but she’s still not that interesting. One thing I did like about the 2nd segment was that it allowed the gag involving Sanada’s prayer, letting us see it for a 2nd time (shot-for-shot, I believe, though I didn’t bother to check), but realizing that the ghost of that old man was there the whole time. I was hoping that he would make a more meaningful comment about the follies and joys of youth instead of basically repeating the narrator’s line that gods must have it tough to grant such wishes.

Shaft uses one of their favorite cinematographic techniques - reflection - to good effect here, showing us the cat seeing both Sanada and the ghost.

With this episode, I’m reminded of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, a show that was pretty explicit about its lack of continuity, often ending its half- or third-episodes with irreversible events such as killing key or all main characters or destroying the world. Yet the Town Keeps Going does have continuity, but it has shown us that it’s comfortable with throwing in anything it wants at any time it feels like it, and it will find a way to make sure that it doesn’t affect the continuity.

The show is really living up to its name – yet the town keeps going. It hasn’t spent enough time developing any of the main characters, instead jumping back and forth between the various goings on of the town, giving side characters or meaningless events a too much screen time. The show has been brilliant when developing the relationships between the main characters, but it has fallen into a rut the past few episodes of just going through the motions. There are only a couple of episodes left in this series, and if it returns to the character development, it still could finish strong. Next episode’s title, Kon’s Summer of Tears, makes me hopeful that it will.

I really liked the final drawing for this episode. If the show stayed with the theme of this picture, it could have been much better.

I wish I could say that the show bounced back strong after last week’s disappointing affair, but this episode was pretty limp as well. It was certainly more entertaining than last week’s, but not by much. To the show’s credit though, the ending twist to the second half was so unexpected and funny that it might have made up for the entire episode.

It feels as though the show has been packing more mini clips around the now standard half-episode segments, and the cold open to this episode was probably the most significant one yet. And it was actually really funny. I liked how it started off with Shizuka just finishing reading The Gift of the Magi, a classic and touching short story about a very poor husband and wife having to come up with Christmas gifts for each other (if you haven’t read it yet, you should do it. It’s only like 5 pages). The couple that comes into Shizuka’s shop in the cold open clearly don’t have such a loving relationship, though they do seem to have a lot of money. Watching Shizuka calmly and blatantly exploit them for financial gain was a riot.

Then came the first half episode, which was all too uneventful. It drove home one of my main problems with the so-called “slice of life” genre, which is that “slice of life” shows, in order to be successful, rarely show us just another slice of the characters’ lives; they have to show us something special, unusual, or interesting in some way. I guess Toshiko’s table tennis game against Harue sort of counts. At least the reference to Harue’s special training (via drums) from the previous episode was a nice touch.

Somehow, the shaggy black hair makes Futaba look even cooler, if that is possible. Too bad she didn't actually appear this episode.

The most enjoyable part was seeing the middle school versions/caricatures of Toshiko, Harue, and (especially) Futaba. It seems that the people at their middle school really took table tennis seriously. Hotori’s insertion into – and disbelief at – the scared townspeople flashback was quite funny. I did find it odd that Toshiko was shown to be a lefty in table tennis, even though she’s a righty when playing the violin. Since dexterity and precision are required for both activities, it would be highly unusual for someone to use opposite hands for them. I wonder if it was purposeful.

And then for the second half, featuring Shizuka doing some detective work of her own, all in order to track down a cookie with no source. Really, what made this segment was that completely unexpected ending. Yet the Town Keeps Going has been wacky, off the wall, and crazy at times, but it has never broken continuity or its own internal logic as far as I can recall, so I have no choice but to take this at face value and accept that, yes, there really are time travelers in this show which has suddenly gone down the route of science fiction.

I liked this depiction of a dream hallway. Very accurate, I thought.

Of course, chances are good that this is just a one time thing in order to facilitate this one gag, but already in this one episode, there’s more to this little side story. Specifically, the fact that the couple from the cold open were both from the future – the green haired wife being one of the people at the conference and the husband being the time traveler. Does this mean anything, or were the guys at Shaft just having fun using the same characters? What about the allusions to ancient artifacts and the effects of time on precious objects during the opening narration of the previous two episodes? And was Hotori right when she thought that a warp zone had been responsible for her falling off to the side in the first half of this episode? Is there some sort of time travel twist yet to be revealed in this show? Could this show be far more similar to Shaft’s other “seaside” cafe show, Natsu no Arashi! than anyone had previously thought!?

Probably not. It’s more likely to be a running joke, similar to the aliens in Pani Poni Dash! instead of being an actual plot point. Or maybe it won’t be a running joke at all, but just something to spice up this one episode that badly needed it. At least this show is keeping me guessing. But I’m hoping that the show quickly returns to the situational comedy that it had so excelled at instead of continuing with the gags and gimmicks that made these past 2 episodes so dull in comparison.

I mention Haruhi Suzumiya, and the show follows up with a culture festival concert, then time traveling. What's next, an island murder mystery? That would be right up Hotori's alley.

This week’s episode was a lot like last week’s, in that it was again a lot of fun, made possible by Hotori acting like her usual self. A new character, Futaba Kon, the lead singer and bass player in the ED sequence and also a member of the table tennis club just like Harue from the first episode, was introduced as well, though little of her personality shone through.

There was an odd bit of synergy in this half, as this was a story all about eyes. And if you’ve seen Shaft anime of late – Bakemonogatari, Dance in the Vampire Bund, Arakawa Under the Bridge (the latter two of which I’ve blogged) - you know that they have a sort of fetish for eyes. I’m sure the narrator’s monologue on eyes and how it is the window into the soul and can express just as much as the mouth is something director Shinbo agrees with vehemently. So this segment of the episode really had some nice shots of eyes, mainly Hotori’s.

I wonder if the whole reason Shaft decided to adapt this manga was because of this one chapter...

And Hotori once again stole the show, and it was delightful. She was her usual quirky, hyper self as she listened to and solved the puzzle of Moriaki-sensei’s grandfather’s paintings. She was cute fantasizing that Moriaki was hitting on her, and her superior attitude at the others’ solutions as well as her own correct solution was somehow endearing. And her solution was actually pretty clever. She’s a fool, but I guess she’s no idiot.

The show continued the pattern of having two story segments per episode. The second half of this one was what the “Cat Boy” episode title was about. It saw the introduction of the reverse trap Futaba Kon (played by rookie Rieka Yazawa), into whom Hotori runs during shopping for the cafe. She’s the blonde lead singer in the ED sequence, so clearly she will play a bigger role in the show going forward. There’s not much to say about her character so far, other than that she seems very much the typical unflappable tomboy. I’m reminded of Kino from Kino’s Journey. There wasn’t anything particular about the way Yazawa played Futaba, but, for what it’s worth, her voice seemed fitting for that reverse trap role.

Her intro scene as the “Cat Boy” wasn’t as funny as the first half, but the dramatic and situational irony of Hotori not knowing Futaba’s gender gave the scene an amusing twist. I enjoyed the physical comedy of Hotori suddenly choking Futaba in order to get the cat to come out to protect its master. That sequence was very well animated.

Hotori being Hotori can be pretty deadly, too. The policeman from last episode can attest to that.

In fact, the production values of the entire episode were top notch. Hotori’s faces and facial animations were sharp and very expressive, and when a scene required for action, there were clearly no cut corners with the animation. Yet the Town Keeps Going is proving to be the better looking and better produced Shaft show of the season. And while it might not have the emotional draw of Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge, if things keep going like this, it could very well be the better, or at least funnier, show too.

Here’s the short version: whatever you’ve heard about it is true; it’s really that good. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is an absolutely stunning film that succeeds on every level. It does not make up for the horrible second season, but if you liked the first season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and long for more of something of that caliber, this is a must-watch. You will not be disappointed.

If you actually want me to expand on those thoughts, proceed downward (note: like any proper review, this will contain no spoilers, although I will delve into story bits when necessary).

Let’s first make one thing clear: you must watch the TV show The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya in order to understand Disappearance. It is a sequel that depends on the first work, and there is just no getting around that. Of course, if you’re reading this, chances are high that you’ve already seen both seasons of the show. But in case you haven’t, make sure to watch it in the following order: 1. Season 1 in airing (not chronological) order, 2. Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, 3. 1st and last episodes of Endless Eight, 4. The Sighs of Haruhi Suzumiya. Don’t make the mistake of watching all 8 episodes of Endless Eight.

As I write above, Disappearance is a direct sequel to the TV show, taking place in December of the protagonist Kyon’s first year at high school. The movie starts off with a brief set up to Kyon’s daily school life before he awakens one day to find that the entire world has changed around him, with him the only one aware of this. Haruhi Suzumiya has literally disappeared, and the one sitting behind him is, well, I won’t spoil that bit for you. Gone along with Haruhi is the should-be transfer student Koizumi Itsuki, and while Mikuru Asahina and Yuki Nagato are still at the school, the former doesn’t know him, and the latter is still the glasses-wearing girl, the sole member of the literature club whose room that Haruhi had taken over when starting the SOS Brigade in the show. That’s when the story really begins, as Kyon attempts to untangle the mystery of this sudden shift in timeline, to find the one responsible for it, and to figure out a way to go back.

Technically speaking, Disappearance follows Kyoto Animation’s tradition of being ridiculously well animated. It sometimes takes things a step too far, and the over-smoothness of some of the animations look unnatural, but all things considered, that’s a good problem to have. The cinematography is excellent throughout, reminiscent mostly of the anime original episode, Some Day in the Rain in its wide angle shots of rooms and long single-take cuts. The music is subtle and serves its purpose, though the use of new versions of the same tunes from the show will definitely please the fans. Unusual for a movie, it features an opening sequence, using the first season’s opening song, Bouken Desho Desho? – as if to help us forget about the epic failure that was the second season.

At the surface, the movie is just plain fun. It doesn’t lose the lighthearted sense of humor of the show. Most of the comedy is at the beginning, as Kyon first discovers the differences of this new world, leading to some very embarrassing situations. His run in with Mikuru involving the mention of her unique mole was particularly humorous. But the movie remains amusing throughout, revitalized when Haruhi finally makes her triumphant reappearance and acts in ways Haruhi only could. Throughout, Kyon’s narration is as dry and sarcastic as ever.

The scifi/mystery-thriller aspects are also well executed. The pacing is sublime, never lingering on any situation for too long, but also never feeling hurried or rushed. The movie keeps you hooked with its constant twists and turns, always leaving you in anticipation and maybe even a bit uncomfortable, but never frustrated. The fact that this movie is 163 minutes long may scare some away – it certainly scared me, though obviously not enough to keep me from watching it – but this is one that uses every bit of time it has to the fullest extent. There are some awesome OHSHI- moments as well, which would be criminal for me to spoil for you here.

But simple entertainment was never the hook for Melancholy. Though the show succeeded in that regard, what made it special was the subtle emotional and personal story taking place, specifically between Kyon and Haruhi. The show was ultimately a high school romance story of those two characters with the science fiction/fantasy comedy genre being used as a vehicle, and it was that layer that had made it, in my humble opinion, the best TV anime of this past decade. And Disappearance exploits that same method to be not just an enjoyable movie, but also a deeply meaningful and emotional one.

In that context, Disappearance is the story of a couple separating and realizing that they can’t go on without the other. It’s mainly told from one end, Kyon’s, but both parts are there. Perhaps for the first time ever, Kyon is actually honest to himself about his feelings regarding Haruhi and the SOS Brigade. Kyon performs far more introspection than he ever did in the show. Some of his internal scenes are reminiscent of the scene at the train crossing from the episode The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 5, in which Haruhi explains to Kyon how she decided to be the way she was. Kyon’s inner struggles feel honest and heartfelt, and there is a powerful feeling of release and relief when he reaches epiphany.

But the movie takes things even a step further than the show and examines the relationship Kyon has with other members of the SOS brigade. Nagato is the one that receives the most focus. Perhaps the purpose of Endless Eight was to give us just a small taste of the pain that Nagato had to go through during the 15,000+ cycles she had to live through. And the conversation that Kyon has with Nagato at the very end of the movie simultaneously leaves us feeling ache and hope in the heart.

Indeed, one could interpret that the whole movie was about Nagato and designed to make us sympathize with a character whose physical manifestations of emotion have only been subtle up to this point. It makes us ponder, what issues face one who is effectively omnipotent, but at the same time is not allowed to make any decisions in how to use that power? How does she, quite literally a slave, deal with them? More than that, it makes us sympathize with her, to feel for her plight, and to want to fight for her. This is a somewhat common theme in the realm of science fiction, and Kyoto Animation presents it to us in a way that can only be presented in the world of Haruhi Suzumiya. I don’t consider that to be the main focus of the movie, but it is undoubtedly a key element of it that is integral to making it as powerful as it is.

The other members get their moments too, though they are mainly there for fanservice. An adult Asahina gets to spend some time alone with Kyon and reminisce about her fun days. And Koizumi, the one who has always seemed easygoing and bright shows us a small glimpse into the pain and heartbreak he must experience due to his position. Besides the members of the SOS Brigade, Kyon’s friends Taniguchi and Kunikida get plenty of the screen time they couldn’t get in the show.

All in all, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is an amazing film. Don’t let its near 3-hour run time or the bad taste from season 2′s Endless Eight scare you off. If you are lucky enough to live near one of the places it is showing in theaters, go see it. Does it make up for the debacle of Endless Eight? No, but nothing can. This movie comes as close as possible, though, and reminds us of why we first fell in love with the world of Haruhi in the first place. In not only recapturing the magic of the first season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya but expanding upon it, Disappearance truly is a marvelous achievement.

I’m not much one for attaching numbers to reviews, but, for what it’s worth, I give it 5 out of 5 stars, a perfect 10/10, A+, etc. This is the best anime movie I’ve seen since… well, Evangelion 2.22, which I saw earlier this year. So that’s actually not saying much. But this is a movie that easily ranks right along with it, far above anything else in the past decade. Melancholy showed us that Kyoto Animation was capable of creating anime that was not just entertainment but also deeply emotional pieces of work. Disappearance proves to us that that wasn’t just a flash in the pan, and they are very capable of doing it again.

Now, to get them to stop adapting banal 4-koma or vapid visual novels and keep making anime based on award winning novels…

Notes

• I watched this film at its screening last Friday at the New York Anime Festival. I also made a post on the cosplay I saw at the festival.
• Disappearance was originally released to Japanese theaters on February 6, 2010. The DVD and Bluray of the film will be released in Japan on December 18, 2010. The film has been licensed by Bandai Entertainment and is currently set to be released on DVD and Bluray in the US sometime in spring 2011.
• Given the technical excellence of the film, I recommend that you avoid watching the camrip that is floating around and rather wait for the movie proper to be available.
• All art contained in this review are official art by Kyoto Animation from various sources.

This was the most serious episode yet, presenting us with what is clearly the beginning of the final arc. We got to see some of our heroes being put in real danger by being manipulated by Shirou, and we also got to see Ryoushi finally take some steps to strengthen himself, in order to prepare for the inevitable showdown for Ryouko that he still doesn’t realize will be coming. The episode even managed to stick in a couple fairy tale analogies, adding a fun new character, even as several of the old ones came back to play important roles. This was a strong episode, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this show will close out.

As foreshadowed by the image of Shirou’s girl from last week’s preview, we’re back to super serious mode now. Someone’s been spreading nasty rumors about the Otogi Bank, and to counter that, Alice and Liszt decide to run a 30% off promotion (the show itself acknowledges that the 30% is meaningless because the payment is through favors), which predictably increases demand, meaning that Ookami-san and her Seven Companions have to work overtime to fulfill the favors. It seems that this was all part of our main baddie Shirou’s master plan, as he seizes this opportunity to kidnap some of our heroes, including Otsu, Ryouko and Tarou (with Otohime a possibility), with a little help from his girl Reiko who successfully infiltrated the Ryouko household.

I loved Nekomiya Saburo, the stand in for Puss in Boots, with his styling hat, vertical eye slits, cat-ear hair, and metal studded chaps. He fit his role quite well, helping to give Ryoushi that much needed backbone in order to catch Ryouko. I took a liking to him right away, and not just because he’s a narrator-proclaimed bishonen with cat ears. The way he kept ending his sentences with “nya,” only to correct himself was charming, and the way he reversed the stalker role on Ryoushi was priceless. I haven’t been able to find his voice actor, though he sounded a lot like Mamoru Miyano, the voice of Masaomi Kida from Durarara!!.

Mr. Neko shows off his cat-like agility.

Then there was Reiko, who I suppose was the wolf in sheep’s clothing. I’ll be honest here: I was naive enough to think that she might actually have been telling the truth. Of course, given what we saw of her back in episode 5, I knew that it was highly likely that she was working for Shirou. But given the type of person as which Shirou has been presented, I thought it made sense that he would be that abusive to her. Plus, those injuries on her looked real enough. Instead, it was all a part of a long con. Silly me.

She looks so innocent and helpless here!

With Shirou’s plan coming together and our heroes finding themselves in duress, the entire last half of the episode proved to be excellent. I loved the hectic storytelling as the show switched from member to member, letting us see how each fell into Shirou’s master plan. It felt very 24ish, especially with all the hostage situations and the distraction phone call to Ringo. I mean that in the best way possible, because 24 was an amazing show, at least for the the first two seasons (don’t remind me of the god awful series conclusion earlier this year). The build up in tension was palpable, and there was a distinct sense of urgency as the episode ended with a “to be continued.”

One thing I am suspicious of is Otohime’s whereabouts, though. She was never shown to be kidnapped, and Tarou went along with the thugs based solely on seeing her purse. I could easily see this being a switch, with Otohime, never having been captured, coming to help save the day along with Ryoushi, Liszt, and Majo. Speaking of whom, I doubt we’ll ever get an intro episode for our witch at this point. I don’t know what her deal is, but I feel like I could have easily traded Otsu’s back story for hers.

I maintain that she's the hottest out of all the main characters. But is she supposed to be just a generic witch, or one from a specific story? I guess this show won't reveal that.

As they say, shit’s getting real, and we’ve clearly entered the final story arc of the series. Things will play out predictably, with Ryoushi using the training from Neko-san to save the day and get the girl, who will then punch him in the face for making her feel embarrassed/feminine. Of course, the devil is in the details, and Shirou’s motivations and master plan are still shrouded in mystery. I’m looking forward to finding out.

I’m feeling very positive about Ookami-san now, more than at any other point in the series. Going in, I never thought that there would be a central plot or that one would get as much attention, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well the serious parts have been handled. Furthermore, instead of the fairy tale analogies being atomic as I had expected, they are tied to the main plot and characters, returning to play crucial roles, such as Usami and Shirayuki in this one. I wrote before that Ookami-san and Seven Companions failed to meet my expectations, but perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing. We’ll find out in just 2 weeks.

All this scene needed was a clock counting up to the next hour, with a "paching!" going off with each second.

Even though it lacked an obvious fairy tale analogy yet again, I somewhat enjoyed this episode. Yes, amnesia is the laziest trick in the book. But that’s the kind of thing I’ve come to expect from this show. At least they brought Ryouko to a hospital instead of hitting her on the head again to fix her like in 30 Rock.

This was sort of a continuation of the previous episode, with Ryouko reverting back to her middle school mode for a while. At first, I had assumed that it had brought her back to before her encounter with Shirou, but that thought was wiped out by their encounter in the rain at the end of the episode. That scene served as further confirmation of their past together; Shirou sexually abused her, and no one believed Ryouko regarding that.

Now, Shirou’s comment that it was Ryouko’s fault is likely one of those, “She tempted me into it!” bullshit rationalizations, but what if it wasn’t? That would be a twist I would enjoy tremendously. What if Ryouko isn’t as innocent as she lets on, and her reason for running away was not just to get away from being bullied, but to leave her dark self behind and to start anew? How would that change Ryoushi’s view of her?

Did they even need to be there? Is there some metaphor I'm missing here?

Once again, I’m left asking questions that I didn’t expect to ask when the series began. That said, I’d still be shocked if any of my musings pan out. So far, the show has done a wonderful job of doing things by the book. To its detriment, because, again, its unique gimmick is its strength.

The whole crush on the baseball team captain was a total red herring. I was hoping that it would turn into another fairy tale story like the Cinderella story from episode 1, but no, it ended up being nothing, just an excuse to make Ryoushi and Ryouko go on a date. It’s nice to want things.

Seriously, good job, Ringo.

Well, at least the whole date was pretty enjoyable. There was the usual gamut of movie, then arcade, then aquarium, then walk in the park, then picnic. Seriously, it ran through every cliche in the book within a few minutes. But it was a lot of fun to watch. Ringo completely made up for that horrible armor outfit from a couple episodes ago with Ryouko’s date outfit in this one. And Ryouko acting deredere provided entertaining fanservice. Even if it further locked down her character into being a typical tsundere. Kinda like that girl that everyone said sorta looks like her before the show bagan.

I feel that I’m still waiting for the fulfillment of the promise seen in the first episode. This episode was all too generic, even if it did the generic thing well. With the show now over half over, I’m afraid I’ll still be left waiting when the final ED curtain falls.

She was pretty cute, even if somewhat/extremely creepy. Similar design as Otohime. But she appeared so little that I don't even remember her name!

After much delay and, depending on where you hang around, much hype, the 50 minute OVA Black Rock Shooter was finally released yesterday, July 24. Despite the solid visuals and music, the poor pacing and storytelling make this an anime that I can’t recommend, even to die hard fans of Vocaloids or Supercell like myself. You’re better off just waiting for the soundtrack and seeing some of the highlights.

For those who don’t know that much about Vocaloids or Supercell, here’s a brief introduction to Black Rock Shooter. Ryo, the only musician in the now professional band Supercell, got his start uploading his songs sung by Hatsune Miku onto Nico Nico Douga. One of his most popular ones, perhaps second only to Melt, was Black Rock Shooter, a song that he had written based off of a picture drawn by an artist who goes by the name of Huke. It was uploaded in June of 2008. You can see the original video with English subtitles on Youtube.

Some time since then, anime studio Ordet decided to pick it up and to create a 50 minute OVA based on the song – which itself was based on a picture. It was originally supposed to be released in September 2009, but it got pushed to Spring 2010, then again to Summer 2010. And yesterday, on 7/24, it was finally released, for free on DVDs that came with the September issue of Hobby Japan. There are a couple other magazines will also have the DVDs packed for free.

An iconic shot from the original Nico Nico Douga animation, rendered in the anime.

One of the biggest questions I had going into this was what the story would be like. After all, the OVA is ultimately based on an image, and the lyrics to the song don’t exactly build up a cohesive world. Well, contrary to the more fantasy oriented images associated with this production, Black Rock Shooter tells the story of a middle school first year named Mato Kuroi (Kana Hanazawa) and her friendship with classmate Yomi Takanashi (Miyuki Sawashiro). The 2 become friends on their first day of school and grow closer throughout their first year despite their being in different sports clubs (basketball for Mato, volleyball for Yomi). About half way through, the basketball team manager Yuu (Kana Asumi) gets into the mix as well. The main conflict manifests itself as jealousy when Mato and Yuu get put into the same class for their second years while Yomi gets put into a different class, stuck outside looking in.

Interspersed in this story are brief scenes of the eponymous Black Rock Shooter – an obvious stand-in for Mato – chasing and fighting against Dead Master – Yomi’s stand-in – in the dark fantasy world most associated with the work. The action scenes are short and inserted fairly evenly throughout the OVA, and it’s only at the end when Yomi disappears that a clear connection between the 2 settings is shown.

Dead Master looks down at Black Rock Shooter, both about to fight.

The core problem with Black Rock Shooter lies with the storytelling. The pacing is horrid, with pretty much nothing happening in the first half. 50 minutes is longer than a TV show episode, but it’s still not a long time, and you simply can’t waste that much time with the set up. The more action packed fantasy scenes inserted throughout that half didn’t do anything to help the pace, because they felt unrelated – at best, only loosely connected – to the main story in the real world.

The first clear indication that the 2 worlds are connected, about 2/3 of the way into the OVA.

On that note, the story just doesn’t tie together. There is a fundamental disconnect between the scenes in the fantasy world and in the real world. There are hints at how the events in the two settings relate to each other, but it is only at the end that a clear connection is made, and even then, the explanation is unsatisfactory. Clearly, the fantasy scenes were meant to serve as a metaphor for the emotional conflict taking place in real life between Mato and Yomi, but the rest of the connections, including the reason for Yomi’s disappearance or her blank text to Mato at the end, are left as exercises for the viewer. Same goes for the opening fight between Dead Master and Black Rock Shooter, which clearly happened before the events of the show. Having an open ended story up to the viewer’s interpretation is one thing, but this is either laziness or ineptitude by the director.

The orange, yellow desert background contrasts with the dark green castle background of the other fantasy scenes when this character appears. That's about all this character does before she disappears.

Heck, there is even a 3rd character in the fantasy who never does anything. Perhaps the entire purpose of this OVA was to set up a series. At least, that’s what it feels like with its open threads and the cliffhanger-style ending.

Even the fantasy scenes, while containing entertaining, visceral action and beautiful art, suffers from the fact that nothing about these characters’ motivations is revealed until the very end. There were hints here and there at the bigger story, but the mismatching chronology – the fantasy scenes have no connection to the real life scenes being shown at the same time – meant that I was left wondering why Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master were fighting for most of the time. And fights in which you have nothing invested in the outcome just aren’t as fun to watch.

It doesn’t help that neither of the two show any emotion through most of the fight. As they get hit, thrown, shot at, and tied up, their faces rarely change from their monotone dead stares, as if they were both Terminators programmed to fight each other. The closest thing up until the climactic moment was Dead Master’s evil smirk. They don’t talk, and they barely even grunt as they fight. The brevity also hurt these fight scenes, as none of them lasted long enough for a real story to develop within the fights. Just as the fights started to get into their grooves and made me excited, the OVA would cut back to a plain real life scene. There are things that can be done with single long action scenes that can’t be done with many shorter ones. They need time to build a sort of rhythm, something that Black Rock Shooter never managed to do.

The action, while pretty, doesn't make for very good still shots. Hence why I'm showing shots from still scenes.

That being said, Black Rock Shooter is still a very pretty anime. The real life scenes have the level of detail you expect from an OVA, and the stylized animation of the action scenes work very well. Some of the backdrops in the fantasy scenes are obviously created using CG, but they almost never stand out. The use of the color and light, as well as the architecture in those scenes do a wonderful job of creating an oppressive, dark, almost depressing mood to the speechless fights. I’m a fan of the character designs as well. The purposeful contrast between Black Rock Shooter’s tall, lanky, unbalanced design with Dead Master’s curvaceous and symmetrical one was not lost on me. Heck, they even put scars on Black Rock Shooter’s stomach in order to emphasize the straightness of her design (ironically, Yomi is taller than Mato).

And the music was very enjoyable as well. No, there was no Hatsune Miku music; not even Black Rock Shooter was played. Instead, it was a largely classical score, fitting for a school story. In some scenes, the music really took center stage in communicating the emotion to the viewer. One of the first scenes, in which Mato climbs the hill near her house before going off to school, sticks in my mind. In the world of TV shows, where usually some plot has to be fit into a 24 minute less 1:30 OP less 1:30 ED slot, the background music almost always stays right there in the background. Without such limitations (in fact, one might argue that they didn’t even fill the pressure to fit a story into its 50 minute slot), the OVA was free to implement more movie-like usage of background music, to good effect. There were also call backs to Supercell’s Black Rock Shooter song as well, with some of the music, particularly at the beginning and end of the OVA, using themes pulled straight from that song.

This picture kind of summarizes Black Rock Shooter. So much badassery when free to act, but chained and restricted by the plot, unable to fulfill its potential.

Ultimately, Black Rock Shooter is two separate stories connected only loosely by theme and character design, with 80% of the time spent on a, though heartfelt, tragically generic story about friendship, and the other 20% dedicated to the good parts: the fun, even if meaningless, action scenes. The uneven pacing and storytelling unraveled a technically solid production, and as the credits rolled, I felt sorry for all the people whose hard work went into producing what amounted to essentially nothing.

The only way I can see this OVA being somewhat redeemed is if it turns out to be just the 1st part of a longer series, one which explores the fantasy world that this one only briefly touched upon. Both the pre-credits ending and post-credits ending tease a possible continuation. But as a stand alone work, it is incomplete and not worth the time to watch it.

This is when the story finally begins, right? It couldn't possibly be that the ending credits are about to start in less than a minute, right? Right?

Notes:

• As always, screenshots galore at Tenka Seiha and Random Curiosity.
• The free magazine-packed DVDs include 7 different languages of subtitles, including English. The other 6 are Japanese, Chinese, Italian, German, Spanish, and French.
• Other magazines that will have this DVD are Megami Magazine (7/30) and Monthly Animedia (8/10). (source: Anime News Network via Vocaloidism)
• The character Dead Master was never named in the OVA. I got her name from the figures of her they’re selling, such as this one.
• This is the 2nd anime for which Ryo of Supercell did the music. The other one was Cencoroll, and it also starred Kana Hanazawa as a leading role.
• Kana Asumi starred as Poplar in last season’s Working!!, in which one of the running gags was that she would always mispronounce the main character’s name “Takanashi” as “Katanashi.” Her character Yuu has no problem with that in Black Rock Shooter, however. The OVA also made the same pun as in Working!! regarding Takanashi’s name being able to be confused with “Kotori” (Takanashi’s name when he cross-dresses).
• At the point when Mato was giving Yomi the star cell phone strap, I started wondering if the fantasy world was far in the future, given the post-apocalyptic style of the setting. I was hoping that there was some falling out between the 2 that the OVA would show, before they somehow became Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master. I think that would’ve been a better twist than, “It’s a metaphor, lol.”