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« on: April 07, 2011, 02:25:40 AM »
<If by some misfortune you haven't seen this gem, then go watch it instead of reading a spoiler ridden post.>
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As for me, I just joined the rest of modern society and finished it a couple days ago. It was absolutely my favoritism anime, that was until the last 5 minutes. After watching Simon and Nia get married I should have just turned the screen off, but I stuck through to the bitter end. Now I could get over Kamina's death, it was clear that he never really died, and the characters had plenty of time to grieve for him and turn it into a positive (Older Simon was like him in a lot of ways). After all, they gave us a new character that would be come just as close to the main character: Nia. And despite the annoying voice acting (I watch dubbed anime, because I'm a huge tool), and the inane child like characteristics, she grew on me.
She wasn't at all my favorite character throughout the show, and for most of it I could have cared less about her relationship with Simon (I hate romance 99% of the time in TV). But when Simon proposed, I could sorta feel the love in it, because it was an emotional rebirth for Simon after Kamina died. And when it turned out she was a double agent (lol SALT), the show got me on the edge of my seat, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it could turn out ok in the end. I had felt that Simon had really become a man like Kamina was.
[crucial part of my post/ rant of butthurt]------------------------------------>
The last 6 through the penultimate episodes were awesome to say the least. Nia had represented the goodness and love of humanity, and her becoming a death angel caused much despair. And the idea that somehow the power of love she had attained as a human combined with Simon's fighting spirit would transcend time and space to bring her back made me want to weep manly tears of joy. And I greatly liked the way they treated Viral, who after the timeskip was becoming one of my favorite characters.
The last episode was more epic than I could have ever hoped for, desperately in her time of need Simon did the impossible. And to make it more epic, instead of becoming a rescued damsel, she had become one with the rest of the team. It was the duality between her being an innocent creature of love and a being of evil and hatred that made her return a thing of beauty. They turned hopelessness into bliss.
But then Gainex decided that they needed a tragic ending. They used a diablo ex machina, to make her disappear forever, then Simon let it go, and became a drifter for the rest of his life. Oh, and they made president douchebag Rossiu team leader for life. Yoko's end was ok at best. The only truly good personal end was Viral, who got to continue being a soldier. Perhaps why this end felt like such an FU from the writers, is because they made you love a character, only for them to disappear forever literally or figuratively. It would've been bitter sweet if they had combined as she had promised before.
But this really didn't happen, as Simon clearly went back to being his old self, unchanged by her. They could have given at least some hint that she'd be waiting for him in the afterlife as that's they way it felt with Kamina (god and souls exists in this anime), but it seems that her entire existence was erased. Now I didn't need an episode devoted to the idea that they'd be together forever like the ending of LOST (they stopped just short of showing Jacks A-team unpack their luggage at the pearly gates) But this sort of meant that he failed to return her to normal, as he promised. To me this was just despair. And I kinda nolonger feel motivated by the anime's whole do the impossible theme.
I am I crazy? or did the ending leave a pain in any of your hearts?