50 replies to this topic

[Baka_kun]

Oh so disappointed with the ending of the anime. They clearly rushed it missed out the epic battle which the scenery was created by Mako chan (valkryia) when she actually uses the anti-matter to destroy the city. This was rushed or rather the last three episodes were rushed and very disappointing. The manga is great at all proportions and yet the anime just seems to be a trailer for the manga. If you ask me some anime adaptations towards mangas are bad but the last three episodes to this anime sums it up and leaves brutal plot holes. What happens to Kazumi, Hatsuna, hexengjad and Kuroneko. What about Ryota? how he with Kuroneko at the end is so different to the manga. This has left a sweet bitter taste in my mouth. I really wish they could have left it on a cliffhanger if they are planning on a season two. If i was the creator of the anime i wouldn't bother, created a great manga series into an absolute travesty. At least Elfen lied ended on a cliffhanger to suggest a season 2 and had its own different ending to suggest that they had ran out of canon material to continue the anime. Like i said first 10 episodes really good. But you cannot have the build up to be really good for then the climax to be an anti climax. I feel so disappointed with this anime. So much potential based on the material yet crushed on by bad cuts and rushed outline.It cut through so much chapter in the last three episodes almost at least 40 chapters it was highly disappointing (i cannot state this enough) (i hope i am in the correct part of the forum to discuss this and yeah no spoilers were given i think ^^)

[Madara]

Yes this anime was pretty good until they went to the Valkyria arc, then we just saw a spiral downhill to a never ending train wreck. I believe if the creators of the anime took their time and wanted to continue to a second season maybe ending the 1st season with the introduction of Valkyria then they could have pulled off a 2nd season. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe there is going to be an ova. I hope the ova will bring some relief to to the anime and help make up for the disaster. I don't even want to go into what they cut in the last episode, it was just a super condensed version of the arc to put it simply. Time to go back to read the manga!

[antarctico]

I just got through watching the final episode. Wow, I'm actually kind of speechless. Somehow it managed to reach lows of WTF-am-I-watching crappiness even my below-ground expectations failed to forsee. Where's Kana when you need her? Seriously, what utter shit.

 

I don't have the time to deconstruct the suck tonight, so in 24-hours or so, I guess I will have one last go at it before I stick a fork in this and call it done.

Edited by antarctico, 30 June 2014 - 03:44 AM.

[Baka_kun]

I totally agree what happened they completely destroyed a great story. Finished it off with their own original ending which turned out to be the end of the valkryia arc. Where was the epic battle. The OVA apparently is going to be like elfen lied OVA so its episode 11.5 so i highly doubt it would bring that much relief to the series!

[Lyendith]

I will never again complain about the Umineko anime. ò.Ô

 

If it was to make an abomination like that, they should have ended it with the Skadi arc or make a completely different ending, really. --'.`-- Did they seriously think they could manage to squish the Valkyria arc in 3 episodes after following the manga relatively closely in the first 9-10? That's not even a compressed adaptation at this point, it's a wikipedia recap… made by someone who was drunk when reading the manga and couldn't remember the correct order of the events… even the animation took a breathtaking drop in these last episodes…

 

Doing a 13-episode anime was a dumb idea from the start anyway.

 

Well, at least most of antartico's predictions came true. XD

Edited by Lyendith, 30 June 2014 - 02:44 PM.

[ThomasterXXL]

Haha Thanks!
Another landmine I was going to step on was successfully defused.
I love it when other people run into minefields for me, while I just sit back and enjoy the show.

(Not to say that people wandering into a mine field is fun. Actually it's pretty damn terrifying... In Germany there are still a lot of hidden World War II duds lying around... ): )

Edited by ThomasterXXL, 02 July 2014 - 08:16 PM.

[antarctico]

Well, at least most of antartico's predictions came true. XD

 

I sort of wish I had been even more wrong than I was, as maybe then the anime might have been better. Aw fug it, seeing what a hack job the anime producers did, if they had done anything differently, they probably would screwed things up even more.

[Lyendith]

Haha Thanks!
Another landmine I was going to step on was successfully defused.
I love it when other people run into minefields for me, while I just sit back and enjoy the show.

 

 

Yeah, you can watch the 9-10 first episodes and stop there, it'll save you the repair fees for throwing your computer out the window during the last 3 eps!
 

 

Aw fug it, seeing what a hack job the anime producers did, if they had done anything differently, they probably would screwed things up even more.

 

 

Dunno, maybe it would have been less painful if the anime had been a disaster from beginning to end…

Edited by Lyendith, 02 July 2014 - 09:26 PM.

[antarctico]

Alright, whether anyone wants it or not, the final dissection: Episode 13, The Autopsy.

 

I knew we were in trouble with how episode 12 ended, with the broadcasting of the Ain Soph Aur, and as I feared, all traces of the chapters 85-88 arc with Murakami-kun, Ichijiku, Valkyria, Kuroha, and Kotori were erased with only fragments of misplaced exposition left over to show where the arc might have been in a two-season adaptation. The whole conflict between Murakami-kun and Ichijiku was already skipped over in episode 12, but I had assumed we would still get to see Murakami-kun eject Kotori and see Kotori reveal that she held Rena's consciousness to her brother Ichijiku. Nope, all that got disappeared including the scene where Kotori/Rena asks her brother to never make anyone sad again, which sets up why Ichijiku later shields Mako from Hexenjagd's attack. All we did get, instead, is a new scene with Kotori and Ichijiku (with Mako taking up space in the background) where Kotori launches into her, first of two, emotionally simplified ABC Afterschool Special monologs, this one being about doing things for other's sake or some such tripe, right before she ejects herself. Murakami-kun (after being clubbed senseless by Kuroha and Kazumi) finally arrives alone to find Kotori already melting away, and instead of being an integral part of the scene of Kotori's death he is reduced to being a spectator, his only important role is standing in the place of the viewer for Kotori's second treacly monolog, and being tasked by Kotori with relaying, secondhand, to Ichijiku that she was his sister and that he never hurt anyone again. Wow guys, way to totally undercut all the emotional underpinnings from one of the saddest, most gut-wrenching arcs in the manga.  And, why the hell could Kotori have not asked her brother to never hurt anyone again herself when he was right there in front of her? Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you why. Because if she had done the logical thing, you know, how this was played out in the manga, and she had made the reveal directly to Ichijiku that she was Rena and then asked him to never hurt anyone again to his face, Murakami-kun would have had nothing to do in his scene with Kotori in the anime except water the floor with his tears. This was criminally bad, amateurish storytelling.

 

Other random points of WTF at this point in the episode: If the Grane was so important, and Ichijiku was planning on recovering it from Kotori, why did he allow her to eject herself, thus killing the Grane, instead of having Mako restrain her and then ripping out Kotori's harness? Of course, the obvious answer here is pure plot mechanics. As the anime producers had painted themselves into a corner with this very static setup (with the partially hatched Kotori, Ichijiku, and Mako) the simplest way to conclude the scene was by inducing a plot hole and hoping the viewers did not notice it. There was plenty of this in episode 13, with one of the most glaring coming in the last several minutes. Another random plot annoyance was the use of Nanami's "ghost" as an anime-original Obi-Wan style plot mechanic to direct Murakami-kun through the shattered remnants of the manga's plot so he could appear at the right places and at the right times to cry like a baby. Also, just how frickin' long does it take for a host carrying a Grane to meltdown? Conveniently, it takes long enough for Murakami-kun's ghostly dungeon crawl, plus one monolog, apparently.

 

Taking time to lightly pat myself on the back for one of the few predictions I got right for episode 13,  Kazumi did die a pointless death, and was later resurrected by Hatsuna in the feelgood montage over the closing credits. Although, unlike in the manga where she was thoroughly splatterfied, she got bisected into two chunks and saved for later pointless plot mechanics dialog.

 

Moving along, we next have the most inexplicable break in action (and by action I mean monologs, Obi-Nanami, and tears), we are pulled away from the important events of the final episode to...uncle Kogorou in his office? Yep, we are going to stop all of what passes for action and drama so far to take a break to fill a plot hole about the anti-death medicine. A plot hole, I should not need to point out, that was caused by the heavy-handed cuts and compression of the last third of the manga. Really, there was no better a solution to how the witches get a new source for their drugs than to take a break from Ryouta weeping and wasting precious seconds of screen time watching Kogorou play with his office PC?

 

After the not-so-shocking reveal that Uncle came through with his research, Murakami-kun, continuing his lonely dungeon crawl, finds the two halves of Kazumi -- the half with her head still, inexplicably, conscious and able to hold a conversation with what should be zero blood pressure. Perhaps, this is a convenient ability bestowed by carrying a drasil, or, more likely, simply a plot convenience caused by bad writing. Kazumi spends her dying breaths giving Murakami-kun his third pep talk of the episode (how many does he need!) and then, after being left to die alone in a plot dungeon, sheds a tear over emotional developments that we did not get to see in the anime because they were cut for time. Let's shed a tear here with Kazumi, shall we?

 

Next, Obi-Nanami makes her last appearance as a turn-by-turn GPS navigation system, and then we cut to a time shifted scene with Mako and Kuroha made up of other time shifted bits of exposition in which we get to see a shortened version, in flashback form from Mako's perspective, of how Ichijiku earns her ardor by saving her and, in the process, exposing himself to near lethal radiation. The flashback ends and Ichijiku makes his rather undramatic appearance and, before he can eject Kuroha, Murakami-kun and his flying foot of fury arrives just in time for the commercial break. Wham! Take that, manga plot! The episode continues with a truly what-the-fuck, anime only development, that, upon learning secondhand from Murakami-kun that Kotori held his sister's consciousness, that Ichijiku still has his sister's skull in a freezer somewhere, and he can just brain-drain her all over again into a new drasil. Why do this? Why for the pure evil, of course! It doesn't make a lick of sense otherwise, and thus, several more precious seconds are burnt up for bullshit.

 

The final set piece progresses as Mako restrains Kuroha and Murakami, and then, bam, Kana makes her appearance, not to brutally knife Mako from behind -- one of the most savage scenes in the manga -- but to pause the action to ineffectively act as a human shield while she flashes back and spouts exposition from cut scenes about why she and Kuroha have such a strong bond. And, at this point we have the biggest plot hole in episode 13, and it's a whopper, how the hell did Kana travel from the observatory to Ichijiku's lair in the few minutes it took for Murakami-kun find the two halves of Kazumi and then make his way to the outdoor courtyard of the final scene? In episode 12 Murakami and crew made the trip in a chopper, how the hell did Kana make it there in less time while traveling on foot, and wobbly, recently reactivated feet at that? In the manga how she makes it to the final scene of the chapter 100 arc is never explained. But, also in the manga, Ichijiku's hideout is specifically mentioned to be near the lake where Kikako was fought, which is close by to the observatory and not implausibly too far to walk to in the expanded time frame of the events in the manga between Kana's precognition to her stabbing of Mako. In the manga, when Hexenjagd flew off in their helicopter, it was to the fake site Kazumi gave them as Ichijiku's location as a diversion. In the anime, a helicopter ride was clearly required to get from the observatory to Ichijiku's hideout. So how did Kana make the trip in time, even pausing to change outfits, to be of no use in the final confrontation except to spout exposition, bust up the scene with a flashback, and be a plot mechanic? The only answer is she fell into one plot hole, and popped out of another, a plot wormhole, in other words. Of course, this is really just another example of the anime producers digging a plot hole caused by cuts and shitty writing and hoping the viewer does not notice it.

 

Kana's appearance is expended in the final confrontation solely to break Mako's grip on Kuroha long enough for Kuroha to hit her third switch, an act that could have as easily been accomplished by Hexenjagd's arrival without ever involving Kana. After Kuroha's button is pressed, and she goes into Super-Saiyan mode, again the action, such as it is, stops while Ryouta has a touching reunion with his childhood friend Kuro Neko. The reunion does not last uninterrupted for long as the battle resumes until Kuro Neko pulls a Kamehameha on Mako knocking her flat on her ass. Hexenjagd finally grows some balls and makes the party. Initializer does his anti-magic thing, bullets are fired, and Ichijicku sacrifices himself shielding Mako.

 

And right here, after the freshly perforated Ichijiku hits the floor, I had to fight really hard not to punch out my monitor, because the reason for Ichijiku's act of sacrifice is totally turned on its head in the anime from what it was in the manga. In the manga, Ichijiku shields Mako because his sister, speaking through Kotori with her dying breath, asked him directly to his face not to make anyone else sad, and he fulfills this request even knowing it was illogical, given his lack of feelings for Mako other than as a tool to be used for his own purposes. This is all explicitly shown in manga during Ichijiku's death scene. Because of his love for his sister, and because of the trauma of see her death only moments earlier with his own eyes, he commits an illogical act to spare Mako from suffering (sadness), even though, in the end, she suffers terrible emotional pain caused by his death. For the anime, all these complex emotional underpinnings get thrown out the fucking window and instead Ichijiku's motivations for shielding Mako are simplified into what looks like an out-of-the-blue burst of feelings for Mako. Even though the dialog he speaks as he dies are snippets lifted from the manga, because the setup for this scene in the anime is totally different, the reaction in the viewer is totally different. In the anime he does not witness his sister die in Kotori's melting body, and in fact he shows, after he is told secondhand of Rena's death, he does not care as he says he plans to brain-drain her preserved skull again for a second attempt at resurrecting her. With the motivation for his sacrifice in the manga totally off the table in the anime, the only possible motivation for his act of self-sacrifice for Mako is an illogical outburst of feelings for her. There is no other plausible motivation left in this scene that could explain to the viewer Ichijiku's unexpected and shocking change in character. At the last moment, Ichijiku got the warm and fuzzies for Mako and died to protect her. That is some pretty thin shit to hang an act of suicidal self-sacrifice on.

 

And then antimatter happens, and the action pauses again for a Ryouta/Neko moment (at least we get to see them kiss, which was actually nice), and then there is more pausing while micro-black holes are discussed (and somewhere in space, Geordi La Forge smiled), and then magical battle ensues...briefly. Really, wham, bam, thank you magical mam -- that was one short fucking climactic battle, especially considering, after all the emotional/romantic subplots of the manga had been brutally cut to get us to a chopped-up chapter 100 ending, the final battle between Neko and Mako was all the anime had to offer as a payoff for watching the previous episodes. Talk about going out not with a bang but a whimper.

 

After the un-special black hole collapsing effect, Neko floats back to Earth, Ryouta finds out her memories were blasted away along with the anti-matter, he does not get to squash Mako's drasil as in the manga, and in another stupid breakaway, we get the series-ending final chunk of exposition from uncle Kogorou (via voice-mail) that he has succeeded in replicating the anti-death medicine -- hurrah!. Ryouta cries, yet again (and how he is not totally dehydrated at this point is a freaking miracle all on its own), and the over-credit montage of scenes from the upcoming OVA closes out episode 13 and Gokukoku no Buryunhirude the anime.

 

Given my spotty track record for the accuracy of my predictions does, in no way, stop me from walking out on that plank one last time for your amusement, my dear Batoto friends. Yes, now my predictions for the OVA!!!

 

As I hinted above, given how fucking cheaply done the anime as a whole was, I am going to boldly state that the closing, over-credit montage was made up, in part, of scenes from the upcoming OVA. So, what will we see in the OVA?

 

-- Cut back story about the Vingulf lab and the aliens!

-- Cut back story about the fertilized egg and everyone's favorite pervy uncle, Kogorou!

-- Ryouta's witch harem hangs out in the observatory!

-- Kuroha finds her notebook of things not to forget!

-- Naked hot-spring fun!

-- Kana's introduction into middle school from chapter 103!

 

My feeling is they will use chapters 101-103 as the source for the OVA rather than an episode meant to be inserted somewhere in the episode 1-13 continuity as was done with Elfen Lied. How right or wrong I will be, only time will tell.

Edited by antarctico, 05 July 2014 - 01:06 AM.

[thewizardninja]

I just finished marathoning the anime but I haven't actually read the manga yet, and was hoping I'd be able to find some sort of indication here as to where the optimal place to begin reading in order to continue the story might be. From the sound of things that would be the very beginning....

[Lyendith]

You can take it at chapter 38-39 (the end of the Nanami arc). The anime was relatively faithful up to that point.

Edited by Lyendith, 16 July 2014 - 08:54 PM.