So this is it? This is the grand master plan of Avilio’s brought to full fruition? I guess it is and let me say that it’s certainly a let down. Edmond Dantes Avilio is certainly not as his plan pretty much feels like he was going along with the flow and calling it a plan. I mean there is just so much that could go wrong here, for example what would Avilio have done if Barbero hadn’t found him before entering the room with the Don? What if Ganzo didn’t hinge the entire plan on Avilio? Actually what was up with that Ganzo? Did you really decide to completely trust the guy with the shady eyes who stared at you with murderous intent any chance he got? I guess you could say I am just irritated with this as with the Avilio has been portrayed through the series I expected his plan to be more interesting than just walking into a booth and shooting someone.
He did mix it up by shooting the Don of the Galassias spurring the family to take out Ganzo and decide to wipe out the Vanettis thus making it that he wasn’t just out to kill the four people of the letter but to destroy the entire Vanetti mafia family. Whether this was Avilio’s agenda from the start or a new decision after the family forced him to kill Corteo is anyone’s guess. Again, the boy doesn’t make his inner workings known but we do see that Corteo’s death did have an effect on him. Seeing hallucinations of his old friend seems overkill but it is nice to see Avilio express something that isn’t his usual impenetrable demeanor.
Vincent brings up the murder of Avilio’s family and it shockingly resembles that of Corteo’s death as he did it in order to prevent the Galassia’s from destroying the Vanetti’s. I say that does make killing Telsa understandable but I don’t get why you had to kill his family along with him. That just seems excessive. Either way I began to think that Avilio wasn’t really aiming for the Vincent’s life when it was revealed that Vincent is already dying. KIlling him now would be a kindness and having it be by the hands of the son of the man he regrets killing would help relieve him of his sins. But why is it that we only learn of this now, right before his death? This is what bugs me about this series the most, it only lays down the groundwork in the episode it becomes relevant.
Vanno was given extra development in the episode where he dies, Ronaldo and Fio’s relationship was only highlighted in the episode he dies and she is put on a bus, Ganzo was only made suspicious in the episode he was outed as the one who wrote the letter and even in this episode the Don of the Galassia’s is introduced for the sole purpose of dying in the exact same episode. You can argue this keeps future episode unpredictable but the problem is that you expect what is happening in the episode itself for whatever character becomes relevant becomes the focal point of the episode. I would prefer it if these things could have been alluded to beforehand and it’s not as if the series couldn’t do that. It spent an episode with Avilio and Nero getting chased by a Mexican terminator, wouldn’t it have been beneficial to cut that out and use the time to flesh out these plot points? I for one would have liked to know that person who got stabbed to death by Avilio and the others because he seemed pretty badass.
The episode ends with Nero finding out secondhand from his father about Avilio’s betrayal and Avilio lying bleeding to death in an alley as they taunt the idea of that being the end for him. Not buying it show, he still has to face off against Nero so he ain’t dying yet. Having played it’s greatest card the final confrontation is the last note to me this show can redeem this lackluster plan. Maybe after having watched the finale DanganRonpa Despair and seeing someone enact a master plan that resulted in a mass genocide and throwing the world into chaos, Avilio’s plan felt a little low key for me to be all that impressed.(On a off note those DanganRonpa animes airing this season really were quite excellent.
I probably should have covered DanganRonpa despair as that really was something.) So as this series draws to a close I think over it and say that it was disappointing but nonetheless a solid show. If Funimation happen to give the dub the Baccano treatment then it could go up in value for having the accents but the story itself is just rather muted and not as exciting as one would expect. it could be on me for expecting something more bombastic rather than methodical but even then I think this series keeps its cards too close to hand for a viewer to get interested in the inner workings. A finale can change a lot but I don’t expect this series to have much left in surprises.
