Short Synopsis: Akiyuki’s father meets Kakisu at the Sentan Island war memorial and MAJOR SPOILER ALERT.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
Those who’ve been following more of my entries for the past weeks must have noticed the lots of 8/10s for the episode ratings, but that’s exactly what nearly all of the shows I’m currently blogging are: consistently excellent with hardly any weak moments. The same goes for this episode: despite the slow pacing it was yet another really moving instalment.
With as highlight of course the death of Kakisu. It was a very subtle death, exactly what you’d expect from this series, and it was also wonderfully animated. When Akiyuki’s father shot, I was really surprised that the screen didn’t black out, followed by the sound of a gunshot. I only realize it now, but such a trick is very often used in anime as a cheap trick to avoid having to draw a bit of gore. On top of that, the amount of blood that was gushed in the process felt about right: there were no galleons of blood spilled, as many shounen-series tend to do in these sorts of situations. All of that gave something very creepy to his dead body.
Fusa was also as good as ever with her monologues. Akiyuki and Haru meanwhile find out that the gathering of the Xam’d comes along with a mass suicide and as expected: the white haired guy has a much different perception of human life than Akiyuki and Haru, who went through the horrors of the assault on Sentan Island.
The rest of the episode focused on building up for the series’ finale, which most likely is going to focus on the all-out war between the north and the south, and possible other fractions. Midori is being moved to the battlefield as we speak, while Raigyo and Benikawa are also busy helping their allies. Tessik village also has its own super weapon, so it’s definitely promising to be an interesting finale, especially since Akiyuki, Haru and Nakiami, who are supposed to be the main characters of the series, don’t play a major part in it, apart from Haru’s connection to Midori. I really wonder what the creators had in mind for them for the final episodes of this series, because at this point I have no idea.
Bounen fri. 😉
I’m use to seeing epic grandiose death scenes in anime so Kakisu’s passing seemed a bit awkward, regardless, at his end, he turns out to be a very solid character. (perhaps, I was just looking forward to a flashback episode)
Is his death assured?
People can survive head shots, he seemed pretty intact.
He had a gaping hole right through his skull. I don’t know, but that seems pretty dead to me. And even if he were alive, I don’t think anyone could find him in time to apply the appropriate treatment for the guy. And besides: what point would there be for him to survive? He’s never going to recover fast enough to catch the climax of the series. 😉
If you’ve ever seen the ending to Monster… well, that’d be a possible outcome.