With so many episodes devoted to nothing but the characters, I demand an awesome ending. If not, then this was a wasted episode.
The previous two episodes were very well written and directed so I didn’t mind, but this episode didn’t belong in a 13-episode series. Series like these have a very limited amount of airtime, and really need all of the time they can get. Episode six and seven did this well with great pay-off to their build-up, but the Chupacabra fight that allowed Maya and Ami to make up again… I feel like the creators could have done more with this episode.
The acting in this episode was great, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that the script disappointed me a bit. Especially the following thing: Chupacabra are seen as blood-sucking monsters, right? This episode saw them killing off a ton of cows and chewing who knows what kind of animals right down to the bone. So why did they keep Ami alive? Why did they not harm her? Why was Ami fine after being bitten by such a huge monster? You’re ruining the suspense of disbelief that was built up by the previous episodes!
At this point, I’m beginning to think that Nostradamus’ key is something very obvious. I can easily see it being Kozue who tries a little too hard with her experiments on the occult. Please let it be not that simple!
Either way though, I can very easily see this series divided into three parts: there’s the first action-packed part, spanning the first four episode. This one was full of tension, ranging from Maya’s hatred of Bunmei to all of the weird occult monsters they ran into. Episodes 5 to 8 slowed down the pacing for a character-development arc, which seems to be finished at this point. At the final arc, this show needs to start delivering, though. Arc 1 provided the entertainment and the background, arc 2 provided the depth. Now, arc 3: USE THAT.
Rating: (Enjoyable)
“At this point, I’m beginning to think that Nostradamus’ key is something very obvious. I can easily see it being Kozue who tries a little too hard with her experiments on the occult. Please let it be not that simple!”
–> “What’s important can’t be seen with your eyes. You have to see it with your heart.”
Big ass foreshadow lol.
This episode was TERRIBLE. Either that, or the other eps just spoiled me. This was rushed, poorly written, and just plain goofy. I’m astonished, really at how bad it was.
I think that the Key will be something like the cell phones that see the future or something. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was it. It was why I was so happy there were two of them now. Now they can take photos of each of them with the other.
I think this episode was a nice conclusion to the character developpement arc and I kind of liked how they used a pretty steretypic way for it as this series never took itself too serious and thus I thought it was kind of fitting.
The only thing I didn’tlike was where they decided that Maya should be the one to enter the temple… because, really, theyDID know there was a giant version of those things as well and thus they had etter sent someone with a bit more manpower… but well, it worked out this way as well.
As for why Ami was unhurt… I guess those things only went after the blood of cows (remember the thing about where their name comes from with the goats) so I guess they were haveing other use for her. Which would also explain why they took her to their nest instead of dropping her were she was as they did with the cows.
I thought that this episode would aim toward the dramatic, but it went into monster movie territory; leaving Kozue and I wondering if we had arrived at the wrong show. It seems plausible that was intentional, and they reinforce it with the misleading fade-to-white when Maya lifts Ami out of the pit.
The Critters-esque chupacabras were probably more appropriate for a comedy than what I had in mind, but the way they were used was a little lazy. Between the injury Ami sustained when she was captured and the extensive amount of time the gang wasted preparing, there was no reason suggested for why she might be alive. Certainly the den of skeletons surrounding her did not portend a happy ending for those invited over for dinner. The cone of cartoon invulnerability was extended beyond the usual slapstick characters, and I think it strained credulity. The setup did provide them with an opportunity to make genre references and present action scenes.
They also have succeeded in wearing the Kozue jokes to the bone, even though her running in with a chupacabra on her arm was pretty good.
I think that Ami was kept alive to be fed to the newborn Chupacabra’s that surrounded her when Maya came to rescue her. But yeah, there were certainly a lot of inconsistencies with the episode this time around. like, how the heck did they not notice Kozue was missing when they were storming the hideout?
Terrible, terrible episode, mostly for the absence of panic when Ami gets abducted by the giant Chupacabra. With its teeth, you bet it could kill the girl within minutes, but Maya *walks* to Ami’s father and then loses precious time being shy and explaining what a Chupacabra actually is. It’s a monster, dammit! Jump in the truck, don’t loose time carving a Chupacabra target to practice your crossbow! Please!
lOL I bet the Nostradamus key will be Maya and fumiaki TOGETHER :P.
Nostadamus’ key as far as I can see was always just a vehicle to add more depth to this show, which I think was always intended to be, well, a study of the occult. It should also be able to provide a finale of sorts, which would be more meaningful than just making something crazy and fairly impulsive up to let the series go out with a bang.
I don’t think the creators of the show ever intended it to be more than a long-running subplot, and they made that pretty clear as far as I can see.
Personally I enjoyed this episode, because it was back to the fun monster-hunting stuff that the Pilot and Mothman episode had, which this show does really quite well.
I agree with Denizen, the Nostradamus Key is just a McGuffin… the creators are just pulling a Hitchcock at us. It’s just to drive the story, and in the end it will be probably something humorous. (But yeah, I hope it turns out to be MAYA AND FUMIAKI TOGETHER *_*)
This episode felt more like a borderline filler with one goal in mind which was to patch up Maya and Ami’s friendship and they gave a little ps that the key is not the Chupacabras. Well duh. One thing that bugged me was when Ami was taken by the Mama Chupacabra, I thought that she was dead or at least on the verge of death but she simply lost her shirt and was knocked out for a couple of hours. She should donate some blood since she is so good at reproducing blood cells and healing her bite marks in mere hours. They have dropping potential plot points like Maya’s book of protection spells from her father and finding more clues to her father’s death. I would prefer if they stuck to developing that then its current state right now.
Also it won’t make sense, in my opinion, for the Nostradamus Key to be Maya and Fumiaki together since they would have had to be together in the past and Fumiaki never really acted like he remembered meeting Maya before. I agree that it might be something very obvious and Kozue might be it but my money is on Mikaze.