Seriously, this is the best I’ve seen Studio Deen in since Giant Killing ended. For the first time in one year and two months (which is a really long time for a studio that releases so many series), I’ve been impressed by these guys again on a series. It is about bloody time.
Obviously Hunter X Hunter is the best shounen at the moment, but still: after being disappointed by Ao no Exorcist, the first Nurarihyon no Mago series, Sket Dance, Toriko, Bakuman’s first season, Sacred Seven and Tegami Bachi Reverse, it feels very good to see a shounen actually end well. This conclusion was what a conclusion should be. Not just “let’s just kick the bad guy’s ass and get things over with”. Have things happen at the same time. Put things at stake. Nue’s resurrection worked really well for that. It’s just such a damn shame that we had to wait forty bloody five episodes for that to happen.
I can see the intentions of Nurarihyon no Mago: a shounen series about leading an army. Most shounen leads really are a hundred years too early to be leading an actual army, so it definitely has potential. But then make it about actually leading an army. This show dabbled way too often in things that just did not batter in the long run. The anime is at fault, but the story of the manga also did not help: the introduction still was way too long. Because of that, there is no way that I’m going to recommend this series. But now that I’ve gotten so far, it’s at least very gratifying that my patience is finally being rewarded.
Nue’s resurrection in particular was a great way to spice this arc up. As the red thread connecting everything for the villains: there are a lot of different parties, but it’s this desire for Nue (or Abe no Seimei that connects all of them together, with his mother, Hagoromo Gitsune at the center). Her end here was pretty good with the revelation of how the body that she used to inhabit was pretty much used. The constant flashbacks to the part where Rikuo’s father was killed also paid off here, with the revelation of how things really went. A surprisingly good example of the use of repetition.
Also, the animation at the part where the Skull died. Good stuff there.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I doubt this anime is gonna get more anime adaptations, for the arcs after this are all crap and are even more flawed than this arc
ArcS after this? The HM arc that started immediately after the Kyoto Arc has still not ended ^_^; (tough it is nearing the end… interestingly again just when the Anime is ending…)
It’s not nearing its end yet imo.
@Alec, if you hate this, why do you keep watching it? I don’t even get how you hare it for being “unrealistic” This is a shonen jump battle manga and you expect it to be realistic? Wrong manga to read, dude.
But I’m not. I dropped it after the he-she episode that included a child. I read the manga, but I’m just speed reading it. While I’m mostly doing it for the sake of completeion, part of me is waiting to get blown away just like what happend to the flashback episode of this arc. Also, just because it’s a shounen manga/anime does not mean, an anime/manga can never be realistic — Ever heard of FMA?.
I’m gonna refrain on saying the specifics to avoid spoiling.
typos -_-
as for the realism part… One of the biggest reason wht I start to not like the series has something to do with the mass (people). You’d know what I’m talking about if you read the manga.
On that part in Manga: If it wasn’t already obvious enough the moment when it happened, it was later more clearly confirmed that it happened primarily due to a technique the villain used… or more exactly, due to what the villain was.
Oh yeah, I read the manga of both Mago and FMA. But FMA is in shonen gangan, well known for their more “adult” and darker shonen title. Mago is in SHONEN JUMP, well known for their unrealistic fantasy battle manga. Both manga are good in their own merit, IMO. But hey, everybody got their own milage, even in realism or whatever bullshit it is people call it. I like realism, but I don’t expect it when I read a shonen jump manga, that’s one thing for sure.
Toriko owns how can you not like THE KING OF ALL FOOD ANIME!