Author: Lenlo

Welcome to the final episode of The Reflection. This week is both the best and worst episode of the season, with highs and lows, in both animation and story. Rather than my usual fare of just walking through the episode bit by bit though, I am going to try something different. We are going to focus on what made this final episode what it was.

There are four main areas to touch on with this final episode of The Reflection, those being the Idols, X-On, I-Guy and Wraith. Each one represents an issue with this episode and the series as a whole. Before I get into that though, lets talk about the animation for this final episode. For the first half, it was great. Combat against no-named background characters was iffy, but between our named characters it worked well. The flaming dogs from Flaming Fury, the tiger from X-On, colliding in the air all looked great with Reflection’s art style. With everything coming to a head and the time finally being taken to use this art to its fullest, it really worked. It flagged in the second half, as as less important characters fought, but that still ended up being about average for the season.

Now on to the problems. First, the Idols. This pop idol group exists only because they sing the ED of The Reflection. They were absent the entire season, quick snippets of their life being shoved between other scenes, as they were slowly ferried to the plot. Their one saving grace is that they were not used as a Deux Ex Machina to finish the plot. Yet with that taken from them, they no longer have any purpose! They provided some amusing scenes together, gave us the beautiful opener in episode 1 and had some cute interactions with I-Guy, but that is it. As a piece that already had character focus problems, adding in more ancillary characters was not a good idea.

Speaking of I-Guy, lets talk about the best part of The Reflection, that being Ian Izette. Ian was not the best character ever seen in anime. In fact he would no doubt be out of place in most. Yet he was still to good for The Reflection. By this final episode, Ian was the only character I cared about. He had a clear history, clear motives, clear goal and clear faults. The entire season Ian was getting hit. First his ego, as I-Guy became more famous than him, the opposite of what he wanted. Second when X-On chastised him for how he conducted himself and finally when his friends and coworkers were killed. He had a clear path and story arc. Even in this final episode as he strips away the armor of I-Guy to simply be Ian, standing up against evil and walking towards Wraith when no one else could. He went from a cartoony superhero to simply a man trying to be a hero. Ian was the best part of The Reflection, and he wasnt even the main character.

That label belongs to X-On, or more accurately X-On and Eleanor. The problem with X-On that he wasnt a character, atleast not to the viewers. He rarely spoke and everything about him was shrouded in mystery. Where did he get his powers, what happened with the lab, who actually is he? Instead of getting any answers we are instead given more questions. Flashbacks to his life, just enough to tease us, but far to late to have any meaningful impact on the plot. He epitomizes the lack of character growth or focus in this series. Had they taken some time to focus on his life in those black and white flashbacks, perhaps we would care about him more.

Finally, lets touch on Wraith, our main villain. Wraith is a faceless villain with unknown powers, unknown origin and a tenuous connection to Eleanor, one of our leads. Wraiths issue is that he has to many things going on. At first he was interesting, as he taunted Ian and distracted him from his team. Yet as we learned more about him, his background only got weirder. Is he the dead, now alive again, brother of Eleanor? Did her soul get split in two by the Smoke and Light?  They tried to do alot of things with Wraith, so much so that they started to run into each other. They didnt have the time to flesh any of them out, instead opting for an end of the world like story.

All in all, The Reflection finished acceptably, but not well. It avoided Deus Ex Machina, mostly, and gave us a clear view of what is to come for our characters. They attempted an interesting idea, the super powers clearly a focus of the story and not just made to profit off of Hero Academia and other comic book like anime. Sadly, it just didnt work out. There is an obvious setup for a second season, yet I would be surprised if The Reflection got one after the poor reception this season.

That wraps up this episode everyone! The full review should come soon. I have alot to say, and some of bled into here, so apologies for that. See you then!

In the penultimate episode of The Reflection, we finally get to see Wraiths master plan come to fruition and the Idol group finally becomes relevant. Lets jump in!

Reflection starts off with a flashback to 3 years ago, to the event of the Reflection. We see a young Elen looking out her window, as she is hit by both the black smoke and the green light. Hopefully we get some more explanation as to what this does. Did it bring her dead brother back to life? Split personality? Who knows, but considering its become a main plot point, it better get explained. Afterwords we cut back to Wraith, X-On and Steel Ruler in the underground cave. Wraith does a minor monologue about how she/he needed to remove Elen from themself, but that Elen had to do it herself. This raises more questions, was she not real? Which one is the original? Does it even matter?

Regardless, after the monologue and a quick side jaunt to lecture X-On, we cut to the desert. Here there is a ring of woman, the Allen women I presume. We are given a glimpse of a map of the United States, with purple and green dots all over it. Forcing them to use their powers far beyond their ability, we see the Allen women all begin to glow green. In a flash of light everyone, every Reflected in America, is teleported to White Sands New Mexico. Yes, that does include our illusive Idol Group. Turns out even Wraith was so fed up with them that they literally teleported them into the middle of the plot. This combined with their general uselessness has caused myself and many others to fear they are going to pull some deus-ex machina idol song to save the day in the final episode.

With the Idols part in this episode done, we not pan over to X-On and our heroes. They are all standing together on the top of a hill. I-Guy prepares to soar up to Wraith and deliver a beat down but X-On, now bearing ‘Flaming Furys’ fire power, holds him back. Wraith steps forward at the top of a dune and prepares to make another speech. Luckily, its not a speech about destroying humans but about how they number to few to do anything against the humans. There doesn’t seem to be much purpose to it now, but later on in the episode we see that this is all setup. X-On however gets a random cell-phone call at the end. The ringtone got me, I was unprepared for this, so credit where credit it due. The call itself from the government woman, as she has something to tell him.

Apparently the US Army is reacting to their sudden appearance in the desert and is bringing in a number of helicopters. We see them approach on the horizon, in formation. The soldiers yell over the intercom, asking the Reflected to leave peacefully. With this all part of her plan however, Wraith has one of her cronies make the Soldiers fire on the Reflected. In reaction, the Reflected naturally fight back. We get to see some interesting powers on display here, as the Reflected attack the soldiers, X-On and co hold the Reflected back, and the Soldiers retaliate. It will be interesting to see if, in the final episode, X-On manages to take all of these powers.

Our heroes aside though, this is all a very clever plan from Wraith. She/he makes it out as if the military is starting this conflict. By bringing them all in one place however, she is the one to have instigated this. She becomes a savior to the Reflected. Over the course of this fight, through Michael’s Reflected vision however, we see some of the Brightstar Reflected become Darkness Reflected. There was zero evidence of this earlier in the series, but it seems sufficient anger or whatever will cause a Reflected to change. I suspect it works in reverse as well and that is where the Idol group will come in.

With X-On and the others interfering in her plan though, Wraith is not content to sit idly by. She sends Steel Ruler and her other minions out to stop them, though Ruler appears to hesitate. Disappointingly, we see the Bat Man return, this time in a shiny new metal costume. Say what you will about evil, it has great health care apparently. After getting his wing blasted off by I-Guy and apparently not dying, he has returned for one final showdown. With all of the fights set, Wraith reaches out and shoots dark electricity out at all of the Reflected gathered. Is she taking their power? Mind controlling them? We have no idea what her power is, so there is no way to tell. Finally, The Reflection pans over to our Idol Group, who have found their luggage and are ready to save the day!

All in all, another disappointing episode of The Reflection. There’s no consequences, no one gets hurt (Except for I-Guy) or stays dead (Except for I-Guys team). The writers took their time with the story in the first half, but have sped through it in the second. The pacing is all over the place and we still don’t know the Idol groups powers! There’s far to much to cover in a final episode, I just dont see how they will get it done well.

Suppose we will see next week on, The Reflection! See you then.

This week The Reflection finally gives us some quality time with our main villain, as Wraiths plan hits its final stages. Lets jump in.

Reflection opens on Elen arriving at the mansion we saw at the end of last week, meeting evil!Stan Lee. Deciding that her decision to give herself up for the sake of others was a poor one, Elen immediately starts running through the mansion. Teleporting from intersection to intersection, rather than simply… exiting out a window? Not sure what she is doing here, but its necessary for the big reveal at the end. Meanwhile, our crew continues to follow Vy as she leaps through the streets. Eventually she reaches the mansion, busting in through a side window! Inside, as Lisa and co arrive, we see evil!Stan Lee sipping a nice cup of tea, expecting them. Apparently, he was the one telling Vy where to go and how to reach him, leading her to this very room, but surprise! Its a trap!

The mansion begins to burst into flame, as the Russian Ninja and Human Thunderbolt appear in the room. The man who can phase through walls comes up from the floor and whisks Stan Lee through a wall to safety. Unprepared, our heroes are quickly overwhelmed. The floor gives out, causing them all to fall. As they do, we see Elen through a doorway, walking down a hall. Its a slow-motion shot, with her looking into the room, so clearly this isn’t real. Could it be the one who can create illusions from before? Continue reading “The Reflection – 10 [Eleanor]” →