Ah, thank god. For a minute, I thought that the ending for Dennou Coil would end up rushed, but thankfully the series gets closed with one final powerful climax that nicely finished the series. Obviously, the ending itself doesn’t match up to some of the other series of the spring-season: Bokura no, El Cazador, Seirei no Moribito, Kaze no Shoujo Emily and Ooedo Rocket all wrapped up their stories better than Denou Coil did in this episode, but I can’t complain, as it could have turned out a lot worse.
And so, we finally find out what really happened in Yasako’s flashback. Obviously, if you haven’t seen the episode, CLOSE YOUR WINDOW. Yasako ended up in the coil-domain thanks to Densuke, right after the accident with Nobuhiko and Isako occurred. She than ran into Nobuhiko at the shrine, and the two of them had fun for a bit. Then Nobuhiko realized that the coil-domain was starting to collapse, so he told Yasako to run away fast, while he himself got sucked into the void.
Afterwards, Yasako managed to escape the black void, and met the Null. This guy turned out to be indeed Yasako’s grandfather. The two of them recognized each other quickly after Yasako’s memory went blank, so the two of them managed to say one final goodbye. The reason Yasako’s grandfather was there was because he was trying to save Isako. Nobuhiko lost his body in the accident, though Isako’s body remained, and it was Yasako’s grandfather who managed to bring it back in the end.
There were quite a few forced scenes in this episode – Nobuhiko suddenly got eyes, and there’s no real reason given for all the revelations. But one thing that went really well, apart from the climax itself, is the emphasis on one of the major themes of this series: saying goodbye to the deceased: Yasako got to say her final goodbye with her grandfather, Isako got to see her brother one final time, Densuke remains gone, but he appears in front of Yasako and Kyoko one final time, when they’ve grown up. This is really why it’s a children’s series in the end: it’s meant to show children who have lost something important to keep remembering this person, but live on at the same time.
And so we’ve come at the end of the major gems of the spring-season. It’s really been an awesome ride, and also a really consistent series.]]>
Dennou Coil – A Circle of Children – 26
You might want to mention that Nobuhiko, being dead at that point, was not real in that space… He and the space were created to help heal Isako and get over the loss of Nobuhiko, unless I’m mistaken. And what was created was probably derived from Isako’s own self via Imago, I think…
Personally I’m not completely satisfied with the last episode but then again, it could have been much much much much worse. I just wish they had explored more of Isako and Yasako’s relationship earlier and with a little more insight, perhaps.
But if I were to cry at any point in this episode it would have been Densuke’s scene. DAMMIT.
And here is a note to somebody else who reads your blog: 星翻訳さん乙^^
Can you please use a different screenshot at the top of this post from the one where the illegal is revealed to be Yasako’s grandpa? It’s kinda too spoilery.
If you click on the DC category on your blog having not watched all the episodes, it’s easy to avoid reading the text as you scroll hastily to the bottom, but it’s considerably harder to avoid seeing the picture.
I thought Nobuhiko’s ocular development was symbolic of his “stopping being evil”. Compare the final scene in Return of the Jedi where Darth Vader destroys the Emperor and asks Luke to take his mask off. The trilogy’s faceless monstervillain becomes a human being to the viewer. I thought maybe that’s the kind of thing Iso was shooting for with this.