Moyashimon – 22

Hey, currently posting from an outskirt town in Cornwall, England and resting a bit from my trip to Napels, it sounded like a good idea to check out Moyashimon’s conclusion. In the end, it turned out that the climax of the series was last week. This instead was an aftermath. Everyone returned to Paris and all issues got settled. Haruka blew off the marriage and is back again like nothing happened.

Now, this episode did have what made me originally like the series: a lot of good chemistry between the different characters. Everybody got the chance to talk to each other and sort things out and the way in which it happened was quite down to earth. I just dislike a bit that some things about Haruka were a bit side-lined. Most notably, her future. This episode did bring up that she now lost any reason to stay at the school. That’s fine, but it made it seem like she was going to stay there forever. There was no mention of her future plans, or any kind of ambition. I think that’s a missed opportunity, and it’s what makes this series inferior to Nodame Cantabile and Honey and Clover, the only other two Noitamina-series to have gotten sequels.

Ultimately, this was fun, and Moyashimon’s sequel did get the Noitamina spirit, but in terms of structure it’s not a Noitamina-series. This second season feels more like a random side-story that got stretched into an entire season. To me, it doesn’t really feel like this was a necessary sequel, and while it was fun to watch, I would rather have seen a new series instead. I mean, the first season was inconclusive as hell, but it had its charms that way. The way in which they tried to stretch it out by moving Haruka to Paris feels… forced and not in the spirit of Noitamina by having series that are short but sweet.

There actually are only a few Noitamina-series that would benefit from a second season, I think. Hourou Musuko would be one to pull it off, because there still is a ton of potential left in that series, both if they went for the prequel and sequel route. That’s also the beauty of that series, because it still works as a series without that sequel. Apart from that, Toshokan Sensou with its movie will also benefit quite a bit, and I can also see Kuragehime 2 work when done well. Apart from that the only other kind of sequel that I want to see is a series set in the same universe as Fractale, but actually makes use of its setting.
Rating: 4.5/8 (Good)