There was never going to be a epic fight with every creation squaring off against the overpowered and invincible Altair. That possibility died when the creators threw the copycat of Blank at her only to have that plan backfire horribly. Besides, it wouldn’t have been a satisfying conclusion to Altair’s story to have her be brought down by the remaining supporting characters given that Selecia disappeared in the blue ether beforehand. Predictably, it comes down to Altair convincing herself that the world is worth saving and the conversation between Altair and Setsuna was really well done with both voice actresses going back and forth with their arguments about placing the blame on the world that was so cruel to Setsuna. There is a parallel between those two and how Bltiz choose to switch side when confronted with the opportunity to gain back the very reason for their motivation to end the world. As well, the transformation from the PPSh-41 machine gun to an actual violin is a visual symbolism of her ultimate choice to create and not destroy. As the far as the main plot goes, Re:Creators is finished as its antagonist goes happily off into sunset with her creator into their own world of adventure and fun. It’s not the best twist ending but I’m perfectly satisfied with how the series build itself up to that point and concluded it.
After everything’s said and done, the final episode wraps up with everyone having a celebratory meal, saying their goodbyes and reflecting on past sacrifices. The creations go back to their own fictional world but Meteora, due to the untimely death of her creator, which begs the question of what happened to Magane. Curiously absent from the final episode, I would infer that she would have lost her powers just like Meteora and go on to become a regular trolling schoolgirl. It’s not quite the ending for those who wanted to see justice be served for the murder of the shopkeeper and her own creator but I think it better to see her leave quietly than having a upbeat epilogue scene for her. The ending summarizes the points of the series in that creators will keep on creating even to the point where a creation, like Meteora comes full circle and end off the series with her own work of Re:Creators.
Re:Creators marks the third series that Studio TROYCA have made with Aldnoah.Zero and Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru being the first two. While their original mecha show was a wild ride of disappointment that really needs more time to flesh out its characters and concepts and the episodic nature of its investigative show took away from the overarching narrative, I felt that they succeed in having and executing an interesting premise while having a few flaws. The biggest glaring issue I had was the uneven pacing in regards to the infrequency of actions scene and mid-series lull of dealing with Sota’s underlying guilt and laying of the foundation for the Elimination Chamber Festival. Also, as Rei Ham (Writer of Re:Creators) regretfully mentioned in an interview, Mamika exited far too early in the show as she was probably one of the best characters arc by growing out of her naive magical girl persona. Her replacement of Hikayu wasn’t all that great despite the creators having fun with her backstory and power-ups. Finally, the 3D stilted animation of the mecha hasn’t been improved over their effort of Aldnoah.Zero and just cements the reality that 3D and mechs don’t mix (Knight of Sidonia is an exception). Aside from those quibbles, I enjoyed my time with Re:Creators over the past half year and looked forward to watching it every week. It looked nice, had that sweet sweet Sawano soundtrack and always had something interesting to say about the nature of artistic creation.
7.5/10
I think in general I agree with you. I would give it a 8/10.Ultimately despite its many flaws RE:Creators was an exciting show for me. It did something I did not believe an anime series would do for a long time. Get me excited to watch it every week. I am hoping for some kind of sequel media with Magane and Meteora. Who knows! Thank you for the weekly reviews by the way Hellghast!
Thanks for sticking around for the whole series. I did 21 out of 22 weekly write-ups which sucks that I didn’t get that very last one.
Thanks from me too, HK. I’m glad for your coverage of this series.
I do love the premise of this series and it’s initial few episodes. Extremely strong cast of characters and background. Really got to me on a very deep level. But perhaps because of this, my expectations got pretty high, and unfortunately, I do feel mixed feelings about how the series ultimately turned out as well as something I felt was a really hard adjustment in direction the story may have taken midway. I don’t know for sure if this is the case, to be honest, but it feels like the story took a turn the creators did not initially intend, one they could not fully adapt to. The biggest evidence I have of this is a scene in the initial episode I most vividly remember where Sota notes in the prologue that everything that happens in this series revolved around Selesia. Having her exit the series so very suddenly and with rather minor impact on how the story’s resolution…felt wrong. Well, that and my deep disappointment in losing who was probably my favorite character, probably the main heroine, someone I thought who was plot armor safe, along with Sota or who would have a far more critical role. Also, yeah, a lot of loose ends surrounding Magane. Love that she does wind up working with Sota but how it got to this point seems very brushed over. Again, perhaps Magane was never intended to have a change of heart. But if so, why do it in the first place? Was there unexpected pressure from Magane fans and so the creators decided to fulfill their wishes halfheartedly? I do admit I’m kinda guilty of this, but…yeah. I apologize for my horribly high expectations. Blame those totally awesome first few episodes, awesome character designs and epic opening scene.
There were also a few of plot points, particularly in the last part, that feel like they could have used more setup. There’s no way to read for example how Blank wouldn’t stick. We just have to buy the explanation and move on. It’s..okay, I guess. But I wish they could have come up with a more awesome setup that I could buy wholeheartedly.
That said, Altair and Setsuna getting a happy ending was great. The epilogue was bittersweet but not bad. Most characters came out alright. Meteora staying in the real world and becoming a creator herself was pretty awesome. I can’t say that I’d want to watch this over and over though, unfortunately. It’s like Force Awakens. No matter how awesome they make the rest of it look, I can’t bear to watch that bridge scene. Yes, yes, it’s probably one of the most important scenes in the film and made it the success it was. But I’m definitely on the “Save Harry Crick” side.