My friends, at times I wonder if it is worse for a show to be disappointing rather than outright bad. If a show turns out bad then really it’s just a anime that will be forgotten in time, unless of course it’s infamously terrible but popular for undetermined reasons. But I think when a show takes a potentially great idea and proceeds to run it into the ground then that makes it that future works cannot make use of that potential and the animes failure only serves to discourage others from attempting something different. As someone who writes for a hobbie I generally tend to think out my stories thoroughly. I admit to using cliche unintentionally and I won’t say any story I wrote is perfect. But it just baffles me as to how the story of an anime like this could be looked over by so many people and all agree that this was the best course to take it. So enough lollygagging and let us get the meat of the issue and that is that the finale of Kado really dropped the ball hard. Disregard my previous assessment that despite this story turn it remained watchable, for the finale just stripped any goodwill I had for the series.
So to sum matters up, Shindo and ZaShunina have a talk which makes it seem like Kado just might pull through for the finale. ZaShunina admits that he is wrong to try and force humanity into the anisotropic and it looks like reason may triumph. Sad though ZaShunina decides right out of nowhere that Shindo has to die and I don’t quite get it but they really have been pushing ZaShunina obsession with ShIndo to sexual levels. Shindo’s armour turns out to be useless and Shindo dies. But alas, the plan failing was all part of the plan and Shindo and Saraka’s daughter arrives straight out of nowhere to kill ZaShunina’s ass dead. This plot twist was not foreshadowed nor does it make any sense whatsoever. Let’s break this ending down. First, why was it even necessary to build the armour and have Shindo go up against ZaShunina? They seem to suggest that it was to catch him off guard by making him think everything was within his calculations but that seems really unnecessary when the real plan was just to pull another character in to kick his ass. In fact this makes Shindo’s death really pointless as they could have just brought in the daughter before ZaShunina attacked and then he would be still alive. Hell, they even kept Saraka out of this when she could shield him.
Secondly, how did they figure out that having a child between an anisotropic being and a human would end up with a superbaby that supasses the anisotropic itself? I mean Shindo is a low level human and Saraka is a weakened Anisotropic being so how does it make sense that they cannot match ZaShunina but their child can? This logic is like breeding a rabbit with a honey badger and somehow getting a dragon. On top of that there is no way to know that their child would be this powerful, I mean what would happen if the kid was a normal human? Would they keep trying till they got a superbaby? Third, this ending throws all of ZaShunina’s moral ambiguity down the toilet as he truly becomes a one dimensional villain in his last moments, with is rather funny considering that he is an anisotropic being from dimensions beyond. Nothing quite shows his character degradation than him shouting “You lower dimensions!” to Yukika. This is the guy who constantly praised humanities efforts and even spent the start of this episode speaking of their potential. And here he is, saying a two bit line by a two bit villain as he flings laserbeams. This series really went out of it’s way to demonize him when frankly there is another of much shakier moral ground.
Which brings me to my fourth point, Shindo is a horrible, horrible human being. Think i am being harsh? Just look what he did to Hanamori. FIrst he tricked him into being the last human to leave Kado, then he shoved all the hard work on him while he took all the glory and flashy work and to top it all off, he made Hanamori trade sixteen years of his life to raise his bloody daughter all so he could pull off his armour plan that he knew wouldn’t work. In the end Hanamori didn’t even get a thank you for his efforts. Let us not forget that Shindo used his own daughter as a weapon. A girl raised in isolation with only Hanamori to keep her company. So Shindo I think you aren’t one to start talking about what’s right for humanity when you used your own child to punk ZaShunina. Saraka isn’t innocent in this either as she seems pretty serene despite her lover dying for nothing and her daughter running off to the ends of reality. Which brings me to the most egregious sin this ending made.
All things considered, the above is pretty dumb and idiotic. However it was the credits scene which truly acted as a final insult to the viewer. For you see, now that ZaShunina has been banished from Earth, that means that all his gifts no longer work. Yes, the gifts that we spent the entire series on and which could have the potential to change humanity for the better, are now completely useless. We have effectively returned to zero and that makes me truly furious. It just speaks of the writer’s intent to discard the far more interesting story because it would take too much work. Yes, they did state that knowledge of the anisotropic will now give humanity something to strive for but shove off, that’s millions if not billions of years before humanity gets to that point. Provided we don’t kill each other off before that happens. It’s a terrible cop out for a message of earning achievements over just getting them handed to you. I agree in principle but if we can skip out god knows how many years of killing each other off due to wars and energy crisis then I think we can take a hand out. So in the end what was the right answer? Have sex and make babies I guess.
no, the end credits scene is even worse then you think. It’s Yukika who takes away Kado and the gifts at Saraka’s request. So instead of 1 person deciding the fate of all of humanity we have… 1 person deciding the fate of all humanity. Wow… that’s some deep stuff Kado. So basically all that stuff about negotiating an outcome for the benefit of all parties was complete bullshit and a waste of time. The finale is basically one party gets what they want and the other gets banned the fuck out. Seikaisuru Kado – very philosopher – such deep – wow
Oh god you are right. That makes things so much worse.
Wow, yeah, you’re right. I somehow missed that too. I was probably too busy facepalming…
Also… I think the “right answer” is indeed “have sex and make babies”. Like, seriously, that’s what they were going for. (it also ties in with Japan’s low birth rates). Like: “We don’t want to advance with pesky technology from outsiders, we’re going to advance by making new generations of people”.
It also ties with how terribly the series treated Hanamori, who was heavily implied to be gay. “you can’t make babies, so do all the work and raise my child so that you’re good for something, HAHA”.
Gah. I should stop, the more I think about it, the more I find things to hate.
This is another thing, I don’t know if it’s just coincidence but those who acted like gays were treated really badly. At the end even zaShunina seemed to turn into a gay yandere all of a sudden and became increasingly more evil at the same time. Not only that but Shindo’s daughter killed him in the worst possible way and it happened while he was trying to flee and holding Shindo’s bookmark which then got torn into pieces. I am not someone who often believes to see some political messages in series, since they’re often not actually there and people are overacting. But consindering the other things that happened here this is really something that weirds me out – but you’re right, the more I think about it, the more I hate it.
Wow. SuperMario I am sorry man. Really sorry. At this point I feel more sorry for the people who got into Kado then those who persist in watching 2nd Season of Berserk.
Haha, it’s Aidan who had to review Kado so I was just half as severe as him. Although I have my own theory that Kado purposely trolled us with the finale (might be the real one will come out this week? I sure hope so), with their intention was to laugh at the stupidity of us, human. Because doesn’t matter how you see, the last episode was ridiculous that it might as well belong to other series.
At some point in the credits scene, Hanamori says “she’s my daughter, you know!” all proud, but everyone else corrects him and says teasingly “no, she’s Shindo’s daughter” and it’s all fun and games…
I mean, this man raised her on his own for 16 years, he has more right than anyone to call her his daughter.
I get that Hanamori was supposed to be the comic relief/butt of all jokes kind of character, but Kado, damn, you went waaay to far. He did all the work, while Shindo was trying to look cool and do stupid plans. And then the series continues to treat him like shit? YOU DON’T GET TO DO THAT SERIES, DAMN.
I 100% agree. I loved the show so much, it really hurts me. I also write stories (and draw), so I can guess how much time you spend on thinking up own stories and a proper development and end. That makes the end of this series just worse and honestly I am frustrated that I believed such an anime would just ONCE not jump onto the technology-is-evil train.
Why did they even made the first part? Like what’s the point of all this negotiation talk and foreshadowing and making zuShunina actually alien and neutral when they just say “fuck it, let’s make it generic and mainstream” in the end?
It contained everything bad such a series could contain. A Deux ex Machina (literally) and Jesus end, a sudden ‘everything back to status quo’-end (Really why? What’s the point?), a useless sacrifice and a lovestory out of nowhere – seriously, when did Shindo ever act like that before? They even made a point of him being like a robot and too calm and it was freaking Tsukai of all people who said this. I am not even talking about the blatant (and also sudden) good vs evil end, the fact that the mains weren’t morally better either or that the armor plan was completely useless and random.
And as you said, how did they know their child would be like that? Anisotropic beings don’t have earthly bodies, they don’t have a DNA so how was this even possible. Not to mention that Tsukai was a bit fast having sex and a child with Shindo when it’s implied she never had a child before (considering that there are no other super Gods walking around) in all those 100 millions of years she was living on Earth.
And the Hanamori thing was just outright terrible. He was even in love with Shindo and aside from all of the other bullshit he had to take he had to waste 16 years of his life raising the child of Shindo and someone else.
No sorry writers, this is bad and your heroes and ideals are really bad.
And last but not least: Now what even was “the right answer” the anime is named after? What’s the moral?
Is it avoiding negotiations with further developed countries? Being an asshole to your friends? Rassism (Speciesism?) against aliens unless they 100% integrate and intermingle with us? Sorry I am lost, too bad it had so much potential..
>zaShunina is much more stoic and inhuman in the script; his most emotional moments are still Shindo-related, but he’s simply alien, not outright yandere
>almost zero romance; Yukika happens by a literal accident (Saraka ends up involuntarily absorbing Shindo’s information when healing him)
>zaShunina is obviously troubled by the fundamental difference between him and Shindo (“an impenetrable wall”), which leads to the next point
>zaShunina disappears in the world beyond content and satisfied (“You and me are the same, Shindo… )
>Still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but at least it’s less melodramatic.
It’s basically about the possibility of higher existence beyond death. An existence of pure information, completely severed from any physical form and laws. This is what the staff talked about when mentioning that zaShunina and Shindo were going to find each other again, this time forever (“An oasis somewhere at the end of eternity”). The anisotropics can’t die in the normal way, so this was the last frontier of the unknown for them. Nozaki’s novel “know” also had this theme.
>Do we have any information about what the story would have been in the original script, before Tsukai was introduced?
No, unfortunately. The Nip fans are clamoring for Nozaki to write a book based on his original story, but I doubt the Toei contract would allow it.
Today they held a special Kado event in Nipland, which also included a talkshow with the writer. Interesting details:
>Shindo and zaShunina aren’t dead; they could theoretically return to the physical world if they wanted to
>lots of requests for a Kado novel written by the original author, sequel, or alternate ending; Nozaki seems to want it too
>demand for a separately released OST
>joke idea for a sequel: zaShunina and Shindo come back to keep Yukika under control; since physical barriers don’t exist for them anymore, they decide to return as a single entity that outwardly looks like a beautiful girl
Would that upgraded zaShunina/Shindo/Saraka relationship count as gay, straight, lesbian or all of the above?