Short Synopsis: The finale of Shikabane Hime
Episode Rating: ?/10 (wut?)
Uhm… yeah. This is without a doubt one of the more original endings I have ever seen, but… what?
But yeah, this is what you get when you combine Gainax with the director of Gilgamesh: both infamous for their unconventional endings. Here I was, expecting a really action-packed ending… and most of the bad guys die within five minutes, all the major threads left hanging are solved, nearly everything is carefully wrapped up into a rather quiet but rather anticlimactic epilogue… and the series seriously ends in the middle of a big fight between Makina and Hokuto. Has that ever been done before?
Still, I like the approach that the creators took. It’s definitely going to make this series memorable to me; it’s something I totally didn’t see coming, it’s anticlimactic how easy things really were in this final episode, and yet it strangely worked. In a way, we really didn’t need to know whether Makina or Hokuto would win the fight. That’s just the same predictable shounen crap, but in the meantime the creators did have enough time to explore on the main themes of the show. It’s interesting how despite all of the warnings, Ouri still sees Makina as a human being, but he never really fell in love with her and I think that that separates himself from Akasha and Sougi, who both fell in love with their Shikabane Hime: he never could fall in love with Makina because of Keisei’s influence and instead they grew more to become good friends.
I’m a bit disappointed that the final two seven stars didn’t receive their background, but at least the two of them aren’t complete paper bags, and the bit of depth that they received in this episode was appreciated. The old guy basically was someone who wanted to live desperately (it would have been interesting, though: why would he return as a Shikabane when he died at such an old age? And without a grudge as well…), while the bug guy simply was obsessed with Hokuto, and the reason why he acted so cruel through the majority of the series was because he didn’t really care about anyone other than his beloved Hokuto.
Overall, though, it’s definitely been a fun and awesome series. I had some doubts when I started blogging this show, but I’m glad that I did in the end, because it’s been a lot of fun praising (and yelling at the constant fanservice in) this series. While Gainax isn’t one of my favourite production companies, they really hit the mark this time with a very effective shounen series.
“and the series seriously ends in the middle of a big fight between Makina and Hokuto. Has that ever been done before?”
Yes, that is the ending of SCRYED
“‘and the series seriously ends in the middle of a big fight between Makina and Hokuto. Has that ever been done before?’
Yes, that is the ending of SCRYED”
And VenusXVirus.
Apparently there’s another episode but it’s DVD only.
Good episode, but a bit sad that they leave the ending for the DVD. It seems like a shitty way to make some money.
However, it’s not really something new. Companies have done it before, like BONES did with Wolf’s rain. They even had four DVD only episodes.
I suspected the ending was going to be anti-climatic. The last episode was just too good and left very little to be resolved. It seems like they just ran out of time and decided to superficially wind things down. The end scene just doesn’t sit well with me. I guess given the lack of any real romance, it stays true to character and there is no closure to that beyond death.
smh @ this ripping off the ending of Rocky III as Rocky and Apollo Creed were about to fight.
It doesnt’ end here. Final episode will be released with last dvd .-.
am ending ! XD DVDS! 😡 anyways, wow just great anime really, i juz luv’d it and how oori and makina developd, great series XD
um… replying to Kira (number 7 post)..
when is the DVD going to be released? do u know?
haha wow 2010 already almost august eh just felt like sayin something about this half ass series the only things was good about gore n babe the rest are shitty like this ending
Although I was somewhat disappointed the way things turned out, i was still happy the way it ended. The whole theme of the series was that Shikababe are the walking dead and nothing more, shows just why she choose to continue fighting till the very end eventhough she knows what will become of her. The intro theme song shows what happens to her. If you look carefully, you see her turned into a shikabane and dinsintagrates. There was no need to continue the series. No shikabane hemi would ever go to heaven. Therefore, you can only conclude what is the intimate end for everyone.