An d so the creators used even less time for the climax than I imagined. Seriously, it only started at the end of this episode. It was really well done, don’t get me wrong here: the build-up was terrific. It’s just that I have no idea how the creators are planning to make everything come together in that final episode.
This episode was really quiet, but that was exactly what allowed it to push a lot of characters forward. A lot of the drama here was genuine, and even though none of the major questions were answered, it did add a lot of details to the cast and especially Wako and Keito got a lot out of this episode.
Star Driver has three main arcs, all corresponding to a Shrine Maiden. That just begs the question of why Wako wasn’t given an arc like that. I mean, this episode felt more like the climax of Keito’s arc than the climax of the entire series.
I smell a movie. Just think about the other series that premiered in the Sunday Afternoon timeslot: Gundam 00? Movie. Full Metal Alchemist? Movie. Sengoku Basara? Movie. Only Code Geass didn’t get a movie, but that has Bokuko no Akito. A movie would be the perfect explanation of what the heck is going on here.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I think the problem is they insert too much filler feats in this series. Don’t get me wrong, they are well written, but also unnecessary. Why do they bother with a ton irrelevant side-characters development? (lesbian pair, professor green, west miko, filament trio, etc)
They are decent drama stories, but also causing the whole series be so boring in some perspective as well, not mention the problem with the story pace.
If you look at the pure essential content in STardriver, that would be only 12-13 episodes approximately.
Again, Stardriver is a decent anime series, but for now, this is not that remarkable.
Wako’s arc is the entire serie, you know? I didn’t expect painter papa to come back now, as it was dealt with long before.
I thought this final climax was for our three stars only. And as long Keito chose which side to join, Wako did not yet.
PS: A movie? Oh God, spare us. They have to finish it off now. If plan to do a movie I hope they’d add something more there. Something such as a prequel or about the space people… A movie shouldn’t be used as a closure as it means a poor planning for the serie.
Wako sort of gets the whole show. Sure, a lot of the time she is just motivating the conflict between Takuto and the Crux, and then later teasing the roles of love vertex and the girl forsaken for power, but other times we get glimpses into the person that underlies the generic good girl, and a couple of times we see cracks in the visage. I think all members of the main trio are developed something like this, and the final revelations about their internal conflicts will drive the heroes’ side of the climax.
Speaking of Wako, I really liked the direction during the conversation she had with Ruri. The sudden weight both felt when she reveals to Wako that she is thinking about leaving the island was compelling, especially viewed with the knowledge that Wako believes that she can never leave the island. Growing up for her brings with it unwanted changes such as a loss of friends and a possible schism between Sugata and Takuto. Later her feelings are exposed again, when she is with Sugata and Takuto and she expresses a desire to look at that sky always.
A lot of the characters in this show are in conflict with change, and they confront it in different ways. Then there is Takuto who the exact opposite of them, if not the embodiment of change itself, which makes it amusing when everyone likes him.
Thinking of neat things this episode, that version of Keito’s song was fantastic; especially as it culminates in her saving Sugata’s life. This show has way too many moving parts and is too lacking in the pretense of seriousness to be as streamlined to perfection as episode 10 of Madoka, but I think it still has a lot of well-done dramatic elements, where all of the subtle glances and poses that betray the conflicts inside the characters pay off. I think that like Princess Tutu, there are parts of Star Driver that seem fairly unnecessary, but ultimately serve as stages to develop characters by showing rather than telling, unlike so very, very many other works. In a lesser show, everyone would act like the psycho lesbians and Takuto would be ‘moving forward’ and ‘getting stronger, and I would be ‘slitting my wrists.’ Now if we could just edit out all of those pesky robots, we would have a really nice show for something that airs in the day. 😉
Agree with m. For whole serie, it gradually laided Wako and Sugata’s difference. What they want is actually opposite. Wako is afraid of change. Sugata is triving for change. If you think about it, Wako is the one who always denied to speak about future, or choice. While Sugata is the one who always put the subject on the table.
Wako don’t want to choose one of them.
Sugata want her to make a choice.
Wako don’t want Sugata to do anything risky.
Sugata want to take a risk making something out of his life.
The show just misleads us by linking Sugata with power hungry characters, like Head, or Columnar, and by having Wako forbid him until we believe it was a bad thing to do.
I disagree with the thing that the whole series is wako’s arc. For all the screen time she had, we know very little about her.
And actually, a movie does make sense. Otherwise, save for a miracle or really, really, awesome planning, I don’t think the final ep will be a solid conclusion to this series.
The engagement between Sugata and Wako and how Takuto broke it all apart is the theme of the serie. So that’s why next episode will be the climax and no movie wouldn’t actually be needed, unless they screwed it up next time.
Sugata and Wako are together just for tradition. They probably wouldn’t be a couple if they weren’t forced to. Wako loves Takuto, that’s sure, but she can’t choose between heart and reason. Sugata’s forcing her to make a choice by fighting Takuto as the leader of the Glittering Cross. Actually Sugata means to be stopped. Takuto is the symbol of change while Sugata is that of tradition.
@Solaris
Please don’t talk about symbolism. Symbolism means nothing. It’s just an extra. Did all the symbolism mean anything to the story in evangelion? Nope. Don’t attempt to try to make the story seem deeper than it actually is.
Anyway considering Bones record in endings I am fairly sure this will not have a satisfying end. I do have a massive rant about this show but I think I will stick it somewhere else. I don’t like being the wet blanket around here.
Um, I hate to break it to you, Aidan, but symbolism has been an important storytelling tool for ages, and saying that it means nothing means that you are just incapable of looking at anything beyond surface value.
AidanAK47 I didn’t mean to over analyze it so much, but Still the contrast between Takuto and Sugata over Wako can be portrayed like that.
SOlaris actually has a point, I mean its kinda obvious if you look at all the training Sugata gave Takuto, it was obvious he was making it so Takuto woul dbe actually be able to beat him. . .
just look at tall the scenes during their training including the one bath scene after their last raining scene.
its pretty obvious that Solaris is right here.
Aidan youre just a fanboy so you cant see what is actaully going on and have to lash out at someone making a perfectly valid point.
@ Keith
That came out wrong. I mean the kind of symbolism like religious references in Evangelion, or references to faust in Madoka. These reverences are interesting but irrelevant to the core story.
I simply don’t like it when people use symbolism to excuse poor storytelling. You can do that with anything.
That’s not what Solaris was doing anyway.
Great analysis solaris, definetely one of the best series out of this average-ish season of anime.
Aidan, I’m not trying to force symbolism. Maybe I chose the wrong words for it, as there isn’t any symbolism. But from the way the story is told and how the chars behave you can associate some ideas to them. And the Ideas are those I was telling before.
It’s kind of opposite from what symbolism really is, that is to tell a concept by representing it by a physical object.
So, you’re right to raise the needed objection, but I don’t agree any more if you tell us about bad writing and wrong use of symbolism.
As a matter of fact Faust is not used as a symbol in Madoka, but it’s actually a parallelism. Faust is very pertinent to Madoka’s core, as the girl’s stories are pretty similar to that of Faust. And it’s not for a chance you can actually see excerpts from the Faust on the walls of a broken factory in the 2nd episode.
And moreover there’s anything symbolic in Eva. Christian religion is there only for exotism.
If you’re looking for actual symbolism I’d suggest you Angel Egg and Heibane Renmei to name a few.
I really hope there isn’t a movie! I just want this series to be done with… (good, but not good enough series!)
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