Summary:

The Road So Far.  *starts singing* Carry on my wayward son~ There’ll be peace when you are done~ lay your weary head to re~st, dont you cry no more *air drums and hits the cymbal before mimicking the bass guitar*

Last week we left off at Shiki fighting Nano and Akira screaming at Keisuke’s death. We pick up right from there with Shiki and Nano still fighting.  Shiki thinks that he’s landed a fatal blow to Nano and he turns to an irate Akira who is all “U KILLED MAH FRIEND. U MUST DIE RAAAAR!” which isn’t helpful if you think about it. Rin manages to reach Motomi but leaves again to get Akira. Rin comes in the nick of time and helps Akira out. But Akira is all “Get outta my way, he killed Keisuke! I’m gonna kill him!” and Rin tries to reason with him but no avail. Rin gets stabbed in the thigh courtesy Shiki and GUESS WHO saves Akira’s and Rin’s ass? If you said Nano, you get a basket of cookies. Shiki-sama, THIS is why you dont make assumptions. They tend to make an ass outta you. But then BOOM! YAY TIS AN EXPLOSION 8D

Shiki gets slashed by…Akira? (I think he does…the quality on Key Hold TV is like blargh!) and Nano is bleeding pretty bad but still. Some soldiers show up and they totally spoil Shiki’s fun who is…oddly turned on by the fact that Akira managed to land a hit on him. Nano tells Akira to take Rin and split. Akira tells him to come with them but Nano declines and turns towards the a new batch of newly arrived soldiers. Hey lookie that, more people to ‘play’ with 😛 Go get em Flash…I mean…Nano. ^^;; And so, Rin, Akira and Motomi make it outta Toshima alive. Oh and it starts snowing as they’re getting away – Merry Christmas 8D And Nano sits under a tree (game players, you know the one) and I THINK that he maybe dies due to the wounds? idk : needs subtitles to make more sense of this episode cause I’ve plum forgotten a lot of the dialogue XD

The ED for the final episode. GRIND, BITCH m/

Some time later, Akira is working as a mechanic and Rin’s in the hospital (GYAH. New definition to the term bed hair y’all O_O) and Motomi comes to visit. They talk a bit about Toshima and Akira returns to Toshima’s ruin’s to search for Shiki (with Shiki’s(?) sword and a long monologue). Shiki is sitting on this pile of rubble (and possibly bodies) with a big ass pile of empty Line vials at his feet. (Well someone’s let go/ someone’s been drinking) They exchange pleasantries before they clash swords and

CUE FADE OUT!

THE ENDO.

Score: C/A+

….thats…it? But….there’s usually a grand scale level of fight involved in the last episode. WHERE WAS THAT? *checks under the rug…sofa…in the cookie jar…in the mail box….in the junk mail pile* hellllll~ooooo~ epic last episode fight~~~ WHERE ARE YOOOOOOOU~ darn…i think it went and hid where the good production values and proper pacing are hiding *snaps her fingers in regret* Dang nabbit.

When the soldiers showed up, I was like “YES! This is THAT double page spread from the manga where Nano kicks some SERIOUS soldier ASS and makes the streets run red!” But nope…..we get another Flash impersonation and the impression that Nano dies in the cold, succumbing to his wounds. That…emmm… yeah…i’d rather have seen him die under Shiki’s sword – way more respectable death all things considered. Rin suddenly showing up to save Akira’s ass had me amused – REAL nice timing. Though I suppose the AWARD for best timing in this episode goes to Nano. Way to play possum there big guy. And Older! Rin….you don’t look even 1/10th as hot as you did in the game O_o In fact, I freaked out a bit cause I thought “If I think he looks bad in the LQ…WHAT am i gonna think when I get the better quality release? *garterbelt voice* HOLY SHEEEET!”

A severely bleh finale all in all. There wasn’t that sense of urgency and tension that most final episodes have. When yer biting your nails, sitting hugging your knees against your chest and yer all bug eyed as you stare at the screen, hungry to take in all the details and not wanting to even BLINK that you’ll miss a single second…none of that here really. Just didn’t get that feeling of “omg whats gonna happen next!” or just…the tension level wasnt high enough. (Why YES I DID just watch Angel Beat’s Special Episode yesterday! 8D WHAT EVER GAVE ME AWAY *swings a baseball bat* YOUTH IS ALL ABOUT BASEBALL BUWAHAHAHAHA!) Now comrades! Let us return and replay the original VN and forget that any of this ever happened 8D or we could start a donation and try to collect enough money to convince Madhouse to do a retake of this whole…err….’thing’. I’m sorry *looks off screen* say wha? . . . the idea is too crazy? BAKAYARO! Making the impossible possible is the way Team Gurren rolls! … what you mean I’m not a member of Team Gurren that I’m being affected by Lagannitis?! HEY GET BACK HERE SO I CAN PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE!

Dear animators….I totally get that you wanna show that Shiki’s powers have gotten all bad ass and he’s stronger than Nano or whatnot…but did you HAVE to have that red glow effect on him? It looks so….CHEESY. And kudos to Rin for his AMAZING SHERLOCK HOLMES level  deductive/observation skills where he realizes so quickly that Shiki took Line. Dear Rin, HOW? O_O Is he Batman? He’s gotta be Batman right? That explains how he was able to figure that out, jump up a wall in the past episode, fall down a highway bridge and STILL manage to walk STRAIGHT. ITS THE ONLY LOGICAL CONCLUSION! D: Oh and Gunji, Kiriwar, Arbitro and Kau also make it out.

Well its over. The first BL game that I had gotten into and the first proper shounen-ai series that I had been so looking forward to…note to self, never again put so much trust on anime trailers and NEVER look forward to what A-1 is gonna do next – ALWAYS take it with a healthy dose of skepticism. Thank GOD its over. Now I can delete it from my hard disk and apply selective denial to my memory and pretend that this never happened. THANK YOU LORD FOR FANDOM UNTO WHICH I SHALL RETREAT INTO AMEN!

Though what a disappointment….AND a let down. A-1, I had genuinely hoped that you would take this as seriously as you took Brotherhood or FairyTail or Kuroshitsuji…I’m a sad sad fan. I had hoped at the very least that they would remain true to the story but…that kinda went willy-nilly. Dear Director-san, havent you seen Chicken Little? Remember what Chicken Little’s dad says near the end of the movie, “…the one thing they’ll never do is mess with a good story” Minus 500 life points for you A-1. This should teach me to not get too excited over a series JUST cause the trailer looked wicked and the production house generally has done some good shows. *smacks the post-it note in the forefront of her mind* Remember that self.

Glad its over though, sayonara and good night and good riddance. If I had to sit through more of this, I would have ground my teeth into dust *rubs her aching jaw line*. Whats the next BL series coming up…ah yes, Sekaiichi Hatuskoi courtesy of the good people at Studio DEEN. The director, script supervisor and character design incharge also worked on Junjou Romantica so I am happily looking forward to seeing Onodera, Takano, Chiaki etc in animated form <3 January 2011 & April 2011 – HURRY UP AND COME SOON!

And on that note *salutes* Aabayo~!