And so ends another season of Dog Days. In a sense the season kind of developed as I expected and in some ways it didn’t. It did end up having one crisis at the start and end with various things going on in the middle, I just couldn’t have seen out nuts they’d go to focus on world building this time around. This episode really was just wrapping things up and sending the main cast on their way. In a sense it’s kind of amazing how things have changed since the first season when so much drama was going on in regards to Shinku heading back home and losing his memories. Now they can basically phone each other and visit on weekends….Traveling to another world has become remarkably convenient. Not that it’s a bad thing, but certainly removes much drama from the cast going back home now. It’s just a really cheap vacation.

I swear on a certain level this show is just mocking me XD. Couvert asking for Eclair to agree with her that they didn’t get the fight enough….yes that’s absolutely the case! The show seems incredibly self-aware that it’s had no war games and minimal focus on some of the regular cast members. Even trying to insert some Shinku and Becky background in the last few minutes. No, Dog Days you don’t get to neglect these characters for most of the show and then try to insert any sort of character development or history. I will not give you credit for that.

The wrap up itself was done well. I’m not sure if I liked how they handled Verde or not. They did play it safe and still keep demons technically evil. Because the sword broke and he’ll become a spirit, etc. I was kind of hoping they’d be more in the middle than that and actually have some demons be legitimately not pure evil, but on the other side of a line. Oh well, they did at least create some interesting drama in putting up the barrier because there was still more to talk to Verde about. I kind of just liked how they handled that since it did create some unease with Sharl. And it was just interesting to have to block out Millhi’s voice because it was actually harming Verde.

The end result with Verde and Aria was handled nicely considering the route they went. Verde had a personal shift and the sword shattered (still need explanation on those) returning to a kind of egg form that he can emerge from down the road. Aria as well gained her voice back and was ready to “la la la” it up with Millhi XD. Both of them accepted their part in it and are going to move forward which is nice. It’s too bad that Aria stayed behind, but I guess with this being the last episode there was no point bringing her down.

The show and cast continued to have fun playing around with the idea of Gaul and Aria XD. While Gaul was ok having a group farewell Nanami and Leaf slapped him all the way over to have a personal goodbye, even his sister having some fun with it. Gaul was pretty smooth and managed to dodge the fun everyone was having at his expense. In the end he had a nice little conversation with Aria which I enjoyed. And Leo made a good point that it’s fine to just think of people you want to see, but actually seeing them every now and then is good for a person XD. Keeps bonds the strongest to see them.

Ironically there really isn’t that much to say about the last episode itself. The remainder after they left the Star Whale was pretty much just wrap up. Everyone talking about how they felt about leaving and how it was such a short trip (which it was). The farewells for the heroes and the rulers were enjoyable as always. Everyone showing the feelings they have for the other and how they will miss them. But at the same time it’s buffered by the scene before which reminds us that they can always see each other whenever. In a sense it’s easier to visit Flonyard than a friend in another city XD. I was kind of hoping for something that might tie into the next season, but not it was just a pretty standard farewell that still practically announces a fourth season (so long as the sales hold up). As a last episode it did its job in wrapping things up and leaving on a positive note.
Score: A-

Final Thoughts:

I’ll do a full review soon, but feels like it’d be nice to get my thoughts out with full spoilers right now XD. As a whole….I’m mixed on this season to be honest. It had a lot of good moments to be sure. This whole Star Whale and Sky Sea arc was fun. They had some really good action with the fight against Verde and some interesting drama with the demons and disciples. It makes clear that the war wasn’t such a simple or pleasant thing and reminds us that there is a force out there behind those demon swords that still hasn’t been fully grasped.

They did a remarkable job with world building this time around. Everything is just much more defined than before. The first season it was just Flonyard, Biscotti, and Galette. We knew about demons by the end, but the amount of information that now exists is kind of mind-boggling. We have a Sky Sea, we have Sky and Dragon Priestesses, we have mermaids, an understanding of the technology and environmental mining policies of the countries, and we even know about other nations that exist outside the continent that the main cast live on. Over 12 episodes they did a remarkable job in giving us a much bigger view of the world and even the history of it thanks to the flashback with Adele. The focus this season was on world building and they did that.

On the negative side it was just all world building! It’s something I like in doses and over the course of a series, but deciding to just make one season all about that and kind of dropping all the plot lines it had going out of the second season is questionable in my view. The last few minutes drop the whole “oh yeah Shinku has this romantic situation going on here.” They drop some backstory with him and Becky and remind us that yes Millhi is romantically interested in him. Something they kind of needed to because they literally ignored these characters for the whole season. The most Shinku did was catch Sharl’s eye, but even that was kind of forgotten after the first couple episodes. The show actually felt it was needed for Nanami to mention Shinku’s love life in case people forgot that he’s the main character and there are girls interested in him XD.

The show made jokes on it, but yeah characters like Eclair just vanished this season. This was someone who had a few episodes heavily focused on her last season. The most she did this season was stand around, not be there, and cut a few minor demons. But really Biscotti in general wasn’t all that important this season. Cou and Becky weren’t major players except for one episode where all those demons got loose in the castle in Pastiage.

I do like Galette and it was nice to have some focus on the cast there, but it felt like it came at the expense of the actual main character in the show. Shinku kind of became a side character in his own show.

My feelings is that the last arc was actually the strongest because it had some nice emotional value and action. Aria was a really likable character and her connection with Gaul was fun to support. It felt more compelling than say the Sharl and dragon forest mini-arc that we started with. Mostly because all the drama about Sharl potentially having to die because of prophecy wasn’t really developed, Shinku doesn’t really notice romantic feelings, and she kind of just vanished for most of the show. Here it was how they ended and they didn’t actually mind actively shipping these two. Or at least the cast didn’t mind. It just felt like the threat level was much higher in the last few episodes.

The middle of the show…it was fine. The flashback episode was probably the highlight, Leaf fighting in the tournament was memorable, and that’s about it. The middle of the season was much more world building that I wasn’t heavily invested in but I enjoyed the information it gave us. That’s kind of my feeling on the season in general. I appreciate a lot of what we got, but I just wish it was a longer season so they could have done more. It started off with such drama with a summoning that went wrong and the heroes going missing. I kind of wish that kind of drama had been there throughout.

I will miss Dog Days for sure. This wasn’t my favorite season and I’ll admit that. But it was still very much the same show we’d enjoyed for two seasons and it helped build things up. If it ends here then it would be even worse in my mind, but I can’t imagine they’ll stop at this point. There are so many plot threads they never did anything with this season and need to be touched on at least a bit. Shinku’s personal life is still unresolved, the demon blades are still a mystery, amongst other things. They did a good job adding to the world, now I want to see a season where they do something with it.