At long last, John Winchester finally emerges from the
shadows and reunites with his sons, Sam and Dean. He comes bearing a gift: The Colt-a gun that
can kill just about anything…including the Yellow Eye Demon who killed Mary
Winchester. In a battle decades in the
making, the Winchesters square off with their lifelong enemy. Facing a foe unlike anything they’ve ever
faced before pushes Sam and Dean past their limits. One thing is sadly certain, one Winchester
will not walk away from this battle alive.
This week the Supernatural Anime took a look at one of
the most important events of the TV Series, the Season 1 finale and the Season
2 premiere. Here the series finally
brought some pieces together and managed to deliver a battle that actually
managed to improve on its TV Series counterpart in terms of scope while not
sacrificing the emotion, cause there was still plenty of that to go around.
As expected, when the two generations of Winchester
finally got together, stuff finally hit the fan. It was a good primer to see Sam, Dean and
John Winchester team up to take down a small batch of Lost Boys style Vampires
(ok they weren’t bad boy bikers but they did give off that party hardy vibe). John was in top form managing to take down
most of them on his own. This story even
brought back Gayle and Ryan, the vampire father and son duo from earlier in the
season. At first I wondered why this was
even necessary until it was revealed how Yellow Eyes had come into their
lives…and that ended up setting up a very important plot point for later on.
And then it was time for the showdown and it felt
appropriately big. This is a good
example of where having Supernatural as an Anime pays off. The Season One finale kept things pretty
contained to a cabin in the woods while the Anime goes for a larger stage, with
the brothers battling Yellow Eyes and his servants in a New York building under
construction. It allowed for more visual
flair with powers being used and everyone generally getting way more messed
up. But we never skimped on the human
heart of the cast as Dean was forced to use a round from The Colt to kill
Yellow Eyes’ servant in order to save Sam.
The animators did a good job showing the guilt running through the elder
Winchesters eyes having taken out an innocent, albeit possessed, girl to save
his younger brother. But as Sam points
out, the old Dean might not have shed that much of a tear over it, at least not
in the open like that. Both brothers
have changed and it even impressed their father.
AND THEN the boys and their dad and the Impala got flung
off the road and into a crumpled up pile.
While I did like the big battle in New York, it was the final chapter of
this three part story that was my favorite.
Most of this fell to John Winchester, who was given an amazing send
off. He played the gruff façade that Sam
and Dean both loved and disliked growing up but it was all leading to
something, ever the planner that John Winchester. John’s final farewell with the boys had a lot
of heart and emotion to it. Even if you
didn’t know how this played out in the TV Series, you knew he had done
something to seal his fate in order to save Dean from a Grim Reaper. It’ll be interesting seeing where Sam and
Dean go from here now that they’ve lost their father and the only weapon that
can kill Yellow Eyes. But still, no
moment of Supernatural: The Anime Series hit the heart more heavily than John
walking into a church, telling Yellow Eyes to “do it” and then cutting to a
black screen with text indicating he had died along with the sound of a
flatline…damn that was effective.
I would say this was cause to say it was a near perfect
week…but it wasn’t totally. The Monster
in the Water story was a very boring pitstop before the big reunion of the
Winchester clan. Had this story been
played for laughs like the Bad Luck Spirit, it could have been better. Come on, how could Dean not laugh at the
concept of hunting the Lockness Monster in rural America? Unfortunately, things were made way more
serious than needed to be and the story ended up as one of the more duller
filler episodes you’d find in later seasons of the TV Series. Also, it’s sad to see Gale get taken down by
John but what about his son? Do Sam and
Dean just leave him be and hope for the best?
I get that this show moves fast with episodes being half and hour
instead of an hour but it’s done a decent job of keeping things mostly tidy
with its storytelling.
A trip down dullsville filler aside, this weeks
Supernatural: The Anime Series delivered on what had been promised since the
beginning. We got a showdown of epic
proportions and John Winchester going out not in a blaze of glory taking down
his arch nemesis but instead sacrificing his life for what matters most:
family. Round 2 is going to be a big
one, that’s for sure. But we’ll get
there in due time…maybe sooner than you think.
Carry on my Wayward Readers and I’ll see you all next week.
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