T5W#69-Top 5 Gundam Stories I Want to be Told (in Anime form)

Almost 37 years in, the Gundam Franchise is seeing no signs of slowing down its output.  Even today, it’s in as good, if not better, shape than it has ever been.  Iron Blood Orphans is airing it’s second season in Japan, as well as it’s first season on Toonami.  Gundam: The Origin just released it’s fourth episode and looks to continue the tale in 2017.  And once the first season of IBO has wrapped up early next year, Toonami’s looking to air the tv version of Gundam Unicorn: RE0096.  I’m happy, I really am.  My favorite Anime franchise continues to grow and flourish.  And while I know plans are probably in the works for what comes after Iron Blooded Orphans, I wonder about the stories that haven’t been told that I might want to see down the line.  Call it an early Christmas list, but here are five stories not yet told in the Gundam universe I’d like to see on the screen somewhere down the line.

 

#5-Full Length Gundam F91 Series

As many people know, Gundam F91 was meant to be a big relaunch point for the Gundam Franchise following the end of the first era of Gundam (1979’s Mobile Suit Gundam through 1988’s Gundam: Char’s Counterattack).  Yoshiyuki Tomino sought to create a new 50 episode series set in the far off Universal Century as a fresh start point.  With the theatrical success of Char’s Counterattack, the studio decided to nix the idea in favor of another movie.  As you also know…this didn’t turn out so well (See my review of Gundam F91 here: http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2015/06/mobile-suit-gundam-f91.html).  But what did Tomino have in mind originally?  How would the journey of Seabook and Cecily have gone if it was a TV series or a trilogy of films.  I think there’s either a manga or novel continuation written by Tomino that covers this.  Still, Gundam F91 is a sadly, wasted potential entry that deserves to have it’s full and unaltered vision shared with the fans…if they even still care about this one.

 

#4-Gundam Seed The Movie

I hate Gundam Seed Destiny, many of you know this.  Even so, the prospect of a Seed movie always intrigued me.  Originally, the project was announced following the end of Seed Destiny.  Details were scarce, especially the plot.  But Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala, along with several big names from Seed and Seed Destiny, had been confirmed to be major players.  More importantly, the Seed Movie would have been the first, full length original Gundam movie since Gundam F91. However, delays kept mounting (eventually Gundam 00 The Movie would come out) and, sadly, Seed and Seed Destiny’s chief screenwriter passed away this past year.  Nevertheless, I’ll always wonder what this tale would have been and if it could have somehow redeemed the Seed universe…killing Shin Asuka off in the first five minutes would have been a good start.

 

#3-Gundam Unicorn Sequel

The conclusion of Gundam Unicorn left a bookmark at a pretty important turning point in the Universal Century.  The revelation of Laplace’s Box seemed set to upset the balance of power and when last we saw the Nael Argama and Banagher Links, aka the more or less protectors of the box, they were headed away from Federation forces after them and their game changing discovery.  Now up until Unicorn, there was a 30 year period of the Universal Century between Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack and Mobile Suit Gundam F91 that hadn’t been explored.  Imagine the ramnifications of the Laplace’s Box revelation.  I’m not saying it could spark another all out war but it definitely set in motion great changes for the Colonies, Earth Sphere and Newtypes.  Where do things go from here and how will they set society up for where we find it in F91 (relatively peaceful)?  Even if it doesn’t involve the cast from Unicorn, though I’d like to see Mineva back at least, this is an era of Gundam that is begging to be checked out.

 

#2-Gundam Wing: Episode Zero

While this is a manga (and a good one at that), Episode Zero was originally intended to be included in the Gundam Wing Anime.  However, time and budget constraints forced these origin stories of the Wing Boys and Girls to be either totally scrapped or cut down immensely and folded into Gundam Wing Endless Waltz.  You’d think with the boom Gundam Wing had in the early 2000’s in the US would have sparked Japan to go back and do an OVA feature on these lost tales, including the ambiguous epilogue to Endless Waltz.  If you haven’t had a chance to read this manga, and can somehow find it, I recommend it highly if you’re a Wing fan.  And if you’re as big a Wing fan as I am, you also hope that one day, Episode Zero becomes a feature length theatrical release, OVA, or TV Series…whichever allows it to be made faster.

 

#1-Sei and Reiji Reunite

Ever since these two parted ways at the end of Gundam Build Fighters, ive wanted their reunion.  Sei and Reiji learned a lot from each other: confidence, friendship, a deeper understanding of Gunpla Battle.  To see a second season of one of the best Gundam series ever go to crap cause it focused on a cast without faith or likeability, was a total gut punch.  It didn’t help that the end of Build Fighters Try-Island Wars, teased Reiji enjoying life with his wife, Aila, and their daughter.  F*** BUILD FIGHTERS TRY!!! What we need is a story where Reiji returns to Sei’s world and the two partake in a new kind of Gunpla Battle.  The game will no doubt have changed but the bond between these two would overcome any and all obstacles that would come their way.  They’re the feel good heart of any Gundam fan.  We need to see them together again and show the world that, unlike Team Try Fighters, they know how to make Gunpla Battle, and Gundam in general, look like a good time.

Fate Stay Night Part 1 Episodes 1-6

When he was a boy, Shiro Emiya was the lone survivor of a disaster that consumed Fuyuki City.  Ten years later, he is about to discover the secret behind that event.  Drawn in by his potential as an up and coming mage, Shiro unintentionally enters The Holy Grail War.  Seven Mages are to summon Seven Heroic Spirits to do battle for the Holy Grail, a relic capable of granting a single wish to whoever claims it.  Shiro has become one of those seven and has been blessed with the beautiful knight known as Saber to aid in his battle.  Their fight will be far from easy as everyone from innocent girls to rival classmates stand in his way.  At the end of the war are the secrets of a past Shiro longs to know.  Welcome to the next Holy Grail War.

So…I don’t normally do this at the beginning of a series but an exception must be made in this instance (just to get this out of the way so I don’t complain repeatedly later).  This is the Fate Stay Night series from 2006 from Studio Dean.  Therefore it doesn’t have much to do with the Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works series from Studio Ufotable that came out a couple years back.  That being said, this series looks ok.  But it is nowhere even close to as gorgeous as UBW or the Fate Stay Night prequel, Fate/Zero, also animated by Ufotable.  I have a feeling that might detract from my overall viewing of this title.  Even at it’s lowest points, UBW was incredible to look at and solidified my theory that Ufotable is capable of making feature film style shows on a TV series sized budget.  So if you’re one, like me, who has seen Unlimited Blade Works or Zero prior to this version of the series…be prepared to be let down a bit in the animation department.

Ok, that longer than needed to be disclaimer out of the way, let’s begin looking at the last series on the Anime Corner for 2016.

How weird is it that im going from one battle of magic into another?  Like X, Fate Stay Night has a battle with a very interesting set of rules: pairings of masters and servants, a limit of “can never be countered commands” and the last people you’d expect to be competitors turning out to be competitors.  It’s all explained within the first few episodes, understandably.  I just wish the characters sounded a bit more interested rather than just annoyed at having to explain it all.  Granted, Shiro is supposed to be the audience portal to the series and it’s world.  And since he’s a rookie who’s been thrown into this war, it’s understandable that characters like Rin and Kirei don’t get why they have to explain things to him.  Still, it’s fascinating to hear all of this lore behind the Holy Grail War and it goes pretty deep too.  Though it remains to be seen just how intense this one might be compared to the last…this goes double if you’ve seen Fate/Zero and know how crazy that was.  I will say that some of the massive info dump about the Grail War does come pretty quickly without a lot of time to properly digest.  To bring up Fate/Zero again, that series at least had an extended, 45min episode to establish everything from rules, to characters, to servant summonings.  Not saying Fate Stay Night needed an episode like that, just felt like the pacing on explanations could have been padded out a bit.

As I finished up the first six episodes, I realized something…there’s going to be a lot of ranting about Shiro from me, isn’t there?  For being the “hero” of this series, Shiro is less likeable than X’s Kamui right out of the gate.  His narraration of life, the universe, and everything in the first episode is worse than Rick Deckard’s narraration in the original cuts of Blade Runner (and I found those voice overs to be more adequate than Harrison Ford did).  All he does is whine, whine and whine.  And even when he’s yapping on about his goals of becoming a real life super hero (it’s not worded like that but it’s like he’s trying to be Kick Ass so same difference), you just want him to shut up and let someone else talk for a few minutes.  Kids got a serious death wish too…to the point where he might not be a super hero…but he is a video game character (fitting since this Anime is based off of the PS2 visual novel).  Shiro is stabbed, clubbed, and killed twice in the first six episodes before being restored to life with only a little wear and tear.  At one point, he gets smacked by Berzerker’s hammer of all things.  All I could think of was “DEAD”.  Even Rin chastises him as the camera pans down on his “DEAD” body, like she knows he’s just going to cheat death one more time.  And also, ill talk about the kick ass leading ladies of this series.  However, to close out Shiro Rant #1, I wanna mention how freaking terrible he is around girls.  I’m glad chivalry isn’t dead but at the same time, Saber and Rin can take care of themselves better than Shiro.  So when Shiro insists they stay out of the fighting, I cant tell if he’s being sexist or not?  And the fate (no pun intended) of the world rests on this kid?  Well we’re doomed.  Ok rant done, moving on.

Whereas Shiro sucks in every scene he’s in and everything he does on screen, no one talks about Fate Stay Night because of him.  They talk about the girls and this show is filled with many of them.  The two at the forefront are Rin and Saber.  Saber is pretty much the poster girl of the franchise.  Plenty of reason for her to be too.  Saber is all parts beauty, ferocious and fierce that everyone loves in most action anime heroines.  She can def handle herself in battle.  Shiro may be in awe of her beauty but he really should be impressed by how much more ass she can kick than he ever will.  Rin is very much the same way.  Anyone who looks at my blog knows that I bring up Rin Toshaka occasionally and think of her as one of my all time favorites, more than Saber.  Rin’s determination, knowledge and caring side underneath her coldness are more a draw than her drop dead gorgeous looks (apparently everyone in school wants to date her too, adding to her appeal).  She’s so awesome, she can even put her servant, the mouthy Archer, in his place, or at least speak on equal ground with him.  That kind of girl deserves all the respect.  It’s a shame they didn’t pair up Rin with Saber and just make them the leads of the series.  This is a very girl power show…it just has to put up with Shiro every once in a while.

I think we glimpsed most of the servants in the opening episodes and they all look like fun.  I’ve covered Saber.  Alongside her, Archer and Lancer provide both fun one liners in battle alongside awesome fight skills.  Berzerker is notable if only because his master is a tiny little girl who seems to get excited by bloodshed (very disturbing).  Rider’s a pretty provocative character in that the chains and outfit scream a bit of naughtiness that probably went into her character design.  I actually don’t think we saw much, if at all, of Assassin and Castor but im hoping they’ll be just as entertaining as the other five servants. 

Only downside is, the action doesn’t last as long as the explanations of the world and the war rules.  I feel like the Fate Stay franchise is mostly known for it’s battle sequences.  The balance of each episode seems to be off, maybe 85% chatter and 10% battle and a very small 5% to humor.  Yeah, I imagine this story is supposed to be extremely serious.  But seeing comedic bits with Shiro’s home life and his nerve grating teacher kind of throw things off and take away points from an interesting premise.  Saber’s showing up of Fujimura in battle was a little entertaining but overall unnecessary just so Fujimura could cry about how pointless she is (not quite that but that’s how I saw it).  There was also some unexpected humor in Rin’s battle with Shiro at school.  I chuckled a bit at Shiro pointing out that Rin kind of flashed him when she made a jump down the stairs.  But again, it feels so out of place and unnatural.  It caught me off guard and im sure it will probably make more appearances later.  I just don’t see Fate Stay Night as needing a humorous edge.  If I want humor in my Fate Stay, I’ll watch Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya.

Well, while Shiro would like to think “this is a mans world” when it comes to combat, it’s clear that the ladies of Fate Stay Night are more than up to the task of picking up his slack.  It would probably be a lot better if the show focused more on Rin and her exploits.  But Shiro’s sadly our main protagonist, so we’re stuck with him.  This could very well be a fun series but be forewarned…there’s definitely more Shiro bashing to come down the line.

See ya next week for more Fate Stay Night on the Anime Corner.

FIF#27-Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin

UC0068.  Zeon Zum Diekun is assassinated during a speech.  In the wake of this tragedy, fingers are pointed in all directions and the children of Zeon, Casval and Artesia, are caught in the middle of it all.  It’s 11 years before the One Year War that will change the course of history.  But here in the past, the legend of one young man begins.  Casval will take a stand against the Zabi’s, the family that supposedly murder his father, and escape from the colonies with the help of Ramba Ral and his contact Hamon Crowley.  The young man heads towards a destiny unknown to him.  Little does Casval know, he will exact his revenge years later and become a man with another name that the Universal Century will never forget.  The origin of Char Aznable begins here.

First Impression Friday returns after a month long hiatus.  And boy am I glad I chose this one to be the subject of a first impression.  I was never sure what to think when I heard that “Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin” had been announced.  I felt a bit indifferent I guess, wasn’t excited but also wasn’t worried about it.  Most importantly I was wondering when or if I was ever going to see it.  Well to promote the arrival of Episode 4, the GundamInfo.com Youtube page hosted the first three episodes for free.  So I got to enjoy the beginnings of the rise of Char…and so far it’s making it’s way quickly into my Top 5 most favorite Gundam stories ever.

Most Gundam fans have wanted this story for years and im not about to argue with that.  For me, Char Aznable was a character whose backstory could be told in so little detail it never mattered.  He’s a bad ass and a complicated one in everything he does.  But he was always so cool, confident and…just freaking awesome that I never cared we got more than a surface scratch of detail from his past…well more than that but never as deep as The Origin is giving us.  From the very beginning, we see Char is already kind of a smaller version of his future self.  He’s quiet, calculating and knows how to play the game of politics, or at least comprehend them better than most.  The older he gets, the more he’s molded by feelings of vengeance, a desire to protect what family he has left, and the will to change the world.  He’s even willing to sacrifice a man who knows his darkest secret just to win a battle, two birds, one cannon blast…cold blooded but that’s Char.  Char may hold the record of best villain in the Gundam mythos.  But he’s every bit one of my all time favorite characters, one of the best this series has ever had as well and it all starts here.  Oh and not once did I ever think of his as Casval Deikun, he is Char pure and simple…nothing against his younger age or his real name…he’s just always been Char since he was a kid.

This isn’t just Char’s history, however, it’s pretty much the complete build up to the One Year War.  And we hit all the big moments that set it in motion: the death of Char’s father, Zeon Zum Deikun; the birth of the Mobile Suit development project that would propel Zeon’s war advantage; the rise of the Zabi family, the first baddies of the Gundam Saga next to Char.  We even get the return of many old faces from the original series: Ramba Ral, Hamon Crowley (so much hotter than in the original Anime), the entire Zabi clan.  We even get some very surprising cameos from the younger White Base Crew like Mirai Yashima and Gundam’s first hero, Amuro Ray himself.  Seeing all of these legendary characters return ties it all together and makes the Universal Century feel like home again

Before the story gets going proper with tons of political intrigue and backstabbing, we open with the Battle of Loum before jumping back eleven years.  The CG animation in the action is unbelievabley good.  The sight of a single, big bullet breach a Federation bridge before shredding it to pieces grabbed my attention even before I saw that was fired by Char.  Much like Gundam Unicorn, The Origin is animating showing the Universal Century the way it was always meant to be seen: high def and borderline perfect.

If I did have one complaint about the first three episodes, it’s the unexpected dose of humor thrown into the mix.  The original series never had a serious comedic element to it, in fact it was almost totally serious from beginning to end.  Seeing Dozel Zabi used as a constant joke and a couple of cute moments from little Sayla’s naievety and her tiny cat, Lucifer, didn’t gel well with the Gundam I know and enjoy.  Thankfully, these moments are few and far between and don’t hurt the overall quality of this new series.

So three episodes in, I want more, more than I want more of the kind of confusing and slower paced Iron Blooded Orphans.  The fourth episode is out (and I need to see it) and it’s been confirmed that two additional episodes are on the way in 2017 that will focus on the game changing Battle of Loum.  All in all, this is one of the most enjoyable Gundam rides I’ve ever been on.  I never thought I missed the earlier Universal Century tales so much.  I may not have wanted to know “The Origin” but I loved it regardless.  Char, you rock buddy.

T5W#68-Top 5 Reactions to the Code Geass Season 3 Announcement

A few days ago, the unthinkable happened. During the celebration of the 10^th Anniversary of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion…it had finally come to pass as Studio Sunrise announced the production of a THIRD SEASON of Code Geass, entitled Code Geass: Lelouch of the Resurrection.  Now, there was a lot to process when it came to hearing this.  So I figured for this weeks Top 5, I’d break down my thoughts through my five first reactions…all varying degrees of optimism and WTF?!

 

#5-Surprise/Seriously?

It was a prank.  I mean it had to be right?  Crunchyroll or wherever I saw it first was trolling me.  But then Anime News Network and others started confirming the news.  It was for real…it is going to happen.  And in truth, most of me still doesn’t believe it is actually happening.  But the articles still continue to pour in.  This is happening, whether I think it’s a good idea or not.

 

#4-Curiosity

Lelouch will be the star and the story will take place years after Zero Requiem?  I had heard theories that Lelouch may have somehow cheated death at the end of Code Geass R2 but there were sketchy theories at best.  Still, even as shocked as I was at the announcement, I did have to wonder for a moment what the story would be, who would be back and how the hell Lelouch will be involved.  I think Kallen, Suzaku and Jeremiah have all been confirmed to return for the sequel.  Will Lelouch and Suzaku be on opposite sides?  What about C.C.?  If she’s not involved does that mean Lelouch and Kallen might have a thing yet to come?  These are random questions but nonetheless they are questions that need answering.

 

#3-But…that ending

Say what you will about the overall quality of the show, but few will dispute that Code Geass has one of the very best conclusions of any Anime.  The power of the final scene with Suzaku slaying Lelouch and Nunally cradling her dying brother, finally understanding his plan is just heartbreaking but incredibly brilliant.  As I said in my closing review of the series this past summer “You felt this one, as bad as the sword piercing Lelouch.  You heard every silent scream, felt every tear shed by Kallen, Suzaku and Nunally.  Really, you couldn’t have asked for a more perfect ending than this scene.  Cap it all off with a fun little montage of peace in full effect and you can write this series off as done and well done.”  So…with that refresher, why tempt fate and try to continue what probably should be left well alone…except maybe for spin offs and compilation movies (they confirmed 3 are coming out as a prepper for the new season).

 

#2-I Must Keep An Open Mind…

No, not because Lelouch Vi Britannia commands me to with his Geass, but because in the end, it is Code Geass.  While it’s not as high as Gundam, Dragon Ball Z and Ghost in the Shell, Code Geass is still one of my all time favorite Anime series and even the bad parts (like the Chinese Federation Arc) are bearable because you know it gets good in a great way.  And if Code Geass R2 could survive that, then even if Lelouch of the Resurrection is terrible 60% of the way, there’s a chance that the remaining 40% will blow me away.  I gotta have faith that this isn’t just a desperate cash grab and that the showrunners have a well thought out continuation in mind…that being said, however…

 

#1-I Have a Bad Feeling About This

This was the very first thought.  All my optimism and speculation I spoke of above came well after this.  You really want to try and top one of the best Anime endings ever?  Much like Blade Runner 2049 coming next year, I’m approaching Code Geass Season 3 with a lot of caution.  This just doesn’t seem like a good idea and the creators will have to throw a hail mary my way in order to convince me that this is the right course for the series to take after all this time.  The last thing I think we all need is another Dragon Ball GT or Madoka Magica 3: Rebellion…a continuation/extended ending so horrific that we all wish they could just be erased from history (and in GT’s case it was erased with the arrival of Dragon Ball Super).  I know a lot of people are excited and I might get there…just not right at this second.

X Part 5 Episodes 21-24

The opening salvo has passed.  The numbers of the Dragons of Heaven and Earth have been withered down little by little.  Allegiances have changed, friends have become enemies, and hearts have been shattered along with their barriers.  Only one remains and that one belongs to Kamui.  At the end of this road to the apocalypse lies Fuma: his childhood friend who slaughtered his own sister, Kotori, along with some of the Dragons of Heaven.  It’s time for destiny to unfold and the long foreseen dream finally happens.  Kamui vs. Fuma, the final battle has begun.

Weve come to the end of X and really, nothings changed about my opinions until now.  Yes, some progress has been made and some characters have come a long way.  Others have gotten lost in the shuffle, never developed, just became plain annoying, or didn’t have anything to do except for one thing in the long run (Nataku).  In the end, going into these four episodes, it was do or die time for the series and it had a lot to deliver upon.

Fun fact: The original X manga, to this day, has no ending.  For whatever reason or another, CLAMP never finished publishing the original story, cutting it off around Vol.18 or so.  No official reason exists as to why though most rumors ive heard are that the series was getting too apocalyptic even for Manga/Anime standards (if those even exist and if so, we all know theyre pretty flexible).  So without an original finale, both the TV series and the movie had to improvise.  SPOILER ALERT: The Movie ends with everyone dying except Kamui in brutal, bloody fashion.  It’s a downer for sure and one of the chief reasons I haven’t sought to rewatch it again.  Even so, it seems to be the more logical direction for things to move in.  X has been a series that’s rarely been kind to any of it’s cast members and the series finale hammered that in for a lot of them.  So why does it seem so lackluster?

Maybe it’s because the stakes never seemed that high after more than half of the DoH survived.  Maybe it’s because I had almost zero emotional attachment to almost all the members of the DoE.  Maybe it’s because the final battle with Kamui and Fuma was the failed prototype for an even better finale in Code Geass.  Ugh, look it just wasn’t a great ending and im going to get into it right now.

Let’s do this by group shall we? Dragons of Heaven, Dragons of Earth, then Kamui:

The DoH actually came out the better from this conflict.  Arashi’s sudden betrayal fit the developments of the story and, as Sorata expected, she was only doing it to protect Sorata.  Losing Sorata in the end though was a big a blow as I expected it would be.  He’s been the heart of the team and the joker in the heat of battle.  He’s a good friend to Kamui and an awesome boyfriend for Arashi.  If it was any death that needed to set things up for the finale, it was the death of Sorata.  At least he died surrounded by the two people most important to him: Arashi and Kamui.  Losing Karen…yeah im not going to pretend to care.  I have to admit, as last minute and forced as it was, Aoki provided a good perspective on the overall conflict, forcing himself to divorce his wife to fight in this secret war.  It’s a shame he wasn’t given more to do besides be someone for Karen to fawn over.  If the series could have done without two characters…well on the side of the DoH, it would be them.

The DoE got freaking butchered in numbers. 

But first a side note.  When I watched Attack on Titan, I was convinced the only reason Eren Jaeger allowed himself to have friends is because he was saving them incase he needed them for food.  Why bring this up? BECAUSE THAT IS ALL NATAKU WAS!!!  After being introduced and then forgotten for most of the show, this enigma reappears…just so Fuma can absorb him after Sorata fries his ass with the last of his power (total F YEAH moment).  That is it, nothing else.  I think Nataku was the only DoE I wasn’t terribly attached to.  Everyone else had substance and story.  Nataku just kept lying his head on Fuma’s lap cause creepiness.  In contrast, the fates of Satsuki and Yuto were pretty sad.  The two always had a fun bond and Yuto got Satsuki to open up in a way no one else could.  Satsuki getting killed by Beast for wanting to save Yuto was an unexpected twist.  We’d known Beast was somehow jealous of Yuto’s closeness but to go so far as to kill the woman who operated him?  Cold blooded indeed.

Before we get to the finale, let’s chat about Hinoto for a second.  Her dark side manefistation story I think could have been fleshed out a bit more.  And part of me wishes she had lashed out against Kanoe and maybe even killed her to show how far she’d fallen (it’s better than Kanoe’s actual fate…which we don’t know cause she just VANISHES WITHOUT A TRACE).  Her own sacrifice did move me a little, which is saying a lot since she’s been a shoddy spokesperson for the team meant to save the world.

Ok, the final episode.  Despite an upgrade in animation, the final fight between Kamui and Fuma was  slow plodding and full of more talking than fighting.  I should’ve expected that since all Fuma has done since joining the dark side is monologue and act like he’s walking on water.  Fuma is one of the lamest villains ive ever seen.  He’s like Aizen from Bleach in that he has all of this power at his grasp, but he never uses it.  He just stands around in his Sith Lord outfit and basically poke out his tongue saying, “HAHA I AM INVINCIBLE”.  Probably my favorite moment with him was when Sorata unleashed the last of his power on Fuma and messed him up badly before he died.  So either all of the DoH have been holding back, or Fuma’s just all bark and no bite. 

And Kamui’s answer to everything?  Well if Code Geass had come along before this ending, I’d be mad.  Cause in a rush to wrap things up, we get Kamui sacrificing himself to erect the last barrier around Tokyo, which saves the world and restores Fuma to his old self.  I guess it’s a better end for him given how far Kamui’s come.  He’s not the spoiled brat from episode one.  He’s made friends and lost them just as he was starting to accept them.  Taking the peaceful sacrifice route makes sense…it just has too many shades of Suzaku as Zero stabbing Lelouch to enact the Zero Requiem.  Is it a better finale than the movie?  Well it does lack that amazing end theme song, “Forever Love”.  But overall, it just feels rushed and tacked on.  Like the showrunners forgot they don’t have a finale to work on (besides the movie) so they needed to act fast and picked an ending out of a grab bag.  It’s just not that great.

So lets look at the final scorecard:

Dragons of Heaven

Members Alive: Arashi, Yuzuriha, Subaru, Aoki

Members Deceased: Kamui, Sorata, Karen

 

Dragons of Earth

Members Alive: Fuma, Kusinagi, Kakyo
Members Deceased: Yuto, Nataku, Satsuki, Seichiro

Winner: DRAGONS OF HEAVEN (Score 4-3)

Honestly, I expected a lot more casualties.  I’m surprised all of the DoE weren’t taken out and if I were to knock off a couple more DoH, it would probably be Aoki and probably Subarau (since he’s been sitting around, lost and forgotten until the absolute last second).  It definitely wasn’t as big and disastrous as it could have been, storytelling wise.  Yeah, it didn’t go the End of Evangelion route.  But this seems like an easy of a happy ending for my taste.

So what’s the final verdict:  X does a lot of things right.  The secret war aspect is great.  The fact that everyday people could be involved is fun too.  I like a lot of the characters and love the developments that many of them go through.  But as ive said a million times, the cast is too big to care about everyone and their screentime could be doled out to others for more character development.  Fuma is a let down of a villain and neither side of the war gives a solid argument as to why to join: The DoE want to destroy the Earth (that’s a no) but the DoH follow a shady Dream Seer (also a no).  It’s not all bad but it isn’t that great either.  At least the movie has stellar animation going for it (and that end theme song).  X is a story with a lot of potential in Anime and if it should resurface again, I hope it’s second chance at life (movie trilogy or TV series) is better than this one.

5.5/10

Next week, we begin the march to the end of 2016 by visiting another war of mages and psychics and sorcerers…only better (I think).  The 2006 TV adaptation of Fate/Stay Night kicks off next Monday.  See ya then.