Finale week continues, as Asobi ni Ikuyo! finished its run at 12 episodes. And what a frantic finale it was.

There were basically two threads hanging as this series wrapped up – the romance thread, and the main plot concerning the crippled Catian ship. Fittingly, the latter was resolved with the same general silliness and indecipherability as the rest of the plot. If you watching this series for that, I can’t think you came away too satisfied – really, all that political and sci-fi stuff was just an excuse for the fanservice, harem and cultural references. Kio led the gang into space in his homemade rocket, donned a plug suit and grew cat ears and a tail, the dogisians were rather violently routed and all ended well as long as you didn’t care about it making sense. Kanpai!

The rest, as ever, was more interesting. The creators chose the harem end for the romantic entanglements – each girl stole a kiss with Kio, though it was unexpectedly bold Aoi who went first. Eris suggested that all three girls become Kio’s lovers and share him – a prospect that the episode did nothing to call into doubt – and Kio was totally clueless to the end, even after hearing Eris make the suggestion. The best line of the episode belonged to Manami, bemoaning the fact that with Kio an otaku, Eris had an unfair advantage due to her nekomimi and huge boobs. Of course, that still left Manami a leg – well, a pair of boobs – up on poor Aoi, who doesn’t need a bra so much as a tube of Clearasil.

Our happy ending? The Catians, now free to befriend the Earth free of doggie interference, give the humans a space elevator as a Christmas present. It’s as good a way as any to bring this series to a close – completely silly and over the top, but full of good feeling.