Typing this from on board a Singapore Airlines 777, on the way to California from Narita. No doubt getting some strange looks from my fellow cattle as to my choice of viewing, but screw them. As always for this last two weeks, apologies for the delay in posting this.
On the whole, I’d have to say that was a pretty stock ending. In fact, it had “anime original” written all over it – and not in a good way. Yumekui Merry was a pretty inconsistent show almost from the beginning, but there was a real sense of drift to these last few episodes. To be honest I’m still not really sure exactly what happened here, except a lot of standard-issue speeches were made. Mistleteen was pretty much kicking everyone’s ass as usual, then Yumeji stood up and repeated John Doe’s mantra – at least they managed in involve him in the ending in spirit, if not in the flesh – and the worm turned. All of a sudden he was GAR, wielding John’s weapon and taking superhuman punishment without losing hit points. Mistleteen swallowed Palette to make it impossible for them to defeat her without zapping Isana’s dreams, but Merry – miraculously having freed herself from the “Bud of Despair” by dint of Yumeji’s belief, freed him through the wound created by Leon’s gun, which had been fired by Kawanami apparently without success. Play made her dream world reappear, Merry sent Palette home and then Play killed Mistleteen before you even knew what was happening. Cut to the cafe, where Asana is wondering what happened to Ijima-sensei and Kawanami has lost all her memories – along with, apparently, her soul from firing Leon’s gun. Mention is make of Merry going home, but nothing is committed to.
Whew – I think that covers it. For such a busy episode, surprisingly little of impact happened. Again, it just feels as if the wellspring of ideas ran dry and the last few eps were improvised. That’s a shame, but not at all uncommon in series that feature ongoing manga. I’ve certainly seen that handled better than this, but this one had the feeling of a show that was expecting a second season. That could certainly happen, as based on the amount of doujins I saw in Akiba and Den-Den Town the show is fairly popular. I think most viewers will leave this one feeling disappointed though, or at least unfulfilled. There wasn’t much closure, for sure, but even more the climactic battle never had much momentum behind it and just sort of fizzled out.
One final note – the kid in the seat opposite me today on the Keisei train headed for Narita was reading a Yumeji Merry light novel, which is an interesting coincidence. So was that last earthquake, but more on that later…
