I’m finding Platinum End a little more entertaining than I expected going in, but in hindsight it really isn’t that surprising.  The sour taste the manga left in my mouth probably colored my view of the entire series, but if I’m honest the first dozen or so chapters were really quite a lark.  With the talent of Ashirogi Muto behind it that’s hardly a shock, and the fact is, the anime is rather good.  It has a solid and very experienced staff, and whatever there is to get out of this material, it seems likely this adaptation will find it.  As I’ve noted a couple of times already, I do expect the anime to be better than the manga.

The proof in the pudding will be what the anime does when it reaches the point where the manga really veered into highly questionable territory – while I expect some tweaks I can’t imagine it’ll totally fix all that – but we can worry about that later.  For now we’re getting a highly enjoyable piece of pulp, with a good deal of wit and the expected terrific performance by Miyu Irino.  If it’s reminiscent of the Mirai Nikki experience, well, we could do worse – that series is a hell of a lot of fun, especially if you take it as the Evangelion reimagining that it is.

I’m not especially thrilled by the casting of the eponymous Hanae Natsuki as Revel, not just because he’s in everything these days and always delivers the same performance, but also because Revel is probably my favorite character in the series.  He’s a hoot – the smartest angel in the room but totally unaware of his trip wires (such as overthinking absolutely everything).  He’s connected to Mirai’s childhood sweetheart Saki (the one he chose this school in order to follow), and once he gets the lay of the land he immediately has Saki shoot Mirai with a red arrow (the only kind she has).

There are a number of twists here.  Of course Mirai is in love with Saki anyway, but the arrow finally gets him to admit it (which he considers a positive).  Nevertheless it does have its intended impact – fortunately Revel isn’t looking to eliminate a rival here.  Rather, he sees Mirai as a useful tool for protecting his client, because Revel himself isn’t special rank and doesn’t have white arrows or wings to give Saki.  He wants Mirai to share his wings with Saki, and move in to boot – which Mirai is only too willing to do.

Revel also shares his disdain for Metropoliman, which clues us in that – if Revel is being honest, anyway – not every God candidate is on-board with this whole eliminate the competition vibe.  As with Mirai Nikki there are natural – albeit likely temporary – alliances to be formed among the group, and Saki and Mirai is an obvious one.  Revel and Nasse have some knowledge of each other too, almost a sibling-like relationship.  But Metropoliman grows bored with waiting for the other candidates to rise to his baiting, so he offers a temptation he’s hoping the others can’t resist – a meeting at the open-air Jinbo (Jingu of course) Stadium, where they’d seemingly have every advantage possible.

The temptation proves too much for Mirai, who’s desperate for a first-hand look at this threat and confident in his own ability to lay low.  Not everyone shares that intent, though, and a confrontation begins soon after Metropoliman lands on the pitcher’s mound.  Obviously this is where things really start to ramp up plot-wise, but we’re still on what I’d consider pretty safe ground.  For a while, at least, Platinum End should continue to provide some solid escapist entertainment.