I can’t remember the last time I got a comment on a Platinum End post.  And in the broader aniverse, it rarely seems get a mention.  Clearly, this is a series that isn’t generating a whole lot of buzz among the English-speaking audience.  A lot of times if I’m on the fence with a show that can be the deciding factor, but this season is so thin on the weekends especially that as long as I’m enjoying it, I may as well cover it.  And I am, more so than I expected to.  I think the anime has a surprising amount of wit and style, and that’s making quite a significant difference.

Thank goodness for Mukaido-san though, that’s for sure.  He’s really the saving grace of Platinum End from a content standpoint – the one character whose story feels grounded and emotionally engaging.  He’s free of the stock teeny-bopper concerns of Saki and Mirai, which we’ve seen a thousand times over in this sort of series.  That business with the wedding dress at the end was really poignant in its way, and that’s not something this series can say too often.

Saki is the main focus here, mainly the question of why she wanted to die in the first place.  And it’s true, we haven’t really covered that.  Turns out at least a part of it is guilt over the way she treated Mirai after his family tragedy happened and he became a social pariah.  I think we know enough about Mirai by now to know he’s not the sort to hold a grudge over something like that, but his approach to resolving the issue – basically putting Saki’s death wish to the test – was uncharacteristically hard-edged for him.  Personally, since these two know they could die at a moment’s notice I think they ought to be sharing a bed for the obvious reason and live as much as they can, but I guess this counts as progress.

Saki’s desire for wings takes the story in an interesting direction, with Baret offering a number of paths (one of them waiting for Mukaido to run out of time), none of which Saki finds appealing.  But Revel (it amuses me that he gets a modesty feather but the girls don’t (offers up an interesting alternative – getting himself to first (or even special) rank.  Most of the best comic moments in Platinum End come from Revel and Nasse, so any subplots that get the two of them in focus are OK in my book.