Winter 2013 – Week 9 Anime Review

This week: thoughts on why the antagonists of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure are so brilliant, why the arrival of Juju has significantly improved Sasami-san@Ganbaranai, rationalizing that the Dark Faction in Senran Kagura is more kindhearted than the good guys, and the balanced use of success and failure in Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo.

Summer 2012 – Week 11 Anime Review

This The previous week: the wonderful minimalistic approach to romance in Hyouka, calling into question the usefulness of the secret treasures in Sengoku Collection, wondering about the difference between split and continuously running anime with Rinne no Lagrange, and easily my favorite scene in Sword Art Online.

Winter 2012 – Week 3 Anime Review

This week: Yukiteru’s faces in Mirai Nikki, problems with the horror in Another, and interesting background characters in Persona 4 and Mouretsu Pirates.

Steins;Gate – 24 (Finale)

Whenever the finale to an anime approaches, your mind begins creating various fantasies of how you imagine the ending.  Taking every possibility into account, there are always those normal ones where everything goes right and it ends on a high and happy note, and then there are those depressing ones where nothing seems to go right and it ends in regret and sorrow.  There are those bittersweet ones twisting love and sacrifice together, and those random, unexpected ones that nobody saw coming.  Then, after all that, the finale comes and you see which one, if any, is correct.  As good as it may feel to call the ‘correct’ ending, it’s much more satisfying to get the ending you desire.  And that’s exactly how Steins;Gate ended.

Steins;Gate – 21

The juicy information revealed in this episode is that Mayuri has seemingly existed through, or retains memories, of all the D-mails and time leaps that Okabe has carried out thus far.  If that is true, then Mayuri and Okabe are well aware of every event and every death that has happened thus far.  You can’t help but feel bad for Mayuri after witnessing all that’s happened.  But it’s not for the multiple deaths she’s had to bear.  No, seeing Okabe and her grow more distant over the entire season is truly the most difficult and depressing thing she’s gone through.

Steins;Gate – 20

Imagine for a moment that Kurisu, not Okabe, is the person adventuring through time to save Mayuri (or Okabe or whatever you desire) and restore order to this time-travel chaos.  Totally awesome, I know, but you have to wonder how different the entire series would have been if we were following Kurisu’s struggles rather than Okabe’s.

Steins;Gate – 19

It shouldn’t be surprising to see Okabe do everything possible in order to save Mayuri.  But when he needs to save Mayuri’s murderer, too, then things become a little complicated.  And add in the possibility of them working together, even though Okabe will never forgive Moeka for what she did in alternative timelines, to find out who FB is just makes things even more complex.  Never a dull moment in Steins;Gate, that’s for sure.