[Guido]

At last, I concluded the last episode to Shion no Ou.

I agree that the animation fell abysmally throughout the course of the episode but watching Shion duking it out against Hani as their confrontation peaked towards the climax made the story engaging and gripping.

Even the soundtrack was resounding and climaxing with the pace and the compass of the match.

Spoiler:

Hani is a sad and pitiful person, as described by Shion.

He killed Shions' parents to make her lonely and miserable in order for her to stay focused at earning strength in shougi.

But what Hani did not expect was that another variable greatly influenced Shion's outlook on shougi, and that was the love of her foster family and her friends that made her strong.

What I see through it is that Hani views shougi as the mean to aim for higher places. Meanwhile, Shion views her dreams as the mean to aim higher in shougi.

The conclusion was somewhat clichéd, but I sobbed in near tears when Shion gathered all her efforts and lastly broke the nine-years silence and countered Hanis' words.
Still, I feel awkward about Hanis' last words to Shion at the end of the series. Because analyzing things through Hani, indeed, left a part of his mark on Shion, and no matter how hard she tries to rubs it off, a few bits of the stain never will go away.

What Shion can do is walk her shougi-do (Path of Shougi) and becoming the next Mei-jin, because she loves shougi and wants to enjoy every match as much.