HUGE SPOILER BASED COMMENT. DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS
I watched all of Saikano today. You know, I watched this on the premise thinking that it was a happy show. Sure, I thought there would be casualties here and there, but the ending would be ultimately
. However, like 7th said, welcome to living hell. It got pretty depressing, and I was aching all over but after some thought I've found resolution for myself.
First, the anime was of rather mediocre animation quality, etc, and if people are looking to find a science fiction story, look somewhere else. Although it's about Chise, the ultimate weapon, the emphasis of Saikano is NOT on the weapon/technology part of it. It's merely *the* major plot device upon which Chise and Shuuji's relationship is built upon, and that relationship is the true core of the anime. Side stories and all are pretty dramatic and significant, but nothing matters more than their relationship; so don't go around poking for plot holes because very little is full and complete. For example, we don't even know why Chise was chosen for such a task, or how it could be that some part broke and she can't go back to being a normal human being. Nothing is given away about the enemy except that they speak American English.
If you watch this, you're investing your time in the love story and see how a relationship is torn by war, separation and change.
In all honesty, I loved the emotional intensity of the show (I kind of feel like Genshiken's Saki.. loving the torture and pain)... but the whole anime itself is pretty ridiculous. Like some previous poster mentioned, it was quite pretentious, and things just felt unnaturally skewered to produce more pain. Character interaction and behaviour *might* be quite realistic, but trust me, the situation and plot progress isn't. It just feels so falsely doomed that I felt so cheated. In the middle, I also greatly dislike all the "mini-affairs" going on; not that I feel that thing like these don't happen, but that they're so deliberate and contrived. I don't know, it might also be my intuitive reaction to it; I am HIGHLY sensitive to stuff like someone cheating on another. But apart from that, I also just felt.. emotionally manipulated. I don't know, I just didn't feel too much from it, and again felt quite cheated from feeling sad and hurt from all that activity going on.
As a whole, is this a good anime? From the first few episodes, I thought it was going great... and I even considered collecting it. But after finishing it, this is just going to go into the "Grave of the Fireflies" corner. In other words, into the "stuff-I-keep-but-will-never-watch-again-unless..." corner. It doesn't have any fabulous lessons or masterful aspect such that it deserves repeated viewings, but there were some really intense emotional segments that makes it memorable. I'm probably not going to lay awake tonight and feel troubled about it; and that's not a good sign despite all that drama (and melodrama). I was frustrated over KGNE, had an anxiety attack because of EVA, and have been kept up and thinking by many great shows, but this isn't going to. I liked it, but... beh. It's a complex feeling.
And lastly, the ending was just... strange. Only Shuuji left? How long will he last? Without food and water, probably a few days.
But of course again, that ISN'T the point of the ending.. what the ending sought out to illustrate was the fact that physical and emotional boundaries could be transcended, that although love wasn't enough to save Chise from her cyborg impulses, it's strong enough to keep them together even if one has no physical form. That power of love is further shown when she (Glowing Chisei Soul Ball
) is "absorbed" into Shuuji, and "there's so much of her in him". He loves her so much that he remembers enough of her to have her construct a perfect physical mirage of her body.
Now, let me describe how PERVERSE I thought this ending initially was, because you see Shuuji actually doing the physical actions (in the dark background) as if he was talking to himself. It's like, pretty eerie that he's living like that with a soul ball.. You might interpret it as romantic, and I do too, but it's also quite freaky. This reminds me of Chobits (SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), where the main character accepts that Chii is after all, just a complex program able to simulate the *appearance* of emotions. He says, "Chii is alive, and she lives in me. It's in my heart that she truly exists." (translated from Chinese Manga) THAT, my friends, is quite scary as well; it's like a person being so obsessed with a lifeless blowup doll that he loves it, and the doll "lives in him", except in this case Chii is a complex program that's able to give a lifelike impression of being a real person... Oh yeah, what makes it worse is that unlike the blowup doll, he can't make love to Chii. So that was why I thought Saikano's ending was pretty perverse; with Shuuji and Chise living in a recreated mirage, and Shuuji being actually alone in physical reality. I also wonder whether Chise can change and grow in Shuuji's "world", or whether in his world they are infinitely trapped and doomed to replay only the scenes they have spent together. Don't even get me started on the philosophical impossibilities of this, but I think that may be what the creators of the show intended.
On the other hand, after some thought, I thought the ending was.. well.. pretty happy. If you stopped watching after ep 10, then it would be strange, because it was TOO perfect. All their troubles just go away and are solved in an INSTANT, without any resolution.. (KGNE SPOILER NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) A similar comparison can be made to the KGNE game, where if you choose Haruka, everything just magically gels together and is like a fairy tale. In other words, it's an ending for escapists. So I preferred it that it went on...
When Chise first reappeared in ep13, I thought it was a clone of her or something. When her arm broke off I was like "oh for sure she's just a doll" (which would have made it even MORE scary if this doll and Shuuji got together), but I breathed a sign of relief after all that "revival from emotional suppression" plot thingy.
Well.. in the end, despite all the shit both of them went through, they're still truly together, and isn't that what matters? I disliked most of the development in between (with all those mini-affairs as I previously mentioned), but I think I have found some measure of peace in the ending. The destruction of the world could not have been stopped, but Chise did all she could to save Shuuji. And they loved each other truly to the very end, he loved her when she was a machine and of an abnormal physical state (that tower which he hugged onto and cried), and he still loves her when she is WITHOUT a physical state. Chise's essence still exists, and is truly Chise. I was initially afraid that the "soul ball" was just a leftover memory of Chise that.. was basically just memory and couldn't grow or have new experiences. But apparently it is her true soul, so that's okay.
So now the couple are truly together; and although they live in a physical mirage, they can see each other, they can touch each other (I have no idea about sensation), and they can be with each other... forever. All the other stuff about bearing the sins of humanity and all that.. those are really unimportant (and they feel like just a poorly served sidethought). What's real is that they're together.
Anyway, I wrote all these to help understand my thoughts. Just a last side thought after briefing through ep13.. the planet doesn't even exist, so Shuuji's physical form must be residing in some.. unreal physical dimension where he doesn't need sustenance like food and water. My guess is that he'll still age and die, but I wonder how things will play out in his soul. I'm also not looking forward to the OVAs much; because there couldn't be any continuation to the story. Filling in the middle would also be just painful for me.
//edit// Ooh. I just realised that in ep13, those spikes hanging from the skies ARE Chise, and that the girl-looking-Chise was something she created out of herself. Hmm. Pretty interesting.
So those are my thoughts for Saikano. It's a happy, wretched ending.