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Senior Member
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So! Last episode... what a ride it has been. Warning, this is going to be long.  (I'm tempted to use the tl;dr tag...)
The OK, the good and the great, in no particular order...
Spoiler for YESSS:
They didn't drag and overdramatize the end of the akki arc! In a way it's a pity because we didn't see Satoru stopping and then reversing the wind, and they could've spared a last dramatic shot of Kiroumaru (HE WAS SO COOL ;__; ), but otherwise they got to the point, got it over with, and went on to the aftermath. Congrats! (Though it wasn't perfect as I'll detail in the "grumbling" section. xD;; ) I still think this should've been the end of ep 24 so the last episode can deal with Squealer and everything else, but unlike the opener of episode 24, this one here actually worked, so in the end all is well.
And they had Satoru remember Shun! I'd been resigned to never see it happen, so I was so glad they left it in.
Also - she remembered Mamoru, too! Look Mamoru, you're not quite forgotten!
Squealer, Squealer, Squealer. I knew it was coming, but his "We're humans!" line was really a punch in the gut. He got to tell his side of the story, his motivation, and they did a good job on the scene of Saki mercy-killing him, too. It was a good closure. Also, Namikawa Daisuke. He slipped into his normal voice a couple of times during the trial - but even that wasn't distracting (I mean, if Kiroumaru could have Hirata's "cool" voice).
The way he ended up is not really the image I had from the book, but it looked painful enough so whatever. Also, I wish that while talking to the lump of flesh that was once Squealer, Saki had said, like in the book, that "at that time you betrayed us." It's not hugely important, and the meaning of what she says is the same, but "betrayal" is a heavy word and so I think it would've added more weight to the scene. Oh well.
The bakenezumi revelation was also done very well, and YES, they they didn't ignore Satoru! I'm glad they kept the build-up, as Saki goes through all the puzzling info she found and the etymology, while showing Satoru debating in himself whether to tell her the truth or not. (And they showed the naked mole rat queen's name! Salami and hams...) And Satoru's boots. Where can I buy them?
And they even managed to fit in info about what happened to Saki's parents and the temple (though if they were going to mention this it would've been nice to mention it earlier, when they were at the temple, what kind of ritual they were conducting...). They could've spared some words about what happened after the tides turned, though, because this way at least one question stays open for non-readers.
Anyway.
Timeskip, wedding(!!! - I never expected that, not even in my wildest dreams), KITTIES!!! Satoru with the kitten, cuddling, I won't even try to pretend, THIS WHOLE PART WAS AWESOME.
And just when I thought "hey, they didn't mention that Saki was now head of the Ethics Committee!" I realized...
;____; I pretty much started blubbering here, thank heaven there came the kittens to soothe my soul. Kittens make everything better, even if they're mutant kitties in high heels. (Really, Satoru should've done something about the high heels... or perhaps he also likes how adorably grotesque they look.)
I also liked the other visual hints, such as the list of villages in Saki's office.
And I'm very happy that they included this:
It would've been corny if Saki actually said it, but showing it like that is just right.
And thank heavens, they didn't play the ending song - they ended with Dvorák, as they should.
Except, of course, I'll never be able to listen to that music again without crying.
The grumbling, or rather, stuff I just don't get...
Spoiler for the "akki":
So they did change his gender.  But why... just to rub the whole Maria thing in even more? Really? So far they have been leaning toward "corny" and "anvilicious" with the kid, and knowing that they turned him into a her just tips the balance over. Not to mention, the fact that the kid was a boy also contributed to everyone just accepting that he was an akki, given that the overwhelming majority of akki were boys. If it was a girl chances are people would've started noticing the unusual patterns much earlier...
Ultimately it's not hugely relevant but it rubs me the wrong way. At least they didn't have Hanazawa Kana voice her...
Spoiler for the usual:
I DON'T GET IT. *tears hair out* They do the last time skip. They show Satoru and Saki being married, hell, they even show a wedding, which was adorable by the way. (Seriously, aaawwwwwwww.) They show her pregnant. They make a tiny original scene of them cuddling, which was also adorable. (Aaaaaaawww.)
But for some unfathomable reason they still cut Satoru hugging Saki after the kid dies - and it was even worse because they shuffled scene order and had Satoru remember Shun there, with Saki giving him that very emotional look (it was really beautiful, by the way). It was such an emotional scene, for both characters - except it ended with Saki overcome with grief and Satoru just standing there as if he didn't know what to do. What the everloving expletive??
I just don't get it. If they were willing to do the marriage/baby thing complete with cuddling, why the hell have they downplayed their bond throughout the adult arc, to the point of avoiding showing them hold hands in a completely platonic way? What on earth were they getting at? I'd love to hear the writer's/director's comments on this, but of course this is something nobody would ever ask them.
Oh well - in the end the characters are where they should be.
Spoiler for Shun and the last part:
As I thought, they didn't mention Shun disappearing from Saki's mind after the akki incident. Do they want people to think she will have Obi-Wan Shun inside her for the rest of her life...? The entire point of Saki (and Satoru) remembering Shun was, aside of plot reasonsm that this way she can finally deal with his death, lay him to rest, and move on without his memory weighing her down - and also to give closure to Shun himself. Maybe with everything that happened in this episode this is supposed to be a given, but it wouldn't surprise me if non-readers thought Shun was still there.
And they really could've used some better lines in that last flashback (well, with the exception of Maria I guess). I understand what they were trying to do, but... well, I could get sarcastic but let's just say that they didn't work on me. Especially Shun's. My guess is that this line supposed to be the continuation of the scene from episode 1/the preface of the book, that ends with little Saki standing next to Shun watching the minoshiro - it was late so at one point they must've decided to go home, and that's when Shun said this, but... should we end the story with the last spoken line being something so obscure? o__o) (FWIW he didn't say this in the book either.) I get it that they wanted to reference her childhood happiness, and particularly that one time with Shun (she refers it in the preface of the book as her last memory of a flawless world, or something along those lines) but I think they should've chosen or written lines that flow better with the context. Oh well... the flashbacks themselves were a very nice touch so I'm not complaining much, but still.
About the overall tone of the episode...
Spoiler for novel comparison, I guess:
As for the information and Saki's thoughts that didn't make it into the episode... well, it's obvious that they wanted to end this on a positive note. The end of the book is... well, I wouldn't say "dark" or "bleak" per se, but it definitely leans toward "pretty unsettling" despite the glimmer of hope. It's not supposed to make you feel good or satisfied, quite the opposite. But to be entirely honest - I'm kind of glad that the anime didn't go there, even if this perhaps leaves a few open questions. I'm glad they decided to keep things hopeful and positive, albeit with reminders that humanity's "fight" with itself is not over at all. (The kittens, the reports on akki and gouma that Saki was reading, and the "can we change?" "well, yeah - we pretty much have to" exchange)
Anyway...
Before the subs come out and the thread eventually descends into chaos XD;; I'd just like to say that as much as I groused about some changes in the last arc, I think this was, hands down, one the strongest anime I've ever seen, even with its flaws. It's quite unlike anything I've seen before - sure, much of that is due to the source material. But there's also:
- the visuals - sure, it was made on a very tight budget but even so there are some striking visuals in this show (quite a number of them in this last episode), and there was of course the first ending sequence that was simply awesome. There were also some nice camera angles, visual ideas, etc.
- the designs - I've heard people hating on the character designs, but I think they worked well, and the character designer should get into fashion stat.
And I really loved how they designed the various creatures in the world - the minoshiro, the fujouneko, etc.
- the music - everyone loves that haunting bgm that plays during key scenes, but the rest is pretty nice, too - not flashy, but it does what a BGM needs to do. The first ending, Wareta ringo that was simply awesome. (Let's just forget about the second ED.)
- the seiyuu - the voice acting was brilliant. Namikawa Daisuke is the star here, sure, but Taneda Risa, Kaji Yuuki, and the rest of the cast also did a fantastic job. (This fall/winter season seems to have the theme of "voice actors doing something I wouldn't have expected them to be good at" - Namikawa Daisuke as Squealer, Fukuyama Jun as Marian in Ixion Saga, and Suwabe Junichi as Inaba in Cuticle Detective Inaba.)
All in all, I'm happy that I met this anime. I'm glad the sponsors were willing to invest money in this, even though they must have known that it wouldn't be much of a success (or at all, as the case might be), and that despite everything the production team seemed to do their best at all times in spite of the budget, the time and the difficult to adapt source material. In the end, Shinsekai yori had flaws, including questionable writing/directorial decisions, but it was a powerful show, and it will stay with me for a long time.
Oh! and one more thing.
I'd like to take the opportunity to give a shout-out to the person who, during all these months, faithfully kept copying my Shinsekai yori posts and posting them as their own at the MAL forums. Hi, plagiarist! ^o^)/
Last edited by kuromitsu; 2013-03-23 at 06:28.
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