[Qilin]

The first half of the episode was great. The three-way action between Makishima, Kougami, and Makishima was engrossing with much thanks to the piano playing in the background. The conclusion the entire chase with Kougami shooting Makishima was just as wonderful. The sight of them running across the fields really gave the sense of how utterly lonely both of them were. I would even hard a guess and say that Makishima was truly happy as he drew his last breath.

Now, as for the ending, I don't think it could have ended in other way while retaining its credibility as a social commentary. It might have been awkwardly handled, but it had the right pieces. In the same way that the frog at the bottom of the well was happy, I don't think the general populace was all too discontent with how Sybil did its job, minus a few outliers. As sad as it is to admit, the society is nearly completely dependent on Sybil to function in its current state. Akane understood that, and I'd appraise her highly for it. I admit that the impression that nearly nothing changed struck me as a bit off, but in the first place, Akane never struck me as a catalyst for drastic social change. If anything, she's more of an individual that works within the system to do as much as she can to help the people within her reach. Never mind that the law is flawed or that her superiors are corrupt. The best she can do is to do her job well, and hope that something changes because of it. In terms of D&D alignments, she's more of a Neutral Good to me than a Lawful Good.

On the whole, I'd agree with KiraraKim's assessment that the ending ends up feeling wishy-washy with what its trying to say. On one hand, you have Akane boldly proclaiming Sybil's imminent doom. On the other, you have that ending scene that's nearly exactly the same as how the whole thing began. Perhaps Gen wanted to highlight how different she was from Ginoza, but it's still too vague to actually look like an actual glimmer of hope. I'm all for a second season if one does come out.