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Old 2013-03-26, 20:05   Link #220
Triple_R
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Age: 42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cyth View Post
You honestly forgot how ruthlessly she negotiated for Kougami not to get disposed of if she brought Makishima in alive?
Of course I didn't. But that just helped Kougami personally... In fact, it arguably didn't even do that, as Akane never once fired directly at Kougami with any sort of shot.

Ultimately, here's my biggest issue with this ending summed up in a nutshell - Akane should have received some "victory" here. Something concrete. Something that lends some semblance of credibility to her words and her position. Something that validates all of the wonderful character development she had going into this episode.

But what do we get instead?


She completely fails her mission. Kougami kills Makishima, and gets away. Total failure, from both her perspective and Sibyl's. So much for what she negotiated from Sibyl, as it never became a factor anyway.

Later Akane gets into a brief war of words with Sibyl. Frankly, Sibyl's argument sounded stronger to me. Sibyl's position is that through studying Akane, and slowly breaking down her anti-Sybil feelings, Sybil will better learn how to win over the general populace of Sybil Japan itself. That makes sense to me. It's not a bad idea or a bad plan on Sybil's part.

Akane's counter-argument is total Dreamer stuff, which is fine if you're giving a Rah-Rah speech to an army before a big battle or to some protest movement before a big march, but isn't terribly good as a lone individual trying to "speak truth to power", as they say. For Akane's argument to feel like a worthy antithesis to Sybil's, I think that we needed to see something concrete that added credibility to it. Something that affects more than just one guy that happens to be close to Akane.


Just this little added bit would have done a world of good for the ending...

"If you really want to win me over, then there's a suggestion I'd like to make." Akane says, while raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, and what is that?" asks Sybil.

"Our society would improve if the treatment of latent criminals improved. It would increase the likelihood of them successfully rehabilitating back into normal society, which would in turn bring a greater sense of hope and productivity to Japan. Clearly, locking everybody up in solitary confinement hasn't been terribly productive here. May I suggest we allow latent criminals more mobility and freedom within the facilities that house them? If we want them to psychologically recover then letting them socialize with others like them might not be a bad idea."

"Very well." responds Sybil, "We'll take it under consideration."

And then, in the Final credits, we see a scene of latent criminals walking freely in the halls of that facility that Yayoi was housed in, making it clear that Sybil ultimately agreed to Akane's request.


Just this little added bit would have totally changed my take on this ending. In fact, I might have even considered it a perfect ending then.
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