Quote:
Originally Posted by Hiss13
As fun as the build-up was, I feel like it's lacking something.
|
With most conflict-heavy anime shows, people tend to assume that the protagonists will win in the end. Because far more often than not, they do. So that default position is in the back of the viewer's mind.
The trick, though, is to make the antagonists
so threatening, so compelling, that the viewer temporarily forgets that. It's to make the viewers think "Oh wow, how are the protagonists going to overcome
this?!"
This episode made a slight attempt at this with the "Over 20,000?!" bit that I'm sure the writing staff hoped would make us all go like scouter-crushing Vegeta in shock and awe.
But there's two problems...
1. We haven't seen these antagonists
do anything yet, other than be an annoyance and worry to the protagonists. Aritomi talks the talk, but he's never walked the walk. There's nothing of import he's actually accomplished yet to make him seem threatening. Now, I
did briefly get hopeful with all his talk of "Revolution". But then...
2. The episode ends on a decidedly upbeat note, with all the protagonists coming together in a big "Rah! Rah! Rah!" moment. That's a great scene to have a few minutes
into the final episode, but as a cliffhanger before the final episode, it's the complete opposite of what is most effective. A good cliffhanger makes the protagonist situation seem dire. The very term "cliffhanger" originates from the idea of a "Man hanging off a cliff for dear life". But the ending to this episode makes it clear that the
antagonists are the ones in a dire situation.
Combine these two together, and it's just painfully,
painfully obvious that the antagonists are going to get their asses completely handed to them next episode. In fact, they'll be lucky if they don't get embarrassingly curbstomped. I actually feel sorry for Aritomi and his allies, because it's
so obvious that they're going to job harder than Mick Foley in a Hell in the Cell match.
Thinking back on it, I almost have to laugh at how Mikoto stressed how "serious" Aritomi is. It's like she's doing a Winston Churchill impersonation in a desperate attempt to get the audience to take her latest enemy seriously.
Oh well, at least the episode was good on the character development side of things for Mikoto. I'm glad that she did, in fact, provide a means to Kuroko to track her down if necessary.
But yeah, it's time for the entire Esper/Judgment League to deal with that Riddler Aritomi once and for all!
I don't know about you, but I am
pumped to find out how SuperMikoto will manage to overcome this absolutely fearsome foe who's words are so very tricky, and who's plans nobody could possibly figure out.