The final battle for the fate of Japan and its financial security is underway.
What They Say:
The value of yen plummets, and the citizens of Japan enter a total state of panic. With C threatening to wipe out Japan completely, the country’s future relies on the result of a heated clash between Kimimaro and Mikuni in a deal to end all deals.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As the scale of events has skyrocketed with so many sides operating their own agendas, and getting a better look in the previous episode about how other Financial Districts operate, refocusing on Japan is definitely bringing this a whole new feeling. With what we saw in the previous episode as Mikuni forced back the C wave from Japan, only to have to step up things even further with more collateral at the end in order to prevent things going into a meltdown anyway, the entire country is feeling the struggle unfold around them, which is causing quite a panic. With Kimimaro facing down Mikuni to try and find a different path, it’s all ramped up in a very interesting way here for the finale.
The way things have gone has put Mikuni in a difficult position to be sure, especially as he viewed Kimimaro as a potential successor to what he was doing in the new world, only to have to face off against him here and now over the fate of Japan. Each has a very different approach to what needs to be done, and having it play out through their various economic themed attacks is pretty thrilling,e specially as we see how it’s affecting things in the real world as the value of the yen is dropping like a stone, banks are closing up quickly and panic is spreadinf through the streets. What makes it even worse is that stores start to stop accepting the yen at all, which with the black money that’s in circulation out there impacted as well, it just spirals even more out of control. This fight in the Financial District really shines through with the Assets going at each other, and it takes up a significant chunk of the episode at that. It’s pretty intense and the animation really shines throughout it.
The fallout from the events is dealt with in an interesting way as we see the C wave rolling about and the trick used to really manipulate it. There’s some good character material mixed into it dealing with Mikuni and his sister, which of course deals with his Asset as well, and that helps to soften things and personalize it more for him. Similar can be said of Kimimaro with his own Asset and how that unfolds as well, leaving you with a smile, especially with the music that’s associated with it and the dreamlike nature of it all. The direction there is simply spectacular and really shows a passion for creativity that makes you wish there was more of it in the series. It’s had great moments to be sure with it, but this seems to rise up even more.
In Summary:
While the show kind of goes even more metaphysical at the end here, it does all ties things together well and leaves you with a satisfied feeling about the overall experience. There’s part of me that continues to wish for a really dirty, grimy look at how the financial world operates in anime form as there’s a lot of relevancy to it in this era. C touched on that lightly at times, but it wanted to work with a larger story that did flow well and had a lot of great moments to it, making for an engaging eleven episode series with little that felt superfluous. The end result is a beautiful looking show with a few slow moments but a sense of scale taken into an interesting and unusual direction that strikes a chord. It’s a beautiful looking show that really does tell a complete stories and that makes it pretty worthwhile for just that alone. Very highly recommended.
Grade: A-
Simulcast By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
