A decent yet unexciting finale.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara
Translation: Satsuki Yamashita
What They Say
Teito desperately searches for a way to drag both himself and Frau out of the psychological trap of Verloren’s scythe for a final confrontation with the villainous death god. When the moment comes, will Teito sacrifice himself to save the world he loves?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
In Frau’s flashback, things continue to go to hell as the people around him die bloody deaths. Finally, as he’s swallowed up in despair, he takes hold of the scythe and starts to lose hope. However, Teito then reaches out to his friend, rescuing him from that pain and bringing him back to the present, where Frau is finally able to let go of the past. Following this, we get a look at Verloren’s tragic past one last time.
With all of that out of the way, Ayanami pushes Teito aside and claims the throne, fully reviving as Verloren. Before anything else can occur, though, his lover Eve appears in the palm of his hand, revealing that she spread herself across humanity when they fell. With this, we get yet another flashback, this time to Ayanami’s past as Krowell. Finally, the death god comes to peace and is slain, but not before Teito attempts to rescue his one last living relative.
Now that the end has come, will Teito still complete his journey? And with the passing of Verloren, what will happen to the Ghosts?
Also included at the end of the volume is a pilot chapter which is in many ways familiar, but with a few interesting tweaks.
In Summary
With this volume, the series finally comes to a close. And unfortunately, it’s one that’s just about serviceable, but not really exceptional. Once more, we’re given a ton of flashbacks, and yet they’re mostly things that have already been discussed, just a tad more fleshed out. And though there are a handful of nice scenes, the action here is surprisingly low and doesn’t really tie into the conclusion much. Most of all, it just feels like a shame that the series never was able to meaningfully bring things together, even here at the end. This ending certainly functions and even has some nice enough emotional beats, but it would’ve been great to see all the varied and scattered bits and pieces that have made up the series come together. Looking at what we’ve got though, the series ended on a decent enough note, albeit one that’s still plenty convoluted while also very predictable.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: July 14th, 2015
MSRP: $9.99