We were all in Meteora’s story all along!
What They Say:
The Elimination Chamber Festival ends successfully, and everything draws to a close. As the Creations prepare to go back to their own worlds, they spend their last few moments enjoying the real world. On the day of parting, the Creations return to where they each belong, each carrying their own thoughts in their hearts. After sending them off, the Creators begin to create new stories…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
It’s all over, folks. Altair has been vanquished thanks to Sota’s recreation of the late Setsuna Shimazaki, and everyone is happy. The big climax is all resolved, so it’s just epilogue material left to tie up all the loose ends and move everyone onto the futures of their respective lives. There was no real question of how this episode would play out, because that’s not what matters now. We’ve had a series full of plot twists, so now it’s just time to relax and see what note Aoki and Hiroe want to send their creation off on. It’s a fitting one given the messages they’ve driven home about creativity in the past, and it’s heartwarming enough on its own, ignoring the fact that it’s the conclusion of a story that was perhaps too silly for some of its emotional potential to be fully realized. Nevertheless, it’s ultimately a decent enough representation of some of the strengths the series has when the stakes are low and there’s not a whole lot going on in terms of plotline.
At the end of an ambitious original production like this, I feel it’s important to look back on what inspired me to grab it in the first place. Despite my disappointment in Aldnoah.Zero, I decided that this union of notable creative talent for an original story was still worth looking into, and while the premise was almost guaranteed to result in some nonsensical material, it was also intriguing enough that I had to see where these creators would take a story about their own kind and the industry they operate in, with the added bonus of getting to see them create so many different worlds of different genres within a single project. It is very much a show for otaku, but not in the same way as you would usually think of that kind of targeting. It’s a show for otaku less to appeal to the pandering they consume and more to celebrate their love of this kind of entertainment media. And yes, it has some of the other otaku-pandering as well, but not in excess. As the kind of person who does love following this industry, it worked for me on that level, even if the combination of that and strong production values all around wasn’t enough to fully make up for some writing choices that I disagreed with to varying degrees. At the end of the day, I don’t know if these particular talents would’ve been the most interesting bunch to approach such a topic, but I do appreciate their initiative to do so. There are some shows that deserve credit for having some unique elements even if the overall quality doesn’t pan out too well. I think I can at least be sure that I won’t be forgetting Re:Creators anytime soon, even if I don’t run out to go watch it again.
As for where it stands in relation to Aldnoah.Zero, I think it probably got worse faster, but might’ve still ended up slightly stronger if for no reason other than that the ending wasn’t quite as disappointing. It’s unfortunate that this seems to be a trend, because I know Aoki is an excellent director, and I’d love to see him direct an original work at TROYCA that really capitalizes on that.
In Summary:
I made it all the way through Re:Creators, and at the moment I don’t think I regret it. Ask me in another half-hour and perhaps I’ll have a different opinion, but at the very least, it ended on a note that I found satisfying enough to salvage a series with several fairly poor choices of progression.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Anime Strike
Review Equipment:
Roku 3, Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42″ Class LCD HDTV.
