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| The panty episode and the hollywood ones were really good, rest was kind of meh. Arumi is kind of waifu material, but I'll pass. |
 That's some signature, eh? |
| Not only was that ending weird, it pretty much went against the main theme of the anime--living in the real world. |
| Watched this series again... it's been a good while. Should've released that OVA by now, wrap it up nicely. |
Please learn about cel animation and its technical process. Learn how special effects and backlighting were done without computers. |
| eh? why does everyone hate this ending? I liked it. The whole point of the show is a coming-of-age story for Sasshi. Plus, he confessed so I don't see any issues. Sure everything is happily ever after, but this isn't supposed to be some grimdark story, it's a fun lighthearted comedy. It's probably one of the nicest endings Gainax ever gave to a show, honestly. |
| duuuuuuuude wtf happened who the fuck is yasuchika mang |
| This ending was terrible, it goes against the entire premise of the show. The writers could have made something cerebral and poignant. Big let down. |
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| I really thought I had misjudged the show towards the end there with the dad telling them to accept reality and Arumi talking about her dreams. I had hope for the show, but it started to shit itself around the end there and left nothing but a huge disappointment. Was going to be a 6 or 5 out of 10, but after that ending, I’m giving it a 4/10 |
| Fantastic show. The ending left me hungry though. If you want things done properly, do them yourself right? So Sashi who, by the way, is a legendary onmyouji SURPRISE! , makes his own reality where his friend and him can be happy. I get it. Losing someone like that is painful but I thought Arumi had matured the most out of both of them and was ready to face grandpa's death. But Sashi who felt useless after being treated like a baby by the adults, decided to overlook that and just straight up give them a happy ending. So are they living in reality or not? Is the adult onmyouji Sashi awake in there? Will he remember everything they went through? Does he feel guilty about his decision? Does his father know what he did? Will Arumi ever know? I still laughed my ass off at this series and I was in awe by the creativity in every episode! I'll give it an 8, I didn't have high hopes for the ending anyway. |
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| I still can't believe this kid gets turned on by his young grandma's body. I thought the idea teased in that flashback episode, about feeling apart from the world, was really interesting and wanted to see that tied in to the Oni stuff a little bit more, if that was a legitimate connection to make or that was just me. I thought the ending felt weak, but it wasn't for any story reason. |
syncrogazerApr 13, 2018 6:45 AM
| I'm honestly quite baffled that most seem to take this ending as an asspull deus ex machina that somehow ruins the show. I would interpret it in a different way. At the last minute, Sasshi is still throwing a tantrum about wanting adult powers and making Arumi happy. He did not grow up and accept that he's powerless. The super happy face seeing Masa-jii alive (which doesn't make sense if that were a new reality with changed past), him saying Arumi's quote, Mune-mune making appearance and finally the preview after a final epiosde (that fact is emphasized and questioned, so it's not really a preview of a cancelled episode or anything like that) leads me to believe it's yet another of Sasshi's dream worlds and he's still running away refusing to face reality. He just did not grow up yet. It's not his time. I think there's enough evidence to support this (otherwise multiple things don't make sense, especially the preview) and with Gainax making multiple shows where the kid grows up and accepts the world before, a change like that is something nice. The stupidly convenient changes to every problem (masabou's death, arumi moving out, abeno being demolished, Mune's regret) are exactly what a grade schooler Sasshi would come up with. It's what HE wanted, not the creators asspulling a happy ending. More of an open ending, where he created a more realistic world, not a total child-fantasy, but ultimately still a dream. Another step of his way to adulthood. Will he grow up for real? I don't buy the 'lazy writing' bullshit one bit. All the writing was already done. Making the ending you all wanted (the more obvious one, considering past creations) wouldn't be any harder. The idea that they somehow 'copped out' after laying all the necessary to put in an 'everyone is happy alive and together' is too stupid to believe, especially considering the studio's past. |
ImaishiOct 16, 2018 11:19 AM
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| Another show where comedy fails to entertain. It wound up being confusing and hard to follow. |
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| Mostly okay with a few standout moments. Probably one of the more disappointing ginax anime imo. |
| Not hard to appreciate many of the elements of the show, but can't help finding the bigger picture underwhelming. I also can see what they've might tried with the ending, and leaving aside the rather ridiculous explanation of his powers, Sasshi completely denying Arumi's ambitions didn't really click either. |
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| It was a good ending, and it was not a happy one. No idea how people interpret it as such. This was never about the outcome, but about the coping to begin with! But that clearly goes over peoples heads in this discussion. |
| yep what a shit ending indeed they did not return to their original timeline at all despite the story trying to say to face your reality but the many worlds interpretation is brought up on previous episodes and Mune(?) is holding to that power of belief to be with Abe/Eutus again and she even taught Sasshi about that power of belief stuff so maybe the other message is that the power of belief can override reality like how Sasshi completely jump to a new timeline where everyone is happy instead one of the main theme also is changing fate or destiny (or karmic cycle or simply changing reality) anyway so ye Sasshi with his power change their fate or destiny or reality "reality is often disappointing but with great power then reality can be whatever i want it to be" - Thanos Steins;Gate did the same thing lol but we are still disappointed about this gainax show since ye the message to face reality is a great moral lesson for (young) people like the main characters the animation quality is so bad too except for the Imaishi episodes 3 and 12 but digital animation is still in its infancy during those early year 2000 so thats why the animation quality is bad |
| One shot during Sasshi's talk with his dad reminded me of the divergence meter from S;G (which came later than Abenobashi of course) Daigoro ended up in the sketch scene Abe no Yasuchika is considered a descendant of Abe no Seimei btw. So Sasshi's powers became "real" I guess. After all, Eutus *did* have an impact on reality. For all Sasshi's complaining, he did a preview after all...in the background (for ep. 12) So the theme of this Gainax ending is running away from reality....successfully! Now that's unexpected. Did Sasshi manage to create an actual new world? Or was it just another illusion? Why was everyone acting normally then? And did Arumi's memories of their adventures, as well as Masayuki's death, disappear? Anyway, very enjoyable show, one of the best parodies I've seen. By the way, this ep. was storyboarded by Anno. Which is kinda ironic because it subverts the message Anno tries to convey to otaku - "accept reality". In other words, Sasshi has taken them to yet another fantasy world. This is one so well-crafted that it appears to be the real world (courtesy of his adult powers), but it is a false reality that completely fulfills all of Sasshi's wishes. Throughout the anime, he has continually rejected Masayohi's death, Arumi's move, Abenobashi's demise, and Mune's lifelong regret. These have all been resolved in simplistic, not-quite-likely ways - ways a child would dream up. Finally a sensible comment amongst all hateposting. Though I also think the idea of Sasshi creating a *real* world is plausible. In any case he's still running away..and if he succeeded in creating a new world, that's fine. This world fulfills everyone's dreams, including Arumi's ones. By the way, did everyone just forget the words of Eutus from ep. 9? Sasshi was supposed to be able to fulfill Arumi's dreams after 20 years of training - well, he grew up with the help of Eutus and changed the world for Arumi. Everything was foreshadowed, people. "You just have to believe", as Mune-Mune would say. The meaning of the preview is also interesting. Does it imply that the events from ep. 1 (Masa falling) will happen anyway? I guess it's open to interpretation. Still, I appreciate how Arumi realized everything. Maybe it's been like that from the very beginning. P.S. Turns out Mune-Mune's name literally means "breasts" xD Btw, was she aware of...everything all along? Was she influenced by Sasshi's worlds to act in specific ways but with the same general goal? Also I wish I knew the song that was playing during her dialogue with Sasshi. P.P.S. I'm actually surprised there was no Daicon reference in the show. Someone like Sayaka or Mune-Mune were perfect candidates for this. P.P.P.S. Mune-Mune being Sasshi's "little sister" in ep. 4 is hilarious given their actual relationship. |
St0rmbladeNov 25, 2020 1:27 PM
| I was in the ending-hating bandwagon until I read this thread. I still think that an Satoshi accepting his reality would have been better, but the current ending also carries a deep meaning. |
eld10 said: Several of you seem to have misunderstood the ending. 1. It is clearly established at the end that Onmyoudo isn't able to change the past or in fact much of present reality. 2. Everyone keeps calling Sasshi a kid. 3. Sasshi starts to take Arumi back home, then changes his mind and instead demands the power to take her to a different reality. 4. When they return home, not only is Masayoshi alive and well, Mune Mune and Abe no Seimei appear as completely different people with an apparent happy ending set up. Arumi's move to Hokkaido is aborted, and Abenobashi is suddenly marked for redevelopment rather than destruction. 5. A couple of episodes earlier, Abe no Seimi talked about how an accomplished onmyouji is able to open gateways to realistic worlds rather than the disordered worlds of Sasshi's child's imagination. 6. There is a surprise next episode preview that doesn't actually lead to a 14th episode. In other words, Sasshi has taken them to yet another fantasy world. This is one so well-crafted that it appears to be the real world (courtesy of his adult powers), but it is a false reality that completely fulfills all of Sasshi's wishes. Throughout the anime, he has continually rejected Masayohi's death, Arumi's move, Abenobashi's demise, and Mune's lifelong regret. These have all been resolved in simplistic, not-quite-likely ways - ways a child would dream up. And of course that last next episode preview is a big fat clue that their misadventures have not come to an end: that preview tells us that they still haven't returned to the real world. It's *not* indication that Gainax was planning a 14th episode that hasn't materialized. So yea, it's not a cop-out ending but a rather depressing one. The real world is still as harsh as always and its problems can't be solved with convenient magic. Sasshi is still a child and has chosen to continue escaping from reality - he has failed to grow up despite all he has gone through. There will still be a reckoning for his choices at some point in the future. I'm going to go watch something lighthearted now. Thank you, you have perfectly explained the ending. I was really pondering why there's a preview and now it all makes sense perfectly. I was also of the same opinion that this is all an illusion. |
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| I guess that's a happy ending even though it's still an alternate world that Satoshi created? Masa is alive and they're not even moving to Hokkaido... hmm ok xD |
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| Excel Saga + FLCL pretty much. But imo it's not even close to both of them. It was still an enjoyable weird mess. 6/10 I like how Karin from Naruto is the shounen version of Mune Mune. |
 .Go watch Gintama boyo/grill My discord server for gaming and anime/manga: https://discord.com/invite/4mqXfNEJ9A |
| Hmm, in the end they still chose to stay in the imaginary world? I guess Arumi also found reality hard to accept? and since there's a mock preview, I guess it's gonna be an endless loop escaping through various imaginary worlds. Anyway, this was a interesting and relatable anime for me. This is about refusal to accept drastic changes in life and trying to escape reality. I'd rather live in a false reality as well if given the chance. 8/10 |
| Not too bad, once you've seen one Gainax anime, you've seen them all tbh (only half serious). I agree with the review that gave it a 6/10, the comedy was very hit or miss for me as well and FLCL did it better. Great character duo and a brilliant, but disheartening ending. 7/10. |
| Moral of the story: The important thing is to be healthy. Another epic ending to a work of art. This ending surprised me. |
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| Right... the anime talks about facing reality, but in the end it doesn't show them doing that, in fact it shows the opposite. However, just like other Gainax’s works, this one is also self-aware of what it was saying, it's not like the anime was irrationally saying to rejecting the reality. I think they just chose an ambiguous ending where it shows them chosing the ideal world instead the real world, while at the same time being self-aware of it, leaving something for the viewer to reflect on. |
| i used to catch the odd episode of this WAY BACK in the early 2000s when it was on Anime Unleashed on TechTV/G4 i remember thinking it was dumb and cringe, now i watch it and am like, damn, this is fucking fire... although the random art quality changes/artstyle changes kinda threw me off, not sure if it was on purpose due to the changing worlds or the 2 stuidos being different, anyway yea the ending was kinda "too safe" but w/e idc it was also fun to see where later anime like Gurren Lagan got their influence, not to mention all the parodies of 80s movies and the like ps: Harumi is fucking adorable and Mune Mune is sexy as hell just liked i'd remembered, damn, would have loved a figurine of her lol |
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| Oh, well, didn't expect this series finale to be this polarizing. i'll just write that both sides have fair points, but i have never been a man that heavily diminishes the score because the ending was bad / rushed too hard etc etc. even if it's understandable in this occasion to think otherwise. i had fun like at every previous rewatch and that's what matters to me. |
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