To those saying 3 episodes is not enough to turn around to a different ending beside Miu-end, I'd like to make a few points here. Three episodes ago he was in a tub with Airi. It takes Amagami 4 episodes to tell an ENTIRE arc. This show HAS been very good with pacing, and at its current pacing it could completely resolve a Miu situation by the end of next episode, so what would they be planning on doing with the last two episodes?
Honestly, with three episodes left, and likely episode 10 facing a resolution/transition into another plot, I see it like this:
Ange: Time up, 0%
Sakuno: 15%
Miu:15%
Sana: 20%
No pick: 20%
Airi: 30%
Ange: Time's up, sorry to say. Ange's maid plot lines simply won't work at this point, all we had was a nice gesture, but with the emotional direction and pacing of this story, this ending would be impossible at this point. She's been relegated to a supporting role.
Sakuno: This is what I'm most afraid of. We've had minimal development of a character that is very prominent, with no explanation of background, characterization, or relationship beyond a flat "brother sister" co-dependency. As a main heroine, with no development, Sakuno is the biggest plot death trap possible. A true dark horse that could spoil it all.
Miu: Pacing for Miu suggests we're moving past her, with no chance to resolve her on the back end. If they changed pace, and put the brakes on hard, we could reign it back to Miu, but it would be more of the same, blowing up the rest of the show. We would have to alter the romantic, dramatic pacing, and go into a full on "this is a relationship, this is how it's going to be for the last 25% of the show, in the face of everything we've built up, leaving all these plot lines unresolved." I really just can't see it happening.
Sana: An initial examination would suggest Sana has a pretty strong chance, but she suffers from the same problems with Miu's pacing. Her feelings are about to be laid out, and we're in episode 10. There's a good chance it could go Sana-end otherwise, but the timing is all off - if this was a Sana or a Miu ending, this arc would have to be in episode 11 right now. Again, they could do it, but this show paces in half episodes, with transition elements being created and resolved in 10 minutes flat.
No pick: The dreaded no-pick, the failure to resolve anything with hopes of issuing OVAs or even a second anime-only season to resolve the problems. This is where I figured it would go when we saw an Airi-Ange-Miu switch, and would be the easiest way to wrap things up. However, this show has done a lot of things well, and even though this is "likely" I see it as a total cop out, done only by a staff who can't come up with a way to get out of this corner.
Airi: Three weeks ago, this was probably around 80% for me. Bath scene? Pacing against her story line? Constantly around, constantly the focus, with only her personal stuff mostly resolved, and all of her romantic feelings still in the air? The show has managed to minimize her role steadily, dropping her this far down. Airi is still my front runner, with her unresolved feelings, her constant character growth, and the camera focus/extra lines she gets throughout this whole arc (You don't see Ange and Sakuno getting all this extra attention). I believe this is where the show will go at this point, given they've left all of Airi's feelings and Shingo's connections on the shelf - they haven't really played them up at all, and they definitely exist. There is relatively minimal conflict between the characters if Shingo ends up with Airi at this point, especially if we resolve Sana's emotions via Miu's friendship.
Artistically, I'd also like to point out the best scene work, with the most lighting effort, and the sharpest amount of time and arrangement lies with Airi's scenes. If you inspect Miu, you get a lot of clean cut and dry scenes, that don't have the same budget put into them. Sana is probably second to Airi, with a lot of distinct scenes, however they are all driven in the same theme. Almost all of Airi's scenes that pivot on her plot have a lot of action, conflict, and sharp lighting contrasts from the other characters, invoking viewer attention, and is why most of us still feel "they couldn't possibly bring it back to Airi now, how could they at this pace!?"
You wouldn't even be thinking about it if they hadn't set those scenes up early on with that amount of effort. It will come my friends. |