deadoptimist said:Now this was disappointing - and confusing. I believed this shows had subtler points, but in the end all we got were shounen tropes. Even the initial discussions here about whether cyborgs were human or not ended up being irrelevant. And what's with all the plotholes? The only good part was when the system told Kabu he would die in any case and it would survive in any case. (Which proved wrong.)
Where did the old system disappear, for example? What about its mission? Why did the revolutionaries get the admin rights so easily?
The show didn’t really address the important difference between humans and cyborgs or its implications. Like the cyborgs’ longevity and spare bodies, their technology and their supposedly inhuman mental state vs the desperate postapocalyptic way humans live, the suffering and early death they experienced. The cyborgs didn't care about humans at all at first (they were NPC for them), so why did everyone become friends so easily and why did humans have to live under the rule of cyborgs in the end too? Why did humans not seem to care about being lied to, controlled and killed and about the weird ugly artificial organisms who did it? One of the main themes seemed to be living to the fullest, leaving an impact. But it didn’t reflect in anything besides Kabu persevering in the right moment.
What about the gadoll? What they were, why are they peaceful now? They were animal experiements too which is immoral and had to be answered for.
What about the artificial bodies and the digital immortality cyborgs have? Could it be extended to humans? Like why don't cyborgs improve the situation for humans with their tech? What will they do without oxyone? What's even their economy, in the end? Also maybe the cyborgs can be considered moe in some way but not to the extent the series tries to push it.
What did actually happen with space compression? Or the dome? The system said there was no life outside of it.
And it's the same with personalities. Take Minato. Initially he was shown as a very complex individual with his ups and downs – he had plenty of faults – so why was he suddenly in charge in the end? Being the “commander” in the game isn’t the same as running an actual society. He was dismissive towards humans too during the whole series. And there had been a lot of gay shipping between him and Kabu, yet they were too chicken to use the fact that in the end he basically controlled what had become Kabu's body. The way they showed operating Decadance from within sure was lame.
And Natsume didn't evolve past a quirky inspiration.
Basically the characters simply maintaned the status quo, and the fact that the good outcome was an endless fun fair is almost offensive. Though they showed that Natsume was tired from her service job in an unusually life-like moment in the epilogue, while all the others were happy performing in a circus for some reason.
...This ending felt like a placeholder, in short. It was very immature and rushed. Or maybe the beginning was misleading. I expected more from the juxtaposition of the two worlds, of Mr.Dob-like cyborg aesthetic and their tiring entertainment corporate dystopia, of the humans' role and legacy in all of it.
Wtf? Seriously.
to answer a few of your questions, I would say that the rebels got the rights so easily because System had grown to be almost narcissist after centuries of absolute power, as any intelligence would, and handed over admin rights to Kabu to enjoy watching his final struggle and revel in its absolute power, only to be overpowered. it was so blinded by its own hubris it couldn't see how it could be beaten. as to why the Cyborgs started living hand in hand with humans after the rebellion, they saw them as NPCs because thats what the game portrayed them as. as usual, they remain, largely, complete dullards and care only for entertainment, and as such are happy with whatever game they are given, whether its fighting or farming. I have no idea what was going on with space compression. in terms of Minato, I think his inital depth was due to his internal conflict about being such a massive part of a game that was inherently wrong, and in the end he went back to his old ideals. in terms of the Gadoll, multiple times in the show its mentioned that they are programmed to be hostile to humans and to target them, and that without that programming they are docile. obviously the new system isnt going to make hostile Gadoll, but they still need them to make fuel (oxytone).