Outbreak Company: Moeru Shinryakusha Volume 18 Discussion

animejas said:
Well then.... the volume itself was continuing the rushed and messy trend of the previous volume but I liked the little ending with Myucel and Shinichi finally getting together and being engaged technically.... until the epilogue. What on earth was that lol. Probably the most abrupt, random epilogue I've seen to a series, or at least one of the top ones. I get the whole message of otakus after so much time are still looked down upon, even worse now and that the group (Shinichi, Myucel, Hikaru, Elvia and Minori) seemingly are still on the side of heroes when it comes to otakus, but the whole thing was just.... weird and spoiled the volume I'd say. Can't help but feel really irritated by the end despite a couple of good things in the volume itself. No real closure for the other side characters either except Petralka who before the epilogue, was okay with letting Shinichi go before he got to choose where to end up.

Overall, the series had a novelty aspect to it at the start and an alright first 2 volumes, but then was really stagnant with the storytelling and progression and ideas for most of the story till the SciFi final few volumes took over, which became a mess. The series really lost its charm and identity early on and it affected most of the series. The characters aren't annoying or detestable, but are not really that great either sadly. I do like Myucel's personality a lot, shame her development was really a flatline except her feelings for Shinichi, which was pretty much the same for like 15 volumes at least minimum. This series maybe would've been okay if it was 8 volumes instead of 18, or if there was more actual focus with developing the otaku culture organically throughout the series and having people from Eldant truly learn how to create manga/LNs/anime and adapt, with some profits going to Amutech with Shinichi's help. Would've made the whole otaku culture feel a lot better integrated and respected as a whole. In the end, it doesn't really matter beyond Myucel sticking with Shinichi. Poor Brooke and Cerise were pretty invisible too for most of the series, including the final arc except one moment with Brooke helping Hikaru. Yeah this was generally a pretty rough ending for a rough, empty, soulless series in general.