It’s the holidays. People go off to party, or visit friends and family…or just stick to watching anime. Shows have their finales either this week or next week. SSSS Gridman and Release the Spyce both ended this week, with Bloom Into You still a while to go yet.
Now we can all see that the final episode of Bloom Into You will revolve around the play itself, and whether Yuu will come out of whatever shell she is in. But as we reach the end of this week’s episode, we discover that there is actually going to be more than that. Personally, I was hoping that Sayaka would go up a gear and do something; she’s been the one I’ve been rooting for, after all.
Their study camp ends, and the student council all go home to do whatever it is they plan to do for the summer vacation. Yuu, meanwhile, is unconvinced that the ending of the play is something that Touko really wants to do. In this play, the amnesiac girl has to choose which persona to be for the rest of her life, and Touko (who plays her) is still reeling from this news about her sister, who she has worked so hard to imitate to please everyone. So hard, in fact, that she is both unable and unwilling to live her own life. So at the 11th hour, Yuu makes an attempt to fix this.
As an anime-only person for Bloom Into You, I don’t know what the result will be, but to be honest, I would be happy with any kind of outcome. Touko has been an extremely demanding girl, and so whether this act of demanding is just something her sister did, I really don’t know. I really can’t picture her as anything else, though. Well I suppose we’ll all see next week if Yuu is able to ‘fix’ her or not.
I guess it’s time for me to breathe a sigh of relief, as Release the Spyce finally ends. These moeblob yuri spies were really annoying me, and I can’t believe that I actually began cheering for Mei last week…except she wasn’t going to be the top general of Moryo after all. Boooooo.
This pretty thing that was set up by Moryo last week planned to spray gas across the city and incapacitate everyone, but we all know that a moeblob show like this has a happy ending, because what’s a moeblob show without the protagonists cheering. I will say though that this was a pretty okay episode to end on, despite my slight disappointment on Mei’s end. Next week is the season review post, so I’ll go further into detail on what I thought of Release the Spyce as a whole then.
…as I will with this pretty darn amazing show, but I really am unable to resist talking about how much I’ve enjoyed SSSS Gridman.
As we saw last week, Akane was no longer able to create any more kaiju, and frustrated with this, Alexis decides to turn her into one himself. With Yuta reawakened as Gridman, the Alliance and the other agents make it their mission to destroy Alexis and free their friend/god. All of us were rooting for either Akane or Rikka…or both, and so I’m glad that this got a happy ending for the both of them. And it has done it in the most Trigger-like way as well: with an epic action scene.
Kill la Kill had Ryuko vs. Ragyo, Little Witch Academia had Akko and Diana vs. the magic missile, Space Patrol Luluco had Luluco and Nova vs. the Blackholeian, Darling in the Franxx had Hiro and Zero Two vs. the VIRM, and here we have Gridman vs. Alexis in the city.
As with the other shows in the column, I’ll go into far more detail on how much this show has been a triumph, but I will tell you something: Trigger really took a risk in deciding to use the original Gridman theme in this episode, and it paid off. Some of the original show’s fan were a little cynical on whether SSSS Gridman would be a worthwhile addition to their beloved franchise, and so putting in this song (along with the other subtle references throughout the entire show) has made them all quite happy. Gridman the Hyper Agent (along with many other tokusatsu shows) are apparently all available on the Toku streaming service, however with Netflix Japan having the rights to SSSS Gridman, with the reaction it has received in the West, I wonder if Netflix would get their checkbook out and make a bid for it. People would certainly be interested in the live-action show after the anime.
There have actually been quite a few shows that caught my interest this season, either short-term or long-term, so I guess you could call this Fall season something that makes me feel better about what I went through in the summer…and also proves that the summer curse still exists for me.
So while our favorite shows of the season end, we all go off and celebrate the holidays…so whatever you intend to do, have a happy one. Did your favorite shows of the season end the way you had hoped or wanted? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below…