I think I'm enjoying Shingu even more on second viewing than I did the first time. Now that I understand what's going on, one of the secret pleasures is watching hubris get punctured.

There are certain characters who think they're smarter than they are, who think they're more in control than they are, who think they're bigger dealers than they are. A couple of them make a secret deal, and then get their noses pushed in when someone foxes them. It's one of the best moments in the series, actually, but on first viewing their hubris was plain but their nemesis was a surprise. Now that I know what's coming, I can enjoy watching them as they plot, knowing that it will all come to nothing in the end.

There are wheels within wheels, plots and plans, lots of people trying to advance their own interests. But most of them don't understand the real situation, and their plots end up, well, not so much foiled as irrelevant.

Meanwhile, I'm going to give you a couple more pictures of the cutest girl in the series, below the fold.

UPDATE: And now having rewatched it all the way through to the end, I think I like the ending a hell of a lot. Perhaps the reason it seemed a bit uncomfortable the first time was that I was impatient. This time I know what's coming, and it does seem paced better. And the last scene of the series is the perfect payoff.

I'm also less concerned now about the one unanswered question. Yeah, it's a hook for a sequel that I'm sure won't ever be made, but it isn't a series flaw. Not really. Certainly it doesn't harm the story.

One of the reasons that the last episode works is that even though they do keep pulling surprises out of the hat nearly to the very last instant, they don't have anyone suddenly develop a startling new power/ability which is vital at the last instant to save the situation. The crisis and the solution to it is firmly grounded in events which took place earlier in the series, and in powers and abilities that people had already demonstrated. There was a great deal of effort involved in laying groundwork for the last episode; it's yet another example of the superb writing in this series.

It definitely deserves four stars, and that's what I'm going to give it.

Mimeo Harumi really does have a pretty smile. Unfortunately, we don't see it much early in the series because a certain guy is making her miserable through his stupidity.

Don't they make a nice couple? Moriguchi Kyoichi is the moron that causes Harumi all that heartache.

Moriguchi is voiced by Sugita Tomokazu, who did the voice of Hideki in Chobits and the voice of Kyon in Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu. Moriguchi as a character, and performance, is more like Hideki, but isn't anything like as annoying as Hideki was. I keep referring to Moriguchi as an idiot, but actually he's just young and hasn't got his act together. And as you can see, Harumi does start smiling, eventually.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in at 04:53 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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