At least three. I don't know why I expected anything better. Hope springs eternal, and I am ever a sucker, I guess. I hoped that it would be obvious to those who own this series that this was the last of it, and it was time to give us some closure -- at least a little bit of it, anyway. And they didn't.

Only two episodes, and they're both filler. Ye Gods. More, and lots of screencaps, below the fold.

I'd say that it was a spoiler, except that you can't spoil something that's already ruined.

The first one, with all the strange women: Fam decides that this year's class reunion from the all-girl's school they all went to will be held at the Tokino bathhouse, and doesn't bother telling Kazuto and Valkyrie about that. Just forgot. So a swarm of gorgeous women show up, and Sanada calls out the troops to set up an emergency party. It comes out pretty well.

It actually does some character building for Valkyrie, but not a lot. The most intriguing thing was a strange little creature that looks exactly like Murrenbach except with a higher voice and long hair. The two see each other. There's a beat. Each of them has tension drops on their heads. Rika asks them if they're related, and they both deny it and walk on their way.

And that's the last we see of either of them. Disappointment #1. No idea who she was or what that was about.

The other episode is Akina-concentration, which is fine by me because Akina is my favorite character in the series.

Mem (the imperious family head) and Inarba (the Valhallan Inquisition) invite themselves to stay at Akina's house for several days. They also follow Akina around, even going to school with her. She eventually confronts them and asks what they're doing.

There's a comet. Every time it comes to the Valhalla system, a special ceremony is held, and a priestess does a special dance. Three people are permitted to make wishes: the head of the Valhalla royal family, a family son-in-law, and the priestess herself. Whether the wishes actually get granted is not clear; but it's a tradition that such ceremony be held.

Well, the comet isn't due back to Valhalla for another 900 years, but it turns out it's about to make a close pass through the Sol system, and Mem and Inarba have decided there should be a ceremony -- and they've decided Akina should be the one to do the dance.

Akina thinks the whole idea is stupid. She's about to tell Mem and Inarba to stuff it. Inarba holds her hand up and is about to summon her book to institute punishment to Akina.

Akina was able to fight off Sanada's cat-girl ray. We've seen her do some amazing things, and one of her specialties is defensive screens. She's also no slouch on attack. Moreover, she is not under Inarba's jurisdiction. I was hoping Inarba would try it, and Akina would turn it on her. Inarba is a bully, and I'm waiting for someone to step in and give her what she deserves. I really hate Inarba. I don't think Akina would have needed the power of Akidra to turn Inarba inside out, and I wanted to see it happen.

Disappointment #2: It didn't. Sanada and Hydra are both terrified of Inarba, and they interfere and Akina ends up committed to do it.

Meanwhile, Mem and Inarba have contracted with someone to create a platform out near Pluto for the ceremony. Everything ends up ready on time and we all go out to watch. (Disappointment #2.5: Marduke and Murrenbach didn't get invited. In fact, Marduke doesn't appear in this series at all.)

Everything is ready, except Raine is nowhere to be found, and the ceremony requires all 8 grand princesses be observers. Just as Inarba was about to toast everyone in sight in her righteous anger, chibi-Raine (time travelling into her future) shows up from inside the bathhouse. In a pinch she'll do.

So off we go into space. Mem (as head of Valhalla royal family) and Kazuto (as son-in-law, though he isn't actually married to Valkyrie yet) and Akina all write down their wishes. Then Akina does her dance. She does it perfectly. It's really beautiful. It was nicely animated. I wouldn't have minded if it had gone on longer.

No one is supposed to look at the wishes. Part of the tradition is that they remain secret. But there's an accident and two of them are exposed and read. Mem wished for good fortune for Valhalla. Kazuto wished for good fortune for the Tokino bathhouse.

Then in our final scene, we see Akina in her bedroom (one of the lavish guest rooms on Mem's yacht) and she wonders if her wish will be granted. Final scene: a closeup of Akina's wish, not yet revealed.

And Disappointment #3: they don't show us what it was. Which is fucking stupid. The whole point of that episode should have been to give Akina closure. The whole point of it should have been Akina finally accepting that she isn't going to win Kazuto. Her wish should have been that Kazuto be happy in his marriage to Valkyrie.

And that may have been what she did wish. But we'll never know; this is the last of the series, and they didn't feel the need to tell us.

At least I think it's the end of the series. It ran last September, so maybe they think there will be more.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in at 08:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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