hontou ni sou omou?

The final episode at last! Rin finds Asa at the hillside viewing point where she reminisces about all her happy memories like it’s the last night of her life. Unable to persuade her to save herself and at his wits’ end, Rin slashes his wrist. Her desire to save him, coupled with Rin channelling Mentar’s reasoning, causes Asa to use her magic to heal him thus saving them both.

Things are back to normal harem comedy. Kaede, Nerine and Lisianthus/Kikyou continue to jockey for Rin’s favour. Mayumi and Itsuki clash. Primula provides surprisingly numerous doses of humour. Ama-san no longer has to live in fear of the Yggdrasil Project.

122 screencaps follow. Mostly of our (i.e. the AAA’s) beloved Shigure Asa of course but a few of Ama and Kikyou as well. Readers may find some of the screenies disturbing.

I don’t mean to be morbid, just pedantic. Erh, Rin - the correct way is not across the road but down the street. (Edit 2006-01-08: DarkMirage is much more explicit about this point. Really hilarous summary of the ending too.)

~ KA-

-MI-

-CHUU!!! ~
Sorry, couldn’t help it with the similarity in sudden hair growth. :P

Sometimes I wonder if the “baka” is as much for herself as for Rin. Of course it should be obvious that Ama-san wanted Asa to be happy and healthy above all but I suppose the idea about denying Ama-san’s demon nature was an idea that was Asa arrived at during a defining childhood experience which she has clung onto like an article of faith and not reviewed rationally. So while I think that she was being stubborn and foolish, I don’t really blame her since sometimes I meself get so wrapped up in some ideas that seem to make sense at the time but refuse to realise it until quite some damage has been done.

From the start, this scene just gave me the feeling of a troupe of concubines meeting up with the husband and head wife. Head wife teases husband about Childhood Friend concubine’s little but very deliberate gesture of consideration for Hubbie. God Concubine (actually half-God since her mother is Demon Concubine’s aunt which makes her and Demon Concubine cousins) wants in on the sucking up and Demon Concubine wades in as well. Head wife cheers for Childhood Friend concubine.

Some tweaked but essentially reused footage a la GSD - the scenes are easily recognisable as Asa’s opening scene in Ep 1. This just brought back memories of how that scene, at the start of SHUFFLE!, caused me to think: “Hate the ‘Hallo!’ but what a great character. Pity she hasn’t got a chance at Rin.” And looking back, I’m really surprised at how things have changed.

This was funny. Kaede refuses Itsuki because she still likes Rin *and* has Asa’s approval (許可) to do so. Good grief, Asa really sounds like the head wife to Kaede’s subordinate wife position. -_-;; Nerine says she still has feelings for Rin while Sia says that Rin going out with Asa is no problem at all since the Shinkai practises polygamy - yes dear, but you’re in the human world and neither Rin nor Asa have any Shin blood in them.

And finally proof that Mayumi likes Itsuki!

Asa giving permission again - this time to Rin to eat bento prepared for him by the other harem girls - on the condition that he finishes the food she cooks for him.

I found the above scene to be the most touching - a somewhat disappointed Kurogane considers it to the only serious part of this episode which was also a big scene for Omni. Ama-san accidentally walks close enough to Eustoma and Forbeshi for them to get a good look at her. As she walks away, it’s clear that she is afraid that she, and possibly Asa, might have to go back to become Yggdrasil test subjects. But the two kings *wink wink* (like when Primula first arrived) assign Test Subject One to the dead list and offer a “posthumous” apology - which Ama accepts by removing her headdress and shows her gratitude by bowing in their direction. I think Ama-san is such a loveable character.

Loved the way Rin was put out by Kareha being all coy with him - her shy and defensive body language mixed with her very direct staring at him with teasing language and the knowledge of what she told Asa in Ep 22. Seems that while Tsubomi is definitely related to Kareha, at least there seems to be hope for her in not over-reacting to every romantic situation. Looks like Asa is on the cover of the book that Tsubomi is reading too.

I really like Kikyou much more than Sia. For one thing, her voice is expressed so much more seductively. Though I have to admit that the contrast with Sia makes Kikyou more interesting (and vice versa). Also the two personalities seem to be phasing in and out with much better co-ordination since after the failed Capture Rin’s Heart operation in Ep 17.

As for the kiss between Kikyou and Kaede, I doubt that will develop into anything. Also would love to know what Sia and Kikyou were saying to Kaede before the kiss took place. As for yuri, I still think Kareha mooning after Asa would have been much more credible and much more fun!

First off, a note of things I didn’t screencap but still found interesting. The combined defence forces chief who’s always watching from afar and chewing his hankie finally beams at Rin while giving him a pat on the shoulder. Though I’m not sure how the defence forces will feel once they realise that the other girls still like Rin.

I really liked how Primula is used to good effect - she narrates the situation at the start of the second half of the episode, letting on that she had sensed Asa’s magic that night. She’s employed to great comic effect which shows her character development at the same time e.g. bobbing from left to right and right to left behind Rin and his harem on the way to school; having to wear spectacles in class; thinking of and addressing Rin as “oniichan” - I’m sure all the siscon lolipedo fiends had their boats floated when she nuzzled Rin’s neck and squealed “Oniiichan” in that contented yet wistful way (recalling her wearing Rin’s shirts as PJs a la Nemu in Ep 4); chewing her food like a chipmunk during lunch; pouting after drawing the joker card from and being teased by Eustoma and then using her explosive freeze attack.

Overall, for this episode, I do agree with Kurogane’s gripe about the deterioration of the production values - especially in the second half (e.g. why is it so grey and dank in the rooftop lunch scene?). I expected more since this was the finale and the bar had been set really high with how Asa (Ep 7), Nerine (Ep 14-5), Sia (Ep 17) and Kaede (Ep 20) were rendered earlier. Also agree with Omni’s point about it being a bit anticlimatic (since we both knew how it would end) and also lacked that oomph to conclude. But not unsatisfying either, just that expectations were high after the good run in the latter half of the series. I was hoping that the final episode would make more of the polygamy angle and perhaps we’d fast forward a few years and have a wedding battle royale like Ranma 1/2’s final episode.

So what do I think of SHUFFLE! as a whole? First, let’s review the literature on it. On the one hand, Omni and Stripey have been generally positive about it while Mentar and Kurogane have expressed some disappointment.

Well, it really depends on what criteria one is using. I agree with Mentar that the drama in KimiNozo is far stronger than in SHUFFLE! However Stripey is also right to point out that, as a complete package of drama, comedy, romance etc., SHUFFLE! does very well. Judging SHUFFLE! on what it intended to achieve, I take the latter view as SHUFFLE! is still essentially a “fun” harem show unlike KimiNozo’s much angstier premise with the accident, lies, emotional betrayal all round.

Also, as pointed out by Omni, I don’t think anyone really expected much from SHUFFLE! especially from the first episode - which initially made me think “Oh no, not another typical harem comedy again.” Thus it set low expectations and then surpassed them, thus underlying how managing expectations is everything.

I also propose that based on the source material, Asread has done a terrific job. The Tsukihime game had such a rich story but the anime was woefully underdeveloped when J.C. Staff went with the Arcuied ending. Suzuka had fantastic manga art but we got disappointing to downright crappy animation from Studio Comet. The SHUFFLE! anime has been largely faithful to the game source material and IMHO has been improved on by increasing the emphasis on the Yggdrasil Project’s impact (especially on Primula and Nerine), putting together the girls’ stories in a way that they interacted with each other (e.g. Sia’s decision to take a step back upon realising Nerine and Kaede’s unhappiness; how Asa built up her kudoes with Nerine and Sia; Kaede going nuts on Asa; Rin leaving the Fuyou house which was the key means to break Kaede’s emotional deadlock). I felt that the game material was actually quite weak and Asread has done its best to beef it up.

Another plus for me was the voice acting. Miki Itou was great as Asa, especially when she’s being flirty and a tease - “Hontou ni so omou?” and “Chooootto zanne-n!” :3 And I also really liked Tomokazu Sugita’s portrayal of Rin - a good, strong, masculine voice (no whiny male leads please!) which also expressed a gentler side very well.

In conclusion, I enjoyed SHUFFLE! much more than I first expected. While it was not particularly strong on any one aspect (e.g. animation, character design, music, drama, comedy etc.) but it was a good all-rounder and good entertainment - my favourite series of 2005.