What are our end goals here?
- Bring Tachibana back into the Toy Gun Gun group.
- Reveal to Toy Gun Gun that Tachibana is a girl.
- Defeat our rivals, the Funny Pediatrics Ward Superevil Nazis.
- Wait one year for the tournament so that we can defeat the Superevil Nazis.
And we've only got two episodes? And a plot that seems to leave little to sustain any chance of a second season?? Well, show us what you got.
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| Good start! |
Tachibana just got rejected, so she's hanging with the villain, who she would like to blow the head off of. Unfortunately, since the real villain is Ourselves (by which I mean Toy Gun Gun (by which I mean that one guy in Toy Gun Gun)), her last meeting with him is just a Gun Game Game. You see, players take turns shooting this target that's shaped like a body. You win if you hit everything...or if you just hit the head at the end. Tachibana's still a rookie, but...GUESS WHAT?????
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| Sure, if that would make any sense. |
She promises to defeat Midori someday!! Then she leaves.
We re-join her at her sometime-teammate's place as she hopes to make amends.
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| :'( |
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| Hey, it's a young All-Might! |
Black-Haired Man with Glasses reveals some surprising facts...like how Toy Gun Gun was...really a bunch of dirty cheaters this one time, because they hated Midori so much! Leader Matsuoka was so upset when the Green Meanie took down their girl third member that he didn't scream "hit" when he got hit, and that ain't right.
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| There's subtle symbolism, there's symbolism so blatant that it takes over the series with a pretentious flourish (Ranpo Kitan), and then there's Aoharu x Kikanjuu doing this softball "two episodes with rainy butterflies" stuff. |
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| So you see this is why he does not let girls on the team. Because he is a gentleman. No, this doesn't make him look good either. |
That's all well and "good," but what's the stuff I really want to hear?
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| THANK. YOU. |
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| Just more of that softball "fifth or sixth episode of Free!" stuff. |
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| Oh, that's okay, then. |
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| Oh, guess this makes it not okay anymore. |
Time for episode twelve, the grand finale! Are you ready?! That's too bad, because there's a two-minute recap. It did remind me of how deep and spiritual the previous outing had been. I hadn't even taken pictures of the Negative Zone briefly featured in the theme song! Phooey.
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| Daddy Come Back ! |
Well, sometimes the only way to get your dad back...is to beat him up. In my opinion, this episode looks like a big finale (thanks to the obvious sunset cues and higher budget, of course). But I guess the crux of the series didn't get me, so it doesn't feel like one. Lots of throwing around big claims and talking about The Two Types Of People In This World Those Who Let Go And Those Who Are Let Go.
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| See? Even got a little bit o' Shaft in there. |
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| And whatever generic comedy this is. |
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| And — WOAH |
And then our hero gets shot in the leg.
And then, thanks to the way this overall plotline was structured, this dude just has to monologue to us during the rematch what he would do if the protagonist wasn't changing his ways right now.
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| *gasp* Oh no! Being the better man? Letting revenge go by the wayside!? More like a betrayal of friendship that must be wholly reversed!! |
He changes his tune when he sees himself in little Hotaru Tachibana, because since he was a boy fighting that jerk Midori, he would try time and time again, never winning, but also never giving up. You know how I know this? It's not because I'm smart!
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| Look forward to Beeble Bear's scholarly essay on how Aoharu x Kikanjuu actually perpetrates a vicious cycle of crushing, unending revenge on sadists (22 pages, release date TBA). |
And we get – *gasp!* – more last-episodey lines and visuals!
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| Aww, get the camera off of him! |
And *gasssp* more melodrama!!
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| And this kinda stupid pose... |
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| ...and then they pull out the flowers and petals as they strum the wind chimes and play "Beautiful World" from Rebuild of Evangelion! |
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| And then that great shot from the opening, but worse. |
So as you can see above, Tachibana wins because she "hit" him..........with a hug!!!!!!!!!! You got shot through the heart, son. Everybody concludes that they want to kill Midori and his outrageous goons come next airsoft gun tournament. Just slaughter him. Which counts as resolving that conflict, I mean...sort of.
But watch out — here comes the denouement. We only got like four minutes, and that's including ending credits. Give us a message that will really stay in our hearts.
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| For anime, this counts as progressive! |
Oh. Yeah. That reminds me. The most important thing that the series has made such a big deal about from the very beginning: will she or will she not reveal that she is a true-blue, bona-fide goyle???
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| "He just has a kinda girly voice and a kinda girly fashion sense and every reason not to reveal that he might be a girl to me." |
Okay! Okay, it's the next day, the next morning, phew. She's standing outside of the apartments, she's telling herself to be brave, she's gonna tell them, she's gonna tell th
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| Y-yeah...that's my gun. |
Is there gonna be a second season? I...I don't think I would watch. If the show's comedy stayed stronger and more consistent, and if it laid off the drama some, and if they had more action scenes and took that aspect one ridiculous step further, I would have liked it a lot more. And then, of course, I could've done without the entire pseudo-Ouran-but-probably-worse "I'm secretly a girl!" thing. I enjoyed it, but I can't call it great.
But if there's a second season and you want to see me review it, call me!
I suppose this show can get a whopping
out of
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