Kobato - 22
It’s beautiful episodes like this one that totally restore my faith in anime. What a wonderful example of how to write a touching story without the biggest budget, epic backstory or over the top plot twists. The character-development in this episode was all worth the wait and the first half, and a heart-warming prelude to that finale. I laugh at articles like this one (well, the ‘anime sucks’-section anyway), which paint a completely biased and one-sided picture of the current state of anime.
I love it when a series changes my perception of things, and for me, Kobato restored my faith in these simple series that might not amount to much at first. Despite its mediocre start, I’m emotionally connecting to this series, more than just about every other series this season. This is really what a drama should be.
I also think that this is one of the few good uses of the “crash before the ending”-trope. Just like with White Album’s second season, Fujimoto’s crash was nothing serious, and instead more meant as a wake-up call, rather than creating some cheap drama by placing someone in the hospital. On top of that, it was also well built up: in his state of mind, it’s not surprising that Fujimoto wouldn’t pay attention to the road.
To be honest, out of all the series that are about to end in the upcoming weeks, Kobato’s is the one that I’m looking forward to the most. It’s really been building up to that final episode through its entire airtime, and out of all the endings, it’s this one that I feel has the most chance of actually turning out great. It’s the kind of ending where the creators have to really screw up big time to ruin it. Especially considering how the creators wrecked the kindergarten in this episode, it shows that they’re not going to force down a happy ending if it doesn’t make sense within the story.
Rating: *** (Awesome)