Oh god, no. It’s going to continue into the next episode (which is also going to be the final one). This is exactly what I’ve been fearing for 20 episodes now: this show just isn’t good at baseball matches. and to drag them on like this. It’s a shame that this show had to be about baseball. I can understand that without it, the characters couldn’t have developed the way they did, but this also made this kind of finale inevitable.

Overall the creators tried to put in some nice twists and all, but writing a good baseball match is all about building up tension. Over the entire series. At this point Kou and Azuma have been so god-moded that I’m not exactly rooting for them to make it. Even though Kou slipped up, the bugger actually hit a home-run later to make up for it.

In any case, at this point I consider this to still be a wonderful series, but when compared to Touch, in the end I have to say that Touch was better. While its characterization may have been not as good as Cross Game, and it may have been a tad too long for its own good, it was more balanced, and every part about it was well written, even the lesser exciting arcs. It all amounted to some great character-development and excellent baseball matches. Even the final climax was wonderful to watch, despite the seemingly cliched set-up.

I don’t think that the problem with Cross Game would have been solved if the creators spent more effort into the baseball matches. The thing is that the slice of life was just that good. I seldomly have seen it this witty and consistently enjoyable. The biggest mistake that this series made in this that could have been fixed is the way in which they treated the opposing team: the development of these people sucks when compared to the main cast. These guys needed much more attention if they wanted to make impact in this match.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Agh, no. They’re going to animate the the Precure Allstars Movie in 3D. The promo that took this week’s episode’s OP’s place looked horrible because of it. I really hope that Toei isn’t planning to do that with the Kaidan Restaurant Movie. I’m actually looking forward to that one.

In any case, that student council president! Her story came way earlier than I expected, and it was also completely different from what I expected. She quite forcefully jumped out of her role as romantic interest when her gender was revealed (in a quite funny way, actually), breaking yet another shoujo stereotype in the process.

Her story also contains the opposite of a well used trope: the weak younger sister. Instead, the student council president has a weak older brother. Refreshing; I haven’t seen that since watching Otogizoshi. Her story was well told. It’s also nice how they managed to tie the fashion club into her story: at first I thought it was just going to be a pointless gimmick to keep the characters busy, but it actually contributed to her development a bit.

I also wonder: will the fact that that bishie got smashed have any effect on the rest of this story? Knowing the creators, they might actually include the consequences of having these desatorians turn against their creators.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Another episode that was not so much about the kindergarten, but more about Tsuchida himself and his attempts at hitting on Yamamoto, who still remains incredibly dense. Still, I have to admit that this episode impressed me with an actual reason for it: how she wants to devote all of her time to her work, so that she believes that she wouldn’t have enough time to properly invest in a relationship. That just put her one step above all other generic clueless leads.

There also were a ton of Anzu-jokes in this episode, but it’s interesting that they weren’t so much random, but instead just an attempt of her to cheer up Tsuchida after the last episode. On top of that, we learned more about Sakura and her job. Consider that this was the penultimate episode. My expectations really were that this series would fall apart with cheesy drama for its finale, but surprisingly this show has never been better than the past number of episodes.

Still, in the end I do want to see more anime about a subject that most romance series try to avoid: ACTUAL RELATIONSHIPS. Romance series seem to be all about the tease: trying to get the two lead characters to be together. What I’d like to see is a couple actually getting together early. You know? The main character already being in a relationship at the start of a series.
Rating: * (Good)

Sorry, but I have to get back to Pride again. I just keep wondering what it means to be considered “the strongest” homunculus, and whether he can really be measured as such, especially considering the other homunculus. Does he have the biggest amount of strength of the homunculi? I doubt that actually, considering Sloth and Envy. The biggest defense? Nah, Sloth and Greed are also incredibly sturdy. Meanwhile, I believe that his speed is about equal to that of Lust and Wrath. I think that what sets him apart is more his combination between strength and range of weapons that can hit from multiple directions.

So while he might be considered the “strongest” homunculus, I doubt that he’s been the most useful one. He might have the upper hand in battle, but he never uses that. Ed in this episode could be excused, but what about the others? He could have easily killed all of them, and yet only the lion got a few wounds that don’t seem too serious. Compare that to Wrath’s battle against Greed, in which Wrath just kept pushing his attacks on Greed, leaving as little opportunity as possible for Greed to recover. That’s something I consider stronger than some kid who holds a lot of power but doesn’t use it, and I believe that Wrath would actually be able to make minced meat out of Pride if they ever were put up against each other. And even Ed: why didn’t Pride just grab him in the way that he took control of Al?

In any case, that didn’t mean that I didn’t like this episode. It was another excellent build-up to the inevitable promised day, and how different parties are coming together again. I liked how the four chimeras finally saw each other again (not knowing that they’ve decided to betray Kimblee). And despite my gripes about Pride’s fighting ability, the part about his relationship with his ‘mother’ was definitely interesting.

As for Roy’s plans, I’m also curious about those ones: what was the point in kidnapping Bradley’s wife: the end of this episode showed that the military clearly doesn’t intend to consider her safety; especially with Bradley gone now. Next episode should again start with an intense action scene in which we can finally see Roy in action again.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

On a side-note: I finally changed the banner for this site, after having the previous one for more than three years by now. The image comes courtesy of Rel, an amazing artist. I’ve made a few other potential banners in the process. Do you suppose that these might look more appropriate?

After this I’m planning to overhaul the side-bar. My plans are to:
- Move the most recent post upwards for easier browsing.
- Sort the series entries on recommendation-worthy.
I’ve also been toying with the idea to include a small section containing a link to my favourite episode each week, or something similar. How does that sound?

So this was the build-up before the finale. Nothing remarkable is really to say about it, but it wasn’t bad either, and still solid Cobra-esque entertainment.

Overall, I really had my doubts when I found out that Osamu Dezaki wasn’t involved in the production of this series, and it really shows: despite a few shots, this series really went with its own direction in its attempt to pay homage to the Cobra manga. And you know what, it worked? As an adaptation of a very old manga, this series did just about everything it should have done.

But guaranteed, I am still dying for more Osamu Dezaki. It would be awesome if we could get another series like Ultraviolet: Code044 which really allowed this guy’s style to shine at its best. Nevertheless, looking back to this series it really has been fun. And it finally showed that fan-service can be more than just showing under-aged teen-aged girls. Sure, the characterization is as far from realistic as possible, but that’s part of this series’ charms.
Rating: * (Good)

Studio Pierrot… what do you think you’re doing here? My gripe with this episode is small, but it’s still very strange for such a thing to have happened: remember the episode that talked about Zazie’s past? This episode acted like it never happened, showing nearly the exact same flashback twice. Why wasn’t this caught? Adapting a manga isn’t just a matter in which you animate every page accurately. Story flow comes before the need to be faithful and if the creators decided to flesh out Zazie more in a filler episode (which of course was a nice idea), they also need to readjust the point in the manga that they tried to expand.

So yeah, that and the dull fight in this episode didn’t impress me at first. I think that overall, the Gaichuu fights in Letter Bee have all been unimpressive and mediocre. All of the interesting stuff happened around them and the fights were just something necessary to get to them. You really don’t want to watch this series for its action.

Still, when that Gaichuu started gobbling away that girl’s memories, I have to admit that I was totally reminded of why I’m still following this series. That’s the strength of this series: it’s seemingly stupid at times, and doesn’t have the best writers, but surprisingly heavy. Characters may seem like annoying stereotypes at one time, and yet I find myself to care about them once their memories get shown. It’s strange, but as mediocrily (is that a word) told as the regular story is, these memories are all told remarkably well.

Also, Gauche still remains a mystery. Considering that there are only two episodes left, I really wonder how much we’ll get to know of what the heck happened to him, before the long six-month wait until the second season appears. Right now things hint at an accident that happened somewhere around Honey Waters, and could it be that particular Gaichuu that got him? It’s unlikely, though: he was supposed to be the best Bee out there.
Rating: * (Good)