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Sep 23, 2011 11:53 PM
#1
Offline
Jul 2010
384
THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
----------------------------------------
Equating idol singers to gods... it strikes me how silly Japanese Shintoism is. Every little inanimate object or concept has to be paired off with a 'god' empowered only by circular, paradoxical belief. The same could be said of all polytheistic religions, but this one has survived enough to influence modern thought. It's just stupid to deify blatantly mortal people whose intellects are worthless, and whose cultural importance is transient. Even talking about it makes me fool like an idiot, so I'm stopping.

On a more technical level, the series' pacing was slow toward the end. Plot exposition took entirely too long. Second to last episode had about an hour of straight talking. No significant animation, no actions, nothing about characters even. Just guys revealing disappointing information.

fun fact: Sakura's apartment remained a safehouse after she was captured and identified by the corporation. This corporation declined the opportunity to use its robot strike team (??) to invade. All of Tokyo's millions, and only handful of people in a couple locations matter.

When stuff finally started happening, I was yet again disappointed. The super-artist died randomly, because the main characters decided to be bastards, and Sakura died because DRAMA. I know she had the lifeforce mumbo-jumbo sucked out of her, presumably so it could be used for more pop concerts, but she lived long enough to be rescued. She could have lived another hour until the show ended if the writers weren't angsty nerds.

I generally disliked "Key" in the later parts. This change of heart wasn't solely because the quality lowered, although that played a part. The things I liked -- oppressive urban setting, cool musical direction, classic robot-human dilemma, themes of corporate corruption -- became too repetitive. If more people made fiction like this, I would never have liked it. Being alternative isn't the same as being good, even if at first it seems refreshing.

5/10 -_-
May 1, 2013 5:03 AM
#2

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Jan 2012
15
I can only agree that the pacing was slowed down towards the end. I generally liked the series, but it was a bit dull at times. Also, as you pointed out Luthimal, there were some really strange plot-twists, for example the death of Tsurugi, or rather how it happened. The story all in all was good, but some things just felt like they were thrown in, and didn't quite fit.
Jul 10, 2013 12:58 AM
#3
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Oct 2010
76
The episodes were really unecessary long. They even explained stuff that we already could figure out. Why did the last two episodes needed to be that long in the first place? Both of them could been have been half an hour.
May 16, 2014 6:09 PM
#4

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May 2012
25828
What an impressive ending I must say! I was rather sad when Sakura died but damn that ending sure was touching! Her goal has been reached and she returned to be a normal girl once again! These two last episode where the strongest in terms of development and information and I really liked how they presented it to the viewer!

All in all a really great anime! 9/10
Jul 18, 2014 7:29 PM
#5

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Jun 2008
222
The ending was weak. The entire show was better in concept than execution. It takes an incredibly skilled writer to take something like this and turn it into a show that doesn't have the exposition problem that this one had. Finally when everything got rolling in the last episode it went silly when all the gel just reminded me of The Blob. I enjoyed the start but it fell off a cliff at the end.
Apr 5, 2018 12:27 AM
#6

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Aug 2015
984
Sakura's death seemed preventable and thus pointless- why is it that Key is able to cure a dying boy she has no emotional attachment to, but cannot be moved to save Sakura, who she cares about, with her enormous amounts of geist?

Key's song seemed to trigger a localized Third Impact lol with the mutliple Keys running around etc.

This episode was theatrical length, and theatrical in tone unlike the previous episodes and I mostly enjoyed it.

I'm still not sure why Ajo wanted to replace Miho with a robot or why Miho went along with it, but I am just going to continue to take it as a metaphor for the treatment of idols.

I actually didn't care a whole lot about Key by the end of the show, finding most of the other characters more interesting, like Sakura or even Ajo's goons. Music was nice and I liked the visual aesthetic.
glassknucklesApr 5, 2018 12:42 AM
Jan 5, 2019 9:03 PM
#7

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Jan 2018
162
well i dunno. i kinda liked the series as a whole. these two films were lackluster tho, but the scene where ajo's head was crushed was awesome. i wasn't expecting much from a low budget 90's ova though, the way this was released was pretty interesting as well. 7/10 as a whole, it's all right. it's unique, i'll give it that, plus the style was pretty influential considering it was released in 1994-1996.
Apr 25, 2019 5:06 AM
#8

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May 2010
960
During episode 14 & 15, I hold my pee longer than when I'm watching Avenger:Endgame
Super long last 2 episode was unnecessary but overall I gave it a 8.
.
Jul 29, 2019 10:22 PM
#9
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Jul 2018
564084
This show is most definitely a 4/10. The build-up which was exposition with no reason to care about it left to an hour of disappointing ends. I know I complained about the build-up before as it took forever to get to the pay off as there were multiple scenes expanding through episodes. Which I still stand by btw, but Tsurugi confessed his love for Key out of nowhere and had a really stupid death "love me or leave me" smh. Sakura's death wasn't that great either. With all that build-up, the characters sure paid the price. I can't even remember the last non-plot related scene she had.
Aug 16, 2019 6:43 PM

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Oct 2016
301
I really enjoyed this.
The last 2 episodes were definitely too drawn out, and there were some really ridiculous moments, but it's obvious a lot of love was put into this, and there were many aspects of the show that I personally enjoyed.

Aug 19, 2019 5:56 AM

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Jun 2013
578
I bet this anime was made for TV but the station found it so poor that it canceled. Then the studio decided to release it as OVA the way it was.
Rod_RussAug 19, 2019 12:34 PM
Jun 23, 2020 11:06 AM
Obscure Anime Ma
Offline
Jan 2017
123
I was super disappointed by this episode. The pay off didn’t feel worth it, I feel like I should have watched the last two episodes and I would have had the same results. The idea was unique but the execution could have been done so well.
Jul 22, 2020 1:04 PM

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Aug 2018
879
Rod_Russ said:
I bet this anime was made for TV but the station found it so poor that it canceled. Then the studio decided to release it as OVA the way it was.


it will would be release for tv on modern times look at one piece it's still on, I wonder if the Sakura voice actress wanted more money so they killed her off early
Aug 14, 2020 4:22 PM

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Jun 2017
180
What an astounding mess of an ending. I can't even say it made me bitter towards the whole, because even during the low point of these past two episodes, the show has been full of moments that will stick with.
It's just, the first 13 episodes were so well paced compared to it's ending. There's probably several reasons for that, but it does hurt a little. As others above have said, certain plot points like Sakura and Tsurugi's deaths don't really feel "Earned" or capitalised on. I'm not surprised that Tsurugi was treated that (honestly, I'm thankful that he got as much attention as he did, since I like his character), but Sakura is practically our second most important character. And the bringing back of the porn director of all people made this episode feel a little bit like a reunion for characters you'd expect to be forgotten about by this point, seriously. Though I did like the depiction of Key's friendship with the boy she saved. Actually, I think that should have been emphasised more because otherwise it was hard to get an emotional reaction from the events of the ending. The only character who hadn't died yet besides Key was Tataki.
8/10 I loved it, better than evangelion.
Jul 31, 2021 4:06 PM

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Nov 2016
31879
It's quite funny because some idol fans are literally selling their souls (same can be said about idols themselves)

Key singing in that concert hall was some great pay-off. Also really liked that post ending scene.


And well, despite the last two episodes where things went downhill in terms of pacing, I'm glad that I watched this series. It managed to be a memorable watch.

One Piece episode 914 & 915 & 1027 were a mistake and 957 brought the salvation - FMmatron


Oct 3, 2021 11:27 AM

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Jun 2010
1873
After the adventure in Ajo's tower events seemed to rush along too quickly and at the end minor characters seem to be getting killed left and right just to remove them to wrap things up (Beniko just shows up dead on the floor for no reason). Even "D" is just disposed of after all the screentime he's gotten throughout the series.

There are TV series that do quite a lot in 12 episode but this OVA with the running-time equivalent of about 20 episodes is too slow in many places, rushed and confusing in others, and in the end seems to abreviate answers to important questions (or just lacks them). There's some intertsting ideas here but the execution of the show is pretty poor.
Oct 21, 2021 7:41 PM
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Dec 2017
27751
great series overall

Apr 15, 2022 6:10 PM
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Mar 2019
9419
I wish Sakura didn't die, she had such a hard time anyhow without doing away with her.
At least we got a sort of happy ending, not for everyone though.
If i hadn't waited so long to finish i may have added a point.
Still enjoyed it though.
May 28, 2022 2:57 PM

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May 2007
2129
I kind of stopped caring when Sakura died, thought it was interesting again when Key decided not to sing, but then she was forced to.

Who was that girl in the school uniform next to Key at the end (Miho?) and this show really needed an epilogue.

This episode dragged the show down a point or 2, 5/10.
My anime list
Jun 4, 11:35 AM

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Mar 2010
119
Man, there sure was something in the water in the 90s... 10/10 masterpiece, would use LCL GEL again. :^)

Jun 27, 12:24 AM
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Mar 2023
1
I wished Sakura didn't have to die so Key and Sakura can live happily together in Mamio Village.·´¯`(>▂<)´¯`·.
Jun 30, 3:35 AM
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Jul 2020
43
[i]Truly profound poor storytelling, and an incredibly forgettable main character, left me totally frustrated and annoyed at this wasted series. Could have been so much better if you could develop any of its main female characters ranging from of course, Key to Sakura to even Miho but their torment is left inaudible to the audience just being drained of their "gel" from watching the endless exposition disposition from our generic male leads. Its really incredible when think this show is an obvious critique of the horrific idol industry and yet the show simply never respects the torment their female characters are going through- the inner struggle of Sakura has so much potential and very fitting for this disappointing show her death is given little to no regard. But hey at least the child porn director survives. Also, the obvious similarity to the Evangelion madness makes me appreciate that series simply for allowing us to care about the last episode deluge of death in way this shows make it feel hollow and silly. But I do give the show one positive point, the music was rather pleasant and I wish there was a greater emphasis on both Key and Miho vocals. My grade for the show is only a 5/10.[/i]
Aug 15, 2:21 PM

Offline
Jul 2021
453
Reply to thisiodfkln
THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
----------------------------------------
Equating idol singers to gods... it strikes me how silly Japanese Shintoism is. Every little inanimate object or concept has to be paired off with a 'god' empowered only by circular, paradoxical belief. The same could be said of all polytheistic religions, but this one has survived enough to influence modern thought. It's just stupid to deify blatantly mortal people whose intellects are worthless, and whose cultural importance is transient. Even talking about it makes me fool like an idiot, so I'm stopping.

On a more technical level, the series' pacing was slow toward the end. Plot exposition took entirely too long. Second to last episode had about an hour of straight talking. No significant animation, no actions, nothing about characters even. Just guys revealing disappointing information.

fun fact: Sakura's apartment remained a safehouse after she was captured and identified by the corporation. This corporation declined the opportunity to use its robot strike team (??) to invade. All of Tokyo's millions, and only handful of people in a couple locations matter.

When stuff finally started happening, I was yet again disappointed. The super-artist died randomly, because the main characters decided to be bastards, and Sakura died because DRAMA. I know she had the lifeforce mumbo-jumbo sucked out of her, presumably so it could be used for more pop concerts, but she lived long enough to be rescued. She could have lived another hour until the show ended if the writers weren't angsty nerds.

I generally disliked "Key" in the later parts. This change of heart wasn't solely because the quality lowered, although that played a part. The things I liked -- oppressive urban setting, cool musical direction, classic robot-human dilemma, themes of corporate corruption -- became too repetitive. If more people made fiction like this, I would never have liked it. Being alternative isn't the same as being good, even if at first it seems refreshing.

5/10 -_-
@thisiodfkln I think the metaphor still makes a lot of sense from a sociological and psychological viewpoint, that's what the business is all about and why they're even called IDOLS. Fans worship their favorite celebrities (in general) like they're gods, defending them from any criticism, treating them like they're above any other human being just because they're popular, falling in love despite never meeting them... Especially in East Asian countries like Japan where they're literally forced to be perfect, seriously, look up how K-Pop and J-Pop Idols are treated. It's not the most original symbolism but it works for the story being told.

Also, those people were invaded because of their connection with Key, Ajo knew they were directly helping her achieve her goal. If they attacked Sakura's house, Key would've made the robots go berserk again. Tsurugi also died because of his obsession with Key, she was desperate to save Sakura and he got himself in danger.

I think the show explored It's themes very well, the only problem was episode 14 just telling us everything through an info dump instead of showing it, that and the supporting cast not being developed enough/their development feeling a bit rushed. Wish they delved more into things like Sakura finding her dream, Wakagi's history with Sergei or Tataki distancing himself from the fanclub. Otherwise I think the show was great, I give it a 9/10. Underrated.
AzafuseKingToraAug 15, 3:08 PM
Aug 15, 3:07 PM

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Jul 2021
453
Reply to Rod_Russ
I bet this anime was made for TV but the station found it so poor that it canceled. Then the studio decided to release it as OVA the way it was.
@Rod_Russ There's an interview with the director, he said they chose the OVA format from the start.

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