When I finished the first episodes of my seasonals, this show was at the bottom of the ranking. A bunch of meaningless action scenes and no real plot to follow. It quickly improved to the middle of the pack with decent character episodes and by episode 5 I started to really like it and I've been praising it a lot over the last few episodes. And honestly, the finale is no diffrent!
There sure was a lot going on there. If you read this, feel free to skip to the end as I've got a ton of praise and speculations here...
Starting with the attack on the palace, Leo got to show of his powers again and they are probably the coolest in the entire show! There was also the discussion with his father, which was resolved pretty uneventful as the invaders were shut down before it could reach it's climax. But honestly, I don't trust Theodore Pinochle one bit. I got no idea what his motivations are, but it feels like he uses his son as a tool. He sure is a prime suspect for the masked man. With Klondike, Lindsey and the high-ranking Pinochle members all being very suspicious, I feel like there will be a great conspiracy for season 2.
Meanwhile, Sugar Pease and Chelsey make sure Finn gets to meet with the other High Card members, with the former saving him form Owen and the later from Klondike's psychic girl. I'm glad they also get their screentime here. This show treats it's side characters very well! Bernard Symons, the old guy from High Card, was also pretty interesting. At first, I thought he was working with Klondike, but later, it seemed he was actually loyal to High Card. I wonder if there will be more on him.
Afterwards, High Card (minus Chris) finally reunites and I'm super happy Wendy (or Love P) got to show of her Ace powers this season! Her fight against the Klondike psychic was so cool! It was really nice to see Sugar and her Senpai helping Wendy out - It seems Sugar really changed something in him for the better. Also, Love P being shot down by that sign was hillarious!
While the psychic survived Wendy, it seems she was later killed off by the masked knight. A bit sad, as I liked her powers a lot, but there are still a ton of other very dangerous Klondike members, plus Ban himself seems to have incredible power too!
Now, on to the finale! I really like how they made every ability of High Card play a part in saving Chris, with Finn's final shot being a successful gamble to save both Chris and Michel. I'm so glad this season got a happy end, because I like them both a lot! However, I wish they had added a scene of Chris and Finn atop the ferris wheel - that would've been really sweet.
With this season coming to a close with a happy end, I'm super excited for Season 2! I think it will probably be even better, now that the world building was established.
I love the characters, the mystery and the abilities in this show a lot! It also had very smooth transitions between the many genres it brought together! Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Action - not many shows manage to balance that out so nicely. But those who do are usually great!
For negative aspects, I have the terrible first episode, Vijay getting sidetracked a lot (for a main character) and maybe a little bit to much pace on the many plot strings. 13 episodes would've been perfect for me, with another one for Vijay plus Klondike story between episode 5 and 6. But that's just complain on a high level!
In the end, it is my favorite anime of the season and an easy 9/10. |