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| THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE. ---------------------------------------- I kind of liked this animé, and I hated it too. The ending, however strange it was, was satisfying for some reason even though the whole earth got wiped out(?), because that was what happened right? There was one thing that really sucked tough, we were never told the reason! Why the heck did "they" have to make Chise the ultimate weapon, we were never told the reason why they just had to make her do all this, was the reason that the one who chose who to use was a pedo? And Shuji said that everyone already knew why the earthquakes were increasing, but we were never told, was it because the other side of the world already was destroyed? And what was the reason for the war? There were so much things in this animé that made me angry, but still, that strange ending redeemed the animé. Hope the OVA will explain the ending somewhat, was Shuji hallucinating? Why was everything white? Where was he, inside his own mind? How was he saved? I'm gonna shut up now, since I'm just talking crap anyway. |
| LOL ending satisfying? Are you serious? I don't think you really got it, because if you did, you definitely wouldn't consider it satisfying. It's probably better that way, though. |
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| It wasn't really satisfying, but the end was better than expected. And the everyone died ending wasn't as bad as I though, it expresses the stupidity of humans very well, and the evil ones were killed too. Of course if the same scenario would have been shown in a different manner it might have been much more saddening, like you get to actually see everyone get killed and Shu-chan is left in all alone in despair. But since he was happy or something like that in the end and made a fantasyworld for himself and Chise it was ok I think. |
| I first thought Shuji got insane ^^ well if your really the only one in the world, who wouldn't be? |
| I there fore conclude that Only Chise's body can adapt in the weapon substance, so the military is forced to use her in the project , (seen in Saikano OVA) |
| Ah really? I haven't seen the OVA yet (I really plan to do that soon, because I just finished the anime), but that certainly explains why they used a girl like Chise as weapon. But now another question is surfacing in my mind.. Why is Chise the only one who is capable of being formed into a weapon? Sigh, I think I should stop having questions about the anime, because it really drives me crazy how vague the information about the world and everything has been (beside the storylines of the important characters). I can understand that it was the creator's intention to focus the storyline mainly on Chise and Shuji when thinking about the sentence: 'The last love song on this little planet'. And now I actually think about it, the anime's storytelling totally makes sense to me now, because the whole anime is focused on that little sentence. However, I didn't enjoy the anime. I didn't cry no matter how sad it was (don't get me wrong. As far as I know, I'm a very sensible person and I've cried before when watching something, but this time I did not and I guess that's because I wasn't attached to the characters very much), I was really shocked and terrified at certain times, like sudden deaths and destruction, those creepy things when Chise went into machine mode ^^'' I don't know how many times I had thought by myself: 'I'm quite curious how the anime will end, but I don't think I"ll watch this ever again'. And I absolutely disliked the fact that they didn't show what was actually going on in the world. I didn't totally hate the anime though, there were some scenes that I liked in the anime, but that excludes every sad or dramatical scene. I like anime with drama in it, but not to this extent (of course, war is anything but fun or nice). To conclude this.. I didn't enjoy this except for some nice scenes, but the storyline itself was quite original (human as weapon, world war, everyone dead, world destruction) and the question: 'how will Shuji and Chise survive all this? How will they handle the fact that Chise is being turned in a machine?' kept me going. Just like Death Note, I purely watched this because of that suspense. Because this anime is so different from other anime (from what I've watched anyway), I think it's actually not a bad anime, because of the originality and suspense, because those things only really mattered since you can say that the main purpose was to tell 'the last love song on this little planet'. Yep, that's what I think about it. |
RespecticanAug 20, 2008 3:27 AM
| read the last chapter of the manga,saikano.you will understand how it end in the anime. |
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| Well, that was an interesting way to bring about a close - it all went a bit Evangelion didnt it? Im kinda with the first poster here, that sort of ending should have been a complete debacle, however it sort of fitted... As for the series, Im pretty much agree with Respectican, the show did have some effect on me, I was hooked into watching what happens, even though it was pretty clear it wouldnt end well, my gripes would be the ham-fisted approach to the emotional scenes, a lot of them would have been more moving or touching had the directors not seen fit to squeeze as much sadness into every moving scene they could, the end result was a bit of an overload and to be honest it took away from what should have been very poignant and emotional moments. Again, i find myself crying when I watch anime more then I care to admit, Ive cried watching Rozen Maiden - for example, however this show didnt pack the same emotional punch, a mix of the above, combined with a male lead I found it very hard to relate to (he cheats on his girlfriend, slaps his chidlhood friend around and im supposed to root for him?) An interesting anime, one that I dont regret watching, but one im unlikely to rewatch or recommend, since in my eyes its a bit of a failure, nice idea but failed in its execution |
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| I'm glad it ended the way it did |
There was one thing that really sucked tough, we were never told the reason! Why the heck did "they" have to make Chise the ultimate weapon, we were never told the reason why they just had to make her do all this, was the reason that the one who chose who to use was a pedo? And Shuji said that everyone already knew why the earthquakes were increasing, but we were never told, was it because the other side of the world already was destroyed? And what was the reason for the war? There were so much things in this animé that made me angry, but still, that strange ending redeemed the animé. Hope the OVA will explain the ending somewhat, was Shuji hallucinating? Why was everything white? Where was he, inside his own mind? How was he saved? I'm gonna shut up now, since I'm just talking crap anyway. Good post Darkblue... If not for the bizarre ending and good music I would give it 1... Many questions unaswered - but the worst was that the series somehow encourages sex between underage kids... Where is the good, old Sailor Moon ? There was also a big love- but they only kissed... Well- they dont have a good plot- so filled it with sex and killings- so that nobody would pay much attention to the storyline full of holes... Now Shuji is all alone imagining Chise- there will be no school, so they can spend their whole time making love at that balcony... What a waste of time it was... |
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| at first i was a bit confused on what i should think about this show, i just cant describe what iam currently thinking about all this... all i know is, that its just too saddened and somehow scarry anyway, a weird ending but an overall good show! chocho said: Many questions unaswered - but the worst was that the series somehow encourages sex between underage kids... why? both were 17yrs old. well i dont know where your from and whats your legal situation about sex is but real love cant be stopped by law... |
| I think the story could have been a lot better if they put more effort into it. Still not the human turn weapon story I am looking for. Like always this the I have all that power but don't want to fight kinda story, where the heroine is a crybaby and the love interest isn't better. Well the story wasn't all that bad even if all the plot holes make it look like a swiss cheese. The action is good the characters are ok, but still I was hoping for more. |
| what an ending ,everything was destroyed except Shuji ; ( How could it come to this, what was the thing in the sky? --- Well, the main idea of this show is good,but what they made of it, is not satisfiing for me. I didn't liked it The Opening and Ending theme was not my taste I dislked that the characters cried soooooooooooooooooooooo much I disliked Shuji, and his voice actor and I really wished for more action Chise was the best character,she was cute and her voice actress was very good When you want a good and more realistic Drama mixed with romance, then watch Kimi ga Nozomu Eien If you want less drama and more romance with comedy watch Nanatsuiro Drops |
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| This serie didn't seem that special to me at first. but after I saw like 2 or 3m,I fell in love. This story about a girl with alot of problems,and a clumsy with words boyfriend, well, it's sad. I loved the serie to the fullest. allthough the drawings weren't the best I've ever seen,I still got rather caught up in the plot. Sad love story,yes indeed. I started of rather good,and ended just perfectly. a strong 9/10 |
| Two words. Not satisfying. I don't know what it was about this anime, but, it seemed hollow to me. Nothing was explained. Why was there a war, why was chise the ultimate weapon yet still allowed to go to school and be in a relationship, why was the notion that the world was coming to an end only introduced in the final episode, why was shuji so connected to chise in the first place since he clearly stated in earlier episodes that he didn't want to go out with her at first. The whole anime was just riddled with holes in it like swiss cheese. Nothing made any sense, the plot was purely driven by the two main characters infatuation for each other and it seemed as though there was no connection between them and reality apart from her going of every other episode to kill stuff. Watching this anime was like watching a normal movie that actually makes sense with no sound and is barely visible due to tv interference. |
| The end reminds me akira or paranoia agent. this episode is so strange but if you look at all the 12 other episodes, this anime is pretty correct, with great graphism and great interaction beetween firsts and second characters. But this anime don't make me cry, I prefer something like air tv. |
| Final Fantasy VII is a shitty game. |
| Last ep was creepy a little. I feel angry because that was crazy. I don't realize what creator had in his mind. I know that he wants to show us this full of tears love story, but I don't understand this last scenes. Ok. Shuji is last human on the world...and? Everything what he have is love and memories sooo he's gonna die too? When he was talking with "memories" that looks really scary. |
| The ending was really good in my opinion. It was a stupid ending. But the way they executed it was satisfying. I didn't really get it myself but i was fine with the ending. |
| We don't really need to know WHY there was a war and such. Going into so many details would just be tedious and make this more action than it is love and tragedy. Use your imagination, resources running out, someone set off a nuke, etc. etc. Stop asking all these questions and just use your imagination lmao |
Kalbarr said: Last ep was creepy a little. I feel angry because that was crazy. I don't realize what creator had in his mind. I know that he wants to show us this full of tears love story, but I don't understand this last scenes. Ok. Shuji is last human on the world...and? Everything what he have is love and memories sooo he's gonna die too? When he was talking with "memories" that looks really scary. Yeah, the ending really is kind of a mindscrew isn't. It's somewhat ambigous as to what the two main character's ending situation really is. Personally, I liked it. I would have liked to know more about the war, Chise, and the contents of those diaries, but in this case I think it was probably best that those things were never answered. I would have been even more disappointed with half-assed answers and the time it would take to provide satisfactory answers to those questions would probably end up being longer than the runtime of the entire series. |
| What were those spikes in the sky??? Why did the war start and who was Chise fighting against?what nation... |
| This is what I think after reading the manga and watching the TV anime. The anime version has more or less slight differences compared to the manga, but now I'm talking about the anime that I finished today/yesterday. Shinoda said: What were those spikes in the sky??? Why did the war start and who was Chise fighting against?what nation... Chise had become very big, and only part of her was in the form of Chise with Shuji. Most of her was in the spikes and where they came from, or at least Chise made the spikes move. Did you notice how one of them tried to protect Shuji when the tsunami came closer? That's also how Shuji survived. Chise gave her body to keep her dear Shuji alive like he wished, and I'm not sure if it was Chise's spirit or just memories of her that Shuji talked to in the end. As for the second question, Chise told the reason of the war... oh no, not really. She told why the enemies were still attacking in the end: they knew that Chise, the strongest weapon on Earth was there, and they wanted to keep living, to keep their people alive, and so they tried to get Chise to themselves. (Remember how no one seemed to know what Chise was.) Unfortunately, it was too late and there was nothing to be done, and Chise knew it. She just wanted to stay with Shuji for a little while longer, so she attacked the planes that disturbed them. It really doesn't matter who was attacking or what the cause of the war was. That doesn't change the fact that when there's war, people feel lost and many lives are lost for circumstances that they don't have anything to do with it when you give it a thought. Everyone just wants to keep on living and let their dear ones live a long, happy life, if possible. "Je veux vivre" was one of the sentences in the opening animation. Besides, the only medium that worked during the (end of the?) series was the radio where they played the love song, so I don't think the characters knew, either, what was against them. Also, someone had referred to the enemies as "evil guys" or something like that. Do you remember the scene where Shuji and Akemi's friend gets killed? For a second, I was hoping that he and the enemy soldiers would get to know each other, but they just shot him down 'cause they didn't know what he was saying and vice versa. Just in case. :( This story isn't about war; it's about love and awkwardness. No matter how many times one of the girls who watched this with me complained on how the characters just talked and talked and how boring it was, there wasn't any more action (like in action movies) than a few catastrophes and deaths. Though I do think that the point was more clear in the manga than in the anime. DarkBlue said: And Shuji said that everyone already knew why the earthquakes were increasing, but we were never told, was it because the other side of the world already was destroyed? The earthquakes were increasing because the world was near its end. Would you still believe you're gonna live a long life when there are big earthquakes, enemy planes abd attacks, people leaving their homes and never coming back, no mass media (and people clinging on a single song played on the radio, perhaps hoping almost hopelessly that everything will be back to normal again)... DrHouse said: I would have liked to know more about the war, Chise, and the contents of those diaries, but in this case I think it was probably best that those things were never answered. The contents of the diaries were told briefly in the manga. She had written about fighting enemies like it was an everyday thing ("I met Shuji on my way to school and ate lunch with just the two of us on the roof. I had to leave before the fourth period and ended up destroying two cities again. Then I came back home." or something like that, I suppose) and "I'm sorry" repeated countless times. I think. chocho said: Many questions unaswered - but the worst was that the series somehow encourages sex between underage kids... Where is the good, old Sailor Moon ? There was also a big love- but they only kissed... Well- they dont have a good plot- so filled it with sex and killings- so that nobody would pay much attention to the storyline full of holes... Now Shuji is all alone imagining Chise- there will be no school, so they can spend their whole time making love at that balcony... Weehee. The manga was published in Big Comic Spirits (seinen magazine, ie. meant for young men) and the anime series came out at 2:30 a.m. at least on one TV channel (the only one that was recorded on Wikipedia). How on Earth would kids see this? You know, all anime/manga is not meant for children. :) And actually, there were only slightly pornographic scenes until the last episode(s). Every time they were about to have sex with someone, the other one said no. Besides, they did nothing but held hands and kissed before realizing how deep their feelings were. Shuji got stopped when he saw Chise's scar, felt really guilty after the time spent with Fuyumi, couldn't have sex with her when he saw an illusion of Akemi, and Tetsu stopped Chise when he realized she was doing it out of pity. Where is my porn? Oh, yes, in the last episode(s) where I can see two naked people sitting, looking at each other and breasts being washed. Does your life have a good, interesting plot? Of course you never get lured to do anything by anyone or make mistakes and you never hesitate, am I right? Well, my life hasn't got a plot at all. The creator of Saikano manga has been married for 20 years or so, and somehow I enjoy the fanservice meant for guys nowadays. I'm sorry for anything weird. I feel a bit dizzy (quite sure I've got a temperature) and it's half past four a.m. now and I haven't read to the test that'll begin after three and half hours. |
FlaronaMay 6, 2010 6:35 PM
 Am I allowed to post without an avatar? |
| Thank you flarona! |
| Thanks for the explanation Flarona I think i wil watch the ovas before posting, i still have some plotholes left in my head. I can let most of then go by knowing that the focus of the anime is the love a store, but even tahat way there are somethings that i cant understand. |
| Well reading that explanation helped but doesn't stop the fact this series was really confusing. |
| Well I just finished this anime and really, it didn't feel sad at all. I didn't feel like I wanted to shed tears like in animes such as Aria or Clannad/Ef but instead, I felt depressed like 'what am i doing with my life again', kind of feeling. Anyway, the last episode was definitely not a total disappointment, unlike NHK for example. My interpretation of the ending is that she used her technology to implant part of herself in him, making him a bit of a robot able to sustain life on his own. But meh, I feel like I want to give this anime a 9 but at the same time it deserves like a 7. |
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| I hated how it ended, It was like one of those weird twilight zone episode. |
| The way i'm seeing the ending. Is her useing her technology to "store" her memory of him in her, as we are told that she can't die, so that he will live forever as a memory or as "data" inside of her. |
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| Aww, thank you, Kurogashi and kyrie_kyo! That way Shuji won't die either! You made even the manga ending less depressing to me, so thank you! ^^ |
| Am I allowed to post without an avatar? |
| i agree with Daimakaicho just finished and of to bed now (it's 6 in the morning and pulled an all nighter to finish it) i watched the series and i for some reason understood everthing Flarona explaind. in the end i didn't have any questions left. the ova gave some aditional info of what happend at the military base wich was a nice touch. and for me the ending was like chise was tired of fighting and knew the world was going to end (that's why she was summing up all the times history fortoled the end of the earth) so she destroyed the earth and end the fighting and the war (and people getting hurt, her included) and i read it somewhere in this topic, just use your imagination a bit... sometimes you should think a bit out of the box. same deal lot's of people didn't understand madoka or yes i'm refering to THAT anime "school days" and imho yes this is what war could/will lead to in the end |
| An emotional series that bought me almost to tears. 9/10. This is an anime that I won't forget for a hell of a long time and is considering re-watching. |
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| well i loved the serie i know many people where bothered by the character design some even droped it because of that but i need to say i couldn't even pay atention to that i give it a 10/10 many will disagree maybe but opening and ending where good the serie made there point clear about earth and humans and i just like the ending of the serie even to think he is all alone |
| "When a flat-chested loli hugs you, she holds you closer to her heart" "--I am a single bullet. It has no heart. Therefore, it does not think. It just flies straight towards its target."  |
| Wow. Well, Saikano was.. sad. Period. Too sad. So much of sadness, that by the end, I didn't care much, because the whole scenario was so hopeless, it's just like, whatever. Kinda. Lol. Idk. Also, the world wasn't explained enough.. I know they just wanted to focus on Shuji and Chise's relationship, but without much context, it doesn't feel very satisfying. Eh, I still shed some tears, although I don't feel anything afterwards. Most interesting characters, to me, were Akemi and Tetsu. They intrigued me, and their deaths really saddened me. The two main characters were too cliche, but they still tugged at my heartstrings at times. Saikano is forgettable. -- I think that's how I feel in the end. Sure, there were some moments of profound thought, and if you really want to dig into it, you might find it deep, but in the end, to me it's just a hopelessly sad anime that'll make you cry, but won't leave an impression. (NOTHING at the feet of Grave of the Fireflies haha :P) Anyway, 6/10... |
fishergirl16Aug 9, 2012 9:25 PM
fishergirl16 said: Wow. Well, Saikano was.. sad. Period. Too sad. So much of sadness, that by the end, I didn't care much, because the whole scenario was so hopeless, it's just like, whatever. Kinda. Lol. Idk. Also, the world wasn't explained enough.. I know they just wanted to focus on Shuji and Chise's relationship, but without much context, it doesn't feel very satisfying. Saikano is forgettable. -- I think that's how I feel in the end. Sure, there were some moments of profound thought, and if you really want to dig into it, you might find it deep, but in the end, to me it's just a hopelessly sad anime that'll make you cry, but won't leave an impression. (NOTHING at the feet of Grave of the Fireflies haha :P) Anyway, 6/10... Yeah, The show seemed hopeless. It felt like it was written by someone who should be on suicide watch. Japan seems to enjoy making series like this one. but i don't like watching them. Life can be depressing enough. I really don't need to see " no hope" stories too often. |
| This show is the reason I wish MAL would allow half-ratings. I'd really like to give it a 6.5 It was far better than everything I've given 6 to, but not quite enjoyable enough to earn a full 7. DAMMIT! I really liked this show, It's such a pity that I somehow didn't enjoy it that much. I feel like it's a true masterpiece that I just can't fully appreciate. |
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| I'm disappointed. I wanted to see some action in the series. For an ultimate weapon, we barely see her in action. The most was in this last episode, and it was only a few seconds. Too many secondary characters die. That's fine, but they should've gone deeper into the characterization of those characters. The last is the enemy. They never explained the conflict, why there were earthquakes, and those spiky things in the air. The world was ending, but they never explained why either. I could excuse all of that if they showed more action scenes, or focused more on the plot. In the end, neither was able to meet my expectations. They had the right idea for a plot, but it wasn't well developed. I'd give it a 5/10 |
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| Liked this anime and hated it too. Eventually I got frustrated with all the "I love you", "I just wanted to disappear", "Don't say that!", yadda yadda yadda....ugh. Other moments (like when Masa was hit but Shuji didn't even bleed) made me facepalm. However I liked the depressing tone and situation the world was in. When I heard about this I heard it was super depressing. It is, but while watching it I didn't feel anything. Not even a whine or sniff came out of me. I understand that it was more about Chise and Shuji than the conflict, but the rest says everything: Animatronix said: I'm disappointed. I wanted to see some action in the series. For an ultimate weapon, we barely see her in action. The most was in this last episode, and it was only a few seconds. Too many secondary characters die. That's fine, but they should've gone deeper into the characterization of those characters. The last is the enemy. They never explained the conflict, why there were earthquakes, and those spiky things in the air. The world was ending, but they never explained why either. I could excuse all of that if they showed more action scenes, or focused more on the plot. In the end, neither was able to meet my expectations. They had the right idea for a plot, but it wasn't well developed. I'd give it a 5/10 |
| The statement below is true. The statement above is false. |
| A tentative 8/10. Sort of like the ending to Evangelion. One of the most depressing anime I've seen, still I didn't cry though. I think this needs a lot more character building before the depressing stuff kicked in. It needs more of a contrast, more scenes not focusing purely on the war or sad romance. |
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| The plot holes and the ending kinda reminded me of Evangelion. Yeah it's sad and tragic but I never shed a tear for this one. 6/10 |
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VEE12 said: Daturian said: To all those who are upset about the ending, I think there is a huge theme that was portrayed that you might have missed, and it makes the ending so much better: "Love conquers all". 10/10 no contest Agreed. The world survived its end, even if it was only in Shuji's heart. The ending was depressing to be sure; I am not sure whether Shuji's last scenes is reality or merely a beautiful delusion that will help him cope in the time he has left. I've always thought that they should re-release this series with Shuji's eventual death at its conclusion. |
| Not many Anime could make me stand up and applaud but at the end of the show, I was doing just that. It's one of my top 5 favorite Anime. |
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| What a finale full of special effects, all the budget for this project was saved for this This apocalyptic end of the world which only seems consist Japan, the US and other English speaking nations was unreal Although the animation quality is quite bad at times I think when aired back in 2002 it was acceptable The OP animation reminded me of Last Exile from the same studio Saikano excels in the lines and dialogues overall (minus Shuu favorite returning words: Chise and Aho) the first half was really good with Shuuji and Chise's romantic relationship After that with the intensifing war there were great highs like Shuuji and Chise managing to be faithful somehow and terrible lows such as the kill scenes where the survivor doesn't make any sense At the final of the tenth run the fansubgroup had a nice warning message about things ended with a happy end and continueing till towards the last would hurt and be painful which was kind of ironic from what has been presented so far The last three episodes turned out to be some kind of "After Story" a lot of more shows seems to be inspired by Saikano such as Freezing and Ars Nova I liked the voicecast bringing the emotional scenes convincingly even if the script of some were horrendous Love scenes and the complicated relations visited were interesting, Shuuji was like a Casanova while Chise battling for the Nation A remake with a better directed and todays animation level would certainly be a masterpiece I would watch it even knowing the story already |
| "We don't really need to know WHY there was a war and such. Going into so many details would just be tedious and make this more action than it is love and tragedy. Use your imagination, resources running out, someone set off a nuke, etc. etc. Stop asking all these questions and just use your imagination lmao" +1000 and it would have been off topic, because the hero doesn't know that, so the spectator is not supposed to know these informations as well. if the anime is "plenty of holes", it's done on purpose. I can't understand why people are acting like that each time an anime ends. sometimes, it's justified, but most of the time they don't understand why it doesn't explain things. |
| Final Fantasy VII is a shitty game. |
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