Yumekui Merry 13: End

For old times sake, the navel.

It’s episode 13! It’s the end of the series! It’s an anti-climax! Hurray?

This is the epic conclusion between Mistilteinn and the heroes; Yumeji had taken up arms to combat her. Like I predicted in the previous update he invariably lost, horribly to say the least. From there, Leon and Chizuru pick up the fight, then Merry, Yumeji, Merry again, and finally Play in combination with Merry. It’s almost never ending. Mistilteinn is defeated and dreams are saved, a good ending right?

I’m not exactly sure whether or not I should be classifying this anime in the shounen genre but the show does contain many of its aspects. Friendship and willpower being a few. I have the feeling that they either ran out of budget or manga to continue production. The ending left me disappointed. In episode one, I fawned over how the production quality was amazing and the worlds were so well defined. The quality of both have dropped in recent episodes and that may be culprit to my disappointment since it was a steady decline which denied me my anticipations.

Luckily, they went all out with this final installment. The animation is top notch and Play/Mistilteinn’s worlds are atmospheric enough to hold such a battle. However, I could see everything coming from a mile away. What I would like to ask is: where did the allure and mystery go? Where did the comedy and moe go? Where did half the cast go? Where the fuck did that teacher go after they defeated Treesea? There was no closure.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good anime. In a mind numbing sort of way but I digress. I believe that my expectations were much too high, I was not aware that the ending would be so abrupt. Merry didn’t show any extravagant powers, she didn’t even have the whole “Yumeji believes in me!” to break out of her mind prison. It was simply rushed.

John Doe makes a short appearance and lends Yumeji his powers. Yui SEEMED to be conjuring a thaumaturgic horn or trombone of some description and I thought Chizuru lost her soul when she shot that super bullet. I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

It truly felt as if they fit three episodes into one. There was no build up, the Bud of Despair portion wasn’t even properly developed! Yui just yanked at a few petals which dispersed with Merry popping out and shouting “I BELIEVE!”.

If they really were going to end it with this fight, take out a few scenes. There is no reason to tease the audience with a glimpse of Yumeji’s powers. Concentrating on creating a flash and enjoyable finale should be the priority even if it goes against the original plot. I’m tired of watching anime like this. The author was probably ecstatic when the manga was to be animated but it was not ready. Yumekui Merry could have been amazing, it could have become a cult phenomenon (disregarding the navel fetishes that have sprouted across the nation). Still, a nice distraction from the drudgery of reality.

At least I can expect a second season. Enjoy the pic spam.