Final Impression:

Wait… Is this it?
Is this truly the end of Kakumeiki Valvrave?
…..
……..
………….
… Nah, it can’t be…
………… It can’t be… right? 
You have got to be fucking kidding me. Although I did have expectations to get a third season preview, that’s actually not the reason why I am so frustrated. This whole finale felt incredibly rushed and I dare say- bland. I don’t know what it was, but it was missing a crucial ingredient. Sure I got the shivers- mainly because I was anxious for my dear beloved characters’ lives, but man, I have to say… The fight between Haruto and Cain was incredibly underwhelming so much that… I felt almost boring! I was expecting so much more, ESPECIALLY since L-Elf told Haruto that in order to take Cain down, they must do the body-swap- which they did and should have been super awesome!!! There was something about the whole battle between the two of them that was a lacklustre. Perhaps it was because of the debate between Cain and Haruto as their ideals and reasonings clashed against each other. Cain claimed by living in secrecy that allowed them to live in peace (since the Humans were the first to attack them) until eventually, the Humans ending up creating the “Neo-Magius” (as I like to call them), while Haruto believed that they can achieve peace and existence with humans. Of course the joke here is that, had Dorrisia not attacked in search for the Valvrave Units in the first place, the project would have continued to be pursued in secrecy and Haruto and the others would be living their blissful lives in their Neutral Country of JIOR. It was that attack which had set everything into motion, creating the war and then forcing Haruto and the others to reveal the truth to the world because they were framed for the Council of Hundred and One’s harvest on Humans. So just as Haruto had said, Cain was sprouting excuses at this point by pinning them blame on the kids and scientists who had modified their genes, but I digress…
It is unfortunate to say that the bland fight wasn’t the only thing that disappointed me tonight. I was quite upset to see absolutely nothing about the Royalists Rebels except for “news tidbits” and being “told” about it. JFC, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF KRIEMHILD, THE ROYALISTS HAVE BEEN BASICALLY AN “OFF-SCREEN” PARTY THE ENTIRE FREAKING SHOW. COME ON! You’d think we’d actually get to see them in action, not just like five seconds of newsfeed screentime skimming over the action telling us “Eventually the humans found the Council of Hundred and One and killed them all off and A-Drei taking back his country with the rebels yadiyadiya~ THE END”, but an actual 23 minutes episode about them. But noooooooooo, they couldn’t fucking do that. They weren’t important enough to the plot. They basically merely existed as a plotdevice serving as “support” for the team and Kriemhild, A-Drei’s and L-Elf’s backstory and character goals.
Kakumeiki Valvrave 2 Ep 12 Img 0005Then we have both A-Drei and X-Eins go after Cain. While it was great to see X-Eins actually take Cain head on despite his major disadvantage and not to mention an inevitable death, it was somewhat nice to see that he was capable of holding his ground until he was able to deliver not a finishing, but at least hefty blow to Cain’s Valvrave Unit at the cost of his life. Then there was A-Drei VS Q-Vier. I was somewhat not surprised to see that A-Drei was the one to kill Q-Vier despite the fact he didn’t actually mean to. He was trying his hardest to explain the situation and talk it through, but we know that Q-Vier is far more interested in killing than talking. Like X-Eins’, it was a was somewhat sad ending and his death scene was brief. It was basically: “Oh okay he’s dead, MOVING ON”! 
Akira was almost killed on the spot by Cain himself. Luckily she was able to retreat thanks to Haruto intervening. I probably would have stormed away from the computer if they had killed her off. Thank god they didn’t. But they surprised me that Akira was the one to do the narration at the end since throughout the entire show it was Saki who was doing that. I suppose it makes sense because she is closer to Shouko than Saki, and that she was actively part of the big fight while Saki was pushing the module off the moon. Actually, speaking of Saki, I am sorely disappointed that both she and A-Drei lacked screentime. I’m not bias enough to take a fit about the lack of interaction between the two, (we were given a tidbit at the end with A-Drei catching the bouquet) but I am upset that neither of them had the chance to actively take part of the battle, nor tag-team (which could have been super awesome). Of course they had no one (with the exception of Cain and Q-Vier) to fight because both ARUS and Dorrisia army retreated and Haruto is the main character (who was dying) so naturally he wounds up hogging the spotlight by default.
Kakumeiki Valvrave 2 Ep 12 Img 0039On the more brighter note, there were a couple of things that I did enjoy in this episode. For one showcasing how far L-Elf and Haruto had come, and how L-Elf considered him as a dear friend. It was heartbreaking for him to have to discover that Haruto had lost all his memories except for a split second when he fist-bumped L-Elf’s lips during his last breath. It was also sweet to see that Shouko had decided to become a Valvrave Pilot and take over Haruto’s unit in dedication to him and his wishes. Pity we never got to see her in action… It was also really nice to see that the memories that had been lost appears to have been stored in Haruto’s Valvrave unit. It’s definitely a bittersweet touch to his parting. On the random note: Yay all the girls survived! But most of all, there was a very nice touch that is easy to miss if you’re half asleep (admitedly I only caught this when I was doing the screencaps) where instead of “Do you Resign as a Human Being?” the question is changed to, “Do you believe in Human Beings?”
Overall I am sorely disappointed. I can only hope that they will make a freaking sequel- perhaps do a time jump like Gundam 00 had did when it made its second season (25 episodes/season)  (while excluding a stupid idiot like Saji Crossroad ARGGGG- jfc I can’t stand characters like him THEY DRIVE ME INSANE!) to elaborate further on how they eventually managed to succeed creating a place where both “Neo-Magius” and Humans can co-exist. I mean like come on- killing off the Magius Council of Hundred and One and then “THE END” is just plain lazy writing in my opinion.
We also were never given an explanation whatsoever of why Haruto’s runes were leaking/burst in the first place (refer to last week on when he and L-Elf were trapped) besides Cain having punctured it the supply/core or whatever. That really annoys me because that forces us to come up or stick with out headcanons that we already came up with. In this case, mine was “Motivation to Live/Power of the Heart” blah blah blah you get the picture. And of course there’s that big mystery question of: How in the world have Saki (in particular since we seen her fighting in the future over the course of the show) preserve her memories. We never got an answer whether they found a way to protect their memories- something that had been on my mind for a very long time.
I feel this could have wrapped up far better than it had and for the love of god please don’t be the end! THERE IS SO MUCH STORY TO TELL AND I WANT AND NEED A BETTER, SATISFYING WRAP UP! Kakumeiki Valvrave 2 was pretty great story-wise up till this point, so I feel quite cheated with this “ending”.
Again I’m not going to bother doing a separate Overall Review because of my wrists and not to mention I’m pissed with this so-called ending.
Story/Plot: 7/10 Great intriguing storyline but GOD DAMN IT, WHY END IT LIKE THIS?! Give me more.
Characters & Development: 8/10 – This is kind of hard to judge. I’m going to give it an eight because the main cast had a solid development (in particular: L-Elf, Haruto and Akira). Who gives a fuck about the bitchy minor characters.
Animation Quality: 7.5/10
Orignal Soundtrack: 8/10 – Who doesn’t like the OST?
Overall Score: 7.5/10
Recommendation: Depends on your Mecha Tastes

Kakumeiki Valvrave 2 was pretty great story-wise up till this point. It was far darker than the first season as the cruel fate came into play. The reason why I’m giving this show a 7.5 is because I absolutely hate the “ending” and it should have been better. The .5 mark is basically that little flame of hope that there will be a third season to fulfil our needs, otherwise it’s merely a 7/10. Don’t get me wrong though, Kakumeiki Valvrave is a great mecha show that is worth to check out, but certainly not the best and won’t necessarily appeal to everyone’s taste.

Kakumeiki Valvrave 2 Ep 12 Img 0045
Obligatory Adorable A-Drei to finish off this entry!

Eva

Blogging Anime since Summer 2009, & Founder of AngryAnimeBitches Anime Blog ...I may or may not be addicted to writing

This Post Has 9 Comments

  1. KF

    Is this truly the end? Is Haruto truly dead? Who is that prince?

    1. Eva

      According to a twitter response from Okouchi about the little prince, “Leave it up to your imagination” – Source

  2. WandererYS

    I agree that the ending wasn’t satisfying. I think one problem with the fights was that the climax….erm…. was never a climax. I mean, when they swapped bodies, it would have been great if they immediately damaged Cain’s unit more before he realizes it (or even, make it the finishing blow). Instead Cain’s unit gets a few small shots in the face. That’s it. Okay…… That helped a….tiny bit….. Yeah, it is things like that that just makes the fight too bland.
    Ps. I think it was “Do you [Resign] as a Human Being?” in the previous contract.

    1. Eva

      You’re absolutely right, there was no climax it just… happened…
      Oh welp, yeah I told myself to fix that but then I forgot (3am lmfao) thanks for pointing that out XDDD

      1. WandererYS

        Oh don’t worry about it. I always hate it too when a word I spelled wrong is actually a word, which means spell checkers can’t pick it up.

  3. 123

    Urgh, my thoughts mirror yours exactly. All the stuff at the end could have been season 3 lol.
    At least H-Neun died. I hated him.

  4. Vantage

    At least Akira didn’t die. I wouldn’t have taken it well if Cain had killed her.
    Rather weird moment near the end when Shouko was confronted by two weird alien creatures (presumably a remnant faction of the Council or some Magius group). I agree with 123; all that chaos post-Haruto, establishing their country and handling the remaining Magius could easily have made up a third season.
    Though with how they announced a split-cour back when it first aired, I think they planned this sort of ending all along.

    1. Eva

      //Though with how they announced a split-cour back when it first aired, I think they planned this sort of ending all along//
      And if they did, that would be quite a bummer. =___= Arggggggggggg *HEADESKS*

  5. WandererYS

    One thing to ponder about, though, is how easy people can be manipulated on the internet. I guess this may have been a quite explicit thing the anime showed throughout the series. From Haruto becoming a war hero, his fall after being identified as not human, and the revelation of the magius. You look at today’s world with the internet hatred that can be easily fueled with just a single facebook/twitter/blog post,

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