Eva’s Final Impression:
Good grief, this episode was ridiculous. Why? While yes it had gorgeous animation, it was fun to watch the fights… THE WHOLE PLOT OR WHATEVER THE FUCK IS GOING ONLY CREATED MORE QUESTIONS THAN GIVING US ANSWERS. NOT MENTION I WAS COMPLETELY LOST. And don’t even get me started on how stupidly thick Izayoi’s plot-armor is. That wind that Pest was whipping around that would kill anyone that it touches, it was like that god damn hyper-beam bullshit all over again. I still don’t understand how that even happened in the first place- HOW DO YOU SHATTER A HYPER BEAM? REALLY? HOW? LIKE EVEN THOUGH WE KNOW IT IS COMPLETELY ILLOGICAL, I STILL CAN’T ACCEPT IT. IT’S THAT RIDICULOUS. So when Izayoi just simply kicked the fucking ominous death wind and was didn’t die when he made contact- for real- that is going WAY overboard with the plot-armor.
However it could be that Izayoi’s gift is something that cancel out another’s gift. But until we actually have an ANSWER that is the case, I’m calling it a plot-armor because we have yet to find out what Izayoi’s weakness- IF HE EVEN HAS ANY.
On the other hand, it made a whole lot more sense that Asuka was able to block it because one, it was this barrier thing provided by DEEN and two she wasn’t actually physically touching it. So at this point, lets just go with the idea that Izayoi is in fact not human like he thinks he is, but some Immortal God Child or something. With that said, it is honestly too bad that they couldn’t explain it on why he’s like that and follow up on how his gift is revealed to be ‘Uknown’.
Azuka was able to pretty much have her power-up and moment to shine as she was able to defeat both Ratten and deliver the final blow against Pest with The Spear of Indra. I am glad that she was the one to obtain them victory instead of Izayoi. With that said, it’s a shame that Kasukabe couldn’t participate in this final battle, but her Gift simply wasn’t suited for this, nor was she in the condition to do so.
Because I was so lost with what on earth happened this episode, I am going to leave it to Tenderfoot if she feels like going through the hassle of explaining it. If she does, she will make things a whole lot more clear for all of us.
First of all, what caused the mass confusion is just how randomly they would jump to the trio and then suddenly give us this answer out of nowhere In fact, this whole revelation of the truth and the identities was a complete mess and felt so disorganized. We jump from Izayoi revealing the minute the episode began that Weaser is in fact the real Pied Piper of Hamlin. Then we find out that Pest represents 80 million evil spirits that wants revenge on The Sun aka Shiroyasha (who represents it or whatever). I just- it felt so crammed. I don’t know whether I feel this way because I’m sick and when I’m sick my head is not where I need it to be and I can’t focus as well- I don’t know. Who knows.
Despite all the WTF worthy moments and confusion, I enjoyed Mondaijitachi. It has a certain charm that makes it a fun to watch, but it’s not something I would recommend as a “MUST WATCH”. The characters are very likable, the animation for most part is flawless and extremely gorgeous- especially during the fights (in particular during this final episode). It is definitely a show that will confuse you if you are completely unfamiliar with the tale of Pied Piper of Hamelin. I highly recommend that if you do decide to watch this and you find yourself confused, to refer to Episode 9 where Tenderfoot did a great job breaking it down so that we (those who are unfamiliar with the tale) can properly understand both more about the references and the story.
Last but not least it looks like they left it open in case they do end up making a second season (that is very much needed to hopefully fullfill the many unanswered questions). If Mondaijitachi does in get second season, I will definitely tune in- but considering how I struggle to follow the story, I won’t be blogging it.
With that said, I’m not going to bother making an Overall Review post like I usually do. As I just explained in the above what the problems and highlights were, I am just going to leave the overall score here.
Story & Plot: 6/10
Story was intriguing, has a good potential but because of too many plot-holes, unanswered questions and poor explanations for those who are unfamiliar with certain tales I’m rating it as a six.
Characters & Development: 7/10
I’m giving it a seven because of the lack of character development on Izayoi’s part and his ridiculously thick plot-armor.
OST: 7/10
Honestly, I never really noticed it as it didn’t really stand out. The OP and ED were great though.
Animation Quality: 9/10
Gorgeous. That is all that is needed to be said.
Overall Score: 7/10
::Recommendation::
Give it a Go
~*~
Tenderfoot’s Final Impression:
Coming Soon
Novel readers have been kind of cagey about Izayoi’s power, and I understand it still hasn’t been completely explained by the sixth novel (and the anime only goes up through the second), but from what I can tell it seems to essentially involve destruction. Pest mentioned that he had the ability to destroy gifts, and from things novel readers have said Izayoi has yet to encounter something that he actually CAN’T destroy. It hasn’t actually been stated in those terms, but apparently he at some point in the novels says something about believing that he could destroy the entire Little Garden if he attacked with his full strength.
The anime doesn’t explain it because the novels haven’t explained it by this point, and the anime has actually made a point of staying pretty true to the novels, according to what novel readers have told me. Yeah, it leaves us with questions, but I watched this series for the same reason the problem children agreed to join the No Names in the first place: for fun. And I did have fun watching this. Obviously “fun” is subjective, and I can’t force it on anyone else. Some people loved Izayoi, insisting that a crazy overpowered male protagonist is exactly what they wanted out of their anime. Me, not so much, but the other characters usually got enough screentime that it didn’t bother me much, and I found that these characters really tended to make the premise of this series work.
Izayoi was definitely a better Gary Stu character to watch than Kirito.
It was implied in the novels that Izayoi could destroy Little Garden with one punch.