A surprisingly great final episode for the series.
Colour me surprised at how genuinely great this final episode was, all things considered. We’re looking at a manga that seems nowhere close to ending, yet the anime managed to provide us with a confidently and competently put together final arc as well as closure in such a thoroughly satisfying manner.
There isn’t much to talk about this week to be honest, in part because there wasn’t actually much going on this week – we bid a surprisingly emotional farewell to Kitora and Nike’s grandmother. Kitora, being able to get over himself and reflect upon his actions thoroughly in last week’s episode, has a much smaller role to play this week, while Nike’s Grandmother managed to eventually say goodbye to Nike in her own way – through song (they should have used a rain song in this ‘old language’ Nike mentioned because it would have been a much better choice than the engrish-y pop song Nike sings) after being convinced by Livius to grab the opportunity to say goodbye while she can, because he was never able to send his mother Sheila off during her untimely death. I’m not one for sob fests, but Nike being able to still be grateful for everything her Grandmother has done for her, and for sending her off in such a wonderfully poetic fashion was truly a satisfying sight to behold.
The return to the Sun Kingdom for Nike and Livius immediately brought them back to their (especially Livi’s) rigorous work regime, with Bard quite possibly making a mess of things while Livi was away, turning the castle into his private harem to the dissatisfaction of Livi and Neil. Days pass, and soon Nike finds herself unable to spend time with Livi like she could back in the Rain Principality, and is overwhelmed with great loneliness and desire to be with Livi again, and as a viewer I have to say it felt great to see how far Nike and Livi’s relationship had come throughout the series.
Seeing the two come to terms with their emotions – understanding how much they cared for each other and that the feelings were mutual after 12 episodes of not seeing eye-to-eye on more than a few occasions was really fantastic, simple as it might be. In fact, I’d say keeping things simple and solely focusing on Nike and Livi’s central relationship this week was what made it so effective.
This series might have had its up and downs (unfortunately the series is not as consistently fantastic as its finale) but this final episode really did kind of reward me for sticking with it to the end, and I’m sure I’m not the only one that felt this way :p