Wow. Third series I’m wrapping up this week. And out of the three, definitely my favorite. We left off on such a cliffhanger yesterday, the question is, is the final episode any good? Well, Let’s answer that question, by finishing this series, by reviewing one more episode. Let’s do it.
So the episode picks up a few minutes after the previous episode ended. They swam out of the water and are recouping discussing what they’re next move should be.
Leopard, understanding that it’s not even a question and they HAVE to take down Dorobey they figure the best way is to tell the people that it is not The Yatterman who is in charge, but Dorobey. With renewed vigor, they run back and try to warn the people. Unfortunately, nobody believes them as they are the Doronbow. After retreating one more time, the group makes a heartbreaking decision and decides that Gatchan and Aloutte need to be the new Yatterman as people would listen to them and once the battle is over, they can’t be friends anymore because if they were friends with the Doronbow nobody would support them. So, after a final few hours together, they head off with their mechs and fight one final battle.
The Doronbow drop off Gatchan and Aloutte who give an impassioned speech about freedom and how they’ll never let anything like this happen again. The people, hesitant at first finally give in to their hope and begin to trust in them as The Doronbow get in a battle with the 11 generals.
Meanwhile, as they’re doing so, Gatchan and Aloutte finally go toe to toe with Dokurobey. After it looks like they’ve defeated him, he goes Rita Repulsa on their asses and grows to epic proportions and they have to fight a giant version of him, and in the end, finally once and for all, defeat him.
The epilogue shows Aloutte making a grave for her father (which it’s revealed she did know that Goro was her father, not by words but by actions) and them walking away about to restart their world. It also shows Leopard asleep, with the Doronbow painting laying against her wall, and her asleep, with the voice of the original Doronbo telling her “Good Night”.
And that, ladies and gentlemen is where Yoru No Yatterman ends.
So. Now it’s time to review this sucker.
This episode did everything it needed to do. It wrapped up the story, it gave closure to certain things, but it also left us with a sense of bittersweetness. It’s sad they can’t be friends anymore, but at the same time, it’s understandable. Some things have to be sacrificed for the greater good, and in this case, it was their friendship.
However, this isn’t to say that I think this wrap up was the best thing ever. There were a few things that made me….feel less than extremely excited. Actually, there were 3 main problems with this episode.
1st problem. The editing for the final fight with Tonzra and one of the yatterman generals. I do not know what happened here, but this was some of the worst fight editing I have seen in a long time. This show has always had really good fight choreography but I do not know WHAT happened here. It is choppy, scenes are reused, and overall the flow was terrible. I don’t know whether they were under time constraints or something, but this show is usually much better than this. It COMPLETELY took me out of it and it actually made me feel a bit sad.
Issue #2
While I can see what they were going for, I was actually a bit disappointed that our main three didn’t get to fight Dorobey, instead Gatchan and Aloutte did. I understand it’s supposed to be because they’re going to be the new Yatterman, but at the same time, It would have been nice to see Leopard personally get revenge for her mother’s death instead of Gatchan and Aloutte. In fact, a LOT of this series focused on those two, and while it was nice, still a bit weird that the final fight didn’t really even involve those three.
Issue #3
Okay, this is just a minor one, and it’s just a preference things, but I was actually really hoping at the end of the series they’d fast forward ahead a couple of years and show a grown up Leopard with Tonzra and Boyacky at her side fighting Gatchan and Aloutte as if putting on a show for the people so they’d continue to believe in them. As like, Leopard had to become the new Doronbow so there could be peace. Kind of like a Lelouche method. They didn’t go that route and…I can’t say i’m not a little disappointed.
Was this episode the magnum opus i was hoping for? Not…not really. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the finale was fine, but….it wasn’t what I hoped for when this series began. I expected more from it.
This is the strange thing. There’s nothing inherently WRONG with the way they resolved it, but at the same time, there was nothing really RIGHT about it either. It’s sort of a status quo anime ending with nothing really to make me go “Wow, i’m glad I watched that ending and i’m so happy with it.”
As the final episodes rolled around I noticed that the main three kind of got delegated to the background to make room for Aloutte and Gatchan, and it wasn’t ever more apparent than in this episode. It wasn’t what I signed on for, and i’m a bit sad it turned out that way.
The worst part is, this idea could have worked. I get what they were trying to say with this, and it could have been a great ending. The problem was the execution and the editing.
Overall the episode was okay, but….not really all there.
Sadly, this series has to end with a lackluster finale with a 6 out of 10.
That actually hurt to type.
-Hideki