The show can’t end without giving us just one more twist, and I will admit that I didn’t totally see that coming. Also I feel like I saw somewhere someone had theorized that it wasn’t really Shigemaru and was someone using his face, and…whoever that person was, congratulations. And which family has the crazy technology to even make that a possibility? Hmmmm…
I knew Granny Kambe was in on it somehow since she always struck me as suspicious, but I didn’t think that she was the mastermind of the whole thing! And that the butler was the one that did all her dirty work for her, using a mask of Shigemaru’s face and a device to mimic his voice to fool the others. It’s also pretty amazing that Daisuke knew something was wrong on the cargo ship when fake Shigemaru used his right hand, when he knew his father was left handed. Such a keen eye for detail. Here I thought Shigemaru really was dead, but in fact he’s located in some sort of rehab center? I’m not sure, but it seems he’s not physically well.
It turns out, everything Daisuke knew was wrong. His parents had a bit of a squabble because of the adollium, but they always seemed to have a good relationship and Daisuke had a happy and normal childhood growing up. Even when they were separated for awhile, they wrote letters to each other and it seemed pretty normal, even when they had their differences. Things came to ruin when Granny made her move, and since she didn’t want Sayuri to let adollium go public, she sent the butler to kill Sayuri as Shigemaru went to visit. As Shigemaru entered, that’s when Daisuke peeked, but he was completely innocent and very much distraught over the death of his wife he indeed did love. With grief and anger, he did attempt suicide and drove his car off the cliff but it ended with him becoming paralyzed/in a vegetative state? It’s either as we only saw him briefly in a wheelchair. That’s basically it, and grandma was behind it all.
It’s horrible that she made Daisuke think that his father was the one that caused everything, and the pain he went through growing up. It was interesting to see a depressed Daisuke, feeling empty inside despite his box of achievements. I only wish we got to see and hear more of Daisuke’s thoughts on the matter, but it was nice seeing a more human side to him since Daisuke has always made himself out to be “hot super cool man”.
In the end, Granny gets arrested and the info about adollium accidentally gets sent internationally thanks to Haru after he collapsed on the button. Not gonna lie it cracked me up, same as Daisuke, as it’s such a Haru thing to do. Poor dude risked his life to take down the butler, and you got to admit that it was really badass.
The reveal was pretty great, but just like I feared it was still a little rushed. We didn’t spend as much time as I wanted with adollium itself, which Granny described was the equivalent to plutonium, which could be used for high-power atomic bombs. If that information were to get out, who knows what would happen. Well, I guess they had to take that chance. And thanks to that info getting out, Daisuke and Haru are now the ones going after illegal adollium trade. Adollium Hunters, if you will.
The post-credit scene was pretty fun and paid homage to the insanity we got used to in the first half of the show, with insane car chases, Daisuke flying to New York from England in a rocket, parachuting him and his car onto a bridge and firing out missiles, thus blowing up the car AND the bridge and causing so much damage…oh, and that amazing jazz theme of his. It’s funny how the episode ended the same way the first episode ended, with Daisuke letting Haru fall from the bridge. Not going to lie, it gave me a good chuckle.
And there we have it. The finale was better than I expected but still a tiny bit rushed, but I still enjoyed it. Things could have gone differently, but I could say the same about the show in general.
FINAL IMPRESSION
Fugou Keiji Balance: Unlimited is a pretty strange show, in a good way. The character designs are nice, so nice that Daisuke caused such a huge stir online with how hot he is. The music is fun, the show looks great, and when things got going it got really good. But that’s also the source of my complaints.
The first few episodes made themselves clear that this show wasn’t going to be a totally serious one. Those early episodes were over the top, zany, and absolutely ridiculous and very entertaining. I had thought I was going to get a cool cop show, but I ended up accepting that I was instead going to get a stupid and crazy cop show, but I was still going to have a good time with it. And then episode 5 happened, and then you could see that there was a bit of a shift.
Now don’t get me wrong, I loved the shift to the serious stuff because it was equally as entertaining. They did a great job setting up this family murder mystery, as well as the mystery with the adollium and certain characters that I didn’t think would become important actually did. The problem was, I felt like the sudden shift to this was so abrupt, and if you compare those episodes to the ones from the first half, it’s hard to believe it’s from the same show. The episodes from the start have nothing to do with anything and if they want to go ahead with the Kambe mystery, they probably should have done that from the start. That way, certain things could have gotten more time (Daisuke internal exploration, the adollium, etc.).
That’s probably my biggest gripe with the show, because the silly episodes at the start were enough to deter some people away from the show. If they teased this mystery from the start, I think more people would have stuck around. Other tiny complaints I have is the technology being a little too ridiculous, taking me out of the story sometimes. And while Daisuke and Haru are fun, it would have been nice to see the other characters stand out too. Cho was the only one besides our main pair to make an impression on me, and I really have to say what wasted potential Suzue had. They really highlighted her in the OP, making her out to be the sexy femme fatale trope but she didn’t have her time to shine. I’m not saying she was useless as she aided Daisuke out so much throughout the show, but she could have been so much more. And it’s disappointing because I was excited to see what she could really do. :/
Despite a few shortcomings, some slow episodes and moments that could have used more time, the show was still a lot of fun. The middle episodes with Cho were brilliant and well done, and the mystery was still pretty great. The show took a turn I did not expect, and while I had my problems with it, I still had fun. I feel like this is a weird show to recommend, mainly because of the first few episodes. It gets into good mystery/thriller territory, but will people have the patience to sit through the first four episodes? I’m not sure, since everyone’s tastes and humor is different so it’s a bit of a weird one. Still, this show is a unique one and it’s always nice to have unique stuff from time to time.
7.5/10
