Final Impression
Wasn’t expecting this to be the last episode of the season….
Well that was superbly underwhelming way to follow up with being hunted down by the Ice Wolves. But it’s exactly the lukewarm outcome I was expecting, and hoping they’d avoid. Yet despite knowing that, I still hoped something more dramatic would happen. Oh well, I knew I couldn’t hold my breath for it.
Instead, the one who (indirectly) saved Aoi ended up being the Lord of the Winter. We’ve heard about him once or twice when Kiyo took Ranmaru and Ginji to his shrines, but we never gotten a description what he was. Turns out… And gets this, he’s a giant, walking and talking tree. He was also fittingly dressed for the season as he was decorated with Christmas Ornaments. Yes, it was he who scared the Ice Wolves away by simply passing by and making his presence known while doing so. So yeaaahhh…. The way the encounter with the Ice Wolves was resolved in anticlimactic fashion. Frankly it fell so flat, that I felt it was almost even pointless for it to have even happened in the first place. But the only reason that it wasn’t, (though I’d argue there was probably better ways to set this up), was lead up to the next pinch Aoi found herself in.
Aoi needed to rescue Ginji and get the two of them out of danger. Staying at their old base camp and wait for Oryo to return was not an option when there was no telling whether or not the Ice Wolves would come back for them. So she had no choice but to push through the hazardous white-out conditions. Predictably, she didn’t last long and passed out. But THIS WAS THE ONLY MOMENT where we did see a strong implication that Odanna may have manged to come to their rescue. Interestingly however, instead of green ogre fire, it was blue this time. This is a particularly important detail because we saw in the last episode that Ginji’s fire is actually red. (At least in this season anyways, I can’t remember off the top of my head if we saw it in the last one!) Naturally she was unconscious when this happened, because obviously we can’t have Odanna’s true form revealed just yet!
As result, Aoi and Ginji wake up to find themselves in the care of the Snow Fairies. And while she was in the kitchen looking to prepare a meal to help Ginji recover, she spotted the rikodake mushrooms they were looking for and made some mochi ice-cream for the Lord of Winter in exchange for information where the mushrooms can be found.
It was on their way to where they can find the rikodake mushrooms that we see Aoi finally break down. Seeing a red star reminded her of Odanna’s eyes. It was then when she truly realized just how much she’s worried about him. After-all, since she’s powerless to do anything herself at the moment, she has no choice but to rely on the others for the rescue operation. As result Aoi has been doing her best to hold herself together. We’ve seen her crack from time to time, and subconsciously been longing for him in her dreams, and but today marks the first time we’re actually seeing her cry about it. She doesn’t know yet whether she’s actually in love with Odanna, and that’s understandable considering she doesn’t really know him yet. But she’s determined to do so, which is why she wants to see him so badly. And given the situation and what’s at stake, she’s genuinely scared that she’ll never get to see him again.
And Ginji understands that better than anyone. That’s why he’s determined to see his role as her guardian through, vowing that he’ll make sure that Odanna and Aoi meet again, and he’ll be her protector until then.
From there on out, that’s when the episode really started to feel rushed. To sum it up quickly:
- Oryo ended up finding the rikodake because she knew it grew at the base of the Elder Tree (Lord of Winter). So in the end, all Aoi’s cooking did this time was really help them regroup sooner than later.
- Kasuga is saved, Kiyo grew a spine, and the two are finally going to be a proper power couple now.
- We got an afterthought conclusion explaining the Sky Pirates attacks were under the order of Kiyo’s Aunt and Uncle of the former royal family.
- The Ice Wolves were completely forgotten and not even mentioned even after they regrouped (which is shocking, considering instead we learned about how Kiyo and Ranmaru cleared the Sky Pirates out of the castle)
- Kiyo promises to vouch for Odanna at the Hachiyo meeting in 5 days time.
The last bit with only 5 days remaining goes to show that yeah, they are definitely on a time crunch. While they manage to secure Kiyo’s support for not just the Hachiyo system, but also to protect Odanna’s position, we still don’t know what the remaining five Hachiyo’s think of this situation apart from Ranmaru and Zakuro. We also don’t know yet whether or not they went ahead and revealed his identity to the public prior to this meeting. All of these things are still left up in the air. (Though at this point, I have my doubts that his identity will be publicly revealed, and if it does, it’ll be such case of being leaked by Raiju out of sheer spite.)
And then, with only eight seconds left in the episode, they had Ougon-douji reveal Odanna’s (presumably) true name: Setsu!
Way to end the season with that!!!!!!! It looks like as I’m sure many of us suspected, either he’s recovering in the secret mansion, or this may be a teaser flashback as to when Ougon-douji rescued him. Either way, we do know that Odanna’s not in great condition at the moment, and if really did rescue Aoi and Ginji from the snowstorm, then that definitely took even more of a toll on him considering he might not be in good shape at the moment!
But that’s it. That’s the episode. And the final one for the season at that.
While this episode did have some good moments (Aoi realizing how much she misses Odanna, and supposedly his name-drop at the very last second), overall I’m left feeling unsatisfied with this how this season ends. Honestly, I think it’s bothering me more because this was the final episode of the season. If this wasn’t, then I could just shrug it off and look forward to the next one right? But here’s the problem, for some reason they decided to make this season twelve episodes! And the worst part? We have no clue when Season 3 is going to be announced, nor do we know whether this is even a split cour to guarantee that it’ll be back by Spring 2026. If we were told at least that much, then maybe I wouldn’t be so agitated right now. Heck, I even went to check their twitter page, and the only confirmation I got was that the broadcast for this season has ended. There’s nothing when or how the sequel will be delivered. What I do know, is that it appears they are having rebroadcast of Season 1, so maybe we’ll hear something about it after that? I dunno. But it is mildly concerning that we don’t have a date announced for it right off the bat, especially after waiting this long for it.
So this is what I’m hoping for. The absolute best case scenario (which is probably not going to happen) for this decision to pay-off, is that so Season 3 can have 24-26 episodes because the novel is actually still going, and perhaps there’s content in the volumes from here on out that would be better served as such. Yes, that’s my pie in the sky hopes and dreams. But what we’re probably going to get, another twelves or thirteen episodes covering the rest of Odanna’s rescue arc. I’m allowed to dream though right?
Final Thoughts
Honestly, coming into this week’s episode, I was anxious about how this episode was going to go. That’s because it was on Thursday last week when I discovered that this episode was going to be the last one. But even if I didn’t know, with the way they ended this, I still would’ve ended up feeling as disappointed as I am now. So let’s just get the bad stuff out of the way first, and then wrap this up on a high note with the positives. Despite how stale these last few episodes have been, we really did get some great stuff that’s worth to be noted.
The Bad #1: Inconsistent Character Designs and Animation Quality
Let’s kick this off with the blatant flaw of the season: The animation quality, and to make matters worse, the new character designs… namely, Odanna’s.
Okay so first, it’s not like they made him ugly… But when Season 2 was first announced and I watched the PV of it, I thought the new character designs were decent enough to be considered a glow up. But once I started watching,I realized that wasn’t actually the case and that thought aged very poorly. Unfortunately, Odanna’s “revamped” character design ended up being atrociously inconsistent. And considering we only got to see Odanna for three and half, (if you include his younger self) episodes, yeah… You can quickly understand why that’s a bad thing. Like compared to Season 1, while I criticized their choices to completely change the art-style during two intimate scenes. BUT THAT WAS ONLY TWO SCENES. TWO. One for Odanna and Aoi, and another for Ginji and Aoi- same fancy style for that one intimate moment. The rest, sure animation quality dipped at times (as most show do), but at least Odanna’s character design didn’t show up every episode in a different art-style!
This time? We must have gotten at least three (maybe even four) variations of Odanna’s character design, and only one of the three (or four looks) solid enough to satisfy me– namely the one that actually looks like an adult. (And much to my dismay, rarely used)… It’s actually ridiculous when you think about it! I’m frustrated with how the main love interest been botched in such a way! For crying out loud, at least Ginji and the rest were consistent. Why couldn’t they have done the same for Odanna?
Actually you know who else suffered from inconsistency. Raiju! He went from a manly sadistic face to a baby face, which stripped him of his aura entirely. Only once or twice this season we actually saw him get that signature punchable psycho face back.
And that was not the only problem with the animation this season, there’s more! Blatantly obvious recycled frames, awful one-dimensional backgrounds (see episode 2 for that bullshit), obvious still-frames and exclusion of mouth shots so they don’t have to animated it. Oh right, Ginji’s fox form was also quite pitiful at times, and don’t even get me started on the bullshit scene of him just standing there while getting bitten by the Ice Wolves. Couldn’t have at least made him attempt to them off? Uggghhhh.
So please, for the love of god, next season I hope they not only polish up the animation quality, but also pick the best version of Odanna’s design and make sure everyone on the team follows suit with it so it’s CONSISTENT AND COHESIVE. He doesn’t deserve that kind of crap! HE’S THE FREAKING MAIN CHARACTER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!!!!
I will also add, the fact they decided to make this a 12 episode season did not help either. We only got to see Odanna 3 out of 12 episodes (not counting Byakuya’s flashbacks of him). And now we have to wait god knows how long for the next one. If they said this was going to be a split cour, then at least we would be reassured it’ll come back in the Spring!
The Bad #2: It’s Twelve Episodes
Coming into this season, I really thought this was going to be a 24-26 episodes… And unfortuantely, with it being twelve, it ended in a very unsatisfying way. We’re smacked in the middle of Odanna’s rescue arc, and ending it here just makes it feel totally incomplete.
Honestly I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a split cour or this really is supposed to be a short season. But Kakuriyo’s tweet said this is the end of Season 2 broadcast, and no further word about it. So I guess this means the next one will be Season 3. At the very least, the ending of this episode assured us that more is coming. They made a point to say this is only just the beginning of the final stage to rescue Odanna, and then they left us off with (presumably) his name drop, “Setsu”. Unfortunately there’s no fixed date when that’ll be.
But you know what? As much as I absolutely hate the fact we got only twelve episodes this season, let’s look at it this way (and this is me trying to be optimistic): MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, having a bit more time means they can polish things up so the series gets the quality treatment it deserves.
The Bad: #3: The Northern Lands Arc
Feel free to disagree, but the whole Northern Lands arc has been a snooze fest from start to finish, and I’m glad for it to be finally over! I felt like we were absolutely spoiled rotten with the world-building and lore drops in the first half of the season, but as soon as the Northern Lands arc started, it felt like it drove the momentum to a screeching halt. I hope that the novels delivered it better, but I feel like the biggest shortcoming’s was that I just couldn’t bring myself to ever care about Kiyo and Kasuga’s crisis. Especially with the way things tend to get swept under the rug, or in this case, resolved off-screen. We really didn’t learn anything new about the world apart from the specialties they offer, and the dangers that’s screwing over their tourism industry. I would safely say that I found this one to be the weakest arc we’ve gone through so far. I just wasn’t able to connect with any of the characters.
~*~
The Good #1: LORE GALORE!
If you’re a lore enthusiast like me, man the first half of this season was an absolute treat. Gosh we were fed so well! There was so much depth to it, including unexpectedly learning about Byakuya’s late lover too! (Though too bad that bit was rushed). And I loved how ever little details was like bread crumbs trailing to Odanna’s secret. It was hands down my favourite bit of Kakuriyo we’ve gotten the Orio-ya arc, so I thought it was great way to follow-up on that.
The Good #2: Odanna’s backstory FINALLY happening!
Tied together with the lore galore of the first half of the season, there was nothing more rewarding than to see things some of us (like myself) scrutinized throughout about Odanna’s character in Season 1 be proven true. I always find it so satisfying to know that was the intention, and it was delivered clearly. It serves as a great assurance that despite how closely he guards his secrets about himself, and how few times we got to see him… We were able to successfully and accurately build a profile of his character based on the limited interactions and conversations we got to see.
Better yet, Odanna’s mysterious background is also both incredibly tragic and very intriguing. This guy is loaded with mysteries, from his origins, what makes him special, his personality… there’s so much to unpack here. It’s a shame that we only barely scratched the surface of it this season, but I’m thankful that we did get enough that I don’t feel like we were deprived of it given the situation we’re in at the moment. But hey, if Setsu’s really is his name, at least we finally got that! PROGRESS!
The Good #3: Aoi’s Developing Feelings
Following up from the Orio-ya Arc, Aoi’s feelings towards Odanna have been rapidly blossoming– to which to perhaps no coincidence, the hair pin Odanna has gifted her back in the first season is finally blooming in all its glory. It has yet to be confirmed whether or not it’s really tied to her feelings or really served as a “time limit” to clearing her debt. I think it’s the former though. (Side Note: For time reference, we know it’s been just short of a year since Odanna has picked her up. It’s presently late December, with 5 days till New Years, and Odanna picked her up sometime in the spring, so March or April you could say.) I think what I really like about this though, is that Aoi still isn’t sure if she’s in love with Odanna, and that’s fair all things considered. Not to mention, it’s complicated right now because right now she’s sorely missing him, and as result it’s intensifying her longing. And on top of him being a total mystery she wants to unravel, and she wants to get to know him first so she can sort out how she feels about him.
~*~
Final Verdict: 6.5/10
The first six episodes were the best of this season had to offer. The world building lore was SO GOOD, and the bit of interaction and development we did get between Odanna and Aoi was really nice (and a kiss to boot!). After that, unfortunately it wasn’t so hot. You can tell they really started to rush things, and the really inconsistent animation quality and character designs (namely Odanna’s) didn’t help either. Another issue I noticed though I didn’t highlight it earlier— were the questionable placements and track usage from the OST. Particular in the past three episodes, there was something about the music placement that felt so off or out of place. Like that scene in last week’s episode when Oryo and Sasuke were eating and the peppy music was rolling and then Kasuga bursts into the room in tears. I felt like that tune was wildly out of place. Another noticeable problem, was the lack of new tracks. I think off the top of my head, I can think of two that at least stood out to be new. And lastly, the season ended in an awkward spot that left me feeling unsatisfied. That’s why I decided to give this season a 6.5/10.
I can only hope the next season is working with a better budget and deliver much better quality than what we got. With Season 1 to compare itself to (which I scored 8/10), they really need to step it up. Make it work, do something— like just by making Odanna’s design look good and be consistent. That alone will go a long way, and it will be especially important if he’s actually going to have a more significant presence then. And if they do reveal his true form, for the love of god– it better not be half-assed.
With that said, let’s just hope that Season 3 will not take another eight years. But I’m more than willing to wait longer (like at least a year) if it means offering us consistency in quality and secure us 24-26 episodes.
…Okay, maybe 24 episodes is asking a lot, but… the series is on-going, there’s story to tell! And if it means we can see Odanna and Aoi together more after being separated for so long, yeah, that would actually be quite nice.
And with that, sadly with this being the last episode of Season 2 it’s an early wrap. I was excited at the idea of it going into the winter season, but it is what it is. Hopefully we’ll get an announcement when it’s supposed to continue sooner than later!
