i think it all fades to black
Categories: anime, gurren lagann, hayate the combat butler, lucky star, murder princess, nagasarete airantou
Tagged: gurren lagann
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One of those footnotes to pop culture history passed by last week with the end of The Sopranos and with that blogosphere up-in-arms about it much like how the anime blogosphere will go at it with Nia’s new look in T-minus… now.
(My Eureka joke in episode 11 seems pretty prescient now, doesn’t it? Maybe I should go play some PowerBall this week…)
As an outsider to the Sopranos’ world, I don’t see what the fuss is about. The show was built on subtlety and fear, and that’s how it ended… I think it’s a logical, fitting conclusion. If Tony and AJ got gunned down, I think it would have gone against the grain for the series, much like if instead of having a traditional harem ending, Mahoromatic ended with Suguru turning into a space bounty hunter… okay, bad example. Instead, having AJ complain about foreign oil and then tool around in a gas guzzler, well, that fits.
Even though it’s a logical end that ends up disappointing partly because that’s not how we want the show to end. I thought about an anime equivalent to it, and I think it’s Kenshin, slowly dying far away from Kaoru, because of the life he chose finally caught up to him. Did we want our final images of Kenshin to be him, helpless, dying, shunned by his own son? Even though it’s a logical end, wouldn’t we rather Kenshin go out with a flash of glory or doesn’t he deserve a “happily ever after”? But, no, that’s not what Kenshin was about. The whole series was based on his quixotic quest for redemption, and he was never satisfied with how much he gave back, even at the end. Thinking about on the ending, it was fitting because it revealed, starkly, how tragic of life he first choose. The difference between Kenshin and Sopranos, though, is that Kenshin Reflections was released much after the series had finished its run, and the time gap made it less of an event.
With that said, since we’re approaching the ending (or midpoint) of most of the spring 2007 shows, maybe it’s time for some more prognostication…
Projected Ending: Tsukasa gets her fourth cell phone (with Kururu strap, of course) while looking adorable texting “balsamic vinegar,” Kagami reads more Full Metal Panic, Konata gets a cease and desist letter for file sharing, and Miyuki keeps trying to be moe while not being moe. And, of course, Arika stabs Taniguchi with a ballpoint pen.
Desired Ending: Tsukasa and Kagami graduate and attend the same liberal European college as Mai and Sayuri thus leading to a potential spin-off series for Kyoto, Miyuki gets run over by a Prius, and Konata is recruited by Chris Hansen and joins his elite task force on To Catch a Predator as “live bait.” This could result in the first ever episode where Chris catches someone with an Ichigo Mashimaro DVD and a six pack in his pick-up truck. And, of course, Lucky Channel lives on as a segment on Clannad with new hosts Maria and Little Boss.
Projected Ending: Omega-awesome fanservice blowout, much like the final episode of Pani Poni Dash, which Hayate is slowing degrading into.
Desired Ending: Nagi catches Hayate in a comprising situation with Maria, which leads to her firing both of them. Maria takes the job to be the new host of Lucky Channel after Akira stabs Taniguchi. Due to his indestructibility, Hayate ends up joining Mithril as an arm slave pilot. (Andohbytheway, did you know that Shouji Gatou wrote an episode of Haruhi Suzumiya.)
Projected Ending: Mikoto wins the Tour de France, after every other rider is disqualified for doping. But tired of the celebrity of winning the Tour de France, he decides to go back to his roots and forms “Project O” where he and his team travel around the world challenging other teams in street bike races.
Desired Ending: Mikoto wins the Tour de France, after every other rider is disqualified for doping. Then he gets caught doping and is stripped of his win. Despondent, he starts painting again and opens a small studio in San Francisco. A Hollywood agent notices his orgasmic skill with the paintbrush and leads to Mikoto replacing Bob Ross in PBS’ much acclaimed Joy of Painting program.
Projected Ending: Same old, same old. I’d be shocked if this series had an actual ending other than some minor plot contrivance that adds a bit of tension that gets settled fairly cleanly in the final episode.
Desired Ending: Ikuto wises up and sets a new world record for most children sired by one man, overtaking Wilt Chamberlain and Junta Momonari. However, due to his excessive “workload,” he looks like a seventy year old by the time he turns thirty. Either this or turn the series into “Lost with Nubile, Horny Anime Schoolgirls Wearing Meido Uniforms.”
Projected Ending: Yorito, Matsuri, and Aono all re-enact the Shiki/Arcueid/Ciel dynamic of Tsukihime (anime), only without the sex.
Desired Ending: Matsuri loses to Ryoko in the quarterfinals of the First Annual AoMM Stabby Girls Tournament.
Projected Ending: Quality ending. (Who am I kidding? Nanoha has gone from “dusty room” awesome when Nanoha and Fate traded ribbons to become the new Crescent Love. If there’s ever a time for some serious yuri-ai, this is it. The series needs it like how America needs cheap oil.)
Desired Ending: Pretend it is all a dream and StrikerS never happened, followed by Kyoto Animation remaking StrikerS using Lucky Star-type character designs. Nanoha is 17, really! Little Boss will be Maria’s assistant for Lucky Channel.
Projected Ending: Yuri-ai. Do this for me.
Desired Ending: I don’t care anymore. Just shoot me. I’m not accepting anything other than the yuri-ai ending. None. I won’t accept it.
Projected Ending: Since Gonzo excels in killing off everyone at the end, why not have everyone alive and well by the time JaMarcus and Cinnamon wraps up? Happy end! If you really wanted to fuck Shakespeare’s corpse, don’t you need to do this for a finishing move?
Desired Ending: After JaMarcus is exiled, Cinnamon drinks a “poison” that puts her in a deep slumber and sends a messenger to tell JaMarcus that she faked her own death so they could run off together. Learning of Cinnamon’s death but not of the fakeness of it, JaMarcus comes to be Neo Verona, pwns the place like Ah-nauld in Commando, and kills himself next to Cinnamon. She awakes… finds JaMarcus dead over her, and kills herself. They are later brought back to life as the masked villains for Kiddy Grade 2.
Projected Ending: Balsa saves the day, hopefully without any deus ex machina.
Desired Ending: Balsa gets cybernetic implants and joins Section 9.
Projected Ending: We’ve seen it. The only mystery left is “Yoko, Nia, both, or neither?” After seeing Nia cut her hair, I’m going with Nia. This will be Ayu over Nayuki all over again. (Another reason why Kamina was superior: picked Yoko right off the bat.)
Desired Ending: See projected ending, only with “both + all the ladies from that ‘boring’ town in episode 11.” I would be disappointed if Simon didn’t assemble an all-female crew– Kamina would have wanted it that way. And, of course, Ojisan rips off his mask and reveals… he’s Kamina!
25 Responses to “i think it all fades to black”
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>>Lucky Star
Yup, this is our blogger. |3
>>HtCB
Lucky Channel ratings will skyrocket.
>>Sola
Semifinals instead. For more dramatic effect.
>>Murder Princess
I will lose all respect for MP if they don’t do the yuri-ai.
>>Gurren Laggen
Come to think of it, Ojisan’s ‘stache and ‘brows look like Kamina’s sunglasses upside down. O_O
The only endings I’m interested in are Sola, Nanoha and Gurren. The rest are either from the mangas (which I’ll find out from) or stuff I didn’t even bother to watch (ie. lucky star).
Actually I’m only interested in one thing. Whether Nia will be alive at the end. That female operator’s voice in episode 1 is definitely the same VA as Yoko’s. Unless the VA pulls a cameo stunt for that episode, I’m pretty sure Yoko’s gonna stay and operate Simon’s Huge Cannons.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Nia Wins!
I honestly don’t think they’d need to be caught in a compromising position (Hayate and Maria) for Nagi to fire them. Hell… if you haven’t read the manga, you’ll know EXACTLY how to get Hayate fired. :D Or sold.
To be fair, Kamina didn’t get a chance to pick Nia; she wasn’t around at the time. Given his track record with the sisters though,
I wouldhe would have picked Yoko anyway.Wouldn’t the projected ending for nagasarete be that Ikuto gets himself and all the girls off the island and back to Japan? or are they just going to live happily ever after on the island?
Yes I love the direction Sola is headed in, coincidentally I loved Tsukihime as well must make sense why you referenced it to Sola and I can see where you’re coming from on that note. It made #1 recently in my book, after ep 6 or 7 it made Lucky Star #2 for this season.
LOL wtf? Konata gets a cease and desist letter for file sharing? Brilliant… I would love to see that, probably make for a good emo facial distortion Konata style.
The Kenshin end really, really sucked I thought.
Not only was the animation whack as hell, but just seeing him so worthless for an hour made me want to cry.
[quote comment=”151766″]I honestly don’t think they’d need to be caught in a compromising position (Hayate and Maria) for Nagi to fire them. Hell… if you haven’t read the manga, you’ll know EXACTLY how to get Hayate fired. :D Or sold.[/quote]
Meh, after 10 volumes of the manga, I still don’t know where they are heading. Hayate is now the official Harem Wimp of 2007 in my books. Or in the great words of Maria the Maid “Hayate-kun really is an Airheaded Gigolo”
Oops, my bad. The right translation of Maria’s words should be “Hayate-kun really is a Natural Gigolo”
Kenshin is kinda of a bad example, after all they completely disregarded the manga and did their own thing … I did not find strange the moment it lost it for me is exactly when they started to make shit up, the OVA was just the final nail on that coffin.
Actually, according to the manga writer, the OVA is the intended canonical ending for Rurouni Kenshin. He just didn’t put it in the manga. I remembered something about him telling the fans that if they didn’t like it, they can always treat the manga’s ending as final. He did the OVA because he wanted to put down his ideas for the final ending through some medium and probably decided on the OVA so as not to antagonize the manga readers (yeah right).
It was always the intention of the writer to make Kenji loathe his father for his beliefs, together with a confrontation between Kenji and Yahiko. I guess the OVA made it happen for him.
just want to mention that since kenshin Reflection is anime only and the ending in the manga so much different. We can ignore Reflection as nothing more then a badly written Fanfic.
My projected endings were:
Lucky Star: Konata grows up to open a marketing consultant concern where she trains young girls how to look cute and sell their clients products.
Nanoha StrikerS: It was all just a dream and Nanoha and Fate are still 9 years old. It has in fact been them pondering about what might happen in their future.
Gurren-Lagann: The universe explodes from sheer overwhelming awesomeness and lots of multi coloured beams and lights. Nia being perfect however is still very much alive and is reborn into Galactus at the dawn of the Big Bang.
I think people are confusing my post with “actual ending” and “anime ending.” Due to many, many factors, the “anime ending” is usually not the same as the “actual ending.” I know this. So what if the “anime ending” is different and somewhat inferior most of the time? My goal was to talk about the “anime ending” since we’re in the middle of the season, real, actual ending be damned. Maybe I needed to toss in a Wost Case Ending in as well, like “Gainax runs out of money; Leeron and Simon become more than friends.”
[quote comment=”151773″]Actually, according to the manga writer, the OVA is the intended canonical ending for Rurouni Kenshin. He just didn’t put it in the manga. I remembered something about him telling the fans that if they didn’t like it, they can always treat the manga’s ending as final. He did the OVA because he wanted to put down his ideas for the final ending through some medium and probably decided on the OVA so as not to antagonize the manga readers (yeah right).
It was always the intention of the writer to make Kenji loathe his father for his beliefs, together with a confrontation between Kenji and Yahiko. I guess the OVA made it happen for him.[/quote]
Uh.. where did you come up with this? All I can find was that the director of the anime disagreed with the peaceful ending of the manga, and that the mangaka Nobuhiro Watsuki approved of it.
Well, I can’t remember where I read it off years ago. I remembered it as one of Watsuki’s comments… But since Seisouhen was written by some other dude, you can take my words with a huge pinch of salt. I admit I could be mistaken.:P
Ok edit: The script was checked by Watsuki himself, the fight between Yahiko and Kenji is indeed one of Watsuki’s idea, but he wasn’t all that pleased when the anime studio decided to kill off Kenshin like that. Still he gave the green light. Oh well, I did remember him saying that the manga ending was the best for him.
“(Andohbytheway, did you know that Shouji Gatou wrote an episode of Haruhi Suzumiya.)”
You didn’t know that? Got to be at least half the reason the space-battle episode of SHnY is my favorite. Oh Kyoto why-oh-why won’t you make the next FMP anime?!
I give the writers for Sopranos an A+ for their daringness, they clearly decided they don’t care if they piss off their fans and their gonna end it the show the way they want to … exactly the opposite of what Sunrise writers tend to do (think GSD)
Considering that the manga for Hayate the Combat Butler isn’t really quite near the end yet, I’d say the ending for the anime is probably something completely made-up (with possibly the original author penning the episode).
As for Nagaraste, I’m not so much concerned over how the show would end as much as I’m concerned if they’ll introduce Mei Mei and Shinobu (or at least that’s what I think her name is… she’s the melonpan-packing samurai-girl from Mikoto’s family) before the show is over.
My reaction upon seeing the first posted image of Nia? “Auuugh! Nia has become Satoko! Everyone’s going to die!!” If she pushes the Helix/Spiral King off a cliff and kills him, I will laugh and laugh….
Short-haired Nia is a terrible thing.
the old man is simon from the future… my bad….
Damn it! I’ll have to wait until some decent fansub finished Gurren Lagoon…. and yeah, we need right away more shoujo ai on StrikerS and Murder Princess
Hey, hey, hey, slow down. I dont think you should assume that Kamina wouldnt have jumped ship for Nia, as he probably would have, had they actually met.
That last Gurren-Lagann prediction seems kinda on the mark. I wouldn’t expect any less. Then Simon and Nia could be together (OTP 4TW) and Yoko and Karmina could be together. They’d all live happilly ever after and have a LOLing good time (until someone (Nia? D:) dies again). Enter season two…But I don’t think Gainax is big on second seasons. Anyways it would result in emo Simon. If Simon is being Emo over Nia then all is fine with the world. Even if our grade A loli is dead.
Oh my my, I’ve gone off rambling again! ;3
>> And, of course, Ojisan rips off his mask and reveals… he’s Kamina!
I’ll put my bets on Ojisan being… Kamina’s father! And the “proof” that he died from before was actually due to a horrific night of binge-drinking and high-stakes poker, destined for the Gurren-Lagann OVA.
The only approval Watsuki gave to the Seisouhen OVA was the moment he signed his name on the dotted line for his manga to be animated, he gave creative control to Sony Studios. They could now do whatever they wanted with his story, including butcher the plot and bastardize the characters.
The only canon ending of Rurouni Kenshin is what is in the pages of the manga and the two sequels Watsuki drew. Everything else is filler.