「約束」 (Yakusoku)
“Promise”

For all of the issues we’ve had with this series, I think it’s safe to say that the last few episodes have been an improvement over those before it. It’s ironic in that it also highlights how good the series could’ve been with proper pacing and development, but at the very least, this week gave us another decent episode and I quite liked how things ended up being done here.

Focusing on the aftermath of Kumagami’s death, this episode essentially ends up a farewell from the cast as Yuu embarks on his solo journey, and I think it’s times like this—the moments right before the grand finish—that Maeda Jun shines the most. What we could’ve gotten was a monotonous, rapid-fire montage of how Yuu slowly rehabs his way towards normalcy. What we got instead was a sequence of hospital visits from the cast, interlaced with the occasional glimpse into Yuu’s recovery. The result is a gorgeous sequence that not only highlighted the passing of what should’ve been a fair amount of time, but also the little time Yuu has left to accomplish his new found mission.

The fact that each visit involved only one cast member also gave us the chance for vital character development, and although it doesn’t make up for the first half a dozen episodes, it does arguably succeed in making us realize how many people he’s interacted with, the influence they’ve had on each other, and how far they’d be willing to go to help each other—regardless of how uncertain the future is.

And what an uncertain future it is. The fact that Yuu can no longer time leap means there are no more redos, and with the impending spill over of conflicts from overseas, there’s a lot of potential issues on the horizon. The development of a successful vaccine only means something if they survive long enough to ensure it’s proper implementation, and it’s this realization—along with the desire not to lose anyone else—that ultimately leads to Yuu’s departure. The possibility of him succeeding aside, it’s clear that Yuu’s grown following his botched rescue last week, and there’s much to be said about how he’s gone from someone who panicked at the key moment to someone who’s not only going to shoulder the burdens of thousands of people, but the hope of those whose powers he’s already looted, the hate of those who wanted to keep their abilities, and the fear/jealousy of those without powers or with malicious intent.

It’s a lofty goal if I’ve ever seen one, and it doesn’t take a genius to realize just how impossible it would be to plunder the abilities of everyone on the planet. Despite this, my interest in seeing how this would all play out makes me want to see him succeed in doing so, and—amazingly enough—I enter the final episode with measured excitement at the possible endings and the stakes of it all. Misa’s sacrifice only served to emphasize the latter, and ultimately, it’s pretty sad how she and Yusa never actually had the chance to talk to each other the entire time. Yuu’s confession to Tomori and the latter’s acceptance—pending Yuu’s successful return—is yet another thing riding on it all, and here’s hoping that Maeda Jun manages to pull one last piece of magic with Charlotte’s finale.

 

ED3.12 Sequence

61 Comments

  1. I am completely baffled as to how this episode was not the finale. There are no hanging plot lines beyond this “imma get all the powers” silliness, which in any other series I think would just be left to the viewer’s imagination. I’m not sure if going one more episode is a good thing or bad thing yet and I probably won’t know until I see, but the one thing I am sure of is that this is… unusual.

    Purple Bomber
    1. I don’t think there’s much they can do in the final episode since almost all the loose ends have been tied up nicely, so the smartest choice would be to make it an epilogue and show us the result of his actions rather than the process.

      Hanabira.Kage
    2. well clannad did get 22 episodes before ending season 1 then followed by season 2 w/c also had 20 something episodes. Same can be said for angel beats except having a season in w/c i’m still hoping they’d make since they did show a teaser trailer of it some years ago T_T

      Mike
  2. T__T forced drama with yusa/misa
    food episode T_T
    yuu uneasy to see tomori because it all his fault that she was RAPED ;__;
    xmen war with the powers that they will lose in some years T_T
    them will lose his power even if yuu don´t steal it why bother?yuu world tour don´t have any sense
    let go these faggots only with memory reset WTF they tortured and killed wet guy and raped nao and YOU LET THEM GO!! ¬¬

    dark
      1. the animators skip the torture time and most likely they too put back her underwear because the air time of anime ¬¬ these faggots happily pull teeth and nail out but them do nothing to a girl yeah sure..

        dark
    1. “phew just finished raping this girl better be a good terrorist and put back her underwear on” …. come on these are professional terrorists that executed an almost perfect plan to beat time leap.

      Mike
  3. This show crashed HARD in my opinion. GREAT characters, loved their interactions with one another, but wow the plot has been a train wreck from episode 11. And I can’t believe Tomori basically said “save the world and then I’ll be serious about you”….like….I literally lol’ed. Those are some SERIOUS requirements and they don’t really make sense (oh while you’re away avoiding death on the other side of the world I’ll sit here and fall in love….c’mon man…..)

    Jay
  4. 1. While I am still meh as regards to Tomori, she upped her kawai-ness level this episode.
    2. What, is this Confession Week or something? After we have seen Zen and Shirayuki’s bubbles and sparks confession, now this?
    3. Heck, I know it might be a filler just to give Yusa a proper closure but I must admit it pulled my heartstrings when Misa possessed her and commented about the food their parents cook. The character interaction ( I am only referring to Yu, Tomori and Shunsuke and please remove the last parts, it felt rushed to be honest lol) is organic and the drama bomb kinda worked this time for me. Why can’t you give me more of this Charlotte?
    4. Charlotte’s good when it focuses on the main lead’s character interactions and is bad when it tries to unveil its serious side because of sloppy writing and questionable execution. Yeah, fly Yu outside of Japan. Do that for a single episode and I can only imagine how rushed the end will be. I really feel that this is getting more and more schizophrenic as it reaches the finale.
    5. Are they pulling a Madoka there? I am not convinced. Judging by how Kumagami finds an ability user, it will take him at least months (probably years) to find and loot all. Why are there no side effects in Yuu’s part? Is he Haruhi (the God) or something? Is it even possible in the first place?
    6. Yes, the penultimate episode shows my dearest OP sequence. I wonder why.
    7. The story ended episode ten. So.. what’s this? I am going to pretend that these are OVAs ala FLCL. Sigh.
    8. For a penultimate episode from Key, it is calm. Darn. I got used with the storm ravaging my emotion soul. I just watched it with a pokerface. Ugh.

    1. And I highly doubt that even if he somehow found them all, that they would all simply be willing to just give up their power by being asked nicely, especially if his experiences with the Student Council were any indication. So what will he do then? Take them away by force? Leak their location to researchers so he can then swing in a save them, making them feel obligated/wanting to give them up?

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      1. It still would not be right because it would be extremely invasive (it’s Yu’s very soul that is, as temporary as it is, replacing the person’s own pretty much), and the fact that it would be done completely without the person’s knowledge only makes it look worse, good intentions or otherwise.

        And considering his experiences with the Student Council and now his wanting to be with Nao, whose opinion he now values, he would most likely ask because that’s how Nao and the Student Council had done it. If he were to go around simply plundering abilities without the person’s knowledge, I highly doubt Nao would approve and be his lover, even if he succeeded.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
      2. think about it this way. He has no time to conduct everyone to get them to give them their powers. If i recall he has only a year left or something. Unless he has teleportation ability(not the one his friend has that he plundered) i’m talking about the kind of teleportation that sends him somewhere else without getting hurt (though for some reason I can see it working if he combines his friend’s teleportation ability and flight ability but that’s another topic)

        Anyways you can also see it this way he’d be doing them a favor, by not being targeted by scientists or recruited by terrorists. The problem he has now is time. How many ability users are really out there he needs to plunder and the following problem would be will he be able to plunder them all without going blind? (unless he has a regeneration ability that can restore his eyes from going blind or restore his other eye. Though such ability should have also its limit so it could be like he can regenerate but he has to minus a certain amount of time he has in his life or something)

        Mike
      3. But again, just because it’s “doing them a favor”, that doesn’t automatically make the method right. That’s not to say, in this case, the desire to help is wrong, but one must always be aware of the “how” that is involved too.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
      4. they’re gonna loose it anyways so might as well lose it now so that some of them don’t end up as a guinea pig. I see your point but that is quite the wishful thinking, in real life you’re bound to face decisions especially if they are big ones that like in this series: plunder 10,000 something people before the time limit is up (when he reaches the age of losing his powers), you can compare that to current events such as whats happening in syria or how do you plan to feed a 1,000 hungry homeless people. These are big issues and I don’t think wishfully thinking everyone would be at peace is gonna be possible. At least he was able to avoid making them test subjects that’s his role.

        -Don’t click this spoiler if you haven’t watched fate/stay night UBW. I’m using a reference from it-
        Show Spoiler ▼

        and I know someone’s probably gonna say: “this is anime you can’t compare it to real life”. Well last time I check this anime’s genre is also “Slice of life”. So no matter how fictional or superficial it is, it still holds some concepts in life that the viewer can compare, relate, or understand things experienced/ seen in real life.

        Mike
    2. At first i thought it was pretty crazy idea but once i think about it, it seem possible. There are bound to be some useful ability like teleportation,hypnosis or clairvoyance. With these ability, plundering ability should be a brisk maybe up to 10 or more every 24 hour. They key now is steal the ability to detect other ability user so he know where to strike and which ability should he steal first to maximize the efficiency.

      walaoa
      1. yeah that’s why he’s going to the enemy’s base to look for the guy who has similar powers as pooh
        who knows he might be able to find an ability user that can heal his right eye and time leap.

        Mike
    1. Not to mention the fact that they keep calling him “the strongest ability-user”, but as far as I can tell, they only know the abilities of those in certain parts of Japan, not the entire world, so for all they know, there could very well be an ability-user on par with, or even more powerful than Yu. After all, they did entertain the idea that an organization(s) may have ability-users with similar abilities as Kumagami.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
    2. He can probably go blind from overusing his ability that’s why this whole plan of taking 10,000 abilities might be a total fail unless he can find an ability that can restore damaged parts of his body like his eyes.

      Mike
  5. How much you wanna bet kumagami comes back through Yusa’s ability at some point. Also wtf is with this how are they possibly going to wrap up this series in one episode, unless they actually go for a second season?

    Fate/animu
  6. Yuu (to Nao): “[Shunsuke] said that Japan will soon be involved in the activities of overseas terrorists.”

    I get the context of what Shunsuke said to Yuu (Japan trying to prevent overseas terrorist groups from exploiting ability users), but part of me can’t help but think it’s another reference to that recently-passed legislation allowing the JSDF to fight overseas… And I thought I had enough of that from Gate

    Incognito
  7. so what happened to the supposedly, “spoiler” of someone in a certain forum claiming that yu’s brother is the enemy?

    anyway farewell MISA, though i agree with the most here that the drama its quite forced.

    random thoughts: i wonder why they didnt used, YUSA’s spirit medium ability to talk with kumagami now that its with otosaka yu via his “plunder”?

    Jeffers
  8. I am Lazy this Time, so i just copy & Paste here my reddit comments

    1)
    I dunno, but right now with the Last Episode and this one, i get the feeling of “The Time leap Experiment went wrong!. Let us end up this somehow fast and clean up behind us!”
    Plunder all Ability Wielders? Of the current ones?
    But here lies the Problem. What will he do with the Onea not developed Powers, because they are still Young like her Sister? They where only able to detect them when they Activate their Abilities like this (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebro). No this Solution they have have a Big Flaw, it is so big like the Iceberg that Titanic rammed and Sunk. This Show is about to ram his Personal Iceberg on full speed.
    And there is the Outgrow and lost the Ability Clock. What will he do, when he grown to Old and lost his Plunder Ability before he “save” all in time? Big Flaw again
    Would it not be easier let him regain Time Leap, and take the Vaccine results back in time so that they just create it in Time to prevent this All? Why so complicated when you can do it so simple. You do not see the Forest with this many Trees?
    Jump back in Time and give these First Generation Abilitie Users just this Vaccine through Water they drink or Food they Eat. No one will notice it. And to make an sad Happy End, this last Jump make him Blind… And he Hopes that Future Big Brother will take care of Ayumi, or he could be reborn in this Time line…
    Seriously, the Time leap was not good executed, the Star Trek Time jumps was better written then this here…
    No this Experiment with Time Jumps went horrible Wrong
    Ending solution: Let the Boy with the Memory erasing Skill be the Last one, so he can erase Yui’s Plundered skill in one swoop and all Problems are solved.. Just this Boy someday will lose his Memory wipe natural. And what will happen with these Peoples still awaken their Abilities? Yui can not be the Deus ex Machina, because Time is his strongest Enemy and to many Peoples in this World… In the end he must also take the Abilities of these ones that Big Brother accumulate them in the World traveling time… Nope Time is against him
    Nope, This Story Conclusion is not thought very well to the end. it is a Fast solution…
    and i need to End this Wall of Text. Long time i did not wrote so much in one go, so sorry for Typos and such. Hope you understand the Gist
    edit: the best fast Solution to save the Ending into an Happy ending is…
    Let him just Jump back in time, to exchange the Driver that started this Crap. So the Infos that they got in useing the Truth Serum never fall into their Hands, but thanks to Yui memory they can act to fight these Mafia thugs, or to save this Girl that fights him
    Edit2: or let him save the Family of this Driver, so that they can not Blackmail him into doing this.. No one will notice this, and with his Memory intact they can take care of these mafia guys…
    Seriously. As if someone flee into a Corner, sulking about he has done wrong, and someone took over to clean up….
    But no, you go there and took his Time leap ability, blame yourselves

    ————————————————————————————

    2)
    My Fan fiction for an Happy Ending:
    Let Yui, find someone with Healing Abilities or like Inoue from Bleach. That he can get his Eye back, to execute his Time Leap
    We need his Time Leap
    He somehow convince them to exchange the Driver at that Day, or go to rescue the Driver’s Family out of these Mafia claws. So that the Driver never ever call these Thugs that they found Yui with his Plunder skill.
    But with Yui’s intact Memory they can act against these Mafia guys, and perhaps even save the ones forced to work with them (like the girl he fights)
    So they save time to perfect the Vaccine, and use their Money power to play some kind of UN “Polio” Medic trick to share it worldwide for everybody.
    He find the Singer and convinced her to Sing for Nao’s brother (again)
    Happy ending

    WorldwideDepp
  9. So the guy who who ALMOST DIED against two normies and one x-woman whose ability was to have a flashlight on her mouth is now going to roam the world ALONE, and hunt down other ability users even though it’s been stated that the terrorists AND the evil scientists are after him?

    Yeah, great writing right there.

    Archiepiscopus
    1. Impossible odds are a staple of many climaxes – the edge-of-your-seat moment the villain looks like he’ll definitely win.

      Charlotte isn’t only failing by trying to extend that moment for a whole week until the finale. It’s also lacking the drama on the part of the protagonist or another character wherein the acceptance or defiance of impossible odds is passionately expressed. Yuu just seems too calm about it.

      And don’t get me started on how 99% of the problems Yuu might face are unknown to us, giving us no insight into what his future could be like in any shape or form, aside from the fact that it’s impossible. It’s an empty way of defining your goals and obstacles at a time when the story should be completely filled with excitement.

      What a disaster of a plot this is.

      1. What I don’t get even more is why he didn’t come up with it the moment he knew his ability was ‘plunder’. I mean, the people around you are calling their power a disease, and you’re not thinking that you could just take it away from them? So much for Yuu’s character development being towards becoming a nicer guy – or maybe it’s just that he didn’t get any less stupider.

  10. This is the stupidest shit I’ve ever watched.
    Why are they sending his grossly underqualified ass out alone to harvest superpowers?
    Why is harvesting superpowers even on the table as an option?
    Why the absolute hell is Tomoroi deviating from character and saying (let alone condoning) stupid shit like this?
    Why. the. hell. was that entire episode so terrible?
    Literally, the only part of the episode that didn’t go bad was the Yusa Misa bit amazingly.
    Everything else was completely and utterly awful.
    Are they trying to establish a season 2 route? Why? Who is the threat? Why should I be interested in a guy trying to harvest superpowers when he can barely utilize them to defend himself properly? Why is he going alone?

    Seriously, who the hell is in charge of writing this nonsense? I thought the 1st portion of the series was an awful letdown, I was thoroughly wrong. These past 3 episodes have been cataclysmic overall.

    Kabble
  11. I wish I could be paid to write complete shit and have it animated.

    Jun Maeda doesn’t give a FUCK anymore. He’s clocking in and cashing checks.

    See you all next time for his next train-wreck.

    SassyPiplup
  12. With the Charlotte syndrome happening worldwide they can make another story at another time and place, maybe with another genre. Expand the universe.

    Will see how they end it with episode 13.
    Skip “After 1 year”? Couldn’t go around the world in 20+ minutes. Or narration with stills slideshow?

    iron2000

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