Final Impressions / First Impressions / Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin

「八真重護が決める覚悟」 (Yama Juugo ga Kimeru Kakugo)
“The Resolve of Yama Juugo”

So that ending was a little… lackluster to say the least.

I was expecting some more action and some more Tensai wit and puzzle-solving but we got none of that! What was that?! In the end, I think I’m left with more questions than answers, especially with Hiiyo’s powers left hidden. I’m quite disappointed with how they resolved that issue so quickly. It was like Hiiyo had a change of heart and he rather save his own skin (and keep his secrets) than destroy his rivals. The scene had little to no effect on me because it was all just a bluff! And there wasn’t much resolution for that ruin at all. The scene cuts and the next thing we know, Tensai is back in Juugo’s apartment. Very much lacking in terms of a proper season finale in my opinion.

The good news is that the focus of this episode is really tying back to what everyone’s’ motives are. There’s a lot more talking and self-reflection than I would’ve anticipated for a season finale, but I think it sends the clear message of what everyone is thinking. Most importantly – Juugo actually confronts Nanana about what she wants. This has been a question I’ve been asking since the beginning and I think a lot of readers also pointed it out. Does Nanana want to stick around and eat pudding all day? Or does she want to move on from limbo? The answer is to be expected, but it’s still good to hear it straight from her. This pretty much sums up why she’s been holding secrets from the Adventure Club and why she can help them but doesn’t. Truth is, Nanana probably wants to find her murderer, but it’s not the core reason that her spirit still lingers in that apartment. I think that even though she does get her revenge, she’ll still be around because she likes watching over the island and its inhabitants.

So what was in the treasure chest? Well who knows… because they don’t really show it; nor is it really showcased how it works. Tensai tries to get Juugo to break his promise to Nanana, but I take Juugo to be a more honorable and trustworthy person than that. I’m glad that he kept his promise, but it’s a shame that Tensai lost the bet at the same time. The only fan girl moment that I got out of this week was the fact that Hiiyo called Tensai, Juugo’s girlfriend. Neither of them denied it too! You can see how distracted I was during this scene because nothing was really happening. What I really wanted to know was, what’s in the bag? Why did Hiiyo fight so hard for it? Does he even know what it’s used for? The other piece of it was revealed at the end post credits because it brings back the image of the bloody schoolbag and confirms that it did belong to Yuu-chan. What’s more, it alludes to the fact that Yuu-chan isn’t who she appears to be and I think she’s either being controlled by someone or someone else lives inside her (MPD or schizophrenia perhaps?). Unfortunately we’ll never know for now…

Ultimately, I think this does lead to the possibility of a second season. Keeping in mind that the novel isn’t very long (only started early 2012), I don’t think there’s enough material yet to create more episodes without it being derailed. I would’ve liked it more if the finale was more conclusive or provided more details, but it’s best that they didn’t come up with an anime-original ending.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: Hate to say #nanana_tv was anticlimactic… But it was =( damn, I’m disappointed. At least the epilogue was interesting though #postcredits

Epilogue:

Final Impressions

Coming into this season’s noitamina timeslot, I was pretty shot down after blogging Samurai Flamenco for a whole two seasons. I admit that I wasn’t expecting much and given that the initial premise of the show, I figured it’d be more light-hearted, comedic and probably focused more on girls doing cute things with an innocent guy as a bystander. Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin was none of that and to no extent was I ever bored or turned-off. Much of this probably had to do with my expectations of the show coming in, but in general, it still goes beyond what you read from a short synopsis. Each of the characters are much more than cardboard cutoffs of their stereotype. They all have personalities and motives which make you understand why they are all hunting for pieces of the treasure. The mystery aspect of this show is actually focused on who everyone is, rather than what’s inside the chest. You’ll find yourself wondering where everyone came from and who they know rather than how to get through this ruin.

The story is not without its faults though. The initial arc proves to be quite an info dump of revelations and Nanana as a whole requires quite a bit of your attention span. There are a lot of one-liners (especially from Tensai) which answer a lot of questions, but you have to be on the watch for it. There are also hints and subtle signs of what’s to come, but Nanana barely scratches the surface of the story which it can potentially deliver. It’s a shame that the run is so short because the characters are quite loveable and they’re not given the time to develop in front of the audience. The lack of episodes is definitely a miss for this type of series, however I’m glad that it had a run at all because it shows how the typical Indiana Jones adventure series can be transformed into something completely different.

50 Comments

  1. what’s in the bag?

    A shard of a sacred lance. It wards off evil. Tensai told us that after she finished tempting Juugo with false info on it. Ikusaaba probably wouldn’t have found it useful, so I doubt he had any idea what it was.

    In the end, I think I’m left with more questions than answers, especially with Hiiyo’s powers left hidden.

    …They weren’t. He told us what the ring did. Like many people theorized, it hypnotized people into believing whatever the wearer said was true. Probably has limitations, but effective enough to convince people that they’d suffered critical injuries, yet when taken to the hospital it was discovered that they hadn’t, in fact, been injured.

    Wanderer
    Reply

    2. I should’ve been more exact in my post then… I meant, we didn’t actually get to see it and how do you know it does what Tensai says? She could be lying… >_> I was speculating that she was after she joked with Juugo the first time.

      Cherrie
      Reply

    1. There was a part of this particular screenshot that brought up some questions, but looks like Cherrie cropped it out…What seemed like Nanana’s dress & her necklace was nearby..I wonder what that means..

      Oh wait..found a screenshot with the dress in question. (http://tinyurl.com/nf26tta)
      Rather low resolution though.

      Techim
      Reply

      2. I noticed Nanana’s dress too. With Shuu/Hundred faces there, I’m assuming that he disguised himself as Nanana so that they could capture Hiiyo. But you’d think he’d be suspicious that Nanana could leave her room, so there may be more to it. It’s probably more just a tease by them to “go read the LN and find out!”

        Amurita
        Reply

    2. Also nice to see Nanana vs Juugo. Not only did she get more character development (I’m still convinced she’s Aizen), she also showed that she won’t lose to the series’ top fighters.

      ReverseTales
      Reply

  5. Funny enough i thought the finale was one of nanana’s strongest eps; I feel that the character reflection scenario was the best way to go, especially since there is still some source material left and there was no way around creating a “epic” final without deviating from the source material. The writing and directing this time around shined a lot more brightly than it has in previous eps; a good example would be the final scene right before it cuts to the credits, where juugo steps out the room and all you were is his, Tensai and Daruku’s voice with Nanana listening in. With subtlety, it shows the audience that Nanana is bound to her fate no matter what to be trapped in that room, but even so, it does not mean that she has been stripped away from her dream, which was to give everybody who came to this island an opportunity to find themselves and have fun. Even tho she is stuck in that room, she can still hear the happy voices of people trying to pursue their dream, and in that way, she is still connected to the outside world even if she cannot venture there. She can still be the observer she wants to be. Not to mention Juugo and Tensai still have good banter and we get to see it on display here.

    Seriously, I dont even think it’s questionable….Im pretty sure TensaiXJuugo is the OTP, I dont know…there’s something about the way the show portrays them that has me thinking that. The fact that they are such foils to each other and yet care about the other’s friendship is really telling. There’s sort of an undeclared mutual interest between the two (like something akin to Bones and Booth) and that makes for some of the best interactions between people interested in one another. Im pretty sure that’s the angle the story is going for. It’s like a scenario of “what if sherlock holmes and watson were a female and male respectively?”. I thought it was a good finale; my only real complaint would be how they kinda just shoehorned Hiiyo being captured by Yukihime in the credits….what? why would you have a villain that you have built up for a couple eps just have a lame defeat like that? Not to mention showing him being captured in a 5 second clip is just head-scratching to say the least..it was like “oh…by the way..Hiiyo was defeated in the end”…huhhhh?. Plus that scene with Yuu at the end credits seemed oddly timed and not well presented, but im sure that was just a teaser to a potential second season so i was cool with it.

    sonicsenryaku
    Reply

    1. I liked this episode a lot; granted that the skirmish ended with Hiyo leaving them alone was slightly abrupt; however, I felt there was a lot of development and we got to see again what made everyone who they were and why they participated in the adventure in the first place. And I agree ,Sonicsenryaku, the character reflection was one of the best ways to go; because Nanana advocates the sense of adventure and which was one of the reasons why she wanted to create the island and why she doesn’t just tell everyone the location or the possible uses of the Nanana’s collection. It’s in a sense, Nanana encourages them to use their own abilities and thinking, to strive for what they believe in, and use Nanana’s collection as an extension for themselves, not as some kind of power-up or weapon.

      The epilogue was slightly confusing but in overall, this was one of my favorite shows this season. When Nanana first appeared in episode one, giving her monologue, I was moved and instantly interested in the adventure the show was going to take us.

      Dualash
      Reply

      1. Yeah i quite enjoyed the series. I did feel like it stumbled here and there what with pacing and setting up the character drama, but when the characters actually interacted and revealed things about themselves, that’s when the series showed its strength. This series has plenty of potential and if it ever gets a season 2, I hope it capitalizes on that potential by bringing to the table tighter writing and direction in its story-telling.

        sonicsenryaku
        Reply

    2. I never thought of Tensai and Juugo being similar to Sherlock and Watson although that’s quite an interesting comparison. I don’t know too much about the Sherlock Holmes series (*should make a mental note to read up on that) but I saw Juugo and Tensai as more as “rivals”. Tensai made it a point to say that Juugo was her rival the entire time and I thought that led more to a star-crossed lovers theme. Maybe not “lovers” exactly, but something along the lines that they were opposites but still manage to compliment one another.

      I don’t want to speculate what the coupling is supposed to be… but from this last episode, I think it gave huge pushes towards Nanana and Juugo. There’s an understanding and connection there (finally!) and I can see Juugo falling for her. Of course I’m still on the Tensai x Juugo ship all the way. Maybe until something tells me that they’ve friend-zoned each other.

      Cherrie
      Reply

      1. Funny you mention juugo and Nanana’s little moment as being a hint to him possibly falling for her as that scene only made it more clear to me that he has platonic feelings for her; just by the way he was upfront with her about missing her if she was gone, it reminded me of how upfront he was about Yukihime about his feelings for her and as we all know, he feels a sisterly bond towards her rather than something completely romantic (although a lil bit of romantic feelings could be involved…like an innocent crush maybe; perhaps not on Yukihime’s side though as she seems to harbor a tad bit more romantic feelings for Juugo).

        Tensai is the only main female cast member he has yet to be honest about anything regarding his feelings, and i think that has to do with the pussy-footing around their feelings type relationship the author is going for. Those underlying hints are enough for me to believe that the romance is going where i think its going. Like you said though, it’s too early to be calling anything official, but its seems to me that the nails are finally being hammered in place (plus according to LN readers, TensaixJuugo is more apparent there). I shall stand strong in my TensaixJuugo ship until it sinks.

        sonicsenryaku
        Reply

  8. I didn’t think this ep was that bad either, to be honest. The resolution of the fight with Hiiyo kind of made sense to me, because for all intents and purposes, the big battle was during the last ep already. Having Tensai defeat him by outbluffing him was a pretty fun way of doing the whole ‘talking the monster to death’ trope, and it left us with the rest of the episode to build somewhat of a proper conclusion. While there are still plenty of questions unanswered (the whole deal with Yuu’s powers), we finally got to know what Nanana’s deal was, for one. And well, plenty of Tensai scenes. Which is always a good thing.

    Overall, I quite enjoyed this show. It wasn’t perfect: it had pacing issues throughout and one of those dreaded ‘read the source material for the rest!’ endings. I doubt we’ll ever get a proper sequel too, given Noitamina’s apprehension on multiple cour shows nowadays (thank you, Samumenco) and the fact this won’t be a superseller in the first place. Still, it was a fun adventure while it lasted and I can’t say I ever got bored watching this. Treasure hunting will always have some kind of universal appeal to me anyway.

    The cast certainly helped too. Nearly all of them were more complicated than they seemed at first, and they managed to avoid a lot of typical character cliché’s while crafting them to be more relatable or interesting people. Take Juugo, who was a lot more two-faced and carried a lot more baggage with him than you’d expect, becoming anything but the ‘average teenage boy’ he seemed at first. And of course, Tensai, who managed to become one of my favourite characters this season. She really was one of those characters who brought joy everytime she appeared on screen.

    So yeah, fun show. And aren’t you glad you didn’t get stuck blogging another tiresome show this time, Cherrie XD?

    Dvalinn
    Reply

    1. Haha! I am quite satisfied with my blog pick this time around to be honest =) I liked it. The show was interesting enough every week to have something to talk about and even though the ending was very open-ended and left a few questions, it wasn’t a waste of 12 episodes. Definitely agree with the characters being the focus and their depth really amazed me. The more I saw, the more I wanted to hear more and if the purpose of this show was to get people interested in the LN, then I’m on board.

      No clue about a possible sequel… I’m always hopeful but we’ll have to wait and see. There are more shows out there that I think deserve a second season ^^

      Cherrie
      Reply

  9. def a little disappointed with the end, not that I wanted everything answered, but for a season finale, it wasn’t really satisfying.

    On the plus side, they gave Tensai a good in-depth breakdown of how she figured out Hiiyo’s powers, or rather the conditions of those powers. She truly is a master detective!

    a box like hippo
    Reply

  10. I’m less disappointed with the episode and more wondering what exactly even happened? 11 episodes and a cliffhanger with no indication of a sequel? That’s even worse than WIXOSS’s ending.

    stuffanimestuffyeah
    Reply

  13. Tensai as usual shines the brightest, talking down the indomitable Hiiyo into backing off, and bluffing without blink of an eye.
    Notice how neither Juugo nor Tensai protest much anymore over Hiiyo calling her “girlfriend-chan?”
    Nanana is finally revealing that she doesn’t quite like to pass on, yet. But not to the extent that she would give up her main target, namely killing her killer with her own ethereal hands!
    I am increasingly worried about Yuu-chan. Either someone is impersonating her or she has been brainwashed after some accident involving the treasure room.
    Can’t wait for the finale, although there are so many loose ends to tie up… This might make things difficult.

    ewok40k
    Reply

  16. Not to be a downer, but don’t bother assuming that there will be a second season. I won’t be, that’s for sure. That’s not to say that I don’t want one. In fact I do, very much so, but I won’t be counting on it. Just b/c they added scenes at the end, doesn’t mean there will be a sequel. Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge, and Kamisama Dolls are great examples of this.

    hjerry
    Reply

    1. Not assuming, just hoping. I don’t expect a lot of anime to get sequels these days especially with the stagnant sales and growth of the industry. It’d be nice, but in no way am I expecting it =X that’s just asking for disappointment.

      Cherrie
      Reply

      1. Oh yeah, sorry. That wasn’t particularly meant to be directed at you or anything. It was more of an in general thing, directed to all fans of the series, of which I am also one. I’d love a sequel too; I’ve just been burned too many items, by end credits scenes, to hold out much hope, unfortunately.

        hjerry
        Reply

    2. Well let’s look at this logically. Yukihime is a better figther then Juugo by a mile. Probably whoop that guy ass, lure him into a shadowy building. Stood in the place with likes set up by 100 faces guy and BAM suckaaahhh!

      Then chain him up and break his arm so he can’t use the ring.

      Duzz
      Reply

  21. Also I kind of figure out that final move weak point, it’s the power of suggestion right? Wear ear plugs or walkman and it’s useless. If he could do it any other way or just visually he would have just crippled them already.

    Duzz
    Reply

  24. The post end of Yun-chan made me wonder if that’s just a flash back or a preview of things to come. And as probably everyone had notice what about that dress and necklace of Nanana in the ending credits where Hiiyo was caught.

    Oh, well, I enjoyed the series. Second season maybe. Pudding anyone? 🙂

    yuhsaku
    Reply

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