Platinum End – 01

OP Sequence

OP: 「”Sense”」 by (BAND-MAID)

「天使の贈り物」 (Tenshi no Okurimono)
“Gift from an Angel”

From angels of death to attaining godhood and right down to the core of human rottenness, Platinum End has Tsugumi Ohba written all over it. With that said, the plot takes on a very different route to the infamous Death Note, and it’ll be interesting to see how the series protagonist Mirai (Miyu Irino) goes about the journey to become the “new god” under the guidance of Nasse (Yui Ogura). I say this because of the nature of the main character, who so far does not seem to be the vengeful type like a certain other MC we all know.

Mirai endured his family getting killed in a car explosion and being raised by his abusive uncle and aunt only to find out they were the ones responsible for his family’s death, to begin with. A situation like this would make anyone vengeful, but Mirai still had no desire to exact that revenge with his own hands, and I think this aspect of his character makes him interesting for the role he is about to embark upon. Promised by Nasse that she will give him happiness, and having lost the will to live, Mirai has little choice but to go through with the battle royale for the position of the new god.

It’s clear that the angels in this show aren’t the typical fairy tale types, as we’ve seen from Nasse, who seems to have strong views regarding taking revenge when you are wronged. Her “eye-for-an-eye” approach to justice is evident as she urges Mirai to use his new powers to kill his uncle and aunt, and she even grants him the power to “kill for peace” in the hopes that he will carry out absolute justice. Nevertheless, and I predict this will be a major plot point of the story (excuse me if I’m way off, manga readers), but I can see Mirai redefining the whole concept of how to bring about justice and what it truly means to be a god.

In terms of the animation and art style for this episode, it really did have moments of greatness. I really liked the night city lights scene as Mirai tested his new wings, and the part when he glides above the clouds towards the sunset was quite a captivating moment too, giving off the “new beginnings” type of vibe as Mirai gets a new lease on life as a god candidate. Other than a few key scenes like those, I’d say the animation was quite average and nothing to be too hyped about, and I could probably say the same about the art style too.

All things considered, Platinum End does look like a promising series and I’m interested to see the themes they decide to explore more deeply as the show progresses. Personally, I’d look forward to seeing some explorations of human morals and ethics, perhaps something similar to Death Note but less to do with justice between men and more to do with understanding divine justice, or the various elements that make a being truly a “god.” I would imagine the main antagonist would be the power-hungry type, while Mirai is likely to be the more forgiving/merciful type. It’ll be interesting to see whether any of these “god candidates” really do become the one and only god, though the definition of god in this instance is entirely left to the author’s discretion, which in and of itself may be worth the watch.

What did you think of the first episode of Platinum End? Is it a hit or a miss? Can it live up to the author’s previous works?

Let us know in the comments below!