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「卒業式！」 (Sotsugyou Shiki!)
“Graduation Ceremony!”
The budget is blown! This finale looked amazing every step of the way and didn’t disappoint in tugging on the emotional strings. Azusa is brought to tears like I’ve been waiting for all this time and receives a surprise performance of “Touched By An Angel” from her seniors.
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Another two months and two BD/DVD volume releases later, we have the final episode of the Darker than BLACK Gaiden prequel to the events in Ryuusei no Gemini. The best part of this finale is that it actually made sense of the ending we saw seven months ago, which many will recall came somewhat out of the blue.
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「旅路の涯」 (Tabiji no Hate)
“The Horizon of a Journey”
I admittedly read the remaining portions of the final chapter of the manga after watching episode 63 last week, so I wasn’t in for too many surprises in this epilogue episode. Unfortunately, they didn’t add anything new — such as Ed and Al’s reaction to Hohenheim’s passing which I would’ve liked to see — but the rest of it played out really nicely.
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「もうふらふらですよ」 (Mou Furafura Desu yo)
“I’m Already Wasted”
On the surface, this appeared to be a pretty anticlimactic conclusion to this fairly laid back series, but I just loved how everything came full circle when Masa offered Yaichi a skewer of dangos at the very end.
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「せめて、希望のかけらを」 (Semete, Kibou no Kakeru wo)
“At The Very Least, A Fragment of Hope”
Picking up from Aoi’s first encounter with Kazura since his betrayal, I honestly had no idea how things would wrap up and was looking forward to being surprised every step of the way. Well, Anime no Chikara sure delivered in this finale by throwing out twist after twist after twist.
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「13 BRIDGE」
With the announcement of a second season following the airing of this finale, SHAFT’s taken the opportunity to introduce some of the other characters they opted not to earlier on.
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「デートと言う名の”決戦”、小鳥遊と伊波のそれから…」 (Deeto to Iu Na no “Kessen”, Takanashi to Inami no Sore kara…)
“Takanashi and Inami in the So-Called “Decisive Battle” of a Date…”
Better late than never I guess, as Matsumoto Maya (Kawase Akiko) finally gets some screen time and lines in the final episode.
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「つばさキャット其ノ伍」 (Tsubasa Kyatto Sono Go)
“Tsubasa Cat Part 5”
It was delayed enough times for me to stop caring when it would come out, but SHAFT finally got around to airing the last episode of the Bakemonogatari anime. Remember six months ago when everyone voted it as the best anime of 2009? Well, this series probably should’ve been saved for 2010 consideration given how late this aired.
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「Graduation」
The graduation ceremony was down to the five shown in the preview last time, but that didn’t take away from the bittersweetness of it all. Surprisingly, I managed to hold the waterworks back this entire finale, though I felt a little of it coming on during Otonashi’s valedictorian speech.
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「則天去私」 (Sokuten Kyoshi)
“Selfless Devotion”
Good eye to those who caught Kadota easily infiltrating the ranks of Horada’s Blue Square revival last time, as he and the other Dollars members lying in wait totally crashed the party.