Posted by  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「空の果て」 (Sora no Hate)
“The End of the Sky”
The penultimate episode is here and suddenly it’s Isla’s last mission. We got the Sky Clan letting our cast through in exchange for Nina Viento/Claire, and the episode overall turns out pretty interesting in my book. Because for me personally, there’s always been a kind of charm to the Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta universe, and its mythology was one big reason why. There’s something to be said about a world where the countries are separate but the mythology and roots are shared among them all, and it goes without saying that the literal fulfillment of what turns out to be a prophecy of sorts just adds to the intriguing nature of it all.
That said, the thing that ended up first and foremost on my mind was the question of why they had to sacrifice Isla upon reaching The End of the Sky, and it’s probably something that’s on most people’s minds too. After all, it’s quite easy to look at this and wonder why exactly this had to be done in the first place, and one can make a case that it’s nonsensical to just toss away what essentially was their home throughout this entire journey.
It’s times like this where I’d say the symbolism is the name of the game though, and one could say it’s quite representative of the sending off one gets at the end of something significant (such as the reaching of The End of the Sky). Judging things from that perspective, one has to say it ends up quite fitting, because there’s was no turning back anyway, and Holy Levamme Empire seems to have offered them a new place to stay as well. Isla is arguably unnecessary when it’s all said and done, and its sacrifice also serves a dual purpose in allowing them to fulfill the prophecy and freeing them from the shackles that have bound them all this time. Without Isla, there’s nothing linking them to the empire they were exiled from anymore and generally, it’s a new start in more ways than one.
Looking forward, there’s really just one thing left on the menu here, and it’s Kal-el’s promise to get Claire back. As it turns out, their relationship may not end up as star crossed as we thought it would be, and it’d be interesting to see if they actually do end up together without either (or both) of them dying at the end. Either way though, Kal-el’s promise to go to The End of the Sky and back puts a new twist on some classic romance lines—such as “I’ll go all the way to the moon (or the end of the world in other quotes) and back” for you—and it’s an aspect that does make this episode stand out from the rest. The beautiful scenery—odd drops in animation not withstanding—just emphasizes some of the many positive points this episode had, and it really is a pity that they seem to have cut out quite a bit in regards to this adaptation, because there was clearly a lot here that could’ve really brought this series up a notch. Alas. Just one episode remains.
Preview
 |
 |
 |
Yes, alright guys. We wanted to go all the way to the end of the world to see things crumble and go out in style. Time to go home…Oh wait, I need to pick up a bag of bagels on the west side as well as Claire…
Wait, that wasn’t the final episode? What else is there really to cover? I mean, how are they gonna keep this up? Or is NEXT episode the final episode?
Next episode is the final episode.
I really liked that little scene of Kal and Ariel. Not over dramatic, just a small bitter sweet moment between the two. “There goes my unrequited love, time to move on”
A time skip in the final episode?! Helllllll yesssssssss! Season 2 better be coming along with the second season of Majestic Prince. Don’t tease me bro!
What they really need is a rewrite of the whole thing. 13 episodes was rushed and leaves me with more questions than what was answered. It needs about 24 episodes to really explain what was going on, and to develop everyone’s story.
There’s no way I’m seeing a 2nd season. This penultimate episode already provided closure although more things could’ve certainly been explained,although they throughout the show’s run & not just at the end. A time skip final episode will probably provide even better closure. Some of us would definitely want some questions answered but I seriously doubt that’d be enough to make another season.
The way I understand it, sending Isla into the End of the Sky was part of the larger creation myth. The people of Balesteros took one of the floating islands and sent it all the way to the spring. They can’t steer it or change its speed, else they would have taken it to where they wanted to go. When they reached the Holy Spring, the myth said the Sky Clan would attack them, which of course they did. If they reach the end of the sky where all floating islands go to die as told by the myth, the people would leave the island on the Luna Barco and make it back if they can. They couldn’t have done anything about Isla; they knew it was going to be destroyed, it was just a question of when.
The strange thing that grabs me about this series is, despite its shortcomings in writing, it has a lot of sincerity to it. It doesn’t feel like a cynical marketing gimmick for a product. It’s not pandering to a group that it knows will instantly like it. It’s genuinely telling a story, and that much I can appreciate and applaud it for. Its only problem is a lack of budget and time to bring it all together. I wish TMS could have partnered with Madhouse to make this like they did before with the Princess and the Pilot.
Ah well, maybe after this show is over TMS will do some more adaptations of the Pilot franchise. There are two more light novel series from what I understand. Does anyone have any information as to what the others are about?
Meh, quoting fail :/
Just watched the episode, they really cut a lot of stuff out, which leaves me a bit apprehensive how they’ll adapt the the rest of the story 🙁
The major part that was cut out here was Isla’s stop in Levamme, where Isla resupplied, and many of the inhabitants decided to settle, and the exchange of “ambassadors” – Nina Viento for one of the Sky Clan’s Prince.
The latter was especially important, as the Prince is the one that provided almost all of the world-building info in the story, without which anime viewers are left with zero information/context.
In short, the world of Toaru is almost certainly an artificial construct of a staggering scale – the world itself resembles a circular floating island not unlike Isla, with two levels plus the Holy Spring in the middle. The atmosphere is contained within a circular sphere, with the “End of the Sky” being a dimensional shield that surrounds the perimeter of the island world.
The people of Isla had no clue to the island’s impending doom, until the Prince was convinced by (what else?) Ariel’s ramen to divulge this information :p
All of this suddenly makes me wish the novels were translated, or at least that the show had more budget and was 2-cour. 🙁 Did Charles or Fana ever make a cameo in the novels? Ever talk to any of the characters here?
The description of the world reminds me of a story where the characters of a video game knew they were in a game world and not the real world; no fourth wall existed. Is the world ever elaborated upon? If it’s artificial, who constructed it? Why?
Obviously you’ve read the LNs. Care to tell us what the others are about and how they fare compared to Koiuta?
Fana was mentioned in passing several times, and Charles did make several appearances(yes, it was Charles in the Seagull crested fighter), including a face to face conversation with Karl.
As for the grand mythology behind the world, I doubt it’ll ever be fully explained, obviously someone/thing named Aldista had something to do with it, given the spread of common history and culture across such a vast expanse of area (the world-island is massive – estimating from the map included in the LN, it’s roughly 50-60k miles in diameter, and large enough to hold a dozen Earths).
There are two other novels based in the same world, I haven’t read those yet, but as far as I can tell they’re also self-contained stories about other countries that live on the various islands in that world.
That makes it even more disappointing. It would have been interesting to see how Karl and Charles would have interacted, especially since they share similar issues (one’s ostracized for being mixed race, the other for being a former prince, both have love troubles). Maybe in episode 13 we can see it, though I’m not holding my breath.
So do you own all the novels? How many countries really exist in this world? We know of Amatsukami, Balesteros, and the Levamme Empire, but what else? It’d be cool to see the other LNs adapted into anime, though it will ride a lot on how this anime fares in sales.
There’s 2 more novels…..
Oath of a Certain Pilot and Nocturne of a Certain Pilot
Does anyone know the plot of those two novels? I know Mike said it’s just two more self-contained stories set in the same world, but does anyone know anything more than just that?
There’s only the very basic gist; one involves two lovers with opposing ideals eventually finding themselves on opposite sides. The other involves a female cadet as she works to become a proper pilot.
You’ll either have to find Raws, run them through an OCR program, then piece together what’s going on, or learn Japanese. Or you could always commission a translation, but that requires money and a good and dedicated translator.
That’s good to know. So maybe we’ll get S2 and S3…
I love it when there’s a possibility for another season.
Meant as a reply to c2710
There’s 2 more novels…..
Oath of a Certain Pilot and Nocturne of a Certain Pilot
Mike, I’m beginning to feel quite bitter. This could have been a great anime and they ruin what could be greatness. What a wasted! I like this anime and all but it’s like watching Usain Bolt getting a bronze medal – it felt bitter…
Pretty much sums it up. It should’ve been given 2 cours to work with and it probably would’ve been a really great anime. A 2nd season won’t work at this point.
Still a pretty enjoyable show and I like the fact that they decided to have no more conflicts in the final two episodes and take their time to provide closure. It also shows how much potential this show would’ve had with 2 cours…
My friends are dying in battles…
My love turns out to be the evil bitch who assisted in killing my parents…
…who incidentally had my face shoved into the ground at her feet as they carted my parents off…
Lots of stuff has happened…
My mother said to not hold anger in my heart…
Okay fine. I’ll forgive Claire. Let’s run away together Claire, where no one can stop us. My mother said don’t hold anger in my heart. Oh, incidentally, that was right before she was carted off to be killed… That’s right. Claire IS the evil bitch.
I understand that this is a romance and others have likened it to Romeo and Juliet, but I just don’t see it. I cannot make the leap with Karl. I love romances, but I cannot, CANNOT, make that leap from her being largely responsible for his world being turned upside down as a child to where he apparently completely forgives her. Now he’s made promises to return to her. It’s not just that I hate what she did and am empathizing too much. From what they have shown the leap is simply not logical. Not to me, at least. I know I’m probably a tiny minority.
Claire apologized and still loved Kal even before she knew he forgave her.
Claire happened to have the power to control the wind. It’s not like she, as a little kid, plotted to destroy the nation, other people used her for that. She did things she didn’t even want to do.
So the earth isn’t round?? and why do they crash the isla floating island??
they’re not on Earth, and they had no control over Isla at that point.
An it disappeared in an instant, it was incredible that they found exactly what they were looking for, I was expecting pretty much anything but that. One more to go, I hope we get an ending worthy of so many sacrifices, meaning a happy ending.
Is the world flat? Are the legends true? And is there really a need to destroy Isla when you could have it as a five-star resort? All this and more – next episode…
I freaking lost it when Ari called Ignacio a tsundere xD
After reading the comment, As a Anime-only viewer I feel like I has been left out of a lot of novel info can anyone tell me where should I start?
nevermind, I think I found what I’m looking for
Poor Ari she can’t even express her feeling to Karl
So after they delivered that huge floating rock they can go home? Wasn’t the point of it was so everyone dies? I had the impression that the gov’t put all their political enemies on that trip so everyone will die.
That look
https://randomc.net/image/Toaru%20Hikuushi%20e%20no%20Koiuta/Toaru%20Hikuushi%20e%20no%20Koiuta%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2025.jpg
And that look
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u571/julieeatworld14/pp1_zps2664df3c.png
What happened in the latter was truly bittersweet. I think that’s a given since Recollections twirlled around young adults and not adolescent teens.
Still…. Thus far we have Recollections and Love Song animated. Would Nocturne of a Certain Pilot and Oath of a Certain Pilot be animated as well?
Speaking of those 2, Nocturne and Oath, looking at MAL, Oath may be a likely candidate for Love Song’s continuation. Of course that’s all based on my wild guess
http://myanimelist.net/manga/49291/Toaru_Hikuushi_e_no_Seiyaku
Show Spoiler ▼
Whether Oath and Nocturne get animated really just depends on how well this anime does in sales. The movie did well enough to prompt TMS to give us this, so I can only hope that enough people pick up Koiuta so they can continue it. The way it looks, Nocturne is more a direct sequel to Princess and the Pilot while Oath is a sequel to Koiuta.
Either way, here’s hoping for an adaptation down the line.
>Two more books
That’s good to know. So maybe we’ll get S2 and S3…
I love it when there’s a possibility for another season.
Wait… so the whole reason for the expedition, the reason Mitty and all those others died, the reason they all risked life and limb, the reason they sent Clair away was [drumroll]… to crash their floating island into a weird pillar of light?!?
Man, if I was one of those kids I’d be sooo pissed!
OK, reading the comments it seems there’s more reasoning than that, but if you haven’t read the light novels there’s very little context for what the heck’s going on here. This show has really failed hard at worldbuilding. About the only parts I enjoyed this episode were Ari’s and Ignacio’s (stupid big brother indeed!). As for Kal… why couldn’t he just go with Clair as one of her guards?
Am I the only one who thought this episode was well…stupid?
I wish they could have expanded on the Sky Clan and Holy Levamme thing. It just feels like they got the axe waaaaay too soon.
Ignacio is such tsundere… he will make ideal pair to Ari!
“See you, baka aniki!”
Also, to the Claire haters: She did brought victory to the revolution and was it’s figurehead, but she was not the one to sentence the ruling pair.
Revolution was bound to happen and probably would be much more bloodier mess if not for Claire swiftly defeating loyalist forces.
And, remember, country under the ancien regime was not exactly best place to live. Ignacio in particular got the short end of the stick, yet managed to reconcile with his half-brother.
I am awaiting the final episode eagerly, it seems they will manage to get a final closure for the series, leaving no need for second season.
I usually watch this streamed so I was on this one site where they have Toaru on there and the comments section? LOL the pissed off people about this episode was insane. Honestly laughed about the whole island part. “Why even bother living on the damn island if it’s going to disintegrate?! WTF!”. There was others but I just laughed. Honestly still liked this show even with the somewhat questionable parts.
anybody know the name of themes song of log horizon?
So what’s with Benjei’s hand? We saw it get blown off so he had to have get a prosthetic, but it seemed like he was gripping things with it like the camera and when they were flying the cockpit railing. Can prosthetic hands do that? It was just bugging me the whole episode :/
GAH! BAAAG! Cannot reply right.
Brilliant writing!!
Oh hey everyone, we are going to exile all you pain in the asses by sending you off with this giant floating island. Your objective? Simple…crash the island at the end of the sky
…
…
We almost forgot, but there are sky guardians or some shit that is out for your blood if you trespass. So yeah..better prepare..
FkingA!
A Nautica Alfaia comercializa com peças da fábrica e de reposição alem de acessórios para motores de popa e jet ski. Comercializamos produtos como hélices, motores, peças, cabos e sistemas de direção, volantes, cadeiras, capas, defensas entre mais itens para o teu barco ou jet ski. Temos funcionários com ampla experiência no mercado náutico que irão encontrar a melhor solucão para a tua necessidade com preços muito competitivos. Entre em contato nós e teremos o imenso prazer em atendê-lo.