Tamaki is a soon to be overwhelmed high school girl visiting her grandmother in the country while her parents are away. She is somewhat sensitive to the invisible world around her. What she finds herself getting involved with is a sadistic grandma (for duty) and a group of five cruel half demons who are ostensibly there to protect her, but don't really give a crap either way. Oh and if she can't automatically learn how to release powers she was, up to this point unaware of, the world will end. Not that anyone will help her do this, but whatevs.

I guess the base for this is a visual novel aimed for the ladies. It is apparent this is so, because at the end of each episode, one of the guardians, all handsome and cool, have a little romantic conversation with the viewer for a minute which made me gag. I knew pretty well soon I was not the target. Maybe if I were, I would be able to see why granny is a bitch and the guardians are bastards.

I don't think they want us to think that granny is a bitch, or that the guardians are bastards, but that sure is how they come across. Why? Well, for starters, everyone knows Tamaki must fully awaken. Do they do anything to help her? Do they give her advice? Do they drop a hint, send an email, put a note in the shrine advice box? Not once. Not in the entire show. Do they even tell her (and us) that she must awaken all on her own and if she does everything will be revealed? F' no! that would be cheating, or something. Heck, through most of the show granny refuses to even see her!

Anyway, Tamaki needs to step into her grandma's role as chief Priestess and future bitch and fast, because granny is weakening and can't do it on her own anymore. The guardians and Tamaki are soon in conflict with another group trying to get their hands on the mcguffin. Aside from a few minor fights, the Logos are the only opponents the guardians have, and the guardians lose. Every time. Badly. Except for the leader of the evil ones, the guardians would have been killed easily. The Priestess as well. This would have made a lot of sense for the evil side as it would have accomplished their goals quicker. Not meant to happen, I guess.

So every fight is lost. The resentment towards Tomaki by all those who refuse to help her increases. Friends who turn out to be not friends are forgiven and termed friends. All in all I was so disappointed after the first 13 eps, that I had to watch the second, just to see if there was going to be a frickin' payoff. I watched a third of the second season because there were actually whiffs of hints on a slight breeze that suggested there might be.

What do you know?  It wasn't great, but there really was a good ending.
First off, Granny gets it at the end and we finally learn why she is the bitch she is. The resentment of all those years trapped in that shrine in order to keep the seal as strong as she can darkened her heart quite a bit.

Granny had to make some soul killing decisions: She has forced Mitsuru, the helper at the shrine to compel villagers to sacrifice themselves to help keep the strength of the barrier. Mitsuru goes a little bat shit doll eyed after awhile, but Tamaki makes her better by - I don't know, saying a sentence or two. She was getting ready to sacrifice Tamaki to save the world. Her grandchild. To whom she was entrusted by Tamaki's parents with her care and safety. She made some Faustian bargains with a sneaky, snakey guy who gets worse as the show goes on.For all this, granny has to atone, and it works. I did not feel sorry for her death, but it gave me perspective.

After Tamaki finally fully awakens (thanks for all the help, every frickin body!) all the guardians fight with full power and finally win the battles with their respective battle partners. they then team up to fight the final big bad and win. It's still not a complete rout, however. The fights are competitive, and finally worth watching. If we had these fights at the beginning, even if the guardians lost, they would have been well worth the time.

It begs to reason, though: they all knew they would be better if she had her full groove on, so why the hell didn't they try to help?

The worst part about an otherwise decent ending is the standard complaint in many of these stories: insta-knowledge. After she awakens, Tamaki knows all the words to say, all the motions to make and all the rows to hoe(?). Perhaps it is because the memories of the former princess have filled her head as she awoke? I don't know, you aren't telling me! I compare this with Shounen Onmyouji - a very servicable anime geared a bit more towards kids, but really well done. At the very start they let us know that the fated successor to his grandfather knows all the words to all the spells, as his grandad forced him to learn them since the start.

By the way, wouldn't that have come in handy here? Early learning, rather than full immersion. It usually yields better results. Don't try and tell me her parents (or at least one of them) didn't know about the role she plays. Her grandmother is the previous successor.

It was interesting to see that, in a world filled with anime series that start off great and have a terrible, disappointing ending, there was one that ended surprisingly well, and helped justify an amazing amount of time I thought was wasted.

Too  long by half, the show made me feel at least a little for having watched it.

Posted by: topmaker at 09:37 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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