Certainly, in terms of the first half of this episode, this was To Aru Kagaku no Railgun at its stunning best - A relentless and non-stop cornucopia of action which made the most of Kuroko and (in particular) Misaka's capabilities, while also finding a place for Mitsuko Kongo in proceedings. Really, spectacular doesn't even begin to describe this particular segment of the episode, with all of the major characters teaming up to do their bit in helping Harumi find the missing children against Telestina and her assembled forces.
From here, the second half of the finale takes on what could be termed a more predictable feel, with the tables seemingly turned back in Telestina's favour after Harumi and company find what they're looking for, until Telestina's tendency to monologue (as is so often the case with villains in any form) proves to be her downfall as Saten takes the opportunity to rise to the particulars of this unique occasion. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say that everything ends well and everyone lives happily ever after here - Yes, it's clichéd, but what else were you expecting from the end of this particular series?
Overall, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun has been a bit of a mixed bag in terms of its quality - The first half of the series was frequently excellent, even when it wasn't concerning itself too seriously with its major story arc, while the second half struggled to find anything worthwhile to fill its time with before the final Poltergeist arc came along. In fairness, it turned out to be well worth the wait thanks to a couple of excellent closing episodes, but as so often seems to be the case with longer anime series perhaps thirteen episodes would have been enough to cover the major plot lines without running out of steam somewhere in the middle? At the end of it all it's a net win for this series, which has been thoroughly entertaining more often than it's been dull, but a few of those poorer filler episodes have sullied the final reputation of the show as a whole slightly.
I wonder what people see in the last two episodes that warrants calling them "excellent"? I suppose they are excellent compared to the 4 or 5 episodes before them, but they're barely worth calling average taken outside that context.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm just jaded, but I felt the ending to be a slap in the face, like I was supposed to be thankful they didn't bore me to tears this time. Everything was just so half-assed I honestly barely got through it at all.
I dunno, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was the fluid action, smooth direction, the sense of fun, the powerful, *earned* emotion from Kiyami finally saving the kids, the good use of the sound track, and the ability of the show to let all the characters shine without slowing down....
I've been watching anime for 20 years, and the end of Railgun was top-notch comic action adventure to me.
(Second attempt to comment on this post after an error ate my first attempt.)
ReplyDeleteThere were some noticeable problems with the second half of this show, and it definitely didn't maintain the same standard as the first half, but I ended up being fairly forgiving of it. I just ended up really liking the characters... the cast is such a huge improvement over Index. It's certainly not a great series, and I think I'm being a tad lenient by calling it a "good" series, but I was entertained for the most part, which was more than I was expecting (especially after Index).