Coppelion - Episode 13 (Completed)

Safety is almost in sight for all and sundry as their train makes its way out of the Zone... which is not really the ideal time for Kanon Ozu to come crashing after them with what remains of the 1st Division's mechanical spider.

To make things worse, Kanon's actions are being carried out with nothing but complete indifference towards her life, making her a decidedly awkward opponent - this is particularly true for Naruse, who remains determined to avoid any further loss of life during the course of this operation... in itself a tall order when you're armed with a rocket launcher.

Nonetheless, a mixture of skill and serendipity gives Ibara exactly the circumstances she needs to disable Kanon and her mechanical monster without killing her - but can she save her from the ensuing fallout?  If one thing is for certain it's that Kanon doesn't want to be saved, but upon seeing both Coppelion and humans working together to ensure her safety she soon changes her mind.  Add to that the birth of twin babies and, at last, rescue by the 3rd Division and we're left with as feelgood an ending as you could really hope for in the aftermath of a nuclear disaster.

If there's one thing that can be said about Coppelion, it's that it ended very different from how it began, with what looked to be a largely careful and considered take on the human effects of a nuclear disaster ultimately turned into a set of ever-more over-the-top action set pieces, mechanical arachnids and all.  Although this feels like a massively missed opportunity, given how clunky a lot of those early attempts at drama were (even when they managed to be surprisingly effective on occasion) it did at least leave us with a series that was mildly entertaining even if it wasn't exactly memorable.  Things waned a little as the animation budget and ideas ran out, but there were at least some fun moments to be found in a series that wasn't bad, but did fail to live up to its promise.