verdantpanda

To sum up my feelings about this episode, I quote Family Guy:

Stewie: Yes, well, you said I didn’t have it in me to kill Lois, so I was just running a simulation to find out exactly how killing her and taking over the world would play out for me.
Brian: Yeah? How’d that go?
Stewie: Not well, Brian. Not well. I suppose I’m not ready to kill Lois or take over the world… yet.
Brian: So, what you’re saying is that what you experienced in the simulation didn’t really happen, or even matter?
Stewie: Yes, that’s correct.
Brian: So, it was sort of like a dream?
Stewie: No, it was a simulation.
Brian: Yes, but, theoretically, if someone watched the events of that simulation from start to finish, only to find out that none of it really happened, I mean… you don’t think, that would, j– be just like a giant middle finger to them?
Stewie: Well, hopefully, they would have enjoyed the ride.
Brian: I don’t know, man. I think you’d piss a lot of people off that way.

——–

You may have the rest of the anime watching community on your side, Key/KyoAni, but I’m not falling for it. That ending was thrown together and had obvious plot holes in it. And the whole bit of erasing 6 years worth of story and giving everyone the ending they really wanted…no. You played with our emotions. I let you make me cry over fictional characters. Sure, the ‘ride’ was good, but really?

That illusion world with the robot and the girl still makes no sense. Let’s just pretend that the girl really did represent Ushio, and the robot was Tomoya. Still, these two were even confusing us in the first season, many years before Ushio was even thought of. Ushio built her father? I just don’t get it. Even in a metaphorical way, it just doesn’t work.

Then there’s talk about the town creating a miracle. Whenever something gets built and a piece of the original town gets destroyed, it seems to have a negative effect on the characters of the story. However, Tomoyo, who was a strong advocate in saving the trees in the town, has a rather melancholic ending scene in this episode where she’s just standing there, looking out into the distance. Apparently preserving the town did nothing for her, though they did say that her trees were cut down in the end to make room for a mall, I think.

Either way, the real lesson here is, you don’t talk crap about The Town, or else it will make you suffer through tragedy for 6 years, only to reverse everything when you come to terms with the lesson. Don’t mess with The Town, it will mess you up.

I’ve also been curious about this pair:

Are they together? Did I miss that episode or something? I really don’t even remember who they are, but they now live with each other. They are also shown in the credits holding hands. Anyone care to explain?