[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Kare Kano (His and Her Circumstances) episodes 22-26: Final thoughts
“…and that’s the script for episode 26.”
All: “Noooes!”
Okay, I’ll be serious about this.
As the series reaches its final phase the whole school is a hive of activity in the run-up to the culture-fest and there is more than enough worry, angst and stress to go around. Arima still has uncertainties concerning his relationship with Yukino; a dilemma not helped by the fact that she has much in common with Tomani and as a result gets on very well with him. Arima in contrast is suffering from the hectic study/festival preparations schedule and is wracked with guilt for feeling jealous over the friendship they share. Can Tomani realise before it’s too late? Meanwhile, the play that Aya is writing could well be cancelled: can the girls learn their lines, find a practice space and get it onto the stage?
All in all it’s setting up for an edge-of-the-seat finale where characters old and new clash at the end of term and the whole situation gets some closure. At least that’s what I was hoping. Unfortunately the age-old Gainax Ending throws it all into chaos and everything that has built up to this point begins to fall apart. There isn’t really an ‘ending’ to speak of at all as a matter of fact: it just feels incomplete.
I know that there were ‘extenuating circumstances’ that surrounded the conclusion of this series that require more explanation than I have space here: as with Fruits Basket and Miyazaki’s Nausicaa it would have been too much to ask in ‘properly’ ending things when the parent manga was still ongoing but in all honesty there are several ways in which some particular problems could have been avoided. I wasn’t expecting a ‘happily ever after’ conclusion to the Arima-Yukino relationship: it was portrayed as a realistic romance between two realistic people and for things to be over like that would have gone against what that relationship was about. It was the fact that a subplot was introduced at a really late stage and as a result the existing story arcs were not given the screen time they deserved. What happened with Aya’s play and the culture festival? Was there really a love triangle? Did Asaba’s sleazy plan work out? You’ll have to read the manga I’m afraid because there are no answers here.
Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t render the whole series a waste of time; far fom it. Apart from one or two recaps too many, this show is nigh-on flawless and will always have a special place in my heart - more than Evangelion even. The last episodes were just so…abrupt. You really get attached to these people, you want to know what happens to them. Even Eva had some sort of resolution, obtuse, vague and unexpected as it was. Here, there’s a distinct impression of things that need to be said, going unsaid, that go beyond what you can guess for yourself.
Final thoughts
I suppose really did lay into Kare Kano too much there - I don’t want a bad ending to make you think it’s a bad series. In all but the last couple of episodes it actually overcomes its weaknesses and turns them around to make it more interesting: the simplified imagery that resulted from time and budget restraints actually conveyed some things more effectively. Let’s face it, how often do you see a rom-com win over a jaded sci-fi thriller fan?
I would never have thought that the everyday lives of everyday characters could be more interesting and compelling than anything else I’ve yet seen. Perhaps it’s Masami Tsuda’s amazing story (one I will be reading for sure in the near future); perhaps it’s Hideaki Anno’s ability to home in on the deepest human emotions and bring them spectacularly to life. My guess is, it’s a bit of both. Try to forget how badly it ends: this series deserves to be remembered as a shining example of how moving character drama can be.
Posted on May 26th, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
it was an ok anime but i believe the Manga was the best!!!! and it was more detailed. for an example Arima’s dark side was scarer then that of the show. sorry i’m rambling.
Posted on October 19th, 2008 @ 11:23 pm
hi i really like this anime hope u put whole story so we can read up to the end thank u
Posted on December 27th, 2008 @ 3:29 am
The episodes 17 to the end were not directed by Anno, and I quickly realised that the manga involvement and the entire serie’s quality deteriorated because of that. It was a huge dissappointment cause I have come to expect so much. Ah well, the manga is the only way to go then. I would’ve rated the anime much higher if the other director (can’t remember name) had not ‘crashed’ the story so completely.