So uhmmm, I don’t know how to say this. It’s really embarrassing. But I guess I should be honest with you guys. Platinum End is sort of o.k. It’s not good or anything but I’ve seen worse.
And like, this episode was the type of thing I would normally bash. It has a certain whiff of self-importance and it really can’t carry its own themes. But it also wasn’t bad. I’m having a tough time wrapping my mind around that fact alone.
It started pretty badly. Mirai and Saki are tracking down the remaining god candidates. That part isn’t bad, In fact, that’s the first logical and tangible narrative plan we’ve had fr our lead characters so I’m happy about that. But they find this kid that’s been shooting people with his red arrow and telling them to kill themselves in an attempt to help those that really are suffering but don’t have the courage to end it. He honestly thinks this is a positive. The kid is also obviously deeply depressed. Go figure, when the characters are all suicidal.., Why is this the first depressed character we got?
Anyway, the first act is sort of this kind of vapid but possibly meant to be a poignant scene where all the characters try to argue against suicide. But as this is a very complex issue that relies heavily on appeals to emotion or religion, both of which are very different from person to person, the end result is that we get 10 minutes worth of dialogue boiling down to suicide is bad because it makes people sad… Yeah… For me, the sequence was saved a bit due to the fact that the depressed character in question was only convinced by the argument, that suicide is a hassle to the people around you, paperwork and all that, and you don’t want to be a nuisance. For some reason, I appreciated that this was the final word.
From then on though, the episode really picked up and well, I did like a few things that happened. For instance, I was pretty confused about how Yuri, the social media lady, ended up in police custody. But it was smoothly explained away that she turned herself in on the advice of her angel hat essentially wanted to get her police protection to keep her safe. Cool, makes sense. The bar is kind of low, but you know, I’m just happy to get a logical reason.
I find it funny that the one detective can’t see or hear the angel so a lot of tense or emotional scenes get completely undercut because there’s a guy just chiming in with, what did they just say? Did something happen? Then someone else has to explain and it adds this surreal humour to everything.
I also like that all the characters are now brought together with a concrete goal. They even go about achieving that goal somewhat logically. For the first time, I understand all the character motivations here.
We got to see Susumu again and he really is just a kid. A young kid. Not a mastermind or a villain in the making. The .idea of a completely normal kid having all that power is way more terrifying than anything else the show has come up with. Finally, we got to see Yuri for just one scene and she seems like she’s going to be a lot of fun.
Episode 17 gives us a clear idea of what’s coming up next. There is only one remaining god candidate that is still unknown. They should have an S-ranked angel which means they are of the more powerful type. All the other god candidates are going to come together and appeal to this unknown so that they can hopefully just peacefully decide on a new god together. That avoids further bloodshed. Keeps everyone safe. And as pretty much all the remaining candidates aren’t personally that interested in being god themselves, it could actually work.
Sure Mirai’s speech about making sure everyone’s happy is painfully childish, however, the plan itself isn’t bad.
And with that, I end my 3rd Platinum End review that was better than I expected.
Previous Episodes
- Platinum End ep 1 – A Messy Start
- Platinum End ep 2- With Great Power
- Platinum End ep 3- Amore
- Platinum End ep 4- How Blasé
- Platinum End ep 5- Everybody Hates Metropoliman
- Platinum End ep 6- Another Fakeout
- Platinum End ep 7- Saki Saves the Day
- Platinum End ep 8- Emotional Baggage
- Platinum End ep 9- Ridiculous
- Platinum End ep 10- She’s an Angel!
- Platinum End ep 11- In the Name of Love
- Platinum End ep 12- Baby’s First Philosophy Class
- Platinum End ep 13- Bad Guy is Bad
- Platinum End ep 14- Tedious
- Platinum End ep 15- Smart Kid
- Platinum End ep 16- The Cat’s Out of the Bag
Yeah, well, the show was never going to be good commentary about suicide – and the one token depressed depressed kid crushing on policewoman after being casually told earlier that maybe he needs a girlfriend… His angel, though, feels like the sort of employee how does what he has to to appease an incompetent employer and is otherwise uninvested in his job. I’d love the show’s twist to be that all the angels think God’s plan is stupid, but, well, he’s god. And then, in the end, it turns out God’s plan was stupid. Somehow I doubt that’s it. It’s proably about happiness being good…
I, too, appreciated that the convincing argument was that dying just like that leaves a huge mess for others to deal with.
Also, Metropoliman’s ex-sidekick is probably my favourite non-angel character in the show. I still think the angels steal the show.