Platinum End ep 21- It's Good We Didn't Die -

There are only a few episodes left to go in PLatinum End and I’m not going to lie, it’s a bit of a drag. I stand by the fact that I think the second cour was a bit better than the first but it’s still not great and the last few episodes have been pretty boring for me. It’s getting to be a bit of a chore to get through. Hopefully, the last few episodes will be just mindless action. That could be fun.

I do remember that I found the last episode quite boring and maybe I missed something because I felt particularly disconnected from the first half of this week’s Platinum End. By the last act I had caught up but for a while there I was just thinking, wait what are they doing, why are they doing it, what’s going on…

Anyways, it seemed like Yoneda was really going out of his way to ensure that the candidates could all continue their talk in the stadium this time. He managed to shoot up enough powerful politicians to make it happen but at this point, I had no clue why.

A supposed peaceful televised talk among rival god candidates in a stadium is basically a copy-paste of the events with Metropoliman. And at its core, I don’t think this type of repetition is necessarily a bad thing. It sort of frames the story and creates a nice continuity. But it can also come off as lazy if it’s not done right. like the writers immediately started to recycle ideas. It’s too soon to tell which one Platinum End will end up being. Let’s just say I have an idea.

I have to say for me the best part of the episode was that kid who was Mtropoliman’s friend. I don’t remember his name. But I lie the character. He’s sort of the only normal one. My bar for characters in this show is pretty low and yet I still don’t like most of them.

Let’s go on another tangent. I think I might have mentioned before how I have a weird fixation about characters being dressed for completely different weathers in shows and movies. Like one character is standing around in a tiny summer dress and the person next to them is in a snowsuit. I think it’s worse in live-action because I can’t help but think about how one or both of the actors must be terribly uncomfortable. But I think it’s still noteworthy when anime does it. Like why? You have full control over unlimited wardrobe choices.

That’s one of the reasons the scene between Mirai and Saki stood out to me. She’s in shorts and a light tank top, he’s in long black jeans, presumedly a shirt and a fall jacket over that. Why? The scene was also remarkable in that Saki finally scrounged up the courage to tell Mirai she loves him (he has had a crush on her for ages) and his response was, I’m glad both of us didn’t die… That’s amazing! I am so using that line next time anyone tells me they love me!

I kept the only mildly relevant point I had about this episode for the end. So we finally have a clear goal for Yoneda. And I will admit, it puts his actions into context. Not everything makes sense but at least there’s some type of idea there. And it also confirms Yoneda as the main antagonist of this arc. He was already the most likely candidate but it could still have gone another way.

The thing is, the general idea of Yoneda, like the archetype he represents and the general traits, isn’t bad for an antagonist. Specifically for one in Platinum End. And an interesting antagonist could have really made this show a lot better. But just like Metropoliman, Yoneda is fine in concept but in my opinion, completely fails in execution.

For me, this was really illustrated in a throwaway line during the dinner scene with the minister. They are discussing the delicious steak and Yoneda explains to Shuji, and consequently us, that the steak is delicious because t was brought up from the very start to be eaten by him. He then goes on to really emphasize that he believes in predestination. Ok, but what? How does he believe that all things happen according to some cosmic plan because they are meant to happen but he doesn’t believe in god? At this point, it’s kind of academic no.

And even if you conceded that Yoneda does actually believe in something god-like but he hates it and wishes it didn’t exist. Hence his whole plan. It still doesn’t mesh with the idea of a man who thinks the future is set in stone. His ideology is inconsistent.

Now, this isn’t necessarily a big deal. There are inconsistent people all over the place and it’s o.k. if some fictional characters are as well. But, Yoneda is frightening within the context of Platinum End, precisely because he is an ideologue with rigorous beliefs. Ironically, it’s this self-proclaimed atheist’s faith that makes him formidable. I love that idea but I just can’t buy into it when he essentially contradicts himself.

Then again, I’m pretty sure I’m overthinking this.

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1 thought on “Platinum End ep 21- It’s Good We Didn’t Die”

Dawnstorm says:

March 5, 2022 at 3:23 pm

Yeah, that was a pretty boring episode. I was a little curious about what those suicides were all about, and – well – that ended up making sense, but with the reveal I just went back to not caring at all.

And I, too, like Metropoliman’s friend the best. Poor normal guy who knows too much.

Yoneda kind of makes sense to me as a determinist who gets over his social anxiety by interpreting determinism in a fatalist way. It’s a little silly that he’s so persuasive, though: only 10 % believe in God anymore (down from 50 %)? Oh well.

I think the show should end on a cliff-hanger. That’d be hilarious.

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