I heard you kids were clamoring for answers. Well, have I got answers for you! This finale episode is nothing but one clunky explanation after another. But oddly enough, it still manages to not answer all of the important questions. More after the jump.
— When we last left off, Speedstar’s Nanaki had grown to a tremendous size due to his weird, clingy feelings for Mitsumune. We kick this episode off with everyone shocked and surprised that they can see his Nanaki. Why is that, by the way? Why are they able to see his trauma? Oddly enough, in an episode full of banal explanations, this is one of the few times we don’t actually get one. If I have to speculate, I guess our psychological scars are visible to others if it ever gets really bad. Let’s say I’m secure about my weight, so I become bulimic. When you’re in the early stages of bulimia, people don’t usually notice it. They only start to show concerns once it gets really bad, i.e. I end up weighing 50 lbs because I’m purging too often. So who knows! Maybe everyone can see Speedstar’s grandma for a similar reason! There, I provided an explanation. Woo!
— Somehow, Speedstar can also climb atop his Nanaki, and command it to kill people. Um, I’m not gonna try and explain that.
— So Mitsumune tries to touch Speedstar’s heart with his words, and this almost works. Unfortunately, Koharun steps out from the shadows, and starts provoking Speedstar again. Very lazy framing here, by the way. The giant Nanaki then goes out of control, and starts chasing everyone again except Koharun. I guess she’s immune. In any case, Mitsumune tries to show that he’s developed as a character by carrying Speedstar on his back.
— But what’s this? Mitsumune drops his walkie-talkie, and Koharun hears a familiar voice coming through it… that’s right! Kamiyama is her dad! Explanation time! The best part is Reiji shows up out of nowhere. Well, he’s a Nanaki so he can probably just teleport from place to place. But more importantly, he just starts explaining Koharun’s motives to her. I think she knows why she’s doing the things that she’s doing. But it would be weird for Reiji to just breka the fourth wall and start talking to the audience. At the same time, there’s no one else for him to talk to. As a result, he may as well speak directly to Koharun. Why is she exploiting people’s traumas? She’s doing this for her dad! If he keeps aging too fast, he’ll die! So if she creates a large enough Nanaki, it might, uh, amplify the other ones, and thus, they can locate her father’s lost Nanaki…?
— In the end, Kamiyama explains to his daughter that he’s perfectly happy in his current state, because even though he’ll likely die soon, he gets to use himself in his research. Why, that’s not selfish at all! Can’t blame Koharun’s reaction here.
— Also, people keep asking this question a lot.
— So we’re back to Mitsumune and company. They’re still trying to escape Speedstar’s Nanaki. All of a sudden, our hero trips while trying to carry his buddy on his back. That’s when Speedstar gets on his feet, and… uh, I guess he’s not psycho anymore. I mean, I just love how for the past three or four episodes, the guy has been this super jealous, super deranged clingy motherfucker who practically wants to wear Mitsumune’s skin. But I guess being carried by the guy has given Speedstar an epiphany. As a result, he stands there and explains to everyone (and the audience) that protecting Mitsumune was giving him confidence, so he accepts his Nanaki. And just like that, both Speedstar and his Nanaki are gone. Well, that was anticlimactic…
— Everyone’s confused by Speedstar’s disappearance. But it’s okay! Reiji’s here to explain everything! Speedstar’s back in the real world now! He’s good to go.
— Masaki is both shocked and happy to see Reiji, but he now gets to explain to her that he’s her Nanaki. How come her Nanaki is so smart, by the way? How come Reiji can talk and act on his own volition when all the other Nanakis don’t seem to have any smarts? Oh well. This isn’t an important explanation, I guess. Instead, we get a flashback to explain where Reiji even came from. He’s not even a cousin! He’s just an imaginary friend the girl used to have. She came looking for Nanaki Village, because she wanted to see if there was a way to make Reiji real.
— Masaki is unable to accept the painful truth, so she runs off. Reiji thus sends Mitsumune after her. After all, at the end of last week’s episode, Masaki called out Mitsumune’s name for help. She used to always call out for Reiji, but for the first time ever, she… uh, she needs someone else’s help instead. As a result, Mitsumune gets to replace Reiji. Y’see, in order for Masaki to accept her Nanaki, she must also have someone to replace her Nanaki. Our poor girl can’t get over her imaginary friend by herself. Her void must be filled by a pathetic love interest! I mean, isn’t this kind of pathetic? She’s not really solving her own problems. She’s just going from an imaginary crutch to a real crutch.
— As Mitsumune chases after the girl, he sees some brown turd wearing Masaki’s ribbon. He looks in his hands and finds the ribbon she had dropped in that foggy place. By the way, we never learn what that foggy place was, but it’s okay. We have plenty of other explanations to offer. But to get back on track, Mitsumune realizes that he now has a new Nanaki. Yup, fucker accepted one trauma and replaced it with another one? At this point, aren’t we just making light of psychological scars now? Well, I wanna save my love interest, so I’ll just cry about her, and voila… I’m back in the village!
— Speaking of the village, Reiji stops by the place, and tells everyone the truth. It’s up to them if they wanna stay in this dumb place, but they may as well consult their Nanakis first! He explains that by going on this second life trip, people were leaving their past selves behind. So these Nanakis are just, like, sad. Bro, they just don’t want to be left behind. You can understand that, right?
— There’s that question again.
— Yes, yes it is.
— Back to Mitsumune and Masaki, we get more flashbacks about the girl and her imaginary friend. She just wanted someone to tell her what she wants to hear. Too bad Reiji’s imaginary. But like I’ve said, it’s okay, because Mitsumune can do that now! He’s spent all series white-knighting her, so you know he’s not blowing smoke. He’ll definitely tell her what she wants to hear. Cue blushing.
— So she calls Mitsumune’s Nanaki cute, and elsewhere, Reiji creepily smiles. Then bam, just like that, Masaki has accepted her Nanaki, so she leaves the village. Very anti-climactic…
— Back at the village, Lion still wants to stay. Others voice the same desire. So what if we’re running away! We have good reasons to run away! So Koharun, done playing the bad guy, pops out and explains that she’ll stay behind and research a way for everyone to stay without losing their identity. That’s… that’s convenient. I like how it was once a real danger that people could honestly die if they stayed in the village, and now, it’s… it’s not a danger anymore. Koharun said she’ll do some research, so it’s all guuuuuuuuuuud.
— But can we really trust Koharun? She tried to screw everyone over just to save her dad. She misled everyone about this tour. Are we really just gonna accept her back with open arms?
Oh okay, I guess it’s cool then.
— One girl says she’ll stay, so a guy says he’ll stay too. She blushes. Valkana then says he also wants to stay… to make sure Koharun isn’t a bad person. So she blushes. Fuck this anime, man.
— And just like that, the show is over.
— We see some wordless scenes during the credits. It’s like they ran out of money, and couldn’t bother to do the rest of the story. Here is the departing group, and here are the losers staying behind.
— We see Dahara lead people back through the forest… but what we don’t see is anyone accepting their Nanakis. After all, isn’t that what you have to do in order to leave? And it can’t be this easy to accept your trauma. Lovepon is haunted by memories of abuse. That one guy is haunted by the silicone boob in his head. And now, they’re just gonna walk out of the village? C’mon.
— But nope, that’s exactly what happens. They literally just walk out of the forest. I assume they accepted their Nanakis offscreen, but what a dumb way to end the story.
— Eventually, Mitsumune wakes up to find himself back on the tour bus along with all the people who were willing to leave. Speedstar and Masaki greet him happily. I guess they’re just gonna put everything behind them. Hey Speedstar, remember when you wanted me to be your slave and shit?
— Even the bus driver’s back. Everyone starts singing that hippopotamus song as they hit the road. We catch a glimpse of Kamiyama and Yottsun watching the bus drive by. I guess the latter is gonna stay behind with his God.
— Finally, Mayoiga is done for good. Good riddance. Do I even have a final word for this series? No, no I do not. I think this finale speaks for itself.
Filed under: Anime, Mayoiga, Series Tagged: Anime, Mayoiga
