Sasami-san@Ganbaranai – 12 [END]
This shot was so necessary. Apple licking is the key to world domination, after all.
 Wow, that was a surprisingly good final episode for Sasami-san@Ganbaranai. Boldness can make up for major faults, and this episode was pretty darn bold. Even if it was also pretty darn filled with faults. |
Kali Ma! (The Spielberg influence again!)
To start, finally we got some reveals about Jou’s character and intentions. That redeemed her somewhat. Yeah, the character assassination she suffered the previous episode wasn’t all rolled back, but at least she was also shown as the clever evil world conquering bitch she was supposed to be. The entire sequence of Tama being kidnapped by water before getting her heart ripped out by Jou was quite wonderful, even if a little hammy. So that’s what her invitation to bring everyone to the island was all about. Sasami’s own twist that she was inside Tama the whole time was also great, explaining why Kana Asumi had returned to voicing her in some scenes in the previous episode.
Kagami had her moments too, in her battle against Tamamo-no-Mae. It a shame that the actual combat portion was so short, but at least it was well animated and directed, like the vast majority of the action scenes involving her in this show. I also enjoyed how she got the one up on Tamamo-no-Mae, playing possum before taking over her body and destroying it before returning back to her own body. And then using her magic eye beams to turn everything back to normal, Daicon IV style. Maybe the actual climax of Squall using a giant sword beam attack to destroy Jou’s Kuzuryuu was disappointing, but at least the lead up to it was good.
Call back to episode 2, I guess, but I don’t really get the connection other than that both big bads were dragons…
Now, the way it ended… I don’t know. Given the type of show this is, I don’t know what I expected. It’s obvious that this is not the end of the story – the light novel has 10 volumes, and the show likely covered half of them at most. I like that it kept coming back to “let’s not try so hard,” but that’s not a terribly satisfying message. Jou, Kagami, and Kamiomi are still significant loose threads. Jou is clearly a Sasami foil, having been forced to take on an overwhelming burden at a young age. But what exactly is her back story? And how will she and Sasami explore what it means not to try hard? Kagami’s true nature as the fire spirit and former compatriot of Tamaml-no-Mae was introduced in this episode but barely expanded on. Then again, none of the Yagami sisters really need that much character development as they mainly act as deus ex machina. Kamiomi is more troublesome, because they hinted at something bigger from him for half the show without ever making good on it. It sounds like even Tsurugi, who knows enough to call him “big brother,” isn’t fully clued in. Is he that Squall lookalike or related to him somehow? There’s being coy and there’s being stupidly opaque, and the show is definitely the latter in this case.
So yeah, not a great ending, even if the lead up to it was weird enough to be awesome. Basically the mirror image of Vividred Operation‘s final episode. It was better than I had expected, but it couldn’t undo the damage of the previous episode. Some of the information about Jou and her side needed to be revealed earlier than in the final episode.
Just want to point out that Jou’s hair is awesome.
Series End
One of the most infuriating things about being an anime fan is having to deal with shows that take good, inventive, creative ideas, and then proceed to use them merely as vehicles for telling the exact same story we’ve seen a million times before. For every From the New World or Psycho-Pass, there’s a Campione! or Vividred Operation. Sasami-san@Ganbaranai wasn’t one of those shows… most of the time. When it embraced its off the wall interpretation of Shintoism, it was a very entertaining show to watch. We were treated to the universe turning into chocolate, an idol and her fans transforming into a grown man and his cultists before aliens attacked them all, a parasite relying on time travel to kill its host, a girl turning into a living, breathing remotely controlled avatar, among other things.
But then the character drama had to ruin everything. At least 2 episodes were nigh unwatchable due to some of the most head-desk inducing melodrama I’ve ever seen. Most of the story arcs weren’t quite that bad, but neither were they interesting enough to justify anything beyond marveling at what neat fantasy concept would be explored this time. Perhaps contrary to expectations, it did have a story every step of the way, but the storytelling was clumsy. It kept hitting on the point of, Let’s stop trying hard, but it wasn’t able to convey the message in a clear, convincing, clever, or consistent way. In the end, Sasami-san@Ganbaranai is just another one of Shaft/Shinbo‘s many unambitious shows that were good for a few laughs and spectacles but will be forgotten in a few years.
Ultimately, I think I’ll remember most fondly the wonderful performances of Shaft regulars Ai Nonaka (Tama) and Chiwa Saito (Tsurugi).
About lvlln
A math/science geek and a self-dubbed cynical optimist. I don't care if it's deep, if it can make me feel something or laugh, it's fine in my book. @lvlln
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, we can debate whether or not this goes on SHAFT’s middle or bottom shelf; for me it can change position based on the episode. I will still defend Denpa Onna against all comers; it is one of my top fave shows.
If anything, this show felt like Under the Bridge, a show that I always felt was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t quite get the gist of what it proposed.
Like you, I’ll put it under a good try.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
At least this was better than last week and like the first episode, things were going so fast there was some trouble keeping up and figuring out what was going on.
Jou redeemed herself as a vicious calculating villainess. Her previous attitude had me worried that she was a useless airhead. Brutalizing Tama during the ceremony was hardcore, even biting her throat like a piece of meat caught me off guard.
Overall, Sasami-san@Ganbaranai gets an 8 out of 10 as an out of the box series and for its unpredictability. It would have been a 9 if not for some of the disappointing episodes. The characters are unique in their own way especially the Yagami sisters. The unanswered is why Kamiomi is constantly having his face hidden. There has to be a reason behind that.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
While I was confused 50% of the time while watching Sasami-san I had a lot of fun with the oddball characters like Tama and Sasami every week, but Kagami stole the series thanks to HanaKana doing all the Fununyan sounds oh man they were great and she is a freaking robot girl and I love those kinds of characters hahaha
final two episodes were so damn hilarious and in terms of comedy it is right up there with HaganaiNEXT for me for laughs.
Jou’s hair: YES FANTASTIC HAIR and also the added rainbow coloring makes it stand out~
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
This was a fun show to watch although it didn’t do anything really unique, it was still a ton of fun to watch!
And I love Susano’s random entrance and exit. It was very, “Whut…” and his hair was pretty spiky too. XD
And everyone must bow down to Jou and her amazing hair!
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
This series was interesting enough to watch, but so disjointed and uneven that it just doesn’t score that high for me. Sometimes the style was cool, other times it was tiresome, sometimes the story made sense, other times it was so random as to be offputting. I’d definitely put it in the bottom quarter of shows I watched this season, just because it didn’t do anything more than be watchable.