Norn9: Norn+Nonet – 07-11
Toya’s meetings with the mascot characters are very important.
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Wow a lot happened all at once (okay, over almost half a season). Now where to start… |
Sadly, there wasn’t a bar fight
Ron was the traitor, but that seems like a minor detail now considering that Natsuhiko isn’t that bad of a guy, and Shiro was revealed as the main villain. The anime managed to make Ron look less bad too, since in the game, they had him act as an antagonist sometimes for seemingly no reason other than to cause more drama in the routes. In this case though, he helped out Kakeru, and acted pretty badass in the process. …It’s just too bad that it doesn’t seem like they’ll cover why he decided to work with Natsuhiko in the first place. I don’t even think that they went over that he never had any powers in the first place.
I’m surprised Natsuhiko was shot, since that never happened in the game, but this makes a few things make sense. Like how he kind of dissolves in the opening. Plus if they were going to kill off Natsuhiko, I guess it makes sense to have Mikoto bond with Sakuya too, so she’s not completely alone if he does die (which seems to be what the OP was foreshadowing towards). Plus they’ve already firmly established Mikoto and Sakuya’s relationship, so it’s not like they’re pulling it out of nowhere if the story does go in that direction. Though as of episode 11, he’s still alive, so maybe they’ll keep him that way. Plus Sakuya had that conversation about not being the person to protect Mikoto like his power showed him, so maybe that will give him a change of heart.
They didn’t really explain why Koharu used her fire against the tanks that seemed to belong to Shiro (and I’m not sure if where they came from is even the same as the one in the game). Plus they didn’t really explain Shiro’s whole method of trying to create war besides just showing him bombing places. …But I guess the important part was how Koharu was using her powers despite thinking that they’re terrible, and going off with Shiro. Though Shiro offered some rather nice advice about them despite being the bad guy. Like Koharu showed in the beginning, she can also use her powers for protecting those dear to her.
Shiro trying to revive his wife isn’t the absolute worst reason to try to start wars, but is there really any good reason to start a war? At least they made him redeemable I guess, since he was doing it out of some obsession with his wife and not just because he liked chaos. What Koharu said about not loving everything else because you’re fixated on one person pretty much sums up things though. It was a good speech, and having Koharu, who can talk about emotional things in a really heartfelt and straightforward way, tell it to him was a really great choice. Thanks to all of that though, Shiro seems to be dead for good now (with a change of heart too apparently), so all that’s left is for the characters to choose to Reset or not.
Episode 11 was interesting in how it showed what would happen if the Reset was decided upon. In the game, Aion can borrow Sakuya and Toya’s powers to show the characters the past and future. Though it’s normally more straightforward and the characters actually had some say on if they wanted to see these things or not. Aion’s use of their abilities looked pretty neat, but there’s always the question when deciding the fate of mankind if it’s really best for everyone or not. Though now that Shiro is gone, it seems like they might actually be able to accomplish peace. He seemed to be the one distributing all of the weaponry in all of the other timelines, so maybe if they Reset, things might actually work out for once. Maybe.
The whole reveal about the world’s timeline being reset probably created more questions than answers in regards to how it all happened, but at this point, it’s probably just best to accept that humanity had the technology to give people powers and just go with it. And they also totally glossed over the whole taking powers thing (like what Akito did to Senri), but that was probably unimportant. They added information in thought with the part of the characters possibly losing their memories after the Reset for some reason (none of the main characters lost them in the game unless Nanami took them), but I guess it’s all good for drama’s sake.
But hey, if the do the Reset, it looks like Heishi and Itsuki won’t be foreveralone because Nanami and Mikoto didn’t choose them. That’s kind of nice, considering the fate of so many other unchosen options in harems. But more seriously, the pairs (minus Mikoto’s relationship status) seem pretty solid. …I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointing in how they missed out on 99% of the cute moments in Natsuhiko and Mikoto’s relationship. Nanami and Akito solved their problems, and Koharu and Kakeru are pretty much THE OTP of the show. Even Sorata has Aion (the game explains that Aion most likely lived past her expiration date because of Sorata). I’ve said this before, but it’s SO nice to see an otome game with some confirmed pairings. Sure maybe Koharu and Kakeru’s budding romance took up a ton of screentime, but it looks like that will be the deciding factor in the Reset, so maybe that will pay off. If not, it should at least paid off in some actual romantic conclusions in the final episode.
It’s a shame about the whole war thing in the future, but at least you could build your own waifu
Things got kind of complicated kind of fast (and they certainly didn’t explain some things), but I feel like they adapted the story well so far and worked around most of the information they missed. I’m also pretty glad that the Shiro part didn’t take up the entire climax of the anime. Sure he’s important, but I felt like the routes he was prominent in, I felt like the Reset part of the story was kind of skimmed over. Leaving the last two episodes on the decision of the Reset, it really makes it seem like an important decision. So now what’s left is for the characters to decide. Personally, I don’t think they will though. They’ve already gone through showing it once (you know, so the viewer’s curiosity will be satisfied), and in a lot of the routes in the game, they never went through with it.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
