I don’t feel like writing hundreds of words on Dead Account‘s season finale, so here are some thoughts on Monster Hunter Stories 3. I rolled credits a few days ago, and just popped the platinum trophy last night. Spoilers galore, so you’ve been warned. If you just want to get down to brass tacks, it’s a solid 7/10 title, maybe even 8/10 if you’re being generous. The graphics won’t blow you away, but everything looks decent enough for a JRPG. The music is nothing to write home about. I honestly can’t recall a single track that stuck with me. The primary problem with the MHS3, however, is that the story feels unfinished. Even worse, it shies away from engaging your emotions directly.
Over and over again, this episode features people staring wistfully at the world around them. A dwarf stands proudly before his bridge. Later, Frieren and company drink in the beautiful icy landscape. Elsewhere, Denken steels his determination as he glimpses his lost homeland. What’s certain is that these individuals are ready and willing to risk their lives in these lands. But before we start discussing such serious matters, however, we must set the stage. Right from the get-go, the party faces a 3000 meter deep canyon that they can’t simply fly across. Luckily, they find a bridge after traveling a short bit upstream. In fact, Himmel bought this bridge, knowing that he would never live to see it. He bought it all for his elf crush, too. Sheesh. Well, there’s your “aww, Himmel was the goat!” moment of the episode. In fact, he specifically told the Gehen the dwarf to ensure that the structure would last a thousand years. I’m no architect, but I feel like that’s a tall task for a wooden bridge or any bridge for that matter with such strong winds and nasty fauna in the area. But again, I’m no expert. Plus, the point isn’t to quibble over the practicality of a wooden bridge.
For a lot of people, Paris is this idealized city full of cultural icons (e.g. the Eiffel Tower), good food, good wine, and romantic, passionate people. Then you go to the real Paris and realize that, like any other megalopolis, it can be kind of a dump. That’s Tamon in a nutshell. That cool, hyper-confident idol onstage belies the fact that, in real life, he’s a hot mess who threatens to commit suicide (jokingly or not) whenever his housekeeper rejects him. He might seem cool and gallant when he pleads with Utage to be true to herself in the season finale, but that’s the sneaky thing about Tamon. Whenever he needs to, he can always turn on the performance; he can always become the idealized Tamon in a pinch. When you interact with the guy and Hottiehara comes out of nowhere, you can never truly know if he’s being genuine or just putting on the fake stage persona. I especially don’t buy his act in front of the children one tiny bit. At the end of the day, we have to rely on our evidence, which is what we’ve seen of the real Tamon over the previous twelve episodes. Ultimately, if you had to pick between idol Tamon or Tamon’s b-side, who would you choose? In theory, you’re not supposed to want the simulation. You’re supposed to want the real thing — the person whom you will actually be spending most of your time with. Tamon’s idol self is a performance, and your lover can’t perform 24/7. In fact, go to the doctor if it lasts longer than two or three hours.
For all the build up, Spriggan gets sniped immediately at the start of the episode, and by Tsav of all people, too. Rhyno, the demon formerly known as Puck Puca, then personally finishes the job by stomping the life out of Spriggan. Not before relishing in Spriggan’s cries of fear, of course. Naturally, I don’t feel bad for the demon who murdered a bunch of orphans. I just… sure, I didn’t expect Spriggan to go out like this, so I guess you could argue that the show surprised me. But why? Why take this route? Franci did this whole “I must find the demon lurking within the city” schtick episodes ago just for said demon to go out like a chump. Spriggan didn’t even put up a fight. Hell, its best laid plans were to try and assassinate Teoritta in relative daylight. It’s so anticlimactic. Defying expectations doesn’t mean it’s automatically narrative brilliance. What it does mean, however, is that Xylo was just a decoy. All this time, I thought that this was his story, but it was someone else’s instead: Kivia’s.
