But before we get to the emotional climax of the series, we need one more battle against Oshibu. This is… what? Round three? Round four? The point is, I don’t want to keep tussling with this creep. If Sanda ever gets a sequel, I don’t want Oshibu to pull a Dr. Robotnik or Sigma and become a recurring boss for the series. I want a story that makes actual progress. I want to move beyond the confines of the school. I want to see what the rest of this dystopian world looks like. I want to understand how this world functions. But is this something that the mangaka even wants to do? Or are they attached to the school setting like the average anime series? Unfortunately, this bout against Oshibu isn’t the final battle. We’re not actually trying to free this school from Oshibu’s clutches. Rather, if Sanda/Santa somehow manages to win, Oshibu will agree to reinstate Ono as a student. So the plan is for all of them to continue coexisting together on this campus? Honesty, I don’t get it.
Like most anime battles, Sanda/Santa finds himself on the losing end initially. He then goes up to the kiddos and tells them who he is. If they won’t believe in him, the least they could do is not empower Oshibu with their cheers. Fair enough, but it would really help his cause if he actually, y’know, looked like Santa Claus. To put it more accurately, it would help a lot if he actually feels like Santa Claus. The vibe’s just all wrong. Yeah, fine, keep the super chiseled body-builder look. He doesn’t need to wear the red suit, he doesn’t need to don the silly red cap, nor does he need to sport that iconic big, bushy beard. He certainly doesn’t need to have helper elves or reindeers. Nevertheless, what is the essence of Santa?
When I think of Santa, I think of a friendly, old grandpa that every kid can talk to. I mean, you literally sit on this guy’s lap and tell him what you want for Christmas. But what kind of kid wants to sit on this Santa’s lap? What kind of kid wants to make a wish to this Santa? When I try to picture this Santa in real life, all I see is Arnold Schwarzenegger in his boxers. So yeah, even after all these episodes, I’m not convinced that this new incarnation of Santa works. What is this Santa trying to be? A wholesome dude who wants to fulfill the dreams of all the kids around him? He doesn’t come across that way at all. It’s ultimately another story about puberty with a sexy old man shoehorned in. Hell, you could argue that Oshibu without his scars is just another sexy old man, but one on the other end of the spectrum. It’s sexy old men all the way down.
And just like that, the fight just ends. Oshibu knocks Sanda/Santa off the roof of a building, then walks away. I thought he wanted to kill this guy. I thought Sanda/Santa wanted to bring Ono back. But then we just stop fighting? Sigh. I guess this truly was just round three or four out of… I dunno how ever many fights they’ll have in the future. That honestly saps my enthusiasm to check out the source material. If the end goal of every anime adaptation is to convince the audience to fork over some cash, then this ain’t it. But midway through the season, I would’ve considered it. I probably would’ve been curious enough to see how the story unfolds. But after this episode, my curiosity is gone. I don’t really care what happens next. Maybe I’ll watch another anime adaptation of the show if a sequel ever sees the light of day, sure, but whatever. I’m good.
So what’s left? Party time? Sorta. Niko is even here, so I guess she’s not mad about Sanda standing her up. Those two eventually get their alone time. Most of all, Ono is in good spirits despite looking like she was going to go into beast mode towards the end of last week’s episode. Seriously, we saw her straining all of her neck muscles, veins bulging everywhere. She was also spewing all sorts of toxic nonsense about how kids can be so cruel, so forgive me if I find this sudden tonal shift a bit jarring. But the story has already told us what’s going to happen: Ono doesn’t have long to live. The only question was what she would do with her remaining time alive. Would she go out with a bang or would she simply fade away in Fuyumura’s arms (or something close to that effect)? Well, the fact that she’s celebrating with everyone pretty much implies the latter.
Fuyumura understands one thing about love: you confess to someone when you want to keep them in your life. So in that sense, she certainly loves Ono. She’s already lost her once, and she seems to get the sense that she’s about to lose her again. But is it too little too late? Or should we take solace in the fact that Fuyumura has finally found a reason to say the right words before it was too late? I don’t know how to feel, because Ono just dies. Everything that the show has built up over the past few episodes has gone down like a lead balloon. The big fight against Oshibu didn’t lead to anything. He and Sanda/Santa will just fight again in the future. And all that foreshadowing with Ono — the bitter stares, the harsh words, her encounter with Oshibu late one night — also leads to nothing. She just quietly dies. A show that has been jam-packed with the fantastical suddenly wants to have a grounded ending. Hell, the girl was literally foaming at the mouth. Why was this visual necessary to convey to the audience in the penultimate episode if this is how the final episode is going to play out?
Don’t get me wrong, because this isn’t a pointless death by any means. After all, Ono hung on long enough to accept Fuyumura’s honest feelings. Nevertheless, I still feel dissatisfied with this conclusion. It doesn’t help that we get fed some silly bullshit about how the cause of death was literally growing pains. Ono slept for the first time ever that one time, and this simple act apparently wrecked her body on a cellular level. What do you even say to that? Make sure you guys sleep regularly, I guess.
In the aftermath, Sanda worries that Fuyumura is suffering alone. She won’t open up to anybody, so he wonders if she’d rather talk to Santa instead. I understand his motives, but sometimes, people just need space in order to mourn their loss. The girl then goes and does what every fictional heroine do when they undergo a massive change: perfectly cut their hair with one or two strokes of a knife. You can’t be a heroine if you don’t master this technique. Snark aside, Fuyumura initially rejects both Sanda and Santa, but the full emotional brunt of her loss was simply delayed. She eventually cries in his arms one morning. Maybe it was his comment about how Ono was happy to have met her. Or maybe, like I said above, she just needed some time. And that’s what growing up is: realizing that nothing — not even friendships — last forever. But this is true for both kids and adults. I’m slowly reaching that age where you start to lose more friends to deaths than make new ones.
Do I recommend this show? I dunno, man. It’s certainly unique compared to everything else on the fall schedule. But like I said, I have no desire to see what happens next. My initial reaction to this episode was that I hated it. I just hated the ending. After sitting on it all day (well, roughly twelve hours so more like half a day), I certainly hate the ending less, but my overall feelings about the direction of the story haven’t changed. I have absolutely no desire to see what the kids will get up to in the future. In that sense, the adaptation was a failure, but you can also argue that this in itself is a form of closure.
Stray thoughts & observations:
- Way too many naked ass shots in this episode.
- Yeah… yeah, that’s probably true.
