When I was young, my mom always made me finish up every single thing I had been served. Even if there was just a single grain of rice left in the bowl, you bet your ass I had to eat it before I cleared the table and did the dishes. Needless to say, for both good and bad, this habit has carried over into adulthood. I’ve also applied it to other activities wholly unrelated to food. Granted, I don’t finish every show I’ve started. I certainly dropped covering that doomed romance about replicas. Nevertheless, I feel strongly compelled to finish Kaiju Girl Caramelise, because all I have left are a few “grains of rice.”

To be fair, some of the elements that originally attracted me to this show can still be found in the finale. Kuroe has a dream sequence in which she’s happily getting herself ready for another date with Arata. But at the last second, her insecurities literally erupt from her body. Her problems aren’t just mental, because we are our bodies. Even though Arata is already metaphorically at the door, she is no longer ready to see him. Kuroe desperately tears her room apart, but she can’t find anything suitable in any of the drawers or boxes. There’s nothing she can wear that can cover up her true self up. She can’t hide who she is. Cute clothes and pretty makeup can certainly help us feel better about ourselves, but ultimately, we have to accept the body that mama gave us.

I am, however, ambivalent about the solution, which relies on Arata to give Kuroe the support and encouragement that she needs. Look, most of us can’t do this alone. Even the most introverted among us will still need a friend or two to not go mad. So in theory, there’s nothing wrong with relying on your friends and loved ones for support. But what happens if and when Arata finds himself busy again? Will Kuroe crumble into dust again without his daily words of affirmation? At some point, your sense of self-worth has to be both extrinsic and intrinsic. By no means am I trying to discount or dismiss external love. I just don’t think it’s enough to anchor true change. I don’t think it alone can solve the underlying problems. Kuroe tells us through her narration that she no longer needs to be the prettiest girl, but those are just words. She’s going to have to embody that belief and continue embodying it for days, months, and years to come. Can she do it? I don’t think we’ve seen enough evidence to suggest that she can, especially if Arata isn’t around.

But there’s a reason why I eventually became exasperated with this show in the first place: stupid relationship drama. Kuroe broke up with Arata only after a series of really dumb actions from both parties. I’m not confident that these two have made the necessary changes to avoid repeating the same mistakes. For instance, Arata needs to stop being a people pleaser. Before they broke up, he literally chose not to spend time with Kuroe because his classmates were buzzing around him, pelting him with questions about his recent TV appearances. Hell, he literally agreed to go into show business without any advice from his parents or legal representatives. That is insanely stupid and reckless. Ultimately, I haven’t seen enough to suggest that Arata has solved this problem or even the fact that he’s taking concrete steps towards addressing it. I just don’t have confidence in him.

Still, we gotta have our happy ending. As a result, Arata bravely puts himself at risk to speak to Harugon. In case you haven’t noticed, the secret’s out of the bag. He may have known who she was a lot earlier than this, but there’s no doubt about it now. That’s his girlfriend (or rather, ex-girlfriend) lying face down in the water, and he needs to get her back on her feet. Unfortunately, any sign of life from Harugon immediately has Red tearing ass to get back in time for another bout of kaiju fisticuffs. What’s up with that? Why is Red so determined to fight what is presumably its sister? Unfortunately, there’s no time left to answer questions like that. We have immediate concerns, like Arata getting caught up in the crossfire.

Bolstered by Arata’s love, Harugon not only awakens and rejuvenates her body, her confession of love physically manifests as a pink laser beam that can literally be seen from space. And the crowd goes wild! But her attack doesn’t even kill Red. Instead, the rival kaiju simply flies off and presumably disappears to god knows where. With today’s technology, I feel like Japan’s military should have no problems tracking Red. Plus, the fact that at least two kaijus are up and about should have every single country in the region on high alert. You think China or either of the Koreas would just sit back and chill? Hell no. But as far as this anime is concerned, out of sight, out of mind. We have the object permanence of a fucking infant.

Afterwards, Arata continues heaping praise on his girlfriend even though she’s still in her Harugon form. As a result, she emerges from it buck-naked but not completely human. The implication here is that she has finally accepted her true nature as a kaiju… so long as Arata is around. Like I said, I’m not convinced that she has truly embraced her body for what it is. I think Kuroe derives most of her sense of self-worth externally, and that’s still a problem. But again, out of sight, out of mind; unless we see her actively being insecure, we can just pretend that her issues don’t exist. As a result, the two embrace and kiss. Is this a happy ending? Sure, but for how long?

Stray thoughts & observations:

— Yep, Arata’s co-actress Seina is still a bad person. She’s only mad because him potentially dying would be an inconvenience.

— I think it’s weird that Arata calls Daichi a rival. I get his rationale in the moment. He thinks there’s a good chance his next stunt — getting closer to Harugon — will get him killed. So if the worst came to pass, he wants Daichi to become someone that Kuroe can lean on. However, Arata literally just found out that Daichi is a little kid in elementary school. C’mon, you can’t ask a child to bear that burden. That’s ridiculous.

— There are still lingering plot threads. For example, what is up with Kotaro and the organization he works for? What are their true aims? And what about Rinko and her weird stance that humanity can fuck off and die so long as kaijus get to roam the earth?