You could say Watanabe’s pointing towards viewers toward a particular direction, but he never really ever confirms any specific view, and it gives a sort of opening to what could be some in-depth discussion about the topics he broaches.

Depending on how you view this series, you could end up at a very different conclusion about the messages this series sends, and it’s nice to point out how this ends up being the case.

That’s not to say the story was a slacker-it was pretty darn good despite what I felt to be an improper utilization of Five and Lisa-but more so to say this: Zankyou is something that’s privy to the viewer’s own interpretation. Needless to say, authorial intent here is one of the big questions, and the fact that one won’t ever know unless he says it himself is perhaps the greatest thing this series offered. This whole incident with Sphinx puts a bulls-eye on the dangers of nuclear weapons + energy-you’ll note how they had to be shut down ASAP and were used as a threat at the very end-and makes you think that there’s a commentary against its usage here, but is that really all there is to this? Couldn’t it be a more scathing commentary on society in general? That we’ve become so accustomed to utilizing and trying to advance our technology that we’ve become oblivious to the simpler things in life? Alternatively, could it be a discussion of how one shouldn’t spend too much time dawdling on the past-instead spending that time looking forward to a hopeful future? It was great just to see things be followed through to their ultimate conclusion, and I think the big thing here now isn’t so much a discussion about what happened this episode (they stand for themselves) as it is the speculation that comes from trying to see what (if anything) Watanabe’s trying to say here.īecause the fact is, there’s a lot here that could be construed about the events here and how they happen. Greatness lies within the execution, and it’s clear that the past few episodes-and this one in particular-were executed virtually flawlessly. I predicted that Sphinx would try to use the nuke in a high altitude explosion. We knew Shibazaki would be the one to find them at the end. We knew Sphinx didn’t intend to get out of this alive. It was just that damn good.īest of all, it was so enjoyable despite the fact that we all saw this coming. No matter what you felt about the series’ developments following Five and Lisa, there’s no way you could’ve been disappointed about how things came together, and I’ll remember this episode-and this series-for years to come.

The chills are still running through my back as we speak, and this truly was a finale for the ages. Where can you start with an episode that so perfectly wraps up a series? Honestly, I’m speechless right now.

Zankyou no terror episode 9 gogoanime