I actually meant to write this last night, since I was really looking forward to watching the ending of this anime, but I was absolutely exhausted after a day of combing Hong Kong hunting for nail polish (stupid Pearz...). A day later, I've finally finished watching this, and I'm actually really very happy with it.
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| So, she's a shotacon. |
Ep11 focused on the aftermath of the fight leading into the making up, incorporating some hilarity such as Natsu having ballooned into a morbidly obese woman due to her depression leading to a very unhealthy lifestyle. Ep12 suddenly shifted gear to focus on the relationship with the gods instead of their relationship with each other - however, considering their relationship had stabilized, it was only right to do a traditional wrapping up. In the end, it did finish on a sad note since the gods couldn't stay forever, but the future shots of Imagawa and Natsu added happiness.
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| ...I see. |
Ep11 began with something that occurred 50 years ago with the Virgin King. It involved how he won against a Sex Goddess and created the legend. After two weeks of not seeing this anime, this scene was exactly what I needed to get back into things. After the OP, it continued with how the two parties were doing. Imagawa was still training under the guidance of his superintendent, who was becoming more and more impressed with his virginal prowess (even proclaiming that Imagawa was the
true Virgin King). On the other side, Natsu was in serious depression over the disappearance of Imagawa, and was just lolling around her bed with food.
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| At this point, Kuu's just feeding it for fun. |
A call from Kuu to Macaron caused Pii and Daigoro to be left alone for some time, with lots of insinuations as to what they were doing together. Kuu and Macaron took it upon themselves to go find Imagawa - and they did, quite easily. It was surprisingly easy to sway the delirious Imagawa back to his usual ways. Kuu seemed to "awaken" after eating something (it now makes sense why she ate so many weird things; something was wrong with her eyes?), and rescued Macaron from the Evil Imagawa. After defeating the Virgin King, she left Imagawa to reflect (and took Macaron with her, hm...).
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| All the characters were paired up by the end~ |
Imagawa came to his senses and ep11 finished with its plot point - how to apologize after a fight. It was quite fantastical, an airport reunion with Imagawa dressed in desert wandering clothing while Natsu had grown so big that she was unrecognisable. However, the apology was as realistic as I could expect it to be; Imagawa announced that he loved her and Natsu, feeling slightly embarrassed, turned a little tsundere and told him to not go away if he felt that way.
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| It's a strange thing to be congratulated over, actually. |
Ep12 began with a sudden jump in progression, with Imagawa and Natsu on an overnight vacation. It was surprising since I thought there would be some build-up, but when I thought about it, it began to make sense; the next step
would be to go away on an overnight trip. Upon returning back home, the gods were very happy for them - only to learn that the couple had been too nervous to actually get it done. (To be precise, Imagawa couldn't get it up and Natsu couldn't help.) There was much punishment to be had, especially as the gods revealed that they were barred from returning to Heaven until they helped their charges.
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| The times. They be hard. |
As Imagawa and Natsu contemplated the fact that they had never before thought about the gods leaving, Daigoro and Kuu got separate calls to be notified of their termination. As the episode quickly turned into a "goodbye finale", Imagawa and Natsu quietly relished in their happiness that their friends would be with them for the long-term and planned a Welcome Party. ...then it turned out that Daigoro and Kuu had lied to the couple (and their siblings) in order to keep them from revealing the truth. Even though Imagawa and Natsu hadn't had sex yet, they had pretty much graduated anyway because "it was only a matter of time". I liked that thought process quite a lot; jumping into sex (especially if you're so not ready that the nervousness keeps you soft) isn't generally a great idea.
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| Aw~ |
The gods disappeared quietly as the couple cooked for them in the kitchen, and it was insinuated that that was the last they were ever seen. I was pleasantly surprised with the ED, which had a montage of all the scenes of Imagawa and Natsu from the last 11 episodes, and ended with the two of them in wedding garb running towards each other. The little bit after the song finished showed the two of them in the future, with their son (named Daigoro). It was quite the pleasant ending.
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| This is how virginity can be a curse. |
As a whole, I'm very pleased with this batch. The entirety of ep11 was dedicated to them getting back together, which I had initially thought would feel stale, but it ended up playing out quite well. The sudden jump to their overnight trip was only surprising at first, because it really flowed well together. Ultimately, when you choose to have sex in a relationship depends on the relationship itself, so a guidebook only needs to get you to a stable relationship wherein it will happen eventually on its own. I really liked that message. While Imagawa and Natsu's love never grew on me (in it that I never fully saw it), they did create a stable and lasting foundation for themselves.
~Aaro
