After three months, we're finally at the end. The bulk of this last episode was the final battle, with a bit of of resolution and some hinting to the future. The Waas to look for in this episode was obviously one with the absurdly long name, Suicidal Beautification Reflector, or SBR. The thing as three abilities, how overpowered is that?! Alice pretty much takes control of the fight by making copies of herself, making it quite a lopsided battle. I wish they didn't censor Fear drilling the guts out of that Alice cone though.
But what kind of finale is it if characters from previous arcs don't show up? Shiraho and Sovereignty to the rescue! I was looking forward to them doing something amazing to turn the tide of the battle, but what I got was disappointment instead. Sovereignty used her doll-controlling powers to hurl the immobile Kuroe right at the mirror to destroy the SBR. What kind of cop-out was that? All those copies Alice couldn't defend on such a pitiful attempt to break the SBR? She just stood there and let it happen, and even had the audacity to act surprised afterwards!
Without the numbers on her side, she was pretty much done for. Fear magically snapped out of being reminded of her crazy old self and deals the finishing blow. Fear declared that even though humans are weak and worthless, she wanted to become like them because they could find happiness. Then we got the classic "humans didn't help me when I was in trouble" drivel from Alice before she was defeated.
Alice ended up escaping Haruaki's gang and falling into the arms of this guy. Despite his short amount of screen time, this guy looks to be a magnificent bastard; just look at his hat! This pretty much ends the season. In the end, they show the Families, members of the Lab Kingdom, and the protagonists: the three different factions in the C Cube universe. This is probably a nudge for the viewers to buy some BDs if they want a second season. I don't foresee it happening though, since the sales aren't very good.
To sum up this show in one word would be this: disappointing. After watching the trailer a couple months prior to the show's airing, I was expecting something different. I guess I should never really have high hopes for light novel adaptions, because there aren't many good ones out there. The positives for the show are definitely the visuals; Silver Link did really well with its Shaft-esque art direction. The fight scene animation and music weren't half bad either.
Ultimately, the show can be simplified into a generic supernatural harem with the gimmick of Fear's crazy faces. There was fanservice and there were battles; pretty much your bread and butter of the genre. Disappointed as I may be, I would still watch the second season if there's going to be one. I've invested enough into the show to care about what happens next to the characters. Overall, it wasn't an amazing show to watch, but wasn't a chore to do so either. I hope you enjoyed watching it more than I did though; I know these kinds of shows are right up some people's alleys.
EDIT: 13th episode to come with BDs.
Happy holidays.
-Bern
