Zetsuen no Tempest - 24 [End]

"To Each, Their Own Tale"

Oh boy, how do I even get started...

For the first time in a very long time, I'm utterly satisfied with a Bones ending. I can see why some people might feel this was anti-climactic, or that it spent more time wrapping things up than showcasing the grand final battle we went into last week, but for me, this was the only way Zetsuen no Tempest could have closed the curtain on itself. As I've mentioned before, anime tends to rush its endings and avoid proper closure, but Zetsuen, like Shinsekai Yori, went about things differently. This is particularly important for a series like this, where the entire show has been like an animated opera, right down to the actors bowing out at the end. As important as it was to defeat the Tree of Genesis, this journey required reflection on the part of its characters to really wrap things up, and that's exactly what we were given.

I do have to note that I'm highly surprised to see Hanemura come into his own as the hero of the piece, though I'm not at all bothered by it. Hanemura has always been a foil to the rest of the cast; whereas Yoshino, Mahiro, Hakaze, and the rest are fantastical characters in the mundane, Hanemura is the direct opposite. He's a normal guy under extraordinary circumstances in a way that neither Yoshino nor Mahiro could ever be, and he stands out because of it. Seeing him finally accept the absurdity of his situation and embrace his role as the Mage of Exodus is somehow more satisfying than I had reason to expect it would be, and it makes his reunion with his mysterious girlfriend Yu-chan all the more emotional. That everyone else more or less played a supporting role in this climax is rather interesting, considering what Aika has to say about life and how it should be lived.

"The actors on stage cannot ignore their scripts and do as they wish"; it's clear from most of Aika's actions and words that she's a staunch believer in the power of fate and living up to it, but I do think she also believes that there is some choice in the way individuals wish to portray their roles. Her comment about "exiting beautifully" seems to imply that she thinks there is more than one way to end a play, as does her constant comparison between The Tempest and Hamlet's endings. Perhaps fate is unavoidable, but it doesn't mean that you can't act the part you're given in any way you wish.

In the end, things came together the way they should. Aika stayed dead, Hanemura won his girlfriend back, the Kusaribe lost their magic and went into the intelligence business, Hakaze realizes she's rather useless now that she's no longer a Princess, and Yoshino and Mahiro finally gain closure for Aika's death. The entire last sequence is almost surreal, both in the conversation the two friends have and their contemplation over the events since Aika passed away. As Mahiro says, every end is also a beginning, and nowhere is that more evident than the very last moment, in which Hakaze starts toward Yoshino. That's another story in and of itself, though unfortunately for us, this is the true end of Zetsuen no Tempest and it's unlikely we'll get an encore no matter how loudly we applaud.