Karneval - 13 [End]

"Karneval"

Eh? Wait, what? There’s a second season, right?

Despite all the fanfare last episode, I didn’t feel like this episode was much of a finale at all. There was a lot more of that “final battle” vibe going on in episode 12 compared to the actual end, and to be honest I feel somewhat cheated here. I’m not sure if a second season is slated for this series (though I’ve heard that the Blu-Rays are selling very nicely), but for a first season I’m kind of confused as to what this was all about. All this time we’ve been led to believe that reaching Karoku would be the climax of the plot; that meeting him would clarify everything (or at least something) about Nai and Khafka, but in reality we get no answers at all. In fact, we get more mysteries than ever. After all, the Karoku Nai meets isn’t the Karoku we’ve come to believe he is; instead, he’s some sort of imposter, though we never find out who he is or what his purpose is in harming the real Karoku. And since the real Karoku is unconscious until the very end, we never hear anything of the real story from his end either.

If there’s any resolution at all to be had, it’s in Gareki, however. This whole season, Gareki has been something of an add-on to the Circus retinue; a free-loader without much skill to be of any use, a fact that he himself has often lamented. It’s only now, at the very end, that he finally does something about it and decides to leave the Second Ship for the sake of going to school and gaining a certification to become a true Circus member. It’s rather shocking to me, really, that such a departure would occur at the very end; it gives Gareki the resolution he’s been lacking all along, true, but it feels like a placeholder, a bookmark, in the story, which I’m sure is supposed to be the point. I’m assuming this either means the studio already has a second season in the works, or that we’re supposed to go and read the manga now, but in any case, the separation only adds to the questions. For what reason was Gareki on a Khafka research ship in the first place, and why is this a reason for Circus to be so interested in him?

In any case, I’m somewhat bummed out at the lack of answers; even if this is the prelude to something greater, it feels wrong to leave all the mysteries completely unsolved. I can’t even tell if this is an anime original cliffhanger or one derived from the manga, but regardless, I really do wish some little thing was solved, if only to make things easier to place in perspective later. Be that as it may, for now this is an end, and I'm somewhat disappointed not to know anything more than I more or less did at the start.