Kimagure Orange Road Third/Final Impressions (30-48)
I’ll go over my thoughts on the final third of this series in this post – but a full review will be written soon. Like all my “impressions” posts, this contains spoilers for the episodes I list above (in this case, until the ending), but my review will have a non-spoiler section. So rather than looking back over the series as a whole, I’ll simply focus on the episodes which are fresh in my mind.
First of all – Kimagure Orange Road has a beautiful ending. The direction, writing, and other aspects of the final scenes may not be on par with Honey and Clover’s first season conclusion (which is my favourite ending in all the series I’ve watched) , but the humanness is very apparent in the closing episodes. At the same time, while it is a wonderful moment, the main issue, which is the romantic triangle, is not resolved. I have read that the true conclusion of Kimagure Orange Road is in the final movie, “I Want to Return to That Day”. That makes sense, because if the end of the TV series was the true end of the series, I would probably be disappointed. However, considering that a true resolution to the plot is still coming, it is very fitting that the TV series concludes with that final, happy moment between the two main characters.
However, I don’t want to let my overt love of the ending disrupt the other feelings I have towards this series. It wanders, and can be aimless at times. Plots are sometimes recycled in episodes, which feels very tedious. The main plot, the relationships between the main characters, doesn’t really build in any significant way for huge blocks of episodes. Every so often, you will get a scene or even episode which is really satisfying, but then it never leads anywhere, and we end up on a blank slate in the next episode. I would be lying if I didn’t say it didn’t frustrate me at times. I think this series could have been a shorter length without significantly affecting the main plot all that much.
I guess what I didn’t like about it was that it was a very episodic anime series. Maison Ikkoku could sometimes fall into that category, yet that show had very strong milestones of character and relationship growth. The same isn’t really true for KOR. It has a very episodic nature, and a common formula often repeats itself throughout these different episodes. That kind of diminishes the impact, because even though there may be a significant moment between the two leads, by the next episode everything seems to be just as it always was. As a result, it kind of weakens the impact of the final episode. Maison Ikkoku’s ending was so effective because we had been slowly climbing a stairwell towards it, so to speak, for 96 episodes. But with KOR, it’s more like we’ve been walking on the ground floor for 46 episodes and then took an elevator up for the final two.
Still, I don’t want to diminish the effectiveness of the ending. I don’t know what my opinion about the psychic powers is – sometimes I think that it has a role to play in making KOR what it is, and sometimes it feels unnecessary, just an intrusion on the characters and their development. But here, it is used to a good effect – to show us both the past of these characters, as well as what potentially could have been. It’s the juxtaposition of the “future” Madoka, without having met Kyosuke, and the present Madoka that we realize why the outcome of the “triangle” has been obvious from the very beginning.
I do wish that the series could have been a bit tighter and loosened on the repetitive and filler episodes. Coming across the really well-done moments kind of makes me disappointed that the entire anime couldn’t have been uniform in such quality. Anyways, my final review of the TV series will be posted soon, and after I watch the final movie, you can expect a review of that as well.
Although I may have significant complaints about it, it was a worthwhile story to watch.
2 responses so far
Hi, weren’t it for the “don’t mind the age of the post”, I don’t know if I would really have left this reply, so…good job I guess.
As a start, I agree all the way up here on the series, including the continuous comparison with Maison Ikkoku.
I don’t know if it’s engineering studying (mechanical, for me), but I loved that anime/manga over every else. Like you I always found myself surrounded by people stating how KOR was great and unforgettable, even in the lousy censored version aired here in Italy, so I decided to give it a try.
After all, a couple of months ago for the first time I watched the whole Maison Ikkoku anime and read the manga all the way through, and even if MI is something I’ll always put above the rest, being grown up in my childood watching it sporadically over the years, why not taking the chance everyone was babbling about?
KOR as well was aired when I was young, but I had no memories whatsoever about it, about characters and story, exception made for Jingoro and a couple of minor things (like the europe-known italian opening theme), so I started it.
My reaction to the TV series is basically the same as yours. Looking in specialised sites (carefully avoiding spoilers) I already knew about the ending movies, so I wasn’t disappointed in the lack of an epilogue, I just wondered how the manga did end….if the movies were just an addition, for needed they were.
I dislike filler episodes pretty much (another point for Ikkoku: the useless episodes which add nothing to the plot are in my opinion only 2 over 96), so good pointing out saying that the series could have been shorter.
Still I’m not sure about one episode: the one where Kyosuke and Madoka are part of a band. The difference between the rest of the anime is abysmal: direction, cutting, and the structure itself, with those chapter-like titles during the episode. I think it was more of a adult-cut piece of story, compared to the general shonen format, and for this I can appreciate the variation, but still it seemed like something out of place to me. I’d like to have your opinion.
Without replying again to the first movie review, I get why you are disappointed by it, but I’d like to propose a different angle.
Sure you did point out plainly and deeply all the incoherences and conflicts between it and the series, but maybe to justify them I thought of this:
first, the change in Madoka’s attitude towards Kyosuke, like the the last 2 episodes never took place. It actually seems like a different girl, but STILL a perfect girl. I mean, months have passed since her travel in the past and the kiss, and yet Kasuga has to make his obvious and given decision. This would have made almost every girl on earth, who has exposed herself and her feelings at that point to feel insecure about herself and her actions, deeply doubting the feelings of the guy. In this view, her behavior may seem a little less incoherent with the series.
Second, the change in Kyosuke’s personality. From kind, naive and tender to harsh and hard on Hikaru. This is the less explainable, but you could say that his personality is composed of that side AS WELL. Maybe when he chooses which side to take, to avoid to fall back in doubts and in his indecision he becomes hard. And also a maybe more logic motivation is that guys being harsh to girls is a common topos in teenage mangas, when refusing the other’s attentions. It is evident that it’s just a play he has to act in order to make Hikaru forget him, considering that in the last scenes he is very sad and sorry for her. To me the reason he is so darn good in playing that role is that in Japanese culture the cliché of the harsh guy and the poor refused maiden is quite common. As a matter of fact many other mangas show this, especially in complicated situations where the male (but sometimes also the female) character has to let go of one of the counterparts. Examples can be Video Girl Ai, Ranma 1/2, and many others.
Finally, you can’t but feel some sympathy for the poor Hikaru, but still is a needed epilogue for the two heroes to have a true happy ending. Also the direction, arts, scenes are way better than the series, so to me a good addition, even without the teenage lightness.
Have you seen the second movie, instead? I think you’ll be way more critical if I got you right, but still I liked it. I’m not one of those addicted, always craving for more useless episodes (see OVAs…), but to have a true long episode involving the future and further developing the relationships is not that bad to me…give it a chance!
Sorry if I wrote so much, but I don’t know that many people who’ve seen KOR in their maturity and this deeply, and having finished seeing it last week I was eager to talk about it!
In conclusion is a true pity that the music was so useless for most of the series (as opening/closing themes I liked the end of “tell me that you need me”, the last instrumental part with the bass playing king role, and the intro of the first episodes closing theme…so light, summer-like, perfect for the general atmosphere), and once again, Maison Ikkoku to me is still unbeaten, uncomparable, and everything. I always get a bit emotional when a good story ends, so was for KOR, but nothing compared to how I felt for the whole week after watching/reading MI. Really, history. Of my life but of japan comics and animation as well. KOR stands as a good follower though.
I’ll take a look if I can find your reviews on Ikkoku, and can you give me some more details about that other anime you liked so much? Considering your tastes should be a must for me.
Thanks for this good times recalling, really, really a good job.
Marco
Thanks for the comment. To respond to your questions:
1) The band episode. It’s been almost an year but from I do remember finding this episode a bit out of place, but because I had resigned myself to the episodic nature of Kimagure Orange Road, I figured it was just another random plot introduced to fit a few more episodes. I agree that the tone seems to have shifted a bit in this one. But I don’t think I enjoyed it any more or less.
2) The first movie sequel. I understand your viewpoints, of course, and they make sense. What I would ask is why did Kasuga wait so long after the events of the television series to do anything? In a way that would make Madoka descend into some jealous state? Did what happened at the end of the TV series not mean that much to him? To me, it feels like the movie is saying “You know, the ending of the TV series really wasn’t as meaningful as you thought it was” and I don’t like that feeling. And of course, as I said, the film ends too harshly, it doesn’t actually present a true positive moment between Kasuga/Madoka. It makes us see Hikaru getting treated pretty badly but never gives us a good justification at the end to why its a good thing. So the end of the TV series ironically is still the highlight, for me.
3) As for my favourite anime series, the one that I enjoyed in a way closest to Maison Ikkoku was Touch. A lot of people pair up KOR with MI, but Touch in my opinion is the closest partner. You can read my spoiler free review on this website. I believe this was also aired in Italy? Maybe you’ve heard of it. I think the Italian title started “Prendi il mondo..” or something like that. Anyways that is my other favourite 80’s anime along with Maison Ikkoku. In fact it kind of has a romantic triangle like KOR but in my opinion it’s handled 100x better there.
Anyways you can see what anime I like the best looking here: http://myanimelist.net/animelist/theowne&order=4&status=7&tag=