Customer Reviews

Saikano, Vol. 3: Changes

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This DVD contains episodes 8 through 10: "Everyone's Changing,"
"Akemi," and "And Then...."

I don't want to summarize the plot, since that spoils it for some people. I'll just say that if there is still anyone out there who thinks that anime isn't emotionally moving, then they haven't seen "Grave of the Fireflies" or "Saikano."

In my opinion, the climax of these three episodes occurs when a severe earthquake strikes Shuji's home town. There is an unforgettable scene between Shuji and a dying friend, and in the next episode, between Shuji and his friend's father. I don't see how anyone could watch these without being deeply affected.

Saikano Volume 3 is full of blood, buckets of it. And that's a bad thing. It really became tiresome as a lot of the characters were killed off, and their last undignified act was coughing up a hunk of blood, whether it was on the road, on a wall, or on each other. At times it felt like the end of a B-grade kung fu movie's last apocalyptic battle where both fighters cough up blood and die in a Sam Peckinpaish slow-mo back flip.

Chise is rapidly becoming more and more unstable and at the drop of a hat her weapon functions could destroy a whole city. The only person that isn't afraid of her is Tetsu, a hardened soldier who is able to see the little girl inside Chise. They even go on a pseudo-date shopping spree in an abandoned city in a touching glimpse of his sympathies for a girl who never asked to become the Ultimate Weapon. Meanwhile, back in Hokkaido, Shuji is trying not to become involved in the war like most of his friends, who are either enlisting or joining in the hunt for a downed enemy pilot. He is horrified at how little life has begun to matter to his classmates, or how much when he literally begs on his hands and knees for the school festival to occur even though soldiers are threatening to commandeer the facilities. It shows you how much everyone is valuing even the smallest facets of a once normal life.

Saikano really does a job of showing how war, at times with an unknown enemy can destroy everything that we care for. We might learn how to become better people...if we survive. But who can guarantee that? It does become a little preachy at times and I believe that the same impact could have been achieved with less melodrama, but I guess the creators wanted to show the inability of young adults to cope with the horrible forces that shape our world at times. The gore in these episodes became almost comic and could have been held back. This series is worth a look but does not come close to being great.