Amagi Brilliant Park

[Kraco]

Hmm... I was sure this was the last episode, but Mahou showtime doesn't list a count for this at all, and AniDB seems to say 13 episodes. Interesting. I wonder if the last one is more like an anachronic extra or something (assuming AniDB's count is correct). It would be pretty cheap if Latifa's curse and the wizard were dealt with in a single episode.

I found it pretty sad nobody really tried to make Kanie stay, apart from his sister, who probably thought it would be easier for her as well if the dude was tired (and satisfied) from work and thus wasn't only hanging around the home all gloomy and friendless. Sento might have attempted to, but she's too socially awkward to pull it off.

A jolly good show, in any case. I'm going to miss this, especially with the winter season looking quite desolate.

[Buffalobiian]

I found it pretty sad nobody really tried to make Kanie stay, apart from his sister, who probably thought it would be easier for her as well if the dude was tired (and satisfied) from work and thus wasn't only hanging around the home all gloomy and friendless. Sento might have attempted to, but she's too socially awkward to pull it off.

I can understand. Kanie's done such a great job that the cast can't possibly ask any more from him.

[Kraco]

Kanie's done such a great job that the cast can't possibly ask any more from him.

And he didn't even ask anything in return! He really should have requested Sento as his reward.

[NeoCybercoin]

He already has Sento in his pocket.

[Ryllharu]

Indeed. They all but confessed to each other the night he left.

He managed to get Sento to show some real emotions (that wasn't rage) for more than an instant. She fell for him hard, and we found out it had become mutual. They'd been leaning heavily for him being attracted to Latifah, but in the end it was all admiration for her, not affection.

[Kraco]

Indeed. They all but confessed to each other the night he left.

Yeah, all but.

They'd been leaning heavily for him being attracted to Latifah, but in the end it was all admiration for her, not affection.

Dunno. I never took it as being attracted to her. He knew from the beginning they had some kind of a connection, he just didn't remember it immediately. When he finally did, he was filled with regret of not having been able to help her. It's admiration and pity, both grew stronger the more he learned and saw. Besides, I don't know how he could be attracted to a kid like Latifa with Sento's killer body right next to him every day.

[shinta|hikari]

The Latifa deus ex machina sucked. It would have been great if she forgot and Kanie made it his life's mission to remove her curse. That was really the only thing I disliked about this show. It was excellent in every other way.

Sento is gold. I just wish she broke down and hugged Kanie when she saw him back in the office, only to realize what she has done and shoot him with her memory erasing bullet. Now that would have been perfect.

[Buffalobiian]

I initially thought (and hoped) that Latifa's recover was due to a more concrete reason, like this night being the only one where she held a non-Maple person etc.

[Kraco]

The Latifa deus ex machina sucked.

It don't think it sucked as it makes perfect sense the fairies would have tried everything to counter the curse. And now it was indeed revealed they did. However, what sucks is that there were no foreshadowing at all. Regardless, the tree's efficiency was directly proportional to the amount of happiness gathered, and it's an undeniable truth that the amount skyrocketed ever since Kanie appeared and made the amusement park function properly once again.

[shinta|hikari]

Any form of deus ex machina sucks.

[Buffalobiian]

The problem is that they never (not even during Sento's explanation) did they say that the tree was planted to cure Latifa. The tree uses Anima to bloom, so if it consumes a significant amount it would even be counterintuitive. Sento's explanation more or less said the tree was a Litmus test for Animus accumulation, and Animus counters the curse.

It's all pretty unclear about what actually happened. Do the petals themselves, presumably a converted Animus, have the curse-countering effect? Or were they solely a proxy showing how much Animus was in the air?

Was the curse lifted? Or did the tree's bloom (assuming this is the answer from ^) counter her "reset" this time round? If the latter, Kanie will have to do this yearly.

[Kraco]

Was the curse lifted? Or did the tree's bloom (assuming this is the answer from ^) counter her "reset" this time round? If the latter, Kanie will have to do this yearly.

I got the impression she was merely spared the memory reset this year.

You'd think the wizard wasn't so unique that they couldn't find a way to crack the curse itself, not just barely keep the princess alive with much struggle. This situation feels fairy tale style forced to serve the story. If they can convert people's happiness into a magic, then how come the single wizard's curse would possess so much more power than the happiness-converted-magic of half a million people? Is the wizard Esdeath's brother or something?

[David75]

It was certainly a bit underhanded to introduce the tree and its effects as a plot tool at this time in the show.
So the tree was mitigating the effects of the curse. They could have mentionned it way before to make the delivery somewhat better.
And I guess the tree was responsible for Latifa's reset, the only action it could perform to save her with the low animus levels it got every year.

There's another meaningfull plot that happened throughout the show. The mage did give Kanie the key to prevent Latifa's reset !
So that mage isn't gone totally bad. He didn't even tried underhanded measures to have Kanie fail.
In retrospect, it might even be he tested Kanie.

Last but not least, Latifa's resets have been somewhat convenient, as they allowed for Kanie to grow older while Latifa didn't.
As if it was a way to wait for the right guy to appear.

[Buffalobiian]

So the tree was mitigating the effects of the curse.

That wasn't explicitly said, but I suppose we can't prove it wrong. It has been mentioned a few times that the princess shouldn't be out and about the park so easily, but again her proximity to the tree was never mentioned.

Given everything, I still can't say with certainly that the tree had a real role to play here.

Sento's message to me was "This tree lives off Animus. It's in full bloom right now. There must be a lot of Animus. That Animus must have saved Latifa."

That's an interesting interpretation of the wizard though. Given how the king broke their deal, I can't think of a reason for him to act so kindly however.

Maybe this whole curse was to torment the king so much that he'd finally let the princess marry him, and when that time comes she'll still be 14.

Genius.

[Ryllharu]

The tree is only an indicator. Like the rest of the people from the magical world, it thrives on Animus. The more it blooms, the better the overall feel at the park was.

The big difference this year at the park was that in addition to the visitors of the park having fun, for the first time in a long time, the workers at the park had a lot of fun as well. They were either worried about Latifah, worried about the park, worried about their own jobs, or otherwise simply disaffected and jaded (except Slyphy, she always enjoys herself). They went through the motions. It was a burden, not the fun job it should be.

Kanie's influence changed all that.

This critical mass of Animus from both the visitors and the residents pushed the levels of Animus higher than they have probably ever been.

Thus, the curse wasn't able to completely drain Latifah, and she retained her memories this year.

[David75]

I don't know why I interpreted the lines about Elpis in the way I did... I was wrong.

Regarding the mage, he loved Latifa after all. Sure he put a curse on her after being betrayed, but it might be that in the long time he wants out of the curse too if he still loves her.

[NeoCybercoin]

I like Ryll's explanation. I had something similar in mind.

[Kraco]

Episode 13 Final - Vivid




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As expected after the ending of the previous episode, this felt more like an extra episode that could have happened at any point towards the end of the show, kind of like a regular BD extra. I wouldn't say this was an especially brilliant episode, but it had it's moments.

I have to say of all people involved, Kanie himself had the worst judgement by placing Sento in charge of supervising the PV production.

[shinta|hikari]

I loved how Sento tried to get a naked Kanie into the video, only to overcome the temptation at the very end.

[Buffalobiian]

Tirami I'll miss you so much, but not as much as your collection.