Did I just watched... Peak?
For real, this has to be the best episode of the anime so far, without a doubt. I was on the edge of my seat throughout it all!
As expected, Nowak doesn't receive the news really well, and had a backup plan all along, to once and for all end with the heliocentrism theory. His plan was to burn the church down and kill both Antoni and Draka. And the scene where he just straight out kills Antoni was COLD. That kill was long due, considering that Antoni was the one behind Jolenta's separation from him, although Nowak didn't know it, but in this anime they always love to do these symbolisms. And when Draka wasn't able to escape I was thinking "They aren't going to do it" BUT THEY DID, and Nowak was able to stab Draka, although she was able to get away.
But when they showed Rafal and jumped to the opening THAT GAVE ME CHILLS. We are at the beginning again. Nowak thinking about Rafal in his last moments shows how much his actions affected him, which is later confirmed by himself, saying how what happened to Rafal gave him pain, but he just ignored it. If he didn't ignore his feelings, maybe none of this would have happened... The talk between him and Rafal was him realizing he was the villain all along, the villain of this story. That scene was so well done, it literally gave me chills. And not only that, it was hinted in the opening ever since episode 2! That's crazy to think about! Seeing Rafal again after 20 episodes (20 weeks for me, since I have been following this weekly), really hits the spot, welcome back Rafal, even if for just some minutes. So much happened in these 20 weeks, it's crazy.
But right after this we see Nowak retrieving from his pocket Jolenta's gloves, and the Liberation force's leader arm, and HE DID IT. So Nowak suspected from the small glimpse he had from the Leader that she could very well be Jolenta, he just didn't want to believe it. And the scene where he puts the glove on her dead arm, and sees it's a perfect fit, he just breaks down... He realises what he has done, and asks God for his forgiveness for Jolenta's actions, because all that she did was because of Nowak's actions, so he should be the one made responsible. The shot that shows Nowak dying while holding Jolentas hand... Just like they show in the opening too... This is just sad honestly.
If 2 characters dying in one episode wasn't enough, the creator remembered "What if Draka also dies this episode?", and they all proceeded with this idea. I honestly wasn't expecting Draka to die, but after seeing she was stabbed, I started to see what they were going to do...
Draka was able to release the bird safely, with the message Jolenta asked her to release. We still don't know much about that, but I suppose we will understand it next episode.
But after that, it was ready to be the most depressing part of the episode in my opinion. Seeing Draka question everything she did was really believable and comprehensible. In the end, she ended up dying without achieving anything that she wanted. Heliocentrism won't even be able to come foward, with Oczy's book dying with Draka's death... So, was it really worth it?
But after that, the sun starts to rise, and Draka finally understand what Schmitt told her last episode: the beauty of nature. Even with her death, the world continues to move one, and now she's closer to her dad, who also died by the sunrise. Seeing Draka just being conforted by the sunrise, that reminded her dad, and finally being able to see it in that perspective, made me tear up, and it wasn't on my checklist crying with this anime. Like, CHILL DOWN ORB, YOU CAN'T BE THIS GOOD.
The last shot with Draka closing her eyes while watching the sunrise was just... Beautifully dramatic.
3 generations of Main Characters, in the span of 35 years, were killed, all by the same man, Nowak. Just let that sink in...
When I thought we would just get the ending started, we jump right of to Albert, a new character, that is against getting any kind of knowledge, despite his intelligence, because he thinks with that comes ambition, and that will only destroy his life. His whereabouts are mysterious, since that man isn't his dad, and it seems like his past is complicated, but in the end they reveal that Albert has still has a special place for astronomy... I wasn't expecting for them to introduce a new character this late to the series. Is he also going to die? At this point I wonder if we'll have any MC alive by the end of the series, because not even Nowak was able to make it. This anime is even worse than AOT with all this MCs dying.
I'm expecting for them to show us what has changed from the last generation in this 4th generation, and if heliocentrism finally made it. Also, how many years has it been? They just showed the year they were in, but I don't remember in which year we were, so I just accepted someone has made the calculations.
For the longest time I have been loving this anime, but I never truly felt like "No, this anime feels like a 10", so I was thinking of giving it a 9 when I finished it, but after this episode, I finally felt this feeling. I wasn't expecting to actually appear after so many episodes, but now this anime FEELS like a 10.
I wonder how these last 2 episodes are going to be, but I guess there aren't going to be many plot twists or reveals going on, and it's just some kind of prologue. So I do think this episode we just witnessed was the best one of the anime, and rightfully so, since it was the culmination of everything that has been happening in this anime for the past 23 episodes.
Sakanaction's "Kaiju" hits so much harder now, especially since we have the full version now, and Yorushika's ending by the end was so conforting in a way, after what happened in this episode. Love the opening/endings of this anime! |