Sara Talks Anime

Going away from this episode, I didn’t feel any sense of “this was a satisfying ending that I feel like was worth my time to get here”. Instead, I felt a massive sense of “…that was it?” once this episode ended. This isn’t about Kinme’s amnesia, as I doubt that we can get that all wrapped up in a twelve episode span.

But remember when I thought that this series would have its final episode focus on finding the owner of the plushie that was cleaned in the previous episode. That never got addressed in this episode! The most that the previous episode was even acknowledged was that damn skirt flip being talked about by Kinme and her friend! That’s it! That’s literally fucking it! If you knew that you wouldn’t be able to adapt to the conclusion of the plushie thing, then why even include it?

There are shows that, during adaptation, remove buildup for future arcs if they know that they aren’t going to be able to cover them for any reason. A massive example that I’m actually picking up the light novels for is The Devil is a Part-Timer!, as the second season of the anime modified the big battle and the fallout of it that ended that season to no longer include events that cause future events in the story to happen in the first place, to the point where I have to say that if you plan on starting the light novel series of The Devil is a Part-Timer! where the second season left off, it’s much easier to start directly from the beginning as I believe that the light novel and the anime are two very different experiences.

Also, Kinme states in this episode that her motto is “Local Cleaning with a Heart”. But with how often we’ve heard her say “You can count on Kinme!” in the series, that’s what is registered as the motto for Kinme’s shop in my mind. Like jeez Kinme, that “You can count on Kinme!” sounds much more marketable.

If there is one thing that I’m happy about with this episode, however, it’s that Kinme finally got to deal with a customer that felt like the kind of negative customer you’d see IRL, even if it’s more toned down compared to IRL. I gotta take the little victories wherever I can.

Though one thing that is confusing is the ending prior to the credits stuff where everyone comes together to celebrate the shop’s second anniversary. During it, we see Kyu acting like normal, though based on what we saw in the previous episode, he should be in a more embarrassed mindset if previous behavior tracks. Though from what I can find, that part of the ending is anime original, so I guess that’s more so a fault of the anime studio seemingly not understanding the characters fully, and less the fault of the source material. I’d love to read the source material one day, just to see how accurate it is compared to the anime, and even how this series continues past the anime, as it felt like this ending is basically confirming this will be a “one-and-done” show.

Though, curse the story for having the fall and the rain and making me think the story was going to veer onto a darker turn only to find out “she’s okay, actually”. Like, dude, you geared me up to expect the worst, and then not give me the worst? While it goes to show just how observant Kinme is to notice something off because of clothes, I feel like there could’ve been so many better ways to go about it.

Overall, while this show was a show that I was enjoying watching every week, I don’t believe that the ending of this anime is justifiable to the amount of time that I spent with it. And as it seems like this series likely won’t get a season 2, this is unfortunately one of those shows that for me goes in the spot of “show that started strong but has a weak ending” that it seems I’m commonly finding myself dipping into. It was a nice palette cleanser for this anime season, but I don’t think it’s a show I’m going to be quick to rewatch.

Previous Post: Episode 11 – “To Help This Little Guy Out”

Next Post: ANIME SPOTLIGHT (Date and time TBD)