Beyond the Boundary

In my review of Episode 11, I questioned what was going to happen with the rest of the world now that it’s been restored. Well, Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 12 gave me all the answers I was looking for, surprisingly.

Basically, while the rest of the world was restored, including all the plants and animals, the humans who once lived there did not return. That doesn’t really make sense. But, I do think that’s the best way for the author to go about it.

Having the humans who once lived there reappear would make even less sense. And having all life be wiped from the world outside Shikoku would have been boring. So, I get why this was the route chosen.

One thing I’m not entirely sure about is why the Taisha wanted to cover up the fate of the rest of the world. After all, shouldn’t it have been obvious to everyone in Shikoku that nobody beyond the boundary would have survived for the past 300 years?

I see two reasons why they would attempt to cover up the truth. The first is that it’s simply dangerous out there and they don’t want people leaving Shikoku because of that. I think it makes sense that the Taisha would want to investigate first before allowing people out.

The second reason, which is probably the more correct reason, is that it shows the Divine Tree is no more. If people realize the Divine Tree and the gods are dead, the Taisha lose their power. They’re only in control because people believe they’re the conduit between themselves and the gods.

Overthrowing the Taisha

Sonoko Nogi had a great idea in this episode. The Hero Club should overthrow and destroy the Taisha organization. Unfortunately, the other members of the Hero Club have already been indoctrinated by the Taisha cult and so can’t comprehend a world without it.

But, as Sonoko points out, everything that’s gone wrong for the past few hundred years has been the Taisha’s fault. While the organization may have initially been formed to save humanity, it very quickly turned into something else.

It became less about saving humanity and more about appeasing the gods who were trying to destroy it. I mean, we even saw that many members of Taisha were completely fine with giving up the lives of everyone in Shikoku if it meant being able to become one with the Diving Tree.

At least the members of the Hero Club aren’t as indoctrinated as Aya Kokudo. She literally doesn’t know how she’s supposed to keep on living without the Divine Tree around. But, in her defense, it’s not as if she just had some blind faith in the gods.

Aya’s situation kind of makes sense when you consider that the gods were very much real and her role was to communicate with them. Still, now that the gods are gone, I could see her becoming a problematic member of the Taisha.

Because she was so close to the gods, she’d probably want to try to resurrect them somehow. And if not that, maybe attempt to force people to live their lives as if the gods still existed, which is what the Taisha are doing now.

This is why I think Sonoko is right when she suggests destroying the Taisha. There’s nothing good that can come from leaving an organization that doesn’t know how to live in the current world in charge.

Girls’ Last Tour

As seems to often be the case, the world that Yuki Yuna is a Hero sets up in the end actually interests me much more than the world of the main portion of the series. I’d love it if there was another season that followed Yuna and Mimori as they explored the mainland with the help of Karen and teams of Sentinels.

I felt the same way about Deca-Dence. The world that we got a glimpse of at the very end of that series was one that I thought would be a lot of fun to explore in another season. But, I don’t think we’re ever going to get that either.

Even if Yuna and Mimori weren’t completely alone on their travels, I think that kind of series would give off some serious Girls’ Last Tour vibes, which I’m a huge fan of. Just two girls traveling through the ruins of humanity.

Let’s just pretend that there is going to be another season of Yuki Yuna is a Hero. What do you think that season would be like? Four years have passed since the main events of the series, so all of the members of the Hero Club are now in high school or have already graduated, such as Fuu.

Obviously, it wouldn’t turn into a series like Girls’ Last Tour. Instead, I’m assuming Yuna and Mimori would find a new Divine Tree seedling somewhere out in the world. Mimori is a Miko if I’m remembering correctly, so she’d probably recognize a Divine Tree if she saw one.

Then, of course, Taisha would hear about the existence of a new divine tree and would swoop in to take control of it. From there, we could actually get an arc featuring the former Hero Club members, or maybe even a new Hero Club, facing off against the Taisha as Sonoko suggested.

Conclusion

What do you think of the final episode of Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter? Do you think anyone survived beyond the boundary? Should the Hero Club have overthrown the Taisha? And would you like to see this series continue for another season? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

End of the World

Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 11 was a good episode as far as Yuki Yuna episodes go. I still don’t really understand what the Heroes were fighting against. But, at least the episode looked nice.

Anyway, I’m glad that the Taisha organization was officially revealed to be the cult that it always seemed to be. They don’t care what happens to themselves or anyone else as long as they believe their “gods” willed it to be so.

And I liked how the one high-ranking female member of Taisha who has been in charge of giving the Heroes their orders began to doubt her beliefs at the end. It was nice to see the contrast between her and the hardline beliefs of the other high-ranking members.

Overall, I did like how the end of the world was portrayed in this episode. Not only did we get to see how various members of Taisha viewed it, but we also got to see how the current heroes viewed it.

Obviously, the girls of the Hero Club would prefer for Yuna to be saved and for the world to not end. But, at the same time, they each know that they’ve done all they could at this point. It’s up to Togo to save Yuna in the end. And even if she manages that, the world may very well still end.

The only thing I think was missing from this portion of the episode was something to show us how the Sentinels and general populace felt about the impending end of the world. I feel like the storyline of the Sentinels was just forgotten. And I want to know what this time was like for ordinary civilians.

Yuki Yuna is a Hero

Is Yuna’s ultimate form towards the end of the episode the titular “Great Mankai?” I’m going to assume that it is. But also I feel like there’s been a surprising lack of information given to us about Mankai considering the title of this season.

You’d expect that we’d have gotten some additional information about Mankai. Instead, we don’t really know any more about them than we did at the start of the series. They burn through the life force of the Heroes to give them extra firepower. That’s still all we know.

It would have been pretty interesting if the Mankai of the current generation of Heroes was somehow connected to the spirit summoning of the original generation. I’m still annoyed that nothing actually came of that. Why can’t Yuna Yuki summon Shuten Douji? We’re just never going to get an explanation?

Anyway, Yuna’s “Great Mankai” was definitely the best-looking part of the episode. I liked the styling that was used for her ultimate “Hero Punch” attack against the gods. However, I also think that’s a pretty boring trope to use for the final showdown.

We get this new, super version of Yuna and all she does is use a single punch to defeat the gods? I still want it to be a hard-fought battle in the end. I want Yuna and Togo to end up looking like Karin from the first image in this review.

Sure, Yuna’s Hero Punch was a hype moment of the episode. But as far as storytelling is concerned, it’s an underwhelming way to conclude the battle for the fate of humanity.

It just seems like every time there’s something I like about Yuki Yuna, there’s something else that reminds me the series is pretty average (or lower) overall.

Yuna Saves the Day

Regardless of how I feel about the way in which Yuna defeated the gods, the result is that there’s no longer a threat to humanity. And considering the Heroes’ magical smartphones were destroyed at the end of the episode, I assume next week’s episode is the last one.

Of course, next week’s episode is the last episode of the season. But I mean the last episode of the series. The gods were destroyed, the Heroes no longer have access to their power, and as far as I could tell, the world has been restored.

If all of that is indeed true, I have a few questions that I’d like to be answered in the final episode. Though, based on this series’ track record when it comes to explanations, it seems extremely unlikely that I’ll be satisfied by the end.

First, I want to know what became of all the people who were turned to dust during the final battle against the gods. Do they get to come back to life as if nothing happened? Or are they actually dead? And, did the one female Taisha member turn to dust completely?

Second, if the rest of the world truly was restored, I’d like to know what that actually means. It’s been hundreds of years since the world outside the final city was erased from existence. So I have to assume all those people who died around the world didn’t get brought back.

I mean, it’s not like humanity has progressed in the 300 years since the collapse happened. Even if everyone did come back to life, they wouldn’t notice 300 years had passed. But how is this going to work since one portion of the world has existed all that time?

That seems like too big of a question for this series to answer. But I can hope.

Conclusion

What do you think of Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 11? How do you feel about the final battle? Do you think everyone comes back to life now? And will the series end with the next episode? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 12 is available now.

Humanity vs. The Gods

We’ve gotten to the point in Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter, where the anime looks good visually, but the plot makes absolutely no sense. I love that they’re no longer using 3D CGI for character models. I just have no idea what’s going on.

To be clear, I do understand what’s happening on a literal level. Yuna is being married off to the Divine Tree so that humanity can be saved, and her friends are attempting to stop this from happening because they’d rather have humanity all die together than lose just Yuna.

The confusing part is the foundation the entire series is based on. I guess I could look past it in the previous seasons, but at its core, Yuki Yuna is a Hero makes no sense. Why is humanity fighting against the gods? Why are the gods fighting against humanity?

I’ve mentioned this in some of my previous episode reviews, but the heroes are fighting to protect the Divine Tree. And at the same time, it’s the Divine Tree that’s attempting to destroy humanity (and itself by extension).

Also, humanity’s last resort weapon they plan to use to defeat the gods is powered by — wait for it — prayers to the gods. So they’re praying to the gods to defeat the gods? And the gods give humanity their power to defend themselves from… themselves?

If anyone actually understands what’s going on, please let me know. I genuinely don’t understand the fundamentals of this series. Are the gods the antagonists? If so, why do the Heroes rely on them? And why does marrying off Yuna save the world?

This is an original series, and I get the feeling “original” means they literally make it up as they go.

Everything is Pointless

The Taisha has finally revealed itself to be just a massive suicide cult (which most religions are anyway, so that checks out). As I stated last week, their goal is actually to kill off all the remaining humans and have them join the gods in the afterlife.

And, it seems like many members of Taisha have finally realized that they’ve been going about achieving their goal the wrong way all this time. Why do they need to fight off the gods while the marriage ceremony between Yuna and the Divine Tree takes place?

If they simply don’t fight off the gods, they’ll get to die and join the gods within the Divine Tree sooner. In fact, they state as much. They say that whether or not the ceremony is a success doesn’t matter because they’ll become one with the Divine Tree either way.

I think this was supposed to show how desperate and misguided the followers of Taisha are. But that’s not how it came off to me. All I saw was a bunch of characters realizing the massive plot hole they’re all living in. They seem to have realized what I’ve been saying all along: That none of this makes sense.

Hopefully, when the Heroes save the world without the help of the Taisha, those who chose to die instead of fight don’t get to come back. Though, I’m not sure if that sentiment extends to the Sentinels who gave up the fight. I don’t think they actively chose to do so.

With the Taisha members who turned to dust, it was implied they chose to stop rebelling against the gods and instead accept their fate. With the Sentinels, I got the feeling they simply fell into despair and that was the result.

Karin, the Strongest Hero

Is Karin actually the strongest Hero? I don’t think so. But she claimed she was when she decided to take on the gods in order to buy her friends time. You have to respect her confidence to be able to say something like that to the gods.

Something I realized when Karin mentioned how she could take on this task as she still has her Mankai is that the current Heroes don’t fight in the same way as the Heroes of the past. The original heroes called upon deities to grant them power.

The current Heroes, on the other hand, do not. Instead, they use mechanical “devices” that are basically exoskeleton-spaceship hybrids. I don’t believe the reason for these differences was ever explained. Or, at least it wasn’t in this season.

To be honest, I think the inclusion of summoning the power of deities was just something Yuki Yuna is a Hero decided to steal from more popular series, notably Fate. Yuki Yuna is already a bootleg, far worse, version of Madoka Magica. So it doesn’t surprise me that it would copy other popular anime as well.

The fact that the Heroes being able to summon deities to help them fight was randomly introduced and received no explanation is just further evidence that its inclusion wasn’t because it’s important to the story.

All they had to do was add in a single line mentioning something like, “the deities no longer answer the calls of the Heroes because _____.” It’s not that hard to come up with an arbitrary reason just to cover your bases.

But, no, the writers of this series didn’t even put in that minimal amount of effort. After all, the Fate-copying part of the series is over. We’ve moved back to the Madoka-copying portion so we can just forget what came before existed.

Conclusion

The more I watch Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter, the more I realize how poorly written it is. And I’m amazed that there are actual human beings (debatable) out there who think this is somehow better than Madoka. What’s wrong with you? Who hurt you?

If you’re not one of those people, let me know by clicking the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you want to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 11 is available now.

The Final Mission

We learned about the “final mission” both the Heroes and Sentinels are going to take part in for the first time in Episode 8. But in Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 9, we’re given more details regarding this so-called final mission.

Yuna is set to be married off to the Divine Tree, which already doesn’t make much sense. But, apparently, this will allow what remains of humanity to also become one with the Divine Tree. So from what I’m gathering, this is basically an Infinite Tsukuyomi situation from Naruto: Shippūden.

If you don’t know what I mean by that, it’s simply that rather than improving the world, the Taisha has decided to effectively kill everyone so they can know peace. I mean, being dead must be better than living in the small piece of Japan that’s left, right?

Of course, the main problem with this plan is that we know not everyone agrees with the Taisha’s choice here. There are surely plenty of people who don’t want to die just because the Taisha have decided that’s the preferable option.

And, I guess the idea here is that it’s better to have everyone die via this ceremony than to have them die via the Vertex. But also aren’t the Vertex literally sent by the gods the Taisha are trying to unite everyone with? Seems like this plan hasn’t been thoroughly researched.

Oh, and let’s not forget that the Taisha has used this whole “final mission” phrasing before. When they sacrificed a bunch of Miko 300 years ago, that too was supposed to be the “final mission” that would save everyone.

But, hey, I guess the Taisha wouldn’t be a good religious organization if it wasn’t able to continuously trick people for hundreds of years.

Karin’s Curse

Obviously, Karin doesn’t have a physical curse in the same way that Yuna does. But, I’d argue that she is cursed in that she knows of Yuna’s curse and yet can’t do anything to help her friend. She might not feel the physical pain from Yuna’s curse, but it still affects her.

In fact, it appears that Karin is more affected by Yuna’s curse than even Yuna is. Yuna’s definitely concerned about her curse. We know this because she says as much and even writes about it in her diary. But she also seems to have accepted her fate.

For Karin, the curse is much more difficult to accept. This makes a lot of sense to me, though. Generally, when something affects ourselves, it’s much easier to move on and make the most of the situation. When something affects someone we care about, we tend to spend more time worrying about it.

If Karin wasn’t one of the protagonists who’s been around since the first season of the series, I’d say that she’s going to meet a terrible fate by the end of this season. But, that’s not really the kind of series Yuki Yuna is.

And that’s also part of the reason why I don’t think Yuki Yuna is all that great. It has the same problem that a lot of shonen anime do, which is that I know nothing bad is going to happen to the protagonists. For example, I know none of the Straw Hats are going to die in One Piece.

Just look at Madoka Magica, which I’ve often said Yuki Yuna is just a “lite” version of, if you want an example of a similar series that doesn’t play it safe. Both series end up in the same place, but the path Madoka takes to get there is far better.

Karin the Hero

It was mentioned a few times in this episode that Karin was the one who stopped the Fire Offering the Taisha was going to perform. I don’t recall this ever happening. All I remember is that we got a scene before it happened and another scene after it happened, which was odd.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Togo agree to be sacrificed as part of the Fire Offering? And when she did, she erased herself from reality or something. But then her friends noticed she was missing and saved her, thus preventing the sacrifice from taking place and rewriting reality.

That seems to be what’s being referred to in this episode. The problem is that I don’t believe we saw what actually took place to prevent the sacrifice from occurring. We just cut to a scene of Togo in a hospital bed surrounded by the other Heroes.

Hopefully, we’ll get to see what exactly Karin did to stop the sacrifice from being performed (unless we did and I’m just forgetting it). But, considering it wasn’t shown in this episode when it was being talked about, I get the feeling we won’t.

The fight between Karin and Mebu, which was great, by the way, would have been the perfect time to show a short flashback of whatever it was Karin did. Since we didn’t get that, I guess it’s not important enough to show us.

After all, exactly what Karin did isn’t important, even though it probably should be. What’s important, at least for now, is that Karin has a reputation for being a strong hero but wasn’t acting the part when she ran into Mebu.

As a Hero, Karin can’t show weakness like that in front of the Sentinels.

Conclusion

What do you think of Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 9? Do you remember what it was Karin did to stop the sacrifice from happening? Or were you waiting for it to be shown to us in a flashback as I was? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 10 is available now.