Dusk Beyond the End of the World

Episode 11

This series has flown so off the rails. While not quite as bad as last week, this week's episode feels like it was haphazardly pulled out of thin air on the spot—as though they weren't sure what to do with the last two episodes, so they just decided to put Akira and Yugure into a coma. Because what else are we going to do now? Also, may as well finally make Amoru feel like she's in the story for a reason, right?

And then there's the Amoru of it all. While I do wish there were more anime that featured polyamory—especially in a positive light—I don't buy the romance between Amoru, Yugure, and Akira. Let's forget, for a moment, that I've said over and over again that I don't see any chemistry between Yugure and Akira, in particular. Because the more important matter at hand here is that Amoru's love for Yugure and Akira comes off as something that she feels owed or entitled to, because she constantly brings up how much she's done for and with them, as though she thinks that's a strong argument. It's as though her thought process is, “I traveled with you two, and took care of you while you slept for seven years. I was incredibly dedicated and loyal to you both. As a reward—perhaps as payment—I've earned your romantic affection.”

I can't quite tell whether or not the series is doing this knowingly and deliberately, or if this is just another accidental byproduct of the messy writing this series has had. I could really see it being either or, and I guess we'll have to wait until next week to find out. On one hand, the writing for this series has very consistently fallen short of the mark, to put it generously, and this absolutely feels like a thing it would accidentally do. But on the other hand, maybe it's still attempting to cook something up that'll come to light soon—maybe someone's going to point this out, causing Amoru to reflect on herself and her feelings. I could see this going either way. I tend to lean toward thinking it's probably just poor writing. Not just because there's so little time left in the series, but also because we've just already had so much of it—why stop now, right?

So now Amoru gets Yoiyami's body because Yokurata is a villain, actually, and also one of the sages—why not? As I said, at this point, everything feels like it's being made up as the series goes along. And I'm not surprised it's run into this problem—after all, it wasted so much of its earlier time on semi-episode vignettes of life in this new world that, ultimately, have done us little good. Maybe it would've felt more dramatic if we had more of a reason to care about Yokurata, but he's had so little screen time that he's done even less with it, so I'm having a hard time finding the will to care that he's apparently our twist antagonist. Or at least, that's what this episode sure is making it look like—I guess it's hard to say for sure until we know more about his motivations.

Heading into the last episode, the only thing I'm excited about is for this series to finally be over. I feel so checked out of this series, and while I'd love to be wrong, I can't imagine the last episode wrapping everything cleanly—not with this series' lack of time management skills. I'll wait until next week to share some more general, overarching thoughts, but as I'm sure you've noticed, I haven't exactly been enjoying the ride the whole time—especially since the rock bottom that was last week's episode.

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Dusk Beyond the End of the World is currently streaming on HIDIVE.