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Yūki Yūna wa Yūsha de Aru
Episode 12

by Theron Martin,

In my review of episode 11 I was a bit critical of Mimori's motivations for what she was doing, but a reader pointed out one important detail that I had missed: that the title for episode 11, “Passion,” was very carefully-chosen, as what we saw on display was the true and full passion of each of the girls. Taken in that context, Mimori's irrational logic makes more sense; she is so passionate about her friends not suffering, and sees the situation for avoiding it as so hopeless, that even death seems a better option. That grim viewpoint is reinforced through the first quarter of this episode, as when confronted by Yuna, Mimori makes comments to the effect that she would rather be with her friends in death than forget everything again. Naturally Yuna has to stop her and bring her back to her senses, and she does it in a mix of the most classic shonen and shojo methods: a punch to the face followed by a tearful embrace. Of course, that still leaves one whopping big problem: the Vertex that Mimori had been trying to coax into taking out the Shinju-sama. And that requires all of the Hero Club members, even the ones seemingly incapacitated either in the previous episode or earlier this one, giving it their all.

That only takes up the first ten minutes, however. The rest, the denouement, is every bit as important to this series as its action climax was, if not more so. Ever since the Mankai form was revealed to induce lasting physical limitations, viewers have pondered whether or not the series would leave itself an “out” on not permanently crippling the girls, and if it did take that “out,” whether or not it could do so without damaging the gravitas that the series has built up over the issue. The way the second half of the episode plays out is arguably the best possible approach: let the girls off the hook, but only gradually, as if they are recovering from serious injuries, rather than suddenly being magically cured. Yes, that means that Mimori is walking by the end (although not without spending what's implied to be significant time on crutches) and that even Sonoko apparently recovers. Even Yuna, who in the final heroic burst pretty much sacrificed herself into a catatonic state and for a while raises concerns that she might have sacrificed herself to restore the others, eventually comes out of it, too. Thus the ending of the series is entirely a happy one for the Hero Club, as even though they are not Heroes anymore (having lost their faeries), they are wholly intact.

The way things play out does raise a couple of questions. Why, for instance, did the Shinju-sama opt to retract the sacrifices necessary for the girls' empowered forms? While it could be regarded as a reward for successful services rendered, the stronger implication (based in part on a comment about “battle data”) is that this was more a case of the Shinju-sama concluding that such sacrifices were not actually necessary due to what it observed from the Hero Club's actions. I would have preferred a cleaner delineation on this point, but the execution of it was handled well enough that, whatever the reason, restoring the girls does not feel like a cop-out. Also left explicitly unresolved is the whole business about the world of the Shinju-sama being one that is shielded from the destruction of the actual world. The girls do not comment or even think about this in the final half, which vaguely suggests that they have decided that knowing the truth does not change anything; the world of the Shinju-sama is still their world, and what does it really matter about the rest having been destroyed since they cannot do anything about it? Again, I would have preferred seeing this point more explicitly dealt with in some way, and I find entirely ignoring addressing it to be the one weak point in the final episode.

There is a whole lot else to like about the episode, though. It has a great number of neat little touches, such as how when flower petals drift down on the girls as they lay, wiped out, from the climactic encounter, each girl is showered by petals of the flower that has been keyed to her all along. Another great artistic choice was a duplication of the regular closer's animation with Mimori and Yuna juxtaposed, and then showing all of the girls walking together in an updated version of the closer. The strong battle animation and powerhouse musical score also never falter; few series in 2014 are on the same level on either point. Having tissue at hand may be a necessity for watching the episode, as multiples scenes are capable of evoking strong emotional responses, and the writing does an excellent job of setting up those moments so they are impactful without seeming too emotionally manipulative. Most importantly, the final episode repeatedly reaffirms what has always been the series' greatest strength: the bonds of love and camaraderie amongst the Hero Club girls and the chemistry of their interactions. One of the most potent symbols of that is the first word that Itsuki says when she is finally able to speak again.

So while this wasn't an absolutely perfect closing episode, it does plenty enough very well to reaffirm my ranking of this as one of 2014's top series overall. It also closes with an intriguing final screen, one which labels this as “Yuki Yuna's Chapter” (emphasis mine). Is that meant as a sly indication that we might eventually see more set in this same world? The creative staff has certainly been coy before with the series, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Rating: A

Yūki Yūna wa Yūsha de Aru is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.


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