Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

[ Episode 12: Shigofumi ]

We finished crying tears of joy.

Well now, that was an interesting final episode. While I did expect a happy ending, the method by which they arrived at it was unexpected. Everything started out intense and on edge. Fumi seemed to be on the breaking edge as a result of people taking pictures of her everywhere she turned. At one point I even thought she was hallucinating in regards to how many people were taking snapshots and talking about her. Then there’s the encounter with her mother, Kirei. In a way, I thought their meeting was kind of pointless. All she did was show her face, tell Fumi why she didn’t want to be a mother and why she gave birth in the first place, and just up and left. I guess the point to them meeting was to send Fumi into a fragile state and setup for the closing minutes of the episode. Which…brings some rather interesting thoughts up. The confrontation between Fumi and Mika started off pretty intense. I had no idea what was going to happen and I was pretty worried for a while. Then the crying began. What? o_o

Apparently, they cried out all their feelings and frustrations which led to them making up. OK, I can accept that. It’s just…I didn’t see that sort of conclusion coming. I was confused for a while but it all worked out after some thought. I find it awesome that both Fumi and Mika decided to live their lives separately as I thought that becoming one wouldn’t have been a ‘good’ ending seeing as both of them have their own goals, needs, wants, and friends.

So while I had expected something different I’m far from disappointed with the ending. The conclusion was definitely one of the better ones out there despite having some loose-ends here and there.

Okay, I honestly don’t know what I have to say for this, but I’ll give it a go. So where we left off it looks like the messenger Fumika died and now Fumi-chan is in control. I could’ve sworn it was Mika possessing her again because I just didn’t find it in her to press charges on her father so suddenly. In a way, I have to feel sorry for her. Both of her parents are really beautiful people, but as parents they really blow. After that insightful reunion with her mother, I can definitely say she’s the worse of them all. Kirameki looks good when you compare them. Well that being said, Fumi gained even more unwanted attention, but maybe it was just her paranoid kicking off? She just woke up after all so I can kind of understand her.

Things get a bit puzzling from here as she returns back to very room where the freak incident happened. Just then I wasn’t expecting Mika to return. What exactly went on I couldn’t exactly comprehend it. Now, I was disappointed here because the tension seem to have been building up but then it all burst just like that. Both desired to live their life normally yet they couldn’t handle the guilt of the incident. To conclude, they can just…. stay separated? Not that it wasn’t bad, but it just seemed out of the blue to do that. They left the ending open so anything could happen here. All the different characters throughout the series gets one last brief cameo and we see both Fumikas walk past each other within the crowd, a scene that is very much similar to the OP sequence. So was Chiaki’s effort wasteful then? That seemed like a lot of work for something that was solved rather quickly.

[ Final Thoughts ]

Shigofumi started out with two very exciting episodes that set the pace and thematic-format for the rest of the series. While the shock-value from the first arc didn’t really carry over into the other episodes, that wasn’t the main appeal of Shigofumi. The topics such as the meaning of death, suicide, and bullying were some of the greatest highlights of the series and displayed the thoughts and feelings of the people involved. The Fumi and Mika side of the story was just as attractive in my eyes. I had wondered for a long time about how it was possible for Fumika to be a courier if she wasn’t dead but rather was in a coma. Then after finding out that they were separate persons I wanted to immediately know how they came to be and why they were separated. All revelations were more than satisfactory. While I felt that some things weren’t needed and some were left unresolved, such as Kirei visiting Fumi, the relationship between Kaname and Natsuka, and the result of Fumi’s lawsuit against Kirameki (I think we can safely assume she won’t that case), I still think things were wrapped up nicely and leave things open for a possible second season. Shigofumi was easily the best new series of the Winter 2007-08 season and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anyone.

[Overall series review: 85/100]

This was definitely of the best of the season. It wasn’t all too unique a concept, but the presentation and the tone of the show really drew me in, accompanied by a great score. In the beginning this gave me a Jigoku Shoujo sort of vibe but it ended up being a bit more contemporary and ideal than that, in my opinion.

Along the way, we got closer to the truth about Fumika bit by bit and it seems like everything pieced together the reason why Fumika is the way she is. Of course, there are still some questions left unanswered that I think should’ve went into more detail about. The finale was rather ambiguous so perhaps we may see another season? 12 episodes of a series with such a dark nature doesn’t seem right to me. It was like we were just starting to get to know everyone just a little bit more. In the end, was it worth it though? I still think so. Granted, it wouldn’t be overly great and something to write home about, but it’s enough of a pleasure just to get drawn into the whole thing.

[Overall series review: 81/100]

[Overall series review (average): 83/100]