Yuusha Yoshihiko To Maou No Shiro 終わり
Ahhn, where to start? First off, as I always do when I've come to the end of a really great drama, I'm left with a huge sense of loss and loneliness knowing that I won't be seeing the characters that I've grown to love over the course of the show- when you see the same recurring people for 12 weeks straight, you really get used to having them around, and as you all know, i REALLY loved this show!
Episode 11 left us with the cliffhanger of Yoshihiko , Murasaki, Merebu and Danjou finally infiltrating the city and about to come face to face with the evil mastermind MAOU, and I was trying to guess and guess just HOW they were going to handle the eventual meeting of hero and foe...you see, in the past episodes, whenever it came time for Yoshihiko to fight the villian of the chapter, the bad guy would either reveal itself to be nothing more than a feeble old man, or, if it WAS a monster, the show would morph into bad animation to slapstically show the gang kicking the monster's butt!
Somehow, I really didn't think it would fit the "feel" of the last episode, which had turned rather dark and somber, (for such a silly show!) furthermore I think it would have cheapened the sincere "goodbye" little sister Hisa gave Yoshihiko (in episode 10) if the fight turned out to be nothing more than a joke. I was hoping for a more serious conclusion to the show. but wasn't sure I was going to get it!
Well, turns out the last episode was INDEED a slugfest worthy of being titled as the "great battle" between Maou and Yoshihiko, (and I have to admit I was at the edge of my seat...!) but somehow, when it was all said and done, the ending still seemed a bit "rushed" to me- It seemed like the show had its big battle and then quickly ended...I think the show's finale would have benefitted by them combining episode 11 and 12 into a full hour show (each episode is only a half hour) , somehow I think that would have gave a better overall "build-up and wrap-up"..
