Special 7: Special Crime Investigation Unit finale – Back together as a full team, Unit 7 shows Warlock that his power can be broken, and then kicks some serious dragon-enhanced butt in the name of truth, justice, and the Japanese way. Belatedly they start to realize that they may have removed any need for their unit, but there are still some rogue dragon cultists out there, and before long things are enlivened with an interesting murder.
This did a good job of balancing the competing needs to provide a definitive ending and leave things open for a sequel. Warlock’s arrest feels nice and final, but there are a lot of loose ends out there. In addition to the remaining dragon worshippers, plotters in the Department of Public Safety, and ancient dragon heads, there’s the matter of Nijō’s informant, and whatever the heck Mizuwa is up to now. (Apparently whatever form his sense of justice returned in, it wasn’t one where he feels obligated to obey the law and turn himself in.)
This is an odd little show, all dressed up like an action story but with the heart and soul of a mystery lurking beneath it. If it never finds its audience, that’ll be the reason. I hope it does well enough to see Unit 7 again, though; it’s no masterpiece but this has been one of the good ones.
(Funimation — AnimeLab — Wakanim — Animate Gamer — Muse Asia)
No Guns Life #12 – Not only does Inui’s latest cast involve a ghost, which is somewhat outside his area of expertise, there’s also a client with a deep terror of cyborgs. (Which, given what we’ve seen of Berühren, might actually be a healthy attitude.) But he and Mary persist, and when all is said and done, they have a cute new sidekick to help out around the office.
After all the misdirection and double-crossing is unraveled, the important part is this: there is some information which can allegedly take down Berühren, and some faction other than Spitzbergen is responsible for it. This faction (assuming there still is a faction and Robot Thing isn’t the last remnant of it) might present a healthier alternative to Spitzbergen for fighting Berühren.
But we’ll have to wait a while to find out, since No Guns Life is taking a break until April. We’ll pick it up again there.
(Funimation — Hulu — AnimeLab — Wakanim — Anime on Demand — VVVVID — Muse Asia — bilibili)
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun #13 – The president of the Maker Club isn’t just trying to help the disabled, he’s aiming to erase the demonic equivalent of income inequality. Iruma isn’t just a random hapless recruit, he has real skills that Kirio recognizes as useful. But just as things are looking up for Iruma, the magical police may be about to reveal his secret.
In a reversal of the usual expectation of scheming devils, it turns out that the main reason there is no current Demon King is that none of the colorful lunatics currently running the place by committee actually wants to be in charge. They all seem to be a bit busy with other things, but one can’t help wondering if there’s also a nasty side to the Demon King prophecy that we haven’t heard about yet.
We learn a little bit more about Sullivan in passing: his specialty is healing magic, and he’s deliberately kept himself out of the top rank for some reason. And since the details of the Demon King prophecy are well-known, particularly the part about the Ring of Solomon, which Sullivan absolutely knows Iruma is wearing, he probably knows who the next king is. Maybe he instigated this all deliberately.
(Crunchyroll — Animate Gamer — Muse Asia — bilibili)
And the anime year is officially over! Next week it’s time to look back on the highs and lows of 2019, plus pick the best sf anime show of the decade. The week after that, we’ll run through the new crop of premieres, rejoin Welcome to Demon School, and set the lineup for the winter season. See you then!
