And there ends the greatest anime of 2004. It was a decent ending.
Decent, not great, mind you. I am even slightly tempted to say it was a cop-out but since everything else was done so right, I feel I can forgive the creators for pulling the implausible on us. (Or it is just my cognitive dissonance talking)
Like they say, it's the journey, not the end that counts. A point reiterated several times by characters in the show themselves. While the plot and the storyline can be said to be merely typical of its genre, it's the delivery and presentation that is so excellent. It's over-the-top and subtle at the same time.
The characterisation, while not the most in-depth, gets the emotion across without feeling forced upon the audience. And the fights, oh man, the fights are all memorable. Not a single battle scene feels repetitive, each one manages to be exciting and different even if it's the same people fighting each time. (A hint for those lame shows which stretch out a single battle into FIVE episodes)
And who can forget the humour. While most of it relies on situational comedy (i.e., normal people put into absurd situations) the generous sprinkling of post-modern pop culture into 17th century Japan for the most part is successful. Who could forget the graffitti, the baseball, the marijuana...
Champloo, I salute you!
