[DreamSword]

Episode 12: What Was I Entrusted With?

I have a feeling that this post is gonna come across as extremely backhanded.

But, please keep in mind, I'm literally just typing my thoughts out as they happen here. I am in no way going out of my way to be mean spirited.

Because man, I have so many mixed feelings about this. As a standalone episode, as a finale, as an emotional roller coaster, as a symbol of the series as a whole, and the overall writing style and message it's trying to present.

Here's the thing, if I had at all been having a better time with SSSS.Dynazenon as a show up to this point, then I would not at all hesitate in saying that this episode serves as a perfect emotional finale to the season as a whole. I can very easily see how fans would fall in love with this.

Heck, I myself even got swept up in the sheer emotion present all throughout the story of this one. I didn't want to see Gauma die. I was happy to see the entire group working together and displaying their bond as a family. I was super ecstatic that the episode basically ended with Chise and Goldburn. And the final action sequence felt like something the whole season had been leading to.

But, the issues that take me away from the entire experience is how, as a finale, this episode does not at all bother to properly wrap up much of anything in terms of plot. There have been so many plot threads that were brought up through the show's' run that are now never going to be followed up on. So many potential character moments that, with the death of the Eugenicists and everyone parting ways, will never be seen to their full potential.

It's also difficult for me to say too much in regards to the episode itself because there's alot of thoughts racing through my head right now in terms of how everything fits together overall, and I wanna save alot of those thoughts for the final wrap up post that I plan to do once things have settled down. That said, I do think that, given its major highlight in this episode with both the above screenshot as well as the talk between Yomogi and Shizumu, there is one aspect of discussion I can quite possibly raise: Instance Domination.

I... am very confused as to what exactly the overall use and purpose of it was? Keep in mind, it is very possible that it's something that went way over my marble-sized brain, but again, I'm confused. Because as this episode seems to present it, the "Domination" part of the name is kind of the wrong term to use? It appears that in order for Instance Domination to be successful, the Kaiju User has to be in tune with the emotions and heart of the Kaiju itself, which WOULD thematically fit in with the overall message that Dynazenon seems to want to present.

But on the other hand, that also doesn't change that the User does still infact Dominate, take control, over said Kaiju. Which kinda gives the sort of exact opposite message, doesn't it? Not to mention, Shizumu was already Dominating himself, ontop of having absorbed the other Users and thus uniting all of their hearts as one, so how could Yomogi have possibly Dominated Kaiju Shizumu clean the way he did? Hell, the entire sequence even emphasizes what might be my major problem with the season as a whole: It's clear with this that the writer's' purposefully went out of their way to not expand upon or explain anything, highlighted by Gauma telling the Eugenicists to shut up.

Overall, this episode is the perfect emotional finale to Dynazenon and its characters as a whole, but if you're like me and the show has been majorly rocky for you, don't expect it to accomplish too much. I liked the episode overall, I think, but did it overall save the show or justify any of my previous critiques? No, I personally don't think it did.

The final thoughts posts will come tomorrow after I've allowed my thoughts to settle some. Until then, what did this final episode do for all of you? I'm curious.