[DreamSword]

Episode 25: Our Apprivoise

The explosive finale to everything, and looking back on it has been rather nice.

First and foremost, let's get what I assume will be the biggest highlight for many out of the way: Monochrome is back, but that's not all.

It transitions into Wako's' Maiden Song: "Contact with the Light Filtering Through the Trees" And it's very much the song that the showrunners were convinced would be the all time favorite, given how many versions of it exist.

But I think they might've also realized that first impressions mean alot, because again, Monochrome is back, which easily became the most popular song in the anime. And lucky for them, given the flow of the episode, it does very much work symbolically: Going from a dark hour to a triumphant one.

Beyond that, this episode is action ontop of action ontop of incredibly hype mecha action and never stops to breathe the moment it starts. Seriously helping with all of that is how the animation in very fluid and very stylized all throughout, thus making this mini action movie even more visually stimulating than it would've already been.

Now, what about the characters? I did mention Keito ending up a certain way last post, didn't I? Well, here's the thing: The reason Keito became a bit of a base breaker was the idea that viewers had that her intended goal was to "corrupt" Sugata in some way. And having now rewatched the show in its entirety, I can confidently say that that's not true. Keito was selfish in wanting her seal broken so she could leave the island, sure, but at the end of the day, she was ready to follow whatever choice Sugata himself made. She had no real say in that.

Sugata himself is revealed to have been willing to sacrifice himself to seal Samekh for good, and given what is revealed about the Cybody's' backstory throughout the show, it's easy to have sympathy for the island-sized mecha. It in itself isn't evil, it's just been misused and abused by so many of its users throughout history. Even the other Cybodies acknowledge this. And Head is the latest in those looking to take Samekh over for selfish gain.

Speaking of which, Head being trapped in how past while never fully understanding nor caring about the how or why he hurt others the way that he did? Not only does it fall in line with him being incredibly possessive, but it's a much better way to both literally and figuratively achieving the "trapped in the past" metaphor than what Kamen Rider Zi-O ever managed to do. Star Driver really has surprised me in how throughout it is, now that it's been years and I have alot more media under my belt. And it makes me appreciate most of the writing of the show all the more.

There is, however, one stipulation with this episode. And that is that, well, it just kinda stops? There's not really a proper ending or epilogue to the story or characters as a whole. Don't get me wrong, I'm still overall satisfied, but man, just one more episode to better wrap things up would've been wonderful to have.

Still, we're not totally done yet. There is but one more piece of Star Driver media for me to cover, and uh, let's just say it's something not too many fans were happy with.