Owarinaki Unmei...
O.o Anyone else think that it's slightly ironic that an OVA called Owarinaki Unmei is probably the last we're gonna ever get of animated HT3?
I've heard people talk about a TV series but it's really not going to happen. They've covered way too much of the game plot so if they did one it would be completely from scratch. And that's not going to happen...so...here we are.
BUT...
If we only ever get 2 hours or so total of HT3 animation, let me just say that it's a pretty damn good two hours...
If Kurenai no Tsuki was very much a Masaomi-centric story, Owarinaki Unmei is far more a Kurou-centric one. After seeing Kurenai no Tsuki I assumed that Masaomi was the best pair for Nozomi - having played the game and several of the paths I'm not so sure, and after seeing this, I want to slap Masaomi around a little bit and send Nozomi off into the sunset with Kurou.
This picks up after the battle where Nozomi and Masaomi face each other - which is of course in the game, so in the anime we don't find out who won. It can be greatly assumed that it was Nozomi, though, because Kurou's lot claimed victory at Ichi no Tani and the Heike are rather thin on the ground and preparing to make their escape with the Emperor to pastures new.
When I say the Heike, I mean Masaomi, Tsunemasa and Tomomori. Kiyomori was nowhere to be seen - and as for Koremori? Well, he showed up later.
I'm not going to write out the whole plot here since everyone who wants to watch it will watch it and there's just no point. However, a few things...
Firstly...
Poor Koremori. Yes, I like Koremori. I liked him ever since it transpired in the game that he wasn't always a nutcase, just being an onryou stole his sanity. If that wasn't bad enough, and if being sealed by Nozomi wasn't even worse, now he has Masako doing...unspeakables to him and dragging him back as her would be assassin to take out Kurou. Masako is a bitch. Sigh. Of course, it isn't revealed that this is Koremori till almost the end, but I felt sorry for him. In the very last second before he finally I aaalmost thought sanity had returned to him a little, though that might just have been me.
As a follow on from that, poor Tsunemasa! Oh god, if Koremori was bad, what about Tsunemasa?! Tsunemasa is lovely. And sane, even if he is an onryou. He loves his little brother Atsumori, he's loyal to Masaomi and he's a pretty decent guy. UNTIL...that bitch gets her magic on him as well. And theen he's all out to kill Kurou as well! Only Atsumori gets in his way, which brings me to...
POOR POOR ATSUMORI!
I love Atsumori. I don't think there's any secret in that >.> though he seemed mostly happier during this episode than he did in the last. That was before his beloved big brother turned up possessed and all out to kill Kurou, though. Call me a sappy softy if you like but I was really O.O when he was struggling with Tsunemasa and begging his brother to return to his wits. And then...in the last second...Tsunemasa stopped his weapon and fought against the spell enough to prevent him from hurting his brother. And then, when Tsunemasa asked Masaomi to kill him, and Atsumori, tears streaming down his cheeks, demanded Nozomi seal him...then collapsed on the ground in more floods of tears...I was like, shit, doesn't that family have enough horrible luck without more of it?
Obviously the idea of killing Kurou is not only historical but also game canonical, but the game has a far more satisfactory way of dealing with it in which Kurou and Masaomi wind up fighting on the same team against the psycho possessed witch that is now Masako and her psychotically greedy husband. That was the point I wanted to slap Masaomi. Even though what he said about Masako and Yoritomo was entirely true - he didn't stick around long enough to talk the whole thing out and settle it properly. I guess he was smarting over Tsunemasa...but...even so...that wasn't Kurou's fault. Yet Masaomi still acted like it was. Of course Kurou's gonna try and assassinate himself. That makes sense...not...
So as ever, the poor Heike come out of the plot battered and bruised.
Benkei has obviously been forgiven for his dabbling behind the scenes because not only is he back with the troops now, there's no ill feeling going around. He's even doing more dabbling but this time with Hinoe and his ships (cameo here by Yasuhira and Shirogane. And I mean a cameo O.o)
Kagetoki is the other plot point. I haven't played Kagetoki's paths in the games yet but I did see the game trailer when he's pointing his gun so I knew he was going to get wound up in something stupid. Epic kudos for Hakuryuu - for sensing the unease in his aura - and Yuzuru - for standing in front of his gun and talking sense - in order to avert tragedy. I guess Yuzuru knows he's going to be killed by an arrow, so he's not afraid of the gun...? Either way, Yuzuru talks a lot more sense than his brother at times, despite what is now a considerable age gap between the two of them. And thanks to Yuzuru, Kurou need never know how nearly Kagetoki betrayed him.
Oh, and one last thing. Kurou told Nozomi that he loved her. Aw. I did think he'd be a little more awkward with it than he was, actually, but it was direct and to the point and still quite in character. Poor Nozomi looked kinda blank...especially when he said, "I know you're thinking of Masaomi but I wanted to tell you and go into battle without regrets" and then capped it off with "I'll welcome whatever the answer so please make sure you tell me your true feelings".
Mind you, now I'm more persuaded of the Nozomi/Kurou partnership. In the game it wholeheartedly amuses me...now I think it could really work. Kurou 1, Masaomi 0 on this round.
Overall I liked it. Lots of onryou and stuffs, lots of action and stuffs. Not much of Shirogane and Yasuhira but actually I think if they'd have warped the plot to fit them in it would've made it wonky. The way it was done was probably the best. The ending is a little dissatisfying thanks to Masaomi's continued gittish maleness, but aside from that it was good.
The final ending theme made me fangirl again, just like 2 years ago when Kurenai no Tsuki came out. This time it's a Kurou and Masaomi duet and it's really nice - effect added by the Minamoto and Taira crests and silhouettes from the closing titles.
The opening theme is quite pretty too - and the one that's played when Kagetoki has his angsty gun moment is I assume Kagetoki's character song from this. It too sounds like another great HaruToki track so I'm hoping that they all three come out on the CD that's due in march, but knowing them they'll be mean and put them on separate disks.
I am hoping for a live performance of the ending theme at the HaruToki anniversary festa however. If Seki's there too, maybe Miki will be convinced...??
I've heard people talk about a TV series but it's really not going to happen. They've covered way too much of the game plot so if they did one it would be completely from scratch. And that's not going to happen...so...here we are.
BUT...
If we only ever get 2 hours or so total of HT3 animation, let me just say that it's a pretty damn good two hours...
If Kurenai no Tsuki was very much a Masaomi-centric story, Owarinaki Unmei is far more a Kurou-centric one. After seeing Kurenai no Tsuki I assumed that Masaomi was the best pair for Nozomi - having played the game and several of the paths I'm not so sure, and after seeing this, I want to slap Masaomi around a little bit and send Nozomi off into the sunset with Kurou.
This picks up after the battle where Nozomi and Masaomi face each other - which is of course in the game, so in the anime we don't find out who won. It can be greatly assumed that it was Nozomi, though, because Kurou's lot claimed victory at Ichi no Tani and the Heike are rather thin on the ground and preparing to make their escape with the Emperor to pastures new.
When I say the Heike, I mean Masaomi, Tsunemasa and Tomomori. Kiyomori was nowhere to be seen - and as for Koremori? Well, he showed up later.
I'm not going to write out the whole plot here since everyone who wants to watch it will watch it and there's just no point. However, a few things...
Firstly...
Poor Koremori. Yes, I like Koremori. I liked him ever since it transpired in the game that he wasn't always a nutcase, just being an onryou stole his sanity. If that wasn't bad enough, and if being sealed by Nozomi wasn't even worse, now he has Masako doing...unspeakables to him and dragging him back as her would be assassin to take out Kurou. Masako is a bitch. Sigh. Of course, it isn't revealed that this is Koremori till almost the end, but I felt sorry for him. In the very last second before he finally I aaalmost thought sanity had returned to him a little, though that might just have been me.
As a follow on from that, poor Tsunemasa! Oh god, if Koremori was bad, what about Tsunemasa?! Tsunemasa is lovely. And sane, even if he is an onryou. He loves his little brother Atsumori, he's loyal to Masaomi and he's a pretty decent guy. UNTIL...that bitch gets her magic on him as well. And theen he's all out to kill Kurou as well! Only Atsumori gets in his way, which brings me to...
POOR POOR ATSUMORI!
I love Atsumori. I don't think there's any secret in that >.> though he seemed mostly happier during this episode than he did in the last. That was before his beloved big brother turned up possessed and all out to kill Kurou, though. Call me a sappy softy if you like but I was really O.O when he was struggling with Tsunemasa and begging his brother to return to his wits. And then...in the last second...Tsunemasa stopped his weapon and fought against the spell enough to prevent him from hurting his brother. And then, when Tsunemasa asked Masaomi to kill him, and Atsumori, tears streaming down his cheeks, demanded Nozomi seal him...then collapsed on the ground in more floods of tears...I was like, shit, doesn't that family have enough horrible luck without more of it?
Obviously the idea of killing Kurou is not only historical but also game canonical, but the game has a far more satisfactory way of dealing with it in which Kurou and Masaomi wind up fighting on the same team against the psycho possessed witch that is now Masako and her psychotically greedy husband. That was the point I wanted to slap Masaomi. Even though what he said about Masako and Yoritomo was entirely true - he didn't stick around long enough to talk the whole thing out and settle it properly. I guess he was smarting over Tsunemasa...but...even so...that wasn't Kurou's fault. Yet Masaomi still acted like it was. Of course Kurou's gonna try and assassinate himself. That makes sense...not...
So as ever, the poor Heike come out of the plot battered and bruised.
Benkei has obviously been forgiven for his dabbling behind the scenes because not only is he back with the troops now, there's no ill feeling going around. He's even doing more dabbling but this time with Hinoe and his ships (cameo here by Yasuhira and Shirogane. And I mean a cameo O.o)
Kagetoki is the other plot point. I haven't played Kagetoki's paths in the games yet but I did see the game trailer when he's pointing his gun so I knew he was going to get wound up in something stupid. Epic kudos for Hakuryuu - for sensing the unease in his aura - and Yuzuru - for standing in front of his gun and talking sense - in order to avert tragedy. I guess Yuzuru knows he's going to be killed by an arrow, so he's not afraid of the gun...? Either way, Yuzuru talks a lot more sense than his brother at times, despite what is now a considerable age gap between the two of them. And thanks to Yuzuru, Kurou need never know how nearly Kagetoki betrayed him.
Oh, and one last thing. Kurou told Nozomi that he loved her. Aw. I did think he'd be a little more awkward with it than he was, actually, but it was direct and to the point and still quite in character. Poor Nozomi looked kinda blank...especially when he said, "I know you're thinking of Masaomi but I wanted to tell you and go into battle without regrets" and then capped it off with "I'll welcome whatever the answer so please make sure you tell me your true feelings".
Mind you, now I'm more persuaded of the Nozomi/Kurou partnership. In the game it wholeheartedly amuses me...now I think it could really work. Kurou 1, Masaomi 0 on this round.
Overall I liked it. Lots of onryou and stuffs, lots of action and stuffs. Not much of Shirogane and Yasuhira but actually I think if they'd have warped the plot to fit them in it would've made it wonky. The way it was done was probably the best. The ending is a little dissatisfying thanks to Masaomi's continued gittish maleness, but aside from that it was good.
The final ending theme made me fangirl again, just like 2 years ago when Kurenai no Tsuki came out. This time it's a Kurou and Masaomi duet and it's really nice - effect added by the Minamoto and Taira crests and silhouettes from the closing titles.
The opening theme is quite pretty too - and the one that's played when Kagetoki has his angsty gun moment is I assume Kagetoki's character song from this. It too sounds like another great HaruToki track so I'm hoping that they all three come out on the CD that's due in march, but knowing them they'll be mean and put them on separate disks.
I am hoping for a live performance of the ending theme at the HaruToki anniversary festa however. If Seki's there too, maybe Miki will be convinced...??